“It was because of the IPL and the parties”- sounds like a lame excuse

Well the moment Dhoni lost the 3rd and final Super8 games against Sri Lanka he came out with a statement that has found support from the whole of the cricket loving nation and surprisingly from the BCCCI as well. And the only reason the statement got this overwhelming support was that we find it very convenient to find an excuse rather than accept a lack of skill, ability and commitment.

Well I believe if we look at the recent chain of events more objectively we would be able to give ourselves sufficient reasons to believe that IPL and its after match parties were little (if at all) to be held responsible for the disappointing Indian performance.

• Soon after the so called mentally and physically exhausting season of IPL III Indian teams lands in the Carribiean island of St. Lucia, and starts off with a comprehensive win over minnows Afghanistan. No evident signs of players’ weariness and even the historically most party prone “Yuvraj Singh” looked comfortable.
• Next we are up against the strong SA squad and we ride home on the back of a superb innings by Suresh Raina who ideally should have been the toast of all those IPL parties given the prolific run he had in this year’s IPL. No evident signs of player fatigue mental or physical.
• Now India runs into a quality Australian side that have the advantage of a bouncy Barbados wicket, 2 or 3 140+ pacers and the “obvious” knowledge of Indian lineups inability to handle fast paced bouncers. Following an average or probably a below average bowling performance comes a truly shameful batting display. And at the end of the match Dhoni knows and admits the right reason for the defeat.
• Now the scenario has changed the world knows that it’s quite easy to bounce India out on the Barbados wicket if you have some 140+ stuff. And surprisingly the West Indies attack for a change manages to stick to the plan, after the superb effort from Chris Gayle had taken care of the batting department. But even now the 2nd most party prone Indian player Harbhajan is tying up the batsman with some great spin bowling right at the start inspite of the field restrictions.
• Then with the venue shifting back to the less bouncy St. Lucia pitch, Indian team as expected recovers from the mentally and physically exhausting IPL schedule and put up a fighting(almost winning) effort against the Sri Lankan. Probably the reason for losing the close finish would be the lack of motivation once Sri Lanka had gone past the 143 mark that was crucial in the NRR equation. And notice have the so far very effective Harbhajan goes for runs against the Sri Lankan team packed with good players of spin.
• Now having lost all 3 of the Super 8 matches Dhoni, very unlike him,comes up with this excuse. I say unlike him because he is probably one of the most sensible, humble and communicative captain India has seen in years (atleast since I have followed cricket).

Now if we as a cricketing nation cannot see an obvious trend in what’s happening then either we don’t understand cricket or we feel it’s more honorable to find excuses for bad performance rather than admitting the obvious lack of ability.

The results clearly showed 2 crystal clear facts hard to be missed:

1. The Indian batsman find it really difficult to score off rising fast deliveries directed at their bodies, especially when the pitch is assisting the pace and bounce. They had developed a solution to the problem in longer versions of the game by swaying or ducking bouncers but cannot afford to do so in 20-20 especially when chasing 170+ scores.
2. Harbhajan Singh and other spinners could bowl beautifully against everyone except Sri Lankans and Yuvraj Singh could score against South Africans, so what mattered way more than IPL fatigue (if at all) were the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition.

By way of this article what I do not intend to do is claim that Dhoni’s statement about the fatigue that IPL and the parties caused is completely false or baseless, but just clarify that it can no way be the primary reason for India’s dismal performance.

What really need to change is not the IPL but the level of the domestic cricket and the quality of the domestic pitches which should encourage raw pace bowling and exposes batsman to the need off cutting and pulling rather than mere driving down the ground with those heavy willows.

And in fact the very IPL we are blaming is the providing a great exposure and compensating for the low quality of domestic cricket. Agreed it takes a toll but at the same time it allows many youngsters a chance to face the Bonds, Taits, Steyns and Nannes of the world and realize at an early stage what they need to improve in their batting.

Some of us might like to shout back that we did beat Australia in Australia on those bouncy pitches but do remember they were not T20 and then we had a special man called Sachin in the team who could score off Bret lee’s bouncer by effortlessly lifting them way over wicket keeper’s head.

To Dhoni and team defense I do admit that IPL might have been a reason for the poor show of the team but I find it unacceptable as the most important reason that should grab all the national headlines. And the more recent statements asking for Dhoni’s removal as captain and suggesting Sehwag as replacement are even more ludicrous as Dhoni has probably been the most intelligent, calm under pressure cricketer who has the team skill to get the best out of both the seniors and the juniors in the team.

And I would have loved to agree with Gavaskar’s recent statement suggesting Indian team should practice short pitched stuff at NCA but who would be bowling it. Either Indian bowlers who barely crank mid 130’s or bowling machines which are so very predictable about the bounce they can extract from a particular length. Facing a human opposition who can crank mid 140s and vary the amount of shoulder put in every delivery is a totally different ball game and that skill can only be acquired by injecting some pace and bounce in Indian wickets where these players grow up playing.

