From my book  CHILDHOOD MEMOIRS

 Goddess Saraswaty’s eldest son Mathematics holds a venerable position in the family followed by Physics. Both are allied like Ram and Laxman.

 Later on, came Chemistry and Biology. Alas! Geography and History are just poor cousins! In India our ancestors were too much concerned about Atma and Paramatma to be bothered about such mundane matters like the Mountains and Rivers and the Seas. Even Al Beruni’s India, written after A.D. 1000, contains only sketchy description of a few rivers.

 While Alexander the Great sent an expedition to explore the river Indus up to the Sea (Alexander wanted to return to Greece through the seas about which coastal Europeans were acquainted through Sea Traders from the time of Phoenicians; but the attempt failed because of inclement whether and pestilence, to the disappointment of the great Emperor), did any of the Kings who ruled this region afterwards care to do it?

 The Chinese marine traders made a map of the known world, including parts of Africa, even two millennia ago. By 18th century Portuguese made comparatively accurate maps, which were kept very secret, in consideration of Trade Wars, even though much of it was destroyed in fire.

 Captain Cook was a good Cartographer. He sailed round part of Australia and  the New Zealand islands,and the map he made is remarkably accurate. He planted the Union Jack there and on return to England offered the Island on a platter to the Queen! Thus it becomes part of Her Majesty’s Empire!

 Indian is much nearer to Australia and N.Z. With such a shore line and good quality wood for the shipping industry, we could have produced great explorers and history would have been different. We just don’t care about geography. How many of us can describe off hand, the States bordering Chattisgarh? Do we have a geographic society like the National Geographic Society (USA) for the Royal Geographic Society (UK) which foots the bill of innumerable expeditions?

 Only when the British Rule was established, a comprehensive survey of the land was undertaken. I feel that children should not be taught Geography; they should learn it like their mother tongue. They just cannot read the maps on flat papers. A Geographic park will automatically enliven their interest in the subject. The waste land South of Nizamuddin Bridge to East Delhi is ideally suited for the purpose. The outline of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh can be marked, measuring at least one kilometre, and sand excavated from surrounding “Seas’’ filled in the “subcontinent’’. Thus, Himalayas as high as 20 feet and other mountains of proportionate hight can be made.

 By fitting pipelines under the mountains, water can be made to spout from the origin of the rivers to make them “flow’’. Dams and Great Bridges can be made at actual location, along with major Rail routs and National Highway. Green grass can be grown at important grain producing plains. Shrubs can indicate forest. Suitable models of the Gateway of India, Rameshwaram Temple, Charminar etc. can show actual location of the concerned cities and towns. Even Power Plants and Electric grid can be simulated. 

 A Water Park may be made in the “Seas’’ with Floating Shops and Restaurants. Illuminated by Solar Powered Electricity, the area can became a destination point for Delhi-ites who desperately throng the India Gate in the evenings, for want of something better.

In due course, the “Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean’’ can be dug, leaving contour maps of Africa, America etc. We may think of a Deer Park in Africa and Goshala in America! And what about a Solar System where students can watch the movements of planets and occurrence of eclipses?

After a visit to the Park, children will learn more of Geography, than they can learn in ten years!

It is time for some elaborate and well-earned celebrations. India at this point of time is the number 1 Test team in the world and it is a nice place to sit and reflect on things before moving on to the bigger challenge of consolidating this position.

The fourteen players who were in the squad against Sri Lanka at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai were the last ones who came to my mind as my memory went back to listening about India playing abroad in the late seventies and early eighties. It went back to days when Sunil Gavaskar used to walk to the field and display character while playing in an era that had a battery of great fast bowlers. It also went back to Kapil Dev, Vishwanath, Jimmy Amarnath, Vengsarkar and to all those people who paved the way from the time when India were just considered pushovers in world cricket to this day.

Of course it went to our fabulous spinners; the unmatched Bishen Singh Bedi and the quartet that had Eknath Solker, near the bat, as a part of their hunting pack. Sandeep Patil hitting a spectacular 174 in the Adelaide Test after having been hit on the head by Len Pascoe on his ear in the Sydney Test of the 1980-81 series came to my mind. The list is long in this 77-year-old history and each step has meant something.

Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble can be clubbed with the squad of fourteen as they are an integral part of recent successes. Ganguly displayed steely resolve after his comeback and Kumble showed what a tremendous leader he is. The graph can be plotted from end-2007 when India defeated Pakistan 1-0 at home with the last Test finishing on December 12.

This was after a hectic ODI season and commercial greed ensured that India went to Australia without much of a rest or a decent conditioning camp and no time to acclimatise apart from one game that was washed out. Melbourne was the wicket that would have suited India the best and the bowlers did well to keep Australia below 350.

Two tour games may have shown form and adjustment factor. Sehwag may have played from the start and Yuvraj could have warmed the bench; our experts did not get it but Ian Chappell was right when he said that Sehwag may give just about 50 but his attack puts the train in motion. An attacking opener at the top would have put the bowlers on the defensive and the middle order could then have taken things forward. Yuvraj had made runs in India and so the entire furniture was rearranged to accommodate him. India lost the first Test by 337 runs and Ponting said he hadn’t expected such an easy win.

Then it was time for the back-to-back Sydney Test in the New Year and along with it a chance for Australia to match its previous highest winning streak of 16 Test matches on the trot. Never mind the washed out preparation game as that bit happened in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. In hindsight, Sydney was very unlucky for Andrew Symonds in the long-run and it was lucky in the long-run for India.

On the match days, though, every bit of luck went Australia’s way beginning with the toss. “We’re going to bat today, mate,” said Ponting. “The wicket looks pretty good, a bit of moisture this morning. We played well in Melbourne but that’s all behind us now. We created momentum and hope to do the same. It was as good Test cricket as we’ve played in a long time.”

Anil Kumble looked calm and confident. “There’ll be early juice in the wicket; I’m looking forward to a couple of early wickets,” Cricinfo’s commentary said. The attack was RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble. RP got both the openers cheaply and then Ponting and Hussey consolidated but from 119 for 2 in 29.4 overs Australia slumped to 134 for 6 in 34.5 overs. Brad Hogg joined Symonds, who had seven runs from 17 balls, and the counterattack started.

At the end of 46 overs Hogg was 35 and Symonds 29 when Ishant came in to bowl the 47th over with Australia on 191. At 193 for 6 on the fourth ball of Ishant Sharma, Symonds got a massive edge and looked back as Dhoni pouched it. Umpire Steve Bucknor was stone faced as Symonds looked at him. It was a giveaway. Australia ended up with 463 and Symonds added 132 more to his score of 30 when he had got that big let-off. On top of that the drama of a ‘reported incident’ at the end of the third day’s play meant that news agencies had a field day. That continued for a while.

To cut the long story short, Australia went on to win the game as India failed to survive over two and a half sessions on the last day and the team trailed 2-0 in the four Test series with the next match to be played in the Australian den at Perth.

Sehwag and Irfan Pathan got in the playing eleven and Harbhajan was out in the cold awaiting the decision of a judge after the acrimonious Sydney Test. Australia crumbled despite talks of a four-pronged pace attack and the two replacements justified their inclusion for India. That bit was Kumble’s leadership and India haven’t looked back since and beaten Australia 2-0 at home and won a series against England at home. There has been a 1-1 draw against South Africa at home. The only blip has been a 2-1 loss in Sri Lanka. Symonds has gone fishing or has hit the bar a bit more than the leadership group of the team would have wanted him to. He’s had the support of the captain and the team mates but he has found it hard to justify it.

Gary Kirsten had joined the team in Perth and one can hear about the value that he has added as players have been very vocal about his role even as he has been quiet about it. This year India has dominated and had a series win in New Zealand and now an emphatic 2-0 win against Sri Lanka at home. It is the Test matches that matter but we are just playing two more so the top ranking could be for just a short while; it is worth celebrating nonetheless.

