Beautiful like a dream!!!

Shot from Santa Monica Beach (Baywatch fame) in Los Angeles! The hispanic influence in the state of California is unmistakably visible everywhere including the names of the places. This includes San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles...

I happened to read about the famous Californian Gold rush of 1840's. And that paved the way for thousands of migrants to this part of the world. The point to note was that only in 1850, California was included as a state in United States. Till then it was mostly under the rule of spanish emperors. That explains the background for the movie "The Mask of Zorro"...

The main year of the gold rush was 1849. And the migrants of those years are called Forty Niners. This helped me understand why the Football team of San Francisco was named as 49ers. They have fallen of the heights that once they owned, though...

This gold rush was one of the reasons for California to be also known as the Golden State...

And the majority of the migrants were Chinese who came here to do the hardwork of making the way in the mountains and valleys of this beautiful land, for laying railway lines. And anybody who comes to San Francisco can easily make out the abundance of that lineage...

After the gold rush, it was the agriculture which lead the way for Californians, which in turn lead to the rise of entertainment industry, culminating in what we now call as Hollywood. Then it was the turn of computer revolution to help California remain the richest state in United States of America. This is really the land which inspires and supports peoples' dreams. And they love to call it as the American Dream!!!

World Cup!!!

Sreesanth helped the Indian cricket followers, including yours truly, to raise their expectations about a great series victory in South Africa. And I really believe that if the South African batters fails to apply themselves then that is well and truly possible. And the part played by Ganguly and Laxman was really big considering the batting collapses in the onedayers. And this leads to me a question of selecting a team for World Cup for next year...

Damien Martyn, Shane Warne and Glen Mcgrath has just initiated the end of era of a great set of cricketers. I am sure this world cup is going to be the last of a lot of giants of the game including Lara and Tendulkar. This is their last chance to get their hands on the ultimate price.So from an Indian perspective, let me try to see which could be the best possible 16 that can help Sachin achieve this glory...

Sachin,Rahul,Yuvraj, Dhoni, Kumble, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Sreesanth and Munaf patel select themselves to the 16. That leaves place for another 7. And out of this seven, I would like to have 4 batsmen, one wicket keeper and two bowlers...

And the recent SA series has rocked the selectors with the question of whether to go for youthful exuberance or time tested experience. Laxman and Sourav will surely lend that extra confidence for the team in their middle order. Sourav is one of the greatest oneday players india has ever produced. And he proved in SA that there is still some thing left in him to contribute to Indian cricket. And I, for one, believes that Sourav will be more effective in onedayers than in tests. So going by the attitude that he has shown in SA, he will be able to do far better in West Indies...

And then Laxman is one batsman who has immense respect all over the world, except in India. Whenever people talk about his chances in onedayers, they put the point that he is slow in the field and between the wickets. This is true to an extend. But his replacements are capable of some 40 runs + 20 runs saved through their fielding skills. But Laxman is capable of scoring more than those 60 runs which forces me to give him a chance in this world cup. And if he is not selected by selectors, then he will become only the second batsman after Barry Richards not to have played a world cup, of course I am talking about batsmen who are respected and feared all over the world...

Then comes the third batsman which should be a toss up between Sehwag and Gambhir. If Sehwag continues his wretched form in onedayers, he might not play in the world cup. But he is one player who can win matches single handedly. And West Indian pitches will make it tough for the bowlers to aim his ribcage consistently. This will give him some respite and if he can capitalize on it, then India could not ask for a better player. Also he has this ability to break partnerships given a ball in his hand. So let's keep faith in him.

Now the 4th batsman, I would select Dinesh Mongia ahead of Mohd Kaif, for his ability to bowl a bit and also to dominate attacks. And Dinesh Kartik will be my Sub Wicket keeper.

Two bowlers are also pretty easy to pick. I will go for Ramesh Powar and Irfan Pathan (If he recaptures his confidence in his bowling a bit..) which will give a pretty good balance to this Indian bowling attack. So my team for world cup goes like this:

Sachin
Sourav
Dravid
Laxman
Yuvraj
Sehwag
Dhoni
Kumble
Harbhajan
Zaheer
Munaf

Dinesh Mongia
Dinesh karthick
Irfan Pathan
Ramesh Powar and
Sreesanth.

Even though the first eleven looks a little older as most of the players are on the wrong side of 30, each one of them are capable of destroying the opposition on their own...

Nothing Else Matters!!!

I am not getting my own words to put in now. So I thought I will put in some one else's words. After all I just want to remember something down the years when I see this blog again. Atleast I will remember that I liked this song...

Nothing Else Matters!!! - Mettalica.

So close, no matter how far
Couldn't be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
and nothing else matters

Never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don't just say
and nothing else matters

Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
and nothing else matters

never cared for what they do
never cared for what they know
but I know

So close, no matter how far
Couldn't be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
and nothing else matters

never cared for what they do
never cared for what they know
but I know

Never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don't just say
Trust I seek and I find in you

Every day for us, something new
Open mind for a different view
and nothing else matters

never cared for what they say
never cared for games they play
never cared for what they do
never cared for what they know
and I know

So close, no matter how far
Couldn't be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
No, nothing else matters...

I got through it!!!