SATYAM EV JAYATE

Seeing the events of the day, this quote flashed in my mind. Hence the title to this blog.

Mr. Raju, once heralded in the US to be as dangerous as Osama (because Satyam was taking jobs away from US), has turned out to be Hero-to-Zero in a matter of a day.

To the IT-junta, this was never a revelation. "Window-dressing" as it is called in our industry, has been happening for some time now. The fiscal year in US and the fiscal year in India do not overlap. So, there are cold quarters in US where Indian companies have to show consistent revenues and vice-versa. So, some additional assets from previous quarters are adjusted towards missing assets from the current quarter or missing assets from current quarter are adjusted against more-than-expected assets from next quarter. All this is done with honest interests to provide a consistent revenue pattern and avoid wild fluctuations in the share prices. And it is fine as long as there is no carry-forward of the manipulations across fiscal years.

Sadly, it does not work that way. The ever-growing demand from shareholders makes the companies take that dangerous stride and inflate the numbers beyond the Lakshman-Rekha called as the fiscal year end. Then the Ramayana takes plane. More and more hot air is pumped into the balloon. This hot air makes the balloon fly higher, than it can do safely, making everyone happy. But, soon the hyper-inflated balloon is stretched beyond its capacity and a small pin (Maytas deal going sour) causes it to burst.

So, as RS puts it, its a discovery and not an invention. And it would have not been uncovered at all, had the MAYTAS deal not gone sour. Probably, a bruised ego and a stained reputation pushed Mr. Raju in doing this.

All said, the whole reason underneath this fiasco (and the potential many others still under the covers) is the greedy shareholder. They need to understand that IT companies cannot yield high revenues and huge dividends quarter after quarter and year after year. It is easy for a company to reach from 1 million to 10 million in 2 years, but it is not possible for the same company to reach from 1 billion to 10 billion in even 5 years. But under pressure from the shareholders and stake holders, such things had to happen and will continue to happen.

Once a high-paying sector where freshers were hired at 20 thousand rupees a month has now shrunk to a stage where getting 8 thousand a month is considered lucky. College passouts choose an employer purely based on the pay and not on career prospects. MBAs are made to work as clerks.

Not sure whom to blame here -- the hunter or the hunted? Because, while the hunter (shareholders) was enjoying chasing the prey (IT companies and employees), the prey itself was enjoying the luxuries during the chase. Rather, the prey itself allowed itself to be chased faster and faster.

The only truth is, the cup once thought to be made of crystal has now turned out to be made of brittle glass instead. And it has cracked.

INSANITY RESTORED

Few days back --

Thanksgiving --> Christmas --> Holidays --> New Year...
2 day weekends --> 3 day weekends --> 4 day weekends --> Whole week off...
Half empty office --> Just 20 team mates in the office --> Just 10 of them (all indians) in the office --> Working from home --> Not even 1 person in the office...
Semi-formal attire allowed --> Denims allowed in office for 2 weeks...

Today --

Formal dressing... Everyone back in office... Full House... Frantic calls to and from India... Managers and developers panicking for deliverables due this Friday... Escalated Client calls... Production issues (few pennies of interest being incorrectly credited to the account)... May have to work on Thursday night to support production install... What a crazy day to start the new year...

Feels like insanity has been restored after all!!!

THE YEAR THAT WAS!!!

Naming this blog as a tribute to a favorite show during my childhood. This show made me fall into the habit ofdesperately look forward to a Friday evening. I have maintained that habit by the way ;-).

So, the year that just went by a few hours back gave me lots of memories, good and bad.

Let me list the bad ones first, so that I can end up on a good note --
1 - The worst one - Mumbai attacks. It left a permanent scar. I dont think i was more upset than on this day. And the fact that the torture continued for 3 days, ended lives of 300 including some good officers, made it worse.
2 - The global economy went from bad to worse. Every one step in the right direction was followed by two in the other direction. Feel bad for anyone and everyone who is impacted.
3 - Life in India for a common man is getting bad with every passing day. Politics is hitting new lows below the rock bottom (yes, it hit the rock long back). Safety has gone to the dogs. Caste and religion seems to be the only qualification. Scandals keep on mushrooming every now and then and just die a natural death. No one is convicted.
4 - Some sports (hockey, soccer, tennis (paes? bhupathi? sania?)) continued their nosedive and the politicians in charge of the respective sports associations are least bothered.
5 - Once again, I flattered to decieve on my promise to have breakfast daily.

