Jamshedpur.... nurtured by TATA

This is one fine piece of article I received via mail from a friend, on Jamshedpur and the role TATA has played in maintaining and developing the city.

Lakshmi Mittal speaks :

"I visited Jamshedpur over the weekend to see for myself an India that is
fast disappearing despite all the wolf-cries of people like
Narayanamurthy and his ilk. It is one thing to talk and quite another to
do and I am delighted to tell you that Ratan Tata has kept alive the
legacy of perhaps Indias finest industrialist J.N. Tata. Something that
some people doubted when Ratan took over the House of the Tatas but in
hindsight, the best thing to have happened to the Tatas is
unquestionably Ratan. I was amazed to see the extent of corporate
philanthropy and this is no exaggeration.

For the breed that talks about corporate social responsibility and talks
about the role of corporate India, a visit to Jamshedpur is a must. Go
there and see the amount of money they pump into keeping the town going;
see the smiling faces of workers in a region known for industrial
unrest; see the standard of living in a city that is almost isolated
from the mess in the rest of the country.

This is not meant to be a puff piece. I have nothing to do with Tata
Steel, but I strongly believe the message of hope and the message of
goodness that they are spreading is worth sharing. The fact that you do
have companies in India which look at workers as human beings and who do
not blow their software trumpet of having changed lives. In fact, I
asked Mr Muthurman, the managing director, as to why he was so quiet
about all they had done and all he could offer in return was a smile
wrapped in humility, which said it all. They have done so much more
since I last visited Jamshedpur, which was in 1992. The town has
obviously got busier but the values thankfully haven't changed. The food
is still as amazing as it always was and I gorged, as I would normally
do. I visited the plant and the last time I did that was with Russi
Mody.

But the plant this time was gleaming and far from what it used to be.
Greener and cleaner and a tribute to environment management. You could
have been in the mountains. Such was the quality of air I inhaled! There
was no belching smoke; no tired faces and so many more women workers,
even on the shop floor. This is true gender equality and not the kind
that is often espoused at seminars organised by angry activists. I met
so many old friends. Most of them have aged but not grown old. There was
a spring in the air which came from a certain calmness which has always
been the hallmark of Jamshedpur and something I savoured for a full two
days in between receiving messages of how boring and decrepit the
Lacklustre Fashion Weak was.

It is at times such as this that our city lives seem so meaningless.
Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata had created an edifice that is today a robust
company and it is not about profits and about valuation. It is not about
who becomes a millionaire and who doesnt'. It is about getting the job
done with dignity and respect keeping the age-old values intact and this
is what I learnt.

I jokingly asked someone as to whether they ever thought of joining an
Infosys or a Wipro and pat came the reply: "We are not interested in
becoming crorepatis but in making others crorepatis."

Which is exactly what the Tatas have done for years in and around
Jamshedpur. Very few people know that Jamshedpur has been selected as a
UN Global Compact City, edging out the other nominee from India,
Bangalore. Selected because of the quality of life, because of the
conditions of sanitation and roads and welfare. If this is not a tribute
to industrial India, then what is? Today, Indian needs several
Jamshedpurs but it also needs this Jamshedpur to be given its fair due,
its recognition. I am tired of campus visits being publicised to the
Infosys and the Wipros of the world. Modern India is being built in
Jamshedpur as we speak. An India built on the strength of core
convictions and nothing was more apparent about that than the experiment
with truth and reality that Tata Steel is conducting at Pipla.

Forty-eight tribal girls (yes, tribal girls who these corrupt and evil
politicians only talk about but do nothing for) are being educated
through a residential program over nine months. I went to visit them and
I spoke to them in a language that they have just learnt: Bengali. Eight
weeks ago, they could only speak in Sainthali, their local dialect. But
today, they are brimming with a confidence that will bring tears to your
eyes. It did to mine.

One of them has just been selected to represent Jharkand in the state
archery competition. They have their own womens football team and whats
more they are now fond of education. It is a passion and not a burden.
This was possible because I guess people like Ratan Tata and Muthurman
havent sold their souls to some business management drivel, which tells
us that we must only do business and nothing else. The fact that not one
Tata executive has been touched by the Naxalites in that area talks
about the social respect that the Tatas have earned.

The Tatas do not need this piece to be praised and lauded. My intent is
to share the larger picture that we so often miss in the haze of the
slime and sleaze that politics imparts. My submission to those who use
phrases such as "feel-good" and "India Shining" is first visit
Jamshedpur to understand what it all means. See Tata Steel in action to
know what companies can do if they wish to. And what corporate India
needs to do. Murli Manohar Joshi would be better off seeing what Tata
Steel has done by creating the Xavier Institute of Tribal Education
rather than by proffering excuses for the imbroglio in the IIMs. This is
where the Advanis and Vajpayees need to pay homage. Not to all the Sai
Babas and the Hugging saints that they are so busy with. India is
changing inspite of them and they need to realise that.

I couldn't have spent a more humane and wonderful weekend. Jamshedpur is
an eye-opener and a role model, which should be made mandatory for
replication. I saw corporate India actually participate in basic
nation-building, for when these tribal girls go back to their villages,
they will return with knowledge that will truly be life-altering.

Corporate India can do it but most of the time is willing to shy away.
For those corporate leaders who are happier winning awards and being
interviewed on their choice of clothes, my advise is visit Tata Steel,
spend some days at Jamshedpur and see a nation's transformation. That is
true service and true nationalism.

Tata Steel will celebrate 100 years of existence in 2007. It won't be
just a milestone in this company's history. It will be a milestone, to
my mind of corporate transparency and generosity in this country. It is
indeed fitting that Ratan Tata today heads a group which has people who
are committed to nation-building than just building inflluence and
power. JRD must be smiling wherever he is. And so must Jamsetji
Nusserwanji. These people today, have literally climbed every last blue
mountain. And continue to do so with vigour and passion. Thank god for
the Tatas!"

Stin(k)ing Politics and Media...

A lot was said during the infamous “Shakti Sting” operation that the conduct of trespassing into private spaces should not be allowed.
Noted Director Mahesh Bhatt opposed the Sting Operation and went ahead to say that it was aimed at "catching eyeballs" and boosting TRP ratings.
Condemning the way the sting operation was conducted, director Sawant Kumar had said, "had the actor been caught luring an innocent victim, it was understandable. But having a journalist pose and enact a drama is different... it appears to have been staged to trap him".

Like Bhatt and Sawant Kumar there were many from the Entertainment Media who joined the protest against the Sting Operation and raised a huge hue n cry.

Now the *same* episode has been repeated in the field of Politics, where 11 MP’s were caught negotiating for money to raise questions in the parliament. No Director/Actor or the like from the Entertainment Media had raised their voice this time in support of these MP’s.
This Sting appears all fair and just to these very gentlemen’s now. Why the disparity? If it was *privacy* then, it’s *privacy* now.

Only difference is that the people in Entertainment Media was baited with what they like (hot babes i.e.) and the people in Political Media was baited with their likings (money i.e.).

Political Media atleast took a corrective approach by suspending these 11 MP’s. But the Entertainment Media took no action of banning Shakti and the like from their Industry.

Why? Are the men in Entertainment Media even more immoral than these corrupt Politicians?

Bangalore to Bangaluru

So, the politicians of India are up at it again.

As if, changing of names of institutions, gardens and streets were not enough, a new trend has started - Changing names of cities.

After Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai finally it’s Bangalore.

The Karnataka government has 'finally' decided to rename Bangalore to Bengaluru !!

Well, how does it matter?

Perhaps Calcutta has eradicated poverty after being renamed Kolkata.

Perhaps Bombay has less corruption when called Mumbai.

Perhaps the water problem has been solved by calling city as Chennai and not Madras.

Who knows the road and infrastructure of Bangalore can be solved in a similar way!!

Or the idea is to give a new image to this city? We all know that Bangalore was in news recently because of the lack of infrastructure and good roads. Changing the name would simply wipe out this bad image acquired so far by “Bangalore” and Bangaluru can start fresh with clean history. A well know verse in hindi “Na Rahega Baas na Bajegee Bansuri”

Now Imagine the cost involved. All the streets, govt. records, maps, etc etc should be changed. If we know how much changing the name would cost we would certainly be wary of it. Later the govt. will need to implement the legislation.

The only people whom I can think of, who will be benefited with this change in name are those corrupt politicians who would now earn those *extra* emotional votes from the less intelligent man of the society.

Does it make us more Kannadiga when we call Bangalore, Bengaluru?
Will it make me more Indian when I call India as Hindustan, or Bharat?
Let the govt. publish how much it will take just to change a name, and we will see that all the sensible people will opt against such measure.

