IPL: Ultimate Debacle For Team India

Many people off late have talked about IPL being a problem for the early exit of Team India in T20 tournament. Well, I agree too, however, I've my sets of reasons that probably led to the failure. Here they are:

1. To bring entertainment in the game, IPL committee brought a cut in the ground size. This worked very well for the batters in the tournament and we started assuming all Indian hitters such as Raina, Yousuf etc. capable of clearing the ropes easily. However, that wasnt the case in the T20 World cup.

2. The rule of only 4 foreign players allowed in a team put a constraint on the captain to pick at least 2 batsmen and 1 all rounder. We hardly saw a genuine bowler being included in a team. The damage that it has done is that most of the Indian batters got to score against their Indian counterparts. They rarely got to face ulitmate deliveries from reputed foreign bowlers. Raina, Rohit etc. were in great form in IPL, however, when they faced really good deliveries in T20 championship, they fell cheaply. Rohit was playing brilliantly as a finisher, so we all think he is good form and so his promotion as an opener seemed justified. But then he failed badly in T20. Hence, I think form of Indian players in IPL cannot be taken as a good reference point to determine a player's form.

3. Lack of Coordination. One more damage that IPL has done to the team is that the tournament allowed several Indian players to captain their respective team. There was Sehwag, Dhoni, Yuvraj and Gautam who were captaining their team. They have tried their own strategies in their games and since every player's style is different, it definitely needs a little bit of time to get accustomed to play under a captain. I feel that time was not there, and eventually what we saw was a lack of coordination.

Prisoner Of Your Own Fears

My Toastmaster Level 5 Speech Video and Content.

Friends call him a live cricket encyclopedia. And why not, Shantaram is a diehard cricket fan. Today is the day he was waiting for a long time. India v/s Australia final. After witnessing India’s bowling performance in the first half, Shantaram was quite sure India will be lifting up the cup. While watching the Indian Batting in the middle overs, he left his seat to grab a cup of coffee. When he returned back, to his dismay, he noticed India lost a key wicket. “Look at those crazy fellows. One good chance they have got to beat Aussies and they are beeping[sound] it up.” He said angrily to himself. This sequence continued a couple of times. Every time he left his seat, India lost a wicket. He got desperate and fear of losing started grappling his mind. He decided not to leave his seat until the match gets over. With more ups and downs, however without losing any wicket, India won the game. Shantaram was probably the happiest man in the world; however, he became a victim of one of the most incomprehensible phenomenon of the world. Any idea what phenomenon am I talking about? Toastmaster and guests, yes this phenomenon is called Superstition, which has gripped millions of people around the world centuries after centuries and has force them to believe in something which can never be explained using normal equations of cause and effect. Today, I'm going to talk about how it influences people in a subtle way and how we can take a small step towards curbing it.

Most of the superstitions are usually harmless. Wearing your lucky shirt, lucky tie on your interview, writing an exam with a lucky pen. So what exactly is the problem with being superstition? Superstition is so powerful that it leads you to attribute your successes to something outside yourself. This essentially means that you are held back from unleashing your own inner strengths and abilities. Loss of confidence. First problem!!! Next is even if something negative happens one is not going to attribute the failure of the outcome to the superstition. The person will start blaming other factors and not the superstition. I happened to witness a perfect example of this in the recently concluded Indian Premiere League, IPL. Match after match, Mumbai Indians kept on losing, however, Mrs Neeta Ambani was not willing to give up her superstition of having sit Zaheer Khan and Praveen Amre beside her for the entire match. One never kills his/her superstition and because of this the pile of superstitions keeps on increasing and then we graciously pass the baggage to our children who follow these superstitions blindly. Second problem !!!

Superstition is a part of the very being of the humanity and getting completely away from it is next to impossible. Even the great philosophers, famous scientists, engineers were and are superstitious. So how we get rid of it? Well, we can make a brilliant start to challenge our superstitions by start taking risks for not so important tasks where failure does not hamper us in any way. And then increasing our risk appetite slowly. For example, in case of Shantaram, if India had lost, he would suffered a setback momentarily. But not for ever. I remember when I was in 11^th standard preparing for a competitive exam, my obdurate mind would instruct me to do lots of stupid stuffs. “kapil, hold your breath for 45 seconds or else you will not score well in tomorrow’s exam”. In a day I don’t remember how many times I did this thing. So I decided to take risk, not do such stupid things and spend more time concentrating on studies. The risk paid off and I started believing in my abilities. Since then, I’ve tasted both successes and failures many times, but every time I savor success I know it’s only myself that I need to congratulate. This gave a boost to my confidence and allowed me to softly, slowly, steadily kill many of my superstitions.