And the good ones now --
1 - My first 5-wicket haul and a first-ever tournament victory.
2 - Joined a gym and am going their sincerely since then. Feel good about it.
3 - First time i had a hookah. Got that one struck off my all-time TO-DO list.
4 - Had my folks over and spent quality 3 months with them. A memory of a lifetime.
5 - India continued to do well in few sports (badminton, boxing and cricket with the olympics being the crowning glory).
6 - Indian economy is doing much better than others the credit of which goes to Mr. PM and Mr. FM. Along with Mr. MS Ahluwalia, these 2 continue to deliver the good stuff.
7 - My nephew created a new record in telephone conversation with me. Yes, 2 months ago we spoke for 7 long seconds when he asked me to get "Big Fiat Palio car" from here. Earlier our conversations never crossed 5 seconds. Hopefully, this year, we manage to get into double digits.
8 - Wifey continues to amaze with her culinary skills, apetite for bhel, addiction for cleaning and stamina to talk. Yes, she raised the bar even further this year.
9 - My father started to have breakfast and take vitamin tablets daily. He has been doing this sincerely since he restarted it last time.

So yes, the goods outnumber the bads, so all-in-all a better year. On this note, let me wish my (read-4) audience a very happy and a prosperous and a SAFE 2009. May all your wishes come true.

GHAJINI

Saw this movie FDFS (in our town) yesterday. The movie critic in me could not resist in writing a review. So here it goes.

Let me note the pros first --
1 - This movie is a remake of its Tamil namesake, so the story was well known. No surprises there. But still the storyline is a different from the routine ones.

2 - Asin plays the girl-next-door very well. She brings an instant smile. No nerves in her debut but with a nice filmography in the south, she is no newcomer either.

3 - Aamir displays the emotions, anguish and pain very well. At the same time, he portrays a corporate honcho and a sweet boyfriend so well. Especially, the switch between an MD and a average guy is handled very well by him.

4 - The romance between Asin and "Sachin" is handled very sensitively by the director. The part where he does not reveal his identity so that it does not influence her decision is superb.

4 - The director has managed the flow of story between the flashback and the present very well.

5 - The songs have been excellently picturized.

6 - Good comedy. Nice relief from the tension.

7 - Aamir the (ghost) director has shown his creativity and has dared to name the movie after the villain.

8 - And the happy ending makes the viewers leave the cinema halls on a happy note.

Now for the cons of the movie --

1 - Asin is charming in her debut but her persona does not create the impact that a Deepika Padukone did in her debut movie. This movie was ideally suited for her. Not sure how she can manage more demanding roles.

2 - Very graphic. But probably the storyline demands it.

3 - Support cast was a downer. Too many irrelevant characters. Jiah Khan can never play a medical student. A lot of characters could be done away with -- for e.g. the inspector.

4 - The villains were not up to the mark to say the least. A villain should be scary by their deeds and not by their appearance. The Rashid from Sarkaar was more scary by his stare than the villains here. Huge guys with crazy hairdo just are not scary.

5 - Common sense --
a - Total lack of CS and multiple instances of it. The villains go and kill anyone and everyone using guns. But in the climax, not even 1 of his guys have a gun.
b - Asin is in danger, but Aamir does not even think twice of calling the cops before rushing empty handed to her apartment.
c - The villain moves to his "fort" because he is safe there. But in the entire fight, less than 15 men confront Aamir. If he is a guy who can patronize a medical college, he better have more than 15 "troops" in his fort.
d - Guys way bigger than Ghazini are killed in one blow by Aamir. But, Ghazini can fight way longer than the rest combined.
6 - Too many and ill-timed songs. Probably, all but 1 (2 may be) could be done away with.

All said above, the movie has more good than bad. Especially, when you are not going anywhere in a 4-day long weekend. See it, unless u have better things to do.

MAHABHARAT -- a different view?

From the time I think I had the sense to analyze events, I realized one thing -- Victor writes the history. In any era, the victor survives to tell the tale from his point of view. Without a doubt, the loser is the villain.

Take any story from the legends -- there is a hero and a villain and the rest just take sides (for whatever reasons). The hero wins in the end -- or the survivor is the winner? The slain is the loser.

Check out any epic -- Ram-Ravan, Kaurava-Pandava, Shivaji-Aurangzeb, Hitler-Allies, Saddam-Bush, Steve Waugh-Ganguly, Ponting-Kumble.

For a moment, just think about a keenly contested India-Australia cricket match. An Indian sports writer and an Australian sports writer can come up with entirely different versions of the game.