UPDATE: Dec6 2009: INDIA is now the NO. 1 Ranked Test Team basis official ICC rankings! This phenomenal achiement came when India defeated Sri Lanka in the recently concluded Test in Mumbai.

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India’s 100 Test Match Wins – Growing Win%

Have a look at India’s decade wise Test match performances, and we can easily understand that India’s win rate is increasing every 10 year years. More importantly, the more tests we play, the more we win. This chart also probably highlights how Indian team selection over the last few years has improved. The more merit involved in team selection, the better the results.

More than anything else, this coincides with the entry and rise of the Big 5 batting superstars:  Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and  Saurav Ganguly. India’s bowling strengths were Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan. The youngsters, Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth will hopefully carry the pace bowling torch forward.

In terms of captaincy, India’s winning streak started with Azharuddin in a series of Home Wins… and Saurav Ganguly started India’s Overseas Wins.  Dravid/Kumble maintained the win rate for their brief stints. The new captain, M.S. Dhoni has taken over from the previous generation and consolidated the win percentage.

Decade	No. of Tests	No. of Victories	Win %	Cume Tests	Cume Victories	Cume Win %
1931-1940	7	0	0	7	0	0%
1941-1950	13	0	0	20	0	0%
1951-1960	50	6	12%	70	6	9%
1961-1970	46	9	20%	116	15	13%
1971-1980	67	18	27%	183	33	18%
1981-1990	86	11	13%	269	44	16%
1991-2000	69	19	28%	338	63	19%
2001-2010	96	37	39%	434	100	23%

It has been heartwarming to see the rise and rise of Gautam Gambhir. Along with M S Dhoni, he is the one Indian batsman who is secure in the knowledge of his place in the Indian team in all the three formats. On current form, I am sure even Mr. Modi cannot hoodwink him of his place in the side by introducing a fourth (or fifth) format. He will find his place in the team even if the Indian team is asked to play representative baseball.

Yet, this was not always the case. When he made his entry into the team, he looked very diffident to the lay viewer. His susceptibility to anything pitched on or outside the off stump was painfully visible. The ugly prod outside the off stump was pronounced and opening bowlers feasted on his impatience. All that is history now and this is where he is different from almost any Indian cricketer that I have seen, with the possible exception of the magnificent Anil Kumble.

Historically, Indian cricketers arrive on the international scene with a lot of fanfare or are somehow sneaked into the team by selectors wielding their “regional quota” prerogatives. Thankfully, over the years and particularly so since the Sourav-Wright tenure, instances of the latter have come down significantly. What happens subsequently has been the scourge of Indian cricket for some time.

Indian cricketers who arrived with a lot of expectations include Chetan Sharma, Raju Kulkarni (remember him), Maninder Singh, L Sivaramakrishnan, Atul Wassan, W V Raman, Praveen Amre, Sadanand Vishwanath (who cannot remember him), Vivek Razdan, Wasim Jaffer, Mohd. Kaif, and so on. The list is pretty long. In addition to the weight of expectations, what is common to all of them is the almost predictable manner in which their careers have proceeded since their arrival. Without exception, all of them have appeared like a meteor and tragically for Indian cricket, disappeared like one too. We can ascribe various theories including the conspiracy ones to explain their demise, but the fact remains that over the years, in almost every cricketing generation, Indian cricket lost the services of significant talents. An extreme case of this would be Vinod Kambli who shone ever so brightly, albeit for a very short period.

Players like Mohd. Azharuddin and Sanjay Manjrekar fall into broadly the same bucket, in the sense that they did not significantly enhance their reputations during their career. The degrees may vary, but the overall hypothesis remains the same. In the recent past, it is only Dravid, Tendulkar, Sourav. Laxman and Kumble who it can be said safely that enhanced their stature significantly during their playing days. Dravid, Laxman and Tendulkar (if it is possible in the maestro’s case) continue to build on their legend. For the rest, it was almost as if they were the “finished product” even at the time of their international debut and were incapable of subsequent improvements, a trait so important to succeed at the highest level, be it sport or life.

Gambhir’s case has been completely different and in the recent annals of Indian cricket almost unique . As already mentioned, he was hardly noticed by the Indian public when he made his international appearance. He came on the back of strong performances in domestic cricket which, the Indian cricket fan largely chooses to ignore. Yet when he made his debut against Bangladesh, there were no indications of his prowess with the bat. Over the next couple of years, his better performances were largely against minnows like Bangladesh and he was, rightly so, consigned to the backyards of Indian domestic cricket. A very predictable script thus far, a script that has been played out over and over again. Indian cricket fans would have accepted the fading away of Gambhir at this stage from the inernational scene with a sigh and a shrug. But then things changed dramatically, thankfully, for the better. He continued to work on his game with a steely determination that is by and large absent in Indian cricketers. He refused to accept that he was not international class and plotted his comeback. His second coming has been a blessing for a team that has always struggled to put two world class opening batters to kick start the innings. Matters have been helped by the following factors as well.

1. In Sehwag, Gambhir has found the “perfect” partner. The compatibility that comes with having played cricket together for a long time has aided the cementing of this pair’s place in the team. To give Gambhir credit, he has never let himself be blinded by the incandescence of Sehwag’s strokeplay and audacity at the other end. He has chosen to be his own man and by all admissions, has made a fist of it.

2. Gambhir also seems to enjoy the faith that his captain, M S Dhoni, has in him. Dhoni has made him feel secure about his place in the team which is invaluable for a team member. Most players perform their best when they have the confidence of the captain and the rest of the team behind them.

3. The fall in the quality of fast bowling over the last few years. Let us face it, with the retirement of Donald, McGrath, Shaun Pollock, and the absence of bowlers like Shane Bond and Shoaib Akthar for various reasons, life of batsmen in general and opening batsmen in particular has become simpler. It is to the credit of Gambhir that he has made full toll of the situation presented to him.

Over the last couple of years, Gambhir has shown enough indication of emerging as the best “pureplay” opener that India has produced since Sunny Gavaskar. He has been the one Indian cricketer who With age on his side and with Sehwag for a partner at the other end, let us wish him all the very best in playing out his potential.

Had Rahul Dravid abused the cricket administration it still would have been an understatement at the angst he must have felt for having been dropped from the ODI side after having been given just five innings after a gap of two years. In those five innings Dravid was the highest scorer with the highest strike rate (47 in 56 balls) in a match that India badly lost against Sri Lanka in Colombo. In the final that India won in Colombo he made only 39 runs, but more importantly, he had a 95-run first wicket partnership with Tendulkar who made 138. He got two more innings in the Champions Trophy; where in the match against Pakistan he was the lone man standing amidst the collapse that started after Virat Kohli’s attempt to go for a lofted shot.

India could not clear the first hurdle at the Champions Trophy and Dravid who made 70 plus paid the price. Had he been in the Indian side that lost to the Aussies recently—not because they were outplayed but because they had fewer players who knew how to read the game and have the character to fight it out till the end—the result may have been different? What has the man not done for the team since his debut in England? What Ravi Shastri said after the 2002-03 Adelaide Test still holds true; he said that he considered only three people as India’s batting greats Gavaskar, Vishwanath, and Tendulkar and after the Adelaide Test he was ready to add the name of Rahul Dravid to the list.

One of the reasons for India’s failure to be a major cricketing force and not just a financial behemoth has been the commercial greed that is taking priority at the expense of the game of cricket and the cricketers. As long as cricket players and the game of cricket is primary there is no reason to worry about the big money coming into the game; this money will only benefit everyone associated with the game in one way or the other. If the oldest and the truest form of the game—which goes on for 5 days without the guarantee of a result—remains robust and healthy like a loving, strong and committed marriage then there is no reason to worry about the slam bam affair of Twenty20. The worry for cricket, just like life, is that devoting too much time to the side dish could end up leaving no appetite for the main course.

