The Final Reckoning!

Right. It's been twice unlucky, but there has been a lot of fast paced action and a whole lot of photography involved till now. Very nice indeed, but all would come to waste if we did not get to see the things that we came here for. The reason why the trip was called "Trip to Velas for TURTLE Sightings". Yes friends, if you did not guess already from my previous posts (here, here and here in order), we were here to witness TURTLES being born and making their way to the sea. Treks and Trails India had brought us here all the way from Mumbai and Pune for us to see this beautiful event happening! I was sure hoping it would not go to waste!

So enough of the intro suspense thriller that the first paragraph brought (or so I hope!). Let's get down to business.

Time : 5.20 AM

Place : Velas Village (I think that the village is named after the beach, if not then I do know someone who reads this will correct me in my comments, and I get that many more hits on my blog! *WINK*)

The alarm rings. I wake up. AND IT'S FREEEZZZZIIIINNNNGGGGGGGG!!!!!! Early mornings at this place are very VERY cold. So cold that you would get stuck to the bed, and you would not be able to get up. So cold that if you open the tap, the water would not reach the sink, and would freeze mid air. So cold that...... OK i'm just over dramatizing the coldness, but you get the picture.

I wake up to see my blanket gone! VANISHED INTO THIN AIR! Was this why I had painstakingly washed and neatly folded my blanket in my bag? So much effort gone to waste. CHA! So I wake up and search around in the darkness, trying to find my blanket. And there it is, neatly covering my dearest best friend who had taken the bed right next to me. I turn around, and see a whole set of blankets lying unused. WHAT THE! HOW CAN HE! OMG! THERE WERE SO MANY BLANKETS THERE AND HE COULDN'T USE ANY ONE OF THEM! After that "WTF" moment, I proceeded to give him one tight slap, and go ahead and have my bath before he could realize what hit him.

By the time everyone got up and got ready, it was time to go to the beach for the final time. THE FINAL RECKONING! Would we be third time lucky? Or would the Gods conspire against us this time, and deny us this beautiful sighting?

The suspense fills the atmosphere around the beach. Tensions rise. You can feel the tension in the air.

Organizers : Let's open Basket No. 1.... (opens basket no.1)

OOOFFFF... AFSOS!! Nothing there

Crowd : BOOOOOOO!!!

Organizers : Let's now open Basket No. 2!!! (builds the tension by going slowly to the second basket)

OOOFFFFF..... NOT HATCHED YET HERE EITHER!!

Crowd : OH NOOO!!

Organizers : On to Basket No. 3 we go! (Builds the tension... ok you get the drift now...and if you feel a sense of deja vu, fear not! A copy-paste operation just happened here)
AAAANNNNNNDDDDDD... LO AND BEHOLD! WE GOT A STRIKE! 2 IN FACT! 

Crowd : YAAAAYYY YIIPPEEEEE!!

Me : I'm glad we got to see 2 turtles atleast! TRIP NOT A COMPLETE WASTE. I got to see my awesome photographer skills AND see the turtles! I guess Treks and Trails India were right in calling this VELAS BATCH 2 (Get it? Batch 2...2 turtles... No?)!! HIGH FIVES!!

FINALLY. NOT JUST 1 BUT 2 OF THEM! YAAAAY!

Another sighting of the reaction of the general public.

A few of us had a feeling that something would happen this time around (You know, our photographer instinct always kicks in at the right time.) So, us photographers started hatching strategies in order to get the best seats in the house to take the awesomest pictures of the 2 turtles moving to the sea.

Prime Strategist (AKA Me) : "OK. So we are expecting it to happen, right? Why simple stand at the enclosure then? Let us go ahead and stand by the beach in the perfect positions now itself! I am sure they will all come here itself and thus we get our prime seats! YIPPEE"

Subordinate Strategist : "Ummmm... All that's good, but what if they don't come to where we are and go else where?"

Prime Strategist : "ELEMENTARY WATSON! We will move accordingly!!"

Secondary Strategist : "?!?!?"

Prime Strategist : "LET'S GO GO GO!!!"

