Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians (21st April, 2013)

3:50 pm : The first news i heard about todays match is of Sir Vivian Richards now being a part of the Delhi Daredevils team management. What a move !!! 10k claps. If the team is looking for inspiration to play out of their skins and still remain in contention of the trophy, then this great man is best suited to turn the tide for favourable results.

On the other hand Mumbai still don’t have their opens figured out. Pondulkar (lol) isn’t working. It doesn’t take a think tank to analyze that, its so obvious. They need to change the combination. Ponting on 1^st down and maybe Rohit Sharma to open with Tendulkar. And If a slot has to be replaced than it has to be done with someone who is scoring, not someone to test. Rohit did bat well for Deccan as an opener.

I am also thinking about the moment in this match when my cricket hero Sachin Tendulkar will perform or fail. Irrespective of that, i will be bound to feel the emotion for him. Then i think about the tournament. We need to win this match to break the losing streak. 

4:15 pm : What a brilliant start by Delhi. That’s how a fast bowler starts bowling for this team. Great start by Irfan. And am glad that Ponting is not out to open. Smith is a good move but I would really like to see Rohit Sharma open with Sachin for a couple of innings.

5:08 pm : I knew this bittersweet moment will come in the match when my national team favourites Sachin and Rohit would perform, I am glad to see them score but also pissed about scoring against my team. On the other hand, Delhi seems to be operating with a mission but messing up with the fielding. Teams like CSK and RCB are brilliant fielding units and this department of the game actually brings results.

8:08 pm: I simply needed some shelter from the ViruCane. This is the proof of the statement ‘1 man army’. Long have the Delhi and all cricket fans waited for such show of batting display. The Innings was a perfect blend of brute force of a shot gun in Sehwag and the finesse of a sniper rifle in Jayawardene.

In one of the interviews of Sir Richards during the match, the anchor asked him about his way of putting some value in the team. Richards told them ‘do them before they do to you’, said the West Indian who created havoc in the bowling world. And thanks we did get inspired. For the Mumbai Indians, ViruCane was the dark day with thunder bolts all around.

Splendid, I got to watch two of my favourite batsmen in Mumbai (Sachin & Rohit) score good and most importantly, dominate. And then my home team launched the run chase, unleashed from the mental block of uncertainty & won the match with ease. The road might be end for Delhi this year but they can still make someone else’s day bad when it will come to single point at the top of the table. As Mr Gavaskar said, Delhi was careless in the last 6 matches, today they were carefree. Waiting for the team to dominate the rest of the tournament as a team !!!

Royal Challengers Bangalore (vs) Chennai Super Kings

 What a match !!! This was indeed a surgical victory. The way the mammoth score of 205 was chased down by CSK will wake up the sleeping giants for the rest of the series. Probably a thing for other teams to worry about. Having said that, as the competition heads towards the middle stages, the rest of the teams need to do the same. But seriously such wins always inspire the teams to insanity. Csk players played their roles with perfection. They gave their respect to Vettori, Zaheer and Murali but mercilessly massacred the rest of the bowling attack. This is a good example of strategies of keen cricket learners. Gayle must be heart-broken but then thats the nature of the game. You got to move on to the next match forgetting the previous match. The series is open to all now.

Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings

 