That made me think, is Mahabharat the way it is (or the way Mr. B. R. Chopra presented it) really that way? Could there be another view to it?

Think -- Will any king ever name his sons as Duryodhan (Bad luck and wealth, It was Suyodhana) or Dusshasana (Bad ruler, it was Susshasana). Would any woman like to be termed herself as alms on the day of her swayamvara and shared among 5 brothers for the rest of her life? Can a prince who seems to know Dharma ever gamble on his wife? Weird!!!

Thats when I came across Prem Panicker's blog where Mahabharat is written from Bheem's point of view (okay, written by Prem thinking how Bheem would have written it).

link -- http://www.prempanicker.com/index.php (search tag = "Bhimsen")

And it gives an different view of the characters. Again note, Bheem was a Pandava, so Kauravas are going to be doomed as villains. But still, there is a entirely different version of himself (no doubt). A not-so-confident version of Arjun (worried about Karna). A very dark side of Yudhishtira (boring to be with, addicted to gambling, attracted to Draupadi) etc.

While this version is still a work-in-progress, it is very interesting. Makes me wonder if there was a version of Mahabharat from some survivor from the Kaurava side? Would make a very interesting read.

THE AFTERMATH

So, less than one week after all that happened in Mumbai, here are the steps taken by the government to improve the security situation in the country --

1 - Annual NSG budget was reduced from 118 crores to 117 crores. Annual VIP security budget was upped from 120 crores to 180 crores.

2 - Home minister gets the long deserved kick on the back. The second-best Finance Minister has been replaced by the best Finance Minister India has had. The incumbent gets the thorny crown on Home ministry for keeping the economy healthy.

3 - One CM insults a slain commando's family and refuses to apologize. Bowing to public sentiment (read -- Afraid of losing votes), his party spokesman apologizes.

4 - Blame games continues amidst international diplomacy. US continue doing whatever it has been doing forever -- nothing.

5 - Dawood is most wanted, India asks for him and is denied. All this while nothing is done to demolish his empire in Mumbai.

6 - Masood Azhar is asked for and is denied. All this while he himself was released during the plane hijack episode. And at the same time, no sentence is served to Afzal Guru when he has accepted masterminding the attacks on the Parliament.

7 - Advani demands resignation from anyone and everyone in the government when his party did not resign after the plane hijack episode and after the parliament attacks and after Kargil. All these were intelligence failures which led to many people being dead and India being attacked.

8 - Maharashtra deputy CM writes the happenings of the last week as "Bade Bade shehron mein choti choti baatein tou hoti rehti hai" ala SRK in DDLJ.

9 - Maharashtra deputy CM gets a sudden bout of conscience (read -- is made to resign) due to public sentiment (read -- Afraid of losing votes) and then Sharad Pawar demands "one wicket" from his alliance partner in the government.

10 - Maharashtra CM visits Taj hotel with his actor son and a very famous director. Plays it down.

11 - Maharashtra CM then catches the conscience fever (read -- is made to resign) after seeing a massive rally near Gateway of India.

12 - Resignation submitted --> Resignation not accepted --> CM will change --> CM will not change --> Resignation accepted --> Mr. A will be the new CM --> Mr. S will be the new CM --> Mr. N will be the new CM --> No, Mr. S --> No, Mr. A --> CM will not change, resignation rejected --> Resignation accepted --> Mr. S --> Mr. A --> Mr. N is furious --> Mr. S goes to Bhutan --> Mr. S does not go to Bhutan --> Mr. S --> Mr. A. --> Madam will take the decision --> Mr. S --> Mr. A --> Madam will take the decision --> Mr. N is furious and opts out of the race which he was never in consideration --> Mr. S --> Mr. A. --> Mr. A.

13 - Shivsena, the sleeping tiger, suddenly wakes up demands everyone's resignation. Forgot that the city has a Mayor from their own party. She need not resign by the way.

14 - ATS is suddenly dormant. No one wants to take charge of that force. No body cares.

15 - Bomb which was accidentally left behind by the attackers was enjoying the hospitality of Railway police for a week and then was accidentally discovered by the police.

16 - 1 bomb from the 10 brough in last week is still missing.

17 - 14 terrorists have landed (along with the 10 from last week) in Gujarat. No idea where they are currently. And yes, Gujarat's chief minister Narendra Modi is still demanding everyone else's resignation. Not to forget, he never resigned when Akshardham temple was attacked.

18 - Probably, 1 or 2 terrorists smoothly escaped from Taj and Oberoi along with guests. No one has any idea about it.

