On October 13 (provided everything goes right for India), the Australian cricket team, will be relegated to the confines of the bottom rung of test cricket's worst teams- Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Only thing is - Australia will be leading this pack !!
For sometime now, cricket writers and commentators have written and spoken about how Australia's bowling attack is weak. How Warne, Mcgrath's retirements have taken the sheen out of the bowling. Well, come on! Isn't this the same Australian team that arrogantly pronounced to the world that their performance did not hinge on any particular individual? Arrogance then. Excuses now? I also cannot understand how and why the so called 'experts' can say that India is taking advantage of the lacklustre bowling strength of the Australian team. For heaven's sake people. Think. This was and is the only team in the world that can make Australia sweat. After all, we almost spoilt the 'mighty' Steve Waugh's retirement in Australia. Mind it. In Australia- Not on Indian soil. And please do not forget how Shane Warne was repeatedly THULPED by Indian batsmen on every tour.
Also, why the criticism that we have not won many series abroad unlike other countries? Isn't the same true for other countries as well- Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand....? They are all strong in their countries. They manage to win a series or two abroad. India has also managed to do that. Every country has a bad overseas tour. Not as bad as Australia in India though! Even if we go by the argument that Australia is a world champion, how come they havent won a test series in India for long unlike England and South Africa?
After all, some of the double centuries and triple centuries for Australians have come against 'powerful' teams like Bangladesh!
It is time the world woke up to the fact that Australia is not invincible. Indians prove it again and again against the so called most dreaded team in the world. And please, do not question India's No.1 ranking. It is like trying to find fault with the simple fact that we are the best at this moment. What matters is just the simple fact- Winning when it matters most. And more often than not, this Indian team keeps doing it again and again.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Why give them money? Why not materials?
Ya right, Mr S M Krishna... They will attack our cities, they will keep infiltrating into our borders, they will snub us, they will use US aid for fighting terror against our country and We, as the ever gracious country, are offering them Rs 23 crore for flood relief aid.
Isn't this stretching things a bit too far? I am not saying we shouldn't help the Pakistanis affected by flood. But why give the Pak establishment money to be used for 'flood relief' when there has been a history of the country apparently using up aid money to fund extremists and build up arsenal to be used against India? Has the Indian government completely lost it?
The most simplest way of providing relief aid to Pakistan at this juncture would be to collect, source and provide them with the necessary materials, rather than money as aid. If not the whole country, millions of Indians would come forward to donate whatever they can in terms of clothes, medicines and stuff to the Pakistanis. Wouldn't that be a collective effort of the whole of India to show solidarity with those affected in our neighbouring country, building up a sense of goodwill? Time to think, I guess...
Isn't this stretching things a bit too far? I am not saying we shouldn't help the Pakistanis affected by flood. But why give the Pak establishment money to be used for 'flood relief' when there has been a history of the country apparently using up aid money to fund extremists and build up arsenal to be used against India? Has the Indian government completely lost it?
The most simplest way of providing relief aid to Pakistan at this juncture would be to collect, source and provide them with the necessary materials, rather than money as aid. If not the whole country, millions of Indians would come forward to donate whatever they can in terms of clothes, medicines and stuff to the Pakistanis. Wouldn't that be a collective effort of the whole of India to show solidarity with those affected in our neighbouring country, building up a sense of goodwill? Time to think, I guess...
Sunday, April 18, 2010
GSLV-D3 The case of the 'Cry'o-genic engine
Everything about it was quite nice right from the beginning. What was supposed to be a hot summer afternoon, turned out to be a pleasant one, the lift-off was perfect, the rocket going up, up and away was amazing. When the rocket emerged from behind the trees, lots of 'oohs' and 'wow's' were heard. "Amazing launch...one of the best I have seen," remarked some journalists. Some were heard saying that the noise levels were low this time around. Everyone then bundled down to the conference hall below, where the next progress of the rocket with India's 'indigenous cryogenic engine', could be seen on the large screen, in the form of a line and dots that would keep blinking indicating the location of the rocket on the line, which is supposed to be the actual path of the rocket.Everything seemed to be smooth.
Elsewhere, one man was sitting in front of a red button that would terminate the whole mission and blow up the rocket and 18 years of effort to build our own cryogenic engine, that would put India on the league of the biggies.