A great start by the Mumbai Indians and I think it was an usual start by the Chennai Super Kings. A loss in the 1st game doesn’t really count much when there are about 16 matches to be played. The game may be very short to stage recoveries but the duration of the tournament has been long enough to make fans witness lots of ups and down of their favorite teams. There were a few sparks in the match that really predicts a flashier tournament by players in both the teams. Having said that, I am not taking anything away from my favorite Mumbai Indians. There can be only 1 winner and in this match Mumbai Indians outdid Chennai Super Kings in all the 3 aspects of the game – batting, bowling and fielding. Execution is such an important bridge that leads to success.
Talking about the sparks, I loved couple of shots by Bravo. What a utility player he is! CSK did a very brilliant things by getting him in but I still fail to wonder why Ravinder Jadeja was the most expensive player this year? He is a good player but his good luck is a mystery. Bollinger and Morkel also seems to be in good touch. Levi, what can I say about him? He looked a little fazed when the innings started but then he composed himself and butchered the CSK bowling. Great to see a 50 runs opening partnership for MI. Sachin Tendulkar looked like the man he was in 1998. The six over covers was one of the most gorgeous shots he used to play. Heart warming to see that come up with intent.
However, I was not happy with the scores. This kind of scores isn’t good for T20 cricket. Especially in IPL when being played in the sub-continent. Hoping it was the pitch and this won’t be the trend in the rest of the matches to follow.
Great match tomorrow. KKR vs DD, my team. Its either Delhi or Mumbai who will win the IPL this year.

What’s easy to make is easier to break.

Life is a teacher no matter how philosophical it may sound but is true. Right from the childhood, either we are self content and well provided or we just cover the needs with a sublime covering of the future. The growing stages of life also takes us through the forest of experience. Some we put it in our hearts and accept them as the companions for the journey. Others we might consider as a stumble upon the way, at times it may just give us the wake up call to be alert, at times it might just throw us on the ground and bruise the false belief of a shield. Maybe its just a matter of opinion. What would be your highlight ? The cursed stone you stumbled upon or the experience you got ?

I used to think that I have the most extra-ordinary life. That was till I met the extra-ordinary people. Then i realized that time has tested nearly everyone and I am another one among many to pass it. As I entered the next phase, I was introduced to a chapter everytime. I have a bag full of such experiences. Not that I didn’t have my embarrassing, some I wish my mind doesn’t remember, the ones when the heart detests. I have experienced a broken faith. A moment when the dreams are shattered. Ironically the previous line is something I used in my poems. Life gave it an existence.

So far I was content with the way everything was going on in my life, until I stumbled. So big was the stumble that I dropped the crystal of faith from my bag and it broke into pieces. When I came across it, it said it was looking for someone to walk the journey and I was appallingly glad to have a companion. The tiresome walk of life gave us the shelter of an accomplice. And we were more than glad, even ended up making promises like rainfall. Later just remembered that it rained but have no clue where the water went. Coming back to the crystal, my faith was broken, my beliefs were shredded. The eternal vows remained in the rugged path. Man has lost the syndrome of care. The voice within reminds of just another step when the legs don’t live with you anymore.

I started coming across more people on the path and started sharing acquaintances. Everyone had their story to tell. Everyone had a bag on their back. There were none who didnt take the fall. I was not alone. The crystal was just the additional weight that reasoned my stumble. The devil wanted me to give up the journey, I ended up giving it back nothing. Afterall the greatest trick that the devil pulled is in convincing people that he doesn’t exist. The devil took days to build the faith on the crystal and to teach a lesson, life broke it in a moment.

Phoenix un-wired

Courage dares pain,
History has witnessed
And hailed the glorious.
The heaviest thoughts are backed by lasting experience.
Some moments to live till eternity ,
Some takes a lifetime to forget.
With the blink of an eye,
The space for freedom is unveiled. Reality shaken and vision is cleared,
Oh what a dream it had been.
Braving whirlpools of deception,
Running through the maze of broken promises,
To the cliff to embrace the raising sun.
The heart is filled with hope.
The mind is wild.
Life is looking at the morning dew.
With the freshness of being new.
Every time its been wounded,
The phoenix flies over and sheds a tear,
Strengthens the weakened thread of faith.
Life has seen itself over generations,
Though to one it may seem like a mirage.
The truest human emotion has been surpassed by time.
Before the plunge,
The last anticipation for the unheard voice is sought.
Alas, it doesn't reach us.
Maybe that is meant to be left behind.