So, as soon as we saw the green light, we tried running (of course with the sand it was pretty tough running) towards the sea and took up the best seats in the beach! WE WILL DEFINITELY TAKE SUPER AWESOME PICS NOW! And, of course, witness the event!

The enclosure's made. The turtles take their catwalk to the ocean from here.

So we took our prime locations, and started clicking away! The turtles were so kind to us, they even came all the way towards us just to pose!

WEEEE!! I want to flyyyyyy!!!

OK! Wait! I'm coming towards you. AREY WAIT NA! You will get your super awesome clicks! DON'T WORRY!

And that was that. The grand finale. Done and dusted. Our money's worth seen. And delivered. We were happy. End of story.............or not!

This was not the end! We still had the rest of the day to go! What did we do in the meanwhile?!

After seeing the turtles off on their voyage, it was time to head back to the village, freshen up, have breakfast and leave for the temple at Harihareshwar. At breakfast, each one of us was asked to give a feedback video to the resident videographer and professional photographer (RVPP) (well, he did have a lot to learn from me, but I let it go this time...). We were given very strict instructions on how and what to talk in the video.

1. The video would last only 20 seconds.
2. You would tell your name, what you do (if you want), and a brief feedback on Treks and Trails and the trip in general.

Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, thankfully there were no Gultis (People from Andhra Pradesh) in our trip. Imagine what would have happened then.

RVPP : OK Buddy, your time.... starts... NOW!

Gult : Hello! My name is Venkatesh Rama Lovely Kattamuri Krishna Kumuri Vemuru Lakshmana......

RVPP : ....AAAAANNNNDDD that's it! Your time is up!

Gult : ...Chandrasekhara Rao.. WHAT!! I haven't even finished my name! What about the feedback?!?!?!

RVPP : NEXT!

Gult : :| :S :|

Once the video session was done and we had our food, it was time to head to Harihareshwar! As usual, the roads were narrow and very tricky to drive on, but leave it to the super awesome bus drivers to take us to our destination in no time! We had to ferry through a river to reach our destination.

A bit about Harihareshwar...Harihareshwar is a town in Raigad district, in Maharashtra, India. It is surrounded by four hills named Harihareshwar, Harshinachal, Bramhadri and Pushpadri. Harihareshwar Temple complex has two adjacent temples. The smaller Kalbhairav temple is expected to be visited first, before entering the main Harihareshwar temple housing an ancient Shiva Linga. (That last paragraph means I DID get something from GOOGLE Uncle. Pretty satisfied with my research, I decide to show the fruits of my efforts to all of you!)

After the visit to the temple, it was time for lunch! And we were famished! We were fortunate enough to go to a restaurant that served non-veg too! What's a trip to the coastline without yummy seafood, right?

Look at their faces. The satisfaction of having sea food! 

And to add to it, those who finished their lunch late got free ice-cream! I take this opportunity to profusely thank the person who went out of their way to having those ice-creams and the seafood delivered to us to gorge on! Much appreciated indeed!

And that was it! We got into the bus and in no time we were in Mumbai. Along the way, we were whiling our way our time, reminiscing on the trip that was, and finding innovative ways to display movie names like "Astitva" and "Rakhwalla" to the junta who were willing enough to play a game of dumb charades.

And thus ended the trip! All of us were so sad that it got over! I thank Treks and Trails India, and in particular Mr. Ankit Savla, Ms. Bijal Gala Savla and Mr. Hiren Vora for organizing this trip, and for giving me memories that I would cherish for the rest of my life!!

To Bankot and the Second time

Please read Part 1 of the trip HERE, and Part 2 HERE.

OK. So we were unlucky first time, and had the rest of the day, till evening to while away before going to the beach for the second attempt. What do we do?

After getting ready and having breakfast, we were off to see the Bankot fort. A bit about the fort first....Or maybe not, Google uncle will help you out anyways. (This also means I couldn't get much from Google, hence the need to put it in a very sophisticated manner. HA!)

So we reached the fort at around 12 (which means we were supposed to reach at 11. Leave it to us to reach every place on time!), and went about doing what we did best. Posing in front of the camera when someone was taking a beautiful picture of the scenery, trying to capture the essence of the moment! (OK I'm guessing by now this same theme is running around most of the posts. But then, what else do we do when we go to a fort other than pose for photographs and.....well.... click them!)

