I think

talent should be the primary criterion for selecting a coach. If the coach can communicate then whether s/he is bilingual does not matter. To impose a langauage as prerequisite is flawed and will result in a team that will be inferior to a team developed without such restrictions. Same is the case with most of the research conducted in Quebec agencies. In their pursuit of imposing French langauge the provincial organizations settle for less. Is it good for the province, well ask that question yourself!

A nice

generational tumult many cricket fans can appreciate

For me Azhar was it for a long time and then it happenned and cricket seemed irrelevant. Ok for a small time. But then slowly i mended my broken heart and got back to watching cricket. Sachin in the mean time went from strength to strength oftne alone. Then Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly along with Kumble emerged. We were getting there. Then enters Sehwag and rest as they say is history. I fall back in love with cricket, pure love mind you. But once these giants retire it will be hard to watch cricket with thge same gusto or probably someone else will come by!

Anyway.

People opposing Fdi in retail plz read this

Views | Why opposition to opening up retail is elitist - Views

Correction

Two days of corrections! Man was it long or what. 110 papers. 

One thing I realized is I hate giving an easy paper. I just hope I can set papers that are fun to correct. 

Lets see how that goes!

Monga says it so well

here!

What separates Virender Sehwag from everyone else is that he plays each ball on its merit, and usually thinks each ball merits a boundary. That is why it will be no surprise if he crosses the 200-run mark in ODIs again

 

I watched the highlights; Some of the shots he played were unbelievable, especially the ones between thirdman and cover where he was slicing the ball at the last moment from in front of the stumps. These are incredibly hard shots to play! The risk involved is so high that statistically speaking he shouldn't be making such high scores! That is what makes him a genius! Its a privlige to watch such innings!

Tripathi puts it so well

here!

 

India briefly flirted with such a system during the emergency (1975-1977). Mark Tully was the India correspondent of the British Broadcasting Corp. at that time. Dev Anand, who died on Sunday, was then in his early 50s, and Tully interviewed him because he was known to have strong political views. Tully asked Anand what he thought about the country’s political situation. Anand replied: “I deplore it in all its aspects.” Tully paused his recorder and asked Anand if he wished to continue—few people dared to speak out against Indira Gandhi in those days. Anand replied: “You asked me a question. I gave you an answer. What you do with it is up to you.”

In that dark period, people like Anand kept the flame of freedom alive, reminding us that India’s greatness lay in its democracy: there was never “too much” of it. China or Malaysia jails outspoken people like Anand. India treasures them, honours them, and like in Anand’s case, mourns them. The Facebook page critical of Sonia Gandhi may be stupid and revolting. But trying to get companies to remove it and to look out for other “offensive” or “insulting” materials is unacceptable.

 

Will sibal get it?

Views | Kapil Sibal vs the internet - Views

Well, with the stupid decisions he has taken in the recent years i don't expect him to!

Please do read this

if you want to learn about FDI in retail

What every political party in India is doing is ridiculous and downright bad for India!

Destructive al right

Piece by nageswaran.
Self-destructive

Well put sir.

Views | Retail FDI: Evenly distributed shame - Views

When will the darker times in terms of policy making end!

Some real honest opinions from Mukul on The hundredth Hundred

I believe that Tendulkar has a substantial claim to being considered the greatest Test and one-day batsman of his generation. This is a very large achievement with which he (and we) must be content. We don't need gild this lily with trashy "statistics". To use "a hundred hundreds" to winch Tendulkar up onto a pedestal is to disrespect the great players he has played alongside. Consider Jacques Kallis, who after 16 years at the top has a Test batting average higher than Tendulkar's. He also has 271 Test wickets to Tendulkar's 45, and 169 catches to Tendulkar's 110. If I was a determined South African fan looking for numbers to prove that my man was the best, I could legitimately argue that you would need to merge Sachin Tendulkar with Zaheer Khan to come up with Jacques Kallis. Zaheer, India's best strike bowler for years, has 273 wickets, barely more than Kallis. Do these numbers bear out the claim that Kallis is the more significant player? No they don't, because greatness in cricket can't always be boiled down to numbers - which Tendulkar's cheerleaders would do well to remember.

