28 years after 1983

I remember that night of June 25^th 1983, when as a Young boy of 12 years, I sat near the radio in the corner of a room so that India would defend a paltry score of 183 runs. Rest of the family members were not interested any further because of that low score. For me Indian cricket team meant India and a win for the team is a win for the country. Though some of my elder siblings decried my view I never wavered. I was very clear and this is a sense of immense patriotism that has been imbibed( in our generation) or rather built over due to the beautifully composed national anthem, the beautifully designed National tri-colour, the stories of the valour of the First Nation builder, the Gupta King, Samudraguptha, the Rajput king Prithviraj Singh Chauhan, the Great Maratha- Shivaji and the Rajasthani- Rana Sanga, the Great Moghul, Akbar, Mangal Pandey, Netaji Subhash Bose, the Calmness and intelligence of the Mahatma, the Father of the Nation, the Lion Hearted Tangutri Prakasam, the visionary in Nehru and not to forget the Great Kapil Dev for that brilliant knock of 175 not out, when India was 17 for 5.True to my faith, India mustered strength and courage and skittled out the Windies for 141 on that eventful night. After that, there was a sea of emotions but there were no wild celebrations.

After that world cup win, I knew pretty well that India will be hammered in the subsequent matches because it is a game of cricket and on that day in Lord’s, India was good and it need not be the same again and teams will be seeking revenge. It happened just like that- India’s wins were sporadic and some horrible losses—like the last ball six against Pakistan. 1987 world cup arrived and Kapil dev had a handful of those brilliant men of 1983 world cup winning team. India flattered to deceive as they capitulated against the sweeping success of Graham Gooch against India’s main weapon, Maninder Singh. India was shunted out in Semis. I consoled myself that the cup may not be ours all the time. I was not disappointed.

There were a lot of hopes in 1991 as I entered my Youth and India had an emerging star in Sachin Tendulkar and the great dasher in Krish Srikkanth. However, India did not have the Skill of Imran Khan or planning like Martin Crowe and lost very badly. I was tad disappointed as a Win against Pakistan in an insignificant league match was camouflaged as if it was a Win in the Final by the sponsors.

1996 was a year where India had the greatest batting line-up under the three Mumbaikars-Sachin, Kambli and Manjrekar. We cannot forget the influence of the mercurial Mohammad Azharuddin over the course of a match and the fighter in Manoj Prabhakar. India also had the greatest Fast Bowling pair in Prasad and Srinath. Inspite of a great win against Arch-rival Pakistan, India lost very badly at Kolkata against a spirited Lankans under Ranatunge in the quarter finals. I did not appreciate the meek surrender though several reasons and theories were propagated for the image breaking loss. I tried to console myself by coming to a conclusion that Cricket is a game and the cricket team but not the country lost it.

I knew India was not going to win the World cup in 1999 because the team did not have many consistent dashers like Australia, yet, What made me reel under immense anger was the Super six loss against Zimbabwe, when all the batsmen queued to pavilion requiring a paltry 25 or 30 runs to win against a devastating bowling attack led by Henry Olanga. I knew Tendulkar missed the opportunity for the third time in a row inspite of his brilliant individual performances. I thought it was time for me to move on to start appreciating the other brilliant performances in other sports like P.Gopi Chand’s facile win in All-England Shuttle badminton but, V V S Laxman’s single handed knock of 281 in 2001 against the Aussies brought my interest back to cricket.

In 2003 world cup, I knew India had an outside chance because it had a great Fast bowling trio of Srinath, Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan. India also had the best spin bowling combo of Harbhajan and Anil Kumble. India had one bad outing in the final as they ran into an inspired Ricky Ponting and lost the plot. This shattered my confidence in Cricket as I already gave up playing cricket as I entered the wrong side of thirties. I felt pity for Tendulkar as he lost a golden opportunity and injuries plagued him thereafter making him, vulnerable even against mediocre bowling sides. I slowly entered a phase where I started watching only the highlights of only those matches where India won.

2007 world cup in West Indies was the mother of all disappointments as India exited after the first round, beaten by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. India did not give Tendulkar the World cup for the fifth time or conversely Tendulkar did not win the cup for the fifth time for India. It was the greatest debacle and I lost the faith completely in cricket and vowed never to talk of cricket as negativism creeped into every aspect of the life for a brief while.

