24 years of living on 22 yards!

Sachin Tendulkar retired from test cricket recently, ending his 24 year cricketing career. Just thought of writing what I feel about him& all other things around him. Again, MY OPINION.

  

 

His advantage as I see:

He made his debut at a very young age of 16 when most of us carried our 11^th standard books to school in a cycle. So, the selection committee had long time to invest in him considering that if he clicks then we will have a solid player for at least 20 years..!

Also, he got a chance to play bowlers like Walsh, Ambrose, W. Akram, W. Younis, Glen Mcgrath etc., in the initial years of his career which made him more stronger. When these legends retired and new players came in, he was already a senior player & was very comfortable to handle them.

My favourite Sachin moments:

There are 34000 odd runs that he scored but there are sure to be some favourite moments for all of us. For me, his back-to-back centuries in Sharjah against Australia – one to make India qualify for finals & other to win the final was awesome – Master class & ability to dominate any bowling attack.

I’m not quite a fan of heavy runs scored in the flat Indian pitches. But this one was special – the mighty 103* against England on day 5, successfully chasing 487 in the Chennai test in 2008 – talk about composure.

Batting with a sore back during the Chennai test Vs Pakistan scoring 136 (where India folded after his dismissal and lost the match) and his emotional century against Kenya in 1999 World cup – a day after his father’s death – these show his level of concentration & focus on the game.

Now, what I think was missing-

As much as I’ve seen, I hardly saw Sachin farming the strike with tail-enders and extending the total or Lead.  Recently, Rohit sharma batted with No.11 (Shami Ahmed) and made a partnership of 80 runs - that is what I mean!

With 154 ODI wickets & 47 test wickets, Sachin was a potential all-rounder who could send down some variety of spin. But he bowled only in less than 50% of his total matches. Whether he himself opted out – or did the captain not use him properly – or was there fitness concern – is still a question! (Wait for an auto-biography ;-)

 

When did it all go wrong?

This again is a simple logic explained in “3 idiots” movie – don’t run behind success, thrive for excellence & success will follow you by itself”. In the earlier part of his career, Sachin didn’t care about anything and he batted fluently. Runs were coming easily for him and records were broken. But when public & media started calculating his statistics like 50^th 100, 100^th 100, 100 in all countries, 100s each year, etc etc., pressure was inevitable.  When he entered the 90’s, he started becoming nervous.

Even in his last match, as Sachin was entering the ground to bat for one last time, people started to tweet that he should score 153 runs so that he can end with 16000 test runs etc.,

A highly-optimistic fan even tweeted that Sachin should open the bowling as he is 3 away from 50 test wickets..!!

This shows how obsessed people are with numbers. – The same disease that grows from schooldays where a report card is more valued than the conceptual knowledge of a student.

As the funny old saying goes ‘Statistics are like bikini’s; they hide the important thing”. The pitch & conditions in which runs are scored, , the toughness of the bowling attack are all not explained in the statistics. Sometimes a 35 not out is better than a century. But these mad fans don’t just understand that and end up pressurising the player.

His enemies-

I won’t name Australia or England or Pakistan – because they only made him work harder & improved him. His real enemies were a select group of Indian public & the media who pressurised him unnecessarily. They failed to understand that he was a Human and not a machine.

And his injuries – needless to say – they break your momentum and tie you down. To recover & regain form quickly is stunning display of talent & commitment.

The build-ups –

Need to mention here - I’m an Anti – “Sachin fan”. (Not an “Anti–Sachin” fan; there is a large difference).  I like Sachin but hate those hard-core fans who portray him as a larger-than-life character by switching off TV once he gets out etc.,. The logic is simple

“No individual is greater than the game. The game created the players and whatever performance the player does is a service to the game & their nation”.

In the recently concluded WI series, where Kolkata & Mumbai crowd cheered & celebrated the fall of 2^nd Indian wicket (as Sachin would come to bat) was too much.

It’s actually funny to notice that Media & larger public were behind his blood for the last 2-3 years indirectly forcing his retirement because of non-performance in critical tours. And when finally he announced retirement, there is a huge build-up to it – asking India to sacrifice innings victory & make him bat for second time!! Come-on guys..!

In my opinion - he should have retired after the 2011 WC win, when India was also No.1 in test rankings.  This is already 2.5 yrs late, but nevertheless, an excellent career.

