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saturday, may 2, 2015 saturday, may 2, 2015
HOME SPUN
Butterfly breeze Never mind the bullocks… LIGHTHOUSE
Bhimtal might have expanded overkey thetodecades, leopards stalk the streets at Frontloading the batting order is the survival,however and success in T20still cricket night and deer still peer down from the ridges at the unusual goings-on below
peter smetacek
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e lived on a forest estate a few This was considered quite the done thing at during the rainy season. We discontinued kilometres from the town of the time. It was even considered normal for swimming there when the cremation ground Bhimtal. Visits to the markets the Kalbera sisters, two old British spinsters, at the head of the lake was used, but in years were few and far between, to have their armchair placed in the aisle of when there were no deaths, swimming in the mainly because there was nothing much to do the bus on their infrequent visits to crystal clear water was the closest there. A dozen shops lined the sleepy street. Nainital! one could get to flying! Teashops were the order of the day and we Father’s interest in naSlowly the town grew. were not entirely welcome in some of them, ture was well known With the expansion of for the wood they burnt was smuggled off the throughout the area. the economy towards estate at odd hours of the day and night. An acquaintance from the end of the last cenSince there were no good schools there, we Calcutta sent a letter tury came a flood of stayed in Nainital for nine months of the year. addressed to ‘Fred investors. The hillOn weekends and holidays, Mother and we Smetacek, Butterfly sides were divided children would hire a taxi in Nainital and Hunter, Kumaon by high walls, cruise down to Bhimtal. The cars were huge Hills’ and it reached barbed-wire fences, Plymouth Savoys, in reasonably good condi- safely within a reaspotlights and other tion. When we got to Bhimtal, we would take a sonable time. This paraphernalia of dirt track to reach home. The driver would meant that, besides repeople who claimed spin the wheel and stomp on the pedals with ceiving mashed butterthat they wanted to ‘live Capital waste all the intensity of a racetrack driver, for guid- flies, struggling beetles in nature’. In fact, these Kieron Pollard, the ing the ungainly monster up the narrow, and decapitated moths at all properties are merely chips V12 engine in winding track was no mean feat. Father had a times of the day and night Mumbai Indians in the investment games be1942 model Ford. One afternoon, while drop- from shy children or brash spends most of its ing played many miles away, time in the garage changing hands as often as ping my brothers to the bus station, he drove adults, he was also considered kr deepak off the road and into a fortuitously placed the correct depository for all the owners believed they were At one time or another, tree. Both my brothers gleefully expected that manners of creatures that resimaking a killing. we had ofcontinuing peacocks, to frontload, saw would the strangest thing and the other day.to at- First they return home not have of all, consider that T20 is a pair dents of the area could not cricket from hassense reverted to Today, the of belonga pair cubs, a Out on the road, theremuch was a to sleek Lamtend school. However, their dismay, played withthemselves the same number in of leopard bring to kill. of At players traditional structures of to building an innings, ing a community is long serow, asending barking in deer, borghini with a man a dhoti-kurta Father gave them theirinfare and rushedatthem each one sidetime as ODI is: 11. orcricket another, weThis hadisanot a banal Maxwellgone. later than they did last the Strangers throng cats,year piglets, theto driver’s seat. His hands weren’t onended the in off the station. The car eventually point,pair butofcrucial to understanding to appeacocks, a pair of leop- howwild and, hares, even at the streets time of writing this piece, and shops erupt like rabbits, chicken, a him flying wheel. he aheld whip intohis right theInstead, lake when childadecided learn driving proach game. If T20agames were played ardthe cubs, a serow, barking dropping from the side.toMumbai fungus cater to Indians the needs of squirrel and so on from the hand,inwhich extended out of his window, and eight-a-side, his absence. youcats, would be justified deer, wild piglets, hares,in structurhaven’t learnt their past mistakes, and growing population. he was Thereafter, whipping aon couple of bullocks to hoSundays and whentied school ing the innings as you structure an ODI one. continue to save Pollard rabbits, chicken, a flying squirfor a dash at the end. wait Hard-eyed businessmen the front the car. The would engineeither was send off; the lidaysofended, Father a ‘man’ But with 11 players, rel and so on. you have extra resources They would be betterfor served if Pollardwhile and Cocustomers, tradesbullocks were pulling car.with a taxi or else we up to Nainital to the return for the time given toinyou. Swimming theYour lakestask wasis to ensure rey Anderson batted men three and four, in whatevfrom neighbouring Now, okay,stroll thisdown is perhaps a bit weird would to town andtoo sit in the Post theseone resources wasted, and are opti- er order, with Rohit Sharma of the are onlynot means of enopening. states work overtime for the even Office, for India, andthe I confess that I didn’t see exuntil bus came. The ‘man’ would mallytertainment. used. If the hardest-hitting strokeplayer At one end of the estate lay