Comfortably Dumb

How would soccer look if FIFA decides that some sanity needs to be brought into the game-and decides that all the games would hence forth be played over an entire day?

It's not very tough to imagine. The whole team would keep standing in front of the goal posts. The players would stop running around and the game would start testing the virtues of 'will' and 'patience'.

Supporters of the 'traditional' formats of Cricket often overlook the most basic fact about any sport- that a game is a game is but only a game. So at the most basic level (you might call it a philosopher's viewpoint!) cricket is all about six slims sticks, one slightly broader one and a round object. Soccer is even more minimalist. Only a big, round object! Ditto with other sports.

But the problem with Cricket has been its baggage of history and its narrow minded and hugely nostalgic patrons. Cricket was initiated by people who called themselves 'gentlemen', a euphemism for rich amateurs. As TOI's Swaminomics points out, only they could play a game which spanned for 5 days in the outdoors! This mentality refuses to go away till this day. It is also responsible for the lack of vision and direction Cricket has been suffering from for quite some time, with haphazard rule changes and whimsical schedules. The critics and administrators are too past-oriented to look into the future. They also refuse to admit that rough, tough and athletic people can have any considerable sway over the game and that one of game's primary purposes (and certainly the primary source of revenues) is about entertainment of the paying public. It's the popularity which brings in the masses to watch the matches and buy the products that players endorse. And then some gifted ones choose to select this game over other occupation to entertain and dazzle the others with their skills. (May be Yuvraj Singh would have selected Golf, or baseball, had he been in the US!)

Talking about skills, hitting and slogging demands as much skill as, lets say, playing a forward defensive stroke, or showing the patience to leave the potentially troubling deliveries and the concentration to last a whole day. Also, preventing a skilled batsman from scoring quickly is as much a skill as trying to get a guy out who is just content on occupying the crease.

That said, one thing that people failed to take notice during this Twenty20 2007 World Cup (which would make the critics and the masses equally happy) was the no of batsmen who were clean bowled, many a times with their stumps totally shattered. This is one of the most beautiful sights in Cricket and one saw it in very good measures (my personal favourite would be the cart wheeling of Gilchrist's middle stump by Sreesanth in the semi final!)

So may be the purists can convince themselves about this format. They are not in a huge no anyway but one suspects they influence cricket in a disproportionate way. My personal remedy is to sizably cut down on ODIs. To retain a link with the much beloved past, test cricket would have to continue it in the same vain as today. If viewers become hard to come by the the revenues from Twenty20 are always there to fund it!

Lupin Lessons in Life

My erstwhile company might not have been the greatest company to work for, but my stint there certainly taught me a few things I am going to hold for good. It forced me to do things I had never done; I had never wanted to do and never wished I would ever have to do. It forced me to become what I had never been and gave me the boost to do things I never had the confidence to do.

A certain credit for all this eulogy must also go to THE city, Bombay. However, that is a story of different dimensions!

Here are my learnings -

1. DEGREES DON'T MATTER - The most obvious of all the learnings. I learnt, like most people do, that degrees do NOT matter. But I certainly learnt it quickly than others…and may be learnt it the hard way!
The first obvious signs of troubles confronted me during the sales training. The classes were held in Lonavala, during monsoons. Few things can be prettier than that, only if you get a chance to see it. My classes were held from 9-to-6, at a break neck speed, teaching me things I had never given a second glance during my school life. The other MRs, on the other hand, were totally familiar with the subjects, some were B.Pharma's and some of them were, surprisingly, fairly sharp. I told my boss about this difficulty and he said that being an engineer AND an MBA, I was expected to be sharper than everyone else. This just wasn't happening so easily and thus I concluded degrees must be immaterial.
Later on also, I was reminded of this painful reality whenever I was at the losing end. Understanding the business, all the processes, the people who matter and giving it one's 110% all the time, all these seldom require a bundle of qualification. People with degrees would tend to do better because of their superior exposure level and competent peer group but a really determined person without those high titles can do equally well. As a degree holder, one should be wary of such people because they have nothing to lose and a lot to gain- at your expense.

2. BE ORGANISED, BE VERY ORGANISED– Indeed, I had been a fumbling slob my entire life! Barely kept a track of anything, forgot things more than once and procrastinated in full measure. However, a few kicks to my butt due to the messing up of cases and I became pretty darned efficient.
Pharmaceutical industry is very document heavy by nature. One has to have very good clerical skills in order to succeed here. A lot of otherwise brilliant people in my acquaintance would have been even more dismal failures, I believe.

3. GIVING BACK AS GOOD AS YOU GET- Amit, my boss, taught me that “…Don’t take any bullshit from anyone”. I consider this as a turning point to my assertiveness level. I had always been a nice guy to the core. I still am, but just that I don’t let ANYONE walk over me anymore.
The situation there used to be grim for me as I often had to contend with people 15+ years senior to me and throwing their weights around. One scowl, one hard stare and in some cases, a raised voice did the trick. It still does, sometimes!

4. TALK FAST, BE NICE AND TAKE CHANCES – This is with regard to people management. You have to talk fast, as the person you are talking to might move on. You have to be nice to people and at times, go out of your way to help them, especially if you encounter them frequently. And finally, once in a while, keep pushing your luck with people. These principles help one in professional as well as social life!

5. FUNDAS DON’T MATTER – I asked Sujit, my senior colleague, that why did the company logo have different colours for its different divisions. He shot back; “how would that make a difference to the doctor who is prescribing the medicine?”
I did not have a ready answer. All along I had assumed that marketing and branding principles are sacrosanct, never imagining that they could be overturned!
Eventually, my point was felt to be right (although it wasn’t recognized as my point as such, having been articulated and propounded by other senior managers). The logos and other related things were given a colour code and were rationalized. I also managed to come up with a satisfactory answer to Sujit’s question. But I had also learnt my lesson. I began viewing management bunkum less through the hype cycles and more through the pragmatic, business related approach.

6. BE CHEERFUL – The credit for this lesson goes to Anagha, the secretary to the division president. It’s easy to be grumpy and throw your weight around (ok once in a while it’s allowed and sometimes even necessary!). It is much more difficult to be put on a smile and being nice to others when things are not going your way.
And in life, it is always worth trying to achieve more difficult things.

Learning never stops. But a substantial amount of it in a short time interval is forever etched in memory. Despite all the cribbing, I actually did have an exciting time at that place!