19 - Lalit Modi still wants IPL and Champions League to go through.

20 - Absolutely nothing is done to improve the security anywhere in the country.

21 - Mumbai comes back to normal. The spirit of the city keeps it alive and kicking.

To put it in 2 words -- Jai Hind!!!

RUMOR HAS IT!!!

This snapshot from http://www.timesofindia.com/ at around 4:22 pm EST on 4th December 2008.

The "breaking news" scrolling ticker says that firing has been reported in the New Delhi airport terminus and 6 terrorists have been shot dead and NSG commandos have been summoned and they have cordoned the area and blah...

And immediately below, it mentions that the Delhi airport is normal despite the shooting report. In that article, it even mentions that the shooting report should be blamed on the Delhi airport authorities and BBC who published the news.

Wow!!!

HOW LONG?

I have never felt so sad to be proven correct. Never!!! Ever!!!

Less than 2 weeks back, I posted a hardlined blog. I felt a bit remorseful after that. But today, I feel that my stance was fully justified.

Its high time we hit back. I repeat -- "Shoot dead anybody who is remotely associated or suspected of association with these terrorists." I mean it. And do that publicly. These bastards dont deserve anything less.

I promise, I swear to god, I will never repent this.

May those souls rest in peace. May god give strength to their families to recover from this death blow.

A WEDNESDAY

Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Assam, Malegaon. All these places were bombed in the last few months. Note, this is just the list of the MAJOR blasts in the past few months. The minor crude bombs found before they went off is even bigger. In each of these blasts, the official number of dead and injured is way lesser than the actual number.

With every such instance, frustration and helplessness due to the inaction and lack of concern by the government builds up. The home minister does nothing than display the variety of his wardrobe. The Prime Minister conveys his condolences and declares monetary help to the victim's kin. No one knows if the help ever reaches the intended recipient. Opposition leaders ask for government's resignation and fresh elections. The cops release sketches of suspected individuals and the sketches usually match 1 of every 5 ppl i know. Soon, everything is forgotten till another blast occurs.

And in the midst of all this, I happen to see a new movie -- A WEDNESDAY. Primarily this movie has 2 characters -- the commissioner (Anupam Kher) and the protagonist (Naseeruddin Shah). There are other characters around the plot like a few cops and a few jailed terrorists, this movie is really a ball game between the commissioner and the protagonist.

I will not get into the details of the plot. The movie is too good (I mean it, really awesome movie) to mention the spoilers here, just go and see it.

But realistically speaking, it may not be really possible for a commoner to do what Naseer does in the movie. Atleast I am not so smart and intelligent to mastermind such a thing. But I agree with what he did, no second thoughts.

Shoot dead anybody who is remotely associated or suspected of association with these terrorists. So what if few hundred people are shot dead. India's population is fast threatening to reach 1.2 billion (or has it already). We can easily afford to lose a few hundred (or a few thousand) who threaten the peaceful and safe existence of remaining 1.199 billion.

If anyone ever hijacks a plane with 100 passengers and demands release of 3 terrorists, line up 200 terrorists from the prison in front of the TV camera (with the 3 demanded terrorists at the start of the line-up) and reply back to the hijackers "For every 1 passenger from the plane you kill, 2 terrorists from your outfit will be killed. The 3 demanded terrorists will be the first one to die". This might sounds very harsh, but do this once and I bet, they will never even think twice of hijacking another plane.

There is no smoke without fire. Eliminate anyone who threatens to disturb the peace of our country. Its our country and no one should tell us how to take care of it.

PERFECT BLEND

S and I were in Boston over the Labor day weekend to attend a wedding. S's cousin G was getting married to J after knowing each other for more than 7 years. J is an American and G is an Indian (though an American by citizenship) and so, this wedding was going to be an Indo-American affair.

The wedding was a perfect blend of two individuals, two families, two cultures, two religions and two countries... I cannot stress more on the two words -- "perfect" and "blend" -- really i cannot... Changing the font to bold, italic, underline or some other color is not going to do enough justice... So, i just decided to use those words to name the blog... thats it...

Every aspect of the wedding was very well planned... Here are some salient features of the wedding --

1 - All the ladies (including the groom's immediate family and friends) were dressed in traditional Indian attire and got mehendi done on their hands... The couple's friends even danced to a hindi wedding song from a Karan Johar movie...