The great turn around was in 2008 Tri series win against Aussies and the way Tendulkar guided a marauding Rohit Sharma. I knew the mission had started. This rekindled my interest in cricket.

So the great Indian victory in Mumbai on the night of 2^nd April 2011 was a well orchestrated, pre-meditated decimation of Aussie confidence over a period of time and making the best bowlers of the other teams look ordinary. India has a thoughtful captain in Dhoni and the senior statesman in Tendulkar. So, unlike in 1983, we Indians can look forward to a period of dominance in cricket for the next four- five years and since cricket and our confidence levels are interwoven, all other spheres like stock market driven economy, Agriculture and scientific inventions are bound to receive a big boost by drawing inspiration. I look forward to a more optimistic and enjoying period of cricket from now onwards. So this world cup win means a lot to us.

The Emergence of Jonathan Trot

The recently concluded Ashes series threw up many interesting things. In the beginning it appeared like a battle between two mediocre sides because the Aussies were unable to run through the batting order in time in the first test and England had its moments at Lords through a collective display and a flash of brilliance from Flintoff. However the Aussie victory in the third test ensured that the Kangaroos regained their composure and played top notch cricket as Stuart Clarke brought back memories of the relentless off-stump line of Glenn McGrath
Accurately viewed, the foremost gain is the emergence of a fine quality batsman in the form of Jonathan Trot for England. What it did to the English Cricket is that it reduced their overwhelming dependence on Kevin Pietersen-their most prolific batsman in recent years and who walked like a colossus on the cricket field. It added a lot of solidity to the fragile middle order.
Jonathan Trot is on occasions resembling Steve Waugh in not only his batting but also his walking on the field and in running between the wickets. It remains to be seen whether he will be able to tackle the spinners of the sub-continent, although on occasions while playing Marcus North, the Off-spinner, his batting style was similar to Rahul Dravid.
His innings of 41 & 119 are certainly eye-openers- Gritty and classy innings with a lot of entertainment and holding a lot of promise of a long career ahead. He may have to correct his technique against the in-swinging deliveries although it is a little too early to detect the defects. With his inclusion in the last and final outing, England certainly appeared to pull final ace of its sleeve and had the last laugh as he turned out to be their trump card. Thus his non-inclusion in the fourth test and the inclusion for the final test apparently appeared to be a strategic move by default rather than design as the Aussie bowlers did not appear to be prepared with his approach. Therefore everyone will hope that not only England but also World cricket will become richer and spectators will be entertained by this ‘great selection’!

The Future of Cricket:Are the standards declining?

Cricket was, for a long time, primarily a leisure sport and a thoroughly gentleman’s game which was played in the spacious lawns in England. However, with the colonial rulers it has reached to all parts of the globe and turned out to be more and more commercial over the years. Perhaps no other game had so much of literature and science built into it.

Cricket has occupied the mind space of so many Asians that, people virtually breathe cricket. It is no joke that when two young men are asked about their favorite time pass on any holiday, they would prefer watching cricket on television rather than watching a Bollywood movie. In India, cricket stars are Divas and the public carefully scrutinizes all their actions.

For some important matches, people apply leave from their office duty, business establishments shut their doors early and the usually crowded streets become empty as most of the people sit at home glued to their T.V sets. Such popularity of the game has more to do with the desire of the people to find an easy escape from the daily monotony and troubles. So from the early seventies it has gathered momentum and with the Historic world cup win in 1983, cricket has finally replaced Hockey as the favorite sport of the Indians. Similarly, with the wins by Pakistan in 1992 and Sri Lanka in 1996, these Asian nations were gripped with cricket fever.

With time, cricket shed the leaning towards England-Australia axis and became more of a global sport. The consequence was that it led to proliferation of matches, introduction of new versions like twenty-twenty and modification of existing rules and inventing of new ones (which were a mixture of silly and very wise). Thus, those cricket boards in countries with large populations became rich and strangulated other cricketing boards into accepting their new ways of thinking. In the melee cricket lost its quality, poise and charm.
Decline of Caribbean cricket: -Since 1950s West Indies developed itself into a force to reckon with and by late seventies it became virtually an unstoppable one. It had a battery of fast, furious and intimidating bowlers and classy, bludgeoning and hard-hitting batsmen. The fielders were also agile and fleet footed. There was good team spirit and the captain was always considered numero uno and there was a perfect succession planning. All these resulted into the building of a powerful team that could not be grudged in public by the opposition players for the fear of intimidating bowling against them!

