The following are seven moments (courtsey Cricinfo.com) in the career of Sourav Ganguly who retired on Nov 10, 2008 after the four-Test series aga inst Australia. India win the series 2-0. Debut dance That don't impress me much Doing the HQ Surviving the Gabbatoir Refusal to die One for himself 'Just one last thing lads' More about Ganguly: "Ganguly has been neither a genius or a saint or a great batsman, but he has served with distinction and leaves Indian cricket in a much better state than he found it.." says Peter Roebuc. Read the whole write-up here. Career timeline as given by Cricinfo. Here. His scores in various versions of the game. Here. (Photo courtsey: smh.com.au)
It's his Test debut, and he is believed to be a political selection for the tour to England, a perception he puts paid to in seven-and-a-half hours of blissful batting. The image - Ganguly celebrating, arms aloft, no brashness of the later days, and Rahul Dravid applauding him in the background - is enduring: the wait has finally ended; the boy who persistently called newspaper offices for four years to see if he is in the team has arrived.
In 2000-01 Australia are a world-beating team with 15 straight wins behind them and are at the final stop on their conquest. One man is not impressed. "They have won most of their games at home, beaten West Indies 5-0 at home, beaten India, Pakistan at home," Ganguly welcomes Australia. "They toured here in '96 and lost. They toured here in '98 and lost. So obviously that's going to be at the back of their mind." No awe here. If that doesn't rile Australia, Ganguly goes further during the series. He walks out late for the toss and, if he wins it, he walks off on his own after letting the TV interviewer know what India choose to do. Once, after being pulled up by Cammie Smith, the match referee, he turns up five minutes before the toss - in his tracksuit top. "You had to give him an 'A' for effort in his attempt to annoy us," Steve Waugh writes in his book, "and in particular me. It worked to a certain extent."
Indians, not the least Bengalis, are supposed to be studious, meek, wristy, oriental artists. They are not supposed to make opposition captains wait at the toss, make fielders tie their shoelaces and, worst of all, sledge. There the Indian captain is, at Lord's, no less, waving the shirt he wore a moment ago, shouting four-letter words again and again. With Ganguly, India's aggression goes naked, one of the turning points in the nation's cricketing history.
He sweeps Stuart MacGill just wide of fine leg, runs very hard to convert what is for him an easy one into two, leaps twice in elation, almost trips over, pumps the air, holds his arms aloft and, without uttering a word tells every Australian that he enjoyed the "sweet chin music". This is the Gabba, and the year is 2003. Not only the Australian team, the whole nation, it seems, is after him, and this is test of the captain's mettle. The innings has it all - urgency, emotion, disdain - and sets the pace for the series.
Only about a couple of hundred have come to watch him play a Duleep Trophy match in Rajkot. The email has already been leaked, his integrity questioned. On the surface he has been left out on fitness grounds, but the writing is on the wall. The North Zone attack - VRV Singh, Gagandeep Singh, Amit Mishra and Sarandeep Singh - does not sound intimidating, but on a greenish Rajtok track they are a handful. He comes in to bat on the second day, his team struggling at 54 for 3, and then at 59 for 4. In the short period before stumps, he is hit on the head by VRV. A different Ganguly appears the next day: he is sure, and he is aggressive. He plays all his shots, including the one where he makes room and slashes over point, a shot he usually employed in one-dayers. By the time he finished he had scored 117 off 143, and sent across the message that he should be playing somewhere else.
The one word that describes the Ganguly who has made a comeback to the Indian side is serene. Almost monk-like, he goes about his business - fields mostly at the fine-leg boundary, bowls a few overs, and bats with utmost calm. No more shirt flinging, no more nail biting on the field. His last century, in Mohali, is one such effort. A century is almost inevitable from the moment he joins Sachin Tendulkar at the crease. Upon reaching the landmark, he doesn't react extravagantly, despite the drama behind his comeback to the side, he just smiles to himself, pumps the air, and gets on with it.
