"Twirly Men" Book Review

Even though my interest in cricket waned after the new high Indian cricket hit on April 2nd and subsequently its lows in England and the yo-yo series in West Indies., I go to ridiculous lengths to read good writing on cricket. I still re-read the works of Neville Cardus - that masterly writer of Manchester Guardian - and the occasional PG Wodehouse stories based on cricket. In India, Rajan Bala had his style of writing but I was a big fan of R.Mohan who wrote for THE HINDU. He was the reason to read about Cricket in any sports newspapers those golden years of 1980s-1990s until he was sacked following an investigation by THE HINDU in the infamous Azharuddin betting scam. After that, R.Mohan wrote but the halycon days were behind him as he never found the same sweet spot of THE HINDU. I used to follow Peter Roebuck almost regularly until his shocking suicide jump - I never really understand what makes anybody jump the gun, I mean, buildings in reacher upper echelons of heaven - for whatever reason. But lets leave that - I feel that Cricket Writing has not improved so much and even Nirmal Shekar and other writers for Wisden don't have the flashes of brilliance that earlier writers used to have. Until, I found a fascinating new writer whose book I strongly recommend - AMOL RAJAN. He writes for THE INDEPENDENT newspaper in London and has written the singularly best book ever on the history and craft of SPIN Bowlers of cricket. Titled "Twirly Men", the book is a masterpiece on the art and history of spin bowling - and must be a treat for all connoisseurs of cricket. For those who missed the golden era of Indian spin trio of Bedi, Prasanna, and Chandraskar or the spin bowlers of yore like Graeme Swann, Larry Golmes, Abdul Qadir,Swanton, Richie Benaud, Zaheer Abbas, Len Hutton Amol Rajan weaves a fascinating and almost read-out-loud, delightful and gripping account of those masters of deception who rarely get their attention like Percussionists of a Carnatic music concert. What amazed me is that Amol Rajan, I googled to find, used to be a spin bowler in English county cricket before taking to writing about the game due to failure from injury and half indolence. If you love books on cricket and revel in reading about WG Grace by Sir Neveille Cardus, TWIRLY MEN deserves an ovation for a rollicking read. Rajan not only traces the craft of spinning through the game's greats over the years, he weaves tales of drama and gets you inside some of those pitch-turning battles that made the spin bowlers heroes of the day - including today's Muralidharan, Warne, Kumble. The book also has a chapter each on a variety of balls that the practitioners have used over the years - the "doosra", the carrom ball, the arm ball, the zooter or slider or nothing ball, the flipper and the googly - each of this ball is illustrated with drawings too. Can't miss this book if you love the game and a writing thats worthy of the game. I will be turning out my best reads of the year category-wise shortly - but having finished this one sooner - cannot resist the read. Take it like Geoff Boycott's commentary on spinning with R.Mohan's literary flourish and Neville Cardus's lyrical beauty of language. "Twirly Men" - best book on Cricket in 2011.

Stockmarkets

When it comes to stockmarkets, fear leads to panic, panic breeds the inability to distinguish between temporary declines and permanent losses. That, in turn, leads to the well-documented propensity to be massive sellers of good investments near market bottoms. We seem to be getting there if you see Equity Mutual Fund inflows have recorded a 31 month lows. Some never learn.

India's Triple Transition and Work-in-Progress

We are seeing a colossal work-in-progress in India's next-level transition in three areas - Social, Political and Economic - that it is easy to see the ongoing flux as turmoil. I am fully convinced that this is India's second or third-greatest inflection point before we get back into the world orbit of adulation. Parliaments are challenged, ministers are getting jailed, Judges are impeached, peopl...e pose questions to Prime Minister that should have been raised elsewhere, Gandhian incarnations re-enter the national consciousness, business icons are getting milched. I don't bother if the stock markets or currency or gold markets or bond markets take a beating from here - thats the bye-product of bellweather reactions. I am more concerned with what the "cause" is, not effects. I am 500 per cent convinced that these transitions on many counts are going to cleanse India more and make our future brighter for all of us. I mean it and can smell it in my blood as someone who knows India since the 70s that this phase is going to do multiple good to our country in many ways that historians will extol. You can deride India or ride this wave - and the opportunities it provides in many ways.

Hyderabad Book Fairs and Book Reading Culture

Hyderabad Book Fair opens for the 26th year in Necklace Road. In the last 26 years, I would have missed only once when I was abroad. What pains me about this book fair is that the quality of book fair has been only deteriorating over the years. Shifting of venue from Chikkadpally to Nizam College grounds to Necklace Road hasnt done wonders to the book-reading culture nor improved the Society's thi...nking level. The tragedy of Hyderabad is that people here don't read books or read books as much as a Book Fair Organiser feels encouraged. The footfalls are good but many stall owners tell me not many buy at the Fair. I just had a cursory round - the customary first round and was apalled at the quality and the vision of the Fair. The entry ticket is priced at Rs.5/-. That tells how diffident the organisers feel about footfalls. Five Rupees is not even inflation-adjusted since 1990s - might as well open the doors for free. The parking and pop-corn and chat items outside the Venue of Book Fair actually fetch more than the price for entry. Jewellery Fairs and Career Exhibitions fetch higher entry charges. Besides, the choice of stalls has always been unimaginative. This time, you even have a stall sellilng Pirated Hollywood DVDs apart from Handwriting Analysis workshops and Multi-color Web offset Printers and Maps and White-board markers and Games. How the hell are all these related to Book-Reading and Book-lovers? In one of the book-shops, the owner was haggling with a Distributor at what discount to sell a book that's exclusively marketed by them. Its titled: "Tragedy of Hyderabad". I didn't even bother to look at that book. Might be an apt description of the book-culture in Hyderabad. This is a city where parties are thrown to drown beer, play pool, brag about the acres of land in Vikarabad and Gandipet, and of course, the latest political and filmi issues. Books? A Big No. I have been to International Book Fairs in New Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Mumbai and dream of going for Frankfurt one day - and wished that Hyderabad will have a Fair thats worthy of world renown. Now, I am reconciled that the city will get the Book Fair it deserves. Even the Vijayawada and Vizag Book Fairs get more book volumes according to the organisers - and atleast people there are starved of good books to see and read and buy. Hyderabad Blues for book-lovers!

