Headlines read " India NOT in world cup 2015". The story starts this way... India is out of the contention for playing in world cup 2015 after losing its final qualifying match with Canada in the ICC qualifying tournament held here in Sharjah. .......
And it continues with intricate details of the match played which are not of concern to us for this blog. Believe it or not I dream of reading this headline. I mean I yearn to have this piece of newspaper in my hand soon. Before you jump into conclusions of calling me a traitor or some one who hates cricket or some one who is pessimistic, I would like to explain my point.
I feel this should happen because the current Indian team, its management, coach (or no coach) and the selection process are all hopeless ( to put it very mildly). Ever wondered how many selection flaws keep happening and how poorly the richest cricket board in the world is managed. After 2007 world cup debacle we had the board taking some stern steps like linking performance with pay but for how long... Even before India played a single series they reverted back to their old ways of grading players into A,B and C grade and paying them according to their grade which God only knows was decided on which ancient match. Regarding the selection process, we know players are selected into the national team from the ranji and other domestic cricket matches.(* Conditions Apply) But how are players selected for ranji. To be a part of a prestigious cricket club in India you need to be at least from an upper middle class family. How many from the lower and lower middle class really get a fair chance to play and try for the ranji teams? And as soon as someone gets selected for ranji next target for him is to appear in the national team. And they make their debut at the age of around 20. So where is the bench strength of India team. Just to give an example how things should be , a player of Mike Hussey's caliber made his debut into international arena at the age of 30 + .
Coming back to my dream, the next day, BCCI is dissolved and all the money in it is used for conducting a national level talent competition for cricketers where anyone can participate and then a team is constituted for each ranji team from where the national team is picked up.(*Conditions Apply)
And then...........well lets not dream too much.:)
*: I am taking an ideal corruption free selection process into account for this.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Saluting the true Indian Spirit
To the question of which is the most memorable event of your life , he answers ( not in his exact words) " Removal of pain of a young girl affected by the polio and her ability to ride a bicycle after using the light weight Floor Reaction Orthosis made by using carbon-carbon material was the most memorable event in my life."
I am not talking about any hi-tech doctor , I am talking about our honorable President Dr. Abdul Kalam. ( Read: former President if you read it after July 25). This was spoken to a gathering of IBM employees as a part of their annual gathering called the INNOVATION AND LEADERSHIP FORUM held at Bangalore on the magical date of 6/6/06. Many believed it to be the date of Satan, but for me it was one of the happiest moments of my life. A day when I was really proud of my country.
Mr. Kalam spoke about IBM, its history,its founder, its path towards innovation for more than 45 minutes which concluded with a standing ovation from the more than 30000 people gathered there. Such was the power of his speech. He had gathered more information about IBM , than may be any of the IBMers gathered there.
Coming back to his favorite moment, he came about discovering this light weight material while doing some research for rocket launching while he was with ISRO. But he found true happiness when it came of use to a young girl who used artificial limb made of that material was able to ride by bicycle in front of him. Thats compassion according to me and thats what India has been showing to the outside world. His life can be an ideal example not only for Indians but for the whole world as to the fact that our origins have no relation with the heights we can reach in our life. And that the higher you reach the more compassionate,humble and gentle you become.
P.S: This is not one of the numerous mails getting circulated canvassing for a second term for Kalam as the President.
I am not talking about any hi-tech doctor , I am talking about our honorable President Dr. Abdul Kalam. ( Read: former President if you read it after July 25). This was spoken to a gathering of IBM employees as a part of their annual gathering called the INNOVATION AND LEADERSHIP FORUM held at Bangalore on the magical date of 6/6/06. Many believed it to be the date of Satan, but for me it was one of the happiest moments of my life. A day when I was really proud of my country.
Mr. Kalam spoke about IBM, its history,its founder, its path towards innovation for more than 45 minutes which concluded with a standing ovation from the more than 30000 people gathered there. Such was the power of his speech. He had gathered more information about IBM , than may be any of the IBMers gathered there.
Coming back to his favorite moment, he came about discovering this light weight material while doing some research for rocket launching while he was with ISRO. But he found true happiness when it came of use to a young girl who used artificial limb made of that material was able to ride by bicycle in front of him. Thats compassion according to me and thats what India has been showing to the outside world. His life can be an ideal example not only for Indians but for the whole world as to the fact that our origins have no relation with the heights we can reach in our life. And that the higher you reach the more compassionate,humble and gentle you become.
P.S: This is not one of the numerous mails getting circulated canvassing for a second term for Kalam as the President.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
tring! tring!... The bugger!
