Why do we always have to bend over backwards?

The clash of all clashes happened and we all watched India & Pakistan fighting it out on the cricket field for the fifth time in world cups and India coming out winners the fifth time. The celebrations started even before the match was over and continue. So do the discussions of what took place on and off the field with almost every Indian believing that he has been instrumental in the win in one way or the other… a friend of mine did not see the match because he feels that whenever he watches, India loses. That’s cricket for India my friends and that is why even though I intend to make this a socio-politically driven blog, I continue to blog about cricket.

One small feeling that started hurting me as soon as the teams won their qf clashes to ensure this semi-final clash…one small thing that our beloved PM did that made me feel sad. And what better place to showcase the same than my blog (my blessings to the person who invented the internet).

Mr.Singh invited Mr.Gilani to watch the proceedings on the field in the stadium while having a round of informal dialogue to kick-start the peace initiative which had been lying on the back burner since 26/11. India had then proudly said that no dialogue was possible till Pakistan mends its ways and even cricket matches between the two nations had been put aside. 

Then what happened?

Did Pakistan mend its ways? Last year has been one of the worst in the recent history of J&K with terrorism and riots wrecking havoc with innocent people’s lives in the state. While USA continues to give money to Pakistan on the pretext of fighting terror, Pakistan continues to arm itself with the latest in warfare openly stating that this is for the sole purpose of curbing any attacks from India. (India has never ever spoken of any such attacks and has never shown by action that it intends to carry out any such acts of aggression.) Pakistan has not made a single statement in these last few years that it wants to have peace with its much larger neighbor.

Then why did we bend backwards again, Mr.Singh? I understand that having peace talks with Pakistan is good and we should always try to keep peace with our neighbors at least. But no number of such talks have ever had any effect on how Pakistan behaves (mis-behaves). Then why talk of peace? Or for that matter, why talk at all? I would say, why not just ignore Pakistan? Yes, we share a common history but our good neighbors have never bothered to respect that past. Continuous dialogue between the two countries only helps in bringing Pakistan to the center stage in world politics. India does not need this for any sort of publicity in the international forum. We are big enough. Then why not just ignore Pakistan and continue on our own journey to super power status in the world. (Please note that I do not support any security lapses on our part. That is a matter of the defense of our nation which is of utmost importance.)

We have better things to think about. A permanent seat in the Security Council is one for that matter. This Pakistani bickering is not helping that in any way. Tonnes of internal conflicts need to be resolved. Corruption needs to be fought and eradicated. Why not just ignore the nation which cannot stand on its own anyways?

And if any of our politicians need better targets that the ones I have mentioned in the previous para, how about investing and focusing on science and R&D, education, astrophysics, space travel, modernization of our agricultural system, ensuring less dependence on monsoons, alternate sources of energy, infrastructure….. the list is endless….it’s the focus that is missing.

Why Does India need Sachin Tendulkar?

Which Indian does not know this man who turns 38 on 24^th April, 2011? This little master who made his test debut at a ripe age of 16 in 1989 when he toured Pakistan with the Indian team captained by Kris Srikkanth. With surprise did I realize that it took the Master Blaster 79 ODI’s to score his first One Day century but he really made up for this delay…and continues to do so. His records and exploits in the cricket field continue to be discussed across the world and have become part of the cricket folklore. My mentioning them in any number of words here will not do any credit to this great cricketer since my vocabulary is not vast enough to encompass the number of adjectives that I will need.