The most worrying thing of all is that the Little Master seems to have drunk his own KoolAid. For the last several innings he has looked weighed down by the pressure of this non-event. Someone should whisper in his ear that he is a great man, that this absurd quest is beneath him. If he does get a hundred the next time he plays a Test innings, he ought to see it as an oblique salute to Bradman, not an ersatz tribute to himself. There is no 100th hundred to be had: the whole, in this case, is less than the sum of its parts.

Full piece here

Nageswaran puts it so succintly

 

In the final scenes of the Tamil film Anniyan, the hero reminds his audience in a stadium that the problem is not bad politicians, bad bureaucrats and bad leaders, but us. If the weakness of the rupee holds a mirror to inflation, if inflation holds a mirror to our governments’ budget deficits, if budget deficits hold a mirror to our politicians’ hunger for power, their behaviour holds a mirror to our ignorance, to our willingness to fall for gimmicks and free goods, and to the poor quality of our public discourse on these matters.

In the process, all of us are mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren. That is, we are borrowing their future for our present. So, who is responsible for the Indian rupee’s collapse against other world currencies? Is it the US? I do not think so. It is “us”.

(Emphasis mine). Full article here

 

Nice piece. .. But will things change

Views | Shut up and look pretty - Views

Manmohan Singh please read this

The anatomy of a stationary state - Views

Anybody who welcomes social interventions should see how the most well meaning plans distort the economy.

Anyway... I dream but somebody will listen..

Winter is here

View from my office

The 1000m barrier

Well today i broke this one. Pretty thrilled.

More on Apartheid

From Wikipedia

The first of the "White Bans" occurred in 1971 when the Chairman of the Australian Cricketing Association, Don Bradman flew to South Africa to meet with the South African Prime Minister John Vorster. The Prime Minister had expected Bradman to allow the tour of the Australian cricket team to go ahead, but things became heated after Bradman asked why black sportsmen were not allowed to play cricket. Vorster stated that blacks were intellectually inferior and had no finesse for the game. Bradman, thinking this ignorant and repugnant, asked Vorster if he had heard of a man namedGarry Sobers. On his return to Australia, Bradman released a one sentence statement:

"We will not play them until they choose a team on a non-racist basis."

In South Africa, Vorster vented his anger publicly against Bradman, while the African National Congress rejoiced. This was the first time a predominantly white nation had taken the side of multiracial sport, producing an unsettling resonance that more "White" boycotts were coming. ^[88] Almost twenty years later, on his release from prison, Nelson Mandela asked a visiting Australian statesman if Donald Bradman, his childhood hero, was still alive.

Don Bradman, I doff my hat to you! I always only knew you were good at cricket but this puts you in an entirely different light!

Basil D'Oliveira

Fighting very very high stakes Basil D'Oliveira played cricket. A quote from the man who passed away this week.

"This is a fairy tale come true. Six years ago I was playing on mudheaps. Now I have played for England and met the Queen; what more could I possibly ask?"

Oh, if you were wondering, Basil played 44 tests for England, and was the reason why South Africa was banned from cricket during the Apartheid.

I am so happy cricket is in  my blood. It is such a rewarding exercise to follow a game which opens a window into such a huge spectrum of humanity. 

Some sensible argues against smaller states

Ourview | The more the merrier? - Views

Rahul Dravid

Views | Dravid: The man and his credo - Views

750

Yes.. That's how many meters i swam today. Not bad ha!
The progress from 200 to 750 in a matter of less than 2months. Makes me pretty happy. Its whole together another matter that that's the only progress i made.
Anyway..

Upa does take care of farmers

Oh sorry i meant the rich people who categorize themselves as farmers.
The mystery of the boom in farm credit - Home

All the educated class please do continue to support the secular party.

How can you not love this guy

Sewhag's statements

 

When Sehwag was told West Indies wanted to set 400, he said with scarcely disguised disdain, "We thought we would make a 1000 runs in the first innings. But to say and to do are two different things. Anyone can say what they want."

Full piece here

 

A sad day indeed

based on the fate of the three Pakistani cricketers. Andrew Miller on the whole sordid affair and the aftermath

Some excerpts

As it is, there's only one way that these players will now be able to rebuild their lives, and that is to serve their time, and then sing like they've never sung before. Other players have already been implicated, and as the sport's rumour mill has been saying for years, the miscreants are not limited to Pakistan. If these men are one day to earn forgiveness in the eyes of their sport, they must be obliged to dismantle the lie they have been living - piece, by piece, by piece.