The Caribbean batsmen were perfect players against spin and pace alike. For the spinners they used their feet well by dancing down the track and lifting them continuously into the stands for sixes so that the opposition skippers were forced to fill their team with seam bowlers but they proved to be mincemeat as the Caribbean batsmen were adept at horizontal bat shots. However as the proverb says” all things are born only to perish after sometime”, Caribbean cricket reached its peak in 1988 and the decline started from then onwards with the retirement of players like Richards, Haynes, Greenidge, Marshall, Holding, Roberts.

Lack of supply of good players from the stables of the domestic cricket due to diversion of interest of younger generation from cricket to other sports like football, volley ball and a general shift in social conditions culminated in the decline of cricket and its decimation. The present team is a pale shadow of its former self as there is no fast bowler who can bowl more than 135kmph(in those days at 135kmph, he was considered to be the slowest of the fast bowlers and the opposing batsmen could have heaved a sigh of relief on seeing him with the ball in his hand) and no batsmen who can score more than one century in a series.

In its hay days the closest that any team could reach the Caribbean team was the Aussies under Greg Chappell and even that team used to manage consolation victories like a 1- 4 win. There was no rotation policy and match after match the fast bowlers pounded the batsmen with fast short pitched deliveries. Now- a- days, the scene has reversed and the teams all over the world hand over a consolation win to the Windies .It will take a miracle to replicate the team of 1980s.

Change in social conditions: - Zimbabwe became a test-playing nation in early 1990s.Before that it brought down on to the carpet teams like Australia, England and India in one-day matches. There were excellent players like Traicos, Kevin Curren, and David Houghton in the initial days and Heath streak, Flower brothers-Andy and Grant, Murray Goodwin, Neil Johnson, Henry Olonga etc in the modern days. However due to a sudden change in social and political conditions, some good cricketers have either retired prematurely or emigrated from Zimbabwe leaving the team in tatters. From being the dark horses they have now become the underdogs and the most promising test playing nation of the early 1990s with some exciting hitters and great fielders is slowly becoming a nondescript one.

Possibility of retirement of great players in Indian sub-continent in the near future: - The fabulous five of the Indian cricket, Sachin, Rahul, Sourav, Laxman and Kumble are in the fag end of their career. Though some possible replacements are being made ready it remains to be seen how they will adjust to the demands of stardom and excessive cricket. Stuck with nostalgia of these fabulous five, people may not show that much of interest until another crop of youngsters take center-stage and lack of patronage may be reason for the possibility of decline. This might already be happening in Pakistan with the retirement of Inzamam-ul-haq, Shahid Afridi, Saqlain Mushtaq, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis and in Sri Lanka with the retirement of players like Jayasuria, Attapattu and the gradual decline of skill of Vaas and the inability of the new comers to grab the chances. If people do not throng to grounds in the same numbers as in the past, then it will be difficult to sustain the show.

Too much of cricket: - In the modern days teams in general play 12 tests, 30-40 one days and 30-45 twenty-twenty cricket in a year. All these lead to wear and tear to cricketers and overdose of entertainment to the spectators. The example of Dhoni taking rest from the Sri Lanka series was ample proof to this phenomenon. No rotation policy can restore the lost pride and spectators cannot fathom losses with ‘B’ Grade teams.

So the administrative heads should pool up their talents and see that cricket retains its charm forever without loosing out to football and other sports. They should also launch talent schools in Windies and Zimbabwe to help them retain the old glory and see that good players do not retire prematurely due to petty disputes. Better regulation of the cricket matches by the authorities to retain the spectator interest and unity among cricketing bodies and cricketers is the need of the hour.

