AMARNATH"S VERSUS BCCI

The Amarnath clan and the BCCI bosses have always been at loggerheads since the 1930's and Mohinder "Jimmy" Amarnath's recent sacking as a national selector is the latest addition to this continuing saga of mutual antipathy and recrimination......


One would have to go back to the 1930's and the Indian team's very first steps in the cricketing world to trace the origins of this ongoing feud for the then BCCI afficionado the Maharaja of Vizianagaram or Vizzy as he was more popularly known sent back the great Lala Amarnatah from a tour of England for reasons best known to him........

One can hold the Amarnath's guilty(?) of committing the cardinal sin of always speaking their minds and calling a spade a spade at any and every given opportunity, these brave attempts to recount matters as they were, were however viewed as mutiny against the establishment by the myopic and near sighted men who occupied the topmost echelons of the BCCI and felt that penalising the Amarnath clan at every step of the way was their god given right.......

Jimmy's younger sibling, the prodigiously talented Surinder Amarnath only played three test matches for team India despite getting a century on debut against the Kiwis and Mohinder himself played a paltry 69 test matches during a two decade and more long career and even ended his cricketing career on an acrimonious and bitter note by dubbing the then selection committee as a "pack of jokers".........   The background to this rather sorry state of affairs is as follows Jimmy Paaji was dropped from the Indian team despite averaging close to 15 runs per innings against his opponents while Ravi Shastri was persisted with despite averaging a pithy 5 runs per innings against the same opposition thereby causing Jimmy Paa to loose his legendary composure and balance and dub the then selectors as a "pack of jokers".....   This feud or then long running battle continued with the instance of the then BCCI president playing a cruel joke on Mohinder Amarnath by informing him that he was in the running for the much coveted post of the captain of the Indian test team summoning him for a meeting to Mumbai in this regard and then appointing the colonel Dilip Vengsarkar as India's test capatin despite the feelers sent to Jimmy Paa in this regard.......   Yesterday's ignonimous sacking from the post of national selector is certainly far from being the last nail in the coffin and the last episode in this long running war between the Amarnath clan and the BCCI bosses is yet to be written, do keep watching this space for further developments............  

ON TEAM SELECTION

Dear Mr. N.Srinivasan,


The portentous time of appointing a new selection committee is nigh upon us and the unwelcome currents of sycophancy, currying favours, implicit threats, and intense lobbying for the very same coveted posts is permeating the already corrupted and convoluted atmosphere within the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai.....

You can grab this golden opportunity and be a harbinger of change, nay the visionary who changed the manner in which Indian cricket was run if you adopt and implement a few well meaning yet far reaching changes in the manner in which the selection committee is appointed and also pay close attention to the personnel manning these career making or marring positions......

Take the first kid steps on this rather perilous path by putting an immediate end to this hackneyed and mush abused system of zonal selectors as this system has only caused confusion, consternation, led to zonal rather than country wide loyalties and fractured and fissured the selection committee from within more often than not......

Usher in a two tiered selection system wherein five zonal representatives are entrusted the onerous responsibility of watching every Ranji, and Duleep trophy match, fifty over and T 20 match at the zonal/state/district level and then submitting a comprehensive report listing the pros and cons of each selected player to the national Selection committee that would comprise of three illustrious cricketers who have done the country proud at the highest level........

The zonal or regional cricketers could be ex-first class cricketers who have either played fifty four/five day matches or then a hundred one-day matches for their state/zonal sides having achieved a modicum of distinction during their halycon days; the very same men should also be men of proven integrity who possess the required level of cricketing acumen; the national cricketers should be those illustrious sons of the soil who have represented the country with distinction in at least fifty test matches or a hundred one day internationals and those cricketers who have announced their retirement within a maximum period of twelve years from the date of constitution of the said committee....

These measures will not only usher in the much needed professionalism within the annals of the selection committee but also put paid to the nefarious designs

of those regional satraps who have dangled these plum positions as carrots before their dedicated legions of followers and sycophants.....

Pay the regional/zonal selectors an annual sum amounting to Rs.30 lakh in three quarterly payments apart from reimbursing their travel and lodging expenses; while paying the national selectors a sum of Rs.50 lakh and reimbursing their due expenses....

Also usher in a system of bonus payments wherein the zonal spotters and national selectors are entitled to a bonus not exceeding 10% of their total yearly emoluments on a series win against a higher ranked team/side and stand to loose the same amount in case of a loss against a higher or similarly ranked team; additions or deductions to the tune of 5% either way could be considered in the case of a win or loss against a lesser team/side.......