Then why am I talking about this great man? This post is my humble way to show gratitude to this great man who through his well-earned popularity in the cricket field helped a huge country stay united. Cricket happ

ens to be the only game which has a huge and ardent fan following in this country of a billion. Post our famous world cup win in 1983, Indians became even more attracted towards

cricket while blowing the death knell for hockey which was also as famous (if not more) till then. Unfortunately, our great country through the 80’s, 90’s & 2000’s have been torn by numerous internal strives each of which was worse than the previous one. The 1984 riots followed by the murder of Rajeev Gandhi and then the Babri Masjid related riots in 1992. While numerous local riots either political or regional or religion related have not done anything good for this country. Shouts of “Jai Hind” have more often than not been replaced by screams of “Jai Punjab” or “Jai Maratha” for just about every single state. Local political parties have tried (and succeeded) in dividing the states further depending on their vote banks which have further aggravated the entire balance. Telegu statesmen’s statues were broken down in Hyderabad which is supposed to be the home to the Telegu’s just because Hyderabad physically comes in a part of Andhra Pradesh called Telangana which wants itself to become a separate state to feed the coffers of some more politicians.

India takes pride in being not just a country but being an amalgamation of so many different cultures that you will see a different India almost every 100 kms that you go. This change is not just in the way people live or dress but also in social hierarchies, languages spoken, entertainment channels used…in fact the very thread of the way civilization works changes. In this origami of thought that is India, a single thread is required that will bind everyone together into a fantastic nation which is India. That essential thread has been cricket. When India plays, Indians are one. It does not matter if I am from UP or Bihar or West Bengal or Maharashtra or Jharkhand or Kashmir or Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh or Assam or Mizoram or Arunachal or any other state of this huge country. I AM AN INDIAN.

And what happens when I become a cog in the wheel of this country instead of just representing a single state / religion / political party? A hint for the answer: since the world cup 2011 started, the number of riots in the country has been reduced. Check your local newspaper if you don’t believe me and you are from India. And who made India survive the bad days of cricket when match fixing had been busted and defamed the gentleman’s game? Who else but our very own Sachin Tendulkar who not only stood his ground in the courts but also ensured that an average Indians faith in the game was not shattered by performing when it really mattered. What would have happened if in the 90’s and 2000’s when the Indian cricket team was relying only on the great 5”5’ man to provide them with a win, Sachin Tendulkar was not there? For almost 2 decades, he was holding the thread of the Indian nation on his shoulders and carrying it with some help from some other greats of course.

And when it came to a personal attack, he did not mind telling the (oh so powerful) Shiv Sena chief that he was an Indian first and then anything else. The statement took the steam out of the entire “Jai Maratha” campaign within seconds and I have not heard Mr.Thakarey Sr. giving any further anti-India remarks of this kind.

So why does India need Sachin Tendulkar? Indians needs Sachin Tendulkar to stay united. India needs Sachin Tendulkar to show to others that when time needs, we can be one.

1908 – A very very bad year for millions of people

1908 was the year when the IVth Olympics took place in London. 1908 was the year when Henry Ford introduced the highly acclaimed Model-T. 1908 was the year when Wright brothers flew the first true controlled power flight bringing in the revolution in aviation. 1908 was also an year of sadness. This was the year in which the Young Turk Revolution happened which was the first precursor to WW-I. A tsunami in Italy resulted In over 70,000 dead. But these are all just very general events which impacted not much except possibly the aviation sector.

On 26^th May, 1908, the first major oil discovery of Middle East was made in Persia. This event has now culminated in the Middle East becoming the most dangerous place for a civilian to live in. With the likes of USA, China, Russia, Europe wanting every single drop of extractable oil from here, the strifes between various factions over the spoils has resulted in every single of these countries becoming a hell for the common man. I am sure that a lot of people will not mind keeping this day as a National Mourning Day as the very concept of living and life changed dramatically and has not returned to normalcy since.

And is this a sad even for just the Middle East while the rest of the world has enjoyed the benefits of getting oil cheaper and longer? With the “superpowers” trying to ensure their dominance in the region, they kept supplying various groups with arms and riches of other sorts making them richer and more powerful. Once the power came, demands increased and the country aiding and abetting these potential criminals decided to start supporting some other groups. This resulted in internal fights and the building up of terrorist groups. The famed Mr.Laden himself made most of his money from oil….and guess who he bombed to become such a well recognized name?

