Saturday, July 28, 2012

And the band name is "Staccato"


Day in and day out, since last month, this has been my practice. Morning and Evening or for that matter whenever I opened FB, I used to view two pages without fail. One is a page called “Staccato” (the red hot band in Chennai) and the other is a page called “Vandana Srinivasan” ( an upcoming singer par excellence), only to know about their much spoken London trip.

The first time when I saw a link in one of the pages mentioned above, may be from “The New Indian Express”, if my memory serves me right, I was shocked to say the least. A band from Chennai was asked to represent the whole of India as a part of Cultural exchange in Olympic Park at London? Are you kidding me?”.  Infact “Are you kidding me?” was my first comment in FB against that very link. If that was how I felt , being an outsider, I am unable to imagine as to how the members of the band would have felt when they first received a notification to that effect.

Having heard the band performing in person, I knew full well, though it was a shocker, they really deserved every bit of what they have got in recognition of their talent. Only a hard working bunch of individuals can make anything like this possible so early in their career. Performing in front of 25000 people at Olympic park would be no joke and only a band like Staccato which has incredible talents can do it enterprisingly well enough to enthrall the spectators.

What more one can say in appreciation of a band which was hand -picked by “Slum Dog” fame, Danny Boyle among 10000 entries in Asia to showcase their skills in Olympic park? A chance of such a kind never appears so easily for anyone and when they do come, it was something which should never be missed. Staccato was definitely not going to take a backseat missing it and they were all raring to go. It was all set by then for them until one major thing which was proving to be a thorn in their flesh. That one thing which kept them waiting for long was the non availability of sponsors.

Could ever anyone have foretold that obtaining sponsor would have been an issue, if at all, there was one? I did not think it should have been a problem for them, especially after the brand, “Staccato” becoming a national pride. On the contrary, it did delay them their chances. As hard as they chased for the sponsors, they found it that much harder to get them. It was really a shame on the part of some of the companies unwilling to offer them help in the form of sponsorship.

It was even disheartening to see the way certain individuals had commented on FB regarding sponsors. Not only they did not give them any helping hand but also it was even worse to see the way they were commenting on FB, totally discouraging them with their negativity.  But, somehow, the band persevered what they were doing. They did not give up till the last moment nor were they willing to. They dug hard and hard and finally they found a sponsor which they well deserved. 

Now, the band is finally on track. They are going for London to perform in a big stage. Their skills will be universally known in a few days’ time. All those people who dissuaded their enthusiasm will now bow down their heads finally. 

I would like to see the face of those people who have snubbed them all long without knowing the band’s potential. The attitude of people has to change soon in India. The patriotism is absent in some of the people which is quite evident in the way they failed to give importance to the news  that a band from Chennai was going to represent India, when it cropped up. I am sure many of them just read it as news and kept quiet. Had they taken it seriously, they would have got the sponsor well before. 

Any way, finally the justice is done and like I said, they are flying to London. I wish them all the best over there. Let this be the break which they require to get international recognition.
Well done Staccato. We Indians are all proud of you.

And the band name is Staccato


Day in and day out, since last month, this has been my practice. Morning and Evening or for that matter whenever I opened FB, I used to view two pages without fail. One is a page called “Staccato” (the red hot band in Chennai) and the other is a page called “Vandana Srinivasan” ( an upcoming singer par excellence), only to know about their much spoken London trip.

The first time when I saw a link in one of the pages mentioned above, may be from “The New Indian Express”, if my memory serves me right, I was shocked to say the least. A band from Chennai was asked to represent the whole of India as a part of Cultural exchange in Olympic Park at London? Are you kidding me?”.  Infact “Are you kidding me?” was my first comment in FB against that very link. If that was how I felt , being an outsider, I am unable to imagine as to how the members of the band would have felt when they first received a notification to that effect.

Having heard the band performing in person, I knew full well, though it was a shocker, they really deserved every bit of what they have got in recognition of their talent. Only a hard working bunch of individuals can make anything like this possible so early in their career. Performing in front of 25000 people at Olympic park would be no joke and only a band like Staccato which has incredible talents can do it enterprisingly well enough to enthrall the spectators.

What more one can say in appreciation of a band which was hand -picked by “Slum Dog” fame, Danny Boyle among 10000 entries in Asia to showcase their skills in Olympic park? A chance of such a kind never appears so easily for anyone and when they do come, it was something which should never be missed. Staccato was definitely not going to take a backseat missing it and they were all raring to go. It was all set by then for them until one major thing which was proving to be a thorn in their flesh. That one thing which kept them waiting for long was the non availability of sponsors.