Kindly also do away with this hackneyed and illogical present system of only anointing those cricketers who have announced their retirements in the last five years or more as national selectors and reduce this period to a mandatory two year period in the best interests of Indian cricket.........

Do bite the bullet once and for all, introduce these much desired and long overdue changes in an outdated and cumbersome selection process that has already far outlived it's expiry date, empower the selectors with the necessary and much desired powers that enable them to take visionary and exemplary decisions and sit back and watch the men in blue annex every cricketing glory in the bargain.......

Don the visionaries hat and usher in these long overdue changes forthwith; here's wishing you godspeed and the much desired luck on this arduous path.....

Yours Faithfully,

A concerned Indian.....

NOTES AND NOTES

The "umpire of umpires" Simon taufel earlier today announced his decision about stepping down from the elite panel at the conclusion of the ongoing T 20 World Cup in Sri Lanka for both personal as well as professional reasons; well all one can say is cricket's loss will certainly prove to be his young family's gain.....

Speculation over Virender Sehwag's state of health provides cannon fodder to cricket writers and twenty four hour news channels, Sehwag's health or lack of it, Saifeena's now on no off nuptials, political wranglings and gutter utterances rule the roost; any wonder then why the news presented before us is utterly hopeless, uninspiring, mediocre and leaves us wringing our heads and hands in sheer despair........

Manmohan Singh turns eighty today; hope and pray that divine wisdom dawns on him at long last and that he forsakes Madam Sonia's petticoat strings in the winter of his life........

TEAM INDIA"S CHANCES!!!!!

Well, at long last the business end of the World Twenty 20 championships currently underway in the emerald isles of Sri Lanka are finally upon us, the pretenders have been shown the door and the serious contenders have begun flexing their cricketing muscles......


Team India made it to the super eights stage of the tournament on the back of a lacklustre and a less than awe inspiring performance against minnows Bangladesh and an earth shattering performance against defending champions England, yet as usual team India continues being plagued by it's own set off unique worries and problems that has come to be synonymous with it over the ages.........

It's lack of death bowling and the presence of at least six laggards on the field in and every game on the field has indeed added to the pressure and enormous burden of expectations on the batsmen and come to mean that these indomitable warriors have to score at least 25 additional runs every time in order to address or take care of the bowling and fielding related anomalies.......

The absolute lack of bowling form on the part of the supposed spearhead of the Indian pace attack has certainly added to the furrows on skipper Dhoni's forehead and even caused him many a sleepless night; Zaheer has gone for plenty and even cost the team ten additional runs on the field......

Virender Sehwag's blow hot blow cold form or rather lack of it and Gambhir's prolonged poor run have added to the batting worries and though Gambhir did get a creditable and fluent forty odd against the mighty Englishmen, Sehwag's thumb injury and pronounced inability to get the team off to a sound start has certainly left the team management scratching it's head in collective consternation.......

A veritable drying up of runs at the top of the order ahs only added to the immense pressure on the current "Mr. Consistent" Virat Kohli, while Kohli is certainly in the form of his life right now and can seem to do no wrong and one of the rare Indian batsmen who faces up to the dreaded short ball with aplomb, a re failure against the marauding Aussies might all but paid paid to team India's chances of making it any further in the tournament......

Harbhajan Singh as well as Piyush Chawla's glowing success against the English lions has certainly added lustre to captain Dhoni's smile, it has also certainly added to his team selection related conundrum, while it is all but certain that Bhajji and Ashwin will certainly play as the two Indian spinners, Dhoni is left with a difficult choice between the experienced Zaheer, less than reassuring Balaji and error prone Ashok Dinda, but knowing Dhoni and his stated reluctance to upset the apple cart, don't be surprised if a creaking and cantakerous Zaheer Khan gets an extended run in the remainder of the tournament........

While the batting all but seems to take care of itself, Dhoni will have to call upon all his cricketing acumen and skills in order to make sure that his bowlers stop leaking additional runs, and more importantly be more than astute with his field placings in order to avoid conceding those twenty odd crucial additional runs.......

A virtual transformation of the insipid bowling and fielding is what is required to ensure team India's presence in the final stages of this prestigious tournament, will team India make that concerted effort towards pulling up it's socks and deliver jaw dropping performances, let'a all wait and watch with eternal hope in the heart and a prayer on our lips.......