2 - The food for the mehendi ceremony was as versatily Indian as it could get and the food for the reception was as equally un-Indian as it could... There was champagne toast to punch bowl. There was fried shrimp as well as Indian Banarasi pan. There was chaat and pav bhaji and gobi manchurian. And then there was lasagna and garlic bread and stuffed turkey. Everyone ate their favorite food to glory.

3 - The groom was dressed in a traditional Kannada wedding attire including peta, dhoti, kurta and chappal... He chanted all the shlokas and mantras with the same fluency that a Kannadiga would... His parents were as interested and involved in the wedding ceremony as any Indian parents would be... Even they wore Indian attire and looked at ease.

4 - The bride walked down the aisle with bridesmaids (her cousins) like any american bride and she was escorted by her uncle (maternal uncle) like any Indian bride...

5 - After the traditional indian wedding was over, the bride and groom exchanged vows like an christian wedding and the head priest from Chinmaya mission administered the wedding oath. The groom's oath was one of the most touching ones I have ever heard.

6 - The reception was as christian as it gets... There was a beautiful cake, a champagne toast ceremony, the first kiss and the first dance... The toast from the "father of the bride" was very touching and if that toast brought everyone on the edge of breaking down into tears, the toast from the "sister of the bride" pushed them over the edge... There was hardly any soul in that wedding hall without a wet eye at the end of that toast...

7 - The dance after the toast ceremony started with a romantic tune and soon blasted into typical punjabi tunes... Almost everyone was on the dance floor and the newly wed bride and groom were perched atop shoulders of their friends...

The points mentioned above were just a glimpse of the entire wedding. Though everyone was looking forward to the wedding, the ceremony surpassed everyone's expectation. It was a memorable event for us too. For S and I, it was a trip down the memory lane to a unforgettable day, exactly 3 years before today. ;-)

FINALLY A BIG ONE

It took me 29 years and numerous attempts to achieve this. I cannot recall the total number of tournaments I might have played in but I can clearly remember that at least at 3 occasions, I faltered at the last step.

The first time, it happened in my first year of engineering. We had a chance to create history by being the first First Year class to win the college championship. We were overwhelmed by the occasion and lost the game miserably.

The second time, we could have defeated the reigning champions and won the Infy championship. We played very well in the first half, but were very tired and were overpowered by the other side.

The third time was last year in the local 20-20 tournament when one person's brutal innings kept us away from the trophy. Sheer brutal power from 1 person crashed our party.

But not this time. This time our team was undefeated in the tournament. We were not even challenged in any games, except the semi-finals (more about the SF below). All our games until the semis were clearly one-sided.

In the semi, we were pitted against a very strong KMCC team which had manhandled us in the regular season. Plus, this time they had imported a very good player just for this match. We started badly and had lost 5 wickets for less than 20 runs. 3 batsmen played very well to push us to 126. They started very well and were 80/3 in 10 overs. Needed 47 in 10 overs with 7 wickets in hand. We never gave up, fought very hard and choked them out. After needing 6 runs off 2 overs with 4 wickets in hand, we tied the game. Then there was a bowl-out (Yes!!!). And how can a Indian team lose to a Pakistan team in a bowl out. We kept the tradition alive ;-) and won the bowl out to go to the finals.

In the finals, we steamrolled a young (and a very good) NCSU team and emerged as the tournament champions. Our bowlers were challenged by each other. Our batsmen competed against one another. The targets was to better our previous best performance. No one could have said that we did not deserve to win.

This is the first tournament victory for me and the fact that wifey was there made it even special.

HALLOWEEN

This is one tradition which might get laughed at in Indian culture. If someone asks an Indian to dress himself/herself and his/her kids as monsters and take them door to door threatening with "trick-or-treat" to get candy, then one would be categorized as "crazy", "psycho" or even someone who practices witchcraft.

But strange are the ways of life in different lands and here in the land of uncle SAM, this tradition is celebrated as as festival and might be the kids favorite amongst all the festivals celebrated in the year. Parents relent to their kids as well as the kid within themselves and thoroughly revel in this festive atmosphere.

Though, ideally, kids are supposed to be dressed as scary and spooky, some parents have taken the liberty to improvise this tradition and dress their kids as something creative. Most common being Animals, Cartoon characters and Superstars (esp, Elvis).

Wifey, being the kid she is, thoroughly enjoyed the day. Her day started with fabulous cup cakes in the office. These cup cakes had spooky ring as toppings. Then there was a goodies bag where all weird items like scary rings and buttons etc. Then, yours truly was dispatched (one day earlier) to buy a bag-full of assorted candy which was loaded on a attractive bowl. There was Diwali decoration on the outside of our home and that served as Halloween decoration for the kids. :-?