The first official Test was played between Australia and England in Melbourne starting March 15, 1877. Australia won the timeless match by 45 runs and England squared the series by winning the next Test starting March 31, 1877, also at the MCG.

“One newspaper summed up the mood in an editorial on the day Lillywhite’s side set sail for home. ‘It shows that in bone as muscle, activity, athletic vigour, and success in field sports, the Englishmen born in Australia do not fall short of the Englishmen born in Surrey or Yorkshire.’
‘For the time being, wrote the Argus, we must forget we are Victorians and New South Wales and our geographical distinctions, and only remember that we are of one nation—Australia.’”

A history of over 132 years of Test cricket and India’s own history of over 77 years of Test cricket is a rich minefield where heroes can be found and their success and their follies relished. The moments that make history and the moments they defy history are the milestones that each cricketing nation cherishes in its own way. One good Test match gives a writer enough material for a book and it would be tough to write one on five years of Twenty20. All this cannot be compared to the 50-over cricket of just over 38 years and that of Twenty20 which is around 5 years; I would be happy to debate if someone suggests that this is natural progression and that the game has evolved.

It was 32 for four today before the eighth over of the day was finished and India ended the day at 385 for 6 with Dravid unbeaten on 177 with 26 fours and a six at a strike rate of 70.51. The knock Dravid played today oozed class and he went past 11000 Test runs to become the fifth-highest run-scorer in the 132-year-old history of the game.

India may have got a rough deal when it was for years struggling to either get good teams to play in the country or to get to tour more frequently to major Test playing nations. With the balance tipping in its favour, India has the responsibility to ensure that Test cricket remains healthy and the side dish should not take precedence. The greatest player this nation has produced said this week when he completed 20 years of international cricket that 5 Test matches in a season is too few. And just one columnist wrote about preserving Test cricket as the best tribute to Sachin Tendulkar.

A bit of Twenty20 and a few ODIs with Test tours as the primary focus should be the natural priority. The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race that approximately covers 3500 kilometres and it cannot be reduced to or compared to a 10 kilometre race. Test cricket has its audience and with good result-oriented wickets it can compete and also beat the other two formats hands down as not everything in life that is short is necessarily sweet as well. Quantity is one thing and quality quite another and a genuine cricket fan just like a genuine cricket player knows what is what. There is no reason why the genuine cricketer and the genuine fan should suffer because the shorter form can be marketed better by those who give a damn about the game and the players.

I haven’t used the Laxman for quite a while. My wife, Lori, fell in love with it and it was squirreled away to her lair, coming out only briefly to impress guests. I repossessed it when the goggles went out.

Today I went to the post box, as I do, expecting very little. Two Inland Revenue envelopes and a Signature Required card. My blood chills a little every time I see the Inland Revenue logo. It taking me a long time to get over the dark days when such envelopes always contained ever deteriorating news. I’m pleased to say I’m all square with the IRD these days, and it’s such a weight off the shoulders – envelopes shouldn’t be a fearful thing any more.

The Signature Required card was most unexpected. When I’ve got something on order from overseas I’m eagerly watching for them, but this one was out of the blue. Neurotronics. Thankyou, Hans. My new Laxman goggles. Yay! They now ship with a little “Sensitive Electronics Inside” making it clear that the nose-bridge is not for bending.

Neurotronics have just released Laxman sessions synchronised to popular AudioStrobe titles. I haven’t availed myself of this as yet, but after this afternoons delightful reaquaintance with the Laxman, I surely shall.

I had an hour to spare and I was in the mood for Theta. Beach and Lovely sessions. Early on I was obsessive about keeping my eyes open. Eyes-open theta is a bit self-defeating – keeping the eyes open makes it hard to get into alpha, let alone theta. I found however, as countless monks have, that there is a neutral position where there is neither effort to open nor effort to close. The eyelid just sort of hangs somewhere slightly open, and it becomes possible to almost forget you have eyes, as there is no muscle movement or tension. In this state slight changes in eyeball position change the experience from open-eye to closed-eye without any sense of transition. There was one particular scene in Lovely that really brought it home – it was for all the world like lying on my back, looking up into a clear blue sky, with the sun just out of my field of vision and my eyes loosely shut. Beautiful.

I love the way Laxman sessions have the light and sound following a story. The lights might fade from oranges and reds, through to deepening blues, followed by a bright flash of yellow, and an orange glow, as the sun sets and a campfire is lit, the sounds of the evening, followed by the strike of a match, and the crackling of fire. The Laxman truly excels for pure relaxation and escape.

In these sessions there is no entrainment content in the audio. The colours are applied as washes, influencing mood. The only frequency-specific content is in the flashing of the lights, which is often little more than a flicker. A lot can be learned about alternative session design by observing the techniques used. Very subtle. Very effective.

You’d think you’d run out of new things to see. Not yet. It seems there are a multitude of ways to see, or more correctly, perceive. How far open or closed the eyelids are changes things. Whether the eyeballs are rolled back, pointed ahead, swiveled sideways, all change things. Mentally focusing on a different field – left, right, centre, periphery, changes things. Concentrating on the dark or the light changes things. And then you get to do it all over again with different sessions, brightness settings, machines, glasses. Familiar visuals often lead into new levels of complexity – it seems the more you relax and just let the session be, the more intensity, detail, clarity comes to the imagery.

Mostly what I see is geometric, but quite often more dreamlike imagery will over lay it, often appearing most clear in the dark flashes. During one particular scene in Beach I was looking up into the sky, gently flickering, to the sound of seabirds. Before I knew it my mind had filled in the gaps, and there were a dozen seagulls circling and passing overhead. It’s a whole new world, and I feel like I’m just learning to see.

Cheers,
Craig

MTJAG’s coverage of the Champions League T-20 took me to the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Saturday, 10th October, to see the local team Deccan Chargers take on the Somerset CCC. This was my first T-20 match and what a match it turned out to be.

RG Stadium - Majestic under the lights

We reached about an hour and half before the scheduled 8 PM start of the DC match. We caught a bit of the previous match as the crowds thronged the RG stadium to support the local team.

Go Chargers, Go Chargers...played the DC anthem

As the DC team went about the rounds doing their warm-up, the crowd went crazy with the DJ for the night providing the right music with the club anthems playing side by side with the theme of the CL T 20, which sounds more like the kingfisher jingle(!!!).

Justin Langer - one for the cameras

The Somerset team went about loosening their muscles silently, with Langer providing some thrilling visuals with his drives and pulls during practice…The Indian crowds do appreciate talent, even if it is an Australian one…so he got a lot of wows and oohs…he raised his bat to the crowd before he went to change for the match.

Teams stand for the CL anthem

The teams came out and did their handshake before the match, a la Football.

And here are some views of the stadium.

Crowds 1

Crowds 2

Crowds 3

Crowds 4

The match was not sold-out, but we had about 15,000-20,000 spectators is my guess. And I should say that the in-stadia entertainment has grown in leaps and bounds. The last time I saw a cricket match in India was in the Eden Gardens in 2004 and it was not as entertaining as this one. There is something or the other happening with music and dances happening all over the place.

Now about the match. Well Laxman played his best T20 match scoring 40 odd runs and providing the bulk of the initial scoring. Gilly hit a few, Rohit Sharma came and played like he does, score some runs and get out.

Rao was in Diwali mood, lighting up some fireworks for the crowd

Much was expected out of Symonds, but he too disappointed and it was left to Venugopal Rao (Venu or Rao gaaru) to take the score to some respectability. He hit his quota of sixes which actually made the total look competitive.

And the Somerset batting started off well till Pragyan Ojha came into the picture. He had figures of 3-0-10-2 which made the Somerset players toil hard for runs. With the score reading some 98/7 or something, the locals were in their cheerful best, expecting an outright victory for the Chargers. How wrong the calculations went.

DC realised that they number 8 batsman in the Somerset is not a mug with the bat and he put on more than 50 runs partnership, which changed the match.

