Darren Bravo

So ... this kid is good. Very good.

Was watching him play India today - West Indies needed 500-odd to avoid an innings defeat, so it was hardly the most riveting cricket - but he played quite brilliantly nonetheless. Earlier in the year (or was it last year?), when they were in Sri Lanka, I saw him score a 50 and thought that he might be the next big thing in cricket (TNBTIC, for short). Am pretty bloody sure now.

I mean, look at that backlift! Seriously, gave me the creeps, I tell you. See, about 3 years ago, I made peace with myself that I would never see Lara bat again. Last year, Lara said that he might play T20 cricket again, and I was excited, but I told myself to wait and see if he did. No sign of that, so I am ok. I have moved on.

But now this bastard comes along. Made me wet my pants watching him bat. Fucker.

And then there's Marlon Samuels scoring 80 at the other end. Another guy who I thought would be very good back in 2003/2004, and then look what happened. Match-fixing, banned for 5 years.

Now he is back. The cover drive was still there. He seems bigger now (prison gym?), and although I hate, absolutely hate his guts for cheating ... he does look so bloody irresistible doesn't he?

Fucker.

Over and out.

I can see clearly now

Time for some reminiscing. It has 3 and half months since my life was turned upside down by a girl. I've never been in love before - never even liked a girl so much that I could confuse that with love. Nothing. Ever.

And then she comes along.

June 7 : We meet, and talk all night. It's not love at first sight, but there was interest. And curiosity.

June 10 : We have spent the last 3 days texting each other non-stop. We talk as though we have been talking all our lives. There is a deep sense of familiarity and belonging. We meet again. Barriers are broken, and we find something unexpected. Mutual affection. Mutual respect. A surprisingly deep bond. A kiss.

June 11 : We make out. I am talked to by elders. Happily, they don't seem too perturbed by it all.

June 12 : We talk all night until 4AM on 13th morning. I tell her I love her, almost accidentally. She doesn't hear it because we get cut off. We talk some more, and I almost forget that I had said it to her. Then she says it. Spontaneously. I tell her I love her too.

June 22 : We meet again. Our first date. Again, that same sense of belonging. We are welcomed with open arms by her mother. We meet the next morning at the beach. Talk of sex continues unabated.

July 1 : We meet. We have sex. The weekend that convinced us that we had met the right person.

July 10 : More lies are told to parents. We meet. Spend her birthday together. I give her a gift. It is accepted with heartfelt gratitude.

July 11 : Much heartbreak at the thought that I am moving away, and we may not see each other for long months. Bittersweet moments are spent at a railway station with each trying to keep up a brave face so that the other person doesn't cry. I cry in the train on the way back.

July 14 : I leave from India. We talk on the phone. I hear her sing for the first time. I leave the country where my sweetheart lives.

Since then, we have been on the phone as much as we possibly can. The parents and my friends joke about how much we talk. Cell phone bills skyrocket until drastic measures must now be taken. We are happily in love, and are beginning to be more vocal about plans of marriage. Of a life together. Of kids.

We tell each other "I love you" and "I miss you" at least twice a day. Sometimes more. We really care for each other, and the deep sense of loss of not being able to be with the other person sometimes gets the better of both of us. We are uneasy. There are disconnects that would not happen if we had been together.

But, we love each other. The sense of empathy, love, and even gratitude are overwhelming. We see ourselves reflected in the other person, and we like what we see. I like who I have become since I met her. I like the fact that one of my best friends sent me an email today asking me when I was going to get married (so that he may plan his trip to India). I am closer to my other friends now since I have returned. I am working on both mind and body with equal gusto. I am planning for a future for us to be together. And I am learning how to give myself to another person - without question, without fear of judgement, without even realizing that you are giving.

I am deeply grateful that I have been able to experience such an incredible experience despite myself. I never really pursued the idea of love. I was a cynic, and always believed that love was for the birds. I believed that the closest I was going to get to it was that I would meet someone. Someone interesting, who met all the academic and superficial criteria that society has set for me. And I would learn to love her. Like my father. Like so many people I know of my age. That I would end up marrying a stranger. And live like a stranger in my own home.

But now, here I am. In love.

Funny, that.

GNOME 3

For many years now, I have used Ubuntu exclusively on my machine, so much so that I decided to buy the Dell laptop that came pre-installed with Ubuntu (9.04 at the time) instead of my standard practice of getting a Windows machine and wiping the harddrive to install Linux.

A few days ago, I upgraded to the latest Ubuntu release (11.04 - Natty Narwhal) only to find that they had chosen to go with their own desktop manager (Unity) over the tried and tested Gnome. I was curious, so I played with Unity for about .. oh, 30 seconds, after which I installed GNOME 3 and began playing with it.