Virender Sehwag:The New Run Machine of Indian cricket

Ever since the famed Indian middle order started showing signs of ageing and wear and tear, Indian cricket team required for some one to take up the responsibility of not only shielding them but also to slap the opponents’ bowling attack right from the word Go .It is really fortunate that Indian cricket could unearth a cricketer of the caliber of Virender Sehwag, who can not only make the best bowlers look ordinary but also blunt the attack for long duration and at a blistering pace.
Initial years: In the beginning, it appeared as if Virender Sehwag’s breezy style of batting would not be able to sustain against quality bowling attacks. When he made his debut in the one-day internationals in 1998 in the Hero Honda Cup in India against a new look Pakistan and an up coming Bangladesh, memories of failures of aggressive and hard hitting stroke players like Atul Bedade and Amay Khurasia were fresh. Fortunately for the team, unlike those two players, Sehwag was very young and had a powerful state cricket association to back his talent. His gait resembled little master, Sachin Tendulkar. He had a range of strokes similar to his illustrious opening partner like cover drive, straight drive and flick of the wrists. After grinding teams like Sri Lanka and England at home from 1999 to 2001 in one day internationals, he made his debut against South Africa in 2002.With a century on debut, it turned out to be wonderful debut although he was unfairly suspended for one match for excessive appealing. Very soon, it became clear that he was not a “rag picker” type of player, but a batsman to watch and fear for the opponents. Purists decried his batting technique because of absence of feat movement at the time of stroking the ball, whereas the connoisseurs heaped praise on his bat speed and incredible hand and eye co-ordination.
Boy turns into a man: After a reasonably successful world cup in 2003 in South Africa and graduating from one day cricket to test cricket, all eyes were on him when India toured Pakistan in an ice-breaking tour in 2004.In the Multan test, he slammed a triple century (309) and above all showed his selflessness with a six from 294 to 300.He could have easily surpassed Lara’s record of 400 on that day but for the fatigue and team’s cause of quick run making. As of now it appears that, he is the most potent threat to Lara’s world record and may be even to Sachin’s record of maximum centuries. He repeated the act of scoring a triple century again in 2007 and scored another big hundred (254) in Faisalabad. His 15 test centuries so far are an ample proof of his maturity into a fine test batsman from a swashbuckling, reckless and frenzied style of batting of the young blood of initial years.
101s of his career so far: His greatest asset is that he does not actually need a partner to take the team to safety and scores runs almost like a one man army, as his latest unbeaten double century against the marauding Lankan spinners proved. His strength is also his Weakness. Any slight and momentary dip in his prowess of hand and eye co-ordination due to various reasons, has proved to be fatal on occasions and teams need not have to plan for plotting against his weaknesses and this is the main reason for his going into wilderness for a brief while in 2006-07.Fortunately for him the twenty-twenty world cup and Australian test series in 2007 resurrected his career, although it appeared that, he started to increasingly like the open spaces in the field in test matches than the crowded field placing during the power play phases of one day cricket. For a bowler of his caliber, he is either being under- bowled or shielded from fatigue by his captains. He is an excellent close-in fielder and has a sharp throwing arm.
Possibilities in future: After the arrival of Matthew Hayden into the Australian team and his huge success, all the major teams have started to groom run machines like him. So the future definitely belongs to run machines like Kevin Pietersen of England, Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka and Virender Sehwag of India. He is a serious competitor to M.S.Dhoni for the captaincy. If he does not slow down as his age progresses and continues with carefree approach at the crease, it will be a delight to watch for the spectators and a scourge for the bowlers. It will be an interesting sight to watch his battles in future against up coming stars like Ajantha Mendis of Sri Lanka, Stuart Broad of England, Mitchell Johnson of Australia, Umar Gul of Pakistan and Daniel Vettori of New Zealand and he is most likely to succeed. Experts will study at close quarters his strengths like bat speed and try to find out how he acquired that incredible hand and eye co-ordination just as Murlidharan’s Doosra was researched and discovered to be due to his unusual double wrist. Until such time, viewers will enjoy the unique combination of oriental charm and elegance and brute force of Sehwag’s bat. So let all the cricket lovers hail the arrival of the new run machine of Indian cricket and wish for the continued brilliance in future.

