President of BCCI & ICC - candidate identified !!

Wonder how the BCCI as well as ICC mandarins failed to spot the potential and pedigree in a leading national politician to be the president of both these august (?) bodies for life; well the politician I am referring to is a certain Manmohan Singh and as for his credentials; well he's utterly spineless, a yes man if there ever was one, incapable of taking decisions despite spending eons pondering over them, can never see, hear or speak about an evil even though it is occurring in his immediate neighbourhood and most importantly has no mind whatsoever to speak of, with all these sterling qualities to his credit can both these governing bodies find a more suitable president for perpetuity ????

"ANNA-the 13 days that changed India"

Just put down a wonderful, insightful and highly informative book titled "ANNA-the 13 days that changed India" written/.authored by the editor in chief of the IBN 7 news channel. This highly motivating and inward looking book gives you a minute by minute account of the activities that precluded Anna's fast at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi and gives you a rivetting account of the hypocrisy and opportunism of our ruling elite and puts them to shame in the light of their shenanigans and antics being exposed before the whole wide world. This 224 page book certainly makes for some highly interesting and disturbing reading and is a must read for all right thinking Indians affected by the scourge of corruption and more importantly wanting to take up cudgels against this menace that seems to be growing by the day...... 

Railway budget ?? or TMC vs Congress tug -o-war ??

This budget is only pro Congress and aimed at ensuring their continuance until the announcement of the 2014 general elections, so what if it threatens to take both the economy as well as the country as a whole back to the dark ages, both fail in comparison to the noble cause of hanging on to our ministerial berths until the next elections are due......


Why are we hell bent upon crucifying a railway minister who had the courage of conviction to venture off the beaten track and take the bull by it's horns; let's give Mr. Trivedi due credit for having presented a visionary budget that has taken the Indian Railways out of the ICU and provided a new impetus and direction to it, Mr. Trivedi needs to be lauded for his sterling efforts instead of facing the unenviable predicament of having Damocles sword hanging over his head.......
 
Trust us Indians for being the only country to achieve the dubious distinction of sacking a railway minister on the very day on which he presents a budget that has great ramifications for the future of the concerned ministry and sets out a blueprint for it's healthy and prosperous future; it's high time we got our priorities right and decided once and for all as to which comes first, loyalty to one's country or then loyalty to a political party and it's megalomaniacal leader; Dinesh Trivedi presented the first sensible railway budget in a decade and more, so why is his party demanding his head rather than felicitating him on his noteworthy achievement? any answers forthcoming Mamata Didi..

Indian Cricket team - selected by sunndeep Chopra

Here goes my Indian test team for the next home and away series: OPENERS: Gautam Gambhir, Ajinkya Rahane MIDDLE ORDER: Virat Kohli, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwari, Cheteshwar Pujara, WICKET KEEPER: Wriddhiman Saha, BOWLERS: Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Shantakumaran Sreesanth, Umesh Yadav, Harbhajan Singh, Rahul Sharma and Pragyan Ojha; Gautam Gambhir would be the captain of the side and Virat Kohli his deputy, Kohli would bat at number three, Sehwag at four, Pujara at five and Tiwari at six, while Rohit Sharma would bide his time and wait for the right opportunity to come his way and Messrs Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Harbhajan Singh and Rahul Sharma would be my first choice bowlers in home conditions, while Rahul Sharma would make way for Sreesanth on tours outside the sub-continent while Wriddhiman Saha would be the glove man for all seasons and all the right reasons........


Will somebody enlighten me on/about the reasons being touted to support Harbhajan Singh's inexplicable exclusion from the Indian side, what crime has he committed, is he being crucified for not being a Dhoni acolyte or then not belonging to the same state that the chairman of selectors belongs too, any idiot worth his salt knowing a thing or two about the glorious game of cricket would espouse on the irrevocable fact that Ashwin at best is nothing more than a pale impersonation of Harbhajan at his worst and pray how can anybody argue against 400 plus test wickets and 260 plus ODI wickets with more than decent strike and economy rates, the heart misses Bhajji's exuberance, joie de vivre and never say die spirit and yearns to see him in the Indian colours where he rightfully belongs.......


