C for Cricket - A few of my favourite things to counter COVID-19 stress

(This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. I am writing this month on activities that keep me refreshed during these depressing days. It's day 3 today.)

No, I am not playing cricket. That's unimaginable in these times, isn't it? So, what am I doing with cricket now? Wait, read on.

My interest in cricket was mainly because of an excellent English teacher, Prem C Nair, who was also a good cricket player. He introduced me to not only some of the famous cricketers but also cricket journalists. He used to tell us about the unique relationship between cricket and English literature. Some of the famous writers I got to know about from him are W G Grace, Neville Cardus and C L R James.

I can't believe now the amount of time I spent in school days listening to radio commentary during holidays. Those were the days of only 5-day Test matches. I did nothing other than listening to radio commentary from 10 in the morning to 5 in the evening on all five days. A number of friends also used to come to my house to listen to the ball-by-ball description or telecast on TV.

GREAT COMMENTATORS

The two great commentators of All India Radio I can fondly remember are Anand Setalvad and Suresh Saraiya. There were many others too like Balu Alaganan, J P Narayan, Sushil Doshi and Jasdev Singh.

On the BBC, I was a great fan of Test Match Special, which had the likes of Henry Blofeld, Brian Johnston, Christopher Martin-Jenkins, Don Mosey, and Johnathan Agnew. Unfortunately, I am unable to listen to TMS on the BBC app now because of geographical rights restrictions.

COLLATERAL BENEFITS

There were a few collateral benefits of my interest in cricket. I learnt very early where different nations, especially the cricket playing ones, are located on the global map. Secondly, I understood the concept of the time difference between nations. In New Zealand, matches start around 4.30 am Indian Standard Time, in Australia, around 5.30 am, in England, around 3.30 pm, in the West Indies around 8 pm.

THE FAMOUS LEG OVER

Okay, what am I doing with cricket now? I am watching clips on anything to do with cricket on YouTube. Unfortunately, there are not many archival clips of Indian commentary. I am still searching the web for excerpts of Anand Setalvad and Suresh Saraiya commentary. If anyone can find one, please let me know.

Henry Blofeld would easily rank as the most popular of all commentators, and the most well-known episode from his commentating days is what has come to be known as the "leg over". In fact, that bit was hailed by BBC Radio 5 listeners as the best ever piece of commentary on the radio!

Here is BBC TMS producer Peter Baxter explaining what that episode was.




Below is that very famous clip



Henry Blofeld's final moments of his 47-year-long radio commentator career



Blofeld reflecting on those final moments




Henry Blofeld has written two books: Over and Out and Squeezing the Orange.

If you are interested in some of the great funny moments inside the commentary box of Test Match Special, there is a book called Rain Stops Play written by Brian Johnston. It's when rain stops play that all the fun begins with commentators exchanging jokes and pulling each other's legs!

B for Blogging - My favourite things to counter COVID-19 stress

(This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. I am writing this month on activities that keep me refreshed during these depressing days. It's Day 2 today.)

There are so many social media platforms -- from Facebook and Twitter to TikTok and Reddit, besides a relatively closed social media in the form of WhatsApp.

A forerunner of all these is the blog -- a term that evolved from 'web log' and 'we blog'. It was the beginning of the democratisation of publishing, or in other words, blogs gave us the freedom to put out information in the public domain, which hitherto was limited only to established publishing and other media institutions.

Here are some reasons why I have been blogging since 2004. The current blogging challenge has come at the right time: when I need a good distraction.

A blog post has no limitation of word count. It allows me to be very brief or very elaborate. I can put up texts, images, videos, besides providing hyperlinks to other web pages. It allows readers to interact with me via the comment option. My posts are not going to compete for people's attention on their timeline. Readers choose their own ways of following my posts.

I find reading blog posts more enjoyable and engaging compared to reading posts on other social media platforms. I also find it easier and more comfortable to relate to them. I have a list of bloggers whom I follow, and that list is slowly growing as I chance upon newer and newer blogs. This A to Z Challenge is giving me opportunities to discover more blogs and bloggers.

In short, blogs are a more well-grounded and therefore a more dependable social media platform.

A for Aerobics - My favourite things to counter COVID-19 stress

(This post is part of the A to Z Challenge. I am writing this month on activities that keep me refreshed during these depressing days. It's Day 1 today.)

I was around 14 years then. While I was walking along with my father in the residential school campus, I met the school headmaster on the way. During our conversation, he looked at me and said, "Why don't you go for a run every day. Do some exercise, it's good for your body and health."

Soon my father began to gently prod me to go for a run in the morning. Initially, I was reluctant. Soon, a run for about 30 minutes became a habit. I was also a part of the school athletics team, initially for short-distance races like 100 meters, and later for long-distance ones like 2,000 meters and 5,000 meters. Once a month, I also went on a cross-country run, which is about 8 km.

During these days, it's a bit frustrating to realise that I can no longer do that sort of running, now that I am 55. But I do long walks and short-distance jogging, and follow that up with some stretching exercises and deep breathing.

Health experts say aerobics -- a term that stands for exercises that involve the active movement of our body along with deep breathing -- improves the blood circulation and generally keeps us healthy. These exercises also have a positive impact on our emotional well-being: it's refreshing.

I have realised that what works best is not short bursts of long hours of strenuous workouts, but consistently exercising, every day, even if it's short duration. And many exercises can be incorporated into our daily routine. Like climbing stairs instead of taking the elevator, or washing some clothes or vessels physically instead of putting them in the machine, or rearranging the study table or wardrobe, sweeping the floor and mopping it.

These are days when we need to take care of our physical as well as mental health.