A trip down the Memory Lane….Vintage Cars Museum

Ahmedabad has always had a lot to offer in terms of history and culture. Whether it’s the beautiful archaeological sites of Adalaj Stepwell and Modhera’s Sun temple or the historical and spiritual adobe of Gandi Ashram. But this week I discovered a totally unexpected element of Ahmedabad’s historic prides – a sprawling vintage car collection with over 105 cars.

A proud collector Mr. Pranlal Bhogilal, founder-president of the Vintage and Classic Car Club of India, has converted his personal car collection into a museum named Auto World Vintage Vintage Car Musuem – Dastaan Farms. The museum is open to public at a nominal fee of Rs 50 per person. And in case you plan to capture some of those eye pleasing wonders, like the giant Daimler, on your camera then you would have to buy an additional camera pass for Rs 100. But the wonderful pics are worth much more than that nominal charge. Checkout some of the pics I managed to click @http://www.flickr.com/photos/11193960@N06/set

To begin with it’s a great drive from Ahmedabad, along the SG(Sarkhej-Gandinagar) Highway. Newly constructed toll-road on which we went speeding on our bikes at 110-120 kmph. A must see place if you have half a day to spare in Ahmedabad. Think of any car brand that you have ever heard of (and some ever unheard of) – the Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Jaguars, Mayback, Daimlers, Langodas, Maybach, Pakards, Cadillacs, Buicks, Austin, Ford, Lancias, Chryslers and Lincolns. And the most amazing part is that each one of them is in perfect driving condition. There is a car with complete wooden exterior as well as a car built completely with silver aluminium body and then there in a 1906 Ford. They also offer rides around the estate for a charge of Rs 500 in some of these beauties.

Someone fascinated with automobiles, as most of boys naturally are, it’s probably the best getaway around Ahmedabad. Even the attendents at the museum are more than happy to take you around the aesthetically laid out museum which is planned in a way that you don’t miss out on any of the cars.

Plus the place also has a great restaurant that serves some nice authentic Gujarati food at very nominal prices. Just the perfect settings to discuss and savour your memorable experience before kick staring the ride back home.

Address :

Auto World, Dastan Farms, Kathwada, Sardar Patel Ring Road, Ahmedabad. Ph. 079-22820699 – (they were more than happy to assist us with driving direction when we called this number)

Driving Directions :

From SG Highway, turn right after Nirma University to get onto SVP Ring Road,
Keep going straight passing 3 toll booths – Bhat, Tragad and Ranasan.
Keep going straight towards Baroda from Kathwada circle (with power grid) for about 3 km.
You’ll see big hoarding on left which indicates take a right for the Auto World Vintage Car Museum/Restaurant.

Ultimate Frisbee Challenge at IIM-Ahmedabad 4-5th July|DAY 2

Flying Dutchmen(IIMA) beat Indicorps comprehensively to win the Ultimate Frisbee Finals

The finals got off to a slightly delayed start at 11.15 pm. Flying Dutchmen (FLD) won the toss and decided to catch the Frisbee first. But the first move of the match went against the home team as they lost the disc with a careless turnover and Indicorps shot into 1-0 lead in no time. But that was the first and the last time in the entire match that FLD trailed, as they soon got their act together and finished the match with a 26-13 scoreline.

FLD off-field strategy contributed as importantly to the win as their on-field execution. The decision to play “zone-defence” which is used more commonly in games like basketball and football instead of the commonly used man to man marking proved critical. They started with 3 men taking care of defence and 4 others playing mid and upfront. Starting with Subodh, Kaboothar, Sood, Pissu, Kunjii, Nacho & Convo the team was ably supported by the substitutes – Satnam, Manu, Arun, Raheel and Kishen.

Indicorps were once again heavily dependent on Jay and Jesse to create their moves and they did not disappoint coming up with some spectacular throws. But somehow they could not create the same magic as yesterday either shocked by the zone marking or tired from yesterday’s exploits. The Indicorp team also had smart contributions from Jiga, Henna and Nick.

In the end FLD’s unique playing style – swift passing, quick runs, and zone-defence left the opponents clueless. Inspite of the tight man to man marking by the indicorp team FLD were able to create space. Kudos to their smart fakes and enduring stamina. Indicorp employed their bench strength to full use, making regular substitutions giving all younger players a chance to play.

All in all a great tournament and an amazing win for IIMA team. At the same time it also proved to be an amazing learning experience as we got to play Fribee with the international rules.