To play for 24 years is not a big thing - but to do so while scoring at an average of 45 & 53 in ODI's & Tests, amidst all these media hypes, pressures, Public demands & expectations, whole-lot of injuries - is simply CLASS.

As Farhan Akthar tweeted – Don’t think it is unfortunate to see Sachin retire; but think we are fortunate to have seen him play all these years.

I only hope that Sachin uses his remaining years in life to serve the game & nation in some way or other rather than picking up some non-productive things like commentating, article writing etc.,

Thank you Sachin,

Saar Telegram.!

Few weeks back, I came across a flashing news on a television channel which said that the Telegram services are going to end in July 2013 and that the last telegram would be sent in India on July 14^th.

Just dug up some history on this:

The first ever telegram in the world was sent by Mr. Samuel Morse in Washington in 1837.

British Doctor William O’Shaughnessy was the one who introduced it in India, in 1850, using a different code.

Telegraph services peaked in India in 1980’s where 50-60 million telegrams were sent and received each year.

The advancement of computers & technologies such as Short Messaging Services (SMS), Smartphones, Tablets, various Android APPs, and India’s own innovative communication methodology – “Missed calls” (LOL!) spoiled the dream run of Telegrams.



Mr. Samuel Morse



The world’s last telegram that is set to be sent on 14^th July 2013 will mark the 176^th anniversary of the service.

Interestingly though the western union telegraphic services shut down their US operations almost a decade back, whereas we are just announcing it. That just shows our transition time to migrate to a new era..!!

For me, there’s that one & only telegram that I ever got in my life – one that changed my life, if I can say so.  Just wanted to share some thing on that too..

Back in 2002, after completing my Bachelor’s degree, I entered into that rather frenetic phase of doing a job-hunt. Growing up in the sub-urbs, I wasn’t well versed with computers then, neither had access to internet– and didn’t even have an e-mail address of my own - yeah, you’ve got to believe that..!!

The computer science periods in school was mainly theory and we hardly got a chance to touch the keyboards as they were keen on saving electricity bills by switching off Air conditions in the computer room.

So, the only regular source of looking out for jobs was through the “opportunities page” in Wednesday’s Hindu newspaper.

One of those jobs that I applied was for Hewlett Packard, based in Bangalore. After my father insisted a lot to just try it out, I read their advertisement. It asked for the candidates to e-mail their resume to some HR person quoting the job reference number..

You must be questioning me how these all are related to Telegrams… there is a link.. Please read on..  Won’t be long...

I went to the largest internet café at Ambattur, Chennai that had 3 computers, and told the guy “I want to send an e-mail”.

He said “go to cubicle 3”. And I said "but i don’t have an email ID”.

He replied “ok then, create one for yourself”.

Funnily I asked back – “how much do you charge to create one e-mail id”.

He laughed and said that it was based on hours and not numbers.

[Note - Now I manage 4 e-mail ID's every day.. :-) !!!]

I then quickly created my own e-mail id from rediff.com, copied my resume from my floppy disk!!! (Hadn’t seen a pen drive then) and e-mailed it to the HR person.

After that I totally forgot that I had created an e-mail, and that I’m supposed to check it regularly for reply.

Days passed by and suddenly one day, I got a TELEGRAMMMMM…

When the postman called up “Saar, thandhi…” (Meaning: Sir, telegram), Heart was in mouth for most of my family members.

Because, those days , a telegram was widely known to bring bad news – may be some death or some shocking incidents. So, people start chanting devotional slogans while one of them opens and reads the content in slow motion.

That is because most people have the habit of only sharing sorrows. They din’t want to spend money to convey that they cleared an exam or got a job or got a baby etc., .. How sick..!

This time, though, there was no bad news. My father collected the telegram which was addressed to me” R. Vivek” and he was shocked at the first instance on who was sending me telegrams…

Then when he opened, below was what he found inside:

“PLEASE CHECK MAIL AND CONFIRM – PADMA”.

While everyone were debating what was that about, I was quietly questioning myself – who is this Padma? and what she wants me to confirm ?

Then my brother reminded me that I created an e-mail id once upon a time, and that I was supposed to check that – may be something has been sent to my email id.

I quickly rushed with my brother to check e-mail.. I initially thought that the reply would have come to the same internet café from where I sent my resume…ufff  can’t believe I was that bad...! After struggles of remembering the email id and then the password, finally I logged in to find that my resume was shortlisted and that I was being called for an interview at Mount Road within 2 days.

