Travelogue of an Itinerant Mind

Probably I should have written this much before, somewhere around March 2012. But my timing is not as good as the man I am writing about. Since the day I started watching cricket, I have been a big fan of Sachin. On match days, his performance used to decide my mood. A score below expectation would drive me to melancholy. Interest in a cricket match was alive, as long as Sachin was in the middle. For such a fan, I was happy when Dravid used to get out, since that brought Sachin to the crease in tests. In one dayers, Rahul’s dismissal didn’t matter even more because everyone else seemed a better entertainer. In the times when, I cared more about the boundaries rather than a single, Rahul Dravid was a player I hated most.   Things started to change after the epic Eden match. By the time an established player in the Indian line up Dravid provided the platform where others danced. After being labeled as a Test specialist in early part of his career, he fought his way back i...

" कर्म्न्येवधिकरस्ते   मा  फ़लेसु   कदाचन   मा कर्मफ़लहेतुभ्रुमा  ते  सद्गोस्त्वकर्मनि " "You have a right to perform your prescribed action, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be associated to not doing your duty" Pattanayak Sir The above two lines from “Bhagwad Gita” aptly summarizes your professional life. With your selfless dedication and unrelenting spirit, you have amazed and inspired us. The zeal for hard work combined with your inquisitiveness of a child helped us unlearn many things and relearn them. Perseverance and dedication has been your constant companion. Your clarity in thought and eye for details has been our guide as well as saviour. Your readiness to listen to the naïve and learn new things from a younger generation, at an age when people tend to preach, shows a rare side of your persona. Among the chaos we all brought in, ...