Laws should be enacted to avoid such name changing which has become the norm and the power should lie with the central govt.
Names should be changed only when "absolutely necessary".
(However I don't know why it would be "absolutely necessary" to change a name of the city after this 50 years of Independence.)

Three Cheers for Nitish Kumar…..

A recent statement from newly elected Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on spat between Maharashtrians and non-Maharashtrians at Mumbai’s J J Hospital campus is something to applaud for. This is what he said:

“Mumbai, being the economic capital of the country, is built on the efforts of all Indians and people from Bihar have contributed immensely to it. Like the national capital Delhi, the economic capital Mumbai too belongs to all.’’

Legislature overpowers the Judiciary at law

I had written about the reservations in Educational institutions some time back and about the fight between the SC and the Political parties for imposing these reservations in Private Institutes. Today reading this news I am totally shocked at the legislature’s behavior of ignoring the judicial decision and forcing the *law*. But I am confused now. If the decision of the highest body of Judiciary i.e. Supreme Court, who is responsible for law enforcement, itself is ignored, then who is going to make sure that this *law* is obeyed and practiced?

Lalu's Rise and Fall

This is an excellent piece of article that I received from rediff and I liked it so much, more because I had myself been a part of that ruined state of Bihar once, that I would like to reproduce the same here in my corner of the web. And despite this fact produced here our Prime Minister holds the gut to applaud and support Lalu.

November 22 is an important date in Bihar's electoral history. After 15 years of Lalu rule, directly and by proxy through his wife Rabri Devi, Bihar has now said enough is enough and shown the RJD the door.

The Rise and Fall of Lalu Yadav
Lalu Prasad Yadav is undeniably one of the most interesting and intriguing characters in Indian politics.
In his 15 years in power, directly or indirectly, he saw his state Bihar go from communal strife to communal amity to caste violence, underdevelopment to rabid underdevelopment.

It was a source of great wonder to the rest of India how Lalu ruled Bihar as the champion of minorities and the downtrodden, mastering the complex caste equations of vote bank politics. Can the Lalu conundrum ever be understood?

Here's a quick look at the highlights of the Lalu era in Bihar:

Lalu took to politics as a Patna University student, and was part of Jayaprakash Narayan's students movement. He won his first Lok Sabha election from Chapra in north Bihar in 1977, became Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly in 1989 and, a year later, became the Bihar chief minister, heading a Janata Dal government.
In the early days of power, Lalu the rustic was like a whiff of fresh air.

Those were the days of the Mandal Commission, and those were the days when Bihar was engulfed by riots in Bhagalpur and Hazaribagh, to name just two places.
After Lalu took over the state's reins, Bihar hardly saw communal violence again. It is one contribution even his severest critics cannot deny.

And his taking over the mantle was symbolic of the empowerment of the backward classes, reservations for whom were suggested by the Mandal Commission, leading to widespread protests throughout the country.

Caste equations were something Lalu was the master of. He carved the Muslim-Yadav alliance, and it was his key to power. A key he used to great effect.

In 1995, he swept the state elections, with an absolute majority of 165 seats in an assembly of 324. His main opponent and the new, rising force in Indian politics, the Bharatiya Janata Party, managed only 41.

Lalu's 1995 triumph was mainly the result of an event soon after he became chief minister. In 1990, BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani rode the crest of the Ayodhya Ram Temple movement by embarking on a nationwide Rath Yatra. It was seen as the ride of Hindutva forces, making the country's huge Muslim population uneasy.

On October 23, 1990, Lalu did what no state government could dare to. He had Advani arrested at Samastipur. It cemented Lalu's position as the protector of minorities, the champion of secularism. It was an image he would exploit in the years to come, by raising the bogey of communal violence to ensure the Muslim vote came his way.

In 1996, Lalu's named cropped up in a major scam unearthed by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Millions of rupees had been embezzled from treasuries against the account of Bihar's animal husbandry department. The Opposition had finally found an issue to corner Lalu.

The Janata Dal was divided, and Lalu formed his own party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

When charges were framed against him in the fodder scam, it appeared as if Bihar's king had finally met his Waterloo. But in a political masterstroke, Lalu resigned as chief minister, and instead installed his wife and mother of his nine children, Rabri Devi as chief minister.

While Lalu spent short periods of time in jail, the real rise of criminals unfolded outside, in his state. Kidnapping became an industry, and in many ways Lalu's right-hand man Mohammed Shahabuddin signified all that was wrong with the state. Shahabuddin ran a parallel administration in Siwan even when he was in jail. He was one of the lieutenants who executed Lalu's strategy of dividing and ruling the masses and terrorizing the rich.

Shahabuddin became a Member of Parliament, even as there were arrest warrants against him. Meanwhile, Bihar continued to fare appallingly in every development index. Report after report slammed the state's complete lack of planning, complete lack of ensuring the basic minimum to its residents. But Lalu remained unperturbed, because his power was intact, if not growing.

As Sankarshan Thakur wrote, 'Ask Lalu Yadav [about the lack of development] and he may give you two kinds of responses.

'If he is on record, he will say, the Centre is "responsible for criminal neglect" of Bihar et al. If he is off record, and in a mood to talk, he will tell you development isn't an issue for him. "Development, development, what development? My constituency has lived in underdeveloped conditions for hundreds of years. Development is not an issue for them. Development is an urban middle-class demand, that is why the media keeps harping on it. "Hamra log development leke kya karega ji? Bekaar baat karte hain [What will my people do with development? You talk nonsense)]

Naxalites -- armed ultra-Left militants -- stepped in where the state feared to tread, and bloody battles between them and the upper caste Ranvir Sena became routine in the hinterlands of Bihar.

When Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in 2000 and Shibu Soren made its chief minister, it gave Lalu two leverage points.
One, he now had a new excuse for the underdevelopment of Bihar: that the mineral and natural resource rich part of Bihar had gone to Jharkhand.

Two, he now had an ally in power in a neighboring state. An ally who was as against the BJP as he was.

Even as railway minister, Lalu sought to drive home the BJP's anti-Muslim image. Just before the Bihar elections in February, a railway enquiry committee declared there was no conspiracy behind the fire that engulfed the Sabarmati Express in Godhra in February 2002.

The Gujarat riots that followed the Godhra fire were sought to be justified as retaliation to the pre-planned attack on Hindu kar sevaks. The railway probe results debunked that theory, and fed to the belief that the riots were engineered by Hindutva forces, read the BJP. The message to Muslims in Bihar was clear: the BJP is your enemy. Vote for me, I will protect you.

One of the main problems of unseating Lalu, who enjoyed power without accountability, was the lack of genuine alternatives in Bihar. That began to change with kingmaker aspirant Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan entering the battle for Bihar anew. Paswan and Lalu had similar backgrounds: they were both products of JP's student movement, they were both self-avowed champions of the backward classes. But, Paswan was seen as close to the BJP, who the Muslim populace were wary of. Paswan was a minister in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. That gave him power at the Centre, but weakness in his home state.

On the other end of the political spectrum, Nitish Kumar, also a former Lalu co-traveller, had charted a fresh course, and was harping on the much neglected word in Lalu's Bihar: *development*

As Bihar went to polls twice this year, the chorus of 'remove Lalu, make way for development' had reached a crescendo. The champion of the downtrodden was appealing to the masses to give him one more chance. Just one example is enough to highlight what Lalu's era did to Bihar.

When Lalu found a groom for his daughter Rohini in Hichhan Bigha, the sleepy Bihar hamlet was transformed overnight, with power lines, telephone connections, new roads, water pumps.

After a year, all of it had disappeared, but for the cemented track that connected the village to the main highway. The cemented track was the only memory left of what the Lalu could have achieved, had he wanted to.

Now, out of office, perhaps he could find the time to mull over how, and where, he went wrong.

History’s Worst Software Bugs

This is something to read.... it lists the History’s Worst Software Bugs and tells you what small negligence or errors from programmers can lead to....

Sachin Vs Ganguly

I received this from an old school mate sometime back... thought of posting this but kept forgeting.... well better late than never... so finally it's here......

2,2,2,39,19,11,2,67,93,9,123,6,2,4,47,19,16,74,18,78,82,11,18,37.
31,2,19,20,5,26,51,18,4,9,0,22,55,22,0,48,0,90,90,7,24,25,79,39,60.
The total of the first row is 673. The total of the second row is
746.
Surprise,surprise.The first one is the total of last 25 ODI innings
of the Indian great Sachin.The second one is of Mr.Bong(according to
a famous ex-indian cricketer).

Lets go through some more figures.

16,41,52,52,94,36,32,20,3,55,248,5,2,8,1,8,2,194.
16,101,2,1,12,12,21,88,71,40,57,9,5,45,77,73,144.
The total of the first(sachin's last 18 test innings) - 869 and that
of second(Ganguly's) - 774.