Then I went on to clear that interview, joined Hewlett Packard, which then helped to shape up my career to where I’m today (note – I’m not saying that I’ve become some VP or CEO or big shot.. but whatever I’m..)…

That’s the one and only telegram I’ve had in my life..and a massive one in terms of outcome..

If they had taken it for granted and not sent me that telegram to check e-mail……I just can’t imagine what would have happened..

So, who said telegram only brings bad news???

It was a great medium of communication in the past with accurate & precise messages being sent – It was good that the cost was high, else people would be writing in stories there as well..!!

The current day “e-mail” seems to be born out of it, and the early e-mail users knew the art of sending a compact mail with straight points as they had experience with telegram.

It’s a pity to see it getting scrapped, but then we need move on..

It would be great if one of those messaging APPs in our tablets / smart phones could be renamed as “Telegram” so that it stays with us even in the future and reminds us of the gone-by days.

And to end in a telegraphic style,

THANK YOU STOP

The smoke that thunders..!

Africa is a continent with plenty of natural wonders and each of those wonders are so well distributed throughout the continent which makes it interesting to travel around. One of those is the majestic “Victoria Falls” that lies on the border of Zambia & Zimbabwe. I got a chance to visit this gorgeous falls last week and thought of sharing it in this blog.





A view of the Victoria falls from the rain forest

 

The falls is 1.7 km wide & 108 metres tall which makes it the world’s largest water falls. The source of this falls is the mighty Zambezi River which is around 2500 km long, originating in Zambia and flowing through Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and finally Mozambique where it joins the Indian Ocean.

It was in 1855, when Mr. David Livingstone, an European missionary first visited the falls and named it in honour of Queen Victoria. The place from where he first spotted the falls is now known as the “Livingstone Island” and the city is known as "Livingstone".

The falls is also known as “Mosi-ua-tunya” meaning “the smoke which thunders”. It is called so because the water from the falls bounces back to a greater height forming a huge mist that looks like a smoke.

 

The above picture was taken from the Mosi-ua-tunya main road that leads to the falls..the white stuff seen is the smoke from the falls
 

We stayed in the Zambian side of the falls @ Zambezi Sun who had their own (unlimited) entrance to the falls as they are within the falls premises (Victoria Falls national park). An entrance otherwise would cost around $25 per person.  

During peak season i.e., April-May, the smoke from the waterfalls is visible from almost 40 km. There is also continuous rain in front of the waterfalls – the rain that is created from the water that bounces from the falls. The result is the rainforest that lies just on the border within Zambia. During off-peak season, like October, one can view 80% of both countries’ view of falls from the rain forest.

 

The left side of the picture shows the falls from Zimbabwean side..

The pedestrian link between Zambian side and the rain forest is through a bridge called the “knife-edge” bridge. During our trip, as it was peak flow, it was impossible to cross this bridge without getting wet even after using a raincoat & an umbrella.

 

A closer look at the Knife-edge bridge that takes us to the rain forest.

Towards the right is the Victoria falls.

Zambia actually is quite a dry country. Even though it is winter season during May, the climate is quite hot & humid. For the areas surrounding the falls, nights are cooler. So, throughout the day, there is that rain in-and-around the falls while it is indeed hot – which results in a consistent rainbow the whole day.

 

The left side of the bridge is Zambia & right side is Zimbabwe. The centre of bridge is the spot for Bunge jumping.

This picture was taken from the Knife-edge bridge, with the falls behind me, and rain all over me..!!

 

From a tourism point of view, there is nothing much to list down, other than the Victoria Falls. But the wide range of activities at the venue attracts all kind of tourists. Ex: Jet boat ride, Bunge jumping, river rafting etc.,

One of those activities which we cherished a lot was the helicopter ride.

Out of the 1.7 km width, 1 km is in the Zimbabwean side & 0.7 is in the Zambian side and hence both countries have their own view of the waterfalls. However the only view from where one can see the entire 1.7 km is from the helicopter like this:

 

 

The complete view of Victoria falls.. The green round shaped area in front of the falls is the rain forest. The knife edge bridge is covered with smoke.

The extreme left portion of the falls (Zimbabwe) is called the Devil's cataract & the extreme right portion is called the Eastern cataract. There are several names for the sections in-between.

