Today is my work anniversary). September 16, 1996 was my first day at work.
I started out in PR, worked in media, managed feedback for organisations, did content for CDs, did live cricket commentary, made presentations, even managed to write a couple of books
I am a writer/editor today covering tech, music, cricket and a bit of books.
What have I learned? Well, just this:
When choosing a job or a project
Do not look at the brand
Do not look at the payment
Do not even look at the timelines
Look at the people you are working with.
The right people make
Everything worth it.
In other words, as they famously say
"don't choose a job, choose a boss."
At the end of the day, nothing matters more.
The right people
Are worth more than millions in the bank
More than that swank car
More than reserved hotel suites
More than office parties and off sites
More than the corner office
Whenever possible
Choose to do
What you love
With the people you love.
That's it really.
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Cricket has seen many amazing comebacks, ranging from returns from injury and being sacked. But npthing beats a retired player being spotted in a crowd and being asked to play! It happened. July 25, 1i986. Lord's. #Repost
England were playing New Zealand. Mike Gatting won the toss and England started steadily, with debutant Martyn Moxon getting 74 and David Gower a sparkling 62. But Hadlee got New Zealand back into the game with some late strikes. England finished the day at 248-5.
When Hadlee removed Edmonds cheaply the next morning, England's wicketkeeper Bruce French now came out to join a well-set Peter Willey. But with the score at 259-6, French was hit by a bouncer from Hadlee and had to retire hurt. Badly stunned, he was rushed to the hospital.
Arguably the best batsman of his era and the best Indian Test batsman ever, Sunil Gavaskar retired with more Test runs and hundreds than anyone else. But which of his 34 Test hundreds was his finest? Perhaps the one at Delhi. October 29, 1983.
He has made bigger scores, but on that day, Gavaskar changed the mindset of his team, and perhaps the entire nation. India had just been decimated by Malcom Marshall and the West Indies at Kanpur. Gavaskar had scored 0 and 7, and even had his bat knocked out of his hands!
To say that the country was shell-shocked was an understatement. Marshall had removed the first four Indian batsmen in both innings of the Test for 102 runs, 65 of which came from a brave but streaky Vengsarkar in the second knock. India seemed to have no answer to Marshall!
THREAD: THE AMAZING DON BRADMAN - SOME LESSER KNOWN BUT STILL STAGGERING FACTS
It is the birthday of Don Bradman, perhaps the greatest cricketer ever. To mark it, I have tried to dig out some information that is lesser known, but is still unbelievable. Well, he WAS the Don!
Bradman mostly batted at number 3/4. But in his 80 Test innings, he came to the crease 16 times with Australia in trouble and the score below 10. His average in these 16 innings?
108.53.
Incidentally, the Don opened 9 times in first class cricket. His average?
104.50.
Typical!
The lowest Bradman batted at in Test cricket was seven. He did so three times. The first two times was in his debut series, when he got 18 and 37 not out. The third time was against England at Melbourne in 1937. He came in to bat with Australia at 97-5. Of course, he scored 270!
As Neeraj Chopra and Arshad Nadeem remind us of the power of friendship, here's a look at the greatest friendship of the Olympics.
Two men who stood with each other. Even as their nations fought.
Luz Long. Jesse Owen
Friendships between rival athletes are common at the Olympic Games. Beneath the competition, there is mutual respect and even admiration. But of all the friendships forged in the Games, nothing comes close to the one between Luz Long of Germany and Jesse Owens of the US
Competing at the 1936 Berlin Oluynics, they could not have been more different. Long was the perfect Aryan showcase for Adolf Hitler - tall, fair and blue-eyed. Owens was dark with African roots, a race Hitler considered "inferior. But they struck up a legendary friendship.
When England toured the West Indies in 1981, the assistant manager of the team was Ken Barrington (seated, extreme right). A legendary batsman in his own right, Barrington was also extremely popular and a fount of help and knowledge.
He was also extremely good-natured and without any airs, ready to laugh at himself. This often made him the target of a number of good-natured pranks. And perhaps the greatest of these took place on this tour. Geoffrey Boycott in "In the Fast Lane" describes it thus:
"The phone rang at the team dinner and Geoff Miller answered It. ‘Call for you, Colonel, from Battoo Brothers...’ Ken Barrington, the long-suffering assistant team manager, wondered vaguely what the newest problem could be with the team’s transport arrangements.
MINI-THREAD: THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT PAID TO BISHAN SINGH BEDI
One can say a lot about Bishan Singh Bedi. He possessed the smoothest action ever. He was India’s highest wicket taker. He was probably one of the greatest spinners of all time.
But the best compliment to the man?
It comes from one of India’s finest writers and historians, Ramachandra Guha. An award winning author, he was part of member of the Committee of Administrators appointed by the Supreme Court of India to oversee reforms in the BCCI in 2017. And he summed up Bedi like no one did.
In his book, The Commonwealth of Cricket, Guha wrote that there were four kinds of cricket superstars in India:
1. Crooks who consort with and pimp for bigger non-cricket-playing crooks. 2. Those who are willing and keen to practise conflict of interest explicitly.