Monday, March 30, 2015

World Cup 2015 : Australia vs Rest of the world

Another world cup comes to an end.  Except six matches all the matches were one sided. The domination coming from the bat. But if you see at the end, the real winners were bowlers! The team which bowled well (batting is expected thanks to the batting tracks) finally won the world cup.  The whole Australian win can be summed up in two names which sound the same. Yes you got it, Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Jhonson.  Pakistan had the bowlers who could swing but unfortunately their team doesn't work in unision.   The rest of the teams showed bowling brilliance in spurts but not consistently. Tim Southee , Trent Boult  performed well but did not perform on the most crucial day!

Mitchell Starc had come with a plan for Brendon and boom ! Executed to perfection!  Captains can make thousand plans, it is the players who need to execute the plan. Starc rose to the occasion many times and saved Australia. Even in the match against NZ in knock out stage , it was Starc who gave Australia a glimmer of hope to win (Their batsmen had failed!) . Hats off to him.  Congrats to team Australia , they have shown to the world that it is planning , execution which matters. Extreme passion for the game wont help unless you perform on the field with precision.


In NZ and SA match , that is what seemed to happen. SA seemed to be all over the place in the last ten overs. They missed all their golden chances , thanks to their fixation with the result. If they had just given merit to each moment of the game instead of thinking of the result , it would have been good.  But one thing is for sure, there was not one person in the world who would not have cried seeing AB, Morkel cry. They deserved better :(.


In India and Australia match , it was totally one -sided. What shocked me was not that India lost. But with the way India went about the whole game. They  seemed to have resigned to fate the moment the toss was won by Australia. They way they chased the target was very poor. Dhon1 was the only man left whom India could rely on. First the bowlers disappointed him and next the batsmen .  But of course India should be given credit for performing well throughout the tournament , given that they had lost a test series, tri series in the same conditions.  I only wish they had tried harder in terms of planning etc. Maybe they did and could not execute it.  But Team India , you made us proud :)

All in all , the world cup was good.  Till next time then . In the British Isles.

Here is a link to make you laugh( It is unrealtimes)

http://www.theunrealtimes.com/2015/03/27/comic-rahul-dravid-trolls-nasser-hussain-again/




Monday, March 09, 2015

The last day

Another semester ends. Another batch moves on.  Sigh!  But at the end of it all , I feel as if I could have done much better . But it was difficult for me to get myself motivated because my students were not so into the subject. Which is ok because not everyone gets moved by literature. But here are my observations(no judgement) of my experiences with the current student generation.

  • Students are  constantly distracted by their phones that they hardly listen to the class. Which reduces their productivity by half. Because of which their attention span is only half an hour.
  • Once the students get used to scoring low marks , they continue the trend with a resigned attitude. 
  • All the students just aim for pass marks and nothing higher than that! 
  • The only motivating factor for  the students to attend the classes is attendance percentage. 
  • Sometimes company of friends may distract you to no end. It is better to stay away from such company.
  • They  write assignments sorry copy assignments. Clearly assignments is futile concept . Why not adopt innovative teaching methods?
  • All the students lose continuity of the classes because they attend one class and dont come the next class.
  • Testing them only makes them run away more college . They DO NOT want to be tested.
  •  Even if they attend the test , they are totally OK with giving away blank sheets. How is this possible.
  • I tried open book test. Even that failed.
  • Even if they are interested in the class , it need not translate to marks.

What students really want.
  • I feel students want more chance of expressing themselves in the class.
  • If the class is one way they tend to lost interest.
  • They want more media .
  • They are interested in innovative methods of teaching.(at least it catches their attention)

All in all for me some students made all the difference. They came up with such lovely ideas and thoughts that I was bowled and believed that India is in safe hands. 

I wish them all the best! Our education system needs a re-visit.