The 30 minute helicopter ride covers a short drive through the Batoka gorge (formed with the water from Victoria Falls) at a height of 55 feet, a drive over the Victoria falls national park (where we can spot Hippo’s, elephants etc., from air), 6-7 rounds on top of the Victoria falls and a short ride over the Zambezi river.

 

The Batoka gorge, where river rafting takes place..

It was my first experience on a helicopter with some butterflies in the stomach during take-off but settled down very soon after seeing the stunning view from 150 metres above ground level. I was sitting in the front and it was a lady pilot as well :-) 

  

The next activity was something that always existed in our plans & schedules, but always gets skipped for various reasons – SPA.

What makes the SPA treatment special here is that the SPA tent’s are on the banks of the Zambezi River and as you get massaged, you lie down and enjoy the view of the amazing falls in a very peaceful quiet ambiance.

 

The SPA @ Royal Livingstone facing the Zambezi river

 

No trip in Africa is complete without game (wild life) viewing and I strongly agree to it. The result was a river safari on the Zambezi river. With thick & indigenous forests all over (without fencings), there is greater possibility of seeing hippo’s, elephants, crocodiles etc., We chose the evening river safari which also makes it a sunset trip whereby most animals come out to the banks of the river.

 

 

 

 

A typical African sunset



Called the "Long Island" The river safari was a trip around this island which is home to plenty of Hippo's & Elephants. 



There is also the famous Chobe National park in Botswana which is close to 70 km from Victoria Falls. Full/Half day tours are available too but we require prior visa’s (for Indian passports).

It all depends on one’s interest & Wallet in choosing the activities as they all come with a fat invoice. For ex: we skipped the Zimbabwe & Botswana visits & chose the helicopter rides.

The currency used in Zambia is Kwacha. Until 6 months back, the equation was 1 INR = 94 Kwacha. But after the rebase of their currency, the equation is now 1 KR = 10 INR. It means that an item that costed 50,000 Kwacha earlier will now cost 50 Kwacha’s.  That’s the effect of their rebasing.

Country wise, Zambia is still among those struggling African poor countries but their advantage is this nature’s gift which is almost feeding the entire country (after the British people scratched their copper ores earlier). A new airport is still under construction @ Livingstone. This is how the current one looks:

 

The centre statue is that of David Livingstone, the other two were his assistants during his trip. And ya, this is the entrance of Livingstone International Airport..!

 

The only thing I regret to have missed is the lunar rainbow or Moonbow that is visible during full-moon days. I only came to know about these a day before the travel and Victoria Falls is one of the very few places in the world where Moonbows appear.

And yes, there were more spectacular sights / moments during the trip that I'm unable to share with you, as unfortunately I had to be defensive & protect my camera (literally by tying it in a plastic cover) during rains & mists. I'll load all the 300 + pics onto my picasa album and share the link here soon..

 

Overall, we had a wonderful time out there and I’m glad that I’m ending (almost confirmed) my African stay on a high!

I hope you do get a chance to visit this mind-blowing natural wonder.

Well-read or Well-educated ?

Education : the process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.
                                                                                                                                                -   Definition

But as most of us have seen it as a tool to get the marks required to get a job.!

Hardly anyone bothers to teach or learn in a way in which the concept is understood. While the teachers train the students on how to answer the 5 mark questions, the students often concentrate in referring previous years question papers.

The objective is one: Get as much marks as you can!

 

The problem doesn’t lie just in the style of teaching, but also in the content & relevancy. Let me recollect the “Subjects” that I had at school and how they helped me in my life:

Mathematics: This is a very broad subject. Though we do additions & multiplications almost every day, these are something we learnt in primary school.  And in High school?

Trigonometry:   Sin Θ, Cos Θ, Tan Θ - Never seen these after selling those books for second hand. Even my science group friends hardly use them in their careers.

Geometry:          There was always a big fight to buy new geometry box every year. But I mainly used those compass & dividers to drill a hole in the belt, clean up some dirt stuck in the keyholes, to remove candle wax etc., And we used those protractors to draw biology diagrams.!! However, I do use the scale these days, only to tear some paper.

Algebra:               I hated this subject while at school and my teacher helped me by requesting me to leave this question in choice, after I got an answer that “Father’s age is 30 and son’s age is 45”!!.