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Manmohan Singh is certainly the apostle of honesty who has nurtured, sheltered and perpetrated the most corrupt cabinet in independent India's history!!!!!!

Rahul Gandhi is an absentee Member of Parliament and the residents of his constituency of Amethi are seriously contemplating the filing of a missing report against the missing Gandhi scion, will political wisdom dawn on Rahul "BABA" at long last and will he focus his energies on setting matters right in his own backyard instead of offering unsolicited advice to all and sundry???????

Rahul Gandhi castigates his party men and asks those who have lost three or more state or national elections to make way for the younger generation; one wonders whether the Gandhi scion will pay heed to his own advice and make way for others as he has woefully led his party to an ignonimous defeat in the elections that he has thus far managed, namely those in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and so on and so forth......

Former President Pratibha Devisingh Patil is all set to unveil her very own "family" museum in her home district of Amravati; setting up a museum is certainly that much more easier when you siphon off all the gifts bestowed on you during your presidential tenure, isn't it Madame???????

Everybody else apart from the Indian team members and management believe that they have a hope in hell of winning the T 20 World Cup this time around; eternal optimism Indian ishtyle everyone!!!!!!!

Ex-President Pratibha Devisingh Patil has been unceremoniously asked to return all the gifts that she received during her presidential sojourn to the Rashtrpati Bhavan forthwith; haven't the rashtrpati Bhavan officials heard of politicians' eternal rights to enjoy the spoils of office for generations, if not ask the Gandhi family for illumination!!!!

Will Rahul Gandhi once and for all stand up and dispel all doubts regarding his stand on various burning issues like FDI, impending cabinet reshuffle, relations with Pakistan, and last but not the least his position vis a vis both the party as well as the cabinet; or then will he continue with his time honoured tradition of hiding behind Kalavati's saree and shed his reluctance along with his diapers when he turns fifty...........

I fondly remember those days when we used to literally comb every nook and cranny in search of newsworthy happenings or more simply the news; reporters and television anchors these days certainly seem to have it much easier, the news comes in search of these exalted personalities.......

Random Musings

Kudos to the dashing, debonair and suave Sandeep Madhusudan Patil for getting the much coveted chief selector or then chief of the selection committee position, hope you will put your years of coaching and man management experience to good use and make sure that team India regains it's lost glory as soon as possible.......

let's wait and see if one of Indian Cricket's enfant terrible's has matured and mellowed enough to don the hat of the chief selector.......


good to know that the government's getting it's act together at long last, passenger fares should be hiked every year in my humble opinion.....   News reports have it that cigarettes will soon become a scarce commodity in Goa's sunny climes; wish they could do the same with the recreational drugs and copulating orgies too!!!!   Why does the BCCI keep paying lip service and dubious homage to professionalism, accountability and transparency when it's decisions smack of arrogance, opaqueness and unmitigated sycophancy???????   "Yes Men" rule the roost within the BCCI corridoors otherwise whatever else can explain the bizarre logic behind the sacking of one of the most widely regarded cricketing brains in the country in the form of Mohinder Amarnath and appointing a far more suppliant and pliable Roger Binny as the chairman of the National Selection Committee........   Another soldier of truth bites the dust; Mohinder "Jimmy" Amarnath is unceremoniously sacked as a selector by the BCCI mandarins after only having completed one out of his slated three year tenure for being more than forthcoming with his views on certain favoured players and being a vocal proponent of Dhoni's sacking from the post of India's test captain, ah the trials and tribulations of speaking the truth and knowing one's mind......   Equality Indian style; 75% of the country's wealth is concentrated in the hands of a hundred odd families, while 70% of the country's population struggles to satisfy their hunger pangs with one square meal a day........

FAVOURITE PERSON

Death surely is the greatest leveller of them all; it embraces everyone irrespective of status, class, wealth, iconoclast demeanour, and pretence towards being the almighty's embodiment on this wicked earth.......


My only grouse if any with the spectre of death is that it more often than not strikes when you least expect it too and with as much as a by your please, abruptly snatches away a loved one forever, only leaving you with their memories and heady fragrance of pleasanter times spent with them.....

My very favourite person on planet earth; my PAPA (FATHER) left for his heavenly abode without any notice whatsoever in the early hours of September 7, 2012; leaving in his wake unfinished agendas as regards reaching out to people who need a helping hand, just being there for people who matter and above all a sense of regret and forlornness at issues and matters left unresolved and unsolved.....

