The End and A Start

Oh what an experience it has been, watching through the matches of the Indian Premier League! The over-hyped event, which did live upto the hype, finally came to an end and what an end it was! The last ball decider was as nerve-racking as the Penalty Shootout between Manchester United and Chelsea on the Champions League Finals. It's been the second time within the span of a month that I have seen a great final of a great tournament. And both the times, it was the team that I wanted, ending up on the winning side. There it was Manchester United and here, it was Rajasthan Royals. It is true that the Royals proved themselves in every match after a bad start, and yet I always considered them underdogs, and it's my desire to see the underdogs win unless it doesn't involve a favourite team of mine. Complicated stuff to understand, but putting it simply, I wanted RR to win inspite of having the feeling, they might not pull off this one. But like every other match I saw of RR, they simply proved me wrong! Everytime they play a match, I watch it with interest thinking, "..today something may go wrong and the team would collapse. After all, how long can a team survive without a proper coach, without big-named players, etc...". But they never seemed to fall apart. They keep talking about those "Roles" assigned to them, and "Executing" them. These Roles seem to be Royal Roles! The team simply defied all odds and continued doing it till the very last game of the Tournament. I expected them to pull off this feat at the end of the league stage, but always reminded myself of the fact that in this format, nothing repeats like the previous. Everything is new in a new game. And RR kept themselves fit for that ever changing pattern and showed nerves of the strongest possible metal ever right till the death!!

A special note towards Shane Watson: He's had the skill and control through out in all sections of the game (Bat, Bowl, Field), and rightfully deserves the Royal Crown with the Man of the Series. When his face appears on the Television screen, he seems too be radiating a sense of aggression and calm at the same time. He can threaten and joke at the same time and I am always left struck by his cool attitude...

There were incidents which shouldn't have happened but I think these incidents have actually boosted the popularity of the IPL. Yesterday, I noticed a poll that declared 92% people calling it a success, and 8% not agreeing with that. That poll itself speaks about how this event has turned things around, or even the face of cricket!

That was THE END.

And now, for THE START. The start of my month long journey with BHEL. The mini-project that I selected, was selected against so many factors. Things like hectic travel, 8am to 4pm timings, holidays gobbled up, lots of money put in, few weeks of college also unlikely, etc, all tried to turn me against this project. Yet, just for the sake of getting a certificate from a recognised Company, I had to go for it. Today was my first shot at it, and it proved to be pretty hard on me. I had a huge struggle trying to get there as early as possible. But once I did, the trees and clam atmosphere soothed me a bit.
But once into the office, it gives you a stench of the government-type offices. The lazy staff, with hardly anything to do, the unnecessary jokes, the extreme formalities, and so many other things really got to my nerves, and yet I held on! Somewhere at the end of this uncertain tunnel, there lies something valuable. The focus is on that, and the journey is being neglected. Thankfully though, the CFD Wing (my area of work), is properly Air-conditioned, with doors responding to chips in your card. The procedure to get registered took the whole morning and afternoon. It's seems to be like this: People roll in pretty late (upto an hour), then by 11am they rush for tea and chat about for nearly 1/2 hour. By 12:30 they are back for lunch. They spend an hour on that. Then, they lazily get back to work (if there was any!), by 1:30pm and by 2:30pm. they are out for another cup of tea. When they are done by 3:00, they 'work' and by 4:00pm, you can see a big line of vehicles waiting at the gate. The moment the factory siren rings, and the gates open, there is a rush of vehicles onto the road. It's like watching lazy schoolchildren dying to get out of school. All you can do in a day is, fill a form and get it stamped (if you luckily reach the office before he runs out for lunch!).

Phew! That's the life, I'm gonna live for the next few weeks. The start of this month has brought in the start of my peep into the 'Pro' World. How successfully I blend with it and get out of it alive, remains a mystery yet to be solved.