numero uno

India becomes no 1 team in tests ??? i dunno how can we become number one in tests without having ever won in Aus in recent times. SA beat Aus black and blue after we handed the arrogant ozs a perth trouncing.. but poor proteas hav just lost their crown to us... may be we stopped oz twice from a record 17th win may well make us the true numero uno.... we may not be world beaters but yeah we give a team a run for their money .....as dhoni said we may find it very very tough to hold on to numero uno.. As
he also said, lets just play good cricket and let the ratings take care of themselves.... foreign media have already started questioning how deserving india is for the numero uno spot? well guys get a break.. brown men also can be numero uno... anyways now that cricket is conquered, let us as well concentrate on gaining lost glory in hockey... Football is another area where we can be numero uno (!!!!!) beleive me it wont take 77 years as in case of cricket if we put the energy in right places.. We can aim for numero uno in 25 years atleast....

Dynasty globally

Yesterday I happened to read a feature in the BBC website about dynasties taking over in northern africa. Well Many of us may ask whats new about it. The article in BBC talks about Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and algeria. Consider Kuwait, saudi arabia, syria. The dynasties are everywhere. India, Philippines, Indonesia and some other far eastern countries have democratic dynasties... Why does all this happen?

Indifference of the people. In some cases like in oppressive regimes, any opposition is either silenced brutally or given economic privileges. In a democratic setup, the people themselves are so frustrated that they do not care about the credentials of their candidates... Well even in the UK and US to lobby for a post of governor or PM or President, a person needs to have sufficient clout in terms of men or money to win elections... Its known that hillary put up with bill's infidelity in return for his clout in the democratic party that gave her a realistic chance of running for president. In our own country, Rthe prince is back from foreign and is now staying in huts to feel the real india. In India's richest state Maharashtra, in the recently concluded assembly polls more than a dozen leader kids have been "elected" MLAs.
Even in the remotest states of North Eastern India dynasties have started growing.
America which wanted to bring democracy to Iraq has long been silent about Saudi ....

What really is democracy all about? is there any real democracy in existence where over 80% of people cast their franchise genuinely. I doubt so.

There wont be long before we go back to monarchy but in a different form....

its in the family

yesterday, due to some pressing need i happened to visit the office library. There, i chanced upon a copy of business today. The cover story of the latest issue has a profile of Noel Naval Tata, the half brother of Ratan N Tata. Noel has been running the group's retail arm Trent Ltd for over a decade now and yet a few have heard much about him in the media. Everytime i visit a Westside outlet, i am sure to find a surprise. I have taken many of my relatives/friends to westside outlets and they all have been impressed by it. More than the flashy big outlets, westside's subtle ambience has captured senses of many. In the last deacade, apart from westside we have seen Trent foray into books and music by acquiring a stake in landmark, partenring with Tesco for Star India Bazaar ( more importantly going slow on it after the retail bust during sub prime crisis where many retail biggies bit the dust), launching electronic retail chain of croma. One point to note here Ladies n Gentlemen is, Trent is 14th in terms of market cap in the tata group ( my company is the first ) . Trent is also not supposed to explicitly use the omnipresent TATA logo as they have to still reach a few goals as per the in-house business excellence model of the group to be able to use it. Until then all it can do is to just display "A TATA Enterprise" in its brands.The man has led the company ably as his elder bro did Nelco more than 2 decades ago. Yet the man hasnt had a stint in Tata Steel or Tata motors , the flagship companies of the group. Noel is the likely successor to the septuagenarian chairman who is set to retire soon and may become chairman emeritus like his mentor JRD. Iam awestruck by the steady growth of Trent that has lived up to the Tata values. I say this not just because I am a Tata employee. I hope the group gets to greater heights once Noel takes over the mantle. With a team of CEOs in their 40s Noel whos in his 50s will have a brighter chance for taking the group to new heights.