Chetan Bhagat

writes the Time 100 for Dhoni here

I take exception to this statement

Dhoni is now universally acknowledged as India's best captain ever. 

Really? Isn't that too much of a stretch! Anyway

Did you know

that a large percentage of tax money is spent this way.

Congress is awesome or what and still every educated indian will vote for Congress. The irony!

I think voting for Congress is a way to make you feel superior, I care for the secular freedom and not for economic freedom which isn't as cool. Unfortunately, the lack of economic freedom makes the lives of the poor so worse that its not worth. but what the hell the educated middle calss have their misguided hyposcrisy of secular governent. They are happy. Congress gets to ruin India the way they have always done. isn't that sweet for everybody. Oh sorry we forgot to poor guy on the street. Well, who care s/he is always screwed!

Salil does it again

In his piece on the moralists of India against corruption in his piece Standards for moralists - Columns. The piece orchestrates some of own opinions on Team Anna.

How idiotic are these guys

So a car accidnt happens, the parents are not informed of their child's death because they are heart patients. Now we ahve a news article that is plublished clealry writing that. I mean what if the parents browse the net and see this news? I am amazed!

Isn't the author naive to expect

Congress will learn from the past. 

A nice piece highlighting the misplaced priorities of congress with regards to Indian growth

Some excerpts

The chaos and incoherence in government and society alike is the product of a profoundly misguided vision, one that visits and revisits India every now and then. The first phase of Indira Gandhi’s ascendancy, from 1969 to 1974, was marked with similar developments— socialist rhetoric, nationalization and, yes, anti-corruption movements. Later, in 1980, she effected a course correction. Little, it seems, has been learnt from that experience. From a Marxian vantage, a farce has been re-enacted.  

Jay walking

Got a ticket for Jay walking. Pretty painful. Anyway!

Not as fashoinable

to state your opinions on the farm produce rotting compared to elegant crap you can write on the "La Tomatino" festival. People will have huge discussions on produce (tomatoes) being wasted for other people`s fun, but I don`t see simialr discussion when lack of basic transportation and storage facilities result in much larger losses. Well, thats the Indian elite for you. 

Can you see the irony here?

USA just recently botched an attempt allegedly by Iran's army to attack Saudi Ambassador. so, now it wants to punish Iran. On the other hand, USA works with (and funds!) Pakistan a country known to have funded and trained people that have attacked Indian civilians. But, USA never even considers putting sanctions. This is just unfortunate that we have a super power that is so obviously and blatantly self-serving!

My swimming

My swimming practice is going pretty well. Today i swam 400m. A long distance by my standard. I hope my swimming  progresses further.

Short hop

My very short trip to meet my wife (sounds weird i know) went well. It is not very easy being in a long distance relationship. But somehow we are hanging on! Hoping for some mote patience and strength before we finally start living together.

As life moves on

With every struggle in life you learn a little bit about yourself and people around you. it makes me happy and sad at the sametime. Happy, that there is progress being amde with every passing moment. Sad, because life will always be a work in progress and there will many many struggles.

What can we do.. except being strong to face the struggles.

I have had it with this bullshit surrounding Telangana!

Yes, you read it right. 

If you have grievances with the current system i.e. the state of Andhra Pradesh. Fine, it is natural that you request the separation. Now, on what basis is this request being made? There might be a mis-allocation of water resources to Telanga probably, I am not an expert. But what were the 110 or so MLAs elected from this region doing until today. The water decisions did not happen today. In fact very little of the water allocation decisions were made in the recent decade! For 50 years the people and their representatives were silent about this and now suddenly you remember that Telangana does not get water. Please folks give me a break. The entire Telangana movement is clearly motivated with tthe objective of ensuring that the money from the cash cow that is Hyderabad stays within the Telangana and not distributes across AP. So, any discussion of Telanga without discussing what will happen to Hyderbad is meaningless. Also, to say it is in Telangana so we will get it is bullshit!