The stats include Sachin's 248 against *Giants* Bangladesh and
Ganguly's 101 against *novices* Zimbabwe.If we take these two innings
out then we have 621 and 673 respectively.The first one is Sachin's
score,the second one of the *worthless* Bong.

If performance and not star system is going to be the key for
inclusion in India team,well then figures don't lie and they say it
all. Note that,I am not saying Ganguly is a better player than Sachin
but both are almost at the same level if their latest performances
are to be considered. So when some Ganguly haters start barking that
Ganguly hasn't been performing of late,the facts say that so hasn't
been Sachin. Shouldn't be the parameters for selection to the Indian
team be the same for all the players or when Sachin's turn comes
past performances and huge experience are the criteria. Then we
should start calling back Gavaskar,Shastri and the likes. Of late
whenever India needed Sachin to perform under pressure he almost
always failed. The latest being the ongoing series against SA and
proving himself in domestic cricket,when has Sachin last played in
domestic cricket? Ganguly has to score runs in domestic cricket to
prove that he is in form after recovering from injury but Sachin is
included in the team automatically after a long absence due to
tennis elbow. Again double standarsds and again no one asks questions.
So all you true cricket lovers think twice before you say something
because you can say anything but the figures will always tell the
truth.

Marketing through blog….

I had thought so far that blogs are meant to express one’s views, random thoughts etc. But surely it is not the thing to be used for *selling* your stuffs. But no I was wrong, Indian filmmakers have started to market their movies through blogs. Note that All links to other blogs provided here talks about the same upcoming movie Apaharan. Interesting….. huh!!

They Lost it…. but they got it!!

The first ODI between India and SA was interesting. Interesting in the sense that how Indian team has learnt to fight back and not loose hope, which they were so accustomed to in the past.
In the past the lower order batsman hardly had the spirit to pull through atleast 25-30 runs. Their had been several occasions when India just needed about 30 runs with enough balls to spare but just 3 wickets in hand, and they collapsed. But now you can confidently put your bet on the lower order. They have the courage and spirit to end the inning with an average of atleast 7 runs per over in the trail overs.
In today’s match, with the rapid collapse of the top order batsman, it appeared that India could not reach beyond 170. But a good partnership between Yuvraj and Irfan and then a brilliant knock from Bhajji, helped India reach a decent score.
Irfan Pathan has come up as a good All Rounder in the recent matches. He showed his caliber with both bat and ball in the series with Sri Lanka and he showed the same in this match too.
I am not hurt that India lost the game. Instead I am happy that India has learned to be in the game till the end. The 6-1 win against Sri Lanka may have instill enough overconfidence among the Indian players, and that be the cause for their loss today. But now that they have realized that they are up against a world no. 2 team, they will be more cautious in the next match. 2nd ODI would be a real good game, and I can vouch on that.

Zaheer Seals Ganguly’s Entry

In the recent Dulleep Trophy match between the East Zone VS West Zone, Zaheer got ganguly out for a duck in both the innings, exposing that the Bengal tiger still suffers from the same old weakness and has done nothing to improve on that ground.
Anyone having a slightest knowledge about Indian cricket knows the fact that Ganguly fails to pull the short ball bowled on the leg side, correctly.
Zaheer exploited this knowledge to the fullest and got rid of the east zone captain easily and proved the world that Ganguly is not yet fit to be in Team India.

PM’s Shameful act

So far I had looked at our current Prime Minister Dr . Manmohan Singh, as the best PM India had had in the last 2 decades, bringing about many wanted economical and social reforms. Being an Economist and have worked as the Finance minister, he understand the economical needs of India and the reforms needed better than anyone else. And so I had great esteem for this great man, though I hate the congress party in general.
In a recent election meeting held for seeking votes in favor of Secular Democratic Front in Bihar Assembly election, this very great man made a statement (quoted below) that could bring nothing but black spots in his good doings so far.
Dr. Singh praised Lalu Prasad Yadav saying “He is a leader of caliber and the state can make tremendous development under his and his friends' stewardship.”Not to mention, everyone in India having the slightest knowledge of politics know very well that it is Lalu and his ministry that is responsible for the sorry state of Bihar.
It is the state where we have Most Crime, Most Unemployed and Least Literacy, Least Development on social, economy and infrastructure fields (which covers all).
RJD has been ruling Bihar for past 15 years and since then nothing has improved in the state. Other states are almost upto the mark with the *India Shining* blaze, but Bihar is one state that is left 20 years behind. And all credit goes to Lalu and ministry for this. Yet a statement like this from our PM, just for the sake of seeking votes is extremely shameful, no doubt why L.K. Advani dubbed him the “Weakest PM India had ever had”.

No Entry for Dada

Four wins in a row has sealed all entry points for Dada. It may be long wait for him now to get a *chance* in the international match, but to get that *chance* he has to perform constantly with *no injury* in the domestic cricket. But then again he stands no *chance* to be the part as the captain for team India.
The team's united performance has filled Dada's path full of thorns that he must walk through and testify of his ability to be a part.

Who am I - Fruit match

see which Fruit Your attitude matches with.

I am Banana





Take the Survey

Who am I - Character Match

This is an interesting game to play and see which Fantasy/SciFi Character Your attitude matches with.

I am Jean-Luc
A character in the Star Trek universe who can virtually do no wrong.

Take the Survey

Tour to New Hampshire

Few days back I went to New Hampshire with a couple of friends to see the fall color. The place, as was heard, is really very beautiful, especially during this time of the year. Though the initial start of the tour was not so good with a minor accident happening in Norwalk, causing the delay and upsetting the mood of all, but in all the tour was still good.

Norwalk is a place in CT where I have seen the most reckless drivers. We happened to move into the interior of this place to get one of our car replaced as it’s muffler was making a lot of noise. When we were about to take the ramp for I-90 we were hit by a car who was following us very closely. As usual we called 911, the police came, after a much long wait of 20 mins(that was weird) and the things were being settled, just then at the same spot in the same fashion as if it was a replay and the time has moved back for 30 mins, another pair of cars collided. Their settlement did’nt took long because the police was ready available right at the spot :)
No wonder why he had taken almost more than 20 mins to arrive to the spot in our case. He must have settled 2-3 more cases on his way…. ha ha ha.
As we moved we noticed almost 4 more accidents within say 2 miles (one way).
*Note – I am not considering the radius here.*
We thought it just may be the day as it’s raining heavily. But as we took the highway, we saw drivers changing 3 lanes straight with no indicators, driving at 80-90 MPH when it was almost difficult to see things beyond 15 mts.
So this is Norwalk, CT. If you ever need to go there, be careful I say :)
Anyway so coming down to describing the beauty of NH, well the place has got several places of interests, the most famous being Mt. Washington, which unluckily we could not make as the tracks were closed because of the heavy rainfall the other day. But we did got to see the beautiful valley of the White Mountains, the river streams and a waterfall. I got photos uploaded here for you guys to admire and *fall* in love with the beauty during the Fall season here in NH.

Indian Journalism that is....

Few days back one of my friend asked me the question
"wonder why the Indian media hasn't picked it up yet" when i wrote about the IIPM story.
And I replied by saying...

"No wonder to me - because I do not see many newspaper doing *Investigative Journalism* other than India Today (Aaj Tak to be precise) and Indian Express sometime....
most of them tries to play safe and often gets biased by the Big revenue they earn from the Big ad's placed by such institues like IIPM's.
take for example the case of Nimish Adani - a bangalore based guy who was beaten and looted by RPF. The incident was reported in national dailies much late, till that time the news had already done rounds in forms of e-mails and in the blog worlds."

Now read this news today and I am sure Indian Journalism has rotten to the deepest extent it possibly can.

IIPM on battle with bloggers - Update 2

Here is a good show of the investigative journalism shown by Thalassa Mikra. She had brought up some interesting facts about Malay Choudahri (Founder of IIPM and father of Dean Arindam Choudhari) and the so called IIPM’s link with IMI and other European business schools.

Telepathy…. Surprise to me!!

It may be a mere coincidence, but the very same fact sprung to my mind yesterday afternoon when a small thought about me paying taxes and the government utilizing it in the optimal way, hit my mind. I do not know how but a quiet similar thought to have such guidelines as laid down by Sonia Gandhi and cut down on *unwanted* expenses incurred by ministers on different affairs.
Cheers!! to you Sonia…… Congress has definitely improved their thoughts on area of main concern, I must say.