pseudo-moral

In India nothing creates controversy more than books that talk history...Nah this is not about the furore caused by Jaswant who was hailing Jinnah... Jinnah and secular.. well its true he was not at all a pious Muslim, his wife was called Ruttie petit ( yup a parsi).. but suddenly he found his religion and became the quaid e azam.. lets leave him apart for a while.. this is about Jinnah's arch rival for premiership, had India been not partitioned; the man in question is Pt Nehru.. a lot has been said , written and seen about his relationships et all... About 2 yrs before an oxford scholar named Alex von Tunzelmann reignited the flame with her book "Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire" . I have read that book and say that there is nothing extremely controversial.. It talks about Gandh, Nehru, Lord Mountbatten, Edwina, very less about Jinnah.. more importantly,it talks about the Nehru-Edwina link. The author has done her bit of research at the Royal Archives.. The book actually talks about the lives of Gandhi, Nehru and the mountbattens before narrating the events of 1947.. Well the Brits are never afraid of writing history and the lady has minced no words in mentioning that the marital link between Lord n Lady Mountbatten was an open marriage and that the Lord was openly bisexual... She has also clearly stated that the Nehru-Edwina link was more than platonic.. It seems some people here have taken their own sweet time to read the book.. after 26 months when some hollywood guy is tryin to film the book, people have come out shouting that this is defamatory to our beloved leader... Well whether or not Nehru had a relation ship with Edwina, the fact remains that he is the architect of modern India and is a statesman par excellence ( yes "IS" is what i use) .. thats how I see it...But with their new found popularity, the congress party doesnt want to take its chances.. It cried foul and a host of Nehru family/extended family members have said that the relationship was just platonic( IJ IT??)....
There has also been an attempt to influence the director to come out n say that he has shown nothing controversial in the movie.. well clear breach of creative freedom.. We are a secular bear all bunch.. aint it friends?.. Well as a matter of fact, the book there are some facts about Gandhiji, which some might feel offensive... But none from Gandhi's family has even made a whimper..
We as a nation are so much obsessed with hero worship that even a small criticism against our beloved leaders is a matter of pride for us....Whatever be the relationship reality is, the fact is Nehru is still a hero... Let us all realise that and not make a hue n cry...

taamil teryaadu

when i was in singara chennai this time, i happened to see many northie folks with this sentence 'taamil teryaadu'... i had a crude pleasure in talking to them in chennai slang and when they replied this i felt elated... i thought to myself wow .. 6 yrs ago in pune when i said marathi maith nahi and spoke in hindi, i usually got replies in chaste marathi ( thanks to tht i am able to understand a bit marathi now).. similarly these northy folks will soon learn claasical divine tamil.... vaazhga thamizh valarga thamizh :-)( Long live classical divine tamil)

bong connexion

after rocking mumbai delhi n kolkatta, Oh calcutta arrived in pune a while ago... well this is about the restaurant owned by Anjan Dutta a famous bong musician/actor....
I have been having a craving to have bong food for long and with Oh calcutta in the vicinity of my office i was getting mad daily... alas these guys dont have buffet on weekdays and i usually stay away from office areas on weekends.. but today i had some business there and that too around lunch... so my dream was about to be fulfilled...
the meal started with bread chops and alor dum... delicious... the main course was a divine treat of alor poshto, veg chorchori, phulkopi....what not..
the non veg selection included hilsa fish, murshidabad style biryani and lauki& chingri curry... alas i am a veggie :-)

then came the dessert... there was a usual selection of mousse n icecreams.. but i opted for payash n roshogulla....its been a good 5 hours since the meal but the aroma n flavour linger on...... Oh caclutta ekdum photaphoti....

team no 1

nopes this is not a title of a govinda david dhawan flick... MS Dhoni and his men have become the no 1 odi teamin the world.. ( they could lose the spot in 24 hrs if they lose today but who cares... weve been there no 1...)yippe.. a consistent performance over a yr... india rockzzz......

