Cricket

As much as it annoys me when training the India team, I am fascinated by the head movement phenomenon. I would love to find out how this got started. Thanks to Smarda, who happens to be taking an Outsourcing Course at Stern, I have the following information for everyone...

Indians, particularly from South India, have a perplexing habit, as they listen to you, of shaking the head in a manner that appears to be say "no". This is labeled the Indian wiggle. But, it can have various meanings: "yes," or "I am listening," or "I agree," or "go on."
-- Offshoring information technology- sourcing and outsourcing to a global workforce. By Erran Carmel and Paul Tjia

So it has an offically documented term in literature called the Indian Wiggle. Until now everyone was reading my description and accepting it on faith. With this newly found documented proof, faith is not needed.

After work last night, I went to dinner at a place called 'ZK' (pronouned zid k I think). Those are the initials of a big cricket fastballer (or pitcher). Today being the first day of a 5 day cricket match between India and Pakistan, I asked a few questions about cricket. I doubt I will ever get into cricket as the action is not that exciting. Here is a summary of my understanding...

The fastballer bowls the ball (throws a 1 hop pitch) at the batsmen who holds a wicket. If the batsman does not swing and it hits one of the pegs in the ground, or if the batsman swings and misses, he is out. If a flyball is caught, it is also an out. An inning will continue until the team loses 10 wickets (batsman). When the batsman hits the ball, there are 2 automatic ways to score. Off the pitch (field) on a fly gets you 6. If it rolls off the pitch you get 4. Otherwise, you must run from one peg area to another to gain runs.

The part that discredits this game as a sport is the fact there are lunchtime stoppages and tea breaks. That is right tea breaks. That alone will prevent it from catching on in the US.