Sport is war, so all is fair even if it's unfair!

Raju Korti
Sportsman's spirit, followed more in breach than practice, is fast blurring the thin line between fame and notoriety. The term, glorified as it sounds in the wake of cut-throat and ruthless competitive element that sportsmen display in their blatant aggression, refers to the quality of showing fairness, respect and generosity towards opposite teams, the umpires and the sport in general. Than the umpire or referee's decision is final, no matter how unjustified it is or looks like, has been confined to the dustbin with sportsmen succumbing to the lucre of money and fame.

"I am my own umpire"

Tournaments like the Indian Premier League (IPL) and their progeny elsewhere, are often euphemistically dubbed as "high octane" and "high stakes" where the only thing at stake is money with little or no sportsman's spirit. Accepting a win with humility and defeat with grace are mere figures of speech as sportsmen cross lines of decency and conducts that every sport calls for.

The other day, it was jarring to see Virat Kohli, hero-worshipped as "King Kohli", displaying a boorish behaviour that didn't do his "royal" reputation any good. Dismissed cheaply of what he was convinced as a no ball, he indicated he was not out and even charged at the umpire, swearing at him. Not content at that, he even had the audacity to knock the waste bin near the dressing room with his bat. The hawk-eye system clearly showed it was a fair delivery and was therefore out. He had to dock 50% of his match fees for showing dissent.

Kohli's show of this so called aggression is endemic of what most sportspersons of his stature and fame begin to think in their high-handed wisdom -- that they are bigger than the game that provides them with money and fame. To the self-styled Kohli, it didn't occur that the decision of the match referee -- mind you it was not that of the on-field umpire -- was final and binding. And it was taken considering all parameters, technical and otherwise. But what does one say when umpire's decisions are rudely questioned, dissented like teenaged brats?

The umpires are as human and their job requires as much concentration as the players. The players at least get all the adoration and credit, but an umpire's job is thankless. Rarely acknowledged when performed with all sincerity but castigated when the decision goes wrong. The very concept of an umpire is neutral, and yet, we all know how the concept of a redundant neutral umpire was brought in and their motives suspected. We made little noise against this very idea that was anything but sportsmanlike.

That sportsman's spirit is becoming a lost virtue is evident from the number of examples and citing them here would be stating the obvious. Remember how the entire Australian team formed a consortium to make the Sydney Test against India into a notorious "Monkeygate." Can you believe it? The whole team, not just an individual! The Sri Lankans bowling no balls to deny Sehwag his century, Greg Chappel asking his obedient brother Trevor to bowl underarm, the Mike Gatting-Shakoor Rana incident, the Lillee-Miandad incident, Sri Lankan Angelo Matthews "timed out" by the Bangladeshis -- and the list is quite exhaustive -- show that sportsmen often play on the ground leaving their spirit behind. The conviction is all is fair in sports, even if it is not fair. All in the considered belief that "there is so much money and reputation at stake." Cheating for one! Would sport not be sport if there were no money or fame involved? Ask those who believe that sledging and verbal abuse is a tactical mind-game.

This is not to say all sportsmen are unsportsmanlike. There are any number of instances when sportsmanship of highest class has been on display but the bad ones always bring the game to disrepute. To compound this, the players give their piece of mind on their twitter and other social media handles , sending their admirers and haters into a tizzy. The IPL which has been predominantly responsible for pushing the physical and mental limits of the players, has seen this in almost every of its edition.

Little is spoken about the rules of the game that are frequently tinkered with and changed -- justified though they may be in its progression. The impact player substitution rule, the wide referrals for DRS among others have invited animated discussions which sometimes makes one wonder whether administrators in their superior wisdom think that adverse publicity better than positive publicity. The "Mankading" is one such. There are two schools of thought on it. Unsportsmanlike for the manner in which the batsman is given out and fair because the rule says so. 

