Gauging Harsha

Yes, writing a book review is harder than writing it, I compleatly agree. Latest assignment of writing a book review to a book which I have not already read was challenging and pretty tough, after going through many sites and reviews of books, I thought I have learnt the straight drives and cover drives of it, What better book to choose to write a review on than a Book which had written introduction by Sachin,The Mastro himself . The Book brought two people whom I admired a lot, together. One Sachin Himself and the other Harsh Bhogle.

I couldn't resit my temptation to buy this Book at landmark, though it was costly. "Out of the Box: Watching the Game We Love" - By Harsh Bhogle, The subtle way he drives home the serious points is simply amazing.When Harsha first came into the commentary box, he brought with him a rare sense of excitement, a deep regard for the game's traditions and a profound empathy for its players. There was,the boy-next-door image attached to him too, which, once he had found his feet in television, made him the first superstar of the game in India who was not actually a player. Amazingly, after two decades Bhogle retains the enthusiasm and a child-like wonder that communicates itself to the listener. There are no fans like 12-year-old fans, some one once said, and Bhogle is a 12-year-old fan bringing the game into our drawing rooms without the cynicism or world-weariness common to journalists. This is remarkable. Nor is there word-weariness, if this book, the short pieces in which were written first for the Indian Express is any indication. The first of the pieces was written some five years ago. For a traditionalist, it is surprising that he begins with the Twenty20 - he was associated with the Mumbai Indians in the IPL - before moving on to Test cricket and assessment of the great players.

Harsha really writes well, and conveys to the reader a sense of immediacy, even urgency, as he comments on India's matches, looks forward or throws a backward glance, and occasionally gets personal (some of the best pieces, incidentally, like his column on the 1983 World Cup triumph). This is both the strength and the weakness of the book. The immediacy captures a moment, but occasionally suggests that the tyranny of the looming deadline has triumphed over the need for what he himself calls "weightiness". In a crisp summing up in the preface, he says, "While television rewards spontaneity, the written word demands weightiness. It is a completely different genre but one that is crippled by insensitivity to words."

Yet, there are enough gentle strokes of the brush, especially in the player portraits, that make up for this. Rahul Dravid, he says, "is like the musician plucking each note carefully, a scientist doing a titration where each drop matters. Sehwag might wonder at the need for it." The metaphors come thick and fast, and the comparisons are bang on target. I have two grouses, however. One is the felt need to occasionally cater to the lowest common denominator by dragging in Bollywood to make a point, and the other is the lack of insider stories from a man who has seen Indian cricket, indeed world cricket, from inside out. It would also have been good to have some of his early writings, from the days when he was less rushed and wrote with an innocence that was charming. But that isn't his fault. This is a collection of columns from a specific newspaper over a certain period, and such columns have their limitations. It would have been lovely, too, to have had anecdotes about his colleagues in the commentary box, and stories of the people he has interviewed with such a wonderful combination of "weightiness" and fun. Bhogle's best work is yet to be anthologised, and for fans everywhere like me, that is something to look forward to.