IIPM on battle with bloggers - Update 1

Update: IIPM has sent the legal notice *notarized e-mail* to another blogger Varna, threatening to sue her for Rs. 175 Crore (laugh – BIG laugh) – pause.
Going into the details of the development in this matter, it is found that Rashmi Bansal has been charged of receiving money from Amity. An anonymous blogger in support of IIPM wrote:
“Aaj tak ran a sting operation where it was revealed on camera that JAMMAG, accepted money in cash from Amity group of educational institutions to write a negative story on IIPM”
So now this makes the scene more complicated by bringing the names of Aaj Tak and Amity into the plot. Now the fun would be what if these charges are totally baseless (which I suppose are) and Aaj Tak and Amity decides to file a law suit against IIPM for their defamation :)

IIPM into legal battle with blogger's

The Truth about IIPM was Uncovered sometime back by Jam-mag in an article published by their journalist Rashmi Bansal. The thing got fire in the blog world and many fellow blogger wrote about the fraudulent activity of IIPM, one of them was Gaurav Sabnis. Now after about two months things have taken a bizarre turn sounding like some super hit Bollywood movie with mixtures of ‘twists n turns’, melodrama, action and emotion.
The story starts with some comedy with Gaurav writing a hilarious article against IIPM and it’s director Arindam Chaudhari and the scene progresses in a relaxed cool manner when all of a sudden our hero gets a jolt from a legal notice from IIPM for an attempt to defamation of it’s institute.
Our hero being an employee in IBM and IIPM in turn being a big client for IBM for supplying all those laptop’s that are supposedly distributed for free to IIPM students, gets the biggie IBM involved in the scene (Just like a Big B’s appearance, in most commercial cinema’s nowadays).
I N T E R V A L
The complicacy in the story builds with IIPM management calling in IBM’s executive to force Gaurav to delete his posts/article from his *personal* blog and apologies for his conduct. This establishes a sort of triangular love story (IIPM being the villain, IBM the lover girl on our hero Gaurav’s side).
The story gets an emotional touch when our hero decides to part with her lover (IBM) for the sake of her good carrier and uninterrupted growth. Yes, Gaurav did resign to keep IBM out of the plot.
Now it’s time for some action scene between our hero (Gaurav) and the villain (IIPM). The end is still to be decided and you readers must be waiting eagerly to know how this movie ends, well I am as much curious as you guys are. So wait and watch!!

This is in Support of Gaurav and all other fellow blogger who are out to kill the villain.

Tired....

Went to NH to see fall colors and returned very late at night (rather early morning) and am dead tired..... so no useful work done today

The Greg-Ganguly Saga

Indian coach Greg Chappell has given a new twist to the ongoing conflict between him and the Indian Captain with his e-mail to the BCCI. The coach has reportedly termed skipper Sourav Ganguly 'mentally and physically unfit' to lead India.
It also must surprise many to know of their differences since both Ganguly and Chappell have only been full of admiration for each other in the past. Well-placed sources even aver that Ganguly persuaded Chappell to cast his hat in the ring after a replacement was sought for John Wright as India's coach. Ganguly, before the 2003-04 tour even went to Australia to seek personal batting lessons from Chappell. Chappell on his part was impressed with Ganguly's commitment to his cricket and the passion he has for Indian cricket.
But now the same coach is now all thorns and no petals for Ganguly. The Coach no longer finds that *commitment* that *passion* which Ganguly once used to possess towards the game.
Truth, if any, is that both Sourav Ganguly and Greg Chappell are headstrong persons who have their own philosophy of running the team. Ganguly might feel that Chappell's methods could destabilize the team, and him in particular, while Chappell could be excused in believing that changes must be effected now rather than six months down the line by which time he could have missed the bus.
While Chappell is more concerned about the future of Team India (Target - 2007 World Cup), Ganguly is more keen on his present position and form. It seems very clear that Ganguly, Kumble and even Tendulkar may not last till 2007 World Cup and so Chappell is insisting on their replacement right now so that he can have enough time to groom the youngsters and prepare them well for the Big Match, which Mr. Ganguly is not able to understand.
But with the kind of ego and attitude that Ganguly carriers, he is not the kind of man who would submit to Chappell’s orders.
Now the thing has come to the point where only one can stay with Team India, either Ganguly or Chappell. I do not know whom to blame but I know very well that this entire drama is not good for team’s health.
May God Bless Team India!!

Pyaar Comes to Andhra Pradesh

AP was hit with Pyaar yesterday and this Pyaar will travel across MP and parts of Maharashtra. But this is a kind of Pyaar that is not making the people of AP happy.
Following the American convention of naming each hurricanes/cyclones, the WMO tropical Cyclone Escap Panel countries have decided to Christine the Cyclones hitting the Bay of Bengal rim countries.
Note: Pyaar does not mean love as in Hindi. It is a Myanmarese word that means 'flattened'.

When time for you is not good, nothing goes good

Dada is in big trouble by bringing the dressing room brawl with Mr. Chappel out in the media. He was the one who would do anything to keep the Spirit of Team India high, whether by swinging his T-Shirt upon a victory or by commenting on opposition team's remark. But now this same guy is out in the media speaking about his confrontation with the Coach. Nothing is going good for this lad and the year has proven badluck for our Bengal Tiger. He is not the kind of person who would like to bring the fight within the team out in the field, but then he did. What went wrong? I think it's his frustation speaking out. For months he had been silent taking all criticism from his fans all over for his bad performance. He was not in a position to speak out anything then and the volcano was ready to burst with the slightest opportunity. With some good batting in this tri series and a Century now, dada could not stop himself from pointing to the world that He is Good and Others were not. He wanted to tell everyone that He still got the talent and is still a Tiger who can roar with the Bat. But the public did'nt expected it to come this way, and the result is that Dada is again in the midest of criticism.
The way he spoke to the Media after clinching a century, an ironic smile on his face, was way too much to make the heat. In yet another interview our captain was noted saying "may be the coach's remark worked out positively that gave me a Kick to stand out there in the field for 6 hours", now Mr. Captain is the pride of playing for your country that too as a Captain, not enough to give you that Kick?
This man needs some rest. He should do something to keep himself out from media and rest his mind a bit. May God Bless our Captain and Team India!!

MIND Vs Rest of Body

You know what….. Your body senses, taste buds, heart…. Everything tempts you to go the wrong way. It is only mind that directs you for correct things.
For last few months I gave up Rice, Potato and all junk foods to bring my body in shape and all was working fine. I was not tempted to eat these and gradually I did’nt felt like eating these….. but as soon as I began to realize that I am beginning to loose weights and that things are going fine….. all of a sudden I began to feel an urge for some Rice…. Some Chips… and some deep fried veggies :( I am doomed….

Good Diet

This is my Weekend Breakfast..... I am on Diet :)

Weekdays.... I don't take any

Some Cricket for Fun

Today all guys from TCS here grouped together to have a Cricket Match for some change from our regular work schedule. It was real fun to have played the game almost after 4 years...
The weather was good initially when we begun, but it got hotter in the second half of the match and left most of the players sweating and running for water.
By the end of the game all were dead tired and my entire body is paining now because of so much running. This tells me that I should be going for regular jogging.
So that's it everyday starting tomorrow evening, I WILL GO FOR JOGGING NO MATTER HOW MUCH I AM TIRED FROM THE OFFICE WORK.

Metros on the Hit List

First Mumbai and now Delhi, seems like the Metros are on the hit list of Rain GOD.
From 8.30 am to 8.30 pm on Friday, Delhi received 47.2 mm of rain.
Earlier in July, Mumbai was flooded with no interrupted rain causing sever damage to city both in terms of Life and Money.

Swimming

The Swimming pools here have been closed with the end of Summer. I managed to get some pics on the last day.



Here are some for you to look at :)

US Open Women's Final in pics

Went to NY to watch the US Open Women's final... the match was short and Kim snatched a easy victory defeating Mary in two easy sets of 6-3, 6-1
Here are a few pics of the tour

Making Rajma

I am making Rajma for the Dinner today, did'nt knew that I need to soak the seeds in water for some hours before starting, result is that it's been almost 2 hours and still it is half cooked :(
It's midight now and I am not feeling like eating, feeling very sleepy. Will have Rajma in Lunch tomorrow. Not sure how long it will take to be something like eatable.

US Open

Q: What do the top six ranked women heading into the U.S. Open today have in common?

A: None has won a Grand Slam tournament in 2005.

I will be in NY this weekend to watch the US Open - Women’s Final on Saturday 10th.
A Couple of friends from my earlier project will be joining me there. It would be good to see them after a long time.

End of Summer

It's Labor Day on Monday and that marks the end of Summer here and with it closes the Swimming Pools :(
Swimming was real fun this summer and unlike last summer this time I chose to stay at home for most of the
time and go swimming rather than travelling places. I learned butterfly and back-floating this time along with deep diving.
Now as Summer ends and Fall starts, there would no be much alternative left than to drive around the country side.
We are planning to go towards New England and New Hampshire this fall, if all goes well.

