A small world

On Monday, I was travelling on a train -- from Thiruvananthapuram to Bengaluru -- after attending my school alumni get-together. (I shall write about the alumni meeting soon.)

One of the passengers was an elderly woman who was reading a book. Unusual, considering that most people (even elders) are glued to their phones these days.

When I noticed that it was a copy of Reader's Digest that she was reading, I couldn't help but strike up a conversation.

The woman told me that she was reading a physical book as an escape from mobile screen exposure. 

We then started talking about Reader's Digest, and she told me that she had grown up reading it. 

I told her that it was the same with me as well.

We talked about how the magazine had changed over the years, and we discussed some of our favourite columns. 

I told her that I still read Readers' Digest online and that I have subscribed to an app called Magzter that offered the magazine.

We talked about some of our favourite columns, like Quotable Quotes, Humour in Uniform, All in a Day's Work etc.

After about 15 minutes of conversation, the woman asked me where I lived in Bengaluru and where I worked.

Then came the surprises, one after the other. 

She asked me if I knew AB. I said yes. 

Then another person, CD, whom also I knew. 

Finally, it turned out that there are half a dozen people who are our mutual friends!

They are all either her school/college mates or neighbours.

I couldn't believe this! It's indeed a small world! 

Look at what a conversation that began with Reader's Digest led us to!

Bairstow was out. Ball wasn't dead

The Ashes series is continuing to keep us all entertained. The 5th day's play of the 2nd Test on July 1 was the most interesting.

Thoroughly enjoyed Ben Stokes' batting. He changed the dynamics of the play so much with aggressive batting. From sensing victory, Australia was struggling to get Stokes out of the way. 

He smashed 9 sixers and 9 boundaries (that's 90 runs) on his way to 155. I thought we were going to see a repeat of his performance in 2019 when he dramatically turned the tables on Australia to pull off an unbelievable victory.

That was overshadowed by the controversial dismissal of England's Jonny Bairstow. 

The last ball of the 51st over. Cameron Green bowled a bouncer that Bairstow ducked. 

The ball was taken by the keeper Alex Carey, who then quickly threw the ball at the stumps. 

Bairstow was outside the crease.

On hearing the stumps getting hit, Bairstow looked puzzled. 

Australians appealed, which was sent to the TV umpire, who ruled Bairstow out.

This became an unfortunate controversial dismissal since Bairstow and his England teammates thought the ball was dead. 

I saw a few replays and read the rules regarding when is the ball dead.

One of the basic rules is that the batter has to be always inside the crease unless s/he is convinced that the ball is not in play.

Rule 20 explains when is a ball dead and when is it alive. 

One,  the ball should have settled in the hands of the wicketkeeper or the bowler. 

Two, the umpire at the bowler's end is convinced that the fielders and the two batters have ceased to consider that the ball is in play.

In this particular incident, Carey threw the ball in one action at the stumps. Clearly, there was no time gap between the ball landing in the gloves and him throwing at the stumps. The ball was in play.

Additionally, Bairstow had strayed outside the crease twice before. So, Carey's action wasn't unfair.

I know my British friends will be very upset. It was sad to see a few of the disappointed spectators letting things go out of hand and shouting quite unsporting comments at the Aussie players.

But here, I don't think there were two ways about it. 

I would have really liked Ben Stokes to go on to get a double hundred and England valiantly chase down that target to pull off an amazing win.

Sadly, that was not to be.