Lets discuss an example. Two friends pool in their resources (land and money). So, they build the factory in one person's land because it is barren and suits factory while the other person`s land is suitable for agriculture. The factory is run with money from the agricultural land in its initial days. so, the entire capital from the agriculture went into the development of the factory until it got stabilised. Now, after the factory starts making money (which is many order of times generated by agriculture on the fertile land), if the friend (on whose land the factory is built) claims the factory is in my land, so its all mine tell me how should the other guy respond. This is exactly how Telangana agitators are behaving. After all the investments made in Hyderabad (using AP state money) have succeeded (airport, IT industires, pharmacy industries, roads to name a few) the people of Telangana  want a separate state. Sure, you can have it .. if you pay up for all the loss to rest of the state for taking away the city that was bult using money from the whole of AP. It is not enough to allow us (so merciful!) to use Hyderbad until we develop a state capital. There needs to be a payment of the opportunity cost for remainder of the state (AP-Telangana). Because, if we were aware that you will take away Telangana (at your whim and fancy!), we would have invested money on other cities in AP instead of putting all our money in Hyderabad (which we did thinking we were all one). So, until a equivalent payment to cover the loss for the rest of the state is not suggested there is no reason why the rest of AP should let go of Hyderabad. It is as simple as that. The amount should also include inflation and increase in investments made at the same rate as the growth of Hyderbad. 

In fact, if Hyderabad was the capital of Telangana as oppossed to AP its current situation would have been different.

This is talking in purely monetary terms, neglecting the so many hudreds of thousands of people from rest of AP who have made Telangana their home. These people invested their mind and captial in devveloping Hyderabad into what it is now. How can this be ignored!

Anyway.. as KCR and Kodandaram run this stupid circus I am forced to watch it in pain!

Pataudi

I have never seen Pataudi play (I am not yet that old!). But I have heard lots of stories on how great a captain he was. Given India were a poor team during his time, his 7 victories are great. He is credited with making India play as a team.  His death prompted many older cricket journalists to remember him fondly.

Here is Mukul Kesavan on the great man!

Oh btw. did I tell he was the first cricket rockstar. Must be hard for all of us people who grew up seeing Sachin (and Dhoni for the younger generation). 

More quotes from his contemporaries!

Life and its mysterious ways

I have gotten back to Montreal and have been fighting hard to make sure I do everything thats necessary! Its a big challenge. I enjoy the process, yet i feel its very stressful too. somedays it gets to you. Other days you feel you can survive. But at least I am doing my best. I guess thats what is important.

The stress needs outlets and I should realize it can be very harmful for me and people around me if I bottle it up. I hope to find a better outlet.

Dravid will play his last ODI

This interview of Dravid is a testament to what he stands for and how he has played his cricket!

It was a pleasure watching him play cricket. I guess, it is characters like him that make following cricket a worthwhile passion!

After another

attack the usual charade continues.

A piece that shows up Hazare

for what he is! A sanctimonious man who thinks he know what everybody else needs. And, please he is no Gandhi! Sali Tripathi in his piece clearly demonstrates how the people who have followed him made a mistake. 

Some excerpts.

The litany of complaints against voting is familiar. The presence of criminals on ballot paper, the powerlessness of a single vote, the persistence of vote banks, the power of money. But if all parties seem alike, nothing stops the citizen from canvassing for individuals, joining or forming parties, and even standing for elections, as an independent, if necessary. Gandhi was clear: be the change you wish to be. 

 That is hard work; requiring more effort than participating in candle vigils or wearing Gandhi caps. Politicians thumping desks and civil society thumping chests don’t make a revolution. Waiting for a hero is not the way. When Andrea lamented to Galileo in Bertolt Brecht’s eponymous play that there were no heroes, Galileo said: pity the nation in need of a hero.

And pity, too, the nation that can’t tell apart a real hero from a false one.

 

Lok Pal bill and my opinion of it

My opinion on Lok Pal bill summarized succintly (full link here). 

To preclude against this, the social capital that has been realized over the last fortnight should be channelized into nudging the government to push for greater disintermediation through economic reforms. Less intermediaries means that much less scope for corruption and similarly for discretionary powers at various levels of the food chain. More importantly, it will tackle corruption ex ante. This in contrast to the present approach, which mistakenly believes in tackling it after it has occurred. The trick is to prevent corruption, not police it.

 

 

another bullshit making decision on the part of the Congress

I mean these morns continue to ruin everything!

Read this

 

Underlying this approach to public policy is a combination of good intentions and an arrogant belief that citizens cannot be trusted to make the right choices -- on how to educate their children or what food to buy for their families.

What gives Sonia gandhi the right to tell individuals what to do! When will these idiots realize people are more knowledgeable in doing what is right for them than the self-righteous morons who think they know what is right for everybody else! I would love to see these people live based on what other people think is right!