Down the Memory lane

Every child in the eight to fourteen age groups develops a passion towards sports, arts, movies or some other hobbies. So it is important for parents to monitor closely their child’s interests and to see that they do not turn into obsessions and thus damage their academic careers. Now-a- days viewing of cricket matches continuously on the Television and watching movies in the theatres is the single-most significant reason for a child’s drop in grade in the exams.
Negative aspects of the passion of cricket:-
I remember pretty well my childhood days, when as a young boy of nine years, I was extremely fascinated with cricket and aped the bowling action of my favorite hero, Kapil Dev, whenever I was playing with my friends and on occasions, even when I was not playing and simply loitering in the verandah of my house. I and my friends not only followed the test matches very closely but also went into lengthy discussions, about the various aspects of the day’s play like why the captain did not open the bowling with one particular bowler and what would have happened had one particular batsmen been sent one spot up in the batting order etc. Eventually we used to forget that there was an examination in our school the next day. Those were the days (early eighties), when there was no television and we had to depend on the radio to enjoy the live action and the occasional chance we had of seeing the test match in action was when we went to a movie and a trial part was shown, (before the commencing of the feature film), which consisted of the action that took place in a just concluded test series.
For most of us, whenever the cricket series and examinations coincided, our performance at the examinations dipped. We were able to tell very easily the itenary of the Indian cricket team but were not so convincing with regard to rendition of formulae in Mathematics. It was an altogether different matter that when there was no cricket match around we were able to finish our exams with aplomb.
Positive aspects of the passion of cricket:-
1) Notwithstanding the negative side, there were some positive aspects of this passion also. Most prominently we became very adept in Geography and especially when it came to pointing out some important places on the map in our social studies examination like Melbourne, Perth, Kingston, Manchester etc. We even remembered other important things about these places the names of the rivers on whose banks these places were situated, the important products from these places etc. Thus we were ahead of the students who did not have any specific interest in cricket.
2) By listening to the cricket commentaries by the famous commentators like Christopher Martin Jenkins, Brian Johnston, Tony Cozier, Ananth Sethalvad, and our command over English language grew by leaps and bounds.
3) Whenever there was a school vacation or a holiday, we played the game with great intensity and rigor and thus most of us became very muscular and healthy when compared to those who had little or no interest in the game.

Our Moment of truth about the passions:-
As years rolled by and as we were passing through our teens, some of us gradually realized that these passions (Sports and movies) were fast turning into obsessions and our academic lives were getting swallowed by them and that we should limit ourselves to watching the one-day matches on the television and watch only those movies which have run for at least one month. The rest of our friends who could not control themselves failed to perform in the exams. Thus many a promising career got nipped in the bud as they could neither flourish in cricket nor in their academic lives.
Disturbing trend of increase in number of cricket matches:-
Taking aforesaid matters into consideration, I became extremely disturbed on seeing the number of test matches, one-day matches and twenty-twenty matches that are scheduled to be played by the Indian cricket team in the ensuing calendar year and up to April 08. It is no secret that young people love cricket to the craziest extent possible and there were many occasions when the colleges and schools were found to be empty on the days of cricket matches.
Passion for watching the movies:-
As it can be seen from the above that, while some useful information can be drawn from the passion towards cricket, with the case of watching movies nothing important can be obtained. On the top of it, as most of the modern movies preach violence as solution to the problems in the society and also teach the teenagers the methods to engage in love at a younger age, there is a great danger that there is a possibility of the youth getting consumed with these imaginary solutions and temporary happiness.
Some remedies:-
It is now pertinent that all the people concerned evolve sufficient precautionary measures to see that these young people will be able to enjoy cricket, watch movies and perform well at the exams. Any evolution or revolution should start from home and then only it can flourish in the streets. So the parents on their part should
1) Make their children grasp the difference between the concepts of relaxation and entertainment.
2) Make their children become aware of the importance of academics and harness only the finer aspects of the sports in bettering their performance in the academics.
3) Restrict the children to watch the television only when those serials which are informative are being played.
Similarly the administrators of the sport and the producers of the movies should
1) Limit the number of test matches in a year to eight, one-day matches to ten and twenty-twenty matches to one tournament.
2) Limit the number of films in a year to a maximum of 60.
3) See that all the matches and films do not clash with the examination schedule of the students.

Today’s children are the future of tomorrow. So everyone should see that the commercialization of the sport and films should not become a bane for the Youth of the country.

Modern day parents: Are they too flexible or rigid?