Could ever anyone have foretold that obtaining sponsor would have been an issue, if at all, there was one? I did not think it should have been a problem for them, especially after the brand, “Staccato” becoming a national pride. On the contrary, it did delay them their chances. As hard as they chased for the sponsors, they found it that much harder to get them. It was really a shame on the part of some of the companies unwilling to offer them help in the form of sponsorship.

It was even disheartening to see the way certain individuals had commented on FB regarding sponsors. Not only they did not give them any helping hand but also it was even worse to see the way they were commenting on FB, totally discouraging them with their negativity.  But, somehow, the band persevered what they were doing. They did not give up till the last moment nor were they willing to. They dug hard and hard and finally they found a sponsor which they well deserved. 

Now, the band is finally on track. They are going for London to perform in a big stage. Their skills will be universally known in a few days’ time. All those people who dissuaded their enthusiasm will now bow down their heads finally. 

I would like to see the face of those people who have snubbed them all long without knowing the band’s potential. The attitude of people has to change soon in India. The patriotism is absent in some of the people which is quite evident in the way they failed to give importance to the news  that a band from Chennai was going to represent India, when it cropped up. I am sure many of them just read it as news and kept quiet. Had they taken it seriously, they would have got the sponsor well before. 

Any way, finally the justice is done and like I said, they are flying to London. I wish them all the best over there. Let this be the break which they require to get international recognition.
Well done Staccato. We Indians are all proud of you.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

"The call it quits" from the wall


I have learnt one thing in the last sixteen years. This was the man, if he was running the government of India, Spectrum 2 G scam would not have occurred. This was the man, had he been in RAW, no bomb blasts would have happened anywhere in India. This was the man, if he had been guarding our Indian borders, Kargil war would not have been fought.  This was the man, if he was in Karnataka assembly, viewing porn numbers would have been impossible for anyone.

Sadly, he had not been in any of the aforesaid places. Instead, he chose to spend 744 hours of his life time within twenty two yards in a cricket field, holding an English Willow. Rest of the time, well, he chose to be outside the twenty two yards, however, making sure that his feet was always within the cricket ground or maximum may be inside a cricket stadium.

The great wall of India, as we all know him by now, had been so strong in his repellence that, ever since his debut in 1996, he stood out playing a sheet anchor role all the time safeguarding the wickets of his team mates by ridiculously blocking the fiercesome fast bowlers’ penetrating intents. If this wall, the great Rahul Dravid, a true and selfless servant of the game, could do this magic of protecting his mates, particularly, when we tour abroad, would have been, no doubt in my mind, successful in blocking all the scams, terrorisms, wars etc to the best of its ability as he had this quality called “selflessness” which is so necessary for a social servant.

A Sachin Tendulkar or a Don Bradman could not have been successful if they would have opted for some other field other than cricket and this applies to almost all the cricketers barring Dravid. Only a Rahul Dravid type of person, with the sort of attitude he had, would have been victorious in whatever task he had chosen to undertake. Sachin, was right when he said, there could be only one Rahul Dravid.

Dravid did not chase any records. He did what was best for the team. When a new comer debuts in test cricket, the seniors or should I call them the bullies, would force the debutants to field at silly point or forward short leg. This would go on for some more tests till the debutants establish for themselves a name. Then, they would start doing to the youngsters what they endured at the hands of their own seniors.

This, however, was not the case with the great wall. He fielded at the close fielding positions when he was a new comer just like others. He established a name for himself in international cricket very soon and became popular instantly. From a debutant he grew up to a senior level very quickly and as a result of some of the innings he was rated much above Sachin by a few cricket experts and fans.

If it was anyone else other than Dravid, on such occasions, would have started dictating terms in the dressing rooms on many counts. But, Dravid, the great sporting individual he is, had never tried to influence his prowess inside the team. The stylish right hander had scored more runs than anyone at number three position in tests and had every reason in the world to stick on to that position while batting. But, hardly was he adamant to cling on to it. Whenever it was required, even you could take this example of recently concluded England series where he was the lone person scoring runs after runs, he was more than prepared to shift his batting position for team’s interests. Even when Dhoni wanted to bowl, Dravid was quite happy to don the role of a keeper. He had done it all for team’s interests. In this way, his approach differed from rest of the seniors of the Indian team.