Full piece here

 

Lokpal bill

All those people who want astrong lokpal bill would do well to read Hegde's remarks. the well respected Lokayukta of Karnataka clearly mentions how "checking corruption requires greater deregulation and better enforcement of existing laws and provisions" Not another strong governemnet run body like Lokpal with huge powers. The argument on corrpution cannot be morality based. It will never.. i mean never work. Only thing that will as the mint piece puts it elegantly is "It’s more a matter of reordering incentives and much less about morality"

Cricket

Well, I see a lot of articles on how stupid the Indian Cricket has been. I agree. Now I start seeing articles that claim that Dhoni is a poor captain. Now, I do not know if Dhoni is as great a captain as Mark Taylor (the  greatest captain I have seen.. People claim Mike Brearely is right up there, but I did not see him). But he does do somethings right. Well, to blame Dhoni for the lack of performance in a couple of series (yes Iwill give the WI series too) is ridiculous. Common guys give the poor guy some time. I agree the team was unfit (zaheer, yuvraj and tendulka (not match fit) when they landed in England and that's the responsibility of coach and training staff. We have bucket loads of those people and what are they doing? Dhoni was so successful all this time he was bound to fail. Stop complaining. Ok worst case we will lose this English series so what? Blame BCCI for not giving time for preparation. If at all you should blame anybody its only them. Please wait and reserve your opinions for at least one or two more series and give the guy a chance to redeem himself. Of course I will give it to you that his batting and keeping were very shoddy. That exposes the tail even more! anyway thats for another day.

I just hope Viru turns up fit and smashes the shit out of the English bowlers (well I can dream can't I :P)

 

Again and again

the same thing repeats. Tomorrow, the PM and rest of his stupid followers will start celebrating the spirit of Mumbai and India and we will return to business as usua. Not one guy will ask why does this happen so often. Will anybody be held accountable. I should be draming to even think like that!

I am sad for the people who lost their lives in these blasts/ Some more lives lost because of grss incompetence from our intelligence and more importantly the higher ups who do not care about safety of the common people. I wish to fill Sonia Gandhi's and Congress leaders mouth with some shit, when they start taking about how they are the saviours of the common man! It is just disgraceful. For the first time in my life, I feel so close to being ashamed of being an Indian. People come and blast away and leave and no one ever gets caught. Never, I mean never is anybody caught!

What more can you say except feel despair!

A nice piece

by Nageswaran on how Sainath gets it wrong! Personally, I respect Sainath a lot, but he does make outlandish claims and moreover he is focussing entirely on the wrong side of the problem. reforms are not causing the problems that he claims. Only reforms when well admistered will solve this issues. The oppossition to reforms (if followed) will keep the poor forever! That is not helpful. What is helpful is to undertake reforms so that everybody gets the fruits of the benefits. 

Another piece of tgs regaridng how "UN-free market" Indians are here!

Oh btw.. I am back from Yellowstone and it was pretty awesome!

 

The PM might as well

say this! Everybody who immensely respects the PM do read this! With time I feel more and more that the reforms introduce by Manmonhan Singh are more due to IMF sanctions than his own will! He does not have the political courage to do anything let alone implement such schemes. I feel India was fortunate to not have a Gandhi member active in politics and hence these schemes went through. Man the irony of India!

 

An article

highlighting some really important aspects of Indian government that need to change by Amit Varma. Do read the entire piece!

 

 

The need for reforms

and how the UPA is scuttling everything discussed here

Sri Lanka and its peaceful revolution

Sri Lanka took aggressive military action and have ended the LTTE. The picture presented by the Sri Lankan Government was that it was mostly peaceful. Well, read this piece by Salil Tripathi and make up your minds

 

All I can say

reading this piece is "You got to be kidding"

Unfortunately the truth is different. There are people around the world who take this seriously and will act as if they are words from God. Thats the world I guess!

There begins another

chapter of election winning, economy sapping rural schemes from the UPA 

Important excerpts below 

 

Creating employment needs patience and our political system has very little of it. In the absence of patient work other “solutions” are tried—politically funded entitlements, affirmative action and plain throwing of money at the poor.

There is no reason for despair, if the intent truly is to improve rural lives. What is required is a heavy dose of investment in education and infrastructure. The problem is that results of such investment cannot be reaped in a single electoral cycle. Hence the short cuts. NRLM is a good example of that thinking.

