The Indian Chopper - M.S. Dhoni 

 I recall I was in class Xth and the board exam was at the door knocking hard. 

"You have to be serious now, as you can kick start your career right at this period of time" and a lot of things which can motivate you sometime, but sometimes can put you in the pressure cooker.And if it is a cricket series lined up, that too with Pakistan in the mid of the exam, things must have to get worse.

After a 1-1 leveled series in the Test match, I recall it was 5th of April 2005, the 2nd ODI to be played against Pakistan. Sourav Ganguly won the Toss and elected to bat first. India lost Sachin for a couple as he was struggling for form with the bat that series. 

Look who has arrived now at the crease, the one from the mining state Jharkhand. 

"Kahan kahan se player utha laate hain " some body was shouting from the back.

And i was praying how India can manage to put  good runs in the Scoreboard.

The man who was at the crease with Sehwag was none other than DHONI.

Sehwag started it in style with some leg glances and some cuts above the point region.

But the main part was yet to come after Sehwag departed. It was Dhoni all over the park now and the country hinting a power hitter in the Indian Squad. He smashed his maiden century with 148 runs, and India won the match.

And the very next day, he was the topic of discussion all over. We used to copy his shots, talked about the amount of milk  in his diet, his hair-style. And the craze is on !! Every body wanted to be DHONI.

And some years later his master knock of 183 against Srilanka proved his critics wrong again.

But i don't like him that time, for his shots. They are not stylish. they don't have a definition. Only the ball is muscled to the fence. That's it. !!

Time went by. And i was in the first year of B.Tech. India in the inaugural edition of T20 WC,under the captaincy of Dhoni. 9 out of 10 , I bet have raised the voice" What the Indian team can do without the likes of Sachin, Ganguly and Dravid ?". And they got the answers when he lifted the Trophy after the breathtaking final against Pakistan.

Suddenly i started liking him, and admiring his skills to keep cool during crunch situations and was the best thing to cheer for, and learn as well.

The drought for being the No.1 test team came to an end under his captaincy when India beat Srilanka in December 2009.

And then came the year 2011. The year to be looked for as the cricketing extravaganza. The Thirst for lifting the WorldCup, the last been in 1983( Even i was not born that time).

Whenever i watched cricket with my father, he use to give example of Kapil Dev, Chetan Sharma, Srikaanth, Roger Binny. And also he talked about the charm of winning the cup in 1983.

So Winning the WorldCup is not just a glory for my country, But to show him what the generation now can do ? 

It was that night 2nd April, Billions of hearts bleeding blue, and i was one of them. Chasing a target of 275, India lost Sehwag and Sachin cheaply. ( The same Sachin went cheaply during the chase back in 2003 WC Final against the Aussies). Indian middle order has the fight of their life. After the dismissal of Kohli, He came. ( People started criticizing his decision of promoting himself up the order). But what happened next was History. The wait has ended and we are the new Champions in the Globe.

And the best thing was the finish. Length Ball !! Long On Six !! Staring at it, till the gravity pulls it down !! Removing one Stump !! and Tears of happiness. We have done it. 

I can forget cricket, But can't forget that Shot. Even i can say that to my son, what my father used to tease me with the 1983 win.

Time has changed. That is History with the paced up life and the paced up cricket all around. 

What impresses me more is the way MSD lead the team.

Whenever we win, he is GOD. Whenever we lose, Criticism talks badly. 

And we forget after all cricket is played by human beings. Some body wins and the other loses.

That's why we call it a game.

I am not talking the way the cricket has headed this part of time. I am talking about the man who serves the best for the nation. I am talking about DHONI.

"DHONI - Dynamic Hero Of Nation India "

The way he conducts himself on and off the field. You cannot be the same everywhere and Dhoni is none the less. The Dhoni we see in Cricketing field is entirely different from what he is. He is such an adorable gentleman on and off the field. He is so sincere to whatever he is doing and that keeps him moving forward to greater heights. And that's why i am the greatest admirer of him.  He has done so coming from the cricketing backwaters, and through a home-made batting and wicketkeeping technique, and a style of captaincy that scales the highs and lows of both conservatism and unorthodoxy.  

After every game we lose, people ask me " Are you Still with Dhoni ?"

And that's what i reply " aM Still with Dhoni" .

And will cheer when he will come into bat.  Cheer for MSD . Cheer for Team India.

Guess what ???  The Chopper has landed !!

                                                                              -Chinmay-

Home Coming :- A dream .

You know what is common between , When i first opened my eyes, when i first crawled, when i walked few steps and fell down, when i uttered "maa" for the first time , when i first went to school, when i stood first in the Exam ?? .........Its my Home.

This is what Dictionary says about the definition of Home.

"Noun - The place where one lives permanently", esp. as a member of a family or household.

But it definitely has a different meaning for all of us.

Things have changed now-a-days . Every body wants to get away from home,Work hard, make money, But  the missing link is the Home which has made us that capable.

Living far changes you forever. And if it's overseas,you have a different experience. You will never be the same and will never see things the same way again. 

I mentioned this to a friend after having lived abroad for half an year. He looked at me confused and responded," Oh Come on yaar , don't be so depressing !"