And not to forget - those A²  + B² + 2AB formulas. If you know someone who uses these formulas in life, please tell me. !@#%^*()

Actually, I learnt mathematics better by calculating the Run rate, Required run rate, Strike rate etc., in Cricket, and that really sharpened my calculating skills. Now I can calculate several things like scrap percentages, discounts etc., quickly, without using a calculator. Something to think about??

Alright, now science:

 

Physics:                The newton’s law, 4 stroke engine mechanism, Distance, time & speed, etc., were all interesting. The problem was that these are not being taught practically enough to be understood. The only physics involved in my life now, is when I use my DSLR camera - Focal length, aperture, Lenses etc.,
 
Chemistry:          The magnetic behaviours, different metals & their features were all interesting. But again, content was the problem. For ex: In 9^th / 10^th standard, there was a question in the exams – "Describe the formula used to make soap"

And again those CO2, NACL, H2SO4 etc., Oh no.. I don’t understand.. who told that it would help all of us in the future?

Irony is that the word “chemistry” is nowadays used more in dance reality shows, and other than that, I never heard it anywhere after school.

Biology:                Thankfully, I didn’t go till the stage of splitting it into Botany & zoology. The body parts, bones, muscles related topics were little interesting.

But if you ask a layman on what is biology, the answer will be “cutting a frog in a lab”.. This is just a reflection of the unorganized & meaningless syllabus. We all use biology in day-to-day life, but the topics from that biology book in School? Absolutely nothing! 

Coming to social studies / social science: 

Civics / Economics:          A chapter that all students must learn. It is about the constitution of India, the measurement of a country’s growth, key topics like inflation etc. Unless these classes are interactive, the students will only be snoring.

 Geography:                        I remember that we were asked to bring plain world maps and mark the places that the teacher tells. Last year when I searched the ‘cape of good hope’ in my GPS and reached the place, I was so glad that I achieved something, as I often marked that place incorrectly.

I’m sure there are many more people who use Google maps now to search countries / cities (only when they need to travel there!!)  That only means that the teaching was ineffective.

 History:                                This is a very miss-used subject.  I agree that one should definitely know about their history and origin, but there is no need to elaborate on any kings in particular. Most students find only Akbar & Asoka in their books which they simply mugg-up to get marks.

History subject is nothing but story-telling, and it is boring without any visual help. I myself learnt more about Akbar only after watching “Jodha Akbar’. Good period movies help in better history understanding.

The above are only based on my experience and it can differ from person to person. I’m now working as a management accounting consultant in ERP so it is very obvious that science wouldn’t have helped me at all.  But some of the topics don't help even the science students!! 

 

While here, I would like to touch up on one more issue:

Even now, it is widely regarded that only those students who scored less marks in 10^th standard will go into Accounts group / Art’s group. The only exceptions are those students who have a chartered accountant in their family or whose parents run a business. 

This view should change, and I feel that the basics of Accounts and commerce should be introduced much earlier. Mainly in India, 10^th Standard is considered to be a decision point where a student decides on what he/she is going to do in their entire life. So, it is necessary to highlight that there is another world that they can consider exploring – A world without weird formulas...LOL..!

Well, it is an ART indeed..!

But that doesn’t stop there. I have 5-6 years of time to revise all these subjects I listed above, as I will have to teach my daughter then. Poor thing..!

Well, let’s at least understand that the importance of these topics lie only in "mark-scoring"and give the kids a “Pressure-free” schooling, and hope that they "learn" what they are interested in & enjoy as they learn.

 I prefer to end with some famous one-liners…

I was born intelligent, but education ruined me..!!

-          Anonymous

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.!

-          Albert Einstein

 

 

Ek gaon mein ek kissan raghu thatha

The above sentence or rather dialogue is from a 1981 Tamil movie “Indru poi Naalai Va”(Go today, Come tomorrow), directed by K. Bhagyaraj. For those who have heard this dialogue earlier, they can directly relate it to “Tamilians” and “Hindi”.

Along with it, there is also a common complaint or rather assumption that “Tamilians” in particular are reluctant towards Hindi and sometimes even hate the language.  As I’ve spent majority of my days in “Tamil Nadu” (as of now J ), I feel that I can try and comment on this.

Ok, I’m not going to argue the same old facts that Sanskrit & Hindi came from Persia & Arabic and Tamil is the oldest Dravidian language etc.,  This is a different script and screenplay.

