THE OLD MAN WITH HIS PLATE

The beggar in my street
The subject of my hate
An eyesore I felt he was
The old man with his plate

Sunshine or rains, chill or heat
Never had I pity for his fate
Yet he had that toothy grin
The old man with his plate

Mosquitoes crowned his head
Flies and insects were his mates
He shared his food with the dogs
The old man with his plate

He blessed one and all
Many pitied his state
Wrinkles ran all over his face
The old man with his plate

The crowd gathered one day
Around the subject of my hate
The old man was no more
Remained only the empty plate

He was a beggar indeed
But never stole other's plate
Felt I missed him
Put a coin in his empty plate

Life moves like a river
Stops and starts at every gate
Life moves on, so did
The old man with his plate

... Suresh M Iyer

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS!!

Only two teams retained their color and passion during this entire IPL season 4.  One was Mumbai Indians which looked more like Mumbai team and Chennai Super Kings which looked more like Chennai team.  That kept their fan base intact and they played much like a family.  No wonder, these two teams made it to the semi-finals.  Kolkata Knight Riders was the best side packed with quality spinners.  Whereas Royal Challengers Bangalore rocked due to that one man Chris Gayle.  Apart from them, only Kings XI Punjab came close.  The other teams went flat and did not perform as well as they should.  They were more of a hotch-potch kind of teams and their respective team owners made a cardinal mistake of not bidding for their players in the previous season and making wrong choices.  The most foolish choice was of Daniel Christian by Deccan Chargers.  What merit did they see in this player, who could not bat or bowl properly?

Due to this huge gap in quality between these top five teams and the rest, the long tournament did not live upto expectations, as by the half way stage of the tournament, everyone exactly knew who could make the top four and that killed the suspense.  The turning point of IPL came during the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and the Mumbai Indians.  KKR was the best team of this IPL which just did not delivered at crunch times.  Had they won that game, they could have climbed to No.2 and CSK would have dropped to No.3, which could have changed the equations in the tournament.  But, Mumbai Indians pulled of an amazing win due to the foolishness of the wicketkeeper of the KKR team.  Mumbai Indians needed 22 runs in 7 balls.  It was the last ball of the 19^th over and James Franklin, who was batting greatly, was on the other end.  In the last ball of the 19^th over, Franklin was on the other end and Ambati Rayudu who was just new to the crease was batting.  He took off for a comfortable single and there was no reason for the wicketkeeper to throw the ball wildly at the stumps which led to an overthrow.

As a result, Franklin faced the 20^th over bowled by Balaji.  The result is history.  Franklin scored the first four balls for boundaries and scored a single in the fifth ball, leaving Ambati Rayudu to score three runs off the last ball.  Rayudu hit it for a six.  As a result, KKR lost and CSK was back to No.2 and from then there was no stopping them from rolling over Royal Challengers Bangalore twice in the semi-finals and the finals and clinching the prestigious trophy.

Other teams had the batsmen with the largest score, bowlers with the maximum wickets, but CSK rocked because it was a great team.  No one will speak about the performances of Shadab Jakati, Albie Morkel, Srikkanth Anirudha, and Randiv who were the silent pillars of this great team.  The best were always Ashwin, Bollinger, Raina and Badrinath who deserves to be in World Cup 2015.  The reason why CSK is the best team is because they are an amazing fielding unit too.

Twenty 20 World Cup

IPL 2010

Challengers trophy 2010

World Cup 2010

IPL 2011

Now, please don’t say Dhoni is a fluke.  Dhoni is the best captain and deserves all the praise.

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Lastly, I also wish the other Chennai Super King Rajini a speedy recovery.  I would like him sizzle the screen again with me and Dhoni cheering him by the sidelines.

Exam blues and the HSC SSC Exam results saga

Exam blues and the HSC SSC Exam results saga

My nephew got 89% in HSC (Science group) and is sulking as he expected more than 90%.  He is such a bright boy and thinks that with these marks he won’t be able to pursue Mechanical Engineering, which is his ambition.  Such is the stress level faced by students these days that even when they are preparing for 12^th standard exams, they have to start thinking of the next level, as they prepare for several Entrance exams.  To add to his woes, he could never aspire for an Engineering Seat in Maharashtra as he is not eligible for a domicile certificate despite spending his majority of years studying in Ahmednagar and Talegaon, a town near Pune.  I can never understand this absurd rule where a student is considered a foreigner by the state in which he is studying because he falls technically short by x no. of years.  This made him try out Entrance examinations at the national level.

