Bhartiya Rail ...... the most spread enterprise around the world . It covers so many thousands of kilometers and infact is the lifeline of India. Statistically they say that every day the railways carried some 1.5 crore people which is the population of say Australia. And forget the goods transport which would be equally the same in number.
From my childhood i had been in awe of the railways. My father used to take me to the railway station every sunday when i between 4-7 to see the Howrah Express . Such was my fascination that i had remembered the stoppages of Gitanjali Exp between Bombay and Howrah. And everything about this liking got fulfilled since my house is just 250 meters from the railway track. Visting the railway line in the evening has been some of the best moments. Putting a coin on the rail so that the train runs over it and one gets to see the "chaplela" coin.
Also i have been very fulfilled since i travelled with the railways to so many parts of India, meter guage,broad guage and narrow guage. Travelling to Khandwa by meter guage is such a beautiful journey.
In my late teens i started another type of journey which is "Up-Down" or commuting as is the name. Going to college some 100kms away every monday and returning every saturday made me a regular traveller. How economical it was to travel like that ....... And railways can offer one of the cheapest fares if you travel by a "Passenger". Imagine Rs.14 for a 100km journey and mind you it was done in just 3 hrs ... not so slow ... huh..
Travelling in mumbai in the local trains gave me some more joy. The ethos of the travel is just fabulous. The frequency of the trains, the different routes, different types of trains all is very captivating. Another journey that i relish is travelling through the ghats. Mostly i have travelled in the Kasara and Khandala ghats. It's truly majestic to be there.
And above all i enjoy travelling II class sleeper. It's such a common place environment with lots of people and importantly interactive people unlike in the AC. Well i do admit that travelling in summer in II class gives lot of problems but otherwise it's the best travel.
All in all the railways has been a big part of my life. My adulation for them grows each day. So many trains, so many routes to manage, complex time tables of the trains but they are doing a very good job i feel. And now with the outstanding reservation system in place ..... i think it has made travel a lot easy ....
Kudos to Railways ....
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Chuck man ! It's a rule now !
The recent hearing of the ICC about the chucking rule has left many of the people from cricketing fraternity in the lurch. It's indeed a very disappointing outcome and ICC has really cold shouldered the whole issue instead of digging it deep.
Clearly i see a lot of trouble with this which is enlisted as follows :
1. It will be very difficult for the umpires to judge a chucker in a match situation wherein no hitech components will be there.
2. Bowlers can easily change their actions during scrutiny and during the actual match scenario.
3. No way a bend of 13,14,15 degress can be a legal delivery... it can be a throw also ...
4. How can teenagers be scrutinized at smaller cricketing centers where there are no hitech facilities.
5. How can old coaching methods be used , beacause a suspect may still continue hoping that he is below 15 degress.
It is going to make things very very difficult. Controversies would be much more in times to come.
I think the calling of Muralitharan started it all. My personal view is that , Murlitharan's action is not correct and may be that can be attributed to his shoulder deformity. But onc cannot allow somebody to bend the cricketing rules for the sake of deformity. Even at times i think Lee and Akhtar also ocassionally change their actions , for a express delivery.
All the powers about calling should be given to the umpires. They are the best judge because they see the bowler very closely and in match situation. Instead of reporting , umpire should be asked to call a bowler thus removing the biomechanics. Also, a committe of umpires should be formed to visualise the bowler in match situation to scrutinize the things.
The reason i am stressing on the visual test is that, this degress theory have "proved" that genuine bowlers like Lillee, Holding, Imran and Dev have been chuckers. Now it's a big no no ... instead i would like to point out that people like Griffith,Meckif were sidelined and certainly they didn't have correct bowling actions. Again it was a visual test that called them chuckers.
ICC is bending to pressures from some of the member countries since the people under scrutiny have been a lot successful. But i am sure there are lot of people who in private would admit about the legality of the suspect bowlers.
With such attitude, ICC is killing cricket and it would be very dangerous because it would cause lots of problems. So please don't do like that. Have an umpires panel and give them the total power. I feel it's the best foot forward else in future cricket would loose it's charm for the sake of few.
Clearly i see a lot of trouble with this which is enlisted as follows :
1. It will be very difficult for the umpires to judge a chucker in a match situation wherein no hitech components will be there.
2. Bowlers can easily change their actions during scrutiny and during the actual match scenario.
3. No way a bend of 13,14,15 degress can be a legal delivery... it can be a throw also ...
4. How can teenagers be scrutinized at smaller cricketing centers where there are no hitech facilities.
5. How can old coaching methods be used , beacause a suspect may still continue hoping that he is below 15 degress.
It is going to make things very very difficult. Controversies would be much more in times to come.
I think the calling of Muralitharan started it all. My personal view is that , Murlitharan's action is not correct and may be that can be attributed to his shoulder deformity. But onc cannot allow somebody to bend the cricketing rules for the sake of deformity. Even at times i think Lee and Akhtar also ocassionally change their actions , for a express delivery.
All the powers about calling should be given to the umpires. They are the best judge because they see the bowler very closely and in match situation. Instead of reporting , umpire should be asked to call a bowler thus removing the biomechanics. Also, a committe of umpires should be formed to visualise the bowler in match situation to scrutinize the things.
The reason i am stressing on the visual test is that, this degress theory have "proved" that genuine bowlers like Lillee, Holding, Imran and Dev have been chuckers. Now it's a big no no ... instead i would like to point out that people like Griffith,Meckif were sidelined and certainly they didn't have correct bowling actions. Again it was a visual test that called them chuckers.
ICC is bending to pressures from some of the member countries since the people under scrutiny have been a lot successful. But i am sure there are lot of people who in private would admit about the legality of the suspect bowlers.
With such attitude, ICC is killing cricket and it would be very dangerous because it would cause lots of problems. So please don't do like that. Have an umpires panel and give them the total power. I feel it's the best foot forward else in future cricket would loose it's charm for the sake of few.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)