YELLOW MACHINES!

This is the most boring World cup I have followed since 1983. Not just because India crashed out in the preliminary games or because Pakistan showed solidarity with brother India by leaving the tourney early. But the way Australians dominated the tourney. I’m a big fan of Australian cricket ever since 1987, when they were underdogs. It was a huge turnaround for this team under the great motivating leadership of Alan Border. Yes, for me he’s the MAN, who can take major credit for staging a revival for a team which was depleted and struggling.

If you can remember, in 1987 World Cup, they played fighting cricket against all the odds. And in that fighting phase, some truly gutsy players emerged who succeeded in taking the mantle from Border and moving the Australian cricket, a few steps forward. One of them is Steve Waugh. He contributed to the team with his little, gutsy innings and timely breakthroughs throughout the 1987 world cup.
If you compare the Australian team of 1987 with the current Aussie team, you will find more famous names now. But I still enjoyed their cricket in 1987 more than now. Probably because we love underdogs! And we have a tendency to back the struggling team. It’s also because, now the Australian team is dominating too much. They go to the field and destroy any attack and kill any trace of competition. It’s become a routine. What’s a game without a little bit of suspense!

They have become machines, YELLOW MACHINES! Cricket is still not a global game. It’s still a game which is played in places where British frequented and it’s still a game, dominated by very few teams. With that backdrop, we can’t afford to have one team killing all kinds of competition. A strong team which is susceptible to defeat is a treat to watch. Any game is all about fighting to win. If you remove that aspect from it, then it becomes a bore.

No doubt, Australians have raised the standard of the game beyond the reach of most of the teams. I hope other teams really catch up with them, before cricket fans completely betray the game. Till then let’s enjoy these YELLOW MACHINES!

Ever wondered why the God fails to answer our prayers?

Millions of Lankans prayed at temples, offered pujas. And more millions from India joined their neighbours in praying. Probably few millions from Pakistan also offered namaz!
They all prayed for Sri Lanka’s victory over Australia in the just concluded
Cricket World Cup final. But God betrayed them all! Australians still won the final to lift the trophy for the record third time in a row.(Only the West Indian team of 70s and early 80s could reach anywhere near this record!)

This Australian win is just unbelievable, if you look at the way they dominated the game throughout the tourney. Don’t forget, the tourney stretched to one and half month! It’s not any easy task. This is called CONSISTENCY! They just ignored the reputation of teams & players and just focused to play ruthless cricket. Amazing!

More amazing if you consider, they had started the tourney under tremendous amount of pressure, after losing the top rank to South Africa. And look at the team which replaced them at the top, South Africa! They struggled so much, even to reach the semi-final. And in the semi-final, they never looked better than Bangladesh! Sri Lanka can take pride for making it to the final and giving a fitting reply to the champions, in the whole tourney they are the only team which showed any prospect of defeating this Aussie team!

Now, do you still wonder why the God fails to answer our prayers?
I have a feeling that even the God bets on Australian team!
Haha!

Right to bear a gun or right to live?

How’s your MIND today?
Is it in your own control? Are you in charge of it?
Or are you a slave to it?

What will you do, when your MIND is not well? Do you get mad? Do you lose control? Do you feel like telling the world about your state of MIND?
If yes, then how do you want to tell? Harsh words? Abuse? Or just cry?

And what if you had a GUN! Would you prefer to talk through your GUN?
Yes! Some people do want to talk through GUN. For them using a GUN is a STATEMENT! An opinion, their opinion!

Violence is a STATEMENT! When your MIND is not in your control, you lose temper, you get violent and you feel like letting the world know, through your STATEMENT.
And when getting a GUN is as easy as finding a WORD, you’ll have as bizarre tragedies as VIRGINIA TECH murders.

Do you know how your day is going to be? May be. But are you sure, you’ll see through the day? Who knows, who has lost his mind and wants to use a GUN to make a STATEMENT! And what if he’s just in your way!

We are the craziest specie on this planet. The biggest advantage we have over other animals is our biggest enemy also. Our MIND! We can do miracles as long as our MIND is in our control. As soon as we lose control, the destruction is triggered.

Crazy! It’s more crazier because we have invented a destructive toy called GUN and made it available to CRAZY MINDS without any hurdle! The debate is gaining momentum in USA, over the right to 'bear guns'. There are arguments from gun-lobby to safeguard the BASIC right of every citizen to bear a gun. But what about the basic right of any human to LIVE! This basic right is in danger because any crazy MIND can lay his hands on a GUN and shoot helter-skelter, just to make a STATEMENT!