GNOME is where the heart is, unfortunately, so I couldn't resist. Gnome was the culmination of a long, arduous journey for me that began with trying to configure X windows, discovering FvWM, Enlightenment and the other cool window managers around then, to finally finding one that suited my computer usage. So I wanted to see if GNOME 3 lived up to my expectations, and here are my first impressions.

I like the new interface. It is still a little clunky, but I like the dynamic workspaces, and the fact that the entire window management process seems more in the Jeff Han mould than the old Win95 mould (where you have a "Start" button, and a swiss-army-knife panel sitting at the bottom). I also find myself relearning the keyboard shortcuts to many things again, which appeals to my inner geek.

What I dislike is the lack of easy configurability. In an attempt to make the desktop more noob-friendly, the developers have taken away some accessibility features that I think are quite essential. The first and foremost is the ability to quickly and easily change themes, skins, icons, and the desktop background. This might not seem like much, but being a creature of habit, visual cues are essential to the way I use the computer, and not being able to make the desktop look the way I want it to look easily is something I hope they address soon.

I did figure out how to change themes, though, which was a fun, and (in hindsight) a rather educational experience. I still haven't figured out how to change the icon of an app in the panel. This annoys me.

Having also upgraded to Firefox 4 (and its new tab organization tool called Panorama), it appears that there seems to be a trend towards more modular computing (where apps are merely set aside for the time being, rather than closed/minimized and reopened). It is a bit overwhelming at the moment, and I am not sure this is altogether a good thing, but it must be said that it is visually striking, and that might be good enough to win a few hearts.

In other news, a certain Mr. Bin Laden is dead. Most people I speak to here at Purdue have had mixed feelings about it. Is it a good thing? Should we be celebrating the fact the Americans have finally ended a decade of killing innocent civilians in the name of justice? Or should we mourn the fact that they continue their "war on terror" rhetoric?

I am too old to be happy, and too young to be sad, I suppose.

The Ashes, 2010-11

Had a few things to say about the Ashes this year, and thought I should put them down here for posterity. The series has been oddly lop-sided - most "pundits", including myself, thought that it would be a tough series with England having a small upper hand.

However, it has to be said, that Australia have underperformed very badly, and will have to do some serious thinking in order to rebuild the team from here on.

Some of the individuals deserve a more in-depth examination :

Alastair Cook : He has been in prime form, breaking all sorts of records for Ashes series runs. A dismal summer led to many questions being asked about his technique and place in the side, but he has answered his critics with the bat, as they say. He spent much of the summer falling over onto the off-side because, according to Boycott, he planted his front foot on the line of the ball, and then looked to play the ball around his front pad instead of under his eyes.

He has corrected his technique, and has shown that Gooch's faith in the kid is well placed. Kudos to both Gooch and him for finally coming good on their promise.

Paul Collingwood : The calls for his retirement are getting louder everyday, but I find this "public lynching" by the media a little too tiresome now. He is a fantastic fielder, and a good, solid batsman. In 2010 he gave England something they had never had before - an ICC trophy (in the form the World 20-20 cup). If he is to retire, it would be best, therefore, to leave it to him. One bad series does not imply that he will never come good. He is only 34, after all. Nowadays, the life-span of cricketers (particularly batsman) has increased substantially with modern physiotherapy and fitness regimes.

We should give him some time, and let him be the final judge of his form.

Chris Tremlett : The dark horse of the tournament for me. He was kept out of the first test by an established bowling quartet, and made it in only thanks to injury to Stuart Broad. He has more than made up for Broad - he has bowled a beautiful length to extract optimum bounce and seam movement, and has rarely bowled a bad ball.

Fantastic prospects for England if this kid can continue to improve.

Ricky Ponting : The failure of the tournament, by a long distance. He scored two fluid 70s in India in October, and came into the series with the possibility that this would be his last. He has been caught fishing outside the off stump too many times for a player of his calibre. When the need was to buckle down and play out spells of good bowling, he opted to hit out, and only managed a couple of boundaries before edging one to the slips.

A player of his experience and ability should have known better.

Mitchell Johnson : A player who just refuses to learn. He is obviously talented, but spraying every third ball down leg-side when you are the leader of the attack is just irresponsible. He managed one glorious spell in the series, and that will continue to keep him in the good books of the selectors, but I don't think he should play for Australia until he works out how to bowl the ball at the stumps.

Bollinger, Hilfenhaus, and lately Ryan Harris have proved that they are much more reliable (if a little less penetrative) than him, and should be chosen over Johnson in the future.

I could go on. Mike Hussey, Usman Khawaja, James Anderson, Andrew Strauss (for his captaincy more than his batting), and the incorrigible Graeme Swann all deserve a mention, but I must stop here.