So lets have 26^th May as the International Mourning Day. A day which each one of us irrespective of our religion, region, caste or any other socially defining description will regret as the day when we last saw the world as nature wanted it seen…

Our PM is a silent cow….GOOOOOD

A recent news article related to Mr.Gaddafi of Libya’s fame having a talk with our friendly PM Mr.Singh mentioned how G had called the situation in Libya similar to the one in Kashmir and Mr.S had made no comments on that (at least none were mentioned in any articles). There have been numerous issues both domestic as well as international where a statement from our beloved Mr.S would have not only looked good but was also required and he didn’t say anything. Sometimes, it has gone to the extent that I felt like smashing a TV somewhere (aka Mr.Ricky Ponting in a recent world cup match) but somehow managed to not.

I guess we might just come out lucky that Mr.S doesn’t have a tongue to talk about. The current political situation in the world where almost every corner of the planet is having some war or other, a world war cannot be ruled out. History has shown that USA became the world mover & shaker only after the two wars asserted his dominance over the world. Even UK bowed to such an extent that even now after decades having passed, UK is the foghorn which USA uses to express its issues. And how did USA become strong? WW-II: USA was not even a part of the war for most of the years but entered only after all the rest of the armies were either annihilated or totally tired and turned the tide in the favor of the Allies. With a WW-III, it might not be a bad idea for India to take that role. Thanks to our Silent Sardar (those two words sound like an irony together…), India has taken no sides in any international issues. While we did stay away from voting for a no-fly zone in Libya along with the other BRIC nations and Germany, while China and Russia have also gone on to demand an immediate ceasefire just 4 days later, India remains mum on the man slaughter happening in that poor North African country. Similarly, our friendly neighbor China continues to force Tibetans into all sorts of ridiculous positions and India continues to talk of the age old saying of “Hindi Chini bhai bhai…”. The Koreas keep shouting hoarse at each other supported by either China or USA and India (even though a self acclaimed super power) has no say. Entire Middle East is almost up in flames and while Mrs.Clinton is telling every single person in the entire region how US is “with them in their hour of need”, India is absent…again.

Doesn’t this give us an awesome opportunity? The entire world having already decided who they are going to support will be fighting each other and possibly nuking half the planet, we will be peacefully growing at 8%+ GDP and possibly supplying the rest of them with food and technology further enhancing our GDP. And then in the end when a stalemate is reached, we can decide which team to join and not only win the war but also become leaders of “the new nation”. Forget a permanent security council seat in UN, we will make our own UN. NATO would have been wiped out and another force based in New Delhi would have become the new peace keepers in the world.

But then again, we will possibly need a more vocal PM to decide when to finish the war since Mr.S will not be able to make that decision….or maybe Mrs.G will read this blog and decide to help him!

I wanna be rich….I wanna be a minister!

At the cost of sounding really cynical, I have loads of comments to make on the different asset declaration done by our great politicians. Thanks to the Election Commission of India, each person contesting for any polls has to mandatorily declare the value of all his and his families assets. These may include land, property, cash, jewelry or any other form of assets that they may have.

The interesting things that come out of this? You will know how much each one has earned due to his / her stint while in power. A leading newspaper showed today how a regional party’s Food Ministers assets went up 780 times within 5 years while he was in power! And his explanations are that he made a lot of money on agriculture which happened on a plot of 1.1 acres!!!! I know as a fact that this is impossible even if all his money was being put back into agriculture. Mr.Minister, if you are such an awesome investor, why waste your time working as a minister earning a pittance for a salary while you can easily go on to become the next Warren Buffet? Seriously…who are you kidding?

Ohhh….and this is not just one case. The same thing reverberates across political parties, castes, genders…. Blatant use of power the results of which are audited and published while the people whose money is going into these coffers just sit and do absolutely nothing!

One simple common sensical question: Why will a wannabe politician spend crores and crores to buy votes and win if the only thing he was going to get out of the entire thing was a small salary which is also made by a junior manager of an MNC?

