Snip-pop-pets

* There are fewer sights in cricket that has the purists' eyes playing pinball and causing technical-minded coaches to cover the eyes of their pupils (side-dish: if one of the pupils was called "Iris" and she had a humourous disposition, the optician would be even more pleased) than that of Shivnarine Chanderpaul facing André Nel. But both have had reasonable successes of varying degrees showing that not everyone needs to stick to a mould to get to the highest level.

* Randomly riding the channel waves yesterday, I paused to see the curious sight of even the outtakes at the end of a dubbed film having Hindi voiceovers. That's a complete job by the dubbing people. Well done.

* The skies darkened, the wind picked up, leaves danced. Rain pattered in, impromptu pools formed. Still something was missing. The pre-monsoon showers were a little incomplete in their effect. Then in answer, a transformer blew and the lights went out. Ah! The monsoon is knocking at the gates.