Dravid proved to the whole world if one does his duty without any selfish motive, the results would automatically come. He had number of records in his elite career. First and foremost, he holds the records for the maximum number of catches in test cricket. He is the only one to have scored test centuries in all test playing nations. He is the player with maximum more than 300 runs partnerships in test cricket. He is one of the three Indians to have scored centuries in both the innings of a test match, the feat which he achieved in Newzealand. He is the highest run getter in 1999 world cup in England. He is the only person who has faced more than 30000 balls in test cricket, since his debut in 1996. He is the only player in India, barring the great Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag, who has carried his bat through in a test innings. Incidentally, he is the person who has got bowled on more occasions than anyone in test cricket, an infamous record though.

Now, may be because of that, he has thought that it would be better to call it quits, leaving younger generation to build a wall of their own, rather than cementing it again. Whatever the reason may be, his 16 years stint in international cricket has brought more laurels for India and also earned respect for India overseas. This fact could never be denied. In the last two decades, India had only won two test matches in Australia and in both the victories, the wall had the prime role to play. None can forget his Adelaide script which was one of the feathers in his cap and similarly no one can forget his 90 plus score in Perth.

Therefore, I am absolutely sure if he had spent those 16 years in any social service or in army or that matter in politics, this studious and honest person would have been a wall which would have prevented all social evils like corruption, scams, wars etc. Only a selfless person like Rahul Dravid would have fit into that role. But, having rendered Yeoman Service to our Indian cricket, this wall has decided to take some rest, infact a well deserved one.

P.S: Rahul, You have done whatever you could for cricket and though there are two more years of the game left in you, you have declared your innings prematurely. Now, all I, on behalf of millions of your fans, would like to have is your proximity to the game as much as possible. You should try your hands on coaching the national team and if not atleast your state Ranji team. Your technique is an important asset and it should not be wasted. Please Rahul, Stay with the game.


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The irony of life-one of them



Ramu went to school so happy on that day. The day to follow was Deepavali. He could not hide his happiness to anyone. He was so ecstatic, to say the least, when he thought of umpteen numbers of crackers, bought by his father, which would be reduced to ashes on Deepavali morning.
Ramu was the only son to his parents, Shanthi and Shekar . Both of them were very rich and so it goes without saying that he was born with a silver spoon. He was studying in second standard and obviously at that age, due to the fear of crackers though he was not going to burst any, he was contend to see his father doing the favours.
With much rejoice, he went to his class and met his class mate Balu who happened to be his best friend. Balu was living in a small house exactly opposite to a big bungalow in which Ramu was living. Ramu told Balu all stories about the costliest dresses that he would be wearing and also the amount of crackers which he would enjoy seeing his father lighting. Balu was from a middle class family and obviously his parents could not spend much on Deepavali for him. His father was an accountant in a very small concern and he earns hardly Rs.6000/- pm and his mother was a housewife. So, when Ramu was showing his family’s prowess in spending lavishly, Balu could only remain as a mute listener as he could not boast about his own Deepavali’s preparations.
Shanthi and Shekar wanted to spend Deepavali eve somewhere outside. When Ramu went to school, they had a mutual agreement of going to a Cinema Hall in a big shopping hall. Though the tickets were very costly it was just as good as a “tip” that they would give to a waiter in a hotel. The Cinema halls had many screens. Shanthi was a lover of romantic movies where as Shekar was an aspirant of action movies. Soon, the disagreement started. Both of them were very fastidious in their approach and eventually one of them had to yield and this time it was Shanthi who relented first. She, almost reluctantly, sat with her husband to watch the movie. She did not like one bit of the movie and during the interval she wanted to teach her better half a lesson.
The interval arrived and both of them went to buy some chat items to satiate their hunger a bit. It was only a ten minutes break and her husband was much involved in the film. Knowing this, she decided to exploit this situation to retaliate. There was a big queue in getting one of the food items and she asked her husband to buy it. Her husband knew full well if he went on for buying it then the chances of him watching the film from where it was stopped for the interval, would be bleak. So, he told her that she might opt for some other items where the queue was not that much. But, she was quite adamant this time and she had told him as to how generous was she in relinquishing her interest in watching the film of her choice. Shekar had to relent now.
In the end, his worse fears came true. By the time he bought that food item he already missed ten minutes in the second half.  He was furious. He was rushing to see the film and at that time one of her wife’s friends interrupted. Her name was Sheela and soon Shanthi and she were involved in a conversation while Shekar wanted to go inside the cinema hall desperately. But, Shanthi found it as a chance to spoil her husband’s party in a quest of vengeance. Sheela, who was her college mate, showed her a beautiful saree in lavender colour which attracted the latter.
Shanthi was awe struck by it and she asked her where she got it. Sheela said that she got the thing in the same mall in an expensive cloth store and she also told her that there was one more saree of that kind which seemed vulnerable to be bought as many ladies had their eyes glued upon it. Hearing it, Shanthi could not control her avaricious quest. She was no more in need of any movie. She dug deep to ensure that her husband could not watch the movie anymore.
Infront of her wife’s friend, Shekar found it not proper to quarrel but all along he cursed his wife in his mind as they went to the cloth store. There she bought a saree and so uncontrollable she was that she bought one more saree which was double the cost of the lavender coloured one. Thus, Shekar’s wish of watching the movie was totally spoiled and he wore a grim look as he saw the people coming out smiling happily from the cinema hall after having enjoyed the movie thoroughly.