Imagine... Monday morning 9.30 AM ..you set off late from your house for office due to whatever reasons and you are stuck in a very bad traffic in the Hosur Road.. You still happen to maintain your cool and wait patiently wait for the traffic to clear so that you stand some chance of reaching office in time.. Suddenly your mobile rings.... Thinking it is a call from office as you are late for the meeting scheduled.. you sideline your bike (which means you allow another 5 to 10 vehicles to pass you in a minute's time).. pick up the phone seeing a new number which you cannot identify.. you remove your helmet and then put the phone on to your ears.. and then you hear a recorded message from hutch or airtel( P.S. : Such calls are more frequent from the former than the later)... you feel like scolding the person on the other side of the line in all goddamn languages you learnt all through your college life.. but there is no one to listen to you.. angrily you disconnect the phone and start back on the road but by the time you do this you have lost at least 15 mins of your time as the traffic is growing now.. and you are stuck again..
This is the height of consumerism... a mobile subscriber already subscribed to a particular service gets a tele-marketing call....And worse so... the call is immediately followed with an sms informing you of the same scheme... These are not the only useless calls which we get...There hardly goes a day when we do not get a call selling credit cards.. or personal loans or some health insurance or some country club membership... It is really pathetic.. We cannot (read should not) show the anger on the person making the call b'cos this happens to be his/her profession.. But what we need to think is .. is this the correct way to sell a product...
I am thinking now how to end this blog... I mean, what solution can one give.. may be chuck the mobile phone altogether... Oh! I am getting a call on my mobile... Need to attend it and find out if it is a useful call...
This is the height of consumerism... a mobile subscriber already subscribed to a particular service gets a tele-marketing call....And worse so... the call is immediately followed with an sms informing you of the same scheme... These are not the only useless calls which we get...There hardly goes a day when we do not get a call selling credit cards.. or personal loans or some health insurance or some country club membership... It is really pathetic.. We cannot (read should not) show the anger on the person making the call b'cos this happens to be his/her profession.. But what we need to think is .. is this the correct way to sell a product...
I am thinking now how to end this blog... I mean, what solution can one give.. may be chuck the mobile phone altogether... Oh! I am getting a call on my mobile... Need to attend it and find out if it is a useful call...
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
A peep into the future!
It is Dec 31 ,2022. Some amusing news about the year that went by.
Indian cricket team still on the look out for the correct "winning" combination for the next world cup in 2023.
Microsoft still holds 90 % of the desktop market with the latest version of windows. It has announced that it will not support Vista any more , however, migrating from vista to the new OS is not recommended. New OS needs to be installed from fresh.
US is still on the lookout for Osama Bin Laden who released 14 videos this year as compared to 13 last year warning the western countries of the growing power of Islam and Al Qaeeda.
US has set 2025 as the deadline for complete removal of troops from Iraq as there is still some political "imbalance" there.
After razing Pakistan, US has North Korea on its target list. Sources say.
Rajnikanth still is the biggest super star of the country at the age of 73. He still happens to be the biggest money spinner in the country.
Kamalhaasan still waiting for the right time to start his mega venture marudanayagam.
Vijay has remade the latest Burmese movie into Tamil which ran to full houses all across the state. In this film he plays a policeman disguised in the form of a milkman.
Amitabh Bachan still features in every third movie that comes out of Bollywood making him the busiest star in Bollywood.
The only post office in the state of Karnataka ( GPO Bangalore) vacated its main building and moved to a single room. This still is the largest post office among 14 post offices spread across the country employing more than 300 people throughout the country making it one of the largest PSU in the country after railways.
TCS declares that it will recruit close to 1,00,000 people this year for its new operational facility in Rajapallayam.
Land prices are set to fall next year. Claim experts. Land prices touched an all time high last year in Chennai and its suburbs with a ground costing more than 15 crores .
India continues its growth as the biggest outsourcing unit for US. India is now the 3rd biggest super power in the world after US and China.
Rahul Gandhi manages to draw crowds yet again in the UP election campaign but failed to woo voters to vote for him as he lost his election to the lok sabha from Rae bareilly.
BJP planning to conduct a Rath yatra from Delhi to Ayodhya to start the construction of Ram mandir in the disputed Ram janmabhoomi.
Google became the biggest company among all this year . it is a Fortune ONE company now.
Bangalore's traffic woes continues inspite of the successful completion of the metro train linking the entire city last year.
And as for me, I am still trying in vain to put on weight.
Indian cricket team still on the look out for the correct "winning" combination for the next world cup in 2023.
Microsoft still holds 90 % of the desktop market with the latest version of windows. It has announced that it will not support Vista any more , however, migrating from vista to the new OS is not recommended. New OS needs to be installed from fresh.
US is still on the lookout for Osama Bin Laden who released 14 videos this year as compared to 13 last year warning the western countries of the growing power of Islam and Al Qaeeda.