Congress party and its machinery is adept at creating plans that reap benefits in a single election cycle. See Andhra Pradesh for example or even India for that matter. Again they prove to be awesome!

 

Another piece of advise

for the morons who lead the National Advisory Council (NAC).

Some Excerpts!

Farmer agitations across the country have shown us that pushing people off their land is no way to acquire land for industry. The most sensible solution is to offer farmers market prices for their land and offer them a share in future cash flows from that land through annuities (or some similar option). A land market also has the added advantage of offering farmers a way out of farm work, in case it makes economic sense to them. The NAC checklist will ensure that a government authority rather than the farmers will decide whether to sell or not.

Will any of this really matter?

Unfortunately, the crisis in the Congress is structural. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi seem to be wilfully oblivious to the responsibilities that come with power; the prime minister thinks silence is a substitute for duty. Some of its smart ministers are too arrogantly clever by half to project any credibility. A large section of the party is too submissive to ask the nasty questions that should be asked of the leadership. And those who take up the cudgels of public argument have no sense of proportion or judgement about what to say, when. What is it about the Congress party that repeatedly produces an intellectual culture that turns intelligent people into self-destructive political animals? It has performed the miracle of turning a moment of great hope for India into a moment of political despair.

 

Full link here

Over the course of a wedding in Delhi, I got myself into a strongly worded conversation with some friends (I met for the first time, I know, I am crazy!) regarding the state of politics in India. Especially with regards to the state of politics in Delhi and the rule of the so called secular party. Over the last two months, the congress part and its government has descended into a level I thought were not possible (even for the Congress). The handling of Baba Ramdev (a joker no doubt) itself is a testimony to the idiocy that prevails in Congress and its ministers. To offer a red carpet to a Godman and then arrest him at midnight, not to mention label him as RSS in a matter of two days is funny, incredibly stupid and worrisome! Its just unfortunate. Of course, any country in a democracy gets the government it deserves. Indians do not have the spine to stand up against what is wrong. I am not asking people to fight here. I am just asking people to vote. I am sick and tired of hearing that there is no credble alternative. Anything can be better than this congress rule. I mean if you generate a random number and make decisons on government policy, it will be better than this! I only wish it were a computer generated code that runs the country as oppossed to the distinguished PhD that we have as a PM. 

 Mark my words, the moment Rahul Gandhi will step in as the PM cadidate everybody will forget all thats bad with the current congress and vote him to power. Its not a matter of if it will happen, its only a matter of when. Long live the Queen and her sons!

One more French Open Final

There is something with me, Tennis and Austin :)

Well, one more time Federer will play Nadal in the Final. Lets see how things go!

Excited and looking forward to it!

It had to happen

After a long time, I was reminded of the past. I was asked the questions I was uncomfortable with. I had no answers for sure. I felt guilty like I always did in the past. . It was something that will remain with me forever. I just hope things work out for the people I dissappointed.

To every pro-secular person

in India please, I urge you, please read this piece before you start saying BJP is not secular.

 

IPL

Call it a cash making cricket destroying match machine. But all is forgiven when you see the efforts of unknown cricketers getting notice for what they do at IPL. Today it was Paul Valthaty. He played a great innings and man was he happy! He might never play anything like this. But well it does not matter. Nobody can take away what he had done today! 

The debate

Well everybody is writing, talking, fighting, tweeting, blogging, facebooking and whatever it might be thats the latest fad about Anna Hazare's fast.

There are people who belive that holding the goivernment ransom by fasting is wrong. Probably it is, but there isn't a better way. So let it go on

There are people who argue that the bill is draconian and will lead to a group of vested interestes getting hold of it just as today the political process is subverted. Probably, but well yuou can't not try!

Overall, its a tough call to take sides and I am sceptical of what will happen. I don't feel all that rgeat about the bill and its implications. 

I find this piece by Niranjan Rajadakhsya a much more elgenat solution. Please go on with the Lok Pal bill but ensure that economic reforms go on so that every little guy does not have to go to a big guy to get things done (thats when corruption begins). Yes it is a slow painful process, not as "fame providing" or liberating as the outburst on corruption but probably more effective. Until we realize this is an option like (anantha Nageswaran mentions here) we will not make great progress.

Well thats just me !

 

Dileep

hits the nail on its head here!