Minutes pass. His services are not required any more. The control room is full of activity. The blips on the line on the screen have disappeared after the rocket went away from its path. No data. Frantic phone calls are made from the control room. Lots of activity is seen. A few minutes later, the bad news arrives. The rocket did not make it to its orbit. The country's first attempt at making its own cryogenic engine had failed. The engine failed to ignite. The engine was expected to take the satellite to its exact orbit and release it. But then the engine had other plans and decided to plunge into the Bay of Bengal. 18 years of effort, after fighting off US sanctions, buying Russian engines for about Rs 90 crore each, went bust in a few minutes. Rs 336 crore spent on development of the indigenous machine went waste.
Nevertheless, the Bhagavad Gita was there for solace for the new chairman of ISRO, K Radhakrishnan, for whom it was the first launch as the head of the organisation. He sought refuge under ""Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana" (You have a right to perform your prescribed action,but you are not entitled to the fruits of your action). But then he was determined as well. "Team ISRO Will do it", he thundered as he promised to deliver the cryo engine next year, facing the large contingent of media all alone, taking responsibility for the failure.
Scrap IPL...play Ranji teams in IPL, let BCCI itself handle it
Ok..Now that mud, slush, slosh, sweat and all that shit has been thrown around in the public, its time to just simplify the IPL. My suggestions are:
1) Scrap private players from having teams
2) Let BCCI deal with IPL from now on
3) Let each state Ranji Team play in the IPL instead of the so called city teams
4) Let the teams have the same number of foreign players
5) Even if we have 25 Ranji teams, each team can play two matches-one home and one away, on a round robin format, then can be eliminated
6) So instead of about 50 days, it might run upto 60 days
The logic here is by BCCI getting control and running the show, all the money and what not thats now been thrown around goes out of the game. We do not yet know if the matches are fixed as well. By having each state team play the IPL, you get a more wider base of audience. Imagine having 20-25 states rooting for their teams rather than what's happening now. Of course, the concept of having players from different states in one team goes out then. But so might all the shady deals, the twitter saga, the television news airtime, space in newspapers. Or run it like the English county cricket way.
We would then not have stupid celebrities jumping around, whining, twittering, crying,have no fake IPL players, no blogs and the focus might just be on the game.
But the current scandal has just made the IPL- Insanity in Public Life...
All thanks to Twitter and the hopelessly jobless Lalit Modi, Shashi Tharoor and the Indian media! Not to leave out myself!! :P
1) Scrap private players from having teams
2) Let BCCI deal with IPL from now on
3) Let each state Ranji Team play in the IPL instead of the so called city teams
4) Let the teams have the same number of foreign players
5) Even if we have 25 Ranji teams, each team can play two matches-one home and one away, on a round robin format, then can be eliminated
6) So instead of about 50 days, it might run upto 60 days
The logic here is by BCCI getting control and running the show, all the money and what not thats now been thrown around goes out of the game. We do not yet know if the matches are fixed as well. By having each state team play the IPL, you get a more wider base of audience. Imagine having 20-25 states rooting for their teams rather than what's happening now. Of course, the concept of having players from different states in one team goes out then. But so might all the shady deals, the twitter saga, the television news airtime, space in newspapers. Or run it like the English county cricket way.
We would then not have stupid celebrities jumping around, whining, twittering, crying,have no fake IPL players, no blogs and the focus might just be on the game.
But the current scandal has just made the IPL- Insanity in Public Life...
All thanks to Twitter and the hopelessly jobless Lalit Modi, Shashi Tharoor and the Indian media! Not to leave out myself!! :P
Thursday, March 25, 2010
IPL- The Indian 'Partition' League??
Ok...It doesn't matter that I loathe Lalit Modi....doesn't matter either to him or to me! The IPL, at this point of time, is just absolute crap. 45 days of random teams playing 'hit the ball out of the ground' for all silly reasons- read mainly money. Fan loyalties be damned. How does one explain the crowd in Bangalore 'booing' Kris Srikkanth when he's shown on the screen, while Vijay Mallya got the cheers? For one, personally there is no real emotional connect watching these teams play, though I might cheer or jeer some of the teams. The emotional connect of watching the Indian team play against other teams-that's what has made what cricket and cricketers are in this country.
