InDepth

Among all the tactical games played throughout the world, the game of Cricket is undoubtedly one that stands out where the captain matters a lot, especially when it comes to tactics.  Taking the statement a bit further, it would not be wrong for me to say that Cricket is as much skill-based as it is tactic-based. Unlike Soccer or many other team games, the coach of a cricket team cannot take or make quick on-field decisions. There are several counter-opinions  to this statement, but my long experience of following the game forces me to stick to this point of mine. The little bit of the game that I have played myself, the comments and analysis I have read and heard from experts, and the countless matches that I have watched over the years compel me to say that the captain plays a huge part in the success or failure of a side. On that note, let us go back a bit on the time radar - I take you all to the summer of 1992 "Down Under", when the stage was set for the fifth edition o...

It was either "Rangoli" or a similar program on Indian TV channel, Doordarshan, where I first heard Sahir Ludhianvi's timeless creation "Woh Subaah Kabhi To Aaayegi", roughly meaning "The Morning Will Arrive Some Day". The topic here is to look back at this classic piece of writing and spend some thoughts on the underlying concept of universal hope. Based on the classic novel "Crime and Punishment", a movie by the name "Phir Subaah Hogi" was made in India and the song was used in it. Sahir was a deep social thinker. His worldview was clear – he was driven by the idea of equity mixed with hope, justice, and progress. All his works bear a stamp of humanity, tolerance, social justice and social benevolence. Penning this song was not that difficult in that case! Let us start the journey with the first few lines of the poem. The poet starts by declaring that all the past decades have been nothing but dark. Darkness symbolizes f...

Before migrating to Sweden, I knew very little about the concept of Day Care. Having a relative living abroad I had heard about crèche, which is a typical British day nursery. A Day Care, in my understanding, was a place where babies can be left during the day-time in case both the parents are working. When my turn came to get my daughter admitted to a Swedish Day Care (in Swedish it is called Dagis ) the first thing I did was that I started comparing my own childhood days with that of her. For me, my “Kindergatan” or “Pre-school” year was a compulsive extra year which I had to spend before I started my real schooling. Did I enjoy going there? Well yes, I did. I made a few good friends who are still in my contact-network. What did I learn there? I can still remember to have learnt a bit of drawing and then we even did a stage show together with the teachers. So, I started with the belief that my daughter’s case would be a similar one. But I was mistaken. Her journey was differen...