My scribble

Feb 25 2010

One voice in a Billion

What a fabulous day was 24^th Feb 2010. I, just like every other Indian was ecstatic to see the first ever double hundred in ODI Cricket. Not that Sachin needed it prove himself but this was SPECIAL, just like so many other moments the little master has gifted cricket fans with.

I bet millions for any cricket fan that did not get Goosebumps after watching the 200^th run taken! Everyone’s common regret: not being in Gwalior on that historic day!

It’s very easy for him to unite the nation, unite the cricket world – such an amazing chemical! Well, there isn’t any adjective left in the dictionary to describe the God!

One after another, he has displayed those masterpieces of batsmanship, he is the only sporting icon of India, the best batsman Cricket has ever seen.

Yeah, Sachin Tendulkar is a phenomenon – calling him a human would burden the definition of a human being.

Enough, I’d not wanna repeat anything that’s been said already – I just had to let out this sheer joy!

Here’s something to treasure forever: Video – first ever 200

I so wanna attend 2011 World Cup Final in Mumbai with India playing – too early but it’ll be like a fairytale to see Sachin live at Wankhede pursuing something he has always wished for! (Never too soon to dream ;-))

Before I wind up – I support all appeals for Bharat Ratna for Sachin! (Thanks to Amit Paranjape for bringing the issue up) There haven’t been many Indians who have brought so many happy tears in more than 2 billion eyes!

His modesty, dedication (and all other personal & professional values) are something we are inspired from, something we want our next generations to be inspired from – conferring him Bharat Ratna NOW would only represent the nation’s feelings through a memento & a tag!

I think I spoke for more than a Billion people!

Feb 22 2010

3 Comments

India, Terror

Weak & unsafe, do we deserve this?

Just heard about players’ probable pullout from IPL-2010 atop reading news of Cricket WC-2011 to be moved out of India and countries not to send players for Commonwealth Games-2010 to be held in India! How unsafe has India become!

Aren’t we like Pakistan now? (With probably a difference that Indian land is not OPENLY used for terror planning). Blasts every month, terror scares on every event, however small. Why is India falling apart? Do we really have control over Kashmir? Have we lost substantial part of Arunachal Pradesh?

I know there are many aspects to India’s weak outlook – ‘experts’ might dig most of the reasons behind it. I don’t wanna go into strategic or political aspects of it. But I wonder every now & then – why are we ‘tolerating’ all this crap?

Perhaps a tiny part of the reason lies in India’s people – yes, the same ones that are supposed to be India’s strength.

1. Do we forgive & forget too quickly? One of the media houses starts some crap – Aman ki Asha – people follow it blindly (just one example, there’s a whole lot similar). No other country is as friendly to its trouble-land (not blaming Pakistan, the nation; but its land has been used against India).

2. Do we really care about what we support? Mainstream India media supported SRK recently & indirectly promoted his movie which was supposedly based on humanity. (P.S. I haven’t seen that movie).

Just an innocent question to MNIK team or people who supported it – if 911 hurt you so much, why didn’t you make a movie about 2700 innocent Americans (+ around 330 foreign nationals to USA) who died?
Is it justified to over-dramatize fake sympathy with people from certain religion just because they had to go through a little more security checks?

3. Why aren’t people thankful for the land? Be thankful, respect the locals! Why do people wanna come to Mumbai for a living and shout “We’re from UP”? Why do these people ‘create’ own flavors of history & proclaim that Maharashtra economy is built by migrants? Isn’t that kind of bad culture?

4. Why always be minority-friendly? Almost all of the countries with good human, economic & cultural indices are OPENLY majority-friendly (E.g. France, UK, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Australia require migrants to cope with locals). India, on the other hand, expects its biggest religion to accommodate everyone.

5. Are we still under ‘inferiority’ notion the colonial rulers forced on us? It’s only 4^th generation since India became independent & it might be a psychological probability that India doesn’t have enough ‘patriotic’ people.

Probably, we are no different than Pakistan: we can’t protect ourselves, the world is withdrawing it’s confidence from ‘Brand India’ & we also do not have ANY solution!

May not be correct, just my thoughts for being weak, staying weak as ‘A nation’!

Feb 14 2010

1 Comment

blasts, India, Maharashtra, Pune

Khan, Sena & yet another Indian city

Just like every other Saturday morning, I woke up on 2/13 to connect with my dear ones – and how, this time?

Hearing about the blasts at German Bakery, Pune! Not that blasts in other Indian cities angered me any less (in fact, I should be used to bomb blasts being a proud Indian) but this was a personal attack that left me shattered. A place close to my heart, I can’t myself recollect how many times I have visited this place. A host of many of my mundane moments and not just mine, the GB was witness to my parents’ romance too. Oh the place – how could someone be ever so cruel with you?

