शि द फडणीस@91: What Will Venus Do After Receiving A Pair of Hands?

Today July 29 2016 is 91st birth day of S D Phadnis (शि. द. फडणीस)

Last year I celebrated Mr. Phadnis's birthday here with the same iconic picture of his as just below.

courtesy: S D Phadnis

What will Venus do after receiving hands from an Indian goddess?

Last year I said: spinning thread....this year?

 Artist: Sally Artz, The Spectator UK, March 2015

Garry Sobers 80 Not Out, Probably Scored in 20 Balls, Wearing No Helmet!

Today July 28 2016 is 80th birthday of Sir Garry Sobers

Ian Chappell:

“Sir Garfield Sobers is easily the best cricketer I've ever seen, and if you're not convinced, then accept the opinion of the next best allrounder, Keith Miller, who once declared: "Best batsman of all time - Bradman. Best cricketer of all time - Garry Sobers."

Sobers is also the best batsman I've ever seen. Just like he could do everything on the field - bowl three different styles, take brilliant catches and throw down the stumps regularly - he was also a great all-round batsman. I rate him just ahead of another fine left-hander, South Africa's Graeme Pollock, on the basis that Sobers hooked and Pollock didn't...”

David Gower, 'David Gower's 50 Greatest Cricketers of All Time':

 "Has there been a more versatile or natural cricketer? His status as the greatest ever Test all-rounder is rarely if ever questioned. Jacques Kallis’s figures bear comparison but Sobers was more of a front-line bowler and more capable of winning a match. For most of his career he would have been worth picking as batsman or bowler. There was nothing negative about his play. He didn’t use pad-play and he ‘walked’ if he knew he was out. Bradman said he saw no one hit the ball harder. He was largely untroubled by the best and fastest bowlers of his day – Ray Lindwall, Keith Miller, Fred Trueman, you name them – and even in an era before helmets he wasn’t in the habit of being hit on the hands or the body."

Mihir Bose, The Magic of Indian Cricket: Cricket and society in India:

"Just to see Garry Sobers field at leg slip was worth the admission money."

When Mr. Muhammad Ali died this year, I wrote "The second of the first two foreigners I heard...first Garry sobers...at number three comes Pelé".

I have not seen him play but I have heard him play live!

When people for last several years talked about the greatest cricketer, I thought of only one name - Garry Sobers. No one comes even close to him. As a kid, to me, he was the ultimate sports hero and nothing has changed since to modify it. He may have been joined by a few more women and men, from different sports, at the top, but he remains there unmoved.

All my favorite sports writers/commentators  from Ian Chappell to Sunil Gavaskar to the late Rajan Bala have only reinforced my judgement.

This is what India's three great spinners had to say: 

"..."Although England's Tom Graveney was perhaps technically the most perfect batsman, Sir Garfield Sobers was simply the best," Prasanna said.

As for Chandrasekhar, he "always found England's Ken Barrington very difficult to dismiss but Sobers will always remain the greatest."

Bedi summed it up well. "See players like Sobers and Bradman are in a different league. They are just class apart.

We won't see another Sobers or Bradman in the game," he said..."

playing arguably the greatest innings ever in the history of cricket:  for the Rest of the World against Australia at the MCG in 1972

बोटाने तो इंद्रधनुष्य काढतो... पॉकेमॉन दिसत होता, जीएंच्या डॉन आणि सँकोला!...Augmented Reality

जी ए कुलकर्णी:
"अरे, निर्बुद्ध, जड़ जगाविषयी बदलती रुपके करत राहण्यापेक्षा तुझ्या रुपकांप्रमाणे जर जग बदलत जाऊ लागले तर तुला तरी जास्त काय हवे सांग."

Orson Welles:
“What we professional liars hope to serve is truth. I’m afraid the pompous word for that is art. Picasso himself said it. Art, he said, is a lie, a lie that makes us realize the truth.” The alternative is grim. “Reality? It’s the toothbrush waiting at home for you in its glass, a bus ticket, a paycheck, and the grave.”..."