Anyone notice the pyramid like structure in this photo? No?

Probably the best picture of the fort....showing the valley below. Gives an aesthetic feel to the fort, the right feeling. And the last few sentences makes me sound like the professional photographer that I am!

Had to take this picture from Google, because I did not find any photo taken of the front of the fort in any of the pictures!!!

After spending a couple of hours enjoying the sights of the fort and the scenery around it, and posing for photographs, it was time to go back to the village for lunch and our afternoon siesta. The road back is very narrow. So narrow, in fact, that the bus we were in could not take a few turns! Finally we reached, had lunch and was ready to take a nap.

But NO! HOLD ON A MINUTE! If you just wanted to sleep, you could do that at home too! Why simply travel so long just to have a few hours of shut eye?! BAH! NO WAY IS THAT HAPPENING! So a few of us grouped together, took out a pack of cards, and started deciding what game to play.

Now, if you are in a group, coming up with a game to play with a pack of cards is a herculean task in itself. I'm sure Hercules himself would have said "WTF I cant do this!" and gone somewhere else where and taken a nap.

"Let's play rummy! Everyone knows the game, and its easy to play. COMEON!"

"NO DUDE! Lame game. This place needs some spice, let's play DONKEY" (I go "Donkey" and "spice" don't mix together!)

"Chal hatt! What donkey konkey you are talking about, I know this truly epic game called Mafia! It is the best game ever!"

And thus the game was decided! You would think that now we would go about the business of actually playing the game. BUT NO! We had to decide how to play the game itself! Apparently the game had a lot of twists, and sub twists, and sub sub twists! It would have taken Sherlock a long time to figure out all the puzzle pieces that went on to finalizing the way the game had to be played.

The game brought out the cunningness in everyone. Absurd accusations were flying left, right and center!!

"You are the killer because I can raise my hand and it points to you!"

"WHAT?! Me? No ways man, I am being schemed here, the real murderer is him, because his name starts with an M!!!"

"Somebody has been very quiet this whole time......laughing from within huh?!?! YOU ARE THE KILLER!!"

All this was made even more interesting with the moderator, directing the discussion in such a way that it kept us on our toes the whole time!! We did try with another moderator, but was soon back to the master mayor, willing the city and its residents on a murder mystery to find the ultimate killer!!!!

And just like that, it was evening! THE SECOND COMING! TIME TO FINALLY SEE THOSE TURTLES HATCHING AND GOING TO THE SEA! All of us got ready and rushed to the beach, early enough so that we would get those coveted seats this time too! Unfortunately, the public were WAAAYYYY ahead of us in the game.

The crowd that was already at the place by the time we reached. OK maybe I'm exaggerating a bit here. Or am I?

So we got those last few places that were remaining. The wait ensued. Where were the organizers? Why were they taking so long? Where were the turtles? Were they hatched? Or were they still inside? Why am I asking so many questions which actually din't arise at that time? What is 2343 multiplied by 4532? (HA If you guys haven't read till here, GOTCHA!!!! Otherwise, read on... )

The organizers arrive at the enclosure. Tensions rise.

Organizers : Let's open Basket No. 1.... (opens basket no.1)

OOOFFFF... AFSOS!! Nothing there

Crowd : BOOOOOOO!!!

Organizers : Let's now open Basket No. 2!!! (builds the tension by going slowly to the second basket)

OOOFFFFF..... NOT HATCHED YET HERE EITHER!!

Crowd : OH NOOO!!

Organizers : On to Basket No. 3 we go! (Builds the tension... ok you get the drift now)

AAAAAANNNDDD... It's a negative... NEXT TIME GUYS! (Swiftly goes away from scene)

Crowd : (Doesn't know what to do, just looks at each other)

OK. Not to be this time either. SPARTANS!! LET'S MOVE ON!

So we were unlucky the second time as well. But, as we moved towards the beach, we saw the sunset, and what a sight it was! As usual, for me, it made for some super awesome outstanding clicks that no one else would ever be able to take ever!

Did I specifically tell them to position themselves at those particular positions? Or did it just happen on its own? You'll never know!