To conclude, I would like to empasize that these little rituals of magic are so much part of our culture that we question them, forget questioning them, we dont even notice them. I appeal everyone sitting here to not allow yourself to become prisoner of your own fears. Don’t let superstition rule your mind and wreck your life. Instead, try hard, reaaaal hard, to overcome your fears by inspiring confidence in yourself, inspiring authority in your decisions, inspiring trust in your actions. You will then realize and enjoy the person who is truly you and not someone like Shantaram.

WWE: Perfect Entertainment

My Toastmaster Level 4 Speech. Don't have the video, hence, posting the content.

The talking has stopped, the action has begun; this is going to be a one night of hell in a cell. One second, you see a fiery fist, like a ton of bricks, smashed on the opponent's skull; the other second you witness a monstrous insurmountable body flying through the air and striking the opponent's body. Yes, I knew the fights were scripted and choreographed. I knew that the brutal blood bath in the middle of the ring was planned. However, I loved watching these fights. And my love for the game continues even today. Imagine two iconic players engaged in a fearsome battle just to entertain the audience. Imagine an arena where use of metal casket, metal chair, and sledgehammer are legal just to entertain the audience. Imagine a billion dollar industry that has got no mission but just to entertain the audience at any cost. Wow. It’s a perfect entertainment. And that’s what WWE; World Wrestling Entertainment is all about.

Toastmaster, Fellow Toastmasters and guests, today I'm going to step into WWE arena and punch out reasons for watching WWE fights even today.

Well, WWE is a simulated sport that combines acting, theater and wrestling. Among the three, I've enjoyed the acting part of WWE most. Not only the wrestlers act, but also the Chairman, the management committee members, the commentators and you are not going to believe it, even referees. Let me paint a picture of how a referee brings an element of entertainment in a WWE fight. Sometimes during a match, a wrestler will knock down the referee. And to emphasize the boldness, the braveness, the brazenness of the wrestler, the referee will act as if he has lost consciousness. After sometime, when the wrestler has done all the damage on the opponent, the referee will spring to life. But wait, he wont stands up on his legs. Instead, to further dramatize the situation, he will crawl slowly towards the center of the ring, inciting roaring crowd's enthusiasm, excitement and exhilaration. With all energy left, he will tap 3 times on the floor. NOW that is articulation and acting at its best.

The next part I enjoy about WWE is smartly anchored stories, ie the theatrical part. Every fight of WWE is superbly written and executed. WWE fight stories are like forest where if one loses the track for few episodes, he is bound to get lost. One week you witness two wrestlers teamed up and fighting against another team and then few episodes later, they would be feuding against each other. WWE would project a wrestler as a haunted spirit, who has got magical powers and resides in the dark valley of Bermuda Triangle. They would even stage death of a wrestler and initiate a fake FBI investigation. The investigation further would heat up equations with numerous other wrestlers and the story ends up creating catchy drama and much awaited high profile fight. Gosh!!! Too much creativity and I bet if anyone doesn’t laugh watching such episodes.

Now the wrestling part. WWE is not a professional sport; therefore, the wrestlers have to be very careful while executing their steps. One wrong step can end a wrestler's career and may be even life. Jumping off the rings, slamming on the floor are not very simple moves. I say these are not simple moves because I experienced it first hand. I remember I had an ugly fight with my schoolmate on the basketball court. After exchanging few heated words, I galloped in the air and performed a stunt of my favorite wrestler. My entire body was in the air, horizontal. And just when I was about to execute my final act, ie hit him with my legs, my opponent tricked me. He simply moved one step back. And here I was suspended freely in the air. I cycled my legs, but nothing happened and then the gravitational force took control of my body. I landed, no crashed, on the cemented floor, hurting my hand and chest badly. This incident led me to believe that how difficult it is to stage a fake fight that looks real on camera. I respect wrestlers for bringing out such a kind of entertainment to audience while hurting their own body.

As a kid, I never understood, why the concept of fake fighting works. Why do WWE producers think that the audience would believe in their masterly modulated fights or stories? Well, the answer is simple. WWE works as a Magic where if one can fool the audience, even for a second, then you get to see something really special... it is the look on the audience faces. Audience knows the truth but still can’t believe what they have just witnessed. It’s a perfect combination of acting, theater and fight that entertains the audience. And that’s what WWE is all about. Entertaining the audience.