A couple of days back. Navjot Singh Sidhu got into a wrangle with his fellow commentator about the use of technology in the Virat Kohli's dismissal. The two argued tooth and nail for and against the dismissal. Interestingly, the broadcaster Star Sports itself tweeted saying the third umpire Mike Gough's decision was correct and fair. Which means what is correct and fair is a matter of individual discretion. No one, just no one is out of this fairness radar, including the spectators who have been vocal in their displeasure over Hardik Pandya being made the Mumbai Indians captain over Rohit Sharma.

Character, integrity, humility and honesty have been thrown in the dumpster. Would their be coaches to inculcate this? The words "fair contest" have become oxymoron. For the morons who swear by the winning-by-hook-or-crook rationale. The debate will rage on, missing the trees for the woods.

Cloud seeding: Pinpricking Nature with trial and error

Raju Korti
You just do not tinker with the Nature. It is simply what it is and not what it ought to be. For all its famed resilience, it has an uncanny knack of getting back at you hard, and though gradual, it can have disastrous -- or cataclysmic if you prefer -- consequences for the human race. The fact that Nature exists in all its myriad and multi-splendored forms, is as much dangerous as it is fascinating.

Cloud seeding process: Courtesy Wikipedia

In the guise of creativity and innovation, humans have been messing up with the genes and plants, and although most of us did not know that genes existed, we still had our brains figuring out that selective breeding could ensure that desirable traits would end up being prevalent in our crops and livestock. Tinkering with Nature, as in Environment, is a process that has started long back and it will be just a matter of time before its consequences are irreversible. One does not have to be a doomsday prophet to say this. The results are there to be seen. The cloud seeding experiment in Dubai is an example in point.

The Gulf country witnessed a downpour -- a luxury in a parched desert -- like it never did. There have been suggestions that the intense rains were triggered by cloud seeding, which is usually known to cause, at best, 25% extra rainfall. Cloud seeding, as it were, does not guarantee rains in the first place to the extent expected, but look at the magnitude of the havoc in Dubai (For Mumbai it is an annual phenomenon). The Nature returned with compound interest.

Nature is a universal force and can have far-reaching consequences in every sense of the word. Little wonder, experts are weighing in whether cloud seeding was the actual cause. A particularly remarkable perspective comes from Johan Jaques, a senior meteorologist at KISTERS, warning of "potential unintended consequences of meddling with weather patterns". The Newsweek quoted him as saying that its ramifications can also have a "diplomatic fallout" leading to weather wars. As if other unethical forms of warfare like the biological and chemical warfare were not enough.

Jaques explains that although cloud seeding aims to enhance and accelerate the precipitation process -- especially in areas which have seen very less rains, there is always the threat of excessive precipitation that can lead to excess infiltration flow with potential flash floods as result. He believes that the Dubai floods act as a stark warning of the unintended consequences we can unleash when we use such technology to alter the weather. For the record, there is no concrete evidence linking the Dubai rains to cloud seeding but the common chord is the tampering with natural weather process. As a student of Climate Physics, a curriculum I relentlessly suggest to be taught in universities, I am inclined to agree with his views.

Mr Jaques makes an irrefutable argument that anytime we interfere with natural precipitation patterns we set off a chain of events over which we have little control and "if we are not careful, unrestrained use of this technology could end up causing diplomatic instabilities with neighbouring countries engaging in tit-for-tat weather wars." Nature does not recognize international borders.

Cloud seeding is a costly experiment with no lucrative returns. In a country like India where budgets struggle to meet populist and genuine needs, such steps are not even considered expedient. It costs almost Rs 1 lakh for every square km of cloud and involves spraying of salt mixtures in clouds from the air that would result in condensation of the cloud and eventually case rainfall. A fringe benefit comes as it also washes away pollutants in the atmosphere. Just like the natural rainfall that cleanses the air. Last December, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had mulled artificial rains as a solution to tackle air pollution -- a robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul solution. You tamper with the Nature to cause pollution and you also tamper with it to correct it. How self-defeating is that? There is more pain and less gain!