Untold Stories : The Stalker (Horror)

Piya works in a leading BPO in gurgaon. She hails from the north-eastern parts of India and had been carrying the load of expectations on her shoulders since the time she ventured out of her village. She is the 3^rd daughter in the family and the prior are very successful in their own fields. Currently she is working as a Team Leader of an outbound process, US market dealing in wireless tele-communication products. Her team consists of 17 members and she has made sure its 17 only in numbers but 1 in spirit. Her beauty made most guys have a crush on her and her personality commands respect from every soul she meets. A woman with a good heart made her a complete human being. Trojans as her team was named, have been breaking all records and was the best team of the organization for the last 14 months.

She used to stay in Moti-Bagh, about 30 minutes away from her office. She shares the 3 room flat with another girl from Sikkim who is pursuing bachelors in English from Jesus & Mary. The Trojans were doing a 6pm-2am shift. So Piya used to return home by about 3:00-3:30 am. Her usual routine after reaching home be a nice long bathe followed by some food and television. She didn’t have anyone to talk to at this wee hour of the day. But she was happy with her life as she earned good money and held a nice position at work.

This incident happened some weeks back. As she was ready to retire from the day, she said her prayers and shut her eye-lids. After about an hour, probably as she started dreaming, she felt as if something heavy was kept on her chest. Thinking it was the weight of the blanket, she tried to remove it but the weight did not go. Now even her hands and legs were slowly getting heavier, as in as if some weight was placed on her. She tried to call out to her room mate but her voice was lost in the darkness of the night. Suddenly she saw a strange cloud formation at one corner of the room and it was getting brighter and larger until it took the shape of a full grown man. She still couldn’t move, nor could she utter a word. Slowly the figure climbed on top of her and lay on top as if it was a blanket or lemme rather put it across as if the figure was trying to sexually molest her but it didn’t. Rather it kept staring directly into her face, the distance between their face was about 6 cms. This went on for about 10 minutes but it definitely seemed like years. Eventually Piya passed out. When she woke up in the morning she saw strange marks on her arms and legs and chest. The marks resembled that of a grip when held very hard. Her room mate was very scared and they visited the doctor and relatives. The doctor thought it might be some form of a multiple personality disorder scenario and gave her medication and recommended vigilant observation. But the marks were strange. However, she was admitted in the hospital with the best of doctors taking up her case. But she just couldn’t get rid of the cloud stalker. It was there everywhere and now the figure was growing stronger and more evident as each day passed by. If she would be sitting with people in her room, the cloud would appear at one end of the room and take the shape of a full grown man and keep staring at her, some saw it too while others didn’t and dismissed it as a figment of imagination. Piya was getting berserk each day. If she traveled by a vehicle, the stalker would follow her, it would appear in the bathroom, it was everywhere.

One fine day, a tantrik after getting in terms with the case visited her place and performed some ceremonies and advised her to leave the city, if possible the state at the earliest possible. But she had to clear the house of every sign that led to her, even a strand of hair.

Its been more than 3 years since the incident took place and Piya had moved to another country (un-disclosed) but she lost her mental balance. Life wasn’t same for her anymore and the mystery of the stalker was never solved.

Deja-vu deciphered (concept)

At times when we walk to the cafeteria to re-fill our coffee mugs and a colleague pats on the
shoulders and says "hi", we reply back but we stand struck in time – confused but affirmative
that this incident has occurred earlier. We feel as if we have been through/seen this exact
scenario. Scene by scene, every moment appears to be so familiar yet so mystic/distanced. I used
to feel that I was blessed with this unique phenomenon. My assumption was however shredded
when I ventured to learn more about it. And then I was introduced to the world of ‘Deja-vu’. I
was somewhat relieved that a huge section of people experience it.


Not going by the physics of time or principles of chemistry, I put forward a concept that might
be a relative probability that leads a person to experience the phenomenon. This concept as I
enumerate below is based purely on personal experience and understanding of the world and its
characteristics.


