Karthik Blogs

  While I have been away from blogs for quite a while, the mind has been pre-occupied with professional stuff. As much as I would love to write, times have been challenging and hectic. Last couple of weeks have seen a spurt in Sporting activities on the field after a long long time. The French Open, WTC Finals in England, Wimbledon, Euro Cup and the Copa America. Djokovic, New Zealand, Italy and Argentina all deserving champions of their respective sport. Kudos on the amazing victories. However I have decided to stay on the Mathematical science route as far as this particular blog is concerned. It actually struck me a couple of months ago when India’s champion bowler R. Ashwin involving himself in online coaching classes when Covid struck India for the first time. It was a revelation for me. The Grip on the ball, the analogies used to make the concept understandable, the revs on the ball for a spinner. Besides the approach, the run up, the speed, acceleration, the final jump and ...

  As a child I used to be enamored by the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. I don't know how many of you know the story but let me relate to you the story in a nutshell. There was this town called Hamelin  which was infested with rats.  it became a Nightmare for the people residing in the town.  so much so they had to call for meeting of the Council and have a strategy in place to tackle the menace of the rats.  It was then that someone came and said that there is this Pied Piper who has the charm of leading the rats out of town with his music. So they called the Pied Piper and Lo and behold he managed to lure away the rats from the town.  Amazing that he could hold sway over the rats with his beautiful music. Well this is my 100 blog, and I have decided to dedicate this blog to the pied Piper of Chennai. It has to be someone that Virat Kohli loves to referred as the lege.  Ladies and Gentlemen,  let me now relate to you why I refer to Ashwin as...

Its been a little over a year since I joined ranks with one of the greatest cricketers that the game of cricket has ever produced. In this one year there have been moments of pure joy, excitement and awe. In front of a star you have to constantly remember that he is the worlds best. I for sure have those spurts of fan boy moments but then the realization that Ashwin is now your boss. Constant focus remains the key and in my numerous conversations with him the messaging is very clear, that of building a world class organization. I know that he has the welfare of people in his mind. Star for the World but a compassionate heart nonetheless. He is a remarkable leader and this I say with conviction. Say He delegates a Task to me, he expects that I would complete it and report back to him, that level of confidence. In between there is freedom to get the job done as I wish. It empowers me with responsibility to take decisions that will mean successful closure of the job. Ashwin treats ...

If there is one taste that can tingle the mind in an instant it has to be sweetness. All you would need to do is pop open your mouth, insert the gooey bit of sweetness, the tongue sends out an instant SMS to the brain. The Eyes respond with wideness as much as an umpire may call it out as undoubtedly a wide. The Gap between Wide open to Wide Closed lasts a few nano seconds. It takes a few moments to register, as the brain reacts in the form of a message back to the tongue, Auto Reply Message: Wow what a Taste !!! Delicious!!  The Cravings of the mind have resulted in the Cake getting consumed, a much warranted indulgent sin being committed and ultimately that expression of joy unlimited. For a Few it has to be physical taste or gastronomical delights that results in being elevated to great heights of exuberated happiness. For me of course I am a food lover but what gives me equal amount of joy and happiness is being in the rhapsody of legends who emit so much positivity in th...

When I started to think about the 365 Day Blog Challenge, I knew that it would take a huge effort to accomplish it. Each day would be a fresh drive, barriers to be overcome namely: Motivation, Topics, Mood Swings, Laziness, lack of creativity, not being in the right frame of mind, all creating mental disturbances. While thoughts crossed the mind on what could prevent me from writing, I decided to close my eyes for a few minutes and seek some kind of a divine intervention on what could help me to write each day of the 365 days. I have successfully completed three days but need to keep the flow on. It was at this moment of time that a thought struck me out of the blue, to write about my own Mother, a sort of tribute to her unwavering spirit. Now I was sure that this would keep me going for the next six months at least. She is all of 78 years old today. Her name is Vijayalakshmi. Every human being is born with some unique talent and passion. For Her it was the game of Cricket. To...

On the eve of what will be his 29th birthday, it has become very clear that Virat Kohli has taken over the leadership mantle from Mahendra Singh Dhoni. One of the traits of a successful leader is the ability to emerge victorious even from the dark tunnels of defeat. Virat is clearly seen enjoying his stint at captaincy while not allowing his own individual performance to take a dip. In this article I want to focus on the reasons that make Virat tick as a leader. 1# Delegation of Responsibility From what we have seen so far is that Virat loves to delegate responsibilities. He gives the ball to the bowler while allowing them to flower with their own skills and wherewithal. Never one to interfere in things like right areas to bowl to, so on and so forth. In fact if you would have observed match situations, he positions himself in the deep fielding positions in the latter half of the game. He quite literally delegates the captaincy part to be taken over Dhoni. If you were to check ...

