RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR His name is Mark O’Meara. He was to golf what Arjuna Ranatunga was to cricket — a matter of steadfast temperament, perseverance, constancy, and professional design. The quaint similitude did not, however, end there. O’Meara, like the former Sri Lankan Test and one-day skipper, had every asset that champions are made of – […]
Category Archives: Compass
01
Dec
Dec
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR December 1974. The mood in the English cricket camp is anything but upbeat. It is as cold as the far-from-hospitable ‘bleak’ weather back home. Cricketing forays Down Under are, no less, under the cloud for a side that had, until then, been the epitome of professionalism — an English archetype. Mike Denness’ touring […]
01
Nov
Nov
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR A great all-rounder is too often a graceful character that instils a sense of fear, and awe, in the opposition. Keith Miller, a champion performer, from Down Under, espoused the description to a T. Miller, a terror in many a batsman’s mind, was a world-beater — all by himself. A giant of an […]
01
Oct
Oct
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR John Keats lived for just 25 years — and, yet, his literary reams of gold have left their imprint on the sands of time. As Percy Bysshe Shelley, another great poet, wrote, “He [Keats] has outsoar’d the shadow of our night;/Envy and calumny and hate and pain,/ And that unrest which men miscall […]
01
Sep
Sep
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR When tennis’ first ‘bionic’ woman Billie Jean King romped home to a grand triumph, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, against male chauvinist, and tennis’ self-appointed clown, Bobby Riggs, on September 20, 1973, women’s tennis received a shot in the arm like never before. This was not all. The King-Riggs’ ‘showdown’ was billed as the battle […]
01
Aug
Aug
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Just like how loneliness is agony worse confounded by murky isolation and solitude is bliss, optimism always emerges in the midst of growing turmoil. What can also turn the tide is simple — little drops of empathy that bring about more than a sense of harmony, or calm. This occurs primarily because of […]
01
Jul
Jul
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR William Faulkner was a consummate genius, a craftsman without a peer. He was wholly contingent on his writing prowess for his livelihood, and so he had to imperatively write what he thought would sell rather than what he wanted, or desired, to write. Despite such an allegory to life’s commonplace chemistry and basic […]
01
Jun
Jun
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR Test, or one-day, cricket isn’t a place for easy pickings. That Steve Waugh was always wont to post Test/one-day centuries, against every type of bowling, or wicket, against bowlers in full fury, or sheer chicanery, exemplified the diminutive cricketer’s pragmatic, intuitive abilities and sheer professionalism. That he had done it often — just […]
01
May
May
RAJGOPAL NIDAMBOOR There was nothing that he’d not do on the cricket field when in mood. He’d smash his way, when the chips were down, with the willow. He’d bowl a few unplayable deliveries and flummox the best batsmen in the business — without them knowing what transpired under their nose. He’d take a difficult […]