The more man tries to exercise his control over the Nature, the more vengeance with which it bounces back. It is a complex algorithm which remains uncracked yet and your options as a researcher or a scientist remain restricted to studying patterns that are by no means fully conclusive. The very esoteric characteristic of Nature is to keep the trump card to itself and sometimes, it does not know itself when it will unleash it. You intrude/encroach upon one of its many parameters and you disturb the entire equation that has many imponderable unknowns whose value cannot be deduced correctly.

Humans will do a lot of damage, some irretrievable, before we ultimately destroy ourselves. In our infinite wisdom, we fail to discern that life will continue without humans. New forms of intelligence will emerge long after human experiments are over. And then who will remain to experiment what?        

Level playing field? Really?

Raju Korti
Reeling under the onslaught of the Enforcement Directorate, CBI and the Income Tax Department, the opposition INDIA block has submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission of India (EC), demanding a level playing field for a "free and fair elections. Its anguish though well understood, is misplaced if anything.

Level playing field? Really? The concept, as it is, is totally utopian in any context, least of politics where one-upmanship by hook or by crook is the only order of the day. The inherent irony is the INDIA block itself has no level playing field in its disarrayed fold. For that matter, level playing field is not possible in any sphere as long as there are human frailties. You won't find it in your work place, your social circles and even in your neighbourhood.

The Indian Constitution talks of "valid discrimination" despite Article 14 which has more exceptions to the pompous thought of everyone being equal before the Law. For the sake of brevity, I will not elaborate as these are regular bones of contention. With such an anti-thesis both in letter and spirit,  level playing field is nothing but a glorified term used when convenient.    

The term has been commonly understood as fair competition and originates from a football field (In US of A), where neither side has the advantage of running downhill against opponents who are handicapped by having to run uphill. A parallel term is found in Article 21 of the West German Basic Law that talks about equality of opportunity. The striking paradox it cannot be guaranteed even in the country where it originated. It is just a consolation of a beleaguered mind(s) -- individually and collectively.

 A level playing field might be a desirable prerequisite of any democratic process but political parties with contradictory ideologies will always be a stumbling block. If the INDIA block comes to power, which appears a distant dream as of now, it will be a case of predicate becoming a subject. Political histories of all countries have rarely been known for offering level playing fields. Two of the commissioners in the three-member Election Commission have been appointed by the ruling party. 

The poll arena might be rigged before the fight but the opposition too is not equipped to fight the ruling party's juggernaut. Elections cannot be fought merely on the basis of taking a high moral ground. It involves manoeuvres that make mockery of a concept that is far from practical. There cannot be any institutional mechanisms Constitutional or otherwise, that can offer any level playing field anywhere. 

The historical pendulum of victimisation and strategic manoeuvring will continue to shape electoral outcomes, leaving the electorate to grapple with the complexities of a political landscape where fairness will be sacrificed at the altar of power dynamics. It is a mirage we can continue to chase.

Raju Korti
Drink has never made a man better, but it has made many a man think he was better. In today's times when drinking is no big deal, not even a social evil as puritans would have us believe, it is believed to be an indulgence for all occasions including those patently contradictory. People are known to down a few in both high and low spirits, if you will excuse the pun. Most of us will recall the rib-tickling Kishore hit of the mid-70s "Peenewaalonko peene ka bahana chahiye.." Of course, what one does with alcohol as long he is unto himself and what in public are two different issues. Indian pacer Praveen Kumar who was unceremoniously thrown out of the IPL in 2017 after what was believed to be a promising career, is a case in point.

In a recent interview, Praveen Kumar, wittingly or unwittingly referred to as PK, laments that he never got the due he the due he deserved -- as a coach, mentor as one of the main reasons why teams in IPL chose not to offer him such roles was the "misinformation about his addiction to alcohol." PK, of course, admitted that he did drink but his brilliant argument was "Did I drink on the ground or open the bottle in the dressing room"?