On Gaurav's Response 2

Since Gaurav does not keeps his Comments section Open to ALL, I have to reply to his message here.
Well to my response, Gaurav gives an example of “woman wearing a lot of jewellery on a deserted street and getting robbed” and tweaked his words nicely in his favour to say that “she wanted the jewellery to be stolen”. No one will definitely want herself to be robbed, but had she been more careful with not flaunting her jewellary to strangers on a deserted street, she could have avoided the theft. So this means she was partially responsible for her loss.
Now for the conclusion of our original argument, lets replace “jewellary” with “butts/cleavage or what ever you like in girls, that seduces you :) “ and you will know that if they flaunt it they will get looted(teased). They can avoid being looted(teased) simply by hiding their assets.

Now about Valmiki or Vishwamitra, I don’t care whoever it was. All I wanted was to make my point and Gaurav got that correctly.

I am not standing with men who favours “eve-teasing” or “molesting” or against women who get victimized. All I want to convey is that with little understanding and care we can avoid these things from happening. I agree that this will not eradicate the issue completely, but this will definitely bring the percentage down.

Those who have seen AITRAAZ starring Akshay, Kareena and Pryinka, then you will know what exactly I am trying to convey. And for the reader’s info this hindi movie was inspired from a real life incident

On Gaurav's post - Readers Response

Read this post from some Gaurav Sabnis from the blog world. He has very ironically made fun of another blogger fellow Prakash who dared to comment and criticize on Gaurav's view.
I read the views of both the fellow bloggers and thinks Gaurav's oint of view to be too much self centric and biased. He portrayes himself as GOD by saying "There have been several occasions when a pretty woman passing by has caught my eye. But not once in my life have I even remotely considered "molesting" or "eve-teasing" anyone.". I understand his point of saying that he had not "eve-teased" the girl then, but if we analyse deeply, what was it that caught his attention? It was sure the dressing of the girl passing by.
So we cannot deny the fact that it is the dressing of the girls that attract men and so their is no doubt that they are responsible for all these rising sexual harassements on women or rather hot-babes, if I am allowed to say so.
It was Menka who broke Valmiki's meditation, and that she did by seducing him and I need not detail here on how girls can seduce a men.
If we get a polling done on the "Eve-teasing" or "Molesting" done on scantily dressed girls Vs well dressed girls, then definitely the percentage of the former would be much higher. And that answers the argument between Gaurav and Prakash.
Now talking about the upbringing - do you think Shakti Kapoor who was caught in the Sting operation was not from a good family and was not brought up well? or about Nadeem Sravan who said to have attempted rape on a fellow actress.
I argue that girls get what they invite for and if the boys sometime crosses their limit, the whole blame goes these uncultured/uncivilised boys, and the poor girl is just the victim.

Gaurav - I suggest you to have a more global view and think from the frame of reference of both the parties before writing such posts. I often visit your blog, not to read YOU but to get the good posts that other bloggers write and you do a very good job of copying and pasting and linking those posts to make one of your own. I understand now that why you do not allow your readers to post their comments online a

This is what democracy gives you……

UPA demands for Modi’s resignation, BJP is demanding for Chidambaram’s resignation, NDA is demanding for Buta Singh’s resignation…. Some other party is asking for Munda to resign…….. I mean what the hell is going on in this country?
Don’t they have any other useful work to do?
This is what happens in a complete democratic country, where every one knows of their Rights but knows nothing about their Duties.

Damn the Indian Batting line up

Look at the score card for the India vs New Zealand match (August 26, 2005), 2nd ODI played at Bulawayo. All the great Indian batsman were down for single digits and it was our great bowlers who made the great show with Irfan scoring 50 and Yadav making 69.
Note that there strike rate is not so poor, it is infact good. I can’t understand why the so called batsman could not score any good figure then?
I think we should start upside down and let Harbhajan and Pathan open.

Anniversary

It was in last august when I started blogging, did'nt thought at that time that I would continue it for soo long.
But yeah I am still on to it and I like it even better.
Happy Anniversary!!

Legislature Vs Judiciary

Now here goes the open fight between our Judiciary and the Legislature, the two has never been together and is the main reason that India is still on the developing country list. We must understand that Judiciary is independent of legislature and should not be ruled or governed by the decision of the corrupt politicians ruling the legislature.
We are being paid back for being silent all these years. Mediocre people have occupied the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and the result is there for all of us to see. People who cannot read, write and understand issues in all its dimensions are there to dictate the judiciary council (supposed to be the most educated part of ruling India) of what is right and what is wrong. Reservation is root cause for all these confrontation that allowed these uneducated, half minded people to become the ministers. Given an option these guys will soon come out with reservations for their sons and daughter and extended relatives....

Mr. SPEAKER (whatever the hell your name is) remember “CONSTITUTION IS SUPREME AND IT DERIVES POWER FROM PEOPLE OF THE COUNTRY AND POWERS ARE PROTECTED BY THE JUDICIARY”. You want to support corrupt governors, politicians. Are you not crossing your LAXMANREKHAS?
I have written about this "Reservation System" few days back and would like to pen down my thoughts on the same again.
If you do a survey on SC's Decision about “Reservation System” all over india, you will get the actual report, I feel that the decision of SC is correct. All politicians are opposing this especially ruling Congress & CPI/M because its their main mode of Vote capture.
Statistics shows that majority of the votes for congress comes from the backward/minority class and they support this reservation system just to continue getting the votes of these people. They very well know that if they eliminate the reservation system, they will get eliminated from ministry themselves.
Reservation and congress are the main reason, why India is still a developing country. And as long as these two plaques are there India will never move ahead to the list of the developed countries.
God Save India!

Mumbai got better things....

Yesterday evening I was watching a treasure hunt game show, some shit name that I don’t remember, in which the participants has to go around the world seeking for clues from one destination to another. This time they had to fly all the way to Mumbai, India – film city to be exact to get their next clue and the director of the show could choose to show nothing but the slums, garbage bins and the street dogs. He could find nothing in the entire beautiful Mumbai to show….. that’s ridiculous. Why the hell do these people time and again tries to show India as just another poor country with nothing but poverty all over? There are lots of good sights that comes across as you take the cab (that the participants took) from CST for the Film City, but this blind director and his asshole cameramen couldn’t see anything like that. They did not see the Hyatt just outside the airport, the western express highway and the vile parle – santacruz area which is just fabulous especially at night, the time when the film was shot for this fuckin game.

Quota System

I had talked about the "Quota" system a few days back in my post "Finally they made me happy" but this news made me re-write on the reservation policy again, but this time with more focus on the "Women's Quota" system.
The so called "Aaj Ki Naari" claims to be no way behind men and walks shoulder to shoulder with men. The female genes boast of their equality with men in each field and even of outshining them in certain areas. This is appreciable, very much appreciable and I clap for their achievement and success and the way they have come ahead to match the steps with the men. But I hate them when parallely they asks for "Women's Reservation". Why do they need reservation? If we are talking of bringing in equality, then their should be equality of "Opportunity” and not the equality of “Distribution”. Let us create an environment where we have equal opportunity for both men and women to “Compete” and whoever wins should hold the trophy.
We have “Women’s Quota” every where, In education, election tickets, railway tickets, Jobs etc etc. Why do they need that, if they have the guts and power to achieve by their knowledge, skill, hard work or what ever they have on basis of what they claim to be at par with men today?
The concern is, if we go ahead with this then next will be the demands from SC/ST, OBC and minority groups, result: hardly any seats left for the general mass and ten years down the line we may have to reverse the cycle and ask for “Men’s Quota” and reservations for people under “General” category.
Why not take the example from developed countries like US and UK where we do not have any such reservation system. We should be creating competition and not making arrangements for distribution. If I am better than my female counterpart, then it is me who is worthy of the seat and not she.

Why are’nt we reacting?

Now, we have these Bangladeshi’s firing on us. As if Pakistanand China were not enough for the border disputes....This is the 5th time in about 4 months that BDR has opened fire on the Indian Army jawans with no appropriate reason. But still the world’s greatest democratic country maintains it’s silence.
I understand the case with Pakistan and China and why India cannot react instantaneously, but what I cannot understand is why India does not take a firm stand against this repeated firing from the BDR?
We very well know that Bangladesh cannot exist if India doesn't want it to....don't they understand that???
It is really sad to note that india does not do anything about this but rather give Bangladesh concessions and trade and what they give us in return is the Firing and the illegal immigrants into India.
Came across this blog from a Bangladeshi. It shows how greatly she appreciates the help India had rendered to Bangladesh. Why not all other Bangladeshi’s learn his very fact and try and appreciate their neighbor country?

Realty Check

Well the bloggers seems to have started a war against Quiz Master Pranab Mukherjee.
The facts brought to light by these bloggers about this grand QM seems to be surprising, read some fact findings done
here by Jam-Mag.
A friend blogger here also has taken up some pain in finding some good facts about this so called best QM of India.
Looks like people of today’s world are really upto doing some realty check before digesting any gospels.