That's the last ball of the innings

The last ball finish which was provided by a very good over by Styris where he took 2 wickets and also gave away very few runs was the best match of the CL T 20 so far.

One of the semifinals and the final will be again in Hyderabad and if the Deccan Chargers or any of the Indian teams are going to make it, then probably you will find the report here in MTJAG. Till then, cheers.

Time to do a catchup on a bunch of bits.

Weak Field Magnetic Stimulation

I’ve hooked up an assortment of coils, ranging from speaker voice coils, to induction motor coils, to relay and solenoid coils and driven them with a range of MWS generated signals, at field levels up to 50 milliGauss (5x the level suggested for the Shakti). As I’m not experiencing anything that requires therapeutic application just now, I’ve been focused on changes to perception. I’ve found that photically induced visuals provide an excellent indication of interaction between areas of the brain – notably the effect of audio on visuals. I’ve found that the magnetic fields have similar effects to audio, but more subtle. Used without an AS track, I have been able to sense nothing whatsoever from magnetic stimulation. There’s a lot more experimentation to be done here, but I’m not holding my breath for great results.

Laxman Goggles

With the failure of the left-hand frame of my goggles, I decided to see if there was any hope for repair. I’m blown away by how beautifully they’re made – a fortune must have been spent on tooling – but they are not repairable. Everything is moulded into place and removal of the edge-lit diffusers is fatally destructive. Joining the sets of LEDs is a fine section of flexible circuit board (just like that you can see running between frames on MindPlace and other glasses) moulded into the bridge. Unfortunately such material is not going to withstand a lot of bending, twisting or stretching.

My Laxman has had a lot of use, much of it by users with less than a light touch. As I was not present at the time of failure, I can’t really know just how fragile they are, but I do feel obliged to warn Laxman goggle owners to treat them gently.

I’ve also been a little baffled by the fact that Laxman goggles work with a Procyon, but Procyon glasses don’t work with a Laxman. I’m hoping to have more information on this soon.

An Audiostrobe Alternative

In the course of experimenting with LED drivers and ways to create dramatic visuals, I’ve found that LED glasses can be driven quite effectively with plain old audio. The headphone levels on many consumer devices are inadequate, being designed to drive high-efficiency lower-end earphones, but some powered speakers that also have a headphone socket will drive the glasses quite well. The headphone output from my little Behringer mixer works superbly.

This may seem a little bit like, “who cares?”, but freedom from the constraints of the Audiostrobe signal format is a wonderful thing, as anyone who has used the programmable light capabilities of a Proteus or Procyon can attest. With Audiostrobe you’re limited to whatever signal you can modulate a 19.2kHz tone with. Driving with pure audio means you can eliminate the 19.2kHz carrier, which, notice it or not, is right there through the stimulation audio. You can also eliminate the pulse width modulation (PWM) frequency that is often used for LED brightness control. Best of all, you can use any waveshape you can create to drive the LEDs. Herein lies the answer for those who seek to emulate the legendary pRoshi.

MindPlace glasses include diodes that protect against reverse connection of the LEDs. I do not know if this is so for other glasses, so I cannot guarantee the survival of other brands. This arrangement also lacks current-limiting resistors, so some audio sources may be capable of exceeding the maximum current rating of the LEDs. If you want to experiment with this idea, always start with the volume set low and gently increase until the LEDs are no brighter than they are with the mind machine. Anyway, this is not approved usage of the glasses or the audio device, so on your head be it!

Obviously you’re not going to want to be listening to the light drive signal, so this exercise assumes that there is a second device available for audio – a second soundcard in a PC, USB sound device on a laptop, or even just another MP3 player. I’m thinking some great fun could be had with one of these multi-channel soundcards… http://www.altoedge.com/soundcards/

In real life, when I decide to implement this in the stimulation helmet, or wherever, I’ll be adding a driver, probably just a single transistor and a few resistors, between audio device and glasses and powering the driver/glasses from a separate supply.

Tactile Stimulation

In the course of exposing myself to the fields of everything magnetic I could find, I laid my head on the metal diaphragms of my cheapy Genius computer speakers whilst playing a solid 7.8Hz isochronic beat. Apart from the interesting feeling of have the audio arrive via my skull (there’s a couple of commercial devices that do this – the Neurophone and another, the name of which escapes me just now), the vibration against my scalp was extremely pleasing. These trials were done with a pair of glasses providing a complex visual pattern, and with this particular setup the visuals went wild – sound + magnetism + vibration, applied just outside the visual cortex definitely affects imagery. Obviously this is almost completely useless information, as I have no idea which variable, or combination thereof, led to the effect, but it’s fun anyway.

Speakers are not intended to have the motion of their diaphragms restricted and doing so will result in heating of the voice coil. Some diaphragm designs are much more fragile than the rubber mounted foil in my speakers, and even if no damaged is evident, centring of the voice coil in the permanent magnet can be ruined. So, again, try this at your own peril (I wouldn’t do it with a pair of speaker that I wouldn’t be willing to throw away).

That’ll do for now!

Cheers,
Craig

Today I’ve got a few little snippets of ’stuff’ – not enough to justify a whole post, but worth sharing anyway.

Audiostrobe Ganzfeld

Since the Ganzfeld Extravaganza I’ve been asked for more details on creating a ganzfeld effect with MWS or NP2.

With MWS you set up an entrainment track with a beat of 192Hz and an isochronic tones track with a pitch of 19,200kHz. You can then use the volume modulation effect to add a gentle variation to intensity – a volume modulation rate of 0.1Hz or less looks great. If you’re using bicolour glasses, the colour depends on the left/right balance, so you can control the two channels by having two tones track, one with the balance hard left, the other hard right. You can also use the 3D positioning effect with the back-and-forth preset (try increasing the room size and stretching the graphical left/right swing).

With NP2 you’ll need a tones track with a pitch of 19.2kHz and a rate of 192Hz. You then add nodes and set the tone volume to create whatever rising and falling of brightness you wish. Again, two tracks for independent colour control.

You can use any pitch you wish, but 192Hz is a submultiple of 19.2kHz and thus prevents any unnecessary flickers by ensuring the two frequencies maintain a constant phase relationship.

In both case you may hear the 19.2kHz signal – adjust volume for best sound and light, or add additional tracks with entrainment or entertainment content to mask the sound.

Photosonix

When I embarked on the book writing exercise that became this blog, I emailed many vendors requesting permission to quote material from their sites and offering to review their products. I have been very clear that I wasn’t particularly asking for freebies, but would buy at a good price, borrow and return, or, of course, gratefully receive gifts. Nearly all who replied have been overwhelmingly generous with information (and permission to use it) and, as you can tell from the reviews, a number of machines arrived on various agreeable terms.

Photosonix, however, have consistently failed to respond to my emails. So, I can neither quote material on their site, or comment meaningfully on any of their equipment.

Since mentioning MindExplorer in my L&S Synergizer quick look, one of my friends kindly drew to my attention the fact that MindExplorer imports Photosonix sessions. I had seen the option but thought no more of it until I was alerted to the fact that you can download Photosonix sessions from their website.

If the Photosonix machines render the sessions as well as MindExplorer does, the machines are probably quite nice, but I guess I’ll never know. As it is, it’s well worth the download for a play with MindExplorer – interesting sessions, good effects and a bit more inspiration.

Laxman Goggles

In case you missed the P.S. on the ganzfeld post, the Laxman goggles are compatible with the Procyon and can be purchased as accessories from Neurotronics. The open-eye imagery with the Procyon is fabulous, and they would make a valuable addition to any AVS enthusiast’s kit.

Standard Glasses and the Procyon

The Procyon (and Laxman) use a flat connector similar to, but not the same as, a mini USB connector for the glasses. In order to use any of the mono- or bi-colour glasses, either from MindPlace or anywhere else (such as the Transparent 12-LED glasses), you’ll need the adapter cable from MindPlace. It provides a standard 3.5mm socket into which you can plug the standard 3.5mm CP glasses. As standard, the cable uses the red and green LEDs.