As soon as it started getting dark, kids started knocking on our door and demanding candy. A family friend's kids got the unique privilege of getting the goodie bag. A gang of elderly kids got the spooky rings and they were very happy about it. A lot of kids liked our house because our house was one of few ones where they had the freedom of taking all the candy that they could in one fist.

The creativity in the costumes and the make-up was very evident and overall, it was a scary and a enjoyable evening.

BOBO

Pets are a kid's best friend. Small kids learn a lot of good things and tend to be more responsible once they are made to look after pets. With this intention in mind, my sister and brother-in-law brought a puppy for my nephew. He was affectionately named "Bobo".

My nephew was very excited from the day Bobo entered the house. He used to finish his studies quickly just so that he can play with Bobo. He used to obey every instruction from his parents so that he gets permission to take Bobo out for 5 minutes. He used to have his food on time so that he can eat with Bobo. In short, things were going as planned.

Some of Bobo's pictures -- http://picasaweb.google.com/wagle.shivanand/BOBO?authkey=gxgK2LmDv4E

Then the vet gave an injection which was not supposed to be given until the puppy is atleast 50 days old. From that day, the pup was never the same. It lost its apetite, it lost its cheerfulness. No more jumping, no more fun. Soon it started bleeding from its mouth and in a matter of 2 days, Bobo was no more. Just like that.

I never had the chance to play with Bobo and saw the pictures just once. But still, it was a shock from which I am yet to recover. My sis and brother in law are still shocked and cry often. Nephew is very young to understand all this and has been told that Bobo was missing his parents so he has been sent back to his parents. But he asks my sis everyday about when he will be back.

Why did this have to happen? Cant find an answer to this Q.

HI-5

RS has tagged me to "Jot down 5 of your favorite quotes from the various books you’ve read. If you don’t have the books with you now, googling (Wikiquotes and the like) can be used to find them. Tag five people and acknowledge the person who tagged you"

So, here I go. My reading body-of-work does not really boast of wide variety. So, i am going to take the liberty of listing 5 best quotes from the books I have read and the movies that I have seen.

And here is my hi5 --

1 - "Its not personal. Its strictly business." - (Do i really need to mention the source here? Still, for the ones who dont know it yet) The Godfather by Mario Puzo.

2 - "No comebacks Sir, I have taken care of everything." -- From the book, "No comebacks" by Frederick Forsyth. Short story yet very impactful. Took me few days to get over with this story and move on to the next one.

3 - "Try telling this to my grandson" -- From the oscar nominated marathi movie "Shwaas" where the grandfather tries to argue with a doctor who is trying to convince him to proceed with an operation on his grandson. The 8 year old grandson would be blind for life after the operation.

4 - "Apne aangan ka lamp giving light to neighbours house" -- from the movie Swades. Every time I see this scene, my eyes become wet.

5 - "Sadly, this nation does not know its potential and will end up ruining itself." -- a book on India's pre-colonization history. The author is an englishman who travelled the length and breadth of the pre-british India. His analysis is coming true now.

Thanks to RS for giving me a chance to go down the memory lane to recall these (and many more) lines.

Am passing these on to my very few readers.
Harsha
Mithun

BEST PERFORMANCE AT OLYMPICS

Never mind the 53 athletes who came back empty handed... Never mind the 42 officials who went there without reasons to justify... Never mind the politicians and office-holders who will jump to take the credit of 3 individuals... Never mind that our population is more than 1 billion and only 3 individuals made it count when it mattered...

For now, lets salute the three heroes who made us proud on the world's biggest sporting stage... Lets bask in the glory of our best ever Olympic performance...

Jai Hind...

FEELS GOOD!!!

Mom and Dad visiting...

2 WTF news from the last week...

1 - Ishmeet Singh gets state funeral...
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Reality_show_star_Ishmeet_Singh_drowns_in_Maldives/articleshow/3303269.cms
What? What has he done to deserve a state funeral? State funeral is an honor reserved for someone who has done something special for the state or the country... Winning a singing talent competition by appealing for regional votes is absolutely not special and nor does it make a state or a country proud... The chief minister of Punjab attended the funeral...
A few days back when Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw died, none of the chief ministers or Central Ministers or PM or President or Leaders of Opposition or the Chief of Armed forces bothered to turn up... I dont even have to mention any of Sam Manekshaw's achievements here... But Ishmeet singh? WTF?

