Tattoos - and something on todays’ QF between WI and Pak

The elections are round the corner – the poll manifesto of major parties speak of things that would be given free.  Tamilnadu electorate are used to receiving bounty –  already colour TVs were given to many households – now it is going to be free mixies or grinders to women,  free laptops to SC/ST students and free rice of 35 kg to BPL families ,  free bus travel to senior citizens ………. Saw a nice cartoon in a tamil daily – it depicted a man sitting in his easy chair as stating  ‘ why give items one by one – instead give 4 idlies and chutney to every person daily in the morning – so that one can sit idle and relax’  …..  there is lop sided development – people in cities whine while those in rural areas do not have access to even basic necessities.  

In politics, its makes good to wear one’s loyalty on your sleeve.  In a land where people keep falling at the feet of political leaders, supreme display of loyalty is often expected.  Years back, MG Ramachandran ordained that his party followers tattoo the flag of the party on their hands.  Many immediately had the party flag and the face of MGR tattooed on their arms and on chest.  Tattooing is known as pachai in tamil – pachai literally means green, and often the words / image looks green.  It is described as a painful process of pricking the epidermis with fine needles.

That tattooing was thought of to prevent people from jumping out  but still many jumped out of the bandwagon to join rivals at different periods is documented history anyway.  That is political alignment – no permanent friends or foes in politics – as they say.

As Insurers we also have tattooing – earlier  those animals (cattle / horses) which were insured were tattooed and later came the process of ear tags.  Tattoo is a painful process of  marking made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment for decorative or other reasons. Tattoos on animals are for identification often done crudely by brandishing them with hot rods – in humans it could be decorative body modification.  Tattooing has been practiced for centuries worldwide.  Many of the native tribes had this practice – in India this is associated with Nari kurava (vagabond) community.  Maoris, Arabics, Europeans, Taiwanese – the practice is reportedly prevalent in many lands. 

The World Cup is shifting gears and from today on, we have the QF stage matches.  India plays Australia at Motera tomorrow.  Their Vice captain is Michael John Clarke, a right handed batsman and left arm spinner.  Nick named pup, he is expected to take over from the Punter.  There are reports that he had a tattoo on left arm which read ‘carpe diem’  - a latin phrase which would mean ‘seize the day’.  It is stated that ‘carpe’ translates literally as ‘pluck’ – referring to picking of fruit, thus it could well be ‘enjoy the day, pluck the day when it is ripe’.

A couple of years ago, he had it changed and now sports something seemingly Arabic which is suggested to mean ‘the pain of discipline is nothing like the pain of disappointment’

There are motivational messages and many pin them on their desktops and some on their mirrors to see them every day.  Some append quotes or motivational sayings to their e-mail messages.  How much they really lift one, depends on how much one believe in them and want outside help to life their inner self…

Today’s match can be termed as one between unpredictables – the last time Windies played in Dhaka, they steam rolled their opponents into submission – a clinical swab given to Bangladesh.  Then as they travelled past the Shere Bangla stadium, stones were pelted at their bus, which was reported to be due to mistaken identity.  Chris Gayle from whom some towering infernos are expected in this match tweeted some bad words on the incident.  Sure this time they would have more security cover.  WI are the underdogs but if Gayle, Pollard, Russel, Kemar Roach blaze then they could be more than handy for the confident Pakis; then they have Darren Sammy and Bravo also in their ranks.    Pak has been playing well, finished on top of their group A and did a repeat of defeating Aussies – a la their win at Headingley in 1999. 

One day cricket is a game where the team that plays well on that day matters rather than form or previous performance guide.   If one goes by mere statistics, WI have won 64 of their ODIs against Pak but just 2 of the past 13 from Jan 2005.  Afiridi the fiercest hitter is yet to score a fifty in WC but has taken 17 wickets in this tournament so far.

WI won in 1975 & 1983 and were losing finalist in 1983.  In the last editions they have crashed out earlier.  Pak won in 1992 and were losing finalists in 1999 but crashed out in the first round in 2007. So whom do you bet on ?

Regards – S. Sampathkumar