Pinastro

Last week I posted a blog on Book cricket inspired by this blog which is probably the first ever written evidence that book cricket was infact a reality during the end of 20 th century before the advent of Video Games.I was cleaning my room when I got the Ludo-Cricket boards which I prepared nearly ten years back, that pushed Book-Cricket to new levels.The following blog is all about the golden era of Book-Cricket that thrived in the Pinastro illam.

Even after Video Games arrived but was still inaccessible to the middle class society the Book-Cricket was alive and attained new heights until the death blow was given by drastical fall in the prices of electronic goods.

I used to play a very different form of book cricket indigenously developed by Pinasto and his Sister.It had all the elements of Modern day T20 Cricket. Quick Scores , Quick Wickets and Massive Entertainement.The game was basically a cross breed of two timeless masterpieces of Time-Pass games ; LUDO and BOOK-CRICKET.

I named it LUDO Cricket.Me and My sister used to play this Weird Form of Cricket for hours and sometimes days.The plus point was it recreated the same thrill generated out of all the action on the field like , the Commentator’s excited commentary over the huge six that goes out of the park,The crucial Third Umpire decisions,The batsman hit on the Grill, Batsman being Run out by just a few inches from the crease, the sledging wars between the players,Catch being dropped by the fielder in the Slip,No Ball, Wide,Stunning Catch by the Wicket Keeper and almost everything that used to happen during the 1990’s to 2000 in the world of cricket.

A Different Ball-Game

The Ball used in this game was a Cube shaped , Red in color.This Cube shaped ball also known THE DICE which used to haunt many students in the Maths Mani’s , Probability class.

Rules of the game Ludo-Cricket

The Game is played on a board painted with images of action that happens on the ground.There are two batsmen standing on the board at a single time.

The coaches ( real players ) throw the Red Cubical shaped ball(dice).The dice shows a number.The batsmen on the Ludo cricket board move that many squares and ends up in a square.Whatever action is drawn on that particular square is the fate of the batsmen.Whenever a batsman scores a single , the next ball is faced by the other batsman.

Sometimes,when the batsman entered the square that had a small STAR at the corner.If the batsman landed on a starred corner , he is moved to a More Electrifying board that had nothing but Wickets and Boundaries and Sixers.More on the Electrifying board is explained below.

Advantages over other forms of Book-Cricket

All the action that happens in the real cricket can be felt on paper.Who bowled the maiden over, who thrashed the stumps of the batsman,How many dot balls the batsman wasted in the game,how many drop catches by the team,how many run outs by the team and almost everything except the FREE HIT and the CHEER GIRLS.

Disadvantages over the other forms of Book-Cricket

Very difficult to appreciate this game if you are allergic to Mathematics.I loved calculating the run-rates, strike-rate,runs-per-over etc. ofcourse everything was manual calculations.But this disadvantage can be an advantage too, if you seriously wanted to improve your math , as this game is a fun way to learn.

Since, this game was played by only two people in the world , me and my sister, I was the person who always did the calculation part (remember manual calculation)

Efforts taken to Maximise the Entertainment generated from LUDO-Cricket

Apart from the High scoring games there is a special type of Entertainment generated by the low scoring games.For Low scoring games a special board was painted which had most of the squares as DOT BALLS.

Also sometimes the games tend to charged up either due to the Crowd Noise or the Sledging Wars between the Bowler and the Batsman.For this kind of Game a separate board was painted with every square having either Boundary,Six or a Wicket, in which every square is richly illustrated which is called the Electifying Cricket Board.

Indeed Twenty Twenty was invented long back in the form of Book Cricket which was lost in the missing pages of Folklore ,due to the advent of Video Games.

This blog wants to just add on to this amazing blog by Ashok.As he says the IPL reminds the generation that was in shcool before the period when ‘what’ became ‘wat’ and ‘colour’ became ‘color’ , about the Book Cricket.

I think Ashok is not the first person to see the similarities….Probably he is the first to write a blog on it. I remember Sherry (Navjot) telling to Sonali of NDTV about the similarities of Book Cricket with the twenty Twenty format of the game during the T20 world cup.

