Preparing for the Jungle - 2:45am Tue, San Diego

Finally, I finish my packing for the jungle. It consists of lot of clothes stashed together hoping I have not outgrown them ( in size :-) ), hazaar medicines which are recommended and cost a fortune, some insect repellants to prevent obesity amongst mosquitoes and my camera which I hope not to donate to the airlines on my trip.

I will fly at 10:15am Tuesday from San Diego to Dallas and then Dallas to Sao Paolo and then Sao Paolo to Manaus for a "refreshing" 24 hour journey. Upon reaching there, I will be put in an ecological 5 star resort called Tropical Hotel Manaus which is so grand that it boasts of a full size zoo in its premises.

Already, Fashion Street like bargaining (Bombayites know all about it) has begun. My first quote for a pickup from the airport to the hotel was R$ 140. Upon much bargaining and complaints to the conference organizers, it has been reduced to R$20 which will translate to less than 10 USD. I would say a great start and a pat on the back is deserved.

Brazil makes me excited and nervous at the same time. Amazon intimidates me. Being alone scares me. Not knowing the local language puts a tourist on the back foot right at the start - right from higher prices for English speaking guides to plain fleecing in local markets. My current master plan is to do the more touristic things at the start of the trip - stay in a jungle lodge, visit the city in a tour, etc. which can be done alone and depend upon Brazilian junta coming next week for the conference to help me enjoy the nightlife and the local stuff. Let us see how the events unfold in the next few days but I hope there will be a lot of opportunities to see the bio-diversity as well as have a look at the nightlife and soak in the beach and its views.

Need to catch some shut-eye before I leave. I plan not to miss my flight by oversleeping. Next post hopefully will be from Brazil.

Big Hit(s) at Padres stadium

I whack my second ball into the stands for a big six !! My first ball was a one bounce four. I changed avatar from a steady run-getter to a pinch-hitter to the surprise of most of my team-mates.








Me on big screen after that shot. Proud moment that !!













I have already heard comparisons to Inzy and Romesh Powar. :-)

Entering the Big Stage

Kumar, Tandra, Me and Saumya enter Petco Park for I-Day celebrations on Aug 15, 2006. San Diego Padres invited the San Diego Cricket Club to present a pre-game cricket tutorial in which yours truly participated.



This is my current room-mate Vineet who was the photographer for the evening and I am indebted to him for capturing my time under the sun. :-)




We came out on the field and like pros started with catching practice. The guy with the green helmet in the centre in a classical batting pose is me :-). There were a few baseball stars in the background but since I did not follow the sport, I could not figure out whom. Incidentally, one of the baseball players took a ball from us and started bowling legspin which was very surprising indeed since his control was much better that most leggies who have this common excuse about it being the most difficult bowling art. 

UCSD v/s MMSL

The match was played at a picturesque ground on Black Mountain road. The outfield was lush green but thick making it tough for the ball to reach the boundary.

MMSL captain won the toss and elected to bat. The SD3 opening bowlers Pritesh and Sriwatson kept a tight line and length. They were rewarded with a wicket each and UCSD was off to a good start. The continous chirping of the fielders especially behind the stumps kept the pressure on the batsmen.

The MMSL batsmen started consolidating after the first 2 wickets. The score at the first drinks break was 64/2 in 17 overs. The UCSD capatain chopped and changed his bowling attack after the break and the MMSL batsmen increased the tempo of their scoring. There was some ordinay fielding on the boundary and the captain , Raiyan, had a tough job on his hand. He bowled a tight spell at the death along with Rahul but MMSL finished on a good score of 187 in 35 overs.

It was a tough target to chase on the slow outfield and UCSD got off to a bad start when they lost Shawn for a duck. Kanishka hit a few lusty blows for quickfire 14 but then fell again to his Achilles heel of playing across the line. Sriwatson got out to a duck too and then it was left to Raiyan and Rahul to get the team out of trouble. Weather the storm they did, running quick singles in the beginning and then opening up to keep the run-rate under control. The score was 68/3 during the drinks break and UCSD had to score 120 runs of the last 18 overs.

Rahul reached his fifty with a silken straight drive but his running bordered between the sublime and the ridiculous. He got many lives mainly due to the largesse of the fieldsmen and was finally caught on the boundary. Andy joined Raiyan and after taking his time in the middle started opening his shoulders. This partnership brought the target under control but Andy was unfortunately run-out even after a Katichesque dive. Manish soon got out for a duck but then target was reached with ease by Raiyan with Kushal for company.

Raiyan played his best innings for UCSD. Taking quick singles, running the outfielders ragged and scoring boundaries when needed - it was an innings which brought all his experience into play. It was a stiif target to chase with good bowling and slow outfield but he made it look all to easy in the end.

A good game for UCSD who have made it a good habit of chasing well in the last few matches.