Well, as matters stand, I have resolved to carry on the good works initiated by my father dearest and hope to become at least half the selfless soul he was by selflessly reaching out to souls who need our love and unstinted support and thus will be eternally thankful to the sceptre of death for making me realise my true worth and the fact that I can really go out and make a difference if I wanted too....

Papa, you are no longer with me physically, but I feel your benevolent spirit around me all the time, guiding me, coercing me, and above all showing me the right path every step of the way, well death has certainly done what life couldn't i.e. given the two of us a common sense of resolve and purpose......

In conclusion, all I can say is "ZINDAGI TO BEWAFAA HAIN, EK DIN THUKRAYEGI, MAUT MEHBOOBA HAIN APNE SAATH LEKAR JAYEGI.......

HOPE TO SEE YOU

All of us are mere passengers in this world and come and go with nauseating regularity and ultimately it is only the memories and chronicles of good deeds rendered selflessly without expecting anything in return that linger on.....


You may be cremated, buried, or then left to rot in a "TOWER OF SILENCE" but what will make your rise like the proverbial phoenix over and above the rest is the actions that came purely from the heart and soul and the inherent ability to act upon the urges of the heart and soul......

My father (PAPA) was one such unique soul who always marched to the beat of his own piper and spoke an unique language of the heart that only he and those he reached out to comprehended and understood.....

The legions of mourners who shed copious tears on his passing and recalled numerous instances of how he made remarkable differences in their life and times bear more than adequate testimony to the irrefutable fact that you can and will make a difference no matter however minute and insignificant the minute you beginning listening to and speaking the language of the heart and giving selflessly without expecting anything in return.....

My father (PAPA) may have the poorest man around in the materialistic sense of the term as he neither had a house, vehicle, or then numerous material acquisitions of his own; nor lakhs of rupees in his bank account; but he had something that the rest of them only aspire to possess and have; blessings and heartfelt good wishes from the bottom of the hearts of those individuals he helped and benefited.......

PAPA might today only be a mere footnote in history and a star that his son and family looks up to for divine guidance and inspiration, but he will always live on in our hearts and souls and always show us how to leave our indelible imprints on the sands of time....

PAPA DEAREST WISH YOU WERE HERE WITH US RIGHT NOW, MISS YOU LOTS AND HOPE TO SEE YOU IN THE NEAR FUTURE........

On BARFI!

In an era where mediocrity has come to rule the roost and where half baked potboilers like " Ek tha Tiger" are being touted as examples of exemplary cinematic excellence; Anurag Basu's "Barfii" certainly comes as a breath of fresh air and manna from heaven for afficionados of good cinema like yours truly........


Set in the idyllic Darjeeling and gritty Kolkata of the early to late seventies, Barfii floors you with it's old worldly charm, languid pace, eye catching cinematography and above all scintillating and mellifluous music that adds an additional dimension to an already multi-layered portrait of excellence....

Barfii is an unabashed triumph of the indomitable human spirit and language of love that has an ethos, vocabulary and rhythm of it's very own; narrating a tale of the trials and tribulations of a deaf mute, married woman who fails to listen and react to the urges of her heart time and again and last but not the least an autistic young lady who lives in her own world, this labour of love will certainly go down as a path breaking and epochal venture in the annals of Indian cinema.....

Ranbir Kapoor is first rate and once again reinforces his credentials as the finest actor of his generation, Southern Superstar Ileana D'Cruz exudes sincerity, charm, elfin grace and tonnes of self-confidence in her first Hindi movie appearance, but the surprise package is certainly one of the reigning queens of the Hindi film industry Priyanka Chopra who shines in a difficult and awkward role of an autistic child woman that could have easily gone wrong if she had not got her timing and body language right and boy has she got it right indeed.......

Barfii above all is Anurag Basu's ultimate triumph as a director and film maker extraordinaire, coming in the wake of the disastrous "Kites", this poem on screen embellishes Basu's credentials as one of India's finest film makers and a director who has mastered the art of narrating a labour of love down pat........

So do yourself and your loved one's a favour by going and seeing Barfii at your friendly neighbourhood multiplex, get inspired and do go out and spread the universal language of selfless love that this highly self centred and increasingly materialistic world has conveniently bypassed and forgotten to speak.........

Rating:4.5/5 with the half mark being deducted on account of some highly self indulgent editing that increased the length of an already languid film by a good twenty odd minutes........

To Dearest God ......

Dearest God,


The most heinous crimes are repeatedly committed in your name and under your protection, yet you choose to remain a mute spectator more often than not......