The similarities, I see is that the way the runs are scored are never cared for….the shot selection is never a thing to be technically discussed by the Cricket Experts sitting in the TV room.
And the most important similarity of them all ; In both forms of cricket i.e. the OMI ( One Minute International) and the Twenty Twenty ….the number of runs scored by the batsman is always greater than the number of balls faced , even if it is the most boring batsmen like Dravid,Laxman. Really nice to see Dravid scoring 38 off 31 balls.

Well, I will come to the point.I just want to show some other forms of book cricket that were prevalent in my school days …atleast in my school.

TYPE 1

The First one was almost the same as the one mentioned by Ashok, but in that form …when the last digit of the page number is ‘0′ , the batsman was considered Out.Nobody cared , how he got out …run out , bowled, lbw …nothing.

But some of the cricket enthusiasts also listened to the expert talks by Sunil Gavaskar ,Ravi Shastri, Tony Greig and Geoffrey Boycott after the match,wanted to raise the level of Book cricket equal to the standards of the real ones,so that the book cricket can also be analysed by the (hidden) cricket expert in them.Hence, they designed a new way of playing Book Cricket.

The last digit of the page number was taken as the number of steps to go forward in the runs and wicket maze as shown below.Whenever we got ‘0′ as the last digit,we considered it as a ‘DOT BALL’. Hence, the DOT BALL in book cricket was introduced.

It’s quite evident from the picture that the various way the batsmen got out was also introduced to Book Cricket.Experts now had loads of things to talk about the batsmen’s poor run of form.

TYPE 2

The other form of Book cricket was perhaps born out of influence from the metro channel’s superhit game show “Metro Dhamaka”.The picture below shows why

This game demanded a Safety Pin to be used as Willow.Boys didn’t have the Safety Pin.

So , the boys got some reason to talk to the girls in the first bench and ask them a safety pin for playing this form of book cricket.

Somehow , this form of book cricket never took off as it was mostly being distracted my the curious girls (owner of the Safety Pin) who come to the last bench and see what these guys are playing with the Safety Pin.Hence, the games mostly resulted in NO RESULT due to Kadalai ( putting groundnuts) sessions that lasted as long as the CCA periods ( Co-Currivular Activity periods on Thursdays).

Anyway, none of these forms of book-cricket nor the most basic form of book-Cricket now exists.Thanks to Video Games and various other factors…

I met my old school buddy who happens to be working in the same company I work for but for a different client.I found his room in a shockingly Kuppaified with dust,books,movie DVDs and a whole lot of Linux OS CDs ( which came along with PC quest magazine)

He showed me his Colombo trip photographs.I got to talk to him about the Linux.Being a Semi-Geek , I have heard a lot about Open Source , Linux blah blah.My friend Mouli who happens to be A COMPLETE GEEK kind of guy was really into the Open Source.Since, in one of my recent blogs one of the readers gave me this comment “Finally, i gave up windows and turned to linux…and lived happily ever after!!! ” I started the interest to get into Linux thereafter.

Following blog is not a serious blog on Linux and Windows like this one ,nor it is a confession blog like this one , neither it is a blog by this guy who confuses Physics and History with Operating Systems(Just Kidding), but simply a conversation that happened between me(A SEMI-GEEK) and my friend Mouli(A COMPLETE GEEK)

me: Dei ! What do you think about Linux da.

Mouli: Dei ! What is this you are asking . The Whole world knows about it.It’s open source and very robust.

me: Really ! I too have heard of that ….in one of my recent blogs someone told that “after installing Linux I happily lived ever after”

Mouli:Ha ha ! Obviously.Linux is developed by the people around the world, hence the problems are immediately handled by the passionate developers spread across the world.

me: You mean to say that it’s all about “Wisdom of Crowds”

Mouli: Wisdom of Crowds ah ?? What is that buddy ?

me: Athanda ! the current phenonmenon of Web 2.0 in the internet.Wikipedia and all

Mouli : Ah yes yes !!! something similar to that.If there are so many developers , obviously a defective product can never survive yah .

me: Hmmm ….”With the Million eyeballs the defect can’t survive longer”

Mouli : Yenna da aatchi ….I am not able to get you what are you asking

me : Okay da ! As I told you One of my blog readers once said after installing Linux …he happily lived ever after … I also want to live like that.So tell me ..is it really possible with Linux

Mouli: Yes ..to some extent it’s true.Windows really sucks da !!

me: Okay ! I have experienced a lot of trouble installing Linux in my PC until I was frustrated.