2 - 4 Indian Hockey coaches going to the Beijing Olympics...
http://www.rediff.com/sports/2008/jul/31hock.htm
Again, what? First of all, the Indian team has not qualified for the Olympics... Then all the officials remotely connected with Hockey start the finger pointing and blame game sessions... And now the same ppl go to the Olympics to "learn" the strategies implemented by the other teams... Can this not be done by seeing the games on TV? Is it required to spend money on tickets, hotel accomodation (when the prices are going to be at its peak) and other "personal" expenses?
WTF?

HUMDINGER


After losing 3 games in a row, our morales were at an all time low... The last thing we needed at this time was another loss which all but eliminates any chance of our team making it to the playoffs...

It was 3 weeks since the last game and all the time was spent in introspection and we had realized one thing in these 3 weeks -- fortune favors the brave... Play hard cricket and leave the rest to lady luck...

So, after 3 weeks of waiting and motivating ourselves, we reached the ground all geared up for the game... A hot and humid day awaited us with mercury promising to reach upper 90s... The other team had taken the victory for granted and for them, it was a not a matter of "will we win", it was a matter of "by how much will we win"...

We lost the toss, and the other team decided to bat first... Their plan was to bat us out of the game... Hit us hard when we are down... They sent 2 attacking openers first up...

First ball -- six... Next ball, single... Again six... Then four... One hard hit ball, saved by a fielder... Last ball -- OUT!!! The first over could not have been more dramatic... One down batsman had smelt blood already and came in ringing sixes and fours... Within 12 overs, they were 112 for 1...

We grouped during the break... We had 2 options -- go down or fight back... We knew what to do... First ball after the break, excellent catch... Next 5-6 overs, we played out of our skins and got ourselves back into the game... We didnt get any wickets but we had the batsmen frustrated with the lack of runs... Gradually, they buckled under the pressure and we had our wickets... One very good runout, 2 hard hit catches... Next 21 overs, they had scored only 110 runs with 4 wickets lost... The match was really up...

But, by then, heat had taken its toll... One of their batsman was dropped while on 0 and carnage ensued... He hit us for 47 runs in the last 2 overs... All our hard work in the last 20 overs was undone in these 2 overs... They reached a massive 268 in the allotted 35 overs...

We were devastated... No one felt like drinking even a drop of water in the break... We had hit the rock bottom of our season...

Thats when our captain's father came to us and said -- "Guys, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going... Its like the Gatorade ad... Do you have it in you?"

We got the push we needed... We went in the game with the intention of "not going down without a fight" and got the worst possible start... One opener run-out in the 2nd over for a duck... But we did not give up...

The other opener and 1-down blazed their way to glory... Within 10 overs, we were 100 odd... Then we changed our gears... Now it was a matter of taking it - one over at a time... Within 15 overs, we were 150 odd for 3 and the asking run rate was now just 6... All that was required was just common sense...

We could see it coming and it was just a matter of not cracking under pressure... The opener fought valiantly at one end and the others were giving him the support... At one time it was 36 runs needed of 36 balls with 5 wickets in hand...

Soon, a couple of bad umpiring decisions followed and the opposing team had their tails up... It was a matter of who blinks first... One fellow played sensibly and it was up to 25 of 24 balls... A good over and it changed to 10 of 18 balls with 3 wickets in hand...

A good catch made it 10 of 16 in 2 wickets... Another six... Now, 4 needed of 14 balls... 2 wickets in hand... We should have won it hands down...

Thats when we cracked... The fellow who had just hit a six, went for glory and hit a high ball which was caught well...

4 needed of 10 balls with 1 wicket in hand... One fellow was playing very sensibly and took a safe 2... 2 runs needed of 8 balls, 1 wicket in hand... if wicket falls, we lose... 1 run, its a tie... 2 runs and we win... Anything was possible...

The bowler bowled a wide... It was a tie now... We could not lose from this point forward... So, now it was a Q of whether we win or not... But, #11 was on strike and he played the 2 balls safely... Now, the set batsman had to score 1 run of 6 balls and we would have completed a memorable victory...

Thats when hell broke lose... The batsman just blanked out, swung out wildly and the ball went miles in the air... We prayed that the fielder drops it, but it was not to be our day... The fielder held his composure and took the catch... They celebrated and our shoulders drooped...

After chasing almost 8 runs an over, we flinched at the last step... It doesnt hit harder than this... No one slept that night... This nightmare will haunt us forever...