Did Tallboykarthik ever tell you that he is crazy about Cricket. Of course he is and is every other Indian. So this story is about every passionate Cricket Fan who loves the game dearly. The Cricket star representing the nation is a celebrity but so is a Cricket Fan who throngs the stadium, who sits around the television set chewing away at his nails, till the moment of truth arrives, either the match is lost or a victory is well in sight. In between those moments one never has a count of the innumerable cups of coffee that goes in, just to calm those nerves. Well when Tallboykarthik was SmallBoyKarthik, he used to stay in Kolkata with his parents and sister. In those days Cricket was the only past time for the entire family. Come Winter, the glazed sunlight, chill in the air and an ideal season for a great game of Cricket at the Eden Gardens. I still remember that we would be present on all five days of a test match at the Eden Gardens. My mother who remains devoted to her...

Hot day in Chennai, was a Saturday to be precise. I and my kids were headed to our favorite jaunt, Gen-next Cricket Institute. I was headed to the spectators gallery when it struck me, why not volunteer to be an umpire for the match. It was one thing that I had always wanted to experience for a very long time and perhaps this was the best possible opportunity available to me. So I decided to approach Coach Arvind with a request: "Coach Allow me stand in as an Umpire". Coach Arvind said "Why not, the stage is all yours. Please Do the honors." So I found walking out to the center along with my partner in crime, my fellow square-leg umpire. I must admit that I was as nervous as the debutant making his first appearance for the national squad. The adrenaline was for sure building up as the young man turned to mark his bowling run up, "Right Arm Over Sir", he told me. The batsman asked for his leg stump guard, I nodded in affirmation and the game was good...

Its been quite a while since I last blogged, perhaps a combination of lethargy and a few other assignments caught me wrong footed, but each time it is the love of words that brings me back to writing. Not many of you would actually know that my twitter handle is tallboykarthik. A lot of people have asked me and felt that its quite a queer handle. However its a combination of factors that have led me to deciding on this handle: One-All the Karthiks had been taken. Two- the number options that Twitter was offering me -Karthik2004 seemed almost like a prisoner tag being attached to me. So ruled it out. Three-Always feel that I am young at heart, however far age might take me on an onward march, so boy got fixed. Four- I am the tallest in my family, had to have a unique characterestic that the world would know me by, so in walked Tall, put them all together and you have tallboykarthik Five-The Reason will be revealed by the time we get to the end of this tale. My last blog w...

Dear Honourable Members of BCCI, Yesterday I had written a blog mail to Sridharan Sriram on why he chose to take up an Australian assignment? He has chosen to answer the question in a most humble and dignified manner. Now he has said that He was rejected by TNCA and APSCA to coach the respective state teams. Can you please answer what is the yardstick used to judge a would be coaches talent? Our loss is the gain of the Australian Team and see how it has affected us. Collectively we just managed a little over 200 runs in both the innings put together. Its an open secret how Indian pitches would be prepared to make visiting teams dance to the tune of our spinners. This time around the Australians are far better prepared to handle the situation. Is this just the beginning of the end of our famed domination at home or will it see the countries premier body in handling the situation in a more professional manner. Will we see a more professional approach when it comes to important i...

Dear Sriram, At The outset Hearty Congratulations on the convincing win that Australia posted against India. We heard that you played a very critical role in scheming India's downfall. Well done Indeed. Let me make a few points very clear before I set about asking you a few pointed questions. I am a die hard cricket fan and a fanatic supporter of the Indian Cricket Team. Secondly, I am totally against the concept of foreign coaches, even though we have had a few in the past with a great deal of success, John Wright and Gary Kirsten just to name a few. Let it not be said that Grapes are sour just because India lost.. I in fact do not like the concept of IPL, for one reason that players of foreign origin mix with the native players and in the process you get to know each others strength and weakness as well, which comes in very handy when in the larger picture you are representing each others country. Now I can venture forth asking you a few questions: As I have told you I...

MS Dhoni announced his laying down the Captaincy post from the shorter versions of the game. Each of his decisions have been fast and on all ocassions has been taken with the team interest in mind top most. I have never perhaps seen a more selfless leader like him and this is singularly one of the reasons why I admire him a lot.  However without much of deviation lets head straight to the Topic of this Blog: "10 Management Lessons to be learnt from MS Dhoni": 1.Captain Cool: Dhoni was almost like a monk, deep in meditation. He was almost the same in all situations, victory or defeat. In a challenging situation you could rely on his decision making skills as he would never get flustered. He had the ability to think out of the box and come out with solutions even in the most dire of situations. The ability to remain calm in difficult situations rubbed off on his team members and also could be perhaps one of the reasons he came out as one India's most successf...