Well, does that matter? Every place is connected to someone or the other, every person (especially if you’re an Indian) experiences such traumas. In fact our home minister, PC Chidambaram pointed out (in fact he declared gleefully) that this was the first terror attack on India in past 15 months. Point everything to the government, don’t we?

Some bollywood superstar SRK uses his stardom to promote & create ruckus in entire Maharashtra and we stupidly think his on-screen image is what he’s for real!
Where is Khan now, the one who always sticks up for a particular religion or good/great neighbors? He’s the Khan who gets into such cheap controversies

Heathrow or spreads ire in a movie-crazy nation with

Newark incident

This person (who never shows any gratitude for his homeland, be it Maharashtra or India) is known to utilize Indian media & chalk out plans to publicize his movies – and we blindly, repeatedly follow this person! Some of this does make a lot of sense:

Open letter to SRK

Then we have Shiv-Sena (Sene, VHP, RSS are their siblings) – you people rock! You protect our ‘CULTURE’ by violence, vandalizing properties, attacking innocents, ensuring V-day bans & helping reel heroes look like real heroes!

We have just had enough of these goons now – let’s not just mute protest. Let’s come out, visit Pubs/discs! Let’s come out & celebrate ANY damn day we wish! Let’s watch ANY movie we want! Let’s not give in to these people to decide what we should drink, what we should wear or what day we should celebrate!

Mr Chavan (our CM) has failed to stand up every time – be it against Shiv Sena or Marathi-must-for-cabbies (which actually was a state cabinet decision). Of course with such a feeble leader, we’re bound to be attacked.

All these see their best friend in another phenomenon called ‘Indian media’ – these are the people who make SRK & SS what they are! Repeatedly using coverage as a weapon for controversies & TRPs, Indian media has stooped to extraordinary low levels (e.g. a leading Marathi newspaper exposed by P Sainath:

Here &

Here).

Yes & if you remember this is the same media that has spoiled India’s relationship with China & Australia.

It’s shameful to see people like Barkha Dutt (less said the better for this lady) who went all out to support a movie & Rajdeep Sardesai who doesn’t care dragging Thackeray children into whatever controversy.

One stupid issue after another, Indian media needs an overhaul soon (wish independent journalism takes over soon)!

And then there are we, taking every defeat, every death in our strides & proudly calling ourselves ‘India’. We are made to live with terror, slums, garbage because we SEEM okay with it!

Are we insensitive or blind followers or cowards or selfish losers?
Huh, another outlet of anguish, anger & loss … I am sick of seeing deaths every day, in every city, on every street!

So, Young & innocent Pune bleeds on the eve of Valentine’s Day! What do you think? Which city next?

There’s nothing like ‘War on terror’, ‘City’s never-say-die spirit’: all we have is the remains of what used to be German Bakery & a distraught place – all I can do is help rebuild GB.

Let’s get together pool in all our efforts & emotions in getting this beautiful place back on its feet; we might see some dead souls smiling at us!

Feb 08 2010

2 Comments

Business, China, Economy, India, USA

One’s loss = other’s gain

American (or say, World) recession has turned out to be a horrific reality – The great American dream is shattered, China’s Manufacturing industry is reeling under pressure, Europe’s playing too safe.

The US is putting in money wherever it sees problems (the traditionally American way of solving the problems), Obama has incentivized hiring but saturation & positivity ballooned have taken their toll.

The Wall Street is full with money without trust!

All said, all read – I would not comment further on current conditions & solutions. However, there are some pointers that have not missed my eye (or my mind).

The American entrepreneurs/capitalists have launched a movement (readers might have heard of it): http://startupvisa.com/

It’s extremely critical to fuel the boost for long terms & create meaningful long-run jobs for us to get out of this mess.

It’s sad to see India once again being a slow starter!

Our sorry story is not just limited to physical infrastructure – the roadblocks in broadband penetration are too discouraging – Indian IT growth is repeatedly failing to solve India’s problems!

India could be hugely benefitted to make moves at this time – India can turn this recession into a boon for economy. We already are a better market than China http://bit.ly/dibrAt & with tighter monetary controls, less risky than USA.

Urban-Rural disconnect hampers India’s comprehensive growth again & again – India probably has the highest delta in the world in this regard
India stands at a stage where it’s gotta balance between migration & globalization – we still are heavily confused
Weak policies & weaker implementations do not help much either – India always starts on defensive
Cultural & social barriers majorly block India’s juggernaut – failures are a still a crime!

However, I’d still say it’s a great place to startup!

Shortcomings cease to look bad the moment those are viewed as opportunities!