Why don't the five dummkopfs/dumbasses masquerading as selectors read the writing on the wall and upend Messrs Tendulkar and Laxman post haste, will somebody tell or then educate me on why we can't emulate the Aussie selectors in this regard and tell our senior cricketers that it's time to go without beating around the bush and unequivocally send out the message that they could find themselves unceremoniously bundled out on their expanding backsides if they do not hang up their boots on their own, sentimentality has no place in modern day cricket and you need to be a staunch realist if you want to make a fist of a selector's job, so let's stop pussyfooting and sent our strong messages to the seniors, after all the future of the team and the nation is at stake and you certainly don't want to be playing around with the same.....



I have seen the future of Indian cricket and the future is embodied by a young man who answers to the name of Virat Kohli, maan is this young kid on the block the real Mccoy or then something else; 11 ODI centuries in 85 internationals and counting, a top score of 183 off 148 balls and more to come, vice-captain of the side in his third year of international cricket, definitely captaincy material and sure to be one of India's most decorated and celebrated captains, aggressive,dynamic, mercurial, debonair and prone to wear his heart on his sleeve, over the top celebrations embellished with references to mothers and sisters, if this indeed is the future of Indian cricket then yeh dil certainly maange more and more of the same......

India vs Bangladesh

The Bangladeshi bowling attack at best is equivalent to that of a first division Indian club side so let's sees the writing on the wall and stop crying ourselves hoarse over one Sachin Tendulkar's dubious distinction; we have more serious problems like an aimless and directionless budget that threatens to set us back by a decade and more to grapple with, so let's all take a reality check, put this pithy century that has cost us an ignonimous loss of face in the right perspective and question team India's motives and abject lack of professionalism instead of going blue in the face cheering a hollow achievement that is taking us nowhere.......
So, for a change, let's all stop being a bunch of psychophants and groupies and call a spade a spade for a change, this obsession with self and oneself's aggrandisement is beginning to cost us dear and is causing irrepairable damage to team India's standing in the hegemony of cricket playing nations, let's send out an unequivocal message to all concerned that the greater glory of the team and nation come first and any individual who put self before team and nation will be confined to the dustbins of cricketing history where he rightfully belongs......
The Bangladesh cricket team not only spoiled Sachin Tendulkar's party but also blackened the face of millions of Indian fans, one really needs to sit back and take stock of the situation and ponder over the fact whether or not we deserve to be playing cricket at the highest level when we cannot even stop a bunch of rookies from notching up a 290 run total against one of the so called better bowling attacks going around.......

Thoughts on March 1st

The heart indeed yearns for a return to the good old FAPS days when one went about one's business without a care in the world and derived inspiration from the inspirational and divine utterances by teachers of the eminence of Mr. Wood, Browne and Mrs. Rego and Saxena, how I wish that I had access to Johnny Cash's grandfather clock that stopped short never to go again when the old man died; I'd certainly freeze father time in a warp forever and continue to be inspired by people that I would always look up to till my dying breath.


Our fickle mindedness and nocturnal tendency to turn virtual non entities into overnight celebrities has been on display for the last couple of days and this in your face display is certainly difficult to overlook, the talented and suave Virat Kohli is now being touted as the successor to the so called 'God of Cricket' Sachin Tendulkar and the best thing to have happened to Indian cricket over the last five years or so; agreed that his swash buckling knock against the Lankans was worth it's weight in gold and did certainly give rise to a renewed surge of patriotic fervour, yes the young man is indeed captaincy material and will make a good captain, but aren't we placing him on a pedestal a tad prematurely and anointing him vice-captain when either Gautam Gambhir or then Suresh Raina should be donning the mantle?? any answers ??