It happens, suddenly you changed your life styles, started compelling yourself for every disciplines.But forgot that you are from here only, the place which your body smells,sees,hears,feels and talks.

The first time i experienced it was after returning home from abroad in the late 2012 from Johannesburg. My Home town,which before had given me a sense of comfort and belonging,upon returning seemed stifling and bereft of warmth.

I moved about my days feeling that something was missing but I had no idea what it could be. I eventually came face to face with the starling reality that my home would never, ever again feel the same as it had before. I had sealed my fate the moment I had boarded that plane six months before.

I don’t think there is really any way to describe this feeling to those who haven’t experienced it themselves.  It’s a little like free-falling.  It feels as if we are floating aimlessly on restless waters.  We feel distinctly ungrounded.

What, exactly, is it that causes us to feel this way? Why is it more pronounced when living in a different country than just living in a different city? Does the degree of difference between our home country and the target country determine the degree of change we will experience upon returning?

Life is now busy with work. Tiresome is the word that is inherited and the vitamin capsules has no answer to it. Cheap voip calls to checking the conversion rate has become a daily routine. Still i am happy ?? A big question though !!!

Although it is true that those initial feelings of strangeness have subsided, I still feel that something will never be the same even now, so many years later. Yet when I am back there, I feel the pull to return here, the place I call home. It is as if I am living in a kind of suspended reality, never really here and never really there; restless.

The joy of having spent time in another country is that you slowly become a part of it and bit-by-bit one of its people. Our attention to detail is heightened and we make a concerted effort to understand and fit in until we become one with our new location.  What I have seen and felt and heard and smelled in each of the places I have lived has made me who I am, like a wine having picking up its surrounding elements.

Thus, the final question I ask myself is no longer whether I will ever have that complete sense of home again, that sense of knowing I belong in one place above all others without doubt.  I now ask myself how I can feel at home where I am at this very moment, in this place, with these experiences; each moment finding my way back home.

But i am left out unanswered ..... In fact you all are !! Still we are far away from Home. Still we are happy. Coz a fake smile sometimes can make it. A smile that comes from the face, as the smile from the heart already have perished.

To all those who miss Home ...... !!!              -----Chinmay----- 

DABBA - The lunch time experience

Suddenly I realized, i hadn't written something for a long time. The last been a 3 months back about loving someone whom you never met before.
Even the worst thing is that, I didn't even have an idea for a story. 
So it’s time to utilize Microsoft office tools and do a free writing exercise in place of a story, and simply accept my physical and creative limitations.
So it is the story of the Lunch Box – We used to call it DABBA.
The most searched item in the school bag.

“Chipun…come here!” Maa was screaming in the morning, running after me with a glass of milk in her hand. It was a regular weekday, and the bonding with my bed in the cold winter morning, still pulling me down under the blanket.

“Ohh Maa !! Can i skip School one day??” And guess what have happened next.

Lectures Lectures Lectures !! Just can close the ear and feel why i ain't deaf ?

I was now in Std-Viii , and according to me, i am enough grown up to skip milk. Small babies drank milk, and not the children who go the big school. All his friends talked about drinking cold drinks instead of milk. 

Why am not carrying chips to school instead of a tiffin box, which was carried by babies and kids.

‘Maa, please! I hate milk…’ But i never knew what i hate the most is the mandate for me L. At last got up, got ready for the school and are you still wondering what happened to the milk?? Half became a part of my digestive system (let the digestive enzyme screw that up) and half were drained off in the basin with a tight flow of water side along.

Finally it’s time to go for school, My Hercules AXN ready for the jolts on the road.
‘Wait, you’re forgetting something…’ said Maa, as she picked up the tiffin box.
“What’s there today??”  It’s your favorite Roti and Aloo Bhaja. 

So it’s time to reach the bus stop before the Bus leave the Stop. And what to say about the conductor?? He never allowed me to put my head out of the windows.
Hope i can write his name as the example of bad conductor in the electronics class. :p

It was a big group of ours in the School. Half of them are seriously studious, and few were gluttons who can eat up everything that came there way, even the chalks and the duster.

After a tiresome four back to back classes, we felt like “ chuha daud raha hai pet mein” . Seriously its not chuha, Some times Cat and dogs too !!

Even sometimes we finish it in between the classes , so that we can get enough time to play during the recess break. And even many times were caught eating during classes and were thrown out of the class and sometimes caned also.

But it was the DABBA which matters. The fight for it, the bite of the biggest slice matters as well.

The best thing is the way of approaching it .Just like the way the village dogs approach the flesh.

            Just a simple logic: -
 

            Open it, Put your hand with the threshold and close your eyes. 

        The next moment nothing is left, even no one can realize what was there inside?

            Things have seriously changed now. 

            It’s time to stay far away from home. Cook your own food.
            Pack your DABBA for the lunch and rush for the Office.
            One day I realized is it not the same story?? But the context has changed.

            Time is flying though it has not got wings. 

           That was a day of LEARNING. And now it’s the day of EARNING.

           What comes common in between is the DABBA.

           Dedicated to all my friends who are part of my DABBA journey J