So after an evening full of sun set photo shoots, shadow figure shoots, a bit of beach football and 100 m dash running races, it was time to head back to the village for the night. 

The night sky at the beach and the village was stunning! Mumbai would never get to see such a flurry of stars shining brightly in the sky! It was well worth just standing and staring at the sky, seeing the massive worlds that lay in front of us, and imagining how small and tiny we were in this entire universe!

After the sky gazing, all of us had dinner, where we photographers had very interesting conversations on how to take the ideal picture, what would be the ISO, exposure and what not needed in order to take pictures of moving objects, still objects, animals, self portraits and what not. As I was way above all that, I decided to just stay mum and hear the conversation happening. Because, you know, if I did start, all the others would just keep quiet. Or go away. Or both!

Soon it was time for bed. I took my blanket out and slept in a room inside, and my dearest friend soon came and took the remaining bed that was spread in that room. It was lights out at 10.30 PM, as we had a long day ahead the next day!

So would we be third time lucky? How would the next day go? Read on here!

At Las Velas!

To read the first part, please go here.

OK. So where were we... Ah yes! The suspense! What is it that I can do? Can I get my talents out in the open?!

Out comes my friend to the rescue! Fortunately he happened to bring his dearest 600D camera (Not to be mistaken with the D600 camera. Apparently one's a Canon and the other a Nikon. Of course, I knew it all along, with my inherent photographer professional skills and all)

Me : My dearest buddy in the whole wide world!!! What's that you have in your bag?

Friend : It's called a camera dude.

Me : (Thinking fast before anyone could question my thorough professional skills in this area)... ummmm.. I KNEW THAT! HA! Can this camera take photographs at EXIF: f/5.3 | 1/40s | ISO-800 | 67mm??

Friend : ?!?!

Me : (Thank God for copy paste and Google I can still make myself look like a thorough professional in front of everyone!! I AM SAVED! YAAY!) Dude.. you know nothing. Give me that camera!

And thus I get my hands on a DSLR!!!

Now, it was time for the local team to go to the hatchery and check out the baskets where the eggs were carefully placed to see if any of them had hatched. We happened to get the prime seats to witness this event. All of us photographers sat right at the best locations, took our tripod stands and waited with bated breath!

The look on the faces of the people waiting to see the event.

Would there be turtles to see? Would we be first time lucky? Or would the worlds conspire against us and prevent us from witnessing this great event?

ALAS it was not to be this time. None of the eggs had hatched fully. "You will definitely see something this evening or next morning!!! DEFINITE!" Said the drama inducing, suspense generating organizers of the event.

What?! I was clean shaven when I came here! My beard has grown but the turtles haven't hatched! NOOOOOOO!

Having had failure in the first attempt, we moved on to the beach to see the sun rise, the calm ocean and experience the cool breeze. For me, however, being the professional photographer and all, I had the entire stage to myself. I could see a photo in everything, from the raging buffalo to the distant Supramax 50000 DWT ship, everything had a 1337 (elite in case you were wondering) photo waiting to be uncovered. And sold at the Jehangir Art Gallery. MASSIVE PROFIT MAKING OPPORTUNITY!

So I got started, and started clicking photos at every moment. People came to me saying "Hey! Looks like you are the thorough professional! Too many photos you have clicked man! Do show them to me! I would like to learn from you!" and I would go "All in due course my friend, it is an art not learnt by all!"

So what happens next? Do I get to see the turtles on Saturday itself? Is it second lucky? What do we do in the meanwhile? Please read it HERE.

Off to Las Velas!

It all started 2 weeks ago. A friend of mine and me were having a certain fermented grain mash drink and enjoying the best home made mutter paneer that the world could make, when suddenly my friend remembers something.

Friend : DUDE! There is this awesome trip organized by Treks and Trails to this place called Velas in Ratnagiri, where the annual Turtle fest would be happening! It's going to be so awesome! The Olive Ridley Turtles get to see land only during this time!! All the eggs laid on the beach are collected and placed in a common hatchery which is barricaded from all sides and is guarded throughout the day. Each morning at 0700 and evening at 1730-1800 the baskets covering the lid are open to check if any turtles have hatched, if they have they are counted and carefully laid in another basket and taken closer to the water. They are then gently placed on the sand and they slowly make their way to the water. Their first baby steps are not only endearing to watch but also important if it is a female, as she records in her memory the site of her birth only to return here after 15 years to lay her eggs!! There's going to be lots of people in the group! I'm going, are you game?