Has Mamata truly lost it once and for all? or then has she also started exhibiting delusional tendencies in addition to her megalomaniacal one's; her incoherent ramblings every time a rape or any other untoward happening occurs in her fiefdom certainly raises uncomfortable and relevant questions about her mental equilibrium and balance; or then is her paranoia with all things Communist, surely but surely beginning to get the better of her?

The wheels of justice surely seem to be turning in this country, so what if they take a generation in doing so? the filing of charge sheets in the Patna CBI court earlier today against Laloo Prasad Yadav and Jagannath Mishra in the seventeen year old fodder scam certainly seem to suggest that Laloo's star is certainly on the wane and that he soon find himself firmly ensconed behind the bars of Patna's central jail where he truly belongs.

Why oh why is the Hindi film industry obsessed with prequels, sequels and remakes of old classics from the eighties and nineties; why can't we simply make films from the heart that deal with subjects associated with the common man like the recent multiple Oscar winner "The Artist"; now here's a film that connects directly with your soul, send you into raptures of delight and above all unabashedly celebrates the triumph of the indomitable human spirit, the last film that really made one go ga ga was "Paa" now here's a movie really worth emulating.

Sunndeep Chopra

Frank Anthony Public School Bangalore

Frank Anthony Public School, Bangalore

Calling all ex Frank Anthonyites to contribute their mite towards ensuring that our alma mater regains it's primary status as one of Bangalore's foremost educational institutions. I am more than willing to lend my time, effort and money to this noble venture and implore Mr. Alan Stevens to assume the stewardship of this venture, convene a meeting to this effect that will chart out a future course of action in this regard and give us all sufficient notice so that we can all attend and initiate the requisite measures to place FAPS on it's long lost pedestal.

 Calling all ex Frank Anthonyites to contribute their mite towards ensuring that our alma mater regains it's primary status as one of Bangalore's foremost educational institutions. I am more than willing to lend my time, effort and money to this noble venture and implore Mr. Alan Stevens to assume the stewardship of this venture, convene a meeting to this effect that will chart out a future course of action in this regard and give us all sufficient notice so that we can all attend and initiate the requisite measures to place FAPS on it's long lost pedestal

The supposedly five wise(?) men of Indian cricket, namely our selectors have done it again, i.e. conjured up a team guaranteed to reduce us to the laughing stocks of the rest of the cricketing world, now here's a team that's hanging between two stools and is neither here nor there, has neither been selected on form or pedigree, but just panders to the egos of the powers that be within the BCCI corridoors of power, pray whatever happened to the hopes and aspirations of the legions of cricket fans who live and swear by their team at any and every given opportunity?
Ardently looking forward to seeing Ali Zafar on screen once again this weekend in New York, London, Paris or some such for the simple reason that here's a man who oozes sincerity, panache, sensuality and most importantly sets the screen alight with the sheer magnificence of his charming personality, he surely was a revelation in Tere Bin Laden and Mere Brother Ki Dulhan and a little bird tells me that he's bound to go that much further with this flick.

The forthcoming Asia Cup once again provides Indian cricket's five wise men(?) or then prize dunces, depending on your point of view; with a gilt edged opportunity of easing out the dead wood in the team and the opportunity to 'rest' a few jaded seniors who certainly seem to be living on borrowed time and their past laurels, will the selectors at long last grab the bull by the horns and astound all of us with their sheer sagacity and foresightedness; or will it once again be a familiar story of excuses, innuendos and favouritism, well the evening of March 1,2012 will certainly throw up a few answers either ways.

The memories of the Godhra incident and the genocide that followed in it's wake certainly bring back painful, festering and long suppressed memories of those fateful and indeed heart rending days; will we ever be able to put those vents behind us and move on??? well one lifetime seems inordinately short for the same.

Sundeep Chopra.