To put forward my points clearly, let me start with history..

The only state or province in India from ancient times, that was not ruled or not much impacted by Mughals, Nizam, Mauryans or simply “any kind of Hindi" speaking empires – is the modern day Tamil Nadu, then called “Thamizhagam”.

The Chera’s, Chozha’s & Pandiya’s ruled most of this area & for long. The Vijayanagara empire’s rule for 2 centuries (1370 to 1565) and the Nizam of Hyderabad & Nawab of Carnatic’s rule during 18^th century (supported by French & English) did not impact at all, as there were continuous rebels and oppositions from within the province. Other south states like Kerala, Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh had impacts from Middle-east trades, Mauryan empires & Nizams respectively.

The point made here is that no form of Hindi ever dominated or even entered Tamil Nadu. It was always seen as a foreign language.

During independence, it was calculated that 41% of India spoke or used some kind of Hindi, and in a hurry to have one national language, an order was passed that Hindi (in Devanagiri script) should be mandatory in all states and become the official language within 15 years of independence. English was allowed as an official language in the interim until 1965.

This led to a major protest from those areas where people have never pronounced a single Hindi word. And South Indian scripts are totally different to the Devanagiri script. You too will agree that nobody will like a foreign language to be made official in their state.

I’m not supporting this protest from the angle of blocking Hindi, but totally disagree with the 15 years’ time frame for an entire state to adopt a foreign language as official language and be proficient in it (And that too – to replace a local language which is arguably older & rightful than Sanskrit..!!) and also with the way it was handled.

This protest was led by Mr Annadurai (former CM of Tamil Nadu) supported by other South Indian states & even few supporters from West Bengal – requesting continuance of English as second official language. Major achievements of this protest were 1) continuance of English as the second official language and 2) conducting public services exam in all regional languages.

This also meant that Hindi could not be declared as the national language of India. So what if India doesn’t have a national language? Even the United States of America doesn’t have one..!

Actually, If not for Mr Anna and team, we wouldn’t have been able to market ourselves well enough to grab the I.T advantage ahead of China & other such countries. (I mean – we would have spoken English anyways, but not as good as today when it is an official language).

The political parties in TN who came to rule later, used this protest as a weapon to gather quick votes, and simply aggravated the emotions of innocent people by provoking them against the language.

Even now, one must accept that the impacts of those protests do exist. With India being largely & falsely represented by Bollywood & Cricket alone, the bias continues in the minds of many.

And to include, those reality shows on TV which are focussed on Hindi & Bollywood, but use the term "India", like India's best singer, India's best dancer etc., These only add up the irritation.  (Tamil & Malayalam channels also have reality shows and they use terms such as "Tamil Nadu's voice hunt", "Kerala's super singer" etc.,).

Also, In January 2010, Gujarat High court (bench headed by Chief Justice S J Mukhopadhya) gave decision against 'issuing directions that packaged commodities must contain details about goods in Hindi'.

So, no Indian citizen is under a compulsion to know or learn Hindi as such. It purely depends on the person, his/her mother tongue and his/her interest.

I’m not quoting the above as a justification or excuse for a Tamilian to not know Hindi – but just to help some people understand what it means on a bigger picture. If you come across an Indian who cannot understand Hindi, he/she cannot be blamed. On the other hand, if that person struggles in a place without knowing Hindi – it is their own fault, to not to have shown interest in learning it. The same applies for other languages also.

And whether you learn or not, every language has it's history & culture and must be respected.

Going forward, these kinds of arguments and issues will only divide India (further!). Being a secular country, just like how we don’t force any religion on others, language should also not be forced.

As we are hyper active in the global job & trade market, it is better to adopt English as a common language (where we are able to market our products & services efficiently), while we use our respective regional languages in our day-to-day life. Try to practice this and the south-north differences will vanish by itself.

I know that this blog is already late by 10-15 years, but hopeful that it is never late enough to change the perception of few people.

Till then, long live raghu thatha..!

And yes -my usual routine of explanation of Tamil words used in the blog:

The title dialogue is from a scene in a Tamil movie, where a guy visits the girl's house to learn Hindi from her brother in an attempt to woo her, but fails to pronounce it properly...! Rehtha tha becomes Raghu thatha, where, Thatha in Tamil means Grandfather..!