Chatfield (NZ) - Do you remember him?

The most sticking remembrance that I have of Ewen Chatfield (I was in 9th standard in school - 22 years back from now), New Zealand pace bowler, is that of the match in which Sunil Gavaskar scored his first (and last as well) One-day century.

If some of you are wondering, why am I writing about Chatfield - Don't go too far straining you brain - I read this article which says he is now a Taxi Driver in Wellington.

http://content-eap.cricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/392473.html

I was shocked that he is driving a cab for living (in fact he had taken up lawn-moving, courier delivery, selling chips, driving a dry van and coaching a club side before he settled as a Taxi Driver)

This article has some very interesting insights into Chatfield and how he goes about life and took me back one of my random thoughts - "What is important in life is life, and not the result of life"

There certainly wont be too many posts like this - current generation of cricketers do make enough money during their playing career that they dont have to try their hands at things that Chatfield tried.

Discussions - Expertise and Identity

In the recent past I have been party to some discussions and they turned out to be not-so-pleasant experiences. While this in itself is not new, because of the importance attached to the people involved in those discussions, I had been spending some time on 'Why some discussions turn out be fruitful and some others utterly bitter experiences?' - Here is my take:

Inherently some topics of discussion turn into arguments and often arguments leave not-so-pleasant experiences - Consider topics like politics, cinema etc. Everyone of us have our opinions on these and these opinions are often based on beliefs that we have. Beliefs, never are, correct or incorrect and thus opinions based on beliefs too are not correct or incorrect - It is just that different people have different beliefs on a particular aspect/subject. Also, beliefs do change - so guy who is vociferously advocating for a particular political party might turn against them in another discussion.

But, not all topics of discussions turn into arguments nor are the discussions based on beliefs - Topics like 'cooking', for instance, do not generate same amount of arguments as does topics like 'politics' - Why? To me, the answer lies in 'expertise' - one can not discuss cooking unless he/she has some expertise in cooking (pl. for god sake do not equate cooking with eating), while all of us can certainly discuss about politics without having any expertise in politics - So, the key is actually not 'Expertise' but it is 'Expertise threshold'!

Some topics have higher levels of expertise threshold (like Accountancy, C++) and some have very minimal or no levels (like cinema, politics, religion) etc!

Is it the end of the story - Not at all!

See this phenomenon - Aren't there areas with in politics/religion/cinema that require higher levels of expertise? Yes, definitely - areas like economic policy, taxation policy definitely require higher levels of expertise but we still see people having discussions that turn out to be either useless or not-so-pleasant experiences - Why?

I think the answer lies in 'Identity' - We identify ourselves to certain topics irrespective of the expertise needed to discuss that topic. It is our identity with those topics coupled with our beliefs that make us participate in the discussions. Largely, 'identity' is what makes a discussion not fruitful and makes us biased - One can never have an unbiased discussion about something which is part of (or at least which they consider part of) their 'identity'!

Some of the best examples that can explain the above phenomenon - Are your kids good lo0king? Have your parents raised you well? - How many of us can discuss these topics objectively.

Moving on, here is another interesting thought:

Unlike what most of us think, which topics evoke people's identity is actually dependent on People but not on Topic!

• 'War between India and Pakistan in the current circumstances', as a topic, will evoke people's identity across both countries and that too of all most all citizens of the country!
• 'War between India and Pakistan in 1970s', as a topic, will not evoke sames levels of identity and also doesn't evoke identity of all citizens as well!
• War as a topic in itself doesn't evoke identity though discussing this topic doesn't have high levels of expertise threshold - Hence, evoking identity is not topic dependent but it in fact is dependent on the people!

The point I was trying to drive home is as follows:

• Expertise thresholds while play a role in how involved people will get, they are not the the biggest problem (Has Chiranjeevi done the correct thing by entering into politics? - Almost everyone of us will participate and will also have strong opinions, but this doesn't mean that the topic in itself has very low expertise threshold levels for having a meaningful discussion)
  
• Identities usually drive discussions useless
• Topics of discussions do not determine evoking identity, hence 'topics' per se are not bad
• Hence the controllable variable for having meaningful/fruitful discussions are identities
• The farther we can take ourselves from our identities, the closer we will go to having meaningful discussions - Be it at home or be it in office or be it in a bar!

Point is not to take oneself farther from discussions but from our identities! - Go and Enjoy your discussions.

What am I?

What am I? - No, I'm not about to give a lecture on 'knowing oneself' or some crap like this (Some Crap has to be read more in conjunction with my belief that none other than ourselves can know ourselves - I don't believe that someone else can make me realize who the hell I am and What am I made for)

Any case this post is a sort of response to one of my friend - He asked me yesterday, after reading 'About Me' section of my blog, why did I say describing myself was so tough!

In response, This is what I am (When I am not compelled, when I am in a position of strength and when short changing is not required) :

• Most things are either Black or White
• Most things are either '0' or '1'
• Most often I can sense other's emotions/feelings, seldom I base my reactions on those
• Logic > Emotion
• Numbers/Hard Facts > Thoughts/Perceptions/Feelings
• Sugar coating a bitter pill is only for kids (and for adults, it is a waste of sugar)

I would say to most "If you don’t have any facts, we’ll just use my opinion"

Formula 1 (F1) 2009 Season Calendar

It is that time of the year for F1 enthusiasts to get ready for another season of racing - if 2008 is any indication, 2009 could well be another year of drama - this time Renalut and BMW-Sauber are expected to put up more fight and take the championship battle to a 4-team contest (Ferrari & McLaren there by default)

Here is the F1 2009 Calendar, that fits into Microsoft Outlook, of all the 17 races in 2009 in Indian Standard Time (IST).

Abu Dhabi will host the final race this year and I'm hoping there will be another thriller like the one that we had in Brazil in 2008 - with Ferrari driver coming on top :-)

I'm gunning for Kimi to show revival this season. If not, I'm sure this will be the last season for him in F1 - If that were to happen, it will be a pity to lose such a natural racer.

So is Alonso - Last year in the 2nd half, he showed what a racer he is with a car that is no where near Ferraris or McLarnes and I'm sure this year he is going to be more competitive. Although lack of success in 2009 may not really mean end of career for him, it still is going to be an important year for him - at least to settle scores with Lewis!

In any case my prediction is that drivers championship is a battle between Lewis-Felipe-Fernando-Kimi and in that order too!

More as we get into the season!

Cricket's most famous spectators

Cricketers are famous any way -But there are few spectators who are equally famous because of their love for the game - These three guys are on top of my mind.

There are few others that I'm aware of, but unfortunately I only know their faces but not names (so could not Google for them) - If you have some more pictures, send 'em to me!

(From Left to Right: Abdul Jalil-Pakistan, Percy Abeysekara-Sri Lanka, Lester Armagoon ('Uncle Les') - Trinidad & Tobago - Lester died in Feb 04, others are alive)