the The idea is not just toindustry. frontloadNo resources booming building doubt they actly have this. been But I sent did witness something very earlier to the station a kiloin the team routinely getsthree onlywere heavenly dur- will move Sattal lakes, of which butonalso to frontload Evwhen the boom intent. ends. Perhaps, close.metre I was watching the IPL. further down to reserve seats for us. four ing or five to bat, you areA fourth filled up the silence theovers summer months. erywe side doesn’t have a Maxwell knew in childhood will descend Twenty20 cricket is a relatively new form of screwing up somewhere. So or a Pollard. But be whoever goesfrienagain. Perhaps, there will peace and the game which makes new demands on the what should you do? out there should attack, attack, dedliness again, when the value of property The one team that teams that play it. Like a bullock-cart driver I’d written a piece after last attack. if a Starc or Malinga creases and theSure, predators move off in search has gotten who has just been given a Lamborghini, the year’s IPL for Cricinfo where I’d is on fire, play that one guy out. of new prey. frontloading right in men who run the teams and play for them laid out what I felt was the bigBut otherwise for it. Not Meanwhile, leopardsgo still stalk the only streets at this IPL is the Chennai does it ensure you don’t waste haven’t quite come to terms with this. So they gest tactical advance of the tournight. Deer peer down from the ridges at the Super Kings continue to whip the bullocks. When one-day nament: Frontloading. Basically, resources, it also ensureshave unusualbatting goings-on below. Monkeys cricket was born, teams played it much like King’s XI Punjab decided to thattosoft overs in between less-their learnt how open water tanks toby slake they would a Test match — consider Sunil Ga- snort at the concept of building er bowlers are not wasted. thirst, while feral cows threaten all Batagriculvaskar’s 36 not out in 1975 through 60 overs, a platform, and just sent their ting strategies areisso predictable ture businesses. Bhimtal greener than it evand while that is an extreme example, consid- hardest hitters upfront and treated every over that er fielding captains can centuries, plan how due to use was during the past in large er the low par scores of those times. Eventual- as sides would usually treat overs 16-20. They theirpart resources keeping of their best restricto thewell, availability cooking gas and a ly, players adapted. Even Gavaskar made a attacked from the outset, with Glenn Maxwell, tive bowlers, like Malinga, thebenefits end of the innew awareness aboutfor the of forests. thrilling World Cup century before retiring, David Miller and George Bailey coming in at nings. can they do if you’re going at YetBut thewhat innocence is gone. and par scores crept up until, as I wrote in my three, four and five, and sometimes, if an early them all thetaking time? the long view of things, I know But last instalment of Lighthouse, they crossed wicket fell, Wriddhiman Saha coming at three, The thatephemeral has gotten and frontloading allone thisteam is but cyclical. As I 300 in the subcontinent, which was once an but also to tonk. Their frontloading ensured rightwrote in this the Chennai Superwhen Kings.I pad in IPL theispreface of my book, outlier score and not the norm. that batting resources were not wasted, and Brendon McCullum and Dwayne through the stretches of forestSmith down play to NainiSimilarly, in T20 cricket, teams have basical- this approach got them off to an excellent everytal, over like it’s themuch 18th of innings, it feels very as the though I amand finding ly adapted their ODI approach to this shorter start. In contrast, Mumbai Indians consistent- Suresh and MS Dhoni, two myRaina way through a forest inoutstanding Central Europe. format. So maybe they tonk in the powerplay ly sent out their best hitter, Pollard, with just a strokeplayers, followand at three andnearly four. This The firs, pines oaks are the is same. at the start, then they consolidate and set a handful of overs to go, and he had nowhere goodAnd captaincy. course, Chennai also Silesia has an that yet, theOfmountains of Upper platform, then they tonk again towards the near the impact he could have had. Kolkata excellent bowling attack, whichcalled is whyhome they’reare a my father and his father end. They often have freeflowing openers, but Knight Riders started poorly, but then adapt- among theway favourites year after year. All of things long from the outer ramparts the Himleave their hard-hitting maniacs, like Kieron ed, dropped Jacques Kallis the accumulator, beinglaya equal between teams, though, that fate decided would be homefronto me. Pollard of Mumbai Indians, to bat at the end. frontloaded the hitting, and things worked tloading the difference. So when you the (Inmakes this monthly column, authors chronicle This is a flawed approach, because T20 is not out. They also had a better bowling attack than havecities a Lamborghini, drive the damn thing. they call home.) just a modified version of ODIs, it’s a whole Kings XI, and deservedly won the IPL. t@amitvarma peter smetacek is the author of Butterflies on the new format with its own imperatives. This year has been bizarre. King’s XI, far
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Amit Varma is a novelist. He blogs at indiauncut.com
Bright and beautiful Our house in Bhimtal has been home to any number of wild creatures rajashree bhuyan
Roof of the World and runs the Butterfly Research Centre in Bhimtal
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