It was an humdinger alright, we almost won... we almost defeated them... But, you never "almost defeat" anyone... You never "almost win"... You either win or you do not win... and we did not...

TRUST VOTE?

Have been trying to catch the proceedings going on in the Lok Sabha for the past 2 days under the name of "trust vote"... It was surely a big shameful episode...

I am not talking about the whole "invention" of the cash-for-vote scandal... This really is not a "invention", it is a "discovery"... (By definition, invention is finding something which no-one thought existed and discovery is finding something which was thought to be existed but was never found till now)... Everyone knows that horse-trading is omnipresent, the only difference being, this time the frustration and helplessness in the opposition spilled over and it came out in the open...

The real shame is how fingers were pointed at one another... How someone of the stature of the PM was degraded... Manmohan Singh was taunted as a "Nikamma" (useless) and the weakest PM until now... He is such a respected economist all over the world and someone of the stature (?) of Advani stooping to such a low level was really shameful...

No one, except Lalu, was allowed to speak un-interrupted... Lalu was spared because he had the presence of mind to use humor as a weapon to hit where it hurts the most... Everyone else, talking for the government or against the government, were interrupted...

I had a chance to see a small clip of Rahul Gandhi's speech and his humility and the concern in his speech made me admire him... I am not saying that he deserves to be the next PM or whatever... I am not even suggesting that he should be given a chance... I am just saying that he conducted himself today in a way which should be set as an example for the rest...

Seeing the whole horse-trading episode, I feel that the following laws should be brought into rule ASAP --
1 - India should be a 2 alliance democracy... These alliances should be formed before the election and the alliances cannot be tweaked... If some party wants to break the alliance, then all the MPs from that party should resign and get reelected...

2 - For every seat, there has to be an option of "None-Of-the-candidates-standing-for-the-election"... If a voter is not happy with any of the candidates standing for the election, then he/she can vote for the "none" option... If more than 33% votes go to the "none" option, then the election should be declared null and void... All the candidates should be debarred from contesting an election for next 5 years... Even their immediate family members (brothers, sisters, wives, kids, in-laws) should be debarred from contesting...

3 - If during the election in a constituency, less than 50% voting happens, then the election should be declared null and void... There has to be a re-election... The 50% voting can include the "none" option because, clause 2 above can take care...

Unless such stringent laws are made, such school-classroom episodes will continue... And as it happened today, someone will win the vote, but trust will be lost, once again...

SARKAAR RAJ

After a long wait of almost 3 years (I saw the original flick in 2005), RGV released Sarkaar Raj on 6th June... The local movie theater made sure that the anticipation had peaked well before June and the theater was almost full for the F-D-L-S (First-Day-Last-Show)... Wifey would stress on the word "almost" because (according to her) this crowd was not even comparable to the crowd on F-D-L-S of Om Shanti Om... Even if this adds to the current cold war between the Bachchans and SRK, wifey does not care a bit about it... Await a blog reply by Big-B once he reads mine :-p

But the best part of the movie was that it met the high expectations (atleast mine)... It would be unfair to compare this to the first one because the first one had the surprise element whereas this one had the bar already set to match... This one had the additional burden of reviving RGV from the disaster of "RGV ki Aag"... This one was the first flick starring Abhi and Ash after the wedding and everyone wanted to check out their chemistry...

The movie was pretty much on expected lines and expected (high) standards... Abhishek cruised through his role with a lot of intensity... Amitabh showed the same "Angry Old Man", the glimpse of which was seen in Agneepath...

But, I was disappointed by the film in a few aspects... Biggest disappointment, not to mention shock, was to see Abhishek die and Amitabh take over... I would have rather loved seeing Amitabh die and Abhishek pounce back in revenge... Adds more melodrama to the plot... But, then this way, RGV can bring all the 3 characters back in the next flick...

Also, what was mrs bachchan nee rai doing in the whole movie? why have 3 comedians-cum-villains when only 1 was enough? And what with the stupid assassin with gloves? Had all these unnecessary characters been cut off, the movie would have been more hard-hitting... Intense movies like these need to be relentlessly numbing the brain... A minute of an irrelevant subplot can kill the momentum...

Lots of similarities with the original movie... The real villain was pulling the strings from behind the curtain and its entirely different puppets on the screen... The real villain is not killed in the climax, but is defeated and defeated badly enough to not be able to rise again... The end of the movie leaves enough room for the next episode... Abhi get 2 divas in both the movies...
The movie completely enthralled the 500 odd ppl in the theater that day (including me)...

Eagerly awaiting the announcement of part 3...