No one is perfect!

Hello guys!

You must've figured out by now that I am not a professional writer. That is also quite evident from my blog title, but what if you misconstrued it as meaning that I am a veteran writer who is just trying to be humble? I know that it is usually the other way round, where novices try to feign proficiency in writing, but I am just stating the possibilities here. 

I used to write small stories when I was quite young, but as I grew up, I was introduced to the demonic world of computers. So gaming and pointless surfing tookover writing and sketching. ( Yes, I sketch and paint. Quite a multi-talented person I am! *Insert a cool emoji here* ) My interest in the English language too faded, and I was too occupied with downloading games from the internet that I was left with no time for anything else. I was the only one who knew to speak decent English without making grammatical errors in my school, so I was quite complacent with my minimal English knowledge. But then I came across people of my age who knew the meanings of quite difficult words ( or maybe, I 'felt' they were hard ) that I never even had heard of. One such example is nincompoop. YES! I didn't know what that meant! *Hides face in utter shame*

                                  

                                 

Then I decided that my English knowledge was terrible, and thus I had to update my lexicon. I started learning new words everyday. But my weak memory made me relearn the very same set of words over and over again. Exasperated, I gave up. Then I participated in a Spelling Bee competition in my school, made it through district level to national level, and bagged the first prize there. But victory doesn't come easy. I had to memorize a pocket-sized thesaurus, learn the spellings and meanings of over a thousand words.

                                                         

For a couple of months after the competition, people used to dread conversing with me in English. I hurled tongue-twisting complex words at them, and would often challenge them to word games. They obviously refused.

But how good am I now? Not so great! I struggle to recall simple words, and stutter a lot. But I am getting better at it. That is the main reason why I started blogging. Once I learn to properly articulate my thoughts in English, I feel I will become an eloquent speaker of the language. I am still learning to write, so please bear with me. If you find any areas for improvement, feel free to point them out; I would be glad to work on them. As they say, practice makes a man perfect. ( This does contradict the title of this post. So for the moment assume that practice helps you gain near-perfection ) I am trying to ameliorate my writing skills, and I hope you will help me with that!

Aloha! :)

GIFs sourced from gifsoup.com and photobucket.com

We are the Champions!!

We, err, I mean, CSK are the Champions of this year's CLT20, and I couldn't be happier.

I have been following cricket ever since I was three years old. There was something about this game that fascinated me. I grew up watching Sachin, Dravid and Dada play. I used to like them, I loved them, infact; but I couldn't call myself their fan. I just couldn't visualize me fangirling over anybody. But everything changed once a smart and handsome man with long and dyed locks, who was in his early twenties, entered the picture. 

Yes, I am talking about MS Dhoni, India's most successful Captain. There was something about him which instantly enamored me. I was only 9 years then. I didn't fall for him because of his looks, of course. He is absolutely dashing, but thats not why I started adoring him. I loved him for his simplicity, for his cool demeanor on and off the field, for the warmth that he exuded, for his humility, for his million dollar smile and ofcourse, for his batting and wicket-keeping. Until I became his fan, I used to follow cricket, but not with great zeal, partly because I lost interest in it after our 2003 World Cup Final debacle. But MSD changed that. I started keeping a track of all of India's matches with renewed vigor. I derived pleasure from his successes, and prayed for his success during his not-so good days.

                                      

Then, in 2007, he gave me one more reason to like him. He won the very first edition of ICC's T20 World Cup. And then India went gaga over him. Most people have confessed that they started liking him after his success at the World Cup. But I became his fan much before that! 

He then went on to achieve spectacular success, by winning WC 2011, the Border Gavaskar Trophy, and Champions Trophy among many others. This does not mean that he didn't have his share of failures. He is a human being, after all. But more often than not, he would return home triumphant after a series. He was nicknamed 'The man with the Midas Touch'. Amidst his unparalleled success at the International front. he performed delightfully well in the Domestic front too, better known as IPL.

 IPL took the cricketing world by storm. The idea of seeing their favourite players lock horns with each other somehow appealed to everyone. Different teams representing the various states/cities of India were formed and were welcomed with roaring success. MSD, luckily, was picked by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) after many rounds of bidding. Everyone wanted to have him in their side, but Chennai won the bidding battle. He instantly became every Chennaiite's darling. This also, unfortunately, ledto him earning a lot of haters that supported other teams. But haters (are) gonna hate, right? 

His winning streak continued in IPL too, as he helped CSK reach the knockout stage in every single season. Under his able captaincy, CSK reached 5 out of 7 finals and won 2 of them in a row, in 2011 and 2012. Isn't that pretty impressive? He also helped CSK win a Champions League T20 title. But that was back in 2010. After that, in spite of giving near-meticulous performance match after match, sadly, my team never managed to bag a title in T20 again.

This year, however, finally all of CSK's fans' dreams came true. We were longing to see Mahi ( MSD is affectionately addressed as Mahi ) lift that glorious cup for three long years. And that happened this October, on the 4th. CSK registered a thumping victory over KKR to win its second CLT20 trophy, thereby becoming the ONLY team to have won both the IPL and CLT20 twice! That is not surprising, considering that the team was led by a someone who is the FIRST and the LAST captain in the world to win all three of ICC's major titles: t20 WC in 2007, 50 over WC in 2011 and Champions Trophy in 2013. However, since this articles is not about Dhoni, I haven't written about all of his achievements. I intend on writing one about him soon, so keep watching this space!!

Coming back to where I left, CSK gave us immense happiness by winning the CLT20 this year. This team is not just any other sports franchise; its a part of our lives. The players are a part of our families. Dhoni, is not like my brother; he IS my brother. ( So don't question my intentions! :p ) 

Every time theres a league match, I flood twitter with posts. I just cant help cheering for this splendid team that has given me so many memories to cherish. Apart from being the most consistent team, it also is the most well-behaved team, both on and off the field. So, along with entertaining us, it also has taught us that you should neither let success get to your head, nor failure get to your heart; that you must stay grounded no matter how very successful you are; and that persistence is the key to success.

I am so proud to call myself a fan of this absolutely marvellous team. Rooting for any other team is just out of question. Forever a CSKian!!

   

   

Images sourced from Google.