Look who is saying.....

WAR ON TERROR
This article here from Juan Cole provides a good dig into the making of terrorists and the so called “War on Terror” launched by the US.
It’s interesting to know the fact that it was the US itself who gave birth to terrorists and the terrorism and now it’s the same US again claiming to wipe out the same – very ironic…. huh!!

I am back

I thought of giving up blogging.... no it was'nt boring... it was real fun, but thought there are more important things in life to do.
But a couple of recent happenings pulled me back into writing, and so is the post below.
So guys.... get ready and check this space regularly for some good updates from me in my second innings :)

Finally they made me happy

The issue had troubled me since my high school days; the issue of reservations in educational institutions against various quotas SC/ST, minority class, female quota, NRI quota and all that shit.
I totally disliked it and thought how they can compromise education on basis of those things. What will happen if say a guy having a privilege of any of this quota qualifies MBBS entrance seeking minimal merit or rather below minimal merit and finally graduates as a Doctor? Will he give an excuse at the operation theatre that he cannot treat the patient as he failed to pass on that particular skill/knowledge and was graduated by luck because of the quota?
I understand that these class of people are poor and so need support, but they need monetary support – give them book bank facility, waive off the fees etc. but why reduce the required minimal percentage for these guys? The selection to admission of any education should be purely on merit basis and there should be no second thought on this.

Why Should I Pay Taxes?

I was just thinking on a similar line, “Why Should I Pay Taxes?” the other day and here comes the post from an old friend letting his thoughts on the same road as traveled by mine.
The CVC Report projects the height of corruption that has infiltrated the country. The Indian Army, which is the most trusted part, is all infected by this growing plaque. CVC Report shows Millions of dollars drained into the corrupt minister’s pocket. If this is the way government has decided to utilize My Money then Why Should I Pay Taxes?
Few days before I was reading that Arjun Munda ministry ordered about 20 bullet proof Tata Safari’s for their officials, which cost to Crores of Rupees. The amount which could have been utilized to build about 140 houses under Indira Vikash Yojna. The poor are now devoid of their houses because the money was spent in catering to the luxury of the corrupt ministers. No sooner did these ministers came into power, they got their house renovated. If this is the way government has decided to utilize My Money then Why Should I Pay Taxes?

Ganguly.... poor chap

Ganguly was just 46 runs short of joining the exclusive club of batsmen who have scored 10,000 runs in one-day internationals, but his poor run of form and now the ban imposed on him for the next 6 ODI has made him to wait longer. Before the beginning of this series he would have surely dreamt of getting himself into this elite club before the series ends.
The matter could be even worst if the things goes in as is said by Gaurav Sabnis

Ind Vs Pak at Keenan

Come Saturday and India will play Pakistan on Keenan Stadium, Jamshedpur. I Just wish I could be there to watch the team play, especially after all that blastering knocks from Dhoni and Veeru at Vizag.

Keenan Stadium has a history that the Indian Team lost all matches that they played there so far except one.
Keenan stadium in Jamshedpur hosted its first international ODI back in 1983.

It took a few rules of vaastu and swapping of the dressing rooms of the visitors with that of the hosts, for India to register their first victory at the ground.

Whether it was luck or vaastu, the Indians managed to break the Keenan jinx, so called because the hosts had never won a match on their seven earlier encounters at the stadium.

QUIZ : Can you answer When and With whom did India won that memorable match?

EYE OF THE GOD

This is amazing...
THIS IS SO SPECTACULAR - MAKES YOU UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF 'THE ALL SEEING EYE OF GOD', DOESN'T IT?

NASA CALLS IT THE EYE OF GOD. THIS IS A PICTURE NASA TOOK WITH THE HUBBLE TELESCOPE..

This is a real picture.......

CRICKET and CRITICISM

I don't wanna say anymore read my heart here the writer has penned the story very nicely.
And for Tendulkar Fans the story is here

Hiding yourself from the world

Lot many people read through my blog and comments over phone or in person or through mails... but why do they fear to post it right there in the comment section??

Who should be leading Team India??

There has been a lot of discussion on the bloggers world about who should be the next captain for Team India. Well before naming anyone let us chalk out what qualities a captain should possess to lead the team successfully.

1. In modern cricket, Australia has proven time and again that aggressiveness is the key to success - bash the opposition into submission. So we need a captain who is aggressive and not submissive.
2. The captain has to lead the team and so it is crucial that the team should respect and follow the instructions of their leader. So we need a captain who is authoritative.
3. A good leader is one who could take all blame onto himself – on occasions of team failure, but give up the credit to the team on success. So we need a captain who is unaffected by criticisms.
4. Also a leader should possess good experience and talent so that he can make quick decisions at crucial moments. So we need a captain who has good old cricketing experience.
5. Finally a good leader should have the ability to be a savior for the team in times of crisis. So we need a captain whose ability (batting/bowling) could be trusted.

Now let us pick the name one by one from the Team India to see who qualifies the majority of this qualities and who should be the right candidate for captaincy.

Sachin Tendulkar
He lacks the aggression; he is submissive in nature, he lacks the fury, he is furious with bat but not with his body language or expression and so loses on point # 1 above.
Now, although the team may follow his orders because of his seniority in the team but then he is not very authoritative, he is just cute and so loses on point #2 also.
He had faced criticisms in the past when he wore the hat of captaincy and his batting performance detoriated, he immediately opted to give away the captaincy and got himself free from that extra burden and so loses on point # 3 also.
No doubt he has got a good talent and experience and so scores high on point # 4.
He is a great batsman and I do not doubt his batting abilities but he had never played an inning when India needed the most, he is not a savior like inzy and so he scores low in point # 5.

Virendra Sehwag
Sehwag shares the same stand as Tendulkar for point # 1.
He is not so senior member of the team and so the team may face ego problem following his orders, he is easy going friendly chap and not very authoritative by nature.
He is obviously the best member in the team who is untouched by criticisms. All he cares about is to score runs and cares not for what the world talks about his batting style or his ability to “Kar Le Duniya Mutthi Mai”
He has the talent and is no doubt a savior for Team India.

Rahul Dravid
No need to mention much about this genius in the cricket world, who has built his credentials to score second after great Don Bradman, by his sheer hard work and consistency in performance. He aptly scores high on points 2 though 5 but he lacks aggression. No doubt he is the strong contender for Ganguly.
But by doing so, are we not simply relying too much and putting up too much responsibilities on this poor chap. The good team is one which can share the responsibilities equally. Already he had been dumped with the role of Wicket Keeper, making him the captain will be too much a burden for him to carry.

Saurav Ganguly
Finally this is the man of discussion. He is without any doubt the most aggressive player India had ever had, not only when he is batting but during fielding or for the matter of fact even when he is in the pavilion watching his team play to victory. He would go out with unconditional support for his team members and would do his best to boost the morale of his players. If he wins a match he distributes the credit to all, but when he loses any he eats all the blame. He certainly scores very high on point # 1-4 but loses badly on point 5. Yes, he is not a savior. You cannot expect him to snatch the match away to victory all on his own. But he is all ready to stand and provide full support and boost one’s morale to make the team come together and snatch the match away to victory.
I don't wanna say anymore read my heart here the writer has penned the story very nicely.

By these statistics we are left with only two in the entire team India who is best suited for taking up the captaincy – Dravid or Ganguly. I do not support for the former for the reasons explained above and so the only choice left with is Ganguly. I do agree that off late he has not performed well with the bat, but that is not enough the reason to remove him the captaincy. It is just not his season. Have patience, give the poor chap some time and he will definitely rise victorious. He had proven his credit in the past and I am sure he will do so in the future as well.

