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What a moment it was when Anil Kumble completed his first test hundred today at the Brit Oval. I have been following cricket very closely since 1989 and it was easily the most romantic moment on the cricket field that I have witnessed.

Here is a gentleman cricketer who never had the talent. All he had was his "never say die" attitude and his willingness to work hard. Somehow we human beings always get romanced by talent very easily. But talent in most cases flatters to deceive. Talent is a gift as well as a curse. Blessed are those who are able to make it work.

Anil Kumble's batting may not be very pleasing to the eye of a purist..but it proved to be pretty damn effective. Keep on batting in this free world, you smiling assassin and please pass on your grit and determination to the next generation of Indian cricketers, we need it badly.

And it happened...I mean Divine Intervention

Alright, I know there are plenty of atheists out there.

Roughly 10 days ago my dad was down with viral fever. The usual stuff (read high fever, body ache, weakness, congestion and the like). As it is highly contagious, my mom went down with viral fever 6 days ago. 3 days ago on a sunny Tuesday morning, I wake up with severe cold, congestion, body ache and all the typical viral fever symptoms.

This cocky mind of mine is just not ready to give into the thought of lying on the bed for a week with fever and do nothing, so I go to work wearing my exuberant hat. Just an hour before the end of the day I am running a pretty high fever and my colleagues are like "Vinayakan, you need a break...let this damn viral fever be the excuse". I say to myself "OK you arrogant idiot, party is over, time is up, rest it is". I come home and slip into Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep....'Dreamlessness' is something I have not experienced, whether I am sleeping or not is extremely irrelevant.

I am fascinated by rivers since the day I was born, right from Colorado to Kavery to Ganga, same with dams - Hoover to Mettur to Tehri. In my dream I take a holy dip in the mythical Brahmaputra River. Viola..when I wake up, I am fresh as a daisy!

Ah my darling science, can you explain someone recovering from viral fever overnight by taking a holy dip and that too while dreaming? Forget it, it is a rhetorical question, don't even try answering it.

Hey atheists, there is divine intervention out there too!