Good Riddance Greg

The inevitable just happened. Greg Chappell resigned as the coach of the Indian cricket team. Well It was going to happen anyway, His head had to be the first to roll, as the aftermath of our pathetic performance in the World cup.

In my humble opinion, I'm pretty happy that this happened. I hated the man anyway. He never seemed to gel with the players in the dressing room. Spat with Ganguly, Spat with Tendulkar, Emails, SMS's, he was more a character of a Bollywood script than he was a cricket coach. At this point I believe he is one of the most hated man on the face of the planet, coming close to George Bush :P.

If you look at his coaching, it yielded mixed results. We won a Test series in the Caribbean after 35 years, made a world record of 17 continuous successful chases, won 35, lost 27 of the 65 ODI's played under his coaching. In Tests it was slightly better, We won 7, Drew 7, and lost 4 of the test matches. But We also had amazing lows, in 14 out of 17 away games, We failed to bat out complete 50 overs, Got whitewashed in South Africa, Lost the ODI's in West Indies, Lost in malaysia, got kicked out of the Champions trophy and world cup in the very first stages.

But performance put aside, I hated the man's guts because of his inability to gel the players into a unit. History tells us that its always a United team which goes all the way. A team with so many spats and controversies just cannot make it. The role of a coach should be considered here. A player who comes to the highest level, through the domestic circuit, obviously has perfected his technique, eliminated any flaws or worked his way around them. He doesn't need to be taught how to bat or bowl. The role of a coach is more to work out strategies, plans, basically act as the head of the think tank, and to keep the morale boosted, i.e. to act as a psychologist.

He obviously failed to do so. And it lead to a billion dreams being shattered. Good riddance Chappell. Just feel lucky, it was Woolmer, not you, in that fateful hotel room in Jamaica that night.

Current Crossroads of Life

Owing to the joblessness of my last month in IIT and the desire to do something creative, to hold back a few memories, I have taken to blogging again. My previous blogging attempt was a good experience, but due to lack of time and enthu I had quit. That was two years back. Since then a lot has changed in my life. Infact, the whole perspective, of what I want from life and why, how to get it, my priorities, everything has taken a U-turn.

Two years back, the only Academic/Professional aim was to somehow reach the shores of North America, by hook or crook. Having done an internship abroad, I have realised it (read Foreign Country) isn't that big a thing. Life is not about going to America, its about what you want from your life, loving what you do. I don't hold anything against those who are going abroad. Most of my friends are. Its not that I have suddenly become patriotic or realised the problem of brain drain which has stopped me from apping after investing a sufficient amount of time and money in giving GRE and TOEFL. People who live in India and work in MNCs anyway don't contribute to the Indian economy any more than those who go to foreign shores.

The point is, would you like to pursue a particular thing for the rest of your life? Are you happy doing it? Does it give you satisfaction?

And also a lot of social factors. I'll talk about the social factors first. I would work for , lets say 35 years. When I thought about it made me realize, how short life is. I am already 23. 35 years more, and it would be retirement time. If I go abroad, I would be meeting my parents, and the rest of my family, probably yearly to begin with, reducing to once in 2 years after marriage, to once in 3-4 years later on. Now for such short a life span, What is more important? Dollars ?? Gadgets?? Fast cars?? Good roads?? no slums in sight?? well oiled bureaucracy?? Or keeping company of those who you love ?

Well my answer would be the Last one. Dollars and Rupees, whatever you earn, my belief is, that if you have a successful career anywhere amongst the two, you would have enough money to lead a satisfied life. In fact, its better in India as you get domestic help etc, which would lead you to having a better life style. In US, however successful you become, you would always be a foreigner to them, you can never gain the same respect in their eyes, as much you can gain in India if you are successful. Whats the use of being a foreigner, an aberration, an exception all your life? I would very much prefer to be in this country, which is, thank goodness, not a third world country anymore, where the infrastructure is growing, where I would probably not get a porche, but a honda city would do, I can get almost the same comforts of life, and can visit my parents any time they need me, have my own culture, my food, have people around me who would understand what I'm talking about if I start discussing cricket or bollywood.

The second aspect, What you want to do in life. Now , if like my friends, I was into biotech, i would have gone abroad without a second thought, because it is unfathomable to do a PhD in India atleast for me. But I'm not. Its not a question of whats better, it boils down to a very personal choice and reasoning. I've been told, that the kind of personality I have, doesn't fit the bill very well when it comes to being a researcher. Rather it would be good for other professions. Hence I am aiming for management.

As of now, I'm heading to a techno-financial job, in Noida, near to people who matter to me, and would look to get into some Elite Management institute. I'm sure, it would happen sooner or later. Well what I want from life right now. I haven't really thought what after management. Entrepreneurship maybe, its a very far fetched dream.. but then who knows.. :)

For now, lets hope the BTP ends well :)