Right to Education Act

The recently validated Right to Education Act is certainly a long overdue measure that would go a long way in ensuring that the children of the underprivileged and deprived sections of society will at long last have access to quality education that was being denied to them ever since India gained independence and will end their years of dependence on municipal and government schools if the act is strictly implemented according to the letter and spirit of the law as envisaged by both the honourable Supreme Court of India and the Human Resource Development Ministry. But as usual, there is already a flip side to this well intentioned and well thought out constitutionally valid act with the managements of a significant majority of private schools already rising up in arms against the act and expressing their dismay at their holier than thou institutions being desecrated by the presence of children belonging to the deprived sections of society. I only wonder why these imbeciles don't realise the fact that the right to education is an universally recognised right the world over and that they are in contempt of the law by denying children this basic right. I have no doubt whatsoever in my mind that this right or more specifically the unbiased application and implementation of this right would go a long way towards ushering in a social revolution in this country and ending centuries of exploitation and ostracism and we owe it to ourselves and our future generations to see that education is a right enjoyed by everybody irrespective of caste, creed, religion, economic or social status and nobody whatsoever has the right to deprive a child of this intrinsic right and this long overdue measure if implemented without fear or favour,affection or ill will could also serve to rid us of the scourge of reservations for minorities and scheduled castes and tribes by ensuring an equal and level playing field for all sections of society; so do set aside your time warped thinking and age old prejudices and do come out in strong support of this well intentioned and meaning act after all we owe it to both ourselves and our future generations........

IPL - more insights on the recent match..

Games like the one that recently concluded at Kolkata's mammoth Eden Gardens stadium certainly intrigue and interest me far more than the slug fest that was played out between RCB and the Chennai Super Kings yesterday. Today's game between the Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders was more of a battle of attrition and the team that held it's nerve till the very end kept a cooler head throughout deservedly came up trumps; the game that unfolded today certainly had it all; some classic spin bowling that made the opposition batsmen look like a bunch of nincompoops who did not have the faintest clue about which way the ball was turning, some scintillating cricket shots though far and in few between, acts of desperation on the field where fielders flung themselves around the boundary lines risking life and limb and last but not the least a slog swept six of the first ball of the 20th over of the KKR innings that drew the curtains on this highly intriguing and fascinating game of cricket, give me more such humdingers seven days of the week........

Come on Mr Dravid ... You can do a lot better!!

One surely expected better from the redoubtable Rahul Dravid; visuals of Rahul Dravid using sweetened saliva to polish the ball surely left me flabbergasted and had my jaw dropping in consternation. Well though the jury is still out on the efficacy of the measure, most experts are of the informed opinion that sweetened saliva, especially saliva that is sweetened with either a lozenge or mint does certainly aid in making one side of the cricket ball that much heavier and also accelerates the process of initiating reverse swing (wherein the ball swings towards the shinier side as opposed to conventional swing where the ball swings away from the shinier side). Intentional or not, whatever Mr.Dravid did earlier tonight was definitely not in the letter and spirit of this glorious game of cricket and has certainly resulted in the respect,awe and admiration that I had for this cricketing icon dropping by more than a notch or two; come on Rahul, you can certainly do a lot better......

Friends on Facebook ???

The number of friends notched up on my facebook profile seems to vacillate like the sensex every time I check it out. I had 261 friends a couple of days back and the number has surprisingly dropped to 259 at the present moment. This yo yo like fluctuations often leave me scratching my noggin and wondering why my so called friends are so damn fickle minded and keep changing their loyalties and friendships like the weather and the hairstyles of many a Hindi film heroine. Pardon me for sounding like a relic from the past, but I am one of those sentimental fools who still subscribes to the now defunct theory of a friend being a friend for life or then eternity as friendship is the most sacred of relationships in my book of life; and have always believed that the feeling is something sacred and lasts till you're dead and gone. Well if my so called friends think otherwise ans shift their loyalties and friends at the drop of a hat, all I can say is that I am better off without the presence of such people in my stereo typed and rather boring life.....

One of the best knocks of IPL season 5 !!

I have indeed been privileged and honoured to see two innings of sheer magnificence and rare beauty that left me hankering for more and sent my heart and soul into raptures of unbridled delight. What on earth am I talking about? well I am talking about the two centuries registered by Messrs Ajinkya Rahane and Kevin Pietersen on behalf of their respective IPL franchises, and these centuries which were a study in contrast were incidentally the 19th and 20th centuries registered during the five seasons of the Indian Premier League and could not have come at a more opportune moment as far as their teams were concerned. While Rahane's monumental effort was all about finesse, silken touch, batsmanship of the highest order and in strict conformity with the coaching manual, Pietersen's innings was an exquisite gem studded with moments of raw savagery, a few ungainly hoikes across the line and bludgeoned sixes that left the opponents shaking their heads in consternation; what was common between the two breath taking efforts was the fact that these two epochal knocks facilitated their team's victory against equally worthy opponents. Though Pietersen's century certainly stole a march over the other with it's sheer magnificence and raw savagery, the very fact that he ended up scoring almost 87% of his team's ultimate total and salvaged a noteworthy victory from a near hopeless situation makes the mighty Englishman's effort that much more special; kudos Messrs Rahane and Pietersen, the two of you have one hand each on the steering of the Volkswagen Passat especially reserved for the impact player or then should I say knock of the entire IPL season, keep up the good work and keep us coming back for more.......

Saurav 'dada' ganguly - evergreen hero of 22 yards

Kudos to the evergreen Dada for having turned back the clock and coming back with a vintage performance that warmed the cockles of the hearts of his legion of supporters. Make no mistake but Dada and his merry bunch of followers outdid themselves a few minutes ago by notching up a creditable twenty run victory against the almighty Delhi Dare Devils and Dada as is his wont was at the forefront of things by registering his highest knock of the IPL season thus far; a highly creditable 41 and capping this vintage performance with the bat by bowling an inspired four over spell that yielded a niggardly 27 runs and ensnared two wickets including the most prized one of them all namely that of the centurion Kevin Petersen. To top it all, Dada was seen throwing himself around on the field with gay abandon and comfortably positioning himself beneath a spiralling ball while taking a creditable catch. Congrats once again Dada do keep the good work going and here's more power to your elbow; I ardently wish to see you and your team in the playoffs as this will be the best tribute that you can give to your erstwhile captain and living embodiment of courage Yuvraj Singh, so do try and annex the IPL title for his sake....

Facebook - observation !

Facebook is certainly getting quirkier, kinkier and crazier by the minute,hour and with each passing day; poor old moi off late has been privy to many an instance of the person who has posted something on his/her facebook profile being the first to like the same post and to top it all came across an instance where more than a 150 people had liked the rather sad episode of somebody's father having passed away into the great beyond that we better know as heaven, and the very fact that more than a 150 people had liked or then in a convoluted way celebrated a dear one's demise left me wondering whether these 'enlightened' gentlemen and ladies were in complete control of their physical and mental faculties and even aware of what they were doing in the first place? the very fact that somebody can like a dear parent's demise continues to bemuse, befuddle and amaze me. Our forebears always maintained that we are living in the age of Kalyug and that the end of the world is not too far away. Well, I don't know too much about the impending end of the world, but such mindless antics have certainly reinforced my long held beliefs about the human species getting loonier with every material advancement or enhancement, or then to put it simply we seem to be going round the bend as our economic status shows signs of improvement........This is my observation,argument and thesis, what's yours?????