Does he choke for a brief second? After he says "Just one last thing lads" and before he drops the bomb. He does pause, for sure. Is he collecting himself? Does he wait to make sure words will come out? Once he has said what he has said, you are too stunned to think what has happened in that split-second. "Before I leave, I just want to say that this is going to be my last series. I've decided to quit. I told my team-mates before coming here." And the lads don't have a word to say. They look at him, they look at each other, they look down. The announcement is all Ganguly: he comes in late for the press conference, he is mildly humorous, takes all questions in good spirit, and waits for the media coordinator to end the conference before catching everyone off guard.
Seven moments of Sourav Ganguly's career
The development of India
India has made good progress in last 15 years. Our GDP was, as far as I can remeber, $290 billion in 1992. Today, it is at $1.1 trillion ($1100 billion); so, GDP has quadrapuled in 16 years, implying average 8% annual growth rate. Incidence of poverty has declined. My father used to say that in 1950s, 'it was difficult to have square meals every day even in a decent family in our village (in West Bengal).' Today, in our village, 40% household has motorbikes, almost same percentage has TV, almost one third has 'pucca house', everyone with at least 2 bigha land has shallow machine for agriculture (although less than 10% pays for electricity, most do 'hooking' or steal electriciry). Someone will jump saying 'credit goes to land reform by left front government', and he is partially right, but only partially. Please note I am not referring to car ownership statistics in Cities, but taking my village near Basirhat in North 24 Parganas as the benchmark. Things changed for the better.
What I am submitting here is that the pace of this positive change could have been faster. A friend has said he likes Air India, a government owned airlines, because the seats are empty (so you can have 3 seats to yourself). But you see that too many empty seats is not good for an airline. I sell spare parts to Air India of around $ 10 million a year. They buy this at catalogue price, while Kingfisher negotiated a 40% discount on spare parts that we sell them. If Air India could do the same, they would have saved $ 4 million a year or Rs. 20 crore a year. How many employment opportunity it could have created with that Rs. 20 crores ? Assuming they pay Rs. 1 lakh per month salary on average, (in reality it is much lower), it could have generated 167 employment. Now, extrapolate it to its magnitude of total business. I do not think AI is creating more employment compared to what it could have, had it been professionally run. But AI has never asked for discount !!
I have worked in China, which has problems similar to that of India. State Owned Enterprises in China is focussed on increasing efficiency and profit now. Party bosses run these PSUs, and their progress inside party depends on their performance on balance sheet. District committee secreatry of Kunshan district (Jiangsu province) pleaded with us that Ranbaxy investment should go to Kunshan because he had promised party leadership that he would fulfil a certain target for Foreign Investment in his district, and he needed Ranbaxy investment for that. This is entrepreneurship and competition within the franework of communist party rule... oxymoron, but it works.
Rich-poor divide has widened in India and China. But in China, once I asked my maid what did she think of her neighbour who has become rich while she remained poor. She said that it inspires her because her son can also become rich one day. Well, this is called positive attitude to life/ optimism/ the great communist propaganda, whatever. But I realized that this coutry will go far. In my country, where I have come back after 12 years, the typical reaction will be '...the rich has become rich by sucking poor's blood... etc.'
We Indians become satisfied very easily. All foreigners praise that. They say, look, here is country that is dirt poor, but people are happy and smiling. That is great, but not good for progress ( I am speaking of material progress here).
(This is a slightly edited version of a mail I have received as a member of a particular Yahoo group. The writer works in a company that manufactures aerospace products for civil and military aircraft)
Football in the time of Cricket
India is a cricket crazy nation, it is said and believed. How much truth one can find in this statement? Club matches and Ranji encounters (even limited over ties) are held in empty galleries. What kind of crazyness for a game is this that comes to the fore only when India plays? The sole exception till now is the IPL matches, but one has to keep in mind that it is a new format in all sense of the term. And it was marketed brilliantly. And this is where another popular game, football, is miles behind.
Even in club level matches played in Kolkata, thousands of spectators throng the stadia to cheer up their favourite club. Let's go through parts of a report published in the official website of Bayern Munich that played a friendly match with Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan on May 27 and it was the farewell match of legendary German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn.
"An astonishing 120,000 crowd packed the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on
Tuesday (May 27), but even the world’s second-largest stadium was not big enough
for Bayern. A further 20,000 potential spectators were locked out of the ground.