"Solo" Movie Review

"Solo" starring Nara Rohit is another year-end rounding-off error we could have made if we missed it. Thoroughly entertaining and more satisfying to watch than even "Pilla Zamindar". Director Parasuram is a disciple of Swami Puri Jagannadh ("Pokiri" fame) but hasn't imbibed shades of gang-war violence and eve-exploiting sleaze. Quite a neat film with great performances by Rohit, Kajal Agarwal's... sister- Nisha, Prakash Raj, Jayasudha and yes, comedian Srinivas Reddy - this is his finest hour. The storyline: Rohit grew up an orphan and yearns to love and marry a girll who has a huge family. Prakash Raj - the girl's father - on the other hand, wants to bring in a son-in-law who is anything but "Solo". Sounds like another Dil Raju production but there ends any comparison because the director weaves a right combination of comedy, family drama and love-story with heart-tugging dialogues that linger on. Except for one Mumaith Khan's item song, "Solo" is a great film to watch. Mani Sharma has given high-quality music - both songs and BGM scores. Quite unsurprisingly then, when we trooped into a theatre and were wondering if we made a right choice when we saw but ten people including us, we saw the hall almost filled within ten minutes of movie. Is this movie better than "Pilla Zamindar"- in entertainment and neat family fare? Heart says, "Yes".

Mario Miranda

This is portrait of Mario Miranda - one of India's world-famous cartoonist - who passed away yesterday by my uncle Sankaranayarana Sattiraju who draws pen portaits. There are few Goans whose works I ardently collect - Remo Fernandes, Frank Simoes, Dom Moraes and of course, Mario Miranda. Mario's cover in the 80s and 90s wa...s a sure-fire best-seller - and he has immortalised many with his characteristic style of voluptious lady secretaries, Late forefather's portraits hanging on the walls and wide-eyed and rotund and acutely obtuse people with beautiful dots giving a signature style. Mario would have been mighty pleased with this wonderful portrait by my uncle which is more perfect than Mario's rampunctious cartoons. I used to always think Mirinda the orange drink is named after Mario Miranda! Long Live Mario!

Lunar Eclilpse and the Hoax of Scientific Temper

There is a famous anecdote about Thomas Alva Edison - world's greatest inventor-scientist. He is reading Bible in a train and a co-traveller surprised he is reading Bible even if with a scientific temper. Edison later invites him to his home. The traveller goes to Edison's home and suddenly notices an astonishing model of a solar system in the living room. He quizzes Edison who made it but Edison repeatedly says he only created it and that too in a day. The skeptic-guest gets exasperated and says,"C'mon Mr Edison. How can you make such a wonderful replica of a solar system in a day. Tell me who really made it." Edison was supposed to have replied: "If you can't believe that a mere replica of a solar system can't come up by itself, how did you think the entire solar system and the universe came up all by itself? If there is a creation, there has to be a creator. If there is a painting, there is a painting. If there is a sculpture, there is a sculptor. If there is an artwork, there has to be an artist." And so goes the tale, Edison has convinced the rationalist-skeptic-guest into believing that God is indeed the creator of this universe. This tale is recounted by a noted IT professional turned Spiritualist TT Rangarajn. But why am I suddenly saying this now? Because, I feel sometimes agog at the flurry of news channels trying to ignite an uproarious debate on whether the ongoing Lunar Eclipse has any repurcussions on pregnant women, children, eating habits, diseases and so on. I find it extremely silly that the so-called Rationalists dont argue with a scientific temper that it deserves - they just jump onto the moment's opportunity - why can't you eat during eclipse? Why should you close temples? Why you can do anything you like during this time? I cannot possibly answer all these questions in a sentence or a facebook post ( since I and my family take it quite seriously - these eclipses without abashedness whether it is scientific or not). But the fact is - a small micro-degree variation in an acquarium of small fish in temperature or water can kill the fish suddenly. When such a thing can happen in a small ecosystem like aquarium - imagine how much variation can happen when three huge planets Earth, Moon and Sun overlap in cosmic orbits and how many bacteria and micro-organisms get created as well as killed? Why do the Rationalists always argue for arguments' sake without seeing such a simple logic. Our systems also, as one seer opined in a channel, are so advanced we can tell all the eclipses that have happened or will happen for the next several millenia with just pen and paper and vernacular Almanacs. Can the scientists predict when the next eclipse or the next sub-cycle occur? I am reasonably rationalist but sometimes the blind nonsense that goes in the name of Rationalism to the point of pooh-poohing the inherent logical biases and scientific certitude that is embedded into our Astrological systems and good practices of living is not my cup of tea. We can take such debates later on but first let the scientists answer such simple questions as above. Right now, its time for us to have a headbath, recite a few more mantras, sprinkle water, cook fresh food and break our fast of more than 12 hours and go to sleep. Happy Lunar Eclipse to all!