Random Sessions

Most mind machines have a random session option by some name or other. Random sessions are great for just kicking back and enjoying the sound and lights. I find them immensely relaxing and invigorating just by virtue of NOT attempting to entrain to any particular frequency. They give a wonderful brain workout.

Random sessions also provide excellent light accompaniment to music or other audio content – just listen to the audio from your laptop or MP3 player with the mind machine volume turned down for lights-only.

Mind Workstation has a multitude of tools for creating random sessions – the Random Engine is a powerhouse that can be applied to any MWS parameter – rate, pitch, volume, anything.

NP2 lacks any inbuilt random capability, but there’s free software by Sam Lin on his site, and by myself on the Transparent site. My one is a Windows application that’s rather fussy about having .NET 3.5 installed along with the Visual Basic libraries – just get in touch with me if you have any trouble getting to run – the fixes are scattered through Transparent forum posts anyway.

I’m sure there’s little bits and pieces that have slipped my mind, but that will do for now!

Cheers,
Craig

First of all, there’s a heap of monocolour glasses available. As far as I know they’re all mapped so that the left Audiostrobe channel controls the left frame and the right AS channel controls the right frame. This type of control is referred to by some manufacturers as Focus/Expand, where focus flashes both frames simultaneously, and expand flashes them alternately. I haven’t so much liked the expand mode on the Sirius or Proteus (with optional monocolour glasses), but having found myself growing to like it on the iLightz, I’ll have to revisit the Sirius and Proteus sessions that use it. Monocolour glasses come in all the standard LED colours – red, amber, green, blue and white. There’s not much to substantiate any relationship between colour and results, but the rule of thumb is that red is energising, amber likewise but more gentle, green is relaxed and blue is calm. Selection of colour can also be done using correspondences – red/Mars/martial/blood, green/Venus/love, etc. Red has the highest likelihood of inducing seizures in those predisposed to such things. Blue is important in the diurnal cycle of serotonin and melatonin, with the blue of daylight suppressing serotonin-to-melatonin conversion, inhibiting sleep. Of potential interest is the fact that the human visual system treats blue and red-green differently, with red-green being processed at a higher priority – maybe useful for delivering two discrete stimulus frequencies.

MindPlace GanzFrame Monocolour or Bicolour Glasses

Red, amber, green and blue LEDs are strictly monochromatic. LEDs are one place where you get to play with really truly live quantum physics. The light we see from a LED is a stream of photons in a very tight range of energy levels, measurable as their wavelength. A photon is emitted whenever an electron in the excited semiconductors hops the forbidden bands to change energy levels. LEDs use a variety of exotic semiconductor materials and chemical dopants to cause the jumps to occur at the energy levels corresponding to the wavelength of the desired colour. So, looking at the spectrum of visible light, the output of a LED will be represented as a steep energy spike at the wavelength of the particular colour.

White LEDs are another matter entirely. They come in two flavours, ones which use an extreme blue or ultraviolet LED to excite a phosphor blend, in same way as fluorescent tubes use an electrical plasma to excite a phosphor coating; and ones that use separate red, green and blue LEDs (often on the same die, in the same package) to create RGB blended white light. The spectrum of the fluorescent LED depends on the phosphor blend. Tricolour is usual, with three phosphors emitting red, blue and green respectively. True white LEDs can use five phosphors, expanding the gamut to more accurately match full spectrum daylight. Whichever method is used, white LEDs do not provide a continuous spectrum like incandescent light or daylight – their spectrum as seen with a prism will show bright lines at intervals rather than the rainbow of daylight.

A while back there were glasses that used incandescant lamps. When you heat a piece of wire to white heat, the atoms of the metal are violently and randomly excited and they emit photons with a wide range of energies and corresponding wavelengths. There was a fascinating debate between David Siever of MindAlive and Robert Austin of MindPlace on the relative merits of red LEDs and white incandescants (in an issue of the Megabrain Report, I think). Whatever those merits may or may not be, incandescant lamps of a suitable size and with fast response filaments are hard to come by and expensive, so economics has rendered the incandescant light goggle extinct. Response time is important – the heating and cooling of the wire between flashes takes time, and beyond a certain frequency (20Hz tops with a good lamp) it just becomes a continuous glow. On the other hand, this thermal inertia gives a very gentle flash, with a minimum of harmonics which may or may not be detrimental and the continuous spectrum provides more even stimulation in the broad overlapping red, green and blue sensitivity ranges of the three types of colour-sensitive retinal cone.

A LED is, for all intents and purposes, an instant on/off device. The brightness is proportional to the current through the device over a very narrow band. Superbright LEDs in particular have a very limited current range between fully off and fully on. As a consequence most (all?) mind machines use some form of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to control the LED brightness. With PWM the full control voltage is switched on or off, with the ratio of on-time to off-time (duty cycle) strictly controlled to create the illusion of dimming. PWM frequencies are usually a great deal higher (1-30kHz common) than the frequencies of interest to AVS users, so the illusion is quite solid.

Transparent 12-LED Glasses (Shown Open)

Transparent Corp offers a couple of interesting monocolour left/right mapped glasses in their 12-LED white and 12-LED blue. The interesting thing about these is that the LEDs are positioned peripherally instead of right in front of the iris as with most glasses. The result is a very peaceful diffused light, still bright enough to elicit fine visuals. A further consequence of the LED placement is that they have been able to provide removable/reattachable ‘patches’ that allow the glasses to be used eyes-open – very effective for study and art. Photosonix offer a similar open-eye design in their pvStim glasses. MindGear also have open eye variants, but all using the nasty frame I’ve commented on in the iLightz review.

L&S Synergizer Bicolour Glasses

The next group of glasses is the bicolour. Everything said of monocolour applies, except that these use the two channels to map to the two colours, usually red/green or red/blue. With these glasses, ‘focus’ flashes red and green simultaneously and ‘expand’ flashes them alternately, both frames always in phase. Using Audiostrobe or the various machine’s own programmability, the two colours can be individually controlled. The glasses supplied with the L&S Synergizer distinguish themselves by having a couple of switches, allowing them to be configured as red, green or both, and mapped two-colour or left/right.

MindPlace GanzFrame Tricolour Glasses (Procyon only)

iLightz Color Matrix Tricolour Glasses (iLightz only)

Laxman Full-Colour Open-Eye Goggles (Laxman only)

MindAlive TruView Omniscreen Bihemispheric Glasses

Specialised glasses include the Omniview from MindAlive and the Hemistim from Photosonix. These are both monocolour glasses designed to provide left/right visual field stimulation for asymmetrical sessions, where each brain hemisphere is presented with stimulus at different frequencies – common with depression and ADD/ADHD sessions.

There’s also an assortment of multicolour arrangements, none of which I’ve tried, but they look kind of interesting on paper. Photosonix have the most expensive glasses on the market with their ColorTracks. These glasses include a decent amount of intelligence to allow them to track the session frequency with changes of colour and perform all manner of clever tricks. MindGear have the RGB Tencolor lightframes that have a set of DIP switches to select any one of ten possible colours.

In case I’ve failed to make it entirely clear, the MindPlace GanzFrames, monocolour, bicolour or tricolour are my absolute favourites – brightest, most comfortable and most even illumination. Had I purchased the standard iLightz instead of the Pro version with the Color Matrix glasses I may have been a lot more enthusiastic. The L&S Synergizer glasses are okay, and have their special switch trick, but they leave a bit to be desired in the brightness department. The Transparent 12-LED, MindPlace Mono- and Bi-colour and the L&S Synergizer glasses are all common power (CP) using a 3.5mm stereo plug and are completely cross-compatible (many other glasses also use this configuration, and some makes offer CG (common ground) options for the few CG machines around. The bihemispheric glasses are specialised - required if you’re wanting to follow a particular therapeutic protocol that calls for asymetrical stimulation, you’ll be needing glasses of this type and won’t be critical of them in other applications. Peripheral stimulation/open-eye glasses are worth trying for studying and reading, also for art appreciation, however I suspect they’re more gimmick than substance. The Laxman goggles are out all on their own – if you want open-eye colour, they are without peer.