It was really sad to see Srikkanth being booed. The oft repeated statement in India 'Cricket is a religion' is becoming true. Becos, in India we believe in discriminating people on the basis of caste, creed and religion. Lalit Modi is slowly getting there. Remember the first India Pak tour in 1998, when India lost the match by 12 runs? The whole Chepauk gave a standing ovation to the Pakistan team, that decided to courageously take a victory lap. That was sportsmanship from the crowd and that's what we are known for, except a few incidents here and there- mainly in Kolkata! :P
Now, no one cares if the team that is playing opposite the one they are supporting plays good cricket or not.. No standing ovation, no cheering them. Soon, it will probably come to a stage, where, (hopefully not), fans will come to blows- typical of what happens in England during the football season. And Bangaloreans gave a typical example of that, in words and chants during their match against the Chennai Super Kings. As much as they claim they are forward looking, well educated, the Kannadiga emotions over language seem to come to the fore often, even though chief ministers of both the states might put up statues of poets. Statues are just symbols, they do not reflect the actual situation that exists on the ground. I shudder to think what would have happened if Deccan Chargers matches were played in AP this time around.
On the positive side, there arent many- I was there watching Chennai throw away a quite simple game against the Punjab team at the Chepauk last Sunday. Seated next to me were a couple of senior citizens who had come with their son, daughter-in-law and grandson. I am not sure if their son celebrated every four, every wicket. But the grandmother and the grandson were in full spirit. What amazed me was the way the elderly lady jumped with joy for every possible reason that CSK gave in the match. And that, to me, is probably the only success of the IPL. It has brought senior citizens to the grounds. A simple matter of spending just about 4 hours at the ground, rather than being confined indoors.
It was really sad to see Srikkanth being booed. The oft repeated statement in India 'Cricket is a religion' is becoming true. Becos, in India we believe in discriminating people on the basis of caste, creed and religion. Lalit Modi is slowly getting there. Remember the first India Pak tour in 1998, when India lost the match by 12 runs? The whole Chepauk gave a standing ovation to the Pakistan team, that decided to courageously take a victory lap. That was sportsmanship from the crowd and that's what we are known for, except a few incidents here and there- mainly in Kolkata! :P
Now, no one cares if the team that is playing opposite the one they are supporting plays good cricket or not.. No standing ovation, no cheering them. Soon, it will probably come to a stage, where, (hopefully not), fans will come to blows- typical of what happens in England during the football season. And Bangaloreans gave a typical example of that, in words and chants during their match against the Chennai Super Kings. As much as they claim they are forward looking, well educated, the Kannadiga emotions over language seem to come to the fore often, even though chief ministers of both the states might put up statues of poets. Statues are just symbols, they do not reflect the actual situation that exists on the ground. I shudder to think what would have happened if Deccan Chargers matches were played in AP this time around.
On the positive side, there arent many- I was there watching Chennai throw away a quite simple game against the Punjab team at the Chepauk last Sunday. Seated next to me were a couple of senior citizens who had come with their son, daughter-in-law and grandson. I am not sure if their son celebrated every four, every wicket. But the grandmother and the grandson were in full spirit. What amazed me was the way the elderly lady jumped with joy for every possible reason that CSK gave in the match. And that, to me, is probably the only success of the IPL. It has brought senior citizens to the grounds. A simple matter of spending just about 4 hours at the ground, rather than being confined indoors.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The shutterbugs
Scene 1: Trident Hilton opp Meenambakkam airport
5.20 p.m- We make our entry... people are lingering around the conference hall. To be specific, reporters and photographers. Some are inside the hall setting up their cameras and checking their equipment for their 'OB Live'telecast
5.35- A group of executives make their way through the corridor...everyone rushes into the hall. In a moment, the corridor outside is deserted.
5.38-5.40(approx)- Everyone's seated. "He ll be here in a minute," says one of the 'coated'men.
A few minutes later- Carlos Ghosn, Renault Nissan CEO walks in and takes his seat at the table to address the press conference, on the eve of launching their plant at Oragadam, near Chennai.