General physics has proved that everything is made up of energy – consisting of positive as well
as negative charge. For a moment let’s assume that our universe is a single charge and there is
another universe with the opposite charge standing parallel to us. Existence is a mirror image.
The only difference is it is ahead of us in time. Whatever motion takes place in our universe
happened exactly ahead in time in the other universe, this includes me writing this article and
you reading it. You in this universe are reading it now but you in the other universe read it
sometimes back.


I put this theory forward questioning the possibility for anyone to experience deja-vu without he/
she physically having been through the situation before. How can someone predict a future when
he has not seen one himself? Well this is possible as the sub-conscious mind connects to the
parallel universe and the suspense of the future in our universe is revealed in the history of the
other universe.


So next time a sooth-sayer predicts your future, it’s not because he is holy but as he could
connect to the parallel universe with his sub-conscious mind.

Girl’s PG prank (Horror)

The Gurgaon-Mehrauli horror incident left Joy in a permanently altered state of mind. He simply couldn't process what had happened. At one point, he even sought therapy. Most of us assumed he was going through a recovery phase, but only he knew what was truly going on inside him. Life was never the same for him again. He became obsessed with uncovering the mysteries of life—both the stories that were told and the ones that remained unheard.

I met him last winter in Noida. It was a pleasant evening, gathering with old friends over drinks and cigarettes. Some in the group didn’t drink, but the conversations flowed effortlessly. That evening, we discovered Joy had spent some time in the wilderness. He shared tales of rural legends and obscure mysteries, but one story nearly froze my spine.

It was a story from Pune, about a girls' hostel in a renowned institute. The beginning of the academic year had brought many bright new faces. Some students managed to secure spots in the college hostel, while others had to find accommodations in private apartments—places commonly known as "messes." The term took on its true meaning in such settings, as I had come to learn firsthand.

Now, let me introduce you to Mae—a brilliant and enthusiastic young woman from Manipur, in Northeast India. She had shattered academic records, and her presence inspired admiration from the men on campus and envy from the women. Mae was the talk of the college complex.

Despite her intelligence and charm, Mae struggled with loneliness. She longed for companionship from people who shared her cultural background—a common feeling at the start of a new journey. Over time, new places become home, but the transition isn't always easy. She also found it difficult to adjust to hostel life, which was vastly different from the comforts of her home. This period can break a person or push them to excel. Mae was the latter—strong-willed and determined. She had never given up in life, not even when she had to face the silent battles within the girls' hostel. Some of her hostelmates resented her, especially those who had been dumped by their boyfriends, who were drawn to Mae. Yet, within a month, she had won over half the people in the hostel. The other half, however, conspired in the shadows.

Mae’s dormitory housed eight girls, with bunk beds arranged in sets of two. She had a habit of taking a shower late at night, long after the others had fallen asleep. Then, she would climb into her bed, switch on her reading light, retrieve her favourite book from under her pillow, and read for 30 to 45 minutes before drifting off to sleep.

Riya, the mastermind behind Mae’s silent adversaries, was obsessed with bringing her down as if she had been born for this one purpose. Frustrated by Mae’s resilience, she devised a sinister prank. She instructed her gang to steal a severed human hand from the institute’s laboratory specimen jar. Once they acquired it, Riya placed the cold, lifeless hand beneath Mae’s pillow, anticipating that she would scream hysterically upon discovering it. The other girls, pretending to be asleep, were ready to wake up and mock her. The plan was executed that very night.

At precisely 10:45 PM, with the lights out, Mae followed her usual routine. She took a shower, climbed into bed, and began towel-drying her hair. She was humming a song—her voice as melodious as a nightingale’s. The other girls lay motionless, feigning sleep, waiting for the inevitable shriek.

But it never came.

Silence filled the room. The anticipation grew unbearable, but no one dared to turn around and check. Minutes passed. Finally, unable to contain her curiosity, Riya turned to look at Mae.

And then, she screamed.

The others quickly switched on the lights and turned toward Mae. What they saw made the ground slip from beneath their feet. Mae was sitting in her bed, devouring the severed hand—the very one placed under her pillow in place of her book.