The Right to Speech - Are we using it right?

We stay in a country where we are able to speak. We are able to voice our concerns and comment openly on public blogs and websites about how we feel. We are not scared of some government hawks pouncing on us for having said something against some of their policies. Some of us even go to the extent of condemning the presiding governments to the dungeons and asking for an out and out communist rule and still get away with it. And how do we use this awesome freedom which we don’t realize we have since we have always had it (ask your friend in China and he will tell you about this freedom which he does not have)?

Let me take some examples of how we “use” our democratic rights:

1. Children were attacked in a Bangalore suburb by stray dogs to the extent that they were unable to go to school. They wrote a letter to the BBMP (corporation) commissioner but nothing happened. Some people went and poisoned some of the dogs because not only were these dogs numbering few 10’s of packs of 10’s of dogs in each pack attacking helpless children and elders but also tearing up clothes and barking through the night due to which people were not able to sleep. What happens? PETA activists started screaming and shouting wanting the people imprisoned irrespective of the fact that these very dogs had torn to shreds a few months old baby some days back. Of course none of these activists had been around at that time.

2. Jats are a community in Haryana which till recently was unknown. Suddenly, headed by a retired army officer, the community went on a protest asking for inclusion in the 28% reserved category of OBC’s for getting government jobs. They decided to “seal” Delhi borders and ensured that people and material had a horrendous time coming into or going out of the capital. When the government did not heed to their demands, the leader (ex-army as I mentioned) actually said that even though this agitation is non-violent, the government will be responsible if it turns violent!!!!!! He even said that he will further seal the borders and deprive the capital of water, electricity and oil! WOW!!!!!!!

A small reminder to all these and many many more such “extortionists”….try this in an anarchy or a communist country like China and you will have a Tiananmen Square for which only you will be responsible.

Democratic rights are very very good but only when used properly. Unfortunately, nowhere is there correct use happening. Few years back, while I was based in the North East India, my mom called me and asked if I was fine since she heard on the news about a bomb blast in a small town called Jorhat in Assam. I was in Jorhat and there had been no blast in anyone’s recent memory that we could recall. The news channel seemingly had added a news made in the news room to fill up a slot!

We all are eating out of this democratic buffet feeling that we can use these rights in whichever way we like. Don’t we realize that we have a bill to pay in the end? And it will come with VAT and Service tax.

Irony of life?

Just read a news article of another Wikileaks exposure about a bribe which a Congress MP gave to some other MP’s regarding a vote of confidence in the Indian parliament. The online article which was posted 3 hours ago had been commented on by around 350 people each of who have shown their discontent at the abject state of affairs.

I am a proud Indian who has always stayed in India and has travelled to every single state (seriously) in this huge country. I am also an entrepreneur having a small but successful business running in one of the fastest growing metropolitans of this country. I have also served as a manager in an MNC and have had my share of trysts with the various government agencies – whether it was for a registration or some certificate or a water connection or any other thing under the sun. Never have I seen an official not asking me for money.

Any Indian road will have traffic offenders passing by at the rate of a dozen per minute. Stop anyone and ask what he will do if caught and the prompt reply will be, “A Rs.50 note can take care of it”.

My question to the 350 comments in that column: If you are an Indian, have you never paid a bribe? I agree that Tata’s possibly might say that they have not, but then they don’t need to. They are too big for a government official to mess around with. What about the millions of others?

I seriously believe that India is one country which can never be rocked by stock markets or economic meltdowns because of which all the economists get their bread and butter. Our parallel economy is too big and its all because of these bribes.

I am in no way approving this very wrong phenomenon. What I am asking is: WHAT GIVES US A RIGHT TO COMMENT ON OTHERS WHEN WE ARE NOT COMING FROM HEAVEN OURSELVES? Movies like Lage Raho Munnabhai were seen, appreciated, given some Filmfare awards (I think) and forgotten to be shown again by some TV channel on the next Gandhi Jayanti but when will we start doing what we preach?