The match concluded on a positive note with acknowledgements from both the teams. Indicorps presented the hosts a bouquet for organizing the competition and respecting the spirit of the game. They also informed Flying Dutchmen about the different Frisbee teams in India and about a tourney commencing on 19th July – right opportunity to take the Game to higher levels!

Ultimate Frisbee Challenge at IIM-Ahmedabad 4-5th July|DAY 1

A breezy saturday evening, and the beautiful LKP lawns lit with floodlight – an almost perfect day was made even better with some spectacular ultimate frisbee display tonite.
The three teams – Stormchasers(Mumbai), Indicorp(Ahmedabad) and Flying Dutchmen(IIMA) were out for some great contest on the opening day of the Ultimate Frisbee Challenge. And guess what home team dominated just the way all
the home supporters expected beating both the opposing teams quite comprehensively.

The results :
Match 1: Indicorp beat S’chasers 18-16
Match 2: Flying D’men beat Indicorp 27-17
Match 3: Flying D’men beat S’chasers 25-12

Indicorp were led by the brilliant combination of their 2 star players Jay and Jesse. One of the youngster (prob Jiga) also showed some spectacular throws and collects. Jesse’s 12 feet high collect, flying over 2 offense players and one
of his teammates was the kodak moment of the first match. The Indicorp team deserves a special appreciation for the fact that it was mixed gender team making life really tough for all men opposition team.

Stormchasers put up a good fight in the first game but really lost the plot against in the 2nd game against the Flying Dutchmen.They had a great thrower in Sanal and a few good chasers in Qwick and Jhonny, but it seemed the team had a
few less experienced people  as well and this cost them the game. But great spirit shown by them in coming over from Mumbai and making this event possible.

Flying Dutchmen were the team of the day (or night- considering they played both their matches back to back after 9pm). May be no star players like Jesse or Jai but the team was a really well balanced unit with no apparent weakness.
Defense was resilient and impressive to watch , offense was lightning fast leaving the opposition defense chasing ghosts. The domination was so obvious that in the 2nd half of the last game they were scoring freely even with the reserves.
On a technical note – just need to iron out our throwing to make sure that fewer turnovers happen.

All in all a great day of competition. Some great sporting spirit and some great competetive frisbee. Hoping for a even greater final tomm at 9:30 pm, same venue.

Media Coverage:

http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=3&contentid=20090705200907050236339953d609615&sectxslt=

http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=3&contentid=2009070620090706025918183ff4bb722&sectxslt=

Wimbledon QF Line-Up

Well we are into the 2^nd week of Wimbledon, the business end of the most prestigious and the oldest of the 4 grand slams. With the unexpected loss of Rafael Nadal, who partnered with Roger Federer to produce probably the most cherished final of our generation (Goran Ivanisevic and Pat Rafter 2001 final would probably come in as a close 2^nd).

But with or without Nadal we have 4 great clashes on our hands today – and interestingly all 8 players involved in these 4 clashes come from 8 different nations.

Match 1: Ivo Karlovic (Cro) [22] vs. Roger Federer (SUI)[2]               IST 5:30pm

A match that may be won in the tie-breakers as the 6ft 10 inch giant has not dropped his serve so far in 79 service games, firing 137 aces in just 4 rounds. The more famous big server by the name of Andy Roddick comes a distant second at 96 aces.

Can Federer settle the dispute outside tie-breakers or will Karlovic succeed in doing to Federer what Richard Krajicek did to Sampras in 1996. Federer fans world over will love to remain away from those tie-breaks. And without doubt the magician has the ability to break those towering serves.

Match 2: Tommy Haas(GER)[24] vs. Novak Djokovic(SRB)[4]           IST 5:30pm

Almost a cross-generation battle between the youngest (22 years) and the oldest (31 years) players remaining the men’s draw.

Novak Djokovic had promised a lot when he burst on international stage winning the Australian Open last year, but off-late he seems to be going the Roddick way. This is his opportunity to answer the critics but the resilient German, whose form seems to improve with age, would be a sure favourite if the matter enters a 5^th set.

Match 3: Andy Murray(GBR)[3] vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero(ESP)           After Match 1

Home crowd favourite and the bookies choice to take on Federer in the final, given Rafa’s absence. Although a defensive or counter punching style of play which won’t win him many fans outside UK, still he is really consistent at what he does making life miserable for more attacking opponents.

Juan Carlos Ferrero has nothing to lose, having already made it to QFs on a wild-card entry, and should play a pressure free base-line game. opportunity for him to cash in on the performance pressure that British crowd would be exerting on the young Scot.

Match 2: Lleyton Hewitt(AUS)  vs. Andy Roddick(USA)[6]                After Match 2

A true slug-fest expected between 2 fighters on tennis court. Roddick may have a slight advantage with his big-serve but Hewitt has his scrambling abilities and the confidence boosting comeback win over Radek Stepanek. Bound to be a true entertainer, with no clear favourite. Tennis quality may not be the highest but competetivness would more than make up for it.