No one moved. No one spoke. Time seemed frozen.

Mae was later admitted to a psychiatric institution, where doctors declared that she would require indefinite treatment. The trauma of expecting her favourite book and instead finding something so horrifying had snapped something inside her mind, shattering her sanity beyond repair.

Riya and her gang were punished, but the damage had already been done—irreversible, intolerable.

And so, this story, too, was buried—by the authorities, by time.

Untold stories : Gurgaon-Mehrauli road (Horror)

I have been working in delhi-ncr for some time till now. I met many people while traveling from 1 place to another. I work in a BPO so get to listen to some stories from the cab drivers who at times talk about strange incidents. I have as always been fascinated by such stories as much as I have dreaded being involved in 1.

Hari bhaiya was assigned to drop us home one morning at 2:30 from noida to delhi. He was a nice young jovial person and seemed to gel very well with the staff. He went to crack jokes and narrate stories of his experiences. Originally from Haryana, so his accent was as pure as it could get.

As we crossed noida, he confirmed the drops that was assigned to him. A thunder struck him when Sharma from behind said that he is from Gurgaon. He requested us to first drop Sharma and then return to drop the rest. We were not at all happy about this idea and revolted with full conviction. He said he is afraid to come back alone from the Gurgaon-Mehrauli road. He has heard many stories of evil that lurks there....he has seen one. The look on his eye confirmed that this has changed his life. We asked him to stop the vehicle and assured him that we will not leave him alone on that stretch. Our hearts were inquisitive. Scared but hungry.

Hari Bhaiya is 33. This happened when he was 29. It was a morning drop at 3:30 from a bpo, gurgaon to south delhi. At that point in time, the staff usually dozes away in the cab with the open windows bringing in the cold night wind. It was a Tata Sumo with 8 staff and a driver. The complete journey till the last drop estimated to be around 1 hours and 15 minutes. 5 staffs went into their dream land the moment they got into the cab. 2 were cribbing about their managers, an usual scene in the cabs. Joy was a loner. He sat on the co-passengers seat and put on his head-phones and he was gone. At a distance of about 15 mins from base was an accident prone area. And this area has been hot with incidents and stories, mostly rumors but some they use were true. The locals had constructed a small Ganesh-ji's temple to ward off any evil spirit in the area. This place was about 100 meters from the village. A little secluded but in the night it feels like a mile.

Being repeatedly true to its reputation, drivers usually reduce their speed and get more focused. This area is a bend with little visibility of what's beyond the other side. There will be less life at this hour, again as always. Hari Bhaiya, as per norms reduced his speed and kept his eyes fixed on the road. However, he failed to see a block of concrete on the road and the vehicle suffered a big jerk as its tires rolled over it. All the staff woke up with surprise and anger and screamed at the driver for such rash driving. What can the driver do except to apologize. Everyone settled down and make an attempt to catch up on the sleep. At the moment they were crossing the bend. As the vehicle crossed the curve, both Joy n Hari bhaiya noticed a woman waving her hand, asking for a lift. The cab was full and sting operations posing as prostitutes were very common so they didn't respond and continued. Couple of the guys from the rear part of the vehicle joked that she might be Hari bhaiya's girl friend from the previous birth and has come for him. Everyone had a laugh on it. Joy, an introvert did share a smile with the gang. Now the vehicle had crossed the danger area and Hari bhaiya put some weight on the accelerator. The crowd settled down and Joy put on his headphone again and looked out of the window to let the cold summer night wind blow his mind out. As he turned his head to the left he screamed as if his life was at stake. Everyone turned to the left to see the same woman running along with the speed of the vehicle at a speed of 60 kms per hour with her face towards the vehicle and her tongue out off her jaws till her chest. Hari Bhaiya and the rest couldn't believe what they saw and just sped off to the 1st drop.

Life changed for these 9 people in about 2 minutes. Most crossed this stretch but it seems some have seen the same.

Even the Gods played Holi