I agree again that I am myself to blame as well but I do have a business to run for which I give my share of bribes. But if I refuse to, what will happen to the people who are working for me? They have a family to feed as well…right?

I wish I had a solution to this menace. But this solution has to come from the politicians who unfortunately are the last people who will try to find a solution. Why else will they be willing to spend crores of rupees to get a seat in the government? Definitely not for the measly salary which they get. Right?

Sorry Mother Nature

Sorry Mother Nature..... for we have sinned.

You provided us with food.... and we butchered you for minerals

You provided us with air..... and we suffocated your atmosphere

You provided us with land.... and we bombed it with our inventions.....

We confess Mother Nature.... that we have sinned....

We pray to God when none of us have seen him....

Why dont we pray you when you show us what you can do?

Take pity on us Mother Nature....since we have sinned....

Within moments whole cities in Japan were washed away today...

Even the US & China...supposedly the strongest nations.... were left clueless and ashamed by a single puff of breeze by nature...

But will we learn?

Heartfelt condolences with all those who have suffered from the ill-effects of what everyone has contributed to. Yes, we can claim that all this is because of the moon and how it is at its closest to Earth, but is that seriously the only reason?

Please learn Earthlings....Please Please Please

The numbers crunched...

Great time to be an Indian! It’s the cricket world cup being played in India and our very own team has not lost a single match till now!!! I know my profile states that I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in this English sport which is a fetish for every single Indian who I know of…. But well…. I AM an Indian.

So the calculations go like this:

Group A: Australia seem leaders with 3 more matches to go, two of which are against Canada and Kenya – two associate teams who have shown absolutely no interest in putting up a good performance. But the rankings in this group and hence the possibility of playing a “strong” or “weak” team from Group B is still anyone’s guess. If other results go as per plan, two matches: New Zealand (@ 8 points) vs Sri Lanka (@7 points) on 18^th March and Australia (@9 points) vs Pakistan (@8 points) on 19^th March will decide the entire group. (The points have been taken assuming no upset results in that group since these 4 have to play against either of Kenya, Zimbabwe or Canada till then.) So well…..forget everything else and wait for 18^th!

Group B: Now this is a group in which apart from India, no one seems to have a confirmed place in the QF….we should thank the wonderful Irish team for this confusion which is now to follow…..England have to play Bangladesh and West Indies…West Indies play Ireland, England and India…South Africa play India, Ireland and Bangladesh…Ireland play WI, SA & Netherlands…India of course play SA and WI. Assuming all was normal and Ireland was behaving itself, the QF should have had India, SA, England and WI not necessarily in that order. Unfortunately, with Ireland playing the way they are, they will definitely defeat the Dutch and they hold a very good chance of putting one up against the WI or SA..if they pull one of these, they will end up with 6 points and if India manage to defeat the team (out of WI / SA) who they defeat, Ireland would actually reach the semis ahead of that poor test playing nation. Of course, I am assuming that England will defeat Bangladesh which is a big assumption knowing the health problems of England and the fact that the Bangladeshi team will be itching to prove themselves as a test playing nation…..

I have a thousand more nos going on in my head and have not even considered the NRR to decide who goes in…..but well, I am happy that India is safe and can finally let Ashwin play. I am sure Piyush Chawla will not mind that now since he can go home happy that he single handedly got India into the QF’s (hope you understand that this is a Euphemism)……

I am back...another touch and go? Or......

Hey I am back! And surprisingly I not only remember my passwords but I also remember how to type!

Anyways, it has been some time since a very close friend of mine has been writing her blog and it has been inspiring me to start penning in my blog once again...so hopefully....lets see...... After all I do keep leaving all those comments on various news sites regarding political and social issues...and with the way I am trying to tinker with becoming an entrepreneur...who knows I might have something good to write about....

Anyways...lets hope I keep returning now... Thanks Tina!