US has set 2025 as the deadline for complete removal of troops from Iraq as there is still some political "imbalance" there.
After razing Pakistan, US has North Korea on its target list. Sources say.
Rajnikanth still is the biggest super star of the country at the age of 73. He still happens to be the biggest money spinner in the country.
Kamalhaasan still waiting for the right time to start his mega venture marudanayagam.
Vijay has remade the latest Burmese movie into Tamil which ran to full houses all across the state. In this film he plays a policeman disguised in the form of a milkman.
Amitabh Bachan still features in every third movie that comes out of Bollywood making him the busiest star in Bollywood.
The only post office in the state of Karnataka ( GPO Bangalore) vacated its main building and moved to a single room. This still is the largest post office among 14 post offices spread across the country employing more than 300 people throughout the country making it one of the largest PSU in the country after railways.
TCS declares that it will recruit close to 1,00,000 people this year for its new operational facility in Rajapallayam.
Land prices are set to fall next year. Claim experts. Land prices touched an all time high last year in Chennai and its suburbs with a ground costing more than 15 crores .
India continues its growth as the biggest outsourcing unit for US. India is now the 3rd biggest super power in the world after US and China.
Rahul Gandhi manages to draw crowds yet again in the UP election campaign but failed to woo voters to vote for him as he lost his election to the lok sabha from Rae bareilly.
BJP planning to conduct a Rath yatra from Delhi to Ayodhya to start the construction of Ram mandir in the disputed Ram janmabhoomi.
Google became the biggest company among all this year . it is a Fortune ONE company now.
Bangalore's traffic woes continues inspite of the successful completion of the metro train linking the entire city last year.
And as for me, I am still trying in vain to put on weight.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Happy "Anniversary"!!
We love to remember the past. So much so that we end up remembering all the bad /good things which happened to us that day. But seldom do we realize that what we are doing is not just remembering the event but also creating some unwanted disturbances(in and outside the mind).
For example, every year we all are aware of the tension that grips the country on 6th December, the day Babri Masjid was demolished. We even went out of our ways to "celebrate" 10th anniversary of the fateful day as if it was some marriage or birthday to be happy about. Same is the case with the anxiety we are now generating about 7/11, the date which Bombay suburban trains saw a blast. We have special features and programs across all news channel covering it in full detail.
Are we doing the right thing here? I am of the opinion that instead of concentrating on genuine issues and events we still want to cling to the past and re-live its mourning. By doing so we are giving anti social elements who were the reason for these fateful events a chance to pride upon themselves. I am not of the opinion that such days should not be remembered at all. It should be. But as a day when human spirit truimphed over evil . As a day when people irrespective of their social and economic backgrounds helped each other come out of the agony. Why not celebrate the day when India truimphed in the India-Pakistan 1971 war for instance? I don't know how many of us even remember that date(It is december 16 1971, courtesy Google). Why not celebrate the day when the first Indian super computer was manufactured? Why not celebrate the day when India won its firts olympic gold or the world cup?or any such wonderful moment.
It is absolutely essential to learn from the mistakes but to achieve this the "anniversary" celebrations should concentrate on what loopholes lead to so and so disaster rather than concentrating on the goriness of the event. Lets try to rediscover the optimisim in ourselves and that would add much more colors to our life other than RED.
For example, every year we all are aware of the tension that grips the country on 6th December, the day Babri Masjid was demolished. We even went out of our ways to "celebrate" 10th anniversary of the fateful day as if it was some marriage or birthday to be happy about. Same is the case with the anxiety we are now generating about 7/11, the date which Bombay suburban trains saw a blast. We have special features and programs across all news channel covering it in full detail.
Are we doing the right thing here? I am of the opinion that instead of concentrating on genuine issues and events we still want to cling to the past and re-live its mourning. By doing so we are giving anti social elements who were the reason for these fateful events a chance to pride upon themselves. I am not of the opinion that such days should not be remembered at all. It should be. But as a day when human spirit truimphed over evil . As a day when people irrespective of their social and economic backgrounds helped each other come out of the agony. Why not celebrate the day when India truimphed in the India-Pakistan 1971 war for instance? I don't know how many of us even remember that date(It is december 16 1971, courtesy Google). Why not celebrate the day when the first Indian super computer was manufactured? Why not celebrate the day when India won its firts olympic gold or the world cup?or any such wonderful moment.
It is absolutely essential to learn from the mistakes but to achieve this the "anniversary" celebrations should concentrate on what loopholes lead to so and so disaster rather than concentrating on the goriness of the event. Lets try to rediscover the optimisim in ourselves and that would add much more colors to our life other than RED.
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