It’s worth keeping in mind that open-eye designs miss out on one advantage of closed-eye for relaxation – simply closing the eyes elicits a strong alpha response in most people. Reciprocally, open-eye designs may have some benefit for frequencies away from the natural 10Hz closed-eye response frequency, as they will not be competing with the spontaneous alpha. One obvious advantage of open-eye is that it’s easier to stay awake.

So there you go. More than you ever wanted to know about glasses and LEDs and stuff. I’m amazed at just how many little details that may or may not matter there are, and I’m sure I’ve overlooked plenty!

Cheers,
Craig

Sachin Tendulkar is not fit for Twenty20 cricket since he is neither inventive nor fearless, according to former Australia coach John Buchanan. Buchanan does not doubt the Mumbaikar’s greatness in Test and ODI formats but the former Kolkata Knight Riders coach insists Twenty20 is just not Tendulkar’s cup of tea.

“Tendulkar has been lauded, and rightly so, as one of the very top batsmen in the history of cricket…But is he an effective T20 player at this stage of his career?” questioned the former Australia coach in his latest book ‘The Future of Cricket: The Rise of Twenty20′.

“In the position he plays — as an opener of No. 3 – the T20 game requires not only the finesse and skills he has, but also the power and domination, an ability to take the bowlers on while being creative.

“You have to be inventive and fearless. And I don’t see those qualities as part of Sachin’s make-up at this stage of his career. Sachin Tendulkar is still a great player but not in this arena of T20,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan felt the performance of Tendulkar and a few other senior players in this format has been rather “subdued”. “…homegrown heroes such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh and VVS Laxman…were expected to influence, and on some occasions single-handedly win, IPL matches,” Buchanan said.

“Yet their subdued performances highlight that Test match temperament does not necessarily ensure prolonged success in the T20 game,” Buchanan said.He in fact went on to say that the likes of Sourav Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman were unfit for cricket’s shortest format.

“I was constantly battling with the fact that I believed he (Ganguly) along with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman was not suited to T20 cricket,” he said. “The same could be said about Rahul Dravid. Dravid is a great representative of Indian cricket, a team man, humble, a well-spoken gentleman.

“But unfortunately he could not score a single run in the early rounds of the IPL, and in my opinion, is not suited to this form of the game.

About Laxman, Buchanan said “he is not up to pace”. Buchanan likened Ganguly to Australian great Ian Chappell and said, “Ganguly was the model for the new breed of confident and combative Indian cricketers. Ganguly showed that Indian cricket could stand up for itself. He is similar in that way to Ian Chappell who stood up for what he believed and was not afraid to take on the administration,” he said.

On the other hand, Buchanan felt Ganguly was always comparing himself with Australian greats like Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.

“He has an inquisitive mind and wanted to know all about Ponting, Warne and McGrath. I sensed he was measuring himself against them, checking to make sure that his methods were comparable to that of the greats of the game,” he noted.

Even though his multiple-captaincy idea at Knight Riders created bad blood and Ganguly was eventually sacked form the captain’s job, Buchanan described their relationship as cordial.

“How did I perceive him? Well, we never had any major disagreements. I think our relationship was extremely cordial…I enjoyed working with him, even though I believed all along that he was not the right person to be captain,” he said.

Gautam Gambhir is country’s highest ranked Test batsman at number three and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, at sixth, is the highest placed Indian bowler in the latest ICC rankings issued on Thursday.

Gambhir, the Delhi left-hander with 847 rating points, is the only Indian to figure in the top 10 batsmen’s chart, followed by Sachin Tendulkar (13th), VVS Laxman (15th) and Virender Sehwag (20th).

ICC Test Rankings:

In the bowlers’ chart, Harbhajan is the Indian in top 10, followed by Zaheer Khan (11th) and Ishant Sharma (20th).

In the team ranking, India (117 points) are placed third behind top ranked Australia (128) and South Africa (119).Meanwhile Pakistan, currently sixth, will go into their three-Test series against Sri Lanka starting at Galle on Saturday targetting the fourth place, replacing the Lankans.

Younis Khan’s side will be enough to put it on 105 ratings points alongside Sri Lanka but ahead of Kumar Sangakkara’s side when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.Personally, Younis, currently the number one batsman in this format, will be aiming to become the 25th batsman in history to reach the 900-point mark.

The 31-year-old right-handed batsman is just 20 points short of becoming the second Pakistan batsman after Mohammd Yousuf to achieve the rare distinction.

Statistical highlights of the first ODI between India and West Indies on Friday.Yuvraj Singh (131 off 102 balls) has recorded his 12th century in ODIs his second and highest against West Indies.

Yuvraj’s tally of seven sixes in an innings is the highest for India against West Indies.Yuvraj has got his second MOM award against West Indies his 19th in ODIs.

Yuvraj’s outstanding knock is the highest for India in the West Indies, surpassing Virender Sehwag’s 114 against Bermuda at Port of Spain on March 19, 2007. Yuvraj is the second Indian player to make a century against West Indies in West Indies. Rahul Dravid had registered 105 off 102 balls at Kingston on May 18, 2006.

Yuvraj’s aforesaid knock is the highest by any batsman against West Indies at Kingston.

Dinesh Karthik (67 off 77 balls) has posted his career-best score – his third fifty in ODIs and second against West Indies, surpassing the 63 off 87 balls against West Indies at Cuttack on January 24, 2007.

Karthik and Yuvraj Singh were involved in a 135-run stand for the third wicket, which is India’s highest against West Indies, eclipsing the 128 between VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly at Nagpur on November 9, 2002.

India (339/6) have recorded their highest total against West Indies in West Indies, eclipsing the 282 for five at Berbice on March 29, 1983. The said total is their second highest in the West Indies, next only to the 413 for five against Bermuda at Port of Spain on March 19, 2007.

India’s aforesaid total is their second best against West Indies – their highest being the 341 for three at Baroda on January 31, 2007.

In terms of runs conceded, Jerome Taylor has recorded his worst figures (10-1-74-1) in an innings in ODIs.

Yusuf Pathan (3/56) has registered his best bowling figures. In fact, with 40 not out off 38 balls, he has recorded his best all-round performance.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (63 off 59 balls) has posted his tenth fifty against India – his 55th fifty in ODIs

Ashish Nehra (3/49) has recorded his best bowling performance against West Indies.

The Kingston ODI has produced an aggregate of 658 for 16 wickets, which is a record between India and West Indies in the West Indies and the second highest between the two countries – the highest being 662 for 11 wickets at Nagpur on January 21, 2007.

India’s 20-run triumph is their smallest victory margin against West Indies in the West Indies – their sixth in 21 ODIs against West Indies in West Indies.

West Indies (319) have posted their highest total against India in West Indies, surpassing the 289 for two at Georgetown on March 21, 1989.

India (339 for six) have registered the second best total at Kingston – the highest being 349 by Pakistan against Zimbabwe on March 21, 2007.

Fourteen sixes by India against West Indies and 23 in an India-WI encounter are records.

Bangalore Royal Challengers v Deccan Chargers

It was polling day for South Africa and so being a public holiday, crowd was packed to the hilt at the Newlands, Cape Town. Atmosphere was colorful with electric fizz.

Gilchrist won the all important toss. Pitch was flat and so rightly he wanted to bat first and post a huge total. Pieterson was disppointed with the toss since toss has a big role in these kinds of matches especially if pitch is so flat.