Weekend tour to WV and Pittsburg

Last weekend I managed to find some time out of my usual busy schedule to go to West Virginia and Pittsburg with about a dozen of friends from the ML account. Some where my own friends, some my friend’s friend and some my friend’s friend’s friend. But it was a nice tour with so many new friends or rather I should say chain of friends. I drove down to Bhanu’s place (Yes, Bhanu was there in this tour, so you can obviously expect some fun and some adventure ;) will tell you about the adventure part later) and from there fourteen of us started on three different rental cars and headed straight for our Hotel already booked Glens Dale – WV.
Don’t wanna say much about whether the Motel was good or not – but the receptionist was definitely good ;) and so our boys then had no problem with the shabbiness of the room or the room service. Few tried there best but all they could manage was just her name that sounded something like Kareena.
After dropping our luggage at the motel we went in search of food for the “Pet Puja” and stopped by the Pizza Hut. Again since we had a mixed breed of Vegetarian and Non- Vegetarian in the group, there was some confusion with the orders which could be attributed to either the girl’s (girl who was taking the order) true ignorance towards veggie food or she had encountered the pure veggie breed for the first time but she definitely looked a bit shocked seeing such big group of ALL BOYS. And then Pronobesh confused her further by his order of “Buffalo Chicken”, I had to correct him that if he means “Buffalo Wings” by this?
After our sumptuous meal we went to see the “Palace of Gold”, the Iskon Temple on the hills of Moundsville – WV. It was a beautiful temple and the scenic beauty surrounding it was just awesome. Few amongst us fealt blessed hearing the Gyan on Krishna’s consciousness and about Chaitnya Mahaprabhu and his spiritualisms, but some chose to stand out and smoke their chimney. From there we went ahead to see the “Green Miles”, the place were the prisoners were executed. This is one of the old Green Miles Prison of East Coast, Featured in MTV fear. People have gone through different Supernatural Experiences here. But we were not so lucky and found that we are a bit too early for the season to begin. But what has season got to do with this, I wondered? Is it something like the ghosts come back and occupy there cells to beat the chill of the season and stay there till it is spring/summer? Anyway we were told that it would open for visitors after a week and so we all had to return back to our motel without experiencing anything supernatural.
The next day we started for “Laurel Caverns”, the undeveloped passages in Pennsylvania's largest caverns, to explore a 430-acre geological park with 2.8 miles of Underground Passages, catacombs, and native sculptures. But since we fell short of time we had to restrict ourselves to just a one hour tour.
After exploring the year old caves we proceeded towards the Pittsburg downtown to experience some mad driving. Yes you read it correctly; it was some Insane Driving by all the three cars, not because of the lack of driving experience but because of some misguided directions and one-ways and other stuffs. We wanted to go to the Golden Triangle – the point where the three rivers meet, but could never reach there and mistakenly (or I can say correctly, because it was on our list) we reached Mt. Washington. Climbing the Mt. Washington requires some real driving skills, because the streets are not only narrow but also steep and sharp turnings.
It was already around 8 PM when we headed back for NJ, we had to cover some 350 odd miles (with few breaks off course for food and fag), and since we had office the next morning, we targeted to reach NJ latest by 2 AM. This means we have to cover the entire distance in not more than 5 hrs. This left us with no option than to drive at an average speed of about 75-80 miles/hour. So the mad drivers buckled up their seat belts and no matter what the god may shower, Rain, Hail or Storm, we won’t slow down. The night driving at 80 MPH with heavy rainfall on I-76 East was the real driving test and was never ever experienced before by me. At end it was all safe driving with all fourteen returning safely to their destinations. Also not to mention I certified on the skill of following a Car without losing it’s track even for a sec, during this entire tour :-D

Destroyer Comes back...

Vinay Katiyar the miscreant of the Babri Masjid case is back in news, this time with the Taj Mahal issue. Read the story here
It would be interesting to see how the debate moves ahead. Will he go ahead with the demolition of the great Taj this time to rebuild a Shiva Temple at the site?
This man seems to be reading a lot of history and working hard towards finding himself some work to do and be in the news. Can the party chief try and find some worthy task for this poor chap to perform?

Shakti Stin(g)ks

Read this on rediff today and this is what I had to say in response.

"Page 3" is a movie from Madhur Bhandarkar a notable director from the Bollywood. Why do you think he had depicted a similar show in his movie, if the entire "Casting Couch" episode is falsified? He himself is a Director and one from the Bollywood bigwigs. You think he has just worked upon his imagination here?
No, the entire thing has been shown very correctly and truly, infact I would say he was “Inspired” by the growing sexual favoritism concept in Bollywood.
The thought of broadcasting this "Casting Couch" event was to arouse consciousness among the general public and to help put a brake on this shameless growing deed in the Bollywood Industry and not to rip off the Shakti’s image.
You had said that it's an internal private matter then will you argue that a similar case in IAF where three girls had reported charges against their supervisor of asking sexual favors to qualify them in their exam, as an internal private matter and dismiss the case?
Do you realize how many talented actors/actress are affected by this illicit favors? Do you realize why you see so much talents on the stage actors but still you don’t see them make it to Bollywood?
Adultery practices,or soliciting sexual favours in any industry or establishment,politics, bureaucrats or even at private level make a news because not acceptable practices.Social and cultural pressures somehow drive us away from indulging in.And that is how society gets going. But the vital question remains-should not public at large be aware of what all is going on?
Now lets take this to another level and replace Bollywood aspirants to Job aspirants, and the whole scene gets murkier. This may not be a legal issue.. so the police is not what these bigwigs are scared of. These guys are not too worried abt their family either, so the only way to stop these immoral acts( hoping that all these supporters of Shakti, at least find the issue immoral), is by showing them to the world.. And if the fear of a lurking camera is what scares them, then WAY to go India TV, the public is with you, and Damn to that word called privacy

B L A C K

This is the kind of movie that was never made before and could never be made.
Sanjay Leela Bansali has demonstrated his talent well through this magnificent movie. Amitabh and Rani are just wonderful, the best of their career I would say. Rani’s act in the entire movie is more than appreciable, she played the part of Mitchell as if she herself had been blind and deaf from birth, a pure natural act and Amitabh is at his best in this movie.
The Director has magnificently shot the entire movie in Black as the title goes and then the last part has been shot in all White. The movie goes smoothly and touches upon the miseries, pain and feelings of a small girl who has been born Deaf and Blind. Then comes the magician a teacher who vows to teach this girl the meaning and definition of each and every thing on the world.
This movie will certainly go upto Oscar and I swear no one can stop it from getting an Oscar if the judges there are not Deaf and Blind themselves.

India Vs US

No this is no news about any Baseball/Cricket match between the two :). I am talking about who is ahead in what here. Certainly US is much ahead of India in technology and developments but it is far too behind India when we talk of the Banking System in the two countries. While in India the Banking system has made a major advancement, the US is still lagging behind.
In US when you go to open a Checking account, you receive your Debit Card a week after via mail. But in India you get it instantly along with your net-banking ID and Password.
In US you have to buy Checks and in India it is free.
In US net banking does not support fund transfer facility. In India it is free and you can easily transfer your money from one bank to another.
Not to mention there are many many more facilities that US banks don’t provide but you can find them with the Indian banks.
Any comments??

PETA and these Celebs

Now here is something you called “Irony” Bollywood Celebrities Ads for PETA I can swear to oath that none of these stars have themselves given up eating Non-Veg foods. And they are calling for people to stop cow slaughter for meat. This is ridiculous, they are not posing for these ads because they are really concerned about animal killings, they are doing so just because they are getting money and popularity doing these.
Amisha own’s a restaurant in Bandra (W), Mumbai named as “The Fire Place” where you can find all varieties of Chicken meals and she is making ads for PETA. The first thing she should be doing (if she really has concern for the poor animals) is to convert her restaurant into a Veggie Restaurant, but that won’t fetch her any fame or money and so she won’t do that.
Let these people aside, I am surprised from the act of PETA organization. How can they select such people to campaign for them?

Lalu Raj

Lalu's days are gone. Paswan seems to have bent upon eradicating the Lalu Raj from Bihar. This man is really fighting a tough fight.
Read the story here

Martyrs Day

Today is the day three brave men gave their lives for their country. They were no ordinary men. They were men who dedicated their lives, who fought the British till their last breath. One of these men, who's a bit more famous than the other two, went on a fast for 52 days at a stretch!!! I'm not sure if even half a million in this country know about this great deed! The three of them were mercilessly killed on this day by the British. The three men were Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru. There's not one word in the papers or in the news about the importance of this day. Every newspaper/news channel is full of news about the "friendship" series, the final ODI between India and Pakistan!! and the damn election news. No one is talking about these three great heros of the freedom struggle. Shame on us!!

Internet Spamming

There is a new kind of spamming taking hold of the net world, that's the "Employee Referrals for Jobs". Yes, I receive them almost daily from some friends in some company in some part of India. I receive those Spams (if I am allowed to use that word now) even from my colleagues who has my yahoo mail id in their address book and unknowingly they put my name also in the 'CC' list. Also I receive the same referral Spam from multiple friends working in the same company. I get into dilemma sometime as to whom I should respond back if I have a guy to be referred to, and whom should I help to be the lucky winner of referral award :-?

"The Rising"... will it do good?