censor pangs

while i was on vacation, i caught up with this new hype in tammovie land.. kanthasamy the rooster super hero movie.. the movie was a pain. the best review is written here http://www.thehindu.com/fr/2009/08/28/stories/2009082850560200.htm Yet many tam magazines find something to cheer about this movie... theres no neutrality or common sense in any of the tam mags around...well i also happened to lay my hands on the DVD of a picture called "Iruvar" ... its a biopic with a bit of fiction freely thrown around. Its Mani's masterpiece and Ash's début movie.. It chronicles the friendship turned rivalry of Tamlands two powerhouses Muthuvel Karunanidhi and Mardur Gopalamenon Ramachandran.. well i dont want to say anything about both these movies.. i just have some queries to our censor guys... whats the criteria on whch u give a U or A or U/A and are they transparent... me thinks its as transparent as my company's policy on promotions...u never see a pattern being followed.. why i am saying this is, the movie kanthasaamy has a U certificate .. never know that a movie in which the heroine dances around in towels n bikinis can get a U.... and Iruvar has an A certificate... Goodness me.. Iruvar does not have any violence or sexually explicit sequences.. the only fault of it is, it deals with quite an inflammable topic.. it shud atleat have got an U/A if not a U...this is just a small piece.. if we see many such movies we'll see the inconsistency.. if such is the standards how can we trust these guys and letkids or adolescent folks ( more vulnerable) see some movies.. in today's worls movies and tv play a lot more role in shaping up cultural outlook and we cant totally ignore em..

PS: Why did i choose these two movies for comparision?.. well the director of kanthasaamy was an assistant to Mani and was ne of the important crew members of Iruvar..

back to roots

I happened to be in chennai at the time of the brahmotsavam of the Lakshmi Hayavadhana temple in Nanganallur... Yeah i know its not as famous as tirupathi or any other shrine.. but nonetheless it occupies a very special position in my heart.. its my ultimate palce of pilgrimage and prayer... i have been a devotee of lord hayavadhana ( the male counter part of saraswathi in education, work and arts) ever since my childhood.. Added to the devotion was the association of vedanta desikan to the lord...the temple is a very small one but i get a lot of inner peace when i visit there. I used to go this place almost daily when i was studying back in chennai.. in those days i was a very simple guy ( not that i am a pompous arse now) .. whenever i go back to chennai, i try to relive those days.. walking without a slipper, wearing the traditional outfits et all.. its just a different feeling all together..
The brahmotsavam went on very well and the link to view the photos is http://hayavadhana.co.nr ( not sure why they chose a site based in nauru..)
The highlight of this brahmotsavam was, whenever the lord was taken out in procession in a vahana, one of the committee members had made an arrangement in which a miniature version of the idol and vahana was kept decorated. This miniature version was taken out in procession by small kids... the priests made sure that they taught the kids about all the rituals patiently.. the kids were an enthusiaistic lot and listened keenly.. they way the followed the instructions was amazing.. the kids trying to wear veshtis and kepping it on their waists by means of all sorts of belts was a sight worth watching... amidst all these i did some soul searching... the funnier side is i ended up skipping most of the utsavam as i was sleeping or away to other temples or outside nanganallur... but whatever i could catch up with really took me closer to my roots .. i am glad that i took this vacation..

relief

Often people see me as an aggressive chap who gives a piece if his mind whenever possible....off late i had been trying to curb that instinct after many advised me not to be so outspoken.. it was a good advise too.. but there are sometimes and some places where one needs to show how capable he/she is in countering people who have no concern for others... Today I did that to a person, who was very close to me once but off late was carrying an attitude.. I tried to be as polite as possible in dealing with that person and even wanted to end things without any hostilities.. but certain limits were crossed and i felt that I was being estimated a weak person on the other side.. Hence I decided to give it all and poured out my not so good feelings with the choicest slang available to me...now i dont give a hoot as to what happens and i am glad that i did it... what a relief........