That crazy person can make his violent STATEMENT through any other weapon also. But the damage could be less. If the Virginia shooter had a knife in his hand, he wouldn’t be able to kill so many people. He would have been overpowered also.

Do you know that in the last one year, more Americans were shot dead/committed suicide with a gun than the number American soldiers who died in Iraq! The real WAR is at home, where each citizen is well-armed to kill anyone. He just needs a REASON! Any crazy REASON! For anyone who wants to ignore USA’s policy regarding gun-culture, let me tell you, Minal Panchal was our own girl. And there are millions of our boys and girls who are studying in American schools/colleges. And there are millions of our people who are a good part of America. And don’t forget we’re a global citizen! Anything that happens in any part of the globe will affect us more now, than ever before!

The Virginia Tech killing reminds me of an incident that happened in our own city, Mumbai, a few years back.
Do you remember this crazy guy?
This guy also lost his mind, and decided to make a VIOLENT STATEMENT!
He got down at Grant Road railway station and bought a knife and went to Gateway of India. The Gateway is a busy tourist spot on weekends.

There were two girls who were spending their leisure hours at the Gateway. And they never imagined that they will be a part of that crazy guy’s violent journey. That guy stabbed one girl in the stomach without any provocation! And she lost her life!

Just imagine, if that crazy guy could buy a GUN as easily as a knife!
That could have been the bloodiest day at the Gateway of India!

Just imagine!

Cricket on page one!

Cricket is again on page one, for all the wrong reasons!
One loss to Bangladesh and see where we reached. Probably we weren’t as bad as we thought. Look at Bangladesh, they defeated World’s No.1 team, South Africa! Indian cricketers can take some solace in that. But we are more worried about our missed chances to watch more of India’s matches in the world cup.

That loss probably could be a turning point in India’s cricket history. Probably we will thank Bangladesh for that reason! We tried our best to show Greg Chappell as the main culprit for our defeat. And we know how our little master used media to gain public sympathy and support when Greg tried to spill the beans.

Our cricketers are bigger than the game. Atleast they think so.
No professional coach can tolerate this attitude.
Greg’s coaching methods may be faulty, but even our cricketers haven’t delivered in the last many months. And they can’t blame the coach for that.

In the hindsight, world cup debacle helped BCCI to get real. And provided them all the guts to crack whip. I’m not sure, how effective the crackdown will be, considering that the cricket is ruled by larger than life senior cricketers and their sponsors. Will the tight leash on cricketers’ endorsements please the corporate world? Will the BCCI surrender to the demands of the ad world? Will dropping the cricketers mercilessly help the Indian cricket? Only time will tell!

In Ravi Shastri, we have a shrewd mind to make a revival. Robin singh is a fitness freak. If 10% of his sincerity rubs on to our cricketers, we can expect a fit team. And Venkatesh Prasad is known for extracting the hidden strength of cricketers( He did that with Robin Utthapa) We should do well in the coming series.

PS: Have you have ever wondered who are the coaches of teams like New Zealand, England, South Africa or Australia? Try to recollect their names! Don’t be surprised if you can’t recollect atleast one. The irony is, in the sub-continent we expect too much from a coach. We are still not clear what are coach’s duties. What to expect from him!
That’s the reason coach becomes the first target when the team loses!

Welcome to Cartoonist's world!

wow!

this world is fantastic!

I love this cyberspace which connects me to billions of people all over the globe.

Look at the possibilities, I can show my cartoons to billions of netizens!

I can deliver smiles too! I hope my cartoons bring smiles on their faces.

Hmm...well, this is Satish Acharya, a cartoonist working with an English tabloid, Mid-day in Mumbai, India. I'm not supposed to be a cartoonist, if you're a purist! I have no training in drawing, no certificate in journalism(atleast I think cartooning is a strong branch of journalism)!

But if you have a passion for something and determined to toil, no profession is alien!

Looking back, I feel so proud of the moment I decided to take up cartooning as a profession. I just love to draw cartoons! As a kid, I never imagined that someone will pay me for drawing cartoons! Thanks to all the great cartoonists like Laxman, Mario, Ninan etc whose cartoons I tried to copy, I can call myself a cartoonist. Amazing journey!

Hey, that's enough for an intro. Isn't it?

Why not let my cartoons do the talking, instead?

Welcome to my world, a cartoonist's world!

Hope, I can deliver smiles!