The 37-year-old seamer, much appreciated for his prodigious swing than pace, said everyone around consumed alcohol regularly but he was singled out for sermons on the evil effects of alcohol. If it didn't push him into depression, the hypocrisy and prejudice did that he found the solace of Haridwar more soothing than the adrenaline rush of the cricketing ground. PK's spells with the new ball won India best-0f-the three finals against Australia and for the next couple of years, he was Dhoni's main weapon in white ball cricket. Perhaps his best came against England where he scalped 15 wickets and etched his name on the Lord's Honours Board. 

There is no way knowing whether PK indeed drank on the ground or in the dressing room but it is an open secret most players, Indian and foreign drink like fish, if not on the field or in the dressing room, elsewhere. Aussie David Hookes dies after a drunken brawl outside a pub, Vinod Kambli ruined what would have been a career almost as good as Sachin Tendulkar because of his drunken hijinks. There are many who get away with impunity. A commentator can be heard mumbling and spouting more than what propriety would permit in his broken Bambaiya Hindi. 

I could write a book on the antics and indiscretion of many sportspersons after having one too many. All is excused and forgotten with good performances on the field. As a schoolboy I vividly remember how almost the entire Indian Test team under Nawab of Pataudi, was sozzled during the Nagpur Test against the New Zealanders led by Graham Dowling. Ajit Wadekar dropped a skier but his feet wobbled and hands shook violently as he dropped it, The spectators were more amused than angry. Rusi Surti ran towards deep fine leg when the ball had been hit towards mid-wicket. The piece de resistance was wicket keeper Farrokh Engineer came crashing down from the stairs of the Bilimoria Pavilion and none one had a clue in heaven or hell what made him clamber up those. The newspapers and journalists covering the match had put two and two together but the spectators had already caught on to that disastrous but hilarious reason.

Those were different days as financial stakes were not too high and the entire issue was given a decent burial with a hearty cackle.               

Cricketers live a lavish lifestyle and it is no secret. While a few flaunt their wealth with cars and outfits, there have been a few who went the wrong way. Cricketers like Ricky Ponting and Monty Panesar did get addicted to alcohol. There have been many instances when the players have been banned for a match or two with regards to alcoholic incidents. Andrew Symonds, David Warner, Monty Panesar, Jesse Ryder

Why not!! They earn decent amount, they are humans, they also have personal life. But since they are celebs and people specially young cricketers follow them and see them as inspirational figure so to avoid bady image they don't do it publicly.
As you can see KL Rahul is holding a beer bottle and BCCI advised him to delete this photo.

According to a report on The Hindu, the BCCI shot off an advisory to the Indian team.

"Some of the BCCI officials aren't happy with players posting such images on social media. There has been no written communication, but the manager has been asked to send a message to the players to ensure that nothing that could set a bad example should be posted online," a BCCI official was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

Ishant, Tendulkar and Yuvaraj

All the cricketers are not advised to take alcohol during a cricket match . In some countries like India the spectators are not allowed drinking alcohol in stadium,5 states in India ban the alcohol in their territory . But in Australia, New Zealand spectator are allowed drinking in stadium .

As to talk about players there are few incidents in past showing that some players take alcohol during the match .There is a incident of Shane warne during 2009 IPL match in Durban where he could be seen fielding near the boundary rope and a took a sip of wine offered to him by a fan. There is video clips of that incident on YouTube. 

Pakistan cricket, a long-playing circus with clowns as heroes!

Raju Korti
The Pakistan Cricket Board and its players have fine-tuned the art of being in a state of permanent ferment. After their dismal performance in the World Cup, the Board was revamped only to consolidate the view that it is also a theater of the absurd. A clueless and lost 29-year-old Babar Azam who averages 47 Tests was replaced by 34-year-old Shan Masood who averages 28 in Tests. If you thought this was just keep-the-change, the real magic was performed by the new administration overhauled after the World Cup debacle.

The Board brought in Salman Butt who served a five-year ban and some time in jail after being proved guilty in a spot-fixing scandal during England's tour in 2016. However, this was so shameless even by Pakistan's standards that the Prime Minister's Office had to quickly cancel this decision. It also inducted former pacer Wahab Riaz as the Chief Selector along with Kamran Akmal and Rao Inftikhar Anjum on the panel. Perhaps the only intelligent piece of work here was Riaz had retired in August and the running joke was he would have selected himself in the national side. While Butt became a butt of public scorn, his partner-in-crime Muhammed Amir was fast-tracked into the side around the same time.