Some excerpts

Two decades from now, you can expect a similar treatise from a middle-aged Indian. Only, this one will be called How Dhoni Ruined Everything. One fluid swing of the bat, the ball soaring into Mumbai's night and a foothold on cricket's highest peak. You can only go downhill from there.

What else can I say!

 

Sometimes all you

can say is there isn't enough justice in this world. Read this piece and you might agree with me

 

The winning moments and later

As I watch the celebrations again and again, it makes you realize this is something special, really special!

Poetic Justice

1992 was the year I was initiated into cricket seriously. I watched cricket before that, but 1992 world cupm was when I became a serious follower of cricket. I was 10 at that point. The world cup was hosted by Australia and New Zealand. I remember getting up at 3AM with my dad and watching the India matches. I was still learning about cricket. i still remember the India pakistan match. We were winning comfortably, and then there was the Javed frog jump mocking More. Well, More had the last laugh. I also remember a great fighting inning by Azhar against Australia and we ended up losing by a couple of runs. Then came 1996 world cup in India. India were one of the favorites. I was expecting India to win or rather cheering passionately for an Indian win. We reached the QF. We defeated Pakistan in a match where Jadeja flayed Waqar in Bangalore. And then the SF was with Sri Lanka. We were humiliated. A series of miscalculations by our team that resulted in tears for me. That was when I realized what cricket means to me. Slowly, but surely I was becoming really passionate about the game. I did not have too much ability to play the game, but analysis, statistics and history of the game were things I loved. So, I continued learning about the game and soon 1999 came around. We had a disasterous world cup in England. It was after 1999 world cup that Ganguly started leading Team India. In his own style mind you. We went into the 2003 World Cup in bad form losing to New Zealand. But then Zaheer, Srinath and Nehra had a great tournament in South Africa and we made it to the finals (of course we only had to beat kenya in the S/F, not our mistake is it!). Then a giant screen viewing experience was arranged in IITM and after a drubbing by Ponting and Co. the dream of world cup win remained elusive. Then, we seemed very well prepared for the 2007 version in West Indies. Alas, it was one of the worst tournaments. We were eliminated in the prelimniary rounds. So, one day legends like Dravid and Ganguly never won a world cup. Of all the one day legends Sachin remained continuing his quest for the elusive cup. Then came 2011 world cup in India. And in this one after a wait covering six world cups I witnessed India winning a World Cup. Yes, you read it correct. India now are the World Champions of Cricket. After playing every world cup I watched as a kid (1992 through 2011 -  6 in total), Sachin finally has the World Cup medal. Its poetic justice that he won it after playing for 20 years! Amazing! Just Amazing. Also, Sachin was the leading scorer for India in this World Cup too. Yet in the final it was the generation next players (Gambhir, Kohli, Dhoni, Yuvraj) that batted to ensure we won the world cup. Most of them would have took up the game because of Sachin. I find this a perfect tribute to the Little Master. I feel if there was anyone who deserved the cup medal it was him and the script was perfect! Not to mention the bonus of my dude sehwag winning the medal too! Its great. 

Coming to me, after having watched cricket for 19 years I can finally say I have watched India win a World Cup. I was not sure how long I will have to wait for saying that words. 19 years and it was worth the wait. i just hope the wait for the next time will be shorter :)

Thanks Team India and enjoy the awards and glory that comes your way!

One more thing, I am extremely impressed at the unbelievable ability of Dhoni to absorb the pressure. Dude you are amazing!

 

A splendid piece that reverberates

some of my own personal feelings on THE match by Aakash Chopra.

Some Excerpts

It's about time that we, as a nation, answer these questions. Are we going to behave like this every time we play Pakistan? If we detest them so much, it may not be a bad idea to severe all cricketing ties with them, for a cricket match can't be used as a benchmark to prove our superiority as a nation. Every time we behave like the way we did this time, it pulls us down as a responsible nation. The choice is ours.

Have to agree with him! How can you not?

 

It really feels bad

to see this interview of Graeme Smith

Poor guys is all I can say!

The beginning of the race

This has been a very interesting week. Some good news. But along with the good news I also received a sense of all that can be wrong with my career choice. To put it differently, all that can and will go wrong if I do not curb it right now and here. So, more than celebrate the good news I celebrate the fact that I realized this. Of course that will not solve the problem. But well, if I hadn't identified it will never be solved. So, I will try to be happy with what i found out. Hoping it will work with time and loads of patience and luck!