Gilchrist and Gibbs gave a wonderful start to the Deccan team with both of them hitting the bowlers to all corners of the ground. Both opening bowlers of Bangalore team, Steyn and Praveen Kumar, was badly hurt by the onslaught from the Australia-South African duo. Praveen Kumar looked miffed about the end from which he was given the ball. He was later shifted to his “favorite end” by Pieterson.

Things were looking bleak for Bangalore. Praveen Kumar got the first break for Bangalore in the 4th over by trapping Gibbs in front of the wicket, but score was already 46 by then.

Laxman replaced Gibbs and played a uncharacteristic inning. Instead of playing his usual style of inning, Laxman was trying to match Gilchrist at the other end who was going after the bowlers in spite of losing his opening partner. Laxman’s inning ended with a ugly looking hit to long off.

Rohit Sharma came to the wicket and looked resty at the start. Both Rohit and Gilchrist played Anil Kumble, introduced by Pieterson to counter the run flow, with caution and respect he deserved. Both batsmen played their shots against faster bowlers and they were doing it in style.

With spending more time at the crease, Rohit was getting more and more confident ,and when he decide to cut lose… he did not even spare Kumble from it. He hit Kumble for 3 SIXs in a single over to show his mettle and talent in handling a world class spinner.

Pieterson was forced to bring on himself for the second match in a raw, but unlike in the first match, he did not taste success immediately. Gilchrist and Rohit powered Deccan past 100 with 9+ run rate. Finally, Gilchrist fell to the bowling of Pieterson when score was on 127 in the 14th over. By then, it was almost sure that who is going to pocket that key to the Man of the Match motorbike.

Gilchrist entertainment was truly a treat for his family too.. who watched it from the player’s box. The game was also attended by family of Ravi Shastri too.

Styris gave ample support to Rohit to take Deccan score to a healthy 184. Gilchrist played the inning of the match with 71 from 45 balls including 5 SIXs and 6 FOURs.

Rohit made 52 from 30 balls with 5 SIXs and 1 FOUR.

Towards the end of the Deccan inning, Bangalore managed to restrict them from scoring 200+ by some excellent bowling. Praveen Kumar had a freak accident, but luckily escaped without much damage when a throw from fine leg hit him directly on forehead.

IPL commissioner Lalit Modi looked happy through out the day. Why shouldnt he… after all, rain stayed away and batsmen were making merry and stadium was filled to the hilt.

Bangalore lost the chase in the first few overs itself. They lost Jesse Ryder in the first ball for the second time in the season Jesse was again unfortunate as he got a swinging yorker from Fidel Edwards. That ball could have got the wicket of any batsmen in the world.

RP Singh, who claimed purple cap at the end of the day with 2 wickets in the match, made matters easy for the Deccan when he removed Kallis who looked good till then. Uthappa looked out of sorts for the most part of his inning. He was soon sent back by a wonderful catch by Ravi Teja at the boundary off the bowling of Styris.

The 1.5 million dollar player could not do anything spectacular this time either. Pieterson was foxed by a loopy classical ball from the left arm spinner Ojha. He was stumped out by Gilchrist.

Partnership of the second inning came after the exit of Pieterson. Dravid, who is in good form, along with Virat Kohli put up a fighting chase. They build some momentum for the first time in the inning. Their partnership had purpose, but they were bit too late. Required rate was climbing fast. Dravid targeted the under-22 bowler of Deccan, Harmeet Singh, hitting him for 2 FOURs and a SIX in an over, bringing a ray of hope for the first time to the Bangalore camp.

That hope was short lived. Styris trapped Dravid with an intelligent bowling plan. Dravid was forced to hit an “outside the off stump” good-length delivery straight into hands of sweeper cover fielder. Dravid became the victim of his deficiency in variety of shot making. Dravid made 48 from 27 balls with 5 FOURs and 2 SIXs. He became the Orange Cap owner replacing Mathew Hayden by then.

Kohli, inspite of losing Dravid, made a valiant effort until he got out in the last over. By that time, match was easily in the pocket of Deccan.

Deccan bowlers were deciplined and their potency was aggravated by their sharp and foccused fielders. No doubt in my mind that Deccan is the most talented fielding unit. Gibbs and Rohit Sharma saved almost over 10-15 runs.

One loop hole in the Deccan team is Venugopal Rao. He seems a total waste at this time to me. For Bangalore team, they need to fix their opening spot. I think Dravid should open with Uthappa going down. Their under 22 men, Rajesh Bishnoi and Karan Sharma, looked mere “fillers” in this match.

Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Iyer Laxman (Laxman) perhaps is best known for his creation The Common Man. Laxman’s earliest work was for newspapers & magazines such as Swarajya and Blitz. Whilst still at the Maharaja’s College, Mysore, he began to illustrate his elder brother R K Narayan’s stories in The Hindu, and he drew political cartoons for the local newspapers and for the Swatantra.

When the American cartoonist Ranan Lurie asked him who the best Indian cartoonist was, Laxman flashed back, “I am.” The second, third, fourth, fifth best man on the job? Laxman continued to repeat, “I am.”

As you can expect The Common Man has spoken only once ever  in an early cartoon about Nehru. He tells Nehru even as he doesn’t recognize him, “…Don’t know all that Sir, but I’m voting for that man…!”, pointing to Nehru’s statue. Satire is clear as it Nehru- Gandhi debacle that led India into a dynastic nation and stripping away all the freedom struggle with few emotional decisions, for which we are still paying, anyways, moving on.

Common man has represented the mute millions of this country . What you’ll note in the boxes, there is no political comment, only political statement. Can you call this superficial? A Laxman cartoon essentially contains two elements. It is drama frozen at a tipping point with something before and something after it. He puts us on the spot.  The common man is helpless in his country, he chokes with frustrations and fury each moment. Laxman’s cartoons convert this rage into humour and a smile.

On being asked if he’s happy with the new government and he harrumphs: “I like all governments; they work for me. If there were no governments, there would be no cartoonists”. The Budget? “The Budget is a bore,” he snaps. “The papers, NDTV are still talking about it all the time. Remember Nani Palkhivala’s Budget analysis? Those were the days.” Laxman doesn’t spare any words when it comes to the media. “Things have undergone a sea change since my early days: packaging has become more important than content”.

Khushwant Singh once wrote in a column: “Both R K Narayan and Laxman conceal enormous self-esteem and inflated egos. I have to concede, though, that neither has anything to be modest about. Laxman is the pillar that sustains The Times of India. The day his cartoons stop appearing on its front pages, Indians who start their day with a smile will have nothing left to smile about.“

After graduation Laxman went to Delhi to find a job as cartoonist. The Hindustan Times told him he was too young, that he should start with provincial papers. The Free Press Journal in Bombay had no such qualms. Laxman found himself seated next to another cartoonist who was furiously drawing a bird in a cage. His name was Bal Thackeray. (“Is that an Indian name?” wondered Laxman who knew only of William Makepeace Thackeray.)

One day the Journal’s proprietor banned him from making fun of communists. So the twenty-three-year old Laxman left, caught a Victoria, and walked into the The Times of India office. From that day “I had a table and a room to myself which I have used ever since.” And used with a freedom unknown to any Indian journalist for as long. Laxman feels oppressed by having to turn out a cartoon everyday.

“Each morning I grumble, I plan to resign as I drag myself to the office. By the time I come home I like my work.”

Laxman plays with every shade of humour — wit, satire, irony, slapstick, buffoonery, tragicomedy. Such versatility dazzles as does his unwearied discipline. Through the long, prolific years the man from Mysore has never hit anyone below the belt. And that makes him India’s most beloved cartoonist… Creating the common man.

Here are few of my favorite strips and also, Thanks to Chittaranjan, you can use this link @ ToI for a date-wise archive of his cartoons. You’ll needs an Indiatimes ID though!

I heard him say that he was going to speak out boldly and reveal some very shocking matters shortly. I think he is retiring soon !

All Images are copyrighted by TOI and Penguin Publishings.

Allright folks, the party’s over. The players are headed to join their IPL teams. That means time for us to nitpick India’s tour of New Zealand.