It can now be safely assumed that the average age of the population in India is 35 years and now-a-days, due to several reasons like acquiring a minimum guarantee in life due to changes in economic situation and the job opportunities, most males and females do not prefer to get married until they crossed 30 years of age. The situation up to early nineties was a bit different. There were jobs in the offing in the Public sector undertakings and Government and marriages in the age group of 28-30 years were considered to be late marriages.

There has been a sea change in the attitude of newly wed couples towards becoming parents.
After marrying in the mid-thirties some couples are planning the parent hood. They are delaying the conception by two to three years because they argue that providing all sorts of stability to the new born is their motto. However old timers are rightly pointing out (more on the basis of assumption rather than on any scientific reason) that, these attitudes are the main reason for the couples finally turning out to be childless or the children born to the couples in the late thirties acquiring some congenital diseases and other life style diseases like diabetes. However, there is very little that the population can do on these aspects because, though the economic situation and the employment opportunities are finitely linked to each other, the policy matters are driven by the globalised environment and the wisdom lies in adjusting to the new environment and doing things correctly.

Due to the fact that both husband and wife are working is making miserable, the lives of the couples as well as their kids in some cases (where there is no proper support) and cozy in the rest of the cases (due to improved economic condition). In the modern times most of the Indian youth are employed in software, management and marketing sectors. The significant attribute of these three professions is that they demand long working hours and sometimes late night shifts also. These cause a detrimental effect on the day time behaviour of both sexes and their attitude towards welfare of their children. Some jocularly complain that it has been years since they last had a comfortable eight hour sleep at night. Most of them have forgotten how to relax as they left behind their favorite passions like painting, music or just playing a game of shuttle. Due to the mad rush in life it appears that even if one of the parent attempts to rekindle these passions, there will be heartburn for the other partner because the responsibility of the kid will fall entirely on her or him. Hence the parents should readily acknowledge that there should be an elbow space for relaxation in each others’ lives and should not attempt to spoil that. Therefore better understanding is the need of the hour.

The solution to this problem is that the Indian youth should try to develop better societal relations. Thus they should interact more with their neighbors and seek assistance from their parents and other family members and see that they maintain clean family relations. Then only they can carry forward their lives as well as those of their kids smoothly. Thus for a successful parenthood one should invariably follow the basic principle that” simple things should be done correctly and prioritization is the key.”


The immediate impact on the change in the attitudes of the parents: - Upon a discerning study of the new trends among the modern day parents with a wealthy background, it may be observed that there is little caning of children, more liberalized outlook, more space for freedom to the adolescent children, more exposure to new version of electronic gadgets and in some cases, extreme care bordering on obsession. Thus more and more children are getting accustomed to cozy and comfortable life and almost to the verge of not knowing the other side of the coin. This explains for the increase in adolescent crimes and perverted outlooks. On the other hand, the middle class parents are hell bent on seeing their children becoming successful in their academic life and therefore willing to spend whatever money is available at their disposable and on occasions they are not stepping back to take big and fat loans to the extent of becoming paupers. Thus it appears wealthy people are spending recklessly on their children and middle class parents are becoming debtors mindlessly. Lastly coming to the parents belonging to the lower strata of the society, it appears they are the real hard working people and the backbone of the country as they toil hard on the construction sites, garages, agriculturists and offer services to the first two sections of the society. However they are unable to provide anything substantial to their children because of high cost of nutritious products, inability to be away from vices and high mortality rates .Thus one can find most of their children attending government schools and colleges and petering out into oblivion or becoming real life heroes by sheer hard work.