Thousands of innocent people loose their lives in violent acts initiated by religious fanatics who claim to be your chosen soldiers and those who pay heed to a divine voice that leads them on to this violent and senseless path; if their claims are indeed true, what's the justification for the same???????

Millions of children and hapless women die either on the birthing bed or then within the first few days, weeks or years of being born and you yet continue to refrain from enlightening those people who are of the opinion that monies spent on acquiring weapons of mass destruction are indeed more beneficial to the future of mankind in comparison to monies spent on improving the lot of these defenceless people........

Zealots and influential people with recourse to either money, political or then religious power continue to wreak havoc on their less fortunate brethren and justify the same under the guise of the law of the jungle, yet we true believers are still awaiting your latest reincarnation that will free us from the scourge of these scoundrels.......

Devotees and true believers are repeatedly fleeced and cheated at places expressly meant to pay homage to your greatness and raise hands in your benediction/supplication, but one still awaits any signs of divine justice being wreaked upon these allegedly superior beings who occupy these exalted positions of power and pelf with the one point agenda of giving you a bad name........

Lakhs and crores of so called god men and self styled or then appointed divine reincarnates dot the surface of this entire planet, yet there isn't a single indicator from your side about the one true prophet that the rest of us should follow.......

Despite one's best efforts to the contrary prevalent circumstances have resulted in a wavering of our undying faith in your existence and benevolence and forced us to sit up and question your very existence as every crime committed against mankind or then humankind makes us wonder why you continue to maintain a studied silence over these fundamental issues that threaten the existence of humanity as we have come to know it..........

The time for action or intervention seems well past it's due time and timely action or then a divine intervention from your side is the only way forwards, so do send one of your apostles or sons/ daughters/ prophets forthwith who will set right all the anomalies and indignities inflicted by man upon man so that your greater glory and divinity continues to prevail as it has since times immemorial............

potpourri..

longing to kick life back in it's face with twice the force after a series of both personal as well as professional setbacks in the recent past; any like minded individuals willing to join me in this noble venture????????

mixed feelings indeed after the immersion of the communal Ganesha idol that was resplendent within our compound for the last five days; well every beginning does indeed have an ending too, look forward to meeting you once again in the very near future O! Elephant Headed Lord of fortune and good tidings.......

Thank the good lord for small mercies as divine wisdom seems to have dawned at long last on the powers that be within both the ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the decision making authorities within the Indian film industry; whatever else can one call the heady decision to send "BARFI!" as India's official entry to the Oscars this time around other than divine intervention on the part of someone above all of us........

Balle balle and Shava shava to the indomitable son of Punjab Harbhajan Singh on a virtuoso performance against the Pommies; way to go Sher-E-Punjab, do keep up the good work and annex the cup on our behalf........

one indeed wonders why we are obsessed with matters pertaining to oneself rather than trying to find optimum, timely and permanent solutions to the numerous problems that afflict mankind as a whole.......

the unabashed self promotion on facebook in the form of changed profile photos and so on and so forth certainly get's my goat; whatever happened to public debates on issues of national importance and exchanging views on topics of mutual interest????

.

Dear Papa...

My father, Papa, friend, benefactor, guide, philosopher, gopher, sounding board, mentor and above all; the only person in the world I always looked to emulate and aspired to be like.....


I only begun to realise what you meant to me and where our relationship with each other was taking us when I lost you for good in an abrupt and least expected fashion or manner on the fateful morn of September 7, 2012......

Your irrepairable and irreplaceable loss has just about begun to sink in and created a huge void or chasm that will never be filled till my dying breath; as the wise ones who preceded us have said; there was so much left unsaid, so much that I wanted to share with you and tell you, but now I will never get that golden opportunity again.....

Death certainly is the greatest leveller of them all and teaches us the futility of gloating over trivial material acquisitions and tom tomming our pitiable achievements (?), if any , but you were a real "KARMAYOGI" in the truest sense of the term, always there for people who needed you and more importantly there for people who pretended not to need you.....

Mourning your death and departure from this materialistic and highly self-centric world would be rendering you the greatest dis-service that can be and remembering you as a shrivelled up human being who seemed to have shrunk in death the greatest travesty of them all; I, your son, progeny, and inheritor of your noble legacy want to celebrate your life, times and triumphs as a selfless human being and mentor......