Jana Gana Mana

we celebrate the 63rd Independence day from the brits... Moment of great success. SOme doomsdaysayers will cry saying so many people are below poverty line etc.... But in spite of all short comings we are still a great country and the world cant function without us...At this proud moment, lets reflect on our national anthem.. which is a true essence of our culture... Some say that Gurudeb wrote that song in praise of George V for the 1911 Delhi Durbar. Even that that silly assumption, Gurudeb just stands out. He has written a song in highly sankritized bengali, which is easier for most people in the country to understand. There are still a bunch of fools hanging around who say sanskrit is the language of the aryans and they quote the aryan invasion theory, which in itself is doubtful.. lets leave em out..morons will be morons.

The song praises the adhinayak ( ruler supreme lord) of the mana ( mind) of jan gans ( larger public). It says that all over india from punjab, sindh, gujarat, maratha, vindhya, dravida, himalayas the name reverberates and seeks blessings...and ends with a victory call...

The song praises an ruler which is most likely God. It has been so brilliantly conceived that theres no particular God named...thus reflecting the tenet of secularism.. Gurudeb stands out as a supreme poet..

Jana Gana Mana is not just a song thats sung on government functions.. its a prayer that seeks the well being of our home land.... lets celebrate the spirit of Jana Gana Mana

kashmir again

last week kashmir was in the news for different reasons....
of course shopian is always there but some terrorists killed a 3 yr old and as omar abdullah rightly said, the separatists were silent on that... where's their conscience

but slowly we can be sure that kashmir is really now an integral part.... why this sudden realization?
following are the reasons

1) Sex Scandal... this unites India.. we had one in chandigarh, Tamil nadu, kerala, where not.. kashmir has also joined the bandwagon....

2) Assembly mic incident: well UP did thisin 1990s.. almost many other states too... kashmir is the last but yeh we welcome this... true parliamentary democracy has bloomed in kashmir....

3) Resignation drama : Almost every other CM has done it... Omar is the last again but not the least.. yeh Integration of kashmir is complete.......

dynasty again

Some time in the 1950s rajaji as CM of tamland had this scheme called kula kalvi. According to it students learnt their family profession in addition to the curriculum. Back then it was vehemently opposed by the dravidian parties as a symbol of brahminism. But the same party now is promoting the family .Anyways politics cinema are for sure dynastic industries. You need a strng surname for sure. Over the last week i was follwing telugu politics n cinema. Another starkid is being launchd in gult land. Tam n gult lands have a lot in common. People of both lands put their admiration and trust seriously. They support whom they admire to any extent and destroy people who betray them. More than the politicos, the stars know this and manipulate their brand value. The debut of tthe third gen akkineni star has been planned in such a way. As usual diff story grt direction rhetoric was thr. As usual the heroine dint knw telugu. Well tam and telugu heroines just thrive on dubbings. They also make it a point to spk a wors or two in the local lingo at a public function. Still we're fine with that. So another son has risen...

Back in tamland the 'trend' is towards realistic cinema. Super. We just look at the trend before making a tam muvee. Other things like story fall in place as we move along. Just for a while we thought tam movies got better but nay its just the trend of the season. They may go back after people get bored.

But bollywood is the best. We make any kind of muvee thr and sell it anywhee. If its a flop in india its an overseas hit. Atlest thats wht we say. But these days comedy's the thme thr. And starkids get launcd daily thr these days. What do the older stars do? Some get a doctorate, some meet hilary and talk abt education. Wow.

we say vanashrama dharma is gone. But thats what prevails. Atleast in politics n cinema all over india. 'unity in diversity' jai ho

he he

i had a hunch. i did tell that its unlikely for us to reachT20 semis... now its impossible....

People say dhoni was overconfident etc etc... the only fault of shoni is he isnt batting aggressively.. rest else is fine with him. we dint loose because sehwag wasnt there.. we lost because we have been playing for very long and needed a lot of rest... we arent as atheltic or strong by nature like aussies .. only they can afford such long outings.. if we want to keep winning we will have to take breaks... anyways we won the wc when we were written off. now we lost..lets focus on 2k11 WC.. we should win that... go dhoni go....