What I heard : DUDE!..... awesome trip.... Treks and Trails...............Lots of people! (The grain mash did have its effect of course)

Having worked in the corporate world and mastered the art of the ultimate survival kit, I realized that the last word was the strategic word I needed to make my move.

Me : RIGHT ON DUDE!! CHEERS! LET'S GO GO GO!!

And thus started the trip to the Turtle festival!

We now go to Friday evening, when the bus would pick us up from selected places within Mumbai before going to the destination, about 4 hours away from Mumbai. The bus was scheduled to reach Dadar at 11 PM. I had packed up my bag and with full enthu walked the way from my home to the pickup point, where I met up with the Leader of the Group, his wife and their cutest, sweetest little daughter.

Others in the group started coming in a bit later. I took this opportunity to introduce myself to them, you know, to get to lighten up the mood, and to get to know a few of the chicks (yeah all us men are alike! :P)

Me : Hey! I'm Kartik.

She : Hi... I'm xyz... (and goes back to looking at her mobile phone frantically moving those opposable thumbs in a quick typing motion)

Me : ummmmm...... (looking around. Find another guy in the Group)

He : Hey.. I'm abc  (and goes back to looking at his mobile phone frantically moving those opposable thumbs in a quick typing motion)

Me : (Thinking the world has been taken over by smartphones. There is no need for aliens to come here to take over the world.. Smartphones have already done that!)

Meanwhile, I keep getting a whole lot of messages on my smartphone. I look it up to see what all the activity was going on, only to find that the Velas Whatsapp Group was full of activity!

An excerpt from the same is given below

Guy 1 : Reaching place in 2 minutes

(after 2 seconds)

Guy 1 : Reaching place in 1 minute

Gal 1 : Bus has reached Goregaon

(Picture of some mall posted)

Guy 2 : GUYS BUS GOING TOO FAST! IM JUST OUT OF MY HOUSE... please don't mind if I'm late..

xyz : I am here at Dadar now. (AHHA so THAT's what she was doing!)

Guy 1 : Reaching place in 2 seconds

Guy 1 : Reached

Guy 1 : In bus

Guy 1 : Bus started from Goregaon, reaching Bisleri in 5 mins

......

I now understood why everyone around me was so engrossed in their phones, and I went back to listening to the radio. Finally in sometime the bus came, and we were all in! Only 2 more stops and we were on our way! W00T!

Me, being the smart one, thought "I might as well sit in the back, so that when my friend comes we can sit together and then talk and what not!". So I ran in first into the bus and went directly to the back and took a seat. Oh, how I would regret having done that.

If you are taking the bus to the place, please take with you some padding for your bum. You would really need it during the bus ride to the place. The route was a rollercoaster of a ride! There were so many bumps and speed breakers that you could not shut your eye for even half a minute before you were thrown to orbit. Add to it the bus going at full speed, and my pathway to the moon was only blocked by the ceiling of the bus.

We reached Velas at 6.30 in the morning, next day. The plan was to go to the rooms given to us, freshen up and then go to the beach for the first attempt at seeing the hatchings. But, as you would know, nothing happens on time over here. If we say 6 AM, we actually mean 6.30-6.45 ish. This meant that we had to get out of the bus, all dreary eyed and walk past some mangroves to the beach to get to the enclosure where the turtles were being hatched.

And I was astounded by the scenery of the beach. The mountains to the north and south, and the rising sun from behind was a magnificient sight to see! The silence and calmness of the sea was a great break from the loudness and the cacaphony of Mumbai. I could have spend all day just lying down and gazing at the scenery ahead of me all day. If only the summers wern't so hot here!

I suddenly felt an intense need to capture the moment. Capture the essence of what was the Velas beach. Capture what would be a memory to cherish for the rest of my life! Yes, my dear friends, the photographer in me had come out! Only one problem though, I did not have any camera. CRISIS! What do I do?