If senseless and pea brained people question my motives and ask questions about why I am not grieving your loss, so be it, I pardon these shallow unfeeling people who cannot even begin to understand what you meant to me and while I know that reducing your towering stature to a few words or paragraphs is an exercise in futility, I need to carry out this exercise in order to release some of the pent up frustration and angst that has steadily been building up inside me ever since the cruel hands of fate snatched you away without as much as a whisper of apology from our midst......

Please continue to guide me through the remainder of my life like you have been doing thus far and enable me to strive to become even half the luminary you were.....

Goodbye Papa, may your soul rest in peace and do continue to make heaven a better place to live in by the sheer dint of your presence and your unique qualities that I hope I have inherited.........

SAGA OF TENDULKAR

The saga of Tendulkar's repeated failures continues, Mr. Tendulkar was bowled neck and crop by Tim Southee for the thirds time in three innings and what is even more disturbing is the fact that the three dismissals were almost carbon copies of each other........


Cricket statisticians have compounded Tendulkar's misery by highlighting the fact that he was bowled thrice consecutively for the first time in a decade and more and that almost 49% of his dismissals till date during his illustrious test career have come through the bowled and leg before wicket modes of dismissal........

He has always had a problem with the fullish length ball swinging back into him at considerable pace and this problem was first highlighted by the present bowling coach of the South African cricket team Allan Donald who either bowled Tendulkar neck and crop or then trapped him palpably in front of the wickets with his inswingers, indippers and off cutters bowled at speeds varying between 138-145 kmph........

His pronounced inability to bring the bat down in a straight arc and the gap thus created between bat and pad that enables the ball to sneak through repeatedly via this gap or breach is what is causing consternation amongst former cricketers who comment on the game or then dissect the same in air conditioned television studios.....

With reasons varying from the excessive weight of his bat to the considerable slowing down of his reflexes and fading eyesight being touted as reasons for the latest crisis to have hit the so called "GOD" of cricket, one only wonders why his legion of well wishers and hangers on or camp wallahs don't simply acquaint him with the fact that his time is up and that it it is high time that he made way for a younger batsman who can cope up with the rigours of international cricket in a more suitable manner........

One can only wonder why this gentleman is adamant about not reading the writing on the wall which is telling him that he is well past his prime and his glory days are fast becoming foot notes in a constantly evolving cricket history, go Mr. Tendulkar, go while your honour and dignity are still intact .........

GO before your fawning fans and well wishers turn into a lynch mob that will unceremoniously dump you in a heap outside the next venue where the Indian team plays it's next slated test match, GO because time and tide wait for no one, not even a batsman who has amassed a mammoth 15,500 plus test runs......this is the ultimate reality of life so why should yours be any different???????





Continuing where I left off from the last time around, the proposed inter-school tournament will be of forty overs duration and each bowler will be allowed to bowl a maximum of eight overs; two balls, one from each end will be used during the course of every completed innings.......

The participating teams will be divided into two pools of six teams each and the top two teams from each pool w...See more

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31 August

have always remained resolute no matter whatever the consequences........



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31 August

tell me something new, every two bit politician does the same till his sins ultimately catch up with him.........

Coalgate: Subodh Kant Sahai claims innocence - Read more http://bit.ly/OBkreF



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what's to feel bad about a world where every relationship is purely need based.......



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31 August

salute a captain who's willing to take both his country's as well as own fate in his own hands and come up triumphant......WAY TO GO ROSS....more power to your elbow........

Awesome century by Ross Taylor, got to admire a captain that leads from the front. Well played Ross!



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ON ADOPTION

Good samaritans putting up orphaned and displaced dogs for adoption in a dog eat dog world, now that's what I call "an irony to beat all ironies"....


People today are so full of themselves and obsessed with getting ahead in a rat race that ensures that you remain nothing more than a rat at the end of it all that they have forgotten to make time for their parents and offspring let alone dogs, cats and canaries...

In fact, I sometimes feel that these so called dumb animals are much better off than the so called superior race called homo sapiens who have all but forgotten sublime feelings like love, brotherhood, fraternity, loyalty, sympathy and empathy; or more precisely conveniently sacrificed all these sublimal feelings at the altar of mammon and amassing material wealth......

Let's all look deep into our own hearts and souls; if indeed we have either one or both left and take a leaf out of these kindred animals books who become yours for life and beyond the moment you feed them and reach out to them with a sense and of empathy and love.....

These blessed souls expect nothing more than food and love in return for a lifetime of selfless service, soulful devotion and friendship and companionship in the truest sense of the term.....

One can only wonder and shake his head in consternation at the sorry plight of a supposedly superior race that has to look down upon a purportedly inferior race for guidance and inspiration.....