Network (1976):
“...You're beginning to believe the illusions we're spinning here, you're beginning to believe that the tube is reality and your own lives are unreal. You do. Why, whatever the tube tells you: you dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children like the tube, you even think like the tube. This is mass madness, you maniacs. In God's name, you people are the real thing, WE are the illusion...”

Marco Annunziata, GE Chief Economist, July 15 2016:

“...As you move around a city, a park, or a beach, your smartphone’s camera gives you an “augmented” view of your surroundings, so you can spot the fictional creatures under a real-life tree or perched on a real-life park bench...”

 ('How the Pokémon Go craze went corporate')

लोकसत्ता , जुलै  २३ २०१६:

"...मात्र हा खेळ अन्य खेळांहून एका बाबतीत वेगळा आहे, तो म्हणजे त्यासाठी वापरण्यात आलेले आधुनिक तंत्रज्ञान. वास्तव आणि अवास्तव यांची सांगड घालून वास्तवाचे उत्कटीकरण करणे हा या तंत्रज्ञानाचा गाभा. मोबाइल फोनमधील कॅमेरा, जीपीएस यांची सांगड घालून हा खेळ मोबाइलमधील संगणकीकृत वास्तव आणि ‘वास्तवा’तील वास्तव हे एकाच प्रतलावर आणतो. हा खेळ सुरू करायचा. कॅमेरा रोखत पुढे पुढे चालत जायचे आणि अचानक आपणांस परिसरातील एखाद्या महत्त्वाच्या ठिकाणी खेळातील पात्र दिसते. ते टिपायचे आणि आपले गुण वाढवायचे असे ते चाललेले असते. त्यातील ठिकाण खरे असते, पात्र मात्र संगणकीय असते. वास्तव आणि आभास या दोन मितींमधले आपले जगणे हे या खेळाने असे एकाच ठिकाणी आणून ठेवले आहे. आजवरच्या संगणकीय खेळांनी माणसांना आभासी विश्वातच अडकविले होते. या खेळाने त्याला थोडे खऱ्या जगात आणून सोडले. हाही तसा वेगळा आभासच. परंतु यामुळे अनेकांना आपण वास्तव जगाशी जोडलो गेल्यासारखे वाटत आहे...”

Farfetch'd (Pokémon)

courtesy: The Pokémon Company

 After reading the above and witnessing my son's pursuit of the Pokémon, I realized how GA's Don could be seeing a Pokemon as he lay dying!   

"...डॉन सारखा खिडकीकडे पाहत आहे हे सँकोच्या ध्यानात आले. तेथून आत येणार वारा बंद करण्यासाठी तो उठला. सँको पुढे येताच वेडा  झटकन  झुडपाआड गेला. सँकोने खिडकी बंद करण्यासाठी हात पुढे करताच डॉन आवाज ओढत म्हणाला, "अरे, मला त्या वेड्याशी जरा बोलू दे. हे बघ माझे आता सगळे संपले. मी उद्याचे ऊन पाहीन अशीदेखील आता शाश्वती नाही. तेंव्हा जो थोडा वेळ आहे तेवढा मला राहू देत."
 "वेडा, वेडा!", कपाळावर हात मारून घेत वैतागाने सँको म्हणाला. "म्हणजे अजून त्याने तुमची पाठ सोडली नाही तर ! पूर्वी तुम्हाला दिसायचा तोच हा, की नवा ताजा काढलात हा एक दुसराच? लाल ठिगळांचा लांब झगा घातलेलाच?"
 "होय, तोच."
"डोक्यावर घुंगरू लावलेली उंच, टोकदार टोपी आहे, हातात घंटा लावलेली काठी आहे आणि बोटाने तो  इंद्रधनुष्य काढतो तोच ना?"
"होय रे होय, तोच." डॉन समाधानाने म्हणाला... "
(जी ए कुलकर्णी, 'यात्रिक'/ऑगस्ट १९७५, 'पिंगळावेळ'/ १९७७)

How does that Pokemon look?

लाल ठिगळांचा लांब झगा घातलेला... डोक्यावर घुंगरू लावलेली उंच, टोकदार टोपी आहे, हातात घंटा लावलेली काठी आहे आणि बोटाने तो इंद्रधनुष्य काढतो...