“I never thought this was possible. The passion here is amazing, especially in
India,” (Bayern Munich deputy chairman) Uli Hoeneß said after nine memorable and
eventful days on tour in Asia.
The frenzy surrounding the Munich party reached its zenith in Kolkata.
After a 3-0 friendly victory over Mohun Bagan, the team bus was forced to inch
its way through an exuberant mass lining (and blocking) the route for several
kilometres.
“I’m completely astonished by this world. I’ve been to Asia quite often,
but the reaction we experienced in Jakarta and Kolkata is overwhelming,” a
disbelieving coach Ottmar Hitzfeld commented. “the players were amazed too.
They’ve really enjoyed coming here,” the coach continued.The Kolkata-based organisers of his last-ever match ensured the FCB skipper was given a fitting send-off, as Kahn took delivery of a raft of gifts including a trophy studded with 8,640 diamonds and a motor scooter, before accepting the applause of the 120,000 crowd. “I believe Oliver Kahn will remember this day for a very long time,” Hoeneß commented. “I’m really pleased for Oliver, because he’s been given the farewell he deserves,” said Hitzfeld....
This is the situation when the lord and masters of Indian football care a fig about the game they govern in the country. A team like Bayern Munich came to play and key players like Bhaichung Bhutia were not freed from the national duty which was to play another friendly set at the same day. Not much marketing was done by the organisers for the match and still this happened. These people came to the stadium for the sheer love of the game. Imagine where the game could have gone if the authorities took good care of it.
Pele as a Cosmos player had come to play against Mohun Bagan in Kolkata in 1977. For many people in their mid or late 30's, they saw television for the first time as the match, in which Bagan held Cosmos 2-2, was telecast live. Gone are those days when football used to be the game of the masses in India. Why longtime AIFF president P R Dasmunshi should not be held responsible for the slide of football in the country?
Happy new year
Bhuttos & Gandhis: more similarities
In an earlier post in this blog, the similarity of the Bhuttos and the Gandhis was discussed focussing on the long list of unnatural deaths that occurred in the families. After Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has been chosen the chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, we can find another similarity (of dynastic rule) between the two families on the either side of the border.
Bilawal succeeded as PPP chief at the age of 19 after Benazir Bhutto's assassination on Thursday. Rajiv Gandhi succeeded his mother as the prime miniser of India after Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984. He also inherited the Congress president's post after his mother's death. His grand father Jawaharlal Nehru too succeeded as Congress president after his father Motilal Nehru died a natural death in 1929.
Currently the Congress president is Rajiv Gandhi's widow Sonia Gandhi who declined to become the PM after the 2004 Parliamentary election and passed the post to Dr Manmohan Singh. Her son Rahul Gandhi is now a general secretary of the party and an MP.
For some past decades, Congress activists always needed a Gandhi to lead the party. PPP too needed a Bhutto at the head. At his first public appearance before the world, Bilawal's father Asif Ali Zardari announced that he would from now on be known by his mother's name - Bhutto.
More similarities may follow now. Like the Gandhi-Nehru family, Bilawal may also have to face blood relatives. Indira Gandhi's other son Sanjay was killed in a plane crash in 1980 when his mother was the prime minister. His widow Maneka, son Varun and Indira Gandhi's nephew Arun Nehru are not in Congress now.
Bilawal's maternal uncle Murtaza, a harsh critic of Benazir, was killed in a police firing in 1996 when she was the prime minister. After his death, Murtaza's widow, Ghinwa took up the leadership of his breakaway faction of the PPP. Murtaza's daughter by his first wife, Fatima Bhutto, has also emerged as a harsh critic of her estranged aunt.
Let's hope that the similarity of bloodshed in the two families has come to a stop with Benazir.
Please also read:
1. Profile of Bilawal Bhutto
2. Nehru Gandhi family
3. Political families of India
4. Politial families of Pakistan
Benazir Bhutto's death: why Pak govt changing accounts?