To know more, you would have to read the next part in this series!(Wah! I loved the suspense created in this ending! :D)

The Bald Chronicles

OK. So this is something that everybody seems to be facing these days. They cannot do away with it, or wish it away. The Thailavar himself, the one and only Rajnikanth, has it! Not even he can get away from it! This seems to be the one way ticket to all things related to doom and gloom. Rather, that's what all those hair products say!

In the little time that I have had almost no hair, I have begun noticing the small changes in my life, which I am chronicling here. Some of them are real, some of them just made up in an attempt to revive this blog, which has been really really dormant! In any case, because of the sheer number of people in this world, I am pretty sure at least one person would be able to relate to these!

The opposite sex, in their quest to evaluate you to make their holy matrimonial decision, would be completely blinded by the bright light reflecting from off your head, that they would miss out on seeing the sheer awesomeness that the rest of your face brings. You are already at a disadvantage when you realize your prospective partner making a Chinese face (-_-) (that was an attempt at the Chinese face, in case you were wondering) when talking to you, or holding her hand next to her eyes when facing you to talk to you. This is a guarantee of impending doom in your quest to get the desirable mate. To combat this, you go to a rather dark place with her. Of course, you tell the prospective mate that you want to have the "ambience" while talking to them! Very smooth indeed!

So you start combating this lack of hair by developing another skill. After all, its not the hair that matters, right? You will try to show off this new skill to her, to take her mind away from the "doom" that lies right in front of her face. Probably show off by cracking a few jokes. That ought to work, right? I'd say if any chick likes this blog post, I'm already halfway to developing my extra skill! *Wink Wink*

Your parents start giving very small references to your hairline in each and every sentence they speak with you, be it over the phone or in person. You will start hearing very subtle references to "grafting" operations when you are with them. This is almost always followed by the impending doom that awaits you if you do not do anything about the hair situation.

"How will any ponnu (tamil for girl) marry you?"

"Look at this boy, he has so many cases, its the hair!"

"Ayyooo Rama! Please do something about your hair, there is no way a girl is going to meet you! They will all stop at the photograph stage itself!"

"Here apply this oil everyday in the morning, massage it for good 15 minutes, all your hair will come back! And so will those ponnus!"

You have to give it to them though, they are more worried than you, given you don't have any candidates for matrimonial harmony yet. And with each passing day, your hairline isn't advancing.

So, in your quest to hide the effects of an impending baldom, you start combing your hair, or whatever is left of it, in such a way that the entire world "thinks" that all is hunky dory on the top of your head. In fact, more time will be spent next to the mirror moving each hair in place than in your breakfast table in the morning. That is a FACT! If that doesn't work, in comes those hats. Of course, hats won't work when you have to go to work in a corporate company. Your hand will spend most of its time on your head, moving the hair in place to make sure most of the bald head is camouflaged. This is in addition to what you would do in front of the mirror, when you walk, when you talk, it's like an automation that you have programmed your hand to do.

The colour of your hair wouldn't matter much at this time. You would actually be happy if you see white hair, because that is always better than having no hair, right? Each hair falling (from your head, of course) in your line of sight is met with the loudest shriek you will ever hear. It will be so loud that your neighbours will come running scared thinking that a murder happened at your place!This is in the beginning, however. Later on, you realize "Meh... just another one... tell me something new!" and go on to doing your usual hair camouflaging that you do in the morning.

You now try to use other accessories to camouflage the lack of hair at the top. You do this by wearing "reading" glasses, getting that intellectual look. Or even better, shave your hair off entirely, thus not having to worry about the lack of it.

You begin to notice the lack of hair in every person passing by. That would be the first thing you notice, and you try to find solace in the fact that everyone is in the same boat as you (rather you THINK they are in the same boat as you).

You always try to blame the baldness as a "heriditary" condition. But, lets face it.

Your grandparents started getting bald when they were 60

Your parents started getting bald when they were 40

You started getting bald when you were 20...

What about your children? Are they going to be born bald?