He starred at her and started complaining her of her adamancy which prevented him from enjoying a nice movie of his choice. Then the quarrel erupted huge between the man and his wife and people who passed by stood for some time watching it. This came as an insult to Shekar and with a whisker he fled the scene and even before his wife join with him he took his car and went home. Shanthi was left all alone. She was infuriarated so much and she thought of going home and continue the quarrel. She took an auto and reached home.
Same day, Balu’s parents also thought of watching a movie. They, belonging to a middle class family, could not afford much and so they went to a small cinema hall, located a few kilometers from their home, in a cycle. They did not have any options to choose or quarrel between them as that cinema hall had only one screen and like it or not they needed to see it and so they did. Since they go very rarely to such cinemas, they bought the costliest ticket of that cinema hall from whatever money they had carried and returned home happily with satisfying mind with only ten rupees balance in their hand.
The next day morning, there was fire crackers sound heard all over the streets in which Ramu and Balu lived. Balu’s father delighted him with whatever little fire works he had bought for his son. In Ramu’s house there were only sounds of quarrel between Shanthi and Shekar. Ramu’s dream of a rocking Diwali came to a stand still. The fight that took place in the Cinema hall continued between the couple and with tears Ramu came out of the house watching other neighbours including his best friend Balu firing crackers.

Monday, January 30, 2012

A torturous game- Nole prevailed


Rafael Nadal entered the court along with the defending champion Novak Djokovic at Rod Laver Arena by 7.30 pm Australian time. When I watched Djokovic serving first, it was almost 2.15 pm india time. Nole had a relatively difficult game to hold when compared to Nadal who held his first serve pretty easily without Nole earning a single point. When Nole served for the third time in the first set, his service  broke. Nole threw his racquet away. Nadal lead the first set 4-2 in the wink of an eye with break up. Frustration was evident on the man who sat on Rafa’s head through out the year of 2011. Being a Nole’s supporter, I surrendered so meekly that I declared Nadal as the new Australian open Champion because I was damn sure if Nadal became a fore runner in any best of five setters he would be unbeatable.
But soon to my surprise, I saw Nole breaking back Nadal but was not completely out of danger even then. Though Nole lead  5-4, Rafa, the fighter he was, won the next three games and Nole, eventually, lost the first set 5-7. By the end of the first set which had slugfest of rallies, it was almost 3.30 pm India time which meant it took 1 hour and 20 minutes for it to complete. Nadal, when he was fit, I was sure, could go upto playing 10 sets without getting tired. But I always had doubts about the stamina of Djocker particularly because a day before he had to endure a 4 hour 50 minutes semi final against Andy Murray which was really physical to say the least. I could not see Nole getting defeated anymore and I was having my fingers crossed. I wanted Nole to break Rafa desperately. Soon it happened. Nadal serve was broken quite early in the second set and luckily Nole was able to consolidate his break by holding on to his serve and he lead 4-1 in the set. Infact, I felt if this set was finished rapidly then there was a semblance of chance for Nole to come back into the game. If this set, on the other hand, took as longer as the first set, regardless of the fact whether Nole won it or not, he would find it hard to win two more sets.

