Few More Pages Left

Its weird. I have been wanting to write for so long, I know this is my oft-repeated phrase in almost every post, but this time it's not because of a lack of ideas for a great lead, but because this is weird.

What provoked me to write was not the usual bad mood or the unusual happiness. It was something I thought I had lost touch with. And once I lose touch I don't go back to it. Good or bad, thats me. This is quite surprising.

Now that I am hoping you want to know what it is that I am yapping about, I somehow seem to have lost track of what I actually wanted to begin with. I digress..(this is what happens when you don't blog and read your old posts and wonder if you actually wrote them).

Cricket. I want to talk cricket. I was flipping through the pages of The Week, getting stuck at the US presidential debate, wondering whether I wanted McCain or Obama and then when the author said Hillary is a great debator, I told myself I was never one.

Then I struggled past Kamal Nath's interview and then two pages of Godhra and the Nanavati report. And finally I came to the cover story: Kangaroo Catcher -- Sachin has a target, so do the Aussies. I know I could have directly gone to the cover story if I so wanted to read it, but I wanted to build the excitement for myself.

I read and I read and I read some more. I am not one of Sachin's greatest fans. Everyone loves him and thats one reason I don't. I admire him, I respect his talent, he is great no doubt, but while I was reading the article, one thought that crossed my mind was that I have read the same thing about him several times over. SEVERAL TIMES OVER. So much so that these reports are as predictable as a wrong umpiring decision!

Such is his greatness and what he has given to the game. The report had one full para on Dravid and what is expected of him. No I am not gonna talk about him. I want to talk about someone who will be covered 'exclusively' on every news channel, in every newspaper for the next few days, weeks and months.

About someone who I have rarely spoken about but I greatly adore. Saurav Ganguly.

And because I am part of the media, I will talk about him on my post. More importantly, cos he pushed me to write.

He is retiring. And so am I. Cricket without him is like Billy Bowden without his weirdness. (I know I am trying too hard) And now I cant write anymore.

Saurav is going and I will miss him. Period.

The off-side is never gonna be the same.

Fewer run-outs are depressing.

That dynamism and energy on the field, that magnetic effect that makes you want to want more of him: I wish.

The aggression that made a so-called timid Indian team realize its potential.

His stance: his stylish stance. Two legs, slightly outside the crease, and the bat comes down. He doesn't defend.

The attacker that gave birth to the killer instinct.

Shall be missed..

Few more pages left to be read..........