Read the First Line, Please

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 Black holes suck. Literally.
With these immortal words began an article in the first issue of our school science newsletter. The author of this particular article had an interest in physics. Regrettably, physics was robbed of an excellent mind before it had made proper contributions to the field. No, nothing happened to him. He just switched his field of interest. 

Anyways, this was in 2019. Weirdly enough, that's almost three years ago to the day. Funny how you realize that time has passed. One day, you're raring to take an exam, and the next, you're stuck at home for months on end because some idiot decided to eat bats. I'm not pointing fingers at anyone here; I'm just signaling with my eyes.

Before I forget, I'm pretty excited for the next couple of days. No, not because it's Valentine's week. That's a scam in every way imaginable, but moving on. Finally, the IPL auction is here, and it promises to be one cracker of an event. 

All the teams(10) had been allotted a humongous amount of money to spend in the auction. As the teams stand right now, Punjab has the maximum amount of money to spend, i.e., 72 crores. In other words, Punjab will be responsible for most of the bidding wars tomorrow. 

They are also the biggest entertainers in the auction hall, but that's thanks to Preity Zinta. Some men watch the auction due to their interest in cricket. Some watch it because of her. The cameramen are well aware of that, so it should come as no surprise when the camera pans to show her face after each player has been bought. It's not a bad sight, but it's a distraction-don't argue, you know it's true.

I am a supporter of KKR, which goes without saying, but I'm also a die-hard fan of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. I kid you not here-I'm as close to fanatical as I'll ever get, only for these two players. MSD too, but that's a different matter. As it happens, KKR, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai are among the teams with the lowest budgets in the auction. That doesn't mean they won't turn the auction on its head, though. In fact, I'm counting on them to do so. 

The brain works in strange ways. The most random things you notice, or think about, get associated with a very specific memory or a person. It doesn't even have to be an important or big thing; it just gets associated. That in itself isn't always an issue, though. It's when that thing ceases to be in your life that you start to miss it, and it's because of this habit of association. In many ways, it's a reflex action, but one which you have to unlearn with a conscious effort. It isn't easy, but it needs to be done. 

The same can be said of the auction system in the IPL. Venky Mysore was very clear when he said that it hurts to train and prepare a player over a period of time, only to have to let go of them because that's the rule. It's definitely good to have a system in place, but once it starts to cause problems like this, it's best to tweak it a little. 

Speaking of tweaking, whose bright idea was it to include Ashwin in the Marquee set for the auction? There's no doubt he's a good player, but come on, there were other options which could've been included in the Marquee set. Anyways, what's done is done. It'll be fun to watch the auction for the next 2 days, make no mistake. 

I suppose that's it for today. Stay safe, everybody. Hope your life sucks less than a black hole. If not, well, chin up. It'll pass. Adios!

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