Match summary
~~~~~~~~~~~~

MMSL - 187/6 in 35 overs
Aanak - 48
Mangesh - 43
Achal - 37

UCSD - 188/6 in 33.5 overs
Raiyan - 80*
Rahul - 56
Andy - 18

San Diego 3 v/s British & Dominion Club - August 7, 2005

San Diego 3(SD3) were given the pleasure of hosting the British and Dominion(B&D) Club boys on Sunday, August 7, 2005.

SD3 being the hosts had the most exciting task of preparing the pitch on a gloomy Sunday moring. The sun, taking a cue from the SD3 players, did not come out on time. SD3 played the "hosts" to perfection when some players arrived after the B&D team. The surface called the "pitch" was a batting beauty - an uneven, parched spot of land hidden by a mat. Life was made tougher for the bowlers with the pitch providing quite a bit of uneven bounce around the good length spot.

After an interesting session of decorating the field, in which only a select few participated, SD3 topped it off by losing the toss. The players were not disappointed by this and warmed up by dropping a catch in the slips of Vishal's bowling. The hapless Vishal was finally rewarded when Ajay took a beauty at second slip. Hari bowled manfully at the other end without much luck. The strength of the SD3 attack was not lost on the B&D batsmen, and they were playing intelligently by taking singles and eschewing any risks. Shiva and Arup replaced them and Arup once again delivered a bullet - stumps uprooted and bails flying is a common sight for SD3 when Arups's bowling.

Stephen Speak, the most prolific batsman in the league, arrived with 336 runs under his belt and a sparkling average of 56. He did not know what fate had in store for him. Before he could settle, Andy claimed one of the cruelest dismissals by running him out on the second run when he was caught napping outside the crease. This brilliant piece of cricket was a big blow to the B&D side and they took a few oves to recover.

Pritish caught a very debatable return catch of his own bowling. Nobody but the man who matters most, the umpire, was sure about the dismissal. Derek Polley, the highest scorer, fell of Manish's bowling to a smart backward running catch from Kushal but not before he had added a fifty to his runs tally.

The gentle Aussie giant Andrew arrived and found the ground too small for his liking. He cleared a few over the fence, over the Warren apartments. One unfortunate over had three sixes and a boundary. He was a big cause of concern for the SD3 skipper, who chopped and changed his fielders and bowlers to get his wicket. His knock brought momentum to the B&D innings but not before SD3 took the liberty of dropping two of his catches. Hari, the skipper, brought himself on and took the vital wicket when Arup took a blinder on the offside boundary.

Arup, Shiva and Hari then wrapped up the innings for a total of 173 runs which was a very competitive target under the conditions. Nothing much was spoken during the luncheon interval though everyone realised that only a mature batting performance would lead to victory. The strategy was very simple - Keep wickets in hand till the bowl gets old and then milk the bowling towards the end. Easier said than done on a difficult batting wicket.

Manish and Shiva opened the innings facing two tall and nasty B&D bowlers who were extracting a lot of bounce from the pitch. Shiva got out fending a catch to the short cover in the 4'th over. The almost unplayable delivery rose sharply from a good length.

Rafi arrived at the crease and batted courageously. Both Rafi and Manish copped quite a few blows on the body. The B&D captain made the mistake of bowling out his top 2 bowlers before the break in search of the 2'nd wicket. Rafi got out on the last ball before the break getting bowled by playing the wrong line.

Vishal came in next and a big misunderstanding led to Manish's run out. Ajay followed soon after caught behind of a spinner. Vishal put the disappointments behind him and played a brisk run-a-ball partnership with Arup. Arup departed at the score of 91 bringing Andy on to the crease.

Andy's move to the middle order has been a revelation. Under the guidance of Vishal, both of them played a very sensible and explosive unbeaten partnership of 85 runs. The run chase looked like a canter from the outside but it was a good reward for the San Diego batsman who did all the hard yards. Vishal, as is the norm these days, top-scored with 58 not out which had a few magnificent sixes. Andy scored a busy 35 runs with some lusty hits to the fence.

The SD3 skipper was a proud and happy man to witness a clinical batting performance. Hope the winning trend continues for the rest of the season.

Brief Summary
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bowling Analysis

Vishal 8-2-22-1
Hari 8-2-37-2
Arup 6-1-33-2
Shiva 7.2-1-25-2
Manish 2-0-16-1
Saad 2-0-19-0
Pritesh 4-0-18-1

Batting Analysis

Manish 18
Shiva 2
Rafi 6
Ajay 2
Arup 12
Vishal n.o. 58
Andy n.o 35

FOW: 1/9 (4th over), 2/42 (15th over), 3/53 (18th over), 4/63 (21st over), 5/91 (25th over), Andy and Vishal had a 85 runs unbeaten partnership for the 6th wicket.

My First Post

Guys,

Finally, I make a start to my blogging career. Feels a little uncomfortable at the first go as I have never done it before.

Since this is my first post, I would try to describe myself a bit more. I am the only child of two hard-working parents studying in UCSD for a PhD degree in Electrical Engineering. Life revolves around my parents, my best friends - Pujs and Shom, and finally a lot of other friends whom I bank upon for everything in life.

Friends know me by different names depends on where I met them. For school friends - I am Manu bhai, or plain Manish; for building friends - I am Manu; for IITians - I am Amde; at UCSD - I am Mamoo. I have a hell a lot of different friends I like to hang around with.

My passions include
+ sports (esp. cricket, soccer)
+ music (hindustani classical, rock, ghazals and some select hindi songs)
+ food (anything spicy, nothing sweet)
I am scared my posts would revolve around these few topics :-). I am trying to expand my horizons by re-discovering books and art.

Anyways I think my laziness prevents me from writing anymore. Laziness is something that is ingrained in me ( I think all my friends would vouch for it :-) )

Ciao!!
Manish