He talks for a few minutes. And then deafening silence followed by a splash of sounds. The silence lasts for may be 5 seconds. It's deafening cos everyone was listening and the sounds that followed was more overpowering than anyone trying to talk.
If a picture could speak a thousand words, that moment defined it for me. The 5 seconds of silence, rather a pause by the speaker, accentuated by a movement of his hand, had about 30-40 cameras go 'Click, click, click, click.......' each one clicking away a minimum of 10 pics, in single moment.
In another age and another decade earlier,when film rolls were used as the only way of taking pictures and camera's had to be rolled to rotate the film to next empty film and shutter speeds were way way below what's available now, the clicks might have been sparsely and scarcely distributed. That single moment, in a way symbolised how much technology has grown over the years. At the end of the day, just about one picture might have been published by each photographer's respective newspapers. But then, this is what technology is all about. The more number of frames per second probably gives a photographer a wonderful opportunity to showcase his skills and gives him/her a shot a capturing a better moment within just a second later.
Or is it just abuse of technology? Has technology given even people without enough talent to just go and make use of it, to eke out a living? A cameraman once told me that the real cinematographers were the ones who lived and worked in the age of 'black and white' films where lighting was the most important aspect of cinematography. While the new age hi-def cameras are boons of technology, may be the cameraman had a point. Probably, some of them survived on sheer talent, some by pulling others down...but nevertheless had to have a basic idea.
However, the age of 'crouching tehelka...hidden camera'and the camera mobile has changed everything. Tehelka was ahead of the times. But a few years down the line from now on, they might not have had to spend whatever they spent on buying spy cams and setting them up. May be the camera might move from a mobile phone to the pen in your pocket...or to even your shirt buttons. Anything is possible! But the 'click,click, click, click...' of the shutterbugs will go on... 'A second's pause might be deafening to the ears in the presence of a few tens of cameramen'!!
5.20 p.m- We make our entry... people are lingering around the conference hall. To be specific, reporters and photographers. Some are inside the hall setting up their cameras and checking their equipment for their 'OB Live'telecast
5.35- A group of executives make their way through the corridor...everyone rushes into the hall. In a moment, the corridor outside is deserted.
5.38-5.40(approx)- Everyone's seated. "He ll be here in a minute," says one of the 'coated'men.
A few minutes later- Carlos Ghosn, Renault Nissan CEO walks in and takes his seat at the table to address the press conference, on the eve of launching their plant at Oragadam, near Chennai.
He talks for a few minutes. And then deafening silence followed by a splash of sounds. The silence lasts for may be 5 seconds. It's deafening cos everyone was listening and the sounds that followed was more overpowering than anyone trying to talk.
If a picture could speak a thousand words, that moment defined it for me. The 5 seconds of silence, rather a pause by the speaker, accentuated by a movement of his hand, had about 30-40 cameras go 'Click, click, click, click.......' each one clicking away a minimum of 10 pics, in single moment.
In another age and another decade earlier,when film rolls were used as the only way of taking pictures and camera's had to be rolled to rotate the film to next empty film and shutter speeds were way way below what's available now, the clicks might have been sparsely and scarcely distributed. That single moment, in a way symbolised how much technology has grown over the years. At the end of the day, just about one picture might have been published by each photographer's respective newspapers. But then, this is what technology is all about. The more number of frames per second probably gives a photographer a wonderful opportunity to showcase his skills and gives him/her a shot a capturing a better moment within just a second later.
Or is it just abuse of technology? Has technology given even people without enough talent to just go and make use of it, to eke out a living? A cameraman once told me that the real cinematographers were the ones who lived and worked in the age of 'black and white' films where lighting was the most important aspect of cinematography. While the new age hi-def cameras are boons of technology, may be the cameraman had a point. Probably, some of them survived on sheer talent, some by pulling others down...but nevertheless had to have a basic idea.
However, the age of 'crouching tehelka...hidden camera'and the camera mobile has changed everything. Tehelka was ahead of the times. But a few years down the line from now on, they might not have had to spend whatever they spent on buying spy cams and setting them up. May be the camera might move from a mobile phone to the pen in your pocket...or to even your shirt buttons. Anything is possible! But the 'click,click, click, click...' of the shutterbugs will go on... 'A second's pause might be deafening to the ears in the presence of a few tens of cameramen'!!
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