All in all, it does look like all's lost. Baldness is here to stay, and it's an everyday battle you will face from the day it starts to keep the rest of the hair in place. I wish all those people in this position all the very best! Rock on! Or rather, I should say, Hair on!

My entry in an MOOC - Diving in Football

It's been very busy busy over the past few weeks. Having nothing to do before other than read football articles on the web and stare at any update coming on facebook after office hours, I came upon this site on my College alum forum, and decided to take a plunge at a couple of Massively Open Online Courses (MOOC) (I do recommend Coursera to everyone, it's a great way to recap your past learnings and, if you pay a nominal amount, get verified certificates to prove you have done something!)

As part of one of the courses I was doing (A Beginner's Guide to Irrational Behaviour by Dan Ariely), we were asked to identify an irrational behaviour and provide solutions to solve this behaviour. The following entry below was my entry to this assignment. I would love to hear opinions/feedback/ other possible solutions or anything else, for that matter, on this.

Diving in football

This is one of the issues that FIFA has been trying to solve for a long time now. Wikipedia defines diving as an attempt by a player to gain an unfair advantage by diving to the ground and possibly feigning an injury, to appear as if a foul has been committed. Alexandra Pizzera and Markus Raab, in their paper “Does Motor or Visual Experience Enhance the Detection of Deceptive Movements in Football?” define Deceptive movements as movements that purposely mislead the observer or opponent as to the attacker’s true intention or direction of movement. Dives are often used to exaggerate the amount of contact present in a challenge. Deciding on whether a player has dived is often very subjective, and one of the most controversial aspects of football discussion.

Whilst this behaviour was not detectable in yester years of the game, this has become very rampant in the modern version of the game. Consider the following statistics on the EPL by Opta:

1. A QUARTER of English Premier League football players who fall down after being tackled are diving
2. In the season of 2009-2010 in the EPL, a total of 168 yellow cards were shown for diving, dissent or swearing. That’s 1 card every 2 games. And these are simulations detected by the referees; there is a possibility of many more not being caught by the referees.)

This clearly shows that this behaviour is rampant in football, and there is a need to eradicate the same from the game.

Why is this behaviour problematic?

Say you are in the 85^th minute of the game. The team in red is in the penalty area going for goal against the blue team. The striker has the ball with him, and is dribbling the ball against the blue defenders. All of a sudden, the striker, while trying to go past a defender, simulates a dive and goes down like a pack of pins. The referee blows the whistle and indicates a penalty to the red team, much to the dismay of the blue team. Even worse, as it was a clear run on goal, the blue defender gets a straight red card, and the blue team is now down to 10 men. The red team scores the penalty and the blue team just doesn’t have the time to get back in the game.

The situation above happens quite a lot in the game. Players look for the minutest of opportunities to simulate a dive and gain unfair advantage. You can clearly see why this behaviour is problematic, and needs to be removed from the game.

Research on this behaviour

1. Tackling Diving: The Perception of Deceptive Intentions in Association Football (Soccer) [Paul H. Morris and David Lewis]: This talks about how footballers attempt to deceptively exaggerate the effect of a tackle, and also provides a taxonomy of typical behaviours associated with deceptive actions.
2. The act of simulation in football appears to be within the fudge factor range of honesty (Week 3 Lecture 1). This also creates a conflict of interest in the player, with the reward of simulation (a penalty or free kick and possible card to opposing player) being much higher than the loss if he does get caught (yellow card to player).
3. Does Motor or Visual Experience Enhance the Detection of Deceptive Movements in Football? [Alexandra Pizzera and Markus Raab]: This talks about whether motor and visual experiences enhance the detection of deceptive and non-deceptive actions in football. This study shows that prior visual experience in football was shown to enhance deception detection.

Solutions

• A solution based on the research is to train the referees through motor and visual training so that detection of the same increases during the match days. Training through videos increases the chances of the referees to catch such simulations on the field. However, this does not put the onus on the player to reduce the behaviour, and chances are that the behaviour would still continue, if not increase.