Japan and the crisis

Sali Tripathi on Japan and its resilience in the face of adversity

In 1945, the Little Boy and the Fat Man, as the two atomic bombs were called, were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, levelling the cities. But flowers bloomed again. Until then, we must help, offer compassion, and express admiration for a remarkable people who know how to rise from the ashes.

I sincerely hope they emerge stronger out of this tragedy too!

 

 

Pretty strong words

By Tripathi

There will always be the “what-about” question, and you can fill in that blank with the rogues you don’t like. But if Libya is not the place, and this is not the time for an intervention, where and when will it be?

See full article here

See the hypocrisy here!

 

Congress spokesman speaking after the verdict of the Godhra incident!

Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said she was not aware of the judgement, but the communal violence that followed the train carnage was “a blot on democracy”. “In a political sense, whatever the judgement with regard to Godhra incident, the communal violence that erupted in Gujarat (after the train carnage) remained a blot on democracy... It is a blot on the record of Narendra Modi, for which he will always have to answer the people of the nation,” she said.

Well.. well what a surprise...

Do you remmeber 1984 sikh riots, do you remember the Union Carbide disaster. Those are not blots on democracy? Oh yes, when things happen uder the congress then its not a blot on democracy, its just something that happens in a democracy isn't it!

 

 

 

Will the UPa listen to this

advice from Niranjan Rajadakshya

Economic reforms have fallen off the map. They need to be brought back into the spotlight for the sake of the average Indian, whose opportunities for a better life will move up in sync with higher economic growth.

I really hope so!

Guess who is this about

"He's a bastard" was the reply. After a small pause, he added: "But what a magnificent bastard."

See here for the answer

You will feel the

punch of the following sentence if you follow sport as a religion!

The judgments concludes with a reference to the great Chicago Black Sox baseball fixing scandal, echoing the famous words of a distraught young fan to "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, one of the players involved: 'Say it ain't so, Joe.'

Will the government heed

to these concerns:

There is no need to hit the panic button. This is not 1991. But the new Union budget is being framed against the backdrop of a stuttering world economy, and signs of domestic pressures. There are ample indicators of the key risks in the year ahead. The fiscal deficit is being funded by domestic savings and there are signs that it is crowding out private investment; the current account deficit is funded with foreign capital, but the worrisome drop in foreign direct investment in recent quarters means that India is increasingly dependent on volatile portfolio and short-term debt flows; and high inflation is a clear sign that the lack of meaningful reforms since 2004 has made the economy structurally constrained to increase aggregate supply, with the output gap shrinking too early in the business cycle.

Lets wait and see!

Is somebody listening

to such sensible stuff anymore:

As the American population ages, the unpleasant question will have to be answered: what to do with the Baby Boomers as they age and can no longer care for themselves? The typical Baby Boomer can not afford a private nurse or comfortable retirement homes. Without immigration the market does not provide many affordable and dignified long-term care options. Restricting immigration will probably result in more illegal immigrants providing care. This leaves the migrant and the elderly person they care for vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. More legal immigration also increases the tax base which takes some of the edge off of the burden of entitlement spending on current earners. Increased immigration of workers of all skills levels will help allow retirees to age and die with dignity.

A fantastic piece

on how UPA has screwed up here by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha!

Do go read it.
some excerpts here

On the one hand, the ruling alliance has not aggressively pushed economic reforms but seems to have decided to ride the growth wave unleashed by a higher savings rate, demographic power and the benefits of the reforms done by the Narasimha Rao, United Front and Atal Bihari Vajpayee governments since 1991. The underlying assumption is that economic growth is on auto pilot, so there is no pressing need to go in for contentious policies such as cutting subsidies or changing labour laws. No reforms have been rolled back and economic policy is nowhere as interventionist as it was during the Indira Gandhi years, but it is quite clear that the UPA political leadership does not have a deep commitment to economic reforms despite having some outstanding economic liberals in government.

Yet, there has also been a firm belief within the Congress party that the benefits of growth have not been distributed equally, a fear that was articulated recently by Rahul Gandhi when he used the irresponsible rhetoric about the existence of two Indias. The second prong of the UPA strategy has been to provide voters with entitlements to employment, food and education in the name of inclusive growth—and win votes in the bargain.