Its just strange...

Hey all, I have been thinking about this for quite a while now and I still can’t get over it. I am sure all of us meet and greet people everyday some of us more than the others but we all do and we get all kinds of greetings in return , when a ' Hello' is returned with a 'hmmm' usually parents or teachers do this when some kid is trying to butter them up to try and lesson the blow of imminent punishment , that to me is pretty normal but when it happens outside these relationships it doesn’t just result in raised eyebrows an arm or fist could also enter the equation. So you get the gist of where I am coming from and there are many such unique responses but the one that has me bewildered is a 'Yes' now this is a very peculiar response or a conversation starter, prevailing mainly in cricketing circles, or at least in Pune and I am quite sure it is still in vogue. Imagine this you meet someone and the first word you hear is a 'Yes' ....Yes??? What would you make of it? what would you have me make of it? It has been said with a large smile, a plain nod even a with a snooty grimace. One point in time, I very seriously thought the 'Yes' would replace the 'Hi' ,the'hello' or even the more traditional 'namaskar' well at least in cricket circles. It has had me in absolute splits , amused, bemused, bewildered even annoyed, Well why annoyed you may ask? picture this, you have just been given out which according to you was an absolutely wrong decision (it usually is) you most unwillingly accept it as fate, try and absorb, deep breaths, some clown waves and shouts a "Yes" half way across the friggin world , the same world that has seen you a minute ago , exchanging pleasantries with the Ump... then the ' Yes' happens ....followed by how are you doing? How am I doing!!! Wringing necks is the thought that has usually followed this sequence ,it has happened a few times. I am still trying to come to terms with what it actually means but since I am no authority on a 'hello' or a 'hi' either I have bided my time to get a suitable and convincing explanation, which unfortunately hasn't been forthcoming, if anyone one of has an answer for me do help me out and get in touch, I hope this is explanation enough for everyone to consider that my actions are reactions and that in the future when I am sure to be confronted with another "yes" its the greeting not person that the reaction is directed at. Hopefully the very few that read this would be around to save grace .....'Just Thoughts'

Friends in competition

Heres wishing all of you a very happy and healthy new year, At the beginning of the New Year I have an incident which to me defines morality and good people. This incident that I want to publish, took place a few days back where two of cricketers who I coach and had worked with quite closely for the past few months, were involved. A league where a very simple game usually played to warm up before an actual competitive match was played between players of different backgrounds and walks of life. The league itself was an attempt at having fun in the extreme or so quite a few thought (their bad). I say this because if you compare outlooks towards sport say between a businessman, a Vice president and professional sportsman they bring strategy, stress buster and fierce competition to the table respectively, I have mentioned earlier in the piece there were two of these wonderful professional cricketers, extremely fit and motivated to do well for their team and bring in the glory at all costs. Getting back ,to the game it was getting really competitive, flaring nostrils and exchanges not very pleasant lead to a massive face off and ended in a horrific accident where one player had his shoulder dislocated and the other having being branded guilty of the crime, being red carded off the field. He got massive abuse from the crowd of course he gave some of it back with some of the adrenalin still going strong, had a barrage from yours truly which kind of settled him down. The injured party meanwhile, had to be helped off the field and to be taken to hospital, where his shoulder returned to its rightful place, his season however was reduced to a no show and his preparation had all gone to waste. All this needless to say left a bad taste in the mouth. That very night the red card holder and the sore shoulder met up, this time at the hospital and what contrived there is unknown but a picture of two sportsmen together one arm in a sling and another on the others shoulder appeared on one of the application that these youngsters swear by and use , I for once too agreed with its utility. A picture that would never let you know what had transpired a couple of hours ago, two beaming smiles and two friends just happy clicking a picture together. I have yet to see something that to begin with was so extremely competitive in nature and to have it end in a fashion so completely at the other end of the emotional spectrum. These two are the best of friends as we read and hopefully they stay on well at least till our wounded soldier can gear up to battle again with his new friend and then that would be really interesting. As I continue to learn, how competition can breed a fierce, mad rage, it can also at the end of it all bring about a very complex but extremely accurate definition of what we call a sportsman........’Just Thoughts’.