As expected, Rafa broke Nole and it was almost Evens Stevens in the second set. Then finally Rafa’s serve came under the gun one more time and this time he double faulted and Nole fetched the second set 6-4.  Since I had a small breathing space.  I heaved a sigh of relief . Then the third set begun. Now I was pretty sure since the second set finished relatively quickly if Nole had to win the third set, then it would be all over for Rafa. With this hope, I was seeing the third set with much zeal and as I wanted Nole got the third set with much ease. Then the pressure was fully on Rafa. He needed to win the next two sets to win the title. But there was always a saying  that proclaims“when going gets tough the tough gets going “. Simply this was what happened. None of these two fellows were able to break each other’s serve ín the fourth set. Nole had a lone chance where he was leading 0-40 with nadal on serve. The score at that time was 4-4. If Nole had to break Rafa’s serve by then, the former would have served for the championship the very next game. But five straight points with three beautiful serves bailed Rafa out and he got the game.
Then came a break in the midst of this most exasperating match due to rain. The roof was brought in and in another fifteen minutes the stadium was closed. The fourth set continued with neither one of them opting to warm up and it went to a tie breaker. Nole again had the advantage in the early going of the tie breaker by leading 5-3 with just two points away from the championship. I was praying literally for a Nole’s victory in the fourth set itself because the greater the duration of the match, the greater it was going to favour Rafa. But to my dismay, once again Rafa came back and won the next four points before sealing the set 6-7 (5-7).
Then the game once again began fresh with Nadal serving first. As always, serving first in the final set would be an added advantage and Rafa had it. When Nadal broke Nole in the sixth game of the final set the score read 4-2 favouring the former. Nole had to compulsorily break Rafa’s serve by then and if not the lead further would go to 5-2 and precisely what happened when the resilience or tenacity whatever you want to call came to the rescue of Nole. He broke Rafa back and in the eleventh game of the set he broke Rafa one more time. This time the score was 6-5 in favour of Nole with him on serve. Nole in the first point slugfest against Nadal emerged as the winner and with his next unreturnable serve he went on to a 30-0 lead. But Rafa won back the next three points with relative ease and had a break point againt  Nole. If that game was broken I was absolutely sure Rafa was going to win the championship as every opportunity which Nole squandered would kill the momentum of the latter.
Then Nole was able to deuce the next point and somehow was able to force the error from Rafa which meant the advantage and the championship point for the very first time came to Djocker. The next was a terrific serve which landed right down the middle and then the return was just so easy to be pounded for an inside out winner from Nole and then he fell flat in the ground backwards with the utmost relief which he had in the six hour long tennis.
Thus ended the most entertaining and torturous battle which I had ever seen in a grandslam final. The final took 5 hours and 53 minutes totally and the second best player in the world lifted the cup for the second consequtive win downunder.
All hail king Djocker.


Thursday, January 5, 2012

English class



There are some basic common mistakes which I have found many people doing while writing English. I thought of just blogging it so that anyone who comes across this article through google may correct himself/herself.

1.     Usage of the words Loose and Lose:

Since both the words i.e. “Loose and Lose” are pronounced the same way, I guess, they wore a deceptive look to the people who are using them.

Actually a word when it is spelt “Loose” it means something which is not tightly fitted. But people are using it considering this to be a synonym for words such as “defeat” or “ lost”. I have come across many people wrongfully using this word and an example of such an incorrect usage is as below:

“ They loose their mobile phones”.      
            This is one example of wrong selection of words. If the word “lose” is used in the aforesaid  sentence, then the usage is correct.
            Any person can get away when he speaks such sentence because both these words are pronounced the same fashion as I have stated earlier. But, when someone quotes a wrong word while writing in a sentence not only the meaning gets changed but also in some cases it offers no meaning at all.

2.     Usage of the words “now only” and “now itself”

Another mistake most of the people are seen doing is the usage of the word “only” suffixing the word “now” instead of  the word “itself”.
When someone wants to convey that he will do a thing immediately and  with this thing in mind  if he writes as mentioned below, then the meaning gives an exactly opposite meaning.

“I will do it now only”.

This sentence means that the person will do a thing only now which means a thing has been pending to be finished for long and he is going to do complete the thing only now. i.e. he is doing a thing with a delay.

The correct sentence, in lieu of what has been mentioned above, will read as below:

“I will do it now itself”.

So, the word “Itself” should succeed the word “now” if someone says he will do a thing immediately. i.e. he is doing a thing with no procrastination.