Butt, Kamran, Riaz and Anjum have all played together between 2004 and 2010 and with the exception of Riaz, all were found guilty of spot-fixing by the National Crime Agency in London and the International Cricket Council imposing bans on them. I have repeatedly reiterated in my blogs that while its Board works in a whimsical manner, its players act as parallel constitutional authorities. Between the players, there are cross-currents and animosities that surface every now and then,

To be fair to Salman Butt, he was a fairly good batsman and regretted his actions but the fixing taint put paid to his career. Waqar Younis recommended his return to the national team but Shahid Afridi, a confirmed braggart, thwarted his attempts. The same Shahid Afridi who conceitedly promoted his son-in-law 23-year-old Shaheen Shah Afridi as Pakistan's skipper for the T-20 format. The senior Afridi claimed that he had no role to play in his son-in-law's selection but in Pakistan, things are so blatant, you don't need to put two and two together. The deluge of public reaction in the midst of these developments, the cross-currents between the dramatis personae was sheer entertainment.

The PMO, run by a caretaker himself, had to admit in other words that Butt's appointment was an outrage. Neither PCB's (then) Chairman Zaka Ashraf nor Riaz had credentials to be in the Board. For the record, unlike Riaz, Ashraf has not played any first-class or List A cricket and was on the Board merely on his corporate experience. 

Instead of the much trumpeted overhaul, the Pakistan Board got more and more embroiled in machinations and insinuations. In my blog on December 31, 2022, I had written how the then Chairman Ramiz Raja, normally a subdued man, got into intemperate outbursts and in the bad books of the Board's new management committee which was headed by journalist Najam Sethi. One wondered whether Sethi, who had three brief stints in the past as president/chairman knew what he had walked into given the mercurial tempers that obtain Pakistan cricket.

I had also stated: "If as an avid cricket administration follower you tend to believe that governing boards across cricket playing nations, including our own BCCI back home, are self-styled and are run by whimsical people, look at what is happening in Pakistan Cricket Board. The PCB leaves no stone unturned to jealously guard its reputation as a long-standing joke, its chairmen replaced with every change of government. The unceremonious chucking out of former player and commentator Ramiz Raja is a case in point."

Now link this with the militant stand Ramiz has taken with the new dispensation and you will understand the point I am trying to labour over. The selection of Pakistan team for the gruelling Australian tour is going to be baptism by fire and it wouldn't be surprising that more heads may roll and/or become scapegoats. Their shattering 360-run battering in the first Test at Perth with captain Masood himself faring poorly and Azam continuing his mediocre run, has provided fodder to lose canons like Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar and mushrooming "experts" on the social media who are smarting like only they do.

Incidentally. nobody knows what exactly is the brief given to Mohammad Hafeez who took over from the disgraced Mickey Arthur as the Director of Pakistan men's cricket team. Since his appointment, he has been giving long interviews right, left and centre, justifying the team selection and believing that it can turn Pakistan's cricketing fortunes downside up. He has of course made some right noises but in Pakistan, right noises are smothered by those who want to muddy waters with their personal agenda and getting even with whom they nurse personal rivalry.

A couple of days before the Perth Test, he said he was thrilled to know that the Pakistan team is intent on defeating Australia on its own soil which is a pipedream in its present tattered condition. But trust Pakistan to put on not only a brave front but also go overboard. Before the World Cup, the Pakistan team kept parroting that it was in India to win the World Cup. Nothing wrong with that, of course, that it was unable to walk that talk. Hafeez's, as also some other player's conviction is mind boggling. They still boast that Pakistan can beat Australia in Australia (or for that matter anywhere!).