பசங்க

சமீபத்தில் இந்த படத்தை பார்க்க நேர்ந்தேன். மிக அருமையாக எடுக்கப்பட்ட படம் இது. இதுதான் நிஜமான குடும்ப படம் . சிறு வயது போட்டி பொறாமைகளை ஒரு கதை மூலமாக சொல்லி இருக்கிறார் இயக்குனர். சற்று கூட முகம் சுளிக்க வைக்காத காட்சிகள், வசனங்கள் மற்றும் பாடல்கள். ஐயா படம் னா இது படம். எடுக்கறானுன்களே மத்த படங்களையும். ஜீவாவின் அப்பாவாக வரும் நடிகர் பிரமாதமாக நடித்துள்ளார். இவருக்கு நிறைய வாய்ப்புகள் வரும். பார்த்தால் ஏதோ தொலைக்காட்சி தொடரில் வருபவர் போல் உள்ளார். நாயகன் நாயகி சுமாராக நடித்து உள்ளனர். படத்தை ஜீவா மற்றும் அன்பு வாக நடித்துள்ள இரண்டு சிறுவர்களும் இரு தூண்கள் போல தாங்கி பிடித்துள்ளனர். படம் பட்டையை கிளப்பி இருக்கிறது .........எப்பூடி

பிகு: அந்த நாயகி பர்ர்பதற்கு லட்சணமாக உள்ளார்.

poor dhoni

Seems the dream is over.. weve lost the first major match.. dhoni will be crucified and mauled ... his state will be worse if we fail to qualify for semis ( most likely as per my intution)... anyways as an Indian i am used to all these.... lets see what happens... moreover we need the real 50 50 wc and not 20 20 now... ;) ( grapes are sour)

electoral system

the first past the post electoral system needs a serious re-thinking... people with less than 30% of the vote are becoming MPs and pass laws that dont have a majority backing.. this leads to law breaches and endless debates....

Reasons for the faults

1) People not voting

we cannot entrely blame the people for low turn outs.. in many a case people who went out to vote found their names missing.. kamal hassan was missing from voter list ridiculous... in delhi many cent govt babus found their names missing... what a pity.... also there should be a provision to allow absentee ballots applicable for even common citizens.. people may not necesarily register to vote in the place they stay .. they may prefer to vote in their home cities just because of the fact that they might have moved into the new place pretty recently.. the voter list should be carefuly revised and ensured that all appropriate names are included. With the technological advances we should also ensure online registration and verification...( Govt enabled and not thru some NGOs as was the case this time)

2) Voting Pattern

why do we need first past the post? why cant we use a proportional system..

this would ensure that to win a person needs atleast some percentage of votes..

we could also try for a primary and a run off system to eliminate people..

we should declare eceltions void if we have less that 55% voter turnout....

lets push for it.....

Secular

when BJP lost we are so happy to say that Secularism won.. is that a reality? We have thus far failed to define what secular means and give it conextual meanings.. One cannot digest the fact that demanding a uniform civil code is not secular... if BJP is really communal it could have said make manusmiriti the code ( Sharia is a code in many islamic countries).. The fact is we still want to appease muslims... Muslims are very much part of this country and we need not go out of the way to please them. Our media is happy to say that the muslims have voted in a block to congress.. thats all fine. when some one asks the same to hindus its regarded communal and fundamental...In kerala and tamil nadu, parties named muslim league and Muslim munnetra kazhagam become part of a secular formation.. I am sorry we need to change this outlook...

Prophecy Comes true

Just 2 yrs before, before oz won the 2k7 wc , i made a prophecy that a day will come when oz will be screwed badly and knocked outta world tournament in the first round... i dint know that it would happen in 2k9 T20 WC... Gayle n Sanga ensured that they did just that to OZ... go ponting rub your face in some mud :) yeow.. the oz are out Ireland is thru to round 2.........
someone please do the same to them in 2k11 WC ... May eng screw themin the ashes due in a month's time... let everyone crush OZ... Amen...

OZ crushed yet again

Gayle is for sure the most exciting cricketer of our times... lovely... his innings made sure that oz idiots bit the dust again...!!! pray lanka defat oz on monday and kick em outta t20 wc....