Bottoms-up growth model, reasonably strong mobile phones networks, decent emphasis on rural strengths, strong consumerism & above all, the People (a nation with astonishingly high young population) make India a land of opportunities.

We also enjoy substantial NRI Investments & other FDIs.

India has still got huge chunk to offer in philanthropy, healthcare, energy, petroleum & social businesses. Cultures & languages stem a new & one-of-its-kind model of entrepreneurship.

All we need is some support from the top, some aggressive policy making by the government to leverage the growth.

We don’t need a startup Visa program – we need to nurture our own entrepreneurs
Still need to boost high-end education & research facilities to retain talent & stop unnecessary emigration (this doesn’t mean setting up colleges tagged IIT,IIM in villages, quality supervision is paramount)
There is GOT to be a Radical shift in traditional policy making process – India has grown more than it’s leaders ever expected it to
Little more opening up the market wouldn’t hurt either (though, debatable)
For the n’th time: Every type of infrastructure needs an immediate overhaul in India

Too much to hope, waiting for some satisfaction!

Dec 17 2009

Is Mahendra Singh Dhoni more than a cricket captain for India?

Yeah, even I think what the title suggests is pretty weird!

I’ve always heard/read of old times’ India, seen it a little bit during childhood. One thing that has not changed ever is the passion for the sport of cricket. If I speak about love for cricket in India, it’ll be like underlining for billionth time!

While growing up I used to watch Indian teams that were king at home on dusty pitches with outfields resembling nothing but deserts.

Those were the times when one dive on Indian grounds could risk your bones, when most of the players who could be best described as 5’5″ 50 kg bodies which spoke of malnutrition & poverty in India, when tours were just meant for holidays & shopping, when all media could talk was margins of victory – Indian victories if we played home or other country’s if we played away. Yes, those were the times when Indian commentators used to lambaste Indian batsmen for showing even minuscule sign of aggression, when Indians saw nothing but Miandad’s sixer or Imran Khan’s yorker in their nightmares!
Aah, those were the days when India played the Gentleman’s Game Gently!

Not anymore!
Dhoni’s team is full of hefty youngsters – they don’t look frail or weak when standing with an Aussie, they don’t get intimidated, they’re not scared, they can kick A**es with bat/bowl/words!
They never take anything lying down, they give everything back perhaps with more vengeance!
And mind you it’s not just the aggression – it’s aggression with talent and performance.

What made a guy like Sehwag be so arrogant in batting like the way he does? Has anyone seen a front view of his bat?
In a country that still treats ‘sex’ as a taboo, how come Zaheer Khan acknowledges the ‘best chest’ award by Mumbai girls? How can Yuvraj be so confident of having the ‘best ass’? (are we talking of India here? :O)
Why wasn’t Ganguly ashamed of ripping off his shirt on Lord’s balcony where anything less than a coat is ‘indecent’?
Why doesn’t Dhoni treat Sachin, the god, special? Why such a ‘senior’ person covers the boundary in death overs? Did anyone ever even think of anything like that before in Indian cricket?
How come the captain of the Indian cricket is cool under pressure? Where’s all the burden of billions of Indians’ expectations?
This bloody team beats other teams in their backyards, they’re not afraid of traveling, they’re not afraid of Murali’s, Warne’s, Akhtar’s!

Mumbai crowd harasses Andrew Symonds till he gets away, Indian cricket pressurizes ‘white’ nations to play according to their conditions, ‘whiter & richer’ cricket countries form a union against India & still fail to affect: Isn’t that unusual for India?
What happened all of a sudden?

If people still think this is limited to just cricket: look around again, see Indians around you if possible.
Every youngster today relates to this Indian cricket team, we have come far & beyond!
Bollywood & cricket have inspired India a lot, but this is the time when India has affected Cricket!
Look at this team: they’re not guys from Mumbai or Delhi, they’re from a small UP village or a Maharashtra small town or from a very poor Muslim family in Gujarat town. They have not had their childhood dedicated to cricket.

On the same veins, look at Indian youngsters – they’re no more like their parents. Many of them are not even dependent by the time they turn 21. In the country that taught ‘save-when-you-earn’, they buy things they want when they want. Where pubs/discs are a no-no, the new India makes plans for parties every weekend. In a country where holidays meant visiting a religious place with family, they go holidaying with friends. – is only money & spending capacity (or technology) responsible for all this?

Not really.
India’s truly going places and this may just be that time of metamorphosis. Look at the attitude shift, Indians are no more ashamed of their color or even their habits.
And just like the cricket team, this is not just the outlook – but there’s talent to back it up too.
Ofcourse, there are problems just like Indian team’s losses. However, what strikes you the most is how India handles these losses/failures these days?

Isn’t Dhoni someone who truly represents the new India? The India my generation belongs to?