Its fast, its furious.

Okay so originally, today’s contemplation led me to the topic ‘women’. I started thinking about different incidents and instances and those were going to form my post for today. But YouTube got the better of me and I got distracted. And also, I thought I have a lot to say on the topic of women, so I thought it would be better if I saved it for a day when I could dedicate the right amount of time to that topic. So today I write about my day.

I think that the IPL has an extremely loyal fan in me. I love anything that is related to the IPL. For instance, today I was watching the owner’s games. Apparently last year after some of the games were done, the two sides playing would battle it out again. Just it wouldn’t be their playing XI, but it would be the owner’s XI instead. I am sure there are very few like me that would spend 2 hours watching random cricket games. Also, for all the Gurunath Meiyappan speculation, in the following video he is addressed as the CSK owner (fishy, fishy).

a

And then I saw a TEDx video where Anurag Kashyap was the keynote speaker. I am a big Anurag Kashyap fan also and there’s will definitely be another post about him. After that, I went to see Fast & Furious 6. WHAT A MOVIE! I absolutely loved it. It completely satisfied the action junkie and the car lover in me.

An interesting thing that I started doing 10 days back was take up the 30 Day Song Challenge on Facebook. To most people it may seem silly or pointless but it would actually be interesting to see everyone take it up at some point. The challenge each day speaks volumes about a person. I hope more people take it up, if not out of interest, then out of pure fun.

The “its fast, its furious” title seemed so apt because for the past two weeks that is how life has been. I’ve started doing so much more and am so occupied all day that its hard to keep track of the speed at which the days are passing by. Two weeks back, one of my best friends came from India and on the day before yesterday, she left. Time flies by so fast. So yeah, life’s fast and life’s furious but I keep reminding myself of the importance of taking a little bit of time out of that fast life and reminiscing. And this is my spot for doing just that.

And on a conclusive note, I have been on a movie spree. I saw The Avengers yesterday and Fast & Furious 6 today. I’m going to watch Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (I’ve been waiting for a while for this one) tomorrow, Hangover 3 day after tomorrow, and hopefully The Great Gatsby the day after that. I’m super excited. And the review of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is coming out either tomorrow night or day after morning. Until then, take care and be happy!

WHISTLE PODU!

Three words for today – Chennai Super Kings. Three more words – Best IPL Team. Three more words – Sir Ravindra Jadeja.

Chennai Super Kings are by far my favorite team in the IPL, ever since the early days in the IPL. The team speaks of consistency, friendship, sportmanship, and performance.

Today my dad was telling me that Dhoni is definitely lucky and that he has all the luck behind him and how he was lucky that he won the toss today. I was clearly miffed. I argued back telling him that if any other captain had won the toss, he wouldn’t have said the same. For whatever reasons, people find it hard to believe that one team can be this good and consistently this good.

CSK has been in 4 of the 5 IPL finals and won 2 of those. It is the only team to have one the tournament twice. CSK has won the CLT20. It is the only team to have qualified for all the playoffs, and that feat in itself speaks of consistency. We have won the fair play award on a consistent basis. This is Chennai’s 5th IPL final and hopefully 3rd title. We have the orange cap (awarded to the player that scores the most runs in the tournament), the purple cap (awarded to the player that takes the highest number of wickets in the tournament), the Fair Play Award, and we finished #1 on the table this year. We have equaled the highest number of consecutive wins in the tournament. We have always played as a team, and it is seldom a one-man show.

Still think we’re just plain lucky and not consistent?

People either love the Chennai Super Kings or hate (read: are jealous of) it.

Love ’em or hate ’em, but don’t forget to respect the Chennai Super Kings!

Adam Gilchrist, you legend.

Today is a happy sad day. One of the better cricketers, and THE best wicket-keeper batsman cricket has ever seen, retired from the Indian Premier League today. It was sad enough having seen him retire from the Australian team, but back then somewhere the Indian inside me was thankful. And then for the past 6 years, he’s been an incredible influence in the IPL. He was the only reason I supported Deccan Chargers initially and the only reason I started supporting Kings XI Punjab after that. He was a source of inspiration, a leader for countless young cricketers – upcoming and established, Indian and foreign.

He ended his international T20 career against India.

He ended his international ODI career against India.

He ended his international Test career against India.

And now he finally ended his cricketing career in India.

Today was a sad day because the legend Adam Gilchrist finally called it quits. Today was a happy day because of the way he did. He finally showed us what he was so popular for, his style of playing in his second to last game. And in his final game, today, he got out early. As a fan, I was terribly disappointed. But how fast did my disappointment disappear towards the end of the game. The opposing team required 51 runs to win off the last over and Praveen Kumar was going to bowl, or at least that is what everyone thought. And Praveen Kumar and Adam Gilchrist got their ends mixed up. Praveen Kumar was padded up with wicket-keeping gloves and Adam Gilchrist had the ball in his hand. I LOVED IT! It was a wow moment. And the first ball he bowled, Harbhajan Singh skied the ball. I was up on my feet screaming, “PLEASE LET IT BE OUT, PLEASE LET IT BE OUT!” and it was caught out just before the boundary line. The fielder was laughing, the batsman had a smile on his face and Adam Gilchrist decided to give the celebration his all. He mimicked the most popular celebration styles of the player. We got to see a Oppa Gilchrist Style, a Keiron Pollard – Gilchrist celebration, and a lap of victory.

Thank you Adam Gilchrist for ending your career on such a high. Thank you for always entertaining us with your batting. Thank you for being an inspiration to upcoming cricketers and to cricketing fans. Thank you for this last gift.

With a lot of love, respect, admiration, awe and after today – laughs, I hope that we do see you in the future IPL as a coach or some support staff. Best wishes for life, from an ardent fan.

– Kunal Jhaveri