The changing government versions of how Benazir Bhutto was killed is intriguing:
On Thursday, hours after Bhutto's death, the Pakistani Interior Ministry said she died from a gunshot wound to the neck. On Friday, the Interior Ministry said Bhutto was killed by shrapnel from the explosion. Then again, hours later, the ministry said she died from a skull fracture suffered when she either fell or ducked into the car as a result of the shots or the explosion and crashed her head into a sunroof latch.
Now, the question that comes up is why the government is trying to minimise the role of the attack. What will Musharraf gain from that?
Ken Robinson, who worked in U.S. intelligence in Pakistan during the Clinton administration, has the answer. Robinson suspects Bhutto's enemies are "trying to deny her a martyr's death, and in Islam, that's pretty important" as she threatens to become more influential in death than she was in life. "Her torch burns bright now forever. She's forever young; she's forever brave, challenging against all odds the party in power and challenging the military and Islamic extremism."
Only if Bhutto's family allows an autopsy, said Robinson, will the world know for certain the medical reasons behind her death. The Associated Press, quoting Cabinet sources, said Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, refused to permit an autopsy before she was laid to rest Friday.
However, the government on Saturday said it has no problem if her mortal remains was exhumed for postmortem (Click here).
Zardari and Bhutto's party PPP has dismissed the latest government version maintaining that a bullet claimed her life.
But what will happen to the election scheduled on January 8? This is what a Reuters report says: PPP may take a decision on Sunday whether to take part in the poll which Nawaz Sharif's party will boycott. The PPP could expect a sympathy vote if it participated. But a boycott by both main opposition parties would render the vote virtually meaningless.
But with Bhutto's supporters rioting in parts of the country and suicide bombers on the prowl, some analysts expect only more bloodshed if the government pushes ahead as planned."It's very, very difficult to hold elections unless tempers are cooled off and it's not possible in such a short time," said retired general and political analyst Talat Masood.
The Election Commission said 11 of its offices in Sindh had been torched and voting material including electoral rolls destroyed. Security in two northwestern regions also raised doubts about voting there, it said.
Jamiat-e-ulema-e-Islam, an Islamist party strong in the volatile North West Frontier Province, said it was hard to see how people could vote safely."The situation in the country is very critical. Especially in Sindh province." .
Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, whose small party was already planning to boycott the poll, also questioned whether it was feasible to hold an election."There is so much tension on the street, how are they going to have polling booths manned?"
Musharraf, needing support from the next parliament, will have to weigh the risks of holding polls on time or seeking a postponement. The former army chief's popularity had already slumped after he clashed with the judiciary this year and imposed emergency rule for six weeks from early November. The party that backs him, the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), could gain from a Sharif party boycott, especially in the key province of Punjab.
The Bhuttos, the Gandhis and the Kennedys
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi today marks the end of another dazzling political career from the Bhutto family and found similarities with the families of Gandhis and Kennedys.
Bhuttos:
Benazir's father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, also a former Prime Minister, was hanged in 1979 by the then military regime of Zia ul Haq who had deposed him in a coup. Both of Benazir Bhutto's brothers -- Shahnawaz and Murtaza died earlier. While Shahnawaz was found dead in his French Riviera apartment in Nice in 1985 under mysterious circumstances, Murtaza died in a police encounter in Karachi in 1996 when she was the prime minister.
Gandhis:
Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, was killed by her own bodyguards at her official residence in 1984.
Her successor and son Rajiv Gandhi was also assassinated by the LTTE in Tamil Nadu seven years later while bidding like Benazir Bhutto for another term in the prime ministerial office.
Sanjay, another son of Indira Gandhi, had died in a plane crash in the Indian capital in 1980, shortly after her mother, Indira, had made a triumphant return to power.
Kennedys:
The fate of the Kennedy dynasty in the United States has been somewhat similar.
John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. His brother Robert was also shot dead five years later. JFK's son John Jr died in a plane crash in 1999.
(The above post is a slightly edited version of a PTI report published in Deccan Herald.)
Please also read:
1. Benazir Bhutto obituary
2. Q&A: Benazir Bhutto assassination
3. Life in pictures: Benazir Bhutto
4. Benazir was committed towards democracy: India