Mouli : Yeah that happens if you are going for a Corporate version of Linux like the RED HAT Linux and all.Though that too is easy , but generally that is considered quite longer than the Knowpix and Ubuntu.

me: Ubuntu !! I heard that it is the most user friendlier version . Is that true ?

Mouli : Hmmmmm…yeah …but Knowpix is also cool man.And the installation is damn easy man.I can show you now itself in 15 minutes.

me : Oh Really !! then show me the installation.

[ Mouli takes the CD from the case ]

me : Dei ! tell me. Isn’t it like people love Linux just because they hate Microsoft.

Mouli: Who said ?

me: I am saying that .

Mouli : Dei …you have gone crack man

me: See ! Linux is definitely not user friendly …atleast not as user friendly as Microsoft.Is that true

Mouli: Partially true because you have to install many plugins to fully utilise the linux.But there are versions like this one [shows the Knowpix 5.1.1 CD] in which you do not have to do anything ….just a command ..and everything is taken care by the CD. You know this is a Live CD.I do not have to install it on my PC.You can work from the CD itself.

me : really ??

Mouli : Amman da !! About the userfriendliness it’s pretty good.You will fall in love with Linux.

me: ohh !! Show me it’s userfriendliness then .Let’s see if it can make me fall in love with Linux or not.[While Mouli inserts the CD to the lappy and types the command "knowpix lang=US screen=800X600" ].Also tell me a feature here , which you love the most.

Mouli: The Graphics is damn good man . I also like the Sound.

me: hmmm…that’s it ???

Mouli: Yes . That’s the only command.

me : Wow man !! Okay . I have a question for you .

Mouli : Yeah sure .

me: Do you really think that Linux is successful enough ?

Mouli: why not man ? It is

me : I don’t think so . May be it has been powering the 85 % of the supercomputers around the world and the top ten internet websites too, it has really not reached the grass levels.

Mouli: Which Grassroot levels you are talking about.

me: The Layman level.See People tend to prefer Windows to Linux ..generally ..they do not go for linux because it is quite difficult to install and also there is an X factor.

Mouli: There is no X-Factor man.You find Linux the most common among the tech people but about the Layman that too in India ..it is true that Windows is THE DEFAULT OS because Microsoft has captured the Indian market before anyone else.And generally Indians have a tendency to accept everything they get.If you go to Italy , no one uses Windows….My friend who was in Italy for somedays …said “Da ! it’s very difficult to find a Windows system here”.

me: Why ??

Mouli: People do not want to pay anything for OS and the softwares.Even in Indonesia ..Windows is an Endangered OS.

me : Ha ha ha !! Endangered OS ….that is really good.But why not in India ?

Mouli: See man !!! Indians are always ready to do anything that is mischievous.We are ready to pay for the Pirated versions of Software.Software Piracy still exists because of Windows.If you are a real Nyasthan , you would go for Linux or buy the original version of the softwares.Basically , I would say , Microsoft has capitalised in the No-Man’s lands….i.e. mostly in the Third World Coutries.

me: [Giggles] That’s true ….we are ready for anything …

Mouli: If you are a tech person you would by default prefer Linux to Windows.

me: Caught you again !! Why only the Techs ….

Mouli: You got to know the commands sometimes…[Shows the Wine application]

me: Oh Wine !! using this you can run a Windows apps in Linux right ??

Mouli: Exactly

me: Okay !! Another question is that about the Softwares.

Mouli : Yup

me: See …you know about Maya…it’s a software developed by Alias people.So if I want to use Maya in Linux OS , how will I get it. Since, Maya has been developed in a Windows based developement environment.

Mouli: Dei !!! there will be something almost like Maya in Linux version

me: How ?