3.     Usage of the words “the concerned individual” and “the person concerned”:

This is the most common error nowadays I see when people write English.
When someone wants to say that he wants to inform a thing to a “respective person” i.e. person who is in charge of a thing, then he should say as given below:

“I will inform the person concerned”.

If someone, as 90% of people are doing now, use it by interchanging the last two words of the said sentence , i.e.

“I will inform the concerned person

Then it means he will inform the person who is worried about a thing. Once again, please find the different meanings these two words, when used in different combinations, have to offer.

“the concerned person”- the worried person
And
“the person concerned”- the respective person.

I hope people using such words in a wrong fashion correct themselves.








Sunday, January 1, 2012

That elusive ton


“Men may come and men may go But I go on forever” is a verse which was used by Lord Tennyson in one of his poetry tiltled “The Brooke” while describing the greatness of a river. However, there is one human being in this world who would boldly come forward and announce to the whole world that we, human beings, are as good as rivers. Yes, there is one such special human in this world who has been going on and on and he is quite fastidious when someone asks him to quit.
The man who I am referring to is none other than the great maestro “Sachin Tendulkar”. He was bowled, playing in his first ever test match, for just 15 runs of the bowling of Waqar Younis during the year 1989. Yes, Waqar Younis, the great toe crusher of Pakistan bowled him. But, now where is Waqar Younis? We now know him as one of the retired veterans with his movements limited only within the commentary box.
At the age of 16 he revealed himself to the Indian Cricket test team and now after 22 years of his presence at the highest level people are expecting his 100th ton so eagerly as though they are expecting their first baby. Sachin did not start his career in a remarkable fashion as some of his erstwhile contemporaries like Mohammad Azharuddin or Sourav Ganguly. They both scored centuries on their debut and now both of them are enjoying their days of retirement. Infact, Ganguly’s career as a test batsman started seven years after Sachin’s debut in Pakistan but he could not come anywhere near the longevity of the latter.
Sachin is a sensation which cricket has created. There seems to be no end in him. Throughout his span in international cricket till now, many new records have been created and many have been destroyed. He has been playing even during those days when there existed a rest day in cricket. He was in the Indian team even when the “third umpire” system was first introduced. Infact he was the first cricketer to be given run out via tv monitor which happened during India’s tour of South Africa. When he started playing cricket , it was Kris Srikkanth who had held the record of highest number of runs in ODIs for India. Now, Sachin, having more than 18000 runs under his belt in ODIs, is not only the highest run getter in India but also the highest run getter in the entire world.
Many cricketers, either due to the pressure of international cricket or due to their inability to keep up their form in par with their growing age have been quitting the game midway. But, what seems to amaze all of us is the way Sachin is conducting himself when it comes to handling the pressure of the game, carrying loads of expectations from the spectators.  People expect him to do some great thing every time he takes the guard and he tries to fulfill expectations atleast 6 out of 10 times which in itself is a great achievement. Sachin has all the qualities which the present generation of cricketers should embellish. Hardly one or two occasions have we seen him losing his temper on or off the field. Never we had or will be seeing him giving a mouthful to any of the fellow cricketers of his own team or his rival team.
Due to all such admirable qualities, he is still playing the game with the same love that he had for it two decades ago.  His aggression lies not in sledging but in showing even good balls where the boundaries are. That’s why I feel he has scored most number of his test hundreds and runs against Australia, a team which plays the game with most aggression.
Such an awesome cricketer, who, at the age of 19, marveled the cricketing world by scoring centuries at Sydney and Perth, is now struggling to get a single ton for almost eight months now. It is something which could not be understood by a fan like me because still his form is excellent and he has not lost the rhythm or touch which is even now unmatched by a long way when you take into account the talent of the current bunch of cricketers. So, what stops him from scoring a hundred? I would definitely blame it on the cricket fans like us.
 It is definitely because of some of his fans or should I say fanatics who are putting under immense pressure seeking his ton every time he enters the cricket field. So, to fulfill the desires of his fans, he puts the importance of scoring hundred utmost in his mind and so whenever he is in the cricket field his fluency in scoring runs is disturbed and finally he is disappointing everyone of his fans which is what is happening lately.
So, I would appeal to each and everyone of his fans to maintain their cool and see the game without bothering the great man by rooting for his hundred. If Sachin is not bothered by them, I am sure the ever eluding hundred is not far away.