Ketan Mehata’s “The Rising” is scheduled for release on June. It is exciting to see how he portrays the hero of the freedom struggle “Mangal Pandey” who we all know was the first soldier in the British army to revolt against the use of animal fat coated bullets. But that is the only thing majority of us know about him. History speaks very little of this hero, yet Ketan Mehata chose this character for his movie. What makes the movie more exciting is the fact that the role of Mangal Pandey is being played by none other than the maestro of bollywood kingdom – Aamir Khan. He certainly did well enough in Lagaan and in Dil Chata Hai…. but then he remained silent for almost 3 years and certainly the viewers would be expecting another major hit from this talented hero. Both Ketan and Aamir did a lot of research and worked real hard towards making this movie a great success. But all those publicity has already led the Aam Janta to build a very high expectation, and if Ketan and Aamir fails to achieve that… the movie will bomb. This is what had happened to Kaante. Though the cast the crew the portrayal of the story in Kaante was good, it bombed, reason being the fact that publicity of the movie was too exaggerated and so public had set up a very high expectation from the movie but it failed to achieve that level and so it bombed. Take the case of Hum Tum… though the movie was a copy of the English version “When Harry met Sally”, it did well at the box office, reason – no high fly publicity. People went to watch this as just another romantic movie and they loved it, because they got what they had not expected.
Well let us wish “The Rising” does good, already the year has proved lucky for the bollywood industry with “Swadesh” and “BLACK” already on the hit list of the year.

Role of an opposition party....

The role of oppositions is funny and they make themselves funnier with their act. When a party takes the opposition seat, they believe their sole task is to oppose any reforms or agenda put forward by the ruling. So whenever any issue is put forward by the ruling party our opposition has to (as if it is mandated) step forward and oppose the same without even knowing the details of it or making any calculations to find out if the reform is good or bad, will it really affect the country’s economy or will it give a significant boost to the socio-economy infrastructure of India?
Take for example the new budget proposal, almost all industrialists is speaking in favor of the budget but our opposition (BJP) chose to take a separate stand. The funny part there is no common voice among the party leaders. Vajpayee shares his opinion about the budget, saying "salaried people have to pay more taxes". But his fear is contradicted in Yashwant Sinha’s statement "His tax concessions both on direct and indirect side do not justify his budget estimate for the next year" meaning the government will not be able to pull out enough taxes from the general mass (majority of which belongs to the salaried class) with the suggested tax reforms. This is stupidity, the party should do some research do some calculations and then they should decide whether or not they should criticize the reforms proposed.
I am not against BJP here, even the Congress or any other party behaves the same way when they take up the seat of opposition. Why they behave so? Whom are they trying to fool? Why can’t they be rationale in their thinking?

Fringe Benefit Tax.... what's the idea?

The Fringe Benefit Tax to be imposed by the government as proposed in the new budget session would put a lot of people into a twist of Tax calculation and correct return filing.
The fringe benefit tax is based on the universal principle of cost to company which means all reimbursements made by the employee from the company will fall under this tax category. Even the expenses such as Travel, Lodging and Telephone bills will not be spared. This means every small and big business owners will have to keep account of the expense categories and then calculate and declare appropriately at the time of return filing. This seems quiet a hell lot of work for small business owners, the simple fact of keeping account of all such kinds of expenses and categorizing them under appropriate groups seems illogical for small business owners.
Read the complete story here to know all about the Fringe Benefit Tax.

More twist to the story

Down with fever......

I was having Fever for last 4 days. Initially I thought it may be just because of the change in whether condition, but then the symptoms showed that it is Flu. Rushed to the doctor on Sunday when the temp rose to 102.
Feeling better today.... so joined the office.
Took leave from the office for Mon-Tue to take rest, but those were the most boring days I ever faced. I kept lying on the bed whole day doing nothing just munching some cookies and drinking water and sometime receiving calls from tele-marketing agencies. I was'nt feeling energetic enough even to sit and watch the TV or surf the net. I remember sleeping like that some 8 years back when I was down with Zondice and Typhoid.
Got this good link from google on FLU. It details the Sympotms, cause and precautions to be taken.

Working Late or.......

Since the day I have been into Job I have observed that many people stay in the office till late evening. Initially I appreciated it and thought how hard work these guys are putting up to meet the project deadline and providing production support.
But gradually I started realising that more than 70% of these hard working guys really don't do such hard work. They stay late in the office either because:
1. They have got nothing else to do or no other place to go and spend time - These people gradually becomes accoustmed to staying late and feels better in office than at home.
2. Then their are other kinds of people; people who stays late in the office just because their bosses are staying late. Their bosses again may be staying late because of reason 1 or 2.

We do encounter people who stay late in the office for genuine reasons, but the percentage of such people is very low. The argument goes like this:
1. If the above mentioned 70% are genuinely staying late, then the manpower estimation has been done really bad by the project manager.
2. If we say that the manager has really done the estimation efficiently, then high probability for the root cause is that the skills have not been chosen efficiently.

Because if your manager argues that both the skills and the manpower estimation has been mapped efficiently, then how is it that more than 70% of the team has to do overtime with no pay? But the bigger question is, are these 70% of the team really doing work sitting late in the office?

Skiing is Fun....

Last weekend got some time out from the hectic schedule and went skiing with a couple of friends (check the Photos here). It was real fun, sliding down the snow with all speed and the moment you tried to stop yourself or slow down... you are down :))
We reached there at about noon and then rented the Ski kits that costed about $70 per person. The boot was real heavy and once you wear it, you got to walk like you are walking in a space, carefully putting your first leg before you lift the other one.
In the first go I fell about 6 times on the entire distance between Starting and the End point. But gradually improved myself on the successive go.
One of my friend bumped into a couple of girls as he tried showing up the stunt, but their was no injury.
A couple of things to note about skiing.... its like entering a "Chakraview", you should know how to stop and more than that, know the trick to open your Skates before setting yourself on the track. Because once you fall you can't get up with your skates on.
You can go on and on and on without stopping and keep gaining momentum, but the moment you would try to stop or slowdown.... you are gonna fall for sure :-D

Jamshedpur... needs revival

I observe that the developement rate of the city of jamshedpur has been very slow for over past few years. If it goes at the same growth rate for some more years it will soon be decaying just like Kanpur did.
The infrastructure of the city need changes, with more recreational and entertainment facilities for the residents.
The most urgent and demanding need is a decent movie hall in the city. The residents are quite capable to pay 50-100 Rs to watch the movie in a decent environment. Why not Payal and Basant just renovates themshelves with increased security guards and raise the ticket price. I don't think any family goes to any of the movie hall that city provides now, why? The reason is simple
1. The security is not enough to prevent the troubles caused by eve-teasers.
2. The residents are not sure if they will get the tickets at the counter at all (because most of the tickets are mostly sold in black).
3. No provision for online/telephonic booking of the tickets.
4. The hall itself is not clean enough to pull the decent families.

Apart from this the city needs good shopping malls (not stores but malls), more concerts and events. This are the things that will help money keep rolling. We don't even have a Pub/Disco in the city yet. These are very key things required in keeping the growth rate of the city high and if we do not take action now we might be too late.

Wanna go Bullish??

I have been reading about Stock Market and the definitions of the terms used in the context, for a while. The link here can give you a good insight of the stock market and is really a good article for a novice.
Click here to read the article on Equity Market.
Click here to know about the Debt Market
Click here to know about the PPF - Public Provident Fund

Who is contributing towards relief...

It’s nice to see the way Indian masses have come up together to contribute and help for the aid of the Tsunami affected victims. But still there are lot more to be done and requires lot more of help both in terms of man power and money to re-establish the villages destroyed by the killer Tsunami.
Corporate big wigs like Infy and TCS has done their part by contributing to the PM’s relief fund, but where are others? RIL is busy with their family dispute and are not bothered to look into this help issue.
Contributions have come even from some of the known generous bollywood stars. But the number from the giant industry is too low. I have heard the news recently that even the Rickshaw wala’s in Chennai had contributed their days pay, are the stars of bollywood really so poor?
What about the contributions from the sports world? Cricket and Tennis stars earn a huge amount; can’t they donate a bit of their match fee for the help of the victims? Yes, it is true that they are organizing charity match, but that is finally pooling the money from the aam-janta. Why don’t they contribute from their own pocket?
Finally, not to mention, our beloved Politicians. So far I have’nt heard of any donations from Laloo or Jayalalitha who are among the wealthiest of the Indian politicians. And these are the people who will be going around to these same villages, begging for votes from the very same people to whom they are ignoring the help.
I am waiting for a Tsunami that will come one day and wash away all these corrupt politicians of India.

Should we accept the foreign aid for relief?

Here is something to read on the PM's decision of refusing the foreign country aid in Tsunami relief activity. Click here for the complete review.
The PM's was clear on his thoughts and I appreciate his decision. The Tsunami had hit some of the strategically important sites like the kalpakkam nuclear power plant and the IAF base in the Andaman & Nicobar Island, allowing the foreign countries to invade these areas, without analyzing the losses and the after effects could be disastrous from the National Security point of view.

P.S: Piyush weblog has a good link to the Video of the entire devastation. Click here to see the full Video Coverage.