DADA'S NEW BEGINNINGS.........

Welcome winds of change seem to be blowing through the soiled corridors of both the Cricket Associations of Bengal as well as the BCCI what with the "Prince of Kolkata" Saurav Chandidas (Dada) assuming the reins of power in Kolkata in facile and well managed palace coup........
What is even more heartening and welcome is the fact that an overwhelming majority of 121 voting members whole heartedly endorsed Dada's ascension to the President's post thereby reposing their new fou...nd sense of trust and confidence in the "god off the off side's" redoubtable and repeatedly proven leadership abilities........
I would be the first one to admit to the fact that there is a world of difference between astutely and masterfully leading a world beating cricket team and donning the mantle of the President of a State Cricket Association that has come to be known for it's political intrigues and cricketing shenanigans.........
Messrs Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad learnt this inalienable fact in their less than glorious and creditworthy stints as the President; Secretary and Joint Secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) a few years back and it has been a classic case of once bitten twice shy as far as they are concerned ever since........
But; cometh the hour; cometh the man; Saurav Dada Ganguly has a little more than fourteen months experience as a cricket administrator ever since he donned the mantle of the CAB's Secretary's post at the behest of his late mentor Jagmohan Dalmiya...........
Add to this the five odd years of experience garnered by Dada during his stints on various advisory and such other committees constituted by the BCCI bigwigs from time to time and you have the quint essential Robin Hood all set to do battle with the Ravanas and Kansas proliferating the rank and file of the BCCI........
Here's wishing my beloved DADA all the success he so richly deserves in his newest and latest avatar as the crusader who will once again ensure that both the Bengal cricket board as well as it's wallowing Ranji trophy team will regain it's pride of place within the nation's cricketing echelons and only go on from one glory to the other ever since..........
Dada will rid this cricket crazy nation of all it's or more precisely governing board's ills and maladies and take Indian cricket to unprecedented heights of power and glory; mark my words as all you doubting thomases will soon be eating humble pie..........

TRAGEDY THAT COULD HAVE BEEN AVERTED........

My thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to the victims of yesterday's horrendous and utterly avoidable tragedy at Mina (near the holy city of Mecca)........
What is even more galling and reprehensible is the fact that such man made tragedies have become bi-annual if not annual features of a life transforming journey made by millions who throng the kingdom of Saudi Arabia with bowed heads and prayers in their pious hearts.......
And this is how the Saudi royal family; auth...orities; officialdom and medical personnel repay the spirit of hope, trust and piety reposed in them by teeming millions who continue to throng the arid; desolate and seemingly inhospitable regions of this decadently prosperous kingdom in the hope of atoning for their sins and making the long journey back home renewed; refreshed; rejuvenated and replenished.........
Faith can and will continue moving mountains; but the same needs to be tempered with a healthy degree of skepticism; objectivity and rationality; the world community as a whole needs to sit up and take note of the rapidly unfolding human tragedy and exert it's considerable and collective pressure as well as angst about these events that leave us cringing and wondering about what might have been if professional and effective crowd management systems would have been put in place........
There is a lesson all of us need to learn from this horrendous and heart rending human tragedy; firstly let's stop mollycoddling the Saudi royal family and condoning their sins of omission and commission time and again as they hold sway over a considerable portion of the world's oil reserves.........
Secondly; let the annual Haj pilgrimage be monitored by personnel who are equipped with the latest technologies and methods of tackling and facing a gargantuan tragedy efficiently and efficaciously rather than a bunch of novices obsessed with saving their own skin...........
And lastly will some wise man or men impress upon the Saudi rulers the irrefutable fact that the annual pilgrimage needs to be a boon or salve for the teeming millions who throng the desert sands year upon year instead of the sheer torture and pain that it is at present........
Here's hoping that this is the last such tragedy in Mecca and Medina and that such tragedies are never ever repeated.........