The run up to the selection itself was a towering absurdity. It is no secret there were dissensions within the team during the World Cup. Babar Azam chose to step down than being thrown out and the people brought in as part of this "overhaul" showed who is calling the shots and who is the director behind the scenes. The entire team has floundered badly and given the morass it finds itself in, the talk that it can still thrash Australia is a bravado only Pakistanis are capable of. Even the team's die-hard supporters are now finding it difficult to see Pakistan's resurgence.

Going back to my old blog: In Pakistan, nothing can ever go right in any sphere of life as murky politics creeps in at all junctures. It is a virtual free-for-all with players, organisers, governing bodies and self-proclaimed experts constantly engaged in leg pull and rabid criticism of each other. It is as confusing and amusing to know who is with who and who opposes who. 

Random and irrational changes often made at the instances of vested interests in the powers that be have had debilitating consequences on the players at all levels of the game. The structure of domestic cricket in Pakistan has been a non-stop roller coaster. School and club cricket at the top tiers have bled with inadequacies. Games have hardly got the marketing boost unlike in India (the other extreme end) and matches are rarely televised because of which, the players are compelled to pat their own backs. 

With such an abysmal state of affairs, little wonder the "best Babar Azam becomes Gobar Azam" in no time. 

Some thoughts about David Warner's swansong going off-key

Raju Korti
There is another reason for the Pakistan cricket team other than having to load their luggage and their rather unwelcome arrival when they landed on the Aussie soil. The retirement of David Warner is taking all the sheen away from the impending series. More so, after fellow cricketer and former team-mate Mitchell Johnson let loose a fusillade against him for seeking to bow out of Test cricket on his own terms despite persistent doubts of his place in the side. It is rather by default that an undermanned Pakistan which may not excite even the most ardent Aussie fan, might get a boost over what is being billed as Warner's farewell tour.

Warner who made his debut 12 years ago has evoked awe and contempt in similar measure either as a poster boy for his brilliance or for sins of commissions and omissions. Irrespective of the rumblings in many quarters about his performance in Tests in recent times, Warner has gone ahead with the customary Aussie bravado that he would go on his own terms and he would prefer the Sydney Test to be his swansong. Something unheard of across cricket playing countries elsewhere except of course India where pampered cricketers are allowed the liberty of a safe passage and retire when they feel like.

If his retirement is deflecting all the excitement in the present series, it is because of Johnson's scathing takedown on Warner's role in the ball-tampering scandal. A probe by Cricket Australia had adjudged Warner as the villain of the piece in 'Sandpaper-gate' that had Australian cricket's integrity hitting rock bottom.

It is not altogether surprising that the Johnson's furious indictment of Warner stems from a personal exchange the latter had and used it as a ruse to question a "hero's send off". To be fair to Warner, he has since atoned for that sin by serving a year-long suspension but appalled fans feel that giving Warner a choice on his Test retirement is nothing short of sacrilege.

Warner pulled out all stops to have his leadership ban rescinded and when they all came a cropper, he pulled out of the process, accusing Cricket Australia panel of dredging up unsavoury details about 'Sandpaper-gate'. In the midst of the recent furore, Warner's manager James Erskine has been doing all the fire-fighting to defend his client's character and get even with Johnson.

Understandably, Warner now pins his hopes on his bat doing all the talking as it did in the recent World Cup in India but except for that double hundred at MCG against South Africa in his 100th Test, Warner has struggled to keep going. Cricketers in other countries, by and large, are not always very charitable about each other, have known to harbour jealousies and are also known to speak out in the guise of being fair and objective. But on sheer facts and figures, one cannot disagree with former captain Ricky Ponting that the MCG Test would have been an ideal swansong for Warner who battled on through an injury-blighted series in India and through the Ashes.

As the situations stands now, it is runs rather than his past reputation that will decide whether Warner gets Sydney as his farewell Test. If reputation emerges as the yardstick of his selection, Cricket Australia would be setting a surprising precedent. Players' retirement in other countries are decided by their respective country's Boards. Remember how the Boards elsewhere, notably in West Indies and South Africa ruthlessly wound up their star players' careers despite their enviable past record. It is only in India that hearts rule over heads. Also remember that the durable Ian Healy was chucked out and denied his farewell 100th Test and was replaced by Adam Gilchrist. One small consideration that works for Warner is there are not many replacements who can make a compelling case for their selection.