Didn't Bertrand Russell once famously say that "man is the most dangerous animal and an educated man is the most dangerous of them all", well he must have foreseen this rather pitiable state of affairs well before he made this timely and insightful comment

THE ART OF BATTING

The art of batsmanship as we have to come to know it over the last two decades and more, is slowly but surely undergoing a drastic transformation, age old strokes like the leg glance, off and on drive, square cut and so and so forth are all but extinct and their place in the cricketing lexicon has been taken by strokes such as the Dil Scoop, Upar Cut, Helicopter shot and so forth.....


Innovation and improvisation have become the hallmarks of most successful modern day batsmen and the classic manner of grinding out the bowlers and then accumulating runs through deft touches and placements through the gaps in the field primarily exist in chronicles of test matches in a bygone era or then tomes written during the halycon days of test match cricket......

Twenty 20 cricket (the latest form of the game to have taken the cricketing world by storm) and it's much older cousin, the fifty over version of the game reinvented the art of batting and soon sent connoiseurs or then ardent disciples of the classical form of batting packing for good......

Present day test match batsmen look to score at the rate of at least three to three and a half runs per over and therefore ensure that many more results in the most traditional and staid form of the glorious game of cricket, in fact cricket statisticians have reached the conclusion that almost seventy percent of all test matches played over the last decade or more ended up in either team participating in the match winning it one way or the other.....

Test cricket has become that much more exciting and spectator friendly thanks to the modern day innovations and improvisations adopted by the flamboyant batsmen of this era and the very fact that twenty thousand spectators and more thronged Bengaluru's Karnataka State Cricket Association Stadium on all four days of the recently concluded test match between India and New Zealand only serves to reinforce the above point....

Constant improvements or then newer and better ways of playing this traditional game are the only ways froward and yours truly is a great advocate of day and night test cricket and restricting test matches to a four day time frame as the International Cricket Council has to give the paying spectator whatever he or she wants and demands rather than expecting the paying spectator to watch the game doled out by the powers that govern the game in their seemingly infinite wisdom....

As for the age old argument about twenty 20 cricket slowly but surely sounding the death knell of the classical form of batting, well the jury is still out on that one.

SELECTION RELATED ISSUES

Baffling and mind boggling indeed are the doings and shenanigans of the five supposedly wise men of Indian cricket namely the selectors; these gentlemen who are a law unto themselves more often than not leave the best of us shaking our heads in utter disbelief and consternation at the best of times......


One presumes that cricketing logic and acumen is the basis for all the decisions taken by these five ex-cricketers who have either distinguished themselves at either the international or then domestic first class level of cricket, but a careful scrutiny of the credentials of these gentlemen will simply prove that this dictum is often bypassed when it comes to matters concerning the selectors selection.........

Loyalties, allegiances, proximity to the ruling clique or faction within a state cricketing association or then the choices and personal whims of regional cricketing satraps more often than not determine the nomination or choice of a selector from a respective zone rather than the cricketing acumen of the individual in question; otherwise what other reasons can be touted for the appointment of such non-entities like Surendra Bhave, Narendra Hirwani, Raja Venkat, Raj Singh Dungarpur, Sanjay Jagdale and others of their ilk just to name a few........

This vicious circle of allegiances, favours, sycophancy, and allegiance to state and region before the nation then determines the decisions of the five supposedly wise men who are desperately bending over backwards in an effort to please and satisfy their benefactors and sugar daddies rather than ensuring the bright and rosy future of team India........

Most selectors are more often than not a law unto themselves and their arrogance and high handedness often has to be seen to be believed, these very same men who are always ready to glover and cower at the feet of their lords and masters are the spitting images of Hitler and Stalin whenever questions are raised about their choices or then conspicuous absence of cricketing vision and fore/hindsight that ended up costing the country dear.......

Issues related to team selection are taken extremely seriously by the rest of the cricket playing nations with the notable exception of our next door neighbours the Pakistanis whose approach to matters pertaining to team selection is even more ham handed and lackadaisical than our very own cricket board........

The shroud or veil of secrecy surrounding all matters related to team selection and the participation of the Secretary of the Cricket Control Board in selection committee meetings as well as his august presence whenever the team for any and every forthcoming tour is announced is indeed as baffling as it is unwelcome and the repeated utterances of the chairman of the selection committee about the committee having selected the best available team without rendering a plausible explanation for the inclusion or then exclusion of player X from the team is indeed what gets the goat of both cricket writers commentators, past cricketers as well as the paying public who has accorded cricket this exalted status.........