Mouli : You are doing some blogging and all right . If you just shoot up some blog saying you want a Maya equivalent in Linux…within days you will get something as same as Maya.

me: You mean that will be newly developed by the Geeky Developers spread around the world.

Mouli: Yes

me : But that I am sure will not be as equal as Maya.

Mouli : Hmmm ! Yes . But if the Alias company decides to create a Linux version of Maya it will surely be as same as the Windows counterpart.

me: But only if the Alias company decides to do so, right ??

Mouli: Exactly.

me: Hey man ….it’s really an OS “By the Geeks , For the Geeks”

Mouli: Hmmm…ha ha ha …true to some extent…since Linux has always been a Geeky stuff.

me: Another question …. Does Hardware comes anywhere here.

Mouli: BSD 4 ….if you have BSD4 ..I think you can run both ..but my knowledge about it is also very less. Got to do some Googling today …Wait I will try.. [ tap tap tap ] ..Oh Sorry man! I have not configured Internet with the Linux…

me: Oh

Mouli: Wait I will do it..[Tap Tap Tap]

[ I get a call from home ...and ...been asked to come ASAP and to get some money from the ATM]

me: Okay da !! I think I have to leave now…will see some other day.

Mouli: And another thing is if Google decides to do something on Google OS ..which I think is the talk of the Web 2.0 Geeks like you…everything will change.

me: Yes man !!! I think Linux has been a Geeky stuff all the years but never was successful to overthrow the Microsoft completly from the Personal computer market as Microsoft always reached the Masses.

Mouli: Yes

me: Linux is like Aamir Khan [Real Actor] who preferred less number of movies but the really good ones and flawless…and Microsoft is like Salman Khan[ Actually More of a Star than an Actor] who always tried to reach for the Masses and never cared about the real quality of Acting.Here comes , Google which is like SRK [ amazing mix of Reaching to the masses and also brilliant acting ].It will be possible only by Google to overthrow Microsoft and not by Linux.The key is about reaching to the masses.

Mouli: Dei …what an Analogy da!! But there is a Security , Privacy , Offline ability issues with Google.

me: Regarding the Offline Ability , Google is already working on “Google Gears”.I think Goolge is also working on GoogleOS under the banner of Google Gears for sure.And regarding the Privacy and Security…I am sure Google should have some answers though I am not able to quote some examples.

Mouli: Why not man !! I will tell u one example . Orkut was criticized a lot about the privacy issues about the Scraps , Photos and Videos.But you see now, we have protected albums , scraps feature in Orkut though I agree that there are some malicious applications to available to break the locked albums.

me: Hmmm !!! Google is all about Innovation .It has the right mix of Innovation and the Wisdom of Crowds principle.There is really a lot more good about Google…which will be my next blog…”G for Google, G for Gandhi” or “God”

Mouli : Gandhi ah ????

me: Just wait it out ….the blog will be a superhit ..just like the Ramayana blog.

Mouli: Hmmm…I just can’t wait for that blog man .. he he.By the way ..why you do Blogging ?

me: Hmmm I decided to get paid by Google AdSense ….[ Laughs ]

Mouli: yeah man …how many hits you get on an average …

me: hmmm nearly 25 everyday …and on some best days ..it’s nearing 100….98 is my maximum.

Mouli: Great man ….I too have to learn about AdSense then…ha ha

me: You give me this Knowpix CD …I will get baptised to Linux from today and will see if I will be “happy ever after” or not.

Mouli: I think …. Geeks have found the Happiness in Linux …but it will be Google that will have to come up with GoogleOS …OS in Browser itself ….. as a Messiah for the Laymen.

me: True ! you are correct.I am leaving man ….just give me the CD…I will return it tommorrow….

Mouli : Okay da ..See you then.

ABOVE WAS A CASUAL CONVERSATION BETWEEN ME AND MY FRIEND….IF YOU WANT TO ADD SOMETHING OR FELT SOMETHING WHICH WE DISCUSSED WAS WRONG …PLEASE COMMENT

Also an Open question to you ……Is the message conveyed by this image (taken from here) true

Postscript:

One blog that compares Linux with the Bitchiness is here.Good one.