I believe that in order to greatly reduce this problematic behaviour in the game, the following would need to be followed:

• When a player is caught simulating in a game, the team is penalized a goal. The goal is the most important statistic in any game. So, penalizing the team for the simulation would induce the factor of loss aversion and the player would look at not simulating from next time onwards, as now the team would directly get penalized by a goal, rather than by something that could lead to a goal. We would also be reducing the fudge factor, as now the player committing the dive could be blamed for the loss of the team.
• In addition to this, we would introduce a simulation tax in the salary structure of each of the players. If the player is caught simulating, the amount, decided by the FA, would be deducted from the particular players salary. This would create a loss aversion on the individual player.

The age old Konundrum

PREFACE: All of the below is meant in good taste. :)

The most important decade of your life is probably the decade between 15-30. This is the time when a lot of things happen that potentially define the rest of your life, like:

1. You graduate from your college with a degree, and enter the world out there.
2. After a couple of years coding, get irritated with the sheer amount of copy pasting and googling involved, and prepare for your post graduation, and a means to reach ultimate happiness! For most of us, that would mean giving the CAT and entering the RAT race to get into those prestigious B-schools.
3. Go from a slim, athletic person to a plump, stout guy in a matter of a year or two, as the amount of idleness involved while in our professional lives takes a toll on our bodies. (Sometimes waking us up from our slumber and actually trying out those gyms to reduce and impress them lady professionals! ;))
4. Fall in love with someone on the way, and develop your emotional side for possible breakups or, if you are really really lucky, carry it forward to marriage!
5. For those not so lucky in finding that special one, have constant pressure from your relatives, parents, neighbours, other friends who are already married, till one fine day you say "OK FINE I'LL DO IT!", and start on your way to projecting your former slim self on portals specifically designed to ensure that  the better slimmer (on photos!!!) get to see other people who would have put similar covered up photos.

It is simply amazing how parents tend to motivate their children to go ahead in their life, especially during these few years. They almost always use extrinsic motivational techniques, and their most used, abused tool is the carrot and stick.

1. When you are a kid, you are in the tenth standard. Your first board exams!!!! GASP!! TOO MUCH TO STUDY!!! What do your parents tell you?? "Beta/Kutti/DAI (a very affectionate way of calling your kid in Tamil) you only have to study now. Your life will be made after this for sure!!!". You say to yourself "OK just a few more days to eternal happiness!" and somehow pass your board exams with flying colours.
2. Two years later, and you find yourself giving ANOTHER board exam. This time your XII boards. What do your parents tell you? "Beta.. you only have to study now. Your life will be made after this for sure!!!" You are at that stage in your life, where you think you have heard this before, but still think it cool that you need not study so much from now on, and give it one final push to pass your second board exams with flying colours.
3. Graduation. Again the same old studying and the need to pass your exams. What do your parents tell you? "DAI! Study now! Once you get your job your life is settled". You see, parents would ave learnt from the first two times that saying the same thing may not work the third time, hence they add another extrinsic motivation in your mind, a JOB. You think "Meh. I've heard this before. However, getting a job does sound interesting." And thus you reduce to cramming for the exams the last day and getting your degree.
4. A couple of years into your job, you realize you're through coding (I'm sure most Indians would think that, you B.Techers!). What do your parents say? "DEI! Do post graduation in MBA. You will get extra salary. Once you get new job your life will be made for sure!!". You think to yourself "Where have I heard THIS before?!?!".... but then do a simple comparison between coding now for X salary and showing that others have coded for 3X salary and realize that the benefits hugely outweigh any costs. You take the plunge and do your MBA.
5. You are now showing that others have coded for 3X salary. Life, ideally should look good and made for sure. WRONG. Parents say now "DEI! You have gotten good job with good salary and everything. Now bring good girl to family, and your life will be made for sure!!". You would also get subtle references life "Hey did you know it is your friends wedding next month?". You think " Will this ever end??" and start forecasting projected scenarios of how this could continue in the near distant future (After all, you do have to make some use of the things you learnt in your MBA, right?) and finally realize that this is a vicious cycle that will never end, for after the girl comes to the family, kids would make your life made. And by the time you achieve everything, you would have been primed to take this cycle ahead with your children.

All of the above happens when you are in your prime, and it is upto us to solve this age old konundrum. All the best to those of us who have almost completed this cycle, and to those who are just beginning on theirs!