New Zealand triumphant against South Africa

NZ came out victorious against the South Africans in the second match of the Champions Trophy 2006. The Brabourne Stadium witnessed a stern contest between the two teams, with the balance of the match swinging between both teams until New Zealand sealed it with an impressive bowling performance.

The pitch has been the talking point all through the tournament so far. It has indeed been surprising to see non-batsmen friendly wickets in India. The pitches have all had some variable bounce, have cracked up sooner than most expected it to thereby making it difficult for the batsmen. Though the initial swing and seam movement we have seen in the games so far, have been encouraging, the slow paced nature is something that is very difficult for the batsmen to adjust to. We saw that hapen yesterday in the first innings when NZ got off to a good start and then were pegged down by the dolly spin bowlers of SA. Robin Peterson will enjoy international cricket more often if he plays on pitches like this and Graeme Smith may be tempted to call himself an all-rounder if he bowls more on thes ekind of wickets. Such was the effect that these two spinners had in the first innings.

On the other hand, Stephen Fleming may well have defined how to bat in the first innings, for all the batsmen in this tournament. A kind of blueprint as Ian Chappell says. He believes that NZ are now good enough to qualify to the semis, and why not, they only have to win one more game.

Looking ahead to todays game, Pakistan find themselves on the backfoot even before setting foot on the field, by the loss of their 2 premier fast bowlers to the Dope test. Really, this must be a great loss and sure does dent their chances of winning this tournament. Pakistan cricket’s volatile nature to the fore again. First he Inzi case and now this….Sri Lanka will be aiming to extend their purple patch and have a good game today.

Another attempt-could this be the revival?

This is yet another attempt at keeping this blog going. I have found myself incapable of getting down to writing some posts, though there has been much to say in the past month or so. This attempt at revival was triggered by an old love. Something very close to my heart and something which is being celebrated by its ardent followers right now. I am talking Cricket, friends.

The ongoing Champions Trophy seems like a time of celebration to me. The entire cricketing world has gathered in India to clash heads for the Champions Trophy. Though the timing of the event, the format, the scheduling and other ingredients have taken some flak, I must say I am very excited at the prospect of the whole tournament. The wide range of international talent, some new and some old and some others rediscovering themselves-all this promises a good 2 weeks ahead.

Temple Travails - Part 1, Thirukkachur

Prompted by prabhukrishs' report on the Thirukkacchur temples, I decided to visit these temples this morning. For starters, I must say that the directions that were given by Prabhu were spot on, to the kilometer mark. Thirukkacchur is close to Maraimalai Nagar(Ford factory). For the exact directions, see here.

As advised by Prabhu we called the temple prient on our way there and were greeted by him as we enetered the temple. The temple bore the party flags of three political parties, PMK, DMDk, and I could not identify the third one. The first temple, which is the Tyagaraja Swami temple has a kolam(water pond) on the outside. The breeze that blows across, the peace in the air, the old fashioned houses on the outside(with the comfortable thinnais)-all made it a perfect setting.

We were the only visitors to the temple, which probably gives some idea of its popularity and flourish. Don't mistake me, it was a beautiful temple, and the one I liked the most amongst the three that we visited. The utsava murthy(roughly translatable as 'function deity' is Tyagaraja Swamy, while Kachapeswarar is the main deity. The name Kachapeswarar, for Lord Siva, is a result of the belief that Lord Vishnu worshipped Lord Siva at this very place in the form of a turtle, Kachapa=turtle(in Sanskrit). The temple had no electricity supply today and later did we learn that there is no power supply from 9-5 every Saturday.

After a brief, but comprehensive history of the temple, which dates back to 1000 years or so, the priest performed the archanai for the only 4 people in the temple. As the priest was telling us the story, we learnt many informative details. Sundarar(One of the Nayanmars) had sung about this Lord in Thirukachur, the temple was built by Kulothunga Cholan, the practice of building RajaGopurams for temples, did not exist in his time and was later introduced by Rajaraja Cholan(Prabhu had mentioned this), this place is also referred to as Adi Kanchi, meaning its another form of Kanchipuram and the Siva temple there. And many more intricate details.

There are 3 temples, along a small hill here. The first one is the Tyagaraja Swamy temple, the second one is the Irunditteswarar temple and the third - Marundeeswarar temple. The second one, is not a temple per se, but there is a just the Siva Lingam here. You are bound to miss it if you go, look for the water tank on the right hand side as you go from Tyagaraja Swamy temple to the Marundeeswarar temple. The Siva Lingam is just below the water tank.

The Lord at Marundeeswarar temple, which is the topmost of the three, is believed to treat and cure any kind of disease. Marundu, meaning Medicine(in Tamil). The priest, Mr. Natraja Iyer came up from the first temple to this place to do the archanai for us. The lack of funds and manpower meant that only one round of pujai was performed at this temple(Oru Kaala pujai here and Rendu Kaala pujai at Tyagaraja Swamy temple).

This place is a must visit for temple visitors, especially if you like the age-old temples, which aren't overcrowded by numbers and overflooded by donations, as many others are. A friend of mine, an Iyengar, I should mention, set us thinking by asking this question, " If you were to name one supreme Siva temple in India, which one would it be?", or to rephrase it "What is the equivalent of say, Tirupathi(for Iyengars), for Iyers and Siva temples?"

I could not find a direct answer to this, though Chidambaram and Tanjavur came to my mind, and my mom even said Kailasam(Mt Kailash in the Himalayas). I began wondering about the reason for the absence of such a supreme temple equivalent for Lord Siva. Any answers?

For more information go here, and there are some pictures available here too.

Lok Paritran splits

Now, the cracks begin to appear. The seemingly united, motivated, youngseters' political party has taken a beating and this doesn't paint a pretty picture to the public eye. Three members from Lok Paritran, who contested in the recent elections, have split from the rest of the party, quoting paritiality, dictatorial tendencies and more as the reasons. Read more here,

Three quit Lok Paritrana; to float new outfit

Now, this is what they call politics!