A Journey to Wisdom: A story on marriage and morality

Prakash was retired defense service personnel who worked as an Airman. He retired at the age of 33 after serving a fifteen year bond. While in service; he pursued his academic interests and completed A.M.I.E. degree and developed software skills also. Thus he could land in Software Company immediately after his retirement. While in service, his daily routine included going to the office and staying back in his quarter after the office hours. He never ventured out and had no one to visit. Thus he remained aloof. In a way he did not know much of the world outside. Therefore he did not get married and did not feel the urge also. Once he was into the software company, he noticed that the world around him was different. There were young people around him and a lot of “socializing” was taking place. At the end of the day, he felt like an odd man out. So he gave his details in the classifieds section of a paper stating his preferences to get married and immediately there was a call from one of them but they asked him to visit them within two days for preliminary discussions. He rushed to the station in the evening and jumped into a heavily packed reservation compartment of a moving train. As the T.T.E got into the compartment, there was a lot of scuffle among the passengers and fortunately for him most of them alighted in the nearby station as they were daily commuters. Prakash noticed that the T.T.E was very accommodative as he allowed him to occupy the T.T.E’s seat for the time being after he showed his identity card which informed about his status as an ex-service man. In the nearby seat he noticed that there was a teenaged pair. He called the boy aside and asked where they were going. The boy replied “I do not know”. Prakash was surprised. Upon further enquiry the teenager whose name was Joseph, replied that he was eloping with his girl friend Padma, as both their families were against their love and they arranged a marriage to Padma.” Don’t you think you are doing wrong?” asked Prakash To this question Joseph took a big lecture on the joy of falling in love and the bliss and finally quipped ”Sir it appears you have never fallen in love”. Prakash felt stung and was left pondering whether he lived his life correctly or not and did not prioritize properly. In the next station, the families of both the teenagers came jostling into the compartment and whisked them away along with them. In the next station a couple boarded the train. From the hindsight it appeared that they were like an aunt and her nephew. They asked Prakash whether he could accommodate them. Prakash agreed because he himself was sitting on a borrowed seat. Slowly he noticed that the young man was making ugly overtures to the woman and was also trying to make indecent contacts in the dim light. The woman was also secretively responding. Slowly he recognized that they were not aunt and her nephew and lovers with a lot of age gap between them. He started conversation with the man in a low voice and soon he came to know that both of them were married and are having different life partners and that, they were working in the same office and hence “savoring this indecent relationship”. Stunned with this reply, Prakash vacated his seat and adjusted in a nearby seat with a man in late twenties, who was talking continuously over the cell phone and telling all sorts of lies because when one man asked where he was at the moment, he was replying that he was in a cinema theatre. After adjusting in the cramped place, he overheard the conversation. The man first said” So when are you going to come” and with the loud speaker switched on the cell phone , pat came the reply from the voice of a lady saying” once I get a divorce from my husband” .To this, the man replied. ”No, I cannot wait until that time; I want you to come immediately”. The man argued and told her that he will be leaving to U.S within a week and could return only after three years. Then the lady replied that she will come once her husband leaves for a camp to Delhi next week. The man agreed with a lot of discomfort and in the mean time bargained for a “meeting with her” on the coming Monday. Prakash noticed that this is another fishy relationship and vacated that place also. Slowly he moved towards the door and he noticed that a girl was trying to jump out of the moving train. He dragged her back and counseled her and then enquired her about the reasons for resorting to such an extreme step. The girl replied that she was deceived by her husband as he developed a live-in relationship with his colleague in the call-centre. She replied that it is the second time in two years of their marriage that she was getting deceived by her husband. Finally, the T.T.E called Prakash and told him that seat no 72 is ready and therefore he can go to sleep. Prakash felt relieved and went to his allotted seat. Without wasting any time he fell asleep as a terrified man and got down at his destination the next morning. For some period of time he was alone on the platform and hence sat down on the bench. He made a phone call to the people he is supposed to meet and they replied that they would send a car in 15 minutes to pick him up. In this time, he reminisced the eventful previous night and got engulfed in emotions. His view about the present day society underwent a big shift and the ideals of the previous generation are submerged .He thought that if a sample of four cases that he came across in the train is any indication, then the morals in the society are definitely on the lower side. He felt as if he was gripped with a fear as to what kind of a lady he is going to come across now in his life. ”Are the women of now becoming more provocative? “ He said to himself. He further opined” without the active consent and indulgence of a woman no man can press forward to indecent relationship”. He also recollected how nice the T.T.E was and that good nature is still left in the world. Finally the car arrived and he got into it. The girl he was supposed to marry was seated in front of him in a traditional way. As he saw her, he was pleasantly surprised. She was none other than his colleague, Bharathi, in the office and his most ardent supporter on the views on morality that he expressed during the lunch recess amongst his colleagues and for which he was booed by some of them. Thus she planned a surprise for him. Soon after the whole event was over, he forgot the previous night’s journey and felt relieved that he was indeed a lucky man as he is going to get married to an equally virtuous lady and that too a person whom he knew pretty well for quite some time. Finally he said to himself “what you get is what you are”.