Although one sees a quid pro quo in Johnson's outburst in his column against Warner, there is substance in his charge that Warner has struggled in red-ball cricket and not being graceful in accepting his complicity in the ball tampering issue. With his backdrop it was befuddling that Warner made out a public his intentions of retiring on his own terms. Erskine's defence that Johnson's column was aimed at getting easy headlines pales into insignificance. In a skewed logic, Erskine claimed that Warner's replacements Matthew Renshaw, Cameron Bancroft and Marcus Harris too hadn't done anything worthwhile to merit selection.

Warner believes he is still the best man for the job. May be he is, may be he is not anymore but Cricket Australia will finally preside over his destiny. One thing, frail though in his favour, is thankfully for him, Mitchell Johnson is not a selector.

The trappings of ageing and gracefully!

Raju Korti
Given the cynicism I was born with, I have, among other things, often wondered what people mean by the term "ageing gracefully." I mean, how does one age gracefully? Is it by one's demeanor, disposition or looks? The immediate provocation for this grossly grotesque existential question is what is happening inside of me of late as years advance in on me.

When people say I don't look like I am closing in on 68 as I appear much younger, my cynicism looks at it more as a consolation disguised as compliment. What is the big deal here? Anyone who plasters his face with a bit of fairness cream and dyes hair looks younger for his/her age. As for demeanor and disposition it is is inherently in a person. I am not convinced it makes for a great allowance as one's cultivated persona.

As for me, ageing has come with its attendant physical and mental ills. Despite my best attempts at "ageing gracefully" as people use the term pompously, I call this slow deterioration as brain fade. There are tell-tale signs -- slowing reflexes, forgetting things and not being able to be quick on the uptake anymore. It has essentially to do with loss of grey cells and unfortunately, cells do not age gracefully much as one would wish.

As a workhorse journalist with 44 painstaking years of grinding, I often prided on my phenomenal memory. I never took notes even in the most complex of interviews or situations that involved a maze of figures. I would sneer at colleagues who carried a notepad on the apprehension of misquoting people or making factual errors. At the cost of sounding a little impudent, I never faltered on any of these. The last one year seems to have slowly changed that perception. Although I am out of active journalism (a blessing in disguise with the atrophy in the profession), I continue to write and what has come to my realization is I now have to wrack my brains to cobble up ideas and even if do, I need an effort to put them cohesively. Even remembering a brief for a commissioned article, which once I thought was a cakewalk, has become tricky. I don't know if these are part of "ageing gracefully."

Don't for a minute think that my blog has patently negative connotation. It is not as if I expect to die the next moment with no guarantees in life. I continue to exercise regularly, eat healthily and strive to bring down stress levels. Having said that, I cannot also overlook the downside of ageing. It is a part of my in-built defensive mechanism that I try to overcome with whatever trappings my faculties can afford. My life inventory starts at the top with my greying hair and colouring them. The fact that many of my age have allowed nature to take a toll on their ageing parameters and still manage(d) to look just as fine, I have tried to defy through hair dyes and creams that improve skin tone, until my fantasies dropped down to Mother Earth with the conclusion that fairness creams look bright only in glossy ads on those who are already fair. Cosmetics have a limited role to play.

I do not know how many beyond their sixties look to refurbish their appearance but my admirations have always been reserved for those who try to deflect ageing with their mental agility and polishing their reflexes. I am taking this cue from my journalist friend Mayank Chhaya, who has kept himself busy up to his neck in constructive work and joyful pursuits (for whatever their worth). We had a light but assuaging chat that I hope will revive my sagging spirits.

So pulling up my socks and rolling up my sleeves once again to reinvigorate my dwindling resolve. To quote the rhetorical phrase, gearing up to "age gracefully".