Nitpick #1: The pitches. Ok, well, just the Basin pitch. It wasn’t typical Basin at all. That was perhaps the most disappointing feature of the tour of New Zealand. While the 02-03 tour was replete with ridiculously unbattable pitches, which embarrassed even the host batsmen, the pitches we saw here were mostly batsmen friendly. There was no shocker pitch, denying us of an opportunity of ruing an Indian batting collapse.

Nitpick#2: Ishant Sharma’s inability to use the breeze and Munaf’s to bag more wickets. Yes, this is a bit harsh. Ishant received some harsh ones from the umpires, but didn’t live up to the expectations in terms of wickets. There were some exceptional spells and there were some ordinary ones, thereby cause for some thought. Munaf’s bowling was fair. To me, he lived up to the standard of a “filling-up-the-overs” bowler, but not to that of a third seamer. The third seamer needs to consistently pick up wickets. Bowling in Tests isn’t only about economy. You can’t win matches with an economy of 2-odd, as beautiful as it might seem.

Nitpick #3: VVS Laxman and Sehwag’s inconsistency. Again, this is harsh and almost atrocious that Laxman and “careless” Sehwag are being blamed for the same thing, but there is more to this. VVS is expected to deliver. When he scores 30 we get upset because he’s capable of 40-60 every innings. Laxman’s scores read 30, DNB, 76, 124*, 4 and  61. That’s 295 @ 73.75 avg. Not something we should be grumbling about, but the issues are with the 30 and the 4. The 124 was priceless and came in a time when India needed it most. Sehwag on the other hand, truly disappointed. His scores read 24, DNB, 34, 22, 48, and 12. That’s 140 @ 28. Makes one wonder if it’s the same man who hits triple centuries at will. Sehwag played a classic innings at Galle. We all know he’s capable. It’s just about that application. We’re not asking him to turn into a Wall.

Nitpick #4: Yuvraj Singh – fielding and batting. Seriously what is he doing in a Test team, especially, a touring Test team. I see the logic in keeping him for the home series, but not on tours. He had his chance in Australia – a change which involved a needless shuffling in batting order to “acomodate” him. His fielding has also been below par this series. If you ask me, I’ll swap Murali Vijay for Yuvraj in overseas Tests. It will be worthy investment.

Nitpick #5: Dravid not making a century. Ok, this is more of a  nitpick. Dravid was the third highest run getter of the series with 314 runs @ 62.8. Given that this came in the wake of a year long run drought, it’s great. That he couldn’t turn the 83 in the first Test into a century giving it up to an uncharecteristic shot was very disappointing. Also disappointing was the dismissal for 35 at Wellington after all the hard work.

Nitpick #6: Collective lack on initiative at Wellington on Days 4 and 5 deprived us of a 2-0 victory. Should we have declared earlier? Maybe 20-30 runs earlier, not too much earlier. But the question as to whether we could have got those wickets in that time is another question altogether. Honestly, I’m fairly happy with 1-0 victory, maybe that’s the conservative Indian in me speaking. Just would have been nicer, that’s all. That’s why this is #6 and not #1.

Nitpick #7: Sehwag’s captaincy. After all the experience, we expected better from him didn’t we. This isn’t about the way he batted in that Test, though that would also count for “inappropriate” from a captain. There was something missing when he captained – maybe he know he’ll forever be 2nd choice. That X-factor that Dhoni brings was missing. Sehwag’s definitely got it. He just needs to find it.
it.

Nitpicks done. Do weigh in with yours.

The T20s went to the Kiwis, the ODIs to the tourists. T20s are really just entertainment shows which any team, provided its good on that day, can win. ODIs are the next level where you need considerably more skill & wits & execution to win. But even ODIs can be won against a better side if you have the drive.

Test matches are another thing entirely. No mediocre side can convincingly win a test match against a better team by just pure luck. That’s just plain impossible. To win tests a team needs to take 20 wickets & also have the class, character & temperament to bat at least 2 days. That’s why our game is different from other games. A test match is a great judge of a player’s character & his patience as much a test of his technique & skill. It is here that experience gives you an added advantage. And it is here that the Kiwis lost the series. Add to that the fact that the tracks were not typical Kiwi bowling tracks but sadly, batting tracks. I don’t envy the bowlers at all, they had to bowl to one of the best batting line ups ever in world cricket, with almost 40000 runs between them. To bowl to Dravid, Sachin & Veeru in a test match is a nightmare & a honour at the same time for any bowler. The Black caps needed to be at the top of their game to even play catch up to this team.

And sadly, they failed. Zaheer is a bowler in form, India’s spearhead in all forms. Harbhajan’s class shone brilliantly. Ishant is learning fast & the others are playing well. The Kiwi batting is immensely talented, make no mistake about that, but their inexperience let them down against an attack thats firing on all cylinders..

The first test, the only one with a result was as convincing as can be. Good performances from all the Indians involved led to the win. The second test on the featherbed at Napier led to runs & runs. Ryder starred with Taylor for the home side showcasing their immense talent. A couple of county seasons for both of them would make them test match batsmen of the highest caliber. But at this time, they are good only for these type of knocks. But the knock of the match was from player of the series Gautam Gambhir. Displaying grit & patience that I thought he never possessed, he produced an epic 600 minute innings that saved the match for the Indians. Possibly, it saved the series itself. That innings shouted Dravid all the way. It was an innings typical of the Wall.  This series saw the birth of a new Gambhir & damn, I’m excited. The third test ended in a stalemate with Dhoni’s defensiveness being strange. Anyway, the series was won. Top performers were Gambhir, Zaheer, Harbhajan, Dravid & Laxman. For the Kiwis, Ryder, Taylor & Danny Vettori shone.

Dhoni brought home another overseas trophy. The Black Caps need not lose heart here. The team they faced was far superior. Bring Bond back & revamp the selection process guys. You wont get anywhere like this.

Dhoni with the trophy after India completed a 1-0 win in the test series against the Kiwis

41 years of wait finally ended as India completed 1-0 series win in New Zealand. This win will be particularly sweet for the seniors in the team as they have been on the receiving end on more than one occasion. It was a fantastic performance by the Indian team and was a total team effort.

I was little bit disappointed that we were unable to close out the 3rd test and win the series by 2-0 margin. When the rain halted the proceedings on day 5 with New Zealand on 284/8 the only thing which came on every Indian supporter’s mind was If only we had 10 more overs. If we look back at the 4th day’s play India batted too long I thought. We should have probably given NZ a target of 550-575. I don’t think that the Kiwis would have had a realistic chance of scaling that score against the Indian bowling attack.

Anyways that’s just in the hindsight. Nothing should be taken away though from the team as they have completed another major victory. They just have two more mountains to climb, Australia and South Africa. If they can achieve this while Sachin, Dravid and Laxman are still in the team it will be really great. Yeah there is one more location India hasn’t won that often which is Sri Lanka. Twice in last ten years we lost the series after going in to the final test with 1-1 score line.

For India to win in Australia and SA they have to improve their fielding and catching as this let them down badly in New Zealand. If Ishant hadn’t spilled a sitter of Ian O’ Brian of Sachin India probably would have won 2-0. So that’s one area which we have to work on. The second area of concern is the third seamer. I would prefer Sreesanth to come into the squad in the place of Munaf. Munaf is a good bowler but sometimes he looks lifeless on the field. I am not even talking about his bowling but just his body language which sometimes is not that encouraging.

Well overall this has been a fantastic series for the Indians. Winning the one-day series 3-1 and later winning the test series 1-0 will give lots of satisfaction to the Indian captain. There were some great individual performances from Ghambir, Zaheer and Harbajan. Sachin, Dravid and Laxman also batted brilliantly and gave consistent performances throughout the tour. Dhoni’s captaincy throughout the tour was excellent and aggressive. All in all a fantastic performance and a great win by Team India.