Ham handedness, obtuseness and sheer pig headedness has often put paid to the hopes and aspirations of many a budding cricketer and often robbed the country of such genuine talents who without a shadow of doubt would have gone on to make the country proud......otherwise what explains the fact that a cricketer who averages 63 in domestic cricket after having played 53 games for his Ranji trophy team is sidelined time and again in favour of a cricketer who averages a much more modest 43 after having played 72 games for his state side (and if you still don't get it, I am talking about Rahane having to warm the benches while a far bless deserving Suresh Raina continues to enjoy an extended run thanks to his proximity with the captain and a certain gentleman who is the owner of both the Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise as well as the President of the BCCI).......

Selection is a specialised job and is best left to those cricketers who have proved their integrity, wisdom and above all ability to take firm decisions with fear or favour in matters pertaining to team selection, prudent selection or then the charade carried out under it's garb is what determines the standing of a team within the annals or hierarchy of test playing nations........

Should the BCCI continue with this whimsical and highly arbitrary manner of selecting the Indian cricket team or then adopt and emulate a far more comprehensive and mature manner of selecting the team by incorporating and emulating the best features of team selection followed by the English and Aussie cricket boards????? well every Michael, Madana Kama and Rajan would be falling over himself in an effort to answer the million rupee question..

CASTE BASED RESERVATIONS IN PROMOTIONS

Trust the highly immoral, unscrupulous and utterly sinful Congress government at the centre to devise divisive, devious and dubious means of diverting the nation's attention from it's numerous episodes of omission and commission.
In a hasty, ill conceived and covert manner, the cabinet earlier today accorded or appended it's stamp of approval on a bill that could either prove to be either a political master stroke for the battered, bruised and beleaguered Congress party or then prove to be it's Waterloo with the underlying danger of this caste or community sensitive bill further dividing an already hopelessly divided society and country even further.
Yes, the cabinet for reasons best known to it has passed a bill that seeks to extend reservations in promotions to those government employees who belong to either the scheduled castes or scheduled tribes thereby striking a devastating blow to recent efforts being made towards ushering in an era of accountability and efficiency amongst the government babu's..
Political expediency seems to have taken centre stage once again after the customary lip service being made towards ushering in a transparent, efficient and time bound delivery system that was supposed to ensure time bound completion of all tasks entrusted to government servants.
Will some enlightened soul, kindly educate us illiterate souls on the present status of the twin principles of merit and seniority that were the Bible and Gita or then foundation stone of any promotion linked policy.
Is the unity and integrity of this country more important in the long run or then a bill which when passed by both houses of parliament will certainly earn the political parties a few brownie points from the scheduled castes and tribes in the short run, have the originators and supporters of this highly divisive bill even paid a moment's attention towards the long term ramifications of the same and as to how this bill is further going to sub-divide an already hopelessly divided nation even further on caste and creed lines?
For the sake of this country as well as it's future generations, arise, awake and oppose this piece of rubbish tooth and nail or then be prepared to start making even more numerous rounds of government offices as efficiency and accountability within government offices will soon be reduced to bywords found in the dictionaries inhabiting the book shelves of these very same offices..

ON MUMBAI AND MUMBAIKARS

Uddhav and Raj Thackeray want a permit system to be implemented in aamchi Mumbai to regulate the number of Bihari migrants entering the city; pray since when did migrants start policing fellow migrants?
The first claim if any on Mumbai is that of the fisher folk and Parsis who were the original inhabitants of this group of islands and one fails to understand the rationale behind migrants trying to whip up passions against fellow migrants when the original settlers aren't complaining.
Haven't these country bumpkins ever heard of an age old dictum called "UNITY IN DIVERSITY" which is the cornerstone of both our constitution as well as our centuries old culture.
Better still, why don't the saner minded people of Mumbai come together on a common platform and embrace all the migrants who have become an integral part of Mumbai's growth story, thereby putting paid to these divisive elements nefarious plans and tendencies to divide the country and it's people on regional lines.
Better still let the home ministry issue a permanent permit in the names of the Thackeray cousins and pack them off to the cellular jail located within the Andaman and Nicobar islands for the greater good of all Indians and Mumbaikars in particular.
These cousins and other inhospitable folk inspired by them end up giving the age old Indian practice of "ATHITHI DEVO BHAVA" a bad name......and raise serious doubts about our much vaunted "MEHMAAN NAWAAZI".