The dogs of war: Not as good

Of late I have turned to be a termite , gobbling up lot of stuff all useless of course. Hence, here I am writing about the 3rd book of Frederick Forsyth I recently finished. Titled "The dogs of War" it is a tale of treachery and double crosses. Once again Forsyth surprises by the meticulous detailed planning for the toppling of the Govt. in erstwhile African state. And as always it is full of information about the black market of weapons,African politics and the difference between Capitalist and Socialist economies. In addition, he provides a certain humorous situations in the narrative wherein the humour is at the expense of the poor uneducated Africans.

However, when it comes to the story, one is left wanting for more once you turn the last page. Lots of strings are left untouched. And the operation seems to be over very easily and smoothly. It cannot be recommended to a non Forsyth fan to turn him into one, but it is a defnite read for a Forsyth fan like me.

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Australian Mind Game

Australia have been using this mind game since a long time. Right from the time when the tag " Ugly Australia" was given to them. It has always worked and this time is no different. But the difference is this time it has worked out for the opponents.

Consider this. Which was the turning point in both the final games of CB series during the Australian innings. For me and many other I talked with it was the wickets of Symonds and Hayden. Out of the total 4 wickets( 2 players in 2 matches) harbhajan took 3 . Now you would ask me what has this to do with mind games and sledging. Turn back news papers of the past week or so and you will it full of stories of wars of words between these individuals. Now lets leave out the investigation of who started these and who retaliated. But the ultimate effect is that it affects your performance on field.

My logic is that once you know that you are involved in a mental game with an individual you become mindful of the individual rather than the game he is playing or the ball he is bowling. I think this has been primarily the problem with Australia. They want to dominate people on and off the field with both actions and words. The same was the scenario between Sachin and Shane Warne some years back when Sachin was in the form of his life and the same is now. I believe when you are hostile towards someone you tend to under perform against him. It might be that you start taking him very casually and start committing mistakes or that you become over aware of his performances that you forget to play your natural which ultimately leads to your downfall in the eventual battle of actions. So my logic is see each individual player as a player and not as an individual with whom you have a grudge.

I think Sachin is a perfect example of this. He never indulges in any of the word battles and he shows all his aggression with his bat and saves all his mental energy for the game.

Accept or defy my logic. Comment me.!

Safe path chosen by Chidambaram

This is the first time I have followed budget so closely and it deserves a mention over here. So here I am with my own review of the budget. Jotting down the merits and pitfalls of the budget.

Disclaimer: Information provided here must already be known to you . Opinions expressed here are mine.

First the merits:

• Farmer's loan waiver has to be the man of the match for this budget. This will help crores of farmers across the country.
• Income tax slab revision is another master stroke targeted towards the middle class. The revision is beyond expectations. The salaried class is all set to benefit hugely from this move up to a whooping amount of 45000 a year. Another point here which might be missed is an amount of 15000 is eligible to be exempted from tax under 80G for medical insurance for parents.
  
• Cars ,bikes,fridges and other household items will be cheaper from April 1 2008. Another arrow in the quiver targeted towards the election.
• Lots of new institutions, 3 IITs among them and many other sops for education.
  
• Duty on cigarettes without filter raised which will turn people towards "safer" filtered cigarettes.

Now for the pitfalls. The biggest pitfall with this budget is FM has NOT spoken about many crucial aspects. He has simply chosen to avoid them.

• Nothing being told about extending the STPI sops beyond 2009 March, IT cos future still hangs in balance.
• Nothing being told about Interlinking of rivers. As soon as summer comes this issue is set to rise its ugly head.
  
• No announcements about the pay commission report on revising the pay of Central Govt. Employees.
  
• Increase in duty for packaged software, another small blow to the IT industry.
• No change in the corporate income tax, corporates were expecting a reduction so that their operational costs get reduced.

FM has tried to please everyone with the budget but as an IT professional I feel betrayed except the decision on the other IT, income tax.

Agree with me or counter me... let me know.