Such level of stress make students vulnerable and robs their innocence at an age where they should be enjoying their life and aspire for better things in life.  The structure of education in India is complex and never clear.  Too many boards at the school level like the ICSE, CBSE apart from the State Board and no consistency in the school and college syllabus makes matters far more worse.  Adding to the woes is the low and conflicting level of teaching staff.  I am talking only about the private schools.  Regarding the situation in Government schools, the less said, the better.  There has been a lot of expert views in this topic, but some issues require more common sense rather than any major policy decisions.

One such issue relates to the production of attested photocopies of mark sheets for admissions to colleges, various courses and various jobs.  This results in great demand for gazetted officers, who give signatures attesting the photocopies of the certificates as if they own the certificates.   Why can’t have an unique code in the marksheet that can lead to a database where you can verify the correctness of the marksheet at any point of time.  Just like a PNR No. check done for Railway tickets.  All this hassle behind attestation will go away, and the student need not feel overly concerned with the preservation of the original marksheets.  Today, Mutual funds deliver e-statements that can be opened online anytime with a Password that leads to a PDF document.  Even SC/ ST certificates can be made online. 

        Don’t you think this is possible?   

UNNOTICED UNSEEN

I woke up one day
Unnoticed, unseen
The sparrows were chirping
Did not mind me between

I poked them gently
The sparrows got scared
Seeing them fly
I went mad

I ran out into the streets
Naked and free
Hurled pebbles on passersby
Watched them flee with glee

I felt like a king
In this blind men’s paradise
Shocking poor fellows at will
Making fun of their cries

I was shaken hard
By someone I could not see
I rubbed my eyes
Could see only darkness around me

It was my mother
She put me on her lap
Tears filled my eyes
As I went into recap

I wished my dreams were true
I could see the world go blind
Why O Lord,
You robbed away my sight
What was my fault,
You made me Blind

Keep the fire burning

The fire keeps burning
No water to quench
Look at the sky
The air is so dry
No moist clouds
To bring the rains around
Many trees have vanished
The earth looks parched
Before we are left dead
Let us keep the fire burning
Give back to the earth
Restore the trees anon
Bring back the rain
To wash away all the pains
The droplets of water
Keep the air fresh and cool
Let the sun hide behind the clouds
Rainbow adorn the big blue sky
Dances like a peacock
Let Romance fill the air
Make your sweetheart feel shy

----- Suresh Iyer

AMMA

 

MY MOTHER SULOCHANA 

My Amma, born in Kaattumanarkoil, Tamil Nadu came to Dombivli near Mumbai in the 1960s with no knowledge of Marathi as my father used to work in Mumbai.  Educated upto SSLC in Tamil Medium alongwith Typewriting and Shorthand, it is always fascinating to hear Amma’s stories about life in a chawl at Dombivli where everyone else spoke Marathi.  Even for buying groceries or vegetables, Amma used to show the things and speak in broken English to get things done.  Appa spent the whole day in office, so it was left to Amma to manage the house.  Today Amma speaks Marathi better than the Maharashtrians and is more Maharashtrian than a Tamilian.  Amma has a fantastic memory and always have some or other tales right from her childhood to date.  She is excellent in General knowledge and can chat on any topic right from Osama Bin Laden to the neighborhood water problem.  Amma spoke things from the heart and never knew how to be diplomatic.  She sometimes falls into trouble due to this.  At the same time, she is very sensitive but can never hide anything from others.  Amma is among the old residents of Dombivli and knows all areas in and out.  Everyone likes to call her by the name “Amma” right from the librarian to the milk shop owner to the rickshaw wallah. At the age of 62, Amma does all the house hold work, buys groceries from outside and attends to even banking work.  She is a master in managing finances even though she never writes down anything.  With age, Amma is becoming insecure of her life and is losing her sleep.  Dombivli has also become urbanized and people in the locality have also changed and not as warm as in Amma’s younger days.  She always loves to live life to the fullest.  I always fight with Amma and have a tendency to take her for granted.  I need not say “Thank you” to Amma, as it is a special Bond that goes beyond saying “Thank you.”  Even today, Amma takes care of my belongings as I was in my younger days.  I am not ashamed to say that I am a mama’s son.  It is always a pleasure to take money from Amma for buying things I like.  Amma has never gone to work or much educated, but she is the comforting factor for all of us.  It may come as a surprise for others, but even today, I do not know Amma or Appa’s birth date.  We have been brought up in such a way that there was not show of celebration in house but pure joy.  Speaking of Amma always bring tears to my eyes, it is too personal a bond that I cannot ever explain in words.  I wish God to give strength to Amma to be as active as ever and be a comforting presence in my life.

Always an AMMA's Son

Suresh