Will come back with the results and post match analysis soon.

Democracy – Blackmail, are they synonyms ?

At our homes, institutions and offices we come across people, whose opinion we don’t agree with, whose behaviour offends us, whose thought process is in complete disagreement with ours, what do we do? We learn to live with it, we compromise, and we adjust as that is what is expected from mature professional individuals.

But if that issue has nothing to do with us it is much easier to bring about a significant change. Suppose you don’t like a book then just gather a few friends, along with a few uneducated, easy to hire “professionals” and you have a mob. About 20 to 40 individuals are enough to fill, indeed overflow, the camera lens frame of those rapidly growing news channel. Believe me that 20 people group, depending on the energy levels, can be presented as a big mob on the 21’ TV screen. The video footage would be more than sufficient to ban the book in that particular state/town, and if you manage to keep your team motivated just long enough to allow one of those big national news channels to arrive at the live scene then the desired result could be replicated on bookstores across the whole nation. Better still if you hire some real good professionals, within that mob of yours, and they manage to set ablaze a vehicle or two, preferably one of those 24 x 7 parked roadways bus, then you can be rest assured that you have done enough to force that writer into exile.

The same effect could be replicated against paintings, movies, photographs or any other object against which you have any form of prejudice. You just need to have enough spare time and financial resources, rest our complex democratic system takes care of. The moment the mob is captured on the new channels, it is associated with a particular religion/caste, and then we have one or more of those political parties which has always pretended to be the voice of that section of the society, or in simple words has had a strong hold over that particular votebank. The results could be even sweeter if this particular party that we are talking about is currently in opposition, in that scenario they would make sure that they leave no stone unturned to bring you to the frontages of every leading daily. What if you make the fatal error of manufacturing a mob with different religious and caste identities, better still, the mob is backed by the entire opposition in unison. And the government is attacked on bigger ground like “morality”, “insensitivity”, “law and order chaos” and an emergency is requested. Once an emergency is requested it just boils down to the fact whether the governor was appointed by “Sonia ji” or not.

We know this is not the right course. Powerful media, a fruit of liberalization, threatens this very liberalization. We cannot blame the media channels after all they are governed by mere commercial interests. What needs to change is this politics of castes and religion, its time to welcome politics of agendas and ideologies. Effective Governance is about conceptualising and executing plans for macro level social and economic welfare, it is not about appeasing each and every component of the society. This politics of appeasement would if not reverse, incredibly slow down the pace of the desired transformations. We Indians would not like to earn the distinction of redefining Democracy as the Government of the people, for the people, and “blackmailed” by the people.

 

 

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India is Unique, in more ways than one!!!!

After all that front page coverage’s and heated political debates on prime time television, 123 Nuclear Agreement has finally blurred into the background with the emergence of the “incredibly serious” Ram Sethu Controversy. How surprising that matter of national and economic importance can so easily be hijacked and taken over by matters of faith, religion, and minority-majority divide. I may be gravely mistaken to state that Ram Sethu is not a matter of national and economic importance, but that’s the way it is being projected. No one is interested in discussing the economic benefits that shipping industry would have or the eco logical and sea life damage the project is likely to cause.

But is this not expected in a country where the second largest political party is built and has succeeded merely on the ideology of Hindutva and support of fundamentalist organizations like RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal etc. One thing I would give to BJP is that alleast it is a party built on an ideology unlike Congress(I) which is built on and around a family. Although the usefulness of such an ideology is far beyond my comprehension or for that matter beyond the comprehension of any progressive Indian, whether Hindu or non Hindu. But the dilemma is that there are millions of takers for such an ideology, people who vote for and give this ideology its voice. No wonder then parties would be formed and would continue to supersede matters of majority-minority divide over matter of national and economic significance.

And the more I look into the chain of events that have followed the publicization of this issue the more comical it appears. The poor judiciary just upheld the line that “There aren’t sufficient historical evidences to verify the existence of Lord Ram”, which is in no way derogatory or disrespectful to Ram or his followers and just reiterates a fact we all have read in history books since childhood that Ramayana and Mahabharata are works of fiction and not historical accounts. To make the maters even more amusing the simple English translation of the phrase “Vanar-Sena” to “army of monkeys” has been found highly objectionable and had to be reworded. And to cap it all NDA and its support groups are up in arms asking the project to be stalled so that the structure built by Lord Ram can be preserved, whereas the project was originally sanctioned by the NDA government in 2002. Such events just boost my respect for the Left, right or wrong, they atleast oppose and debate matters of national and economic significance, ensuring that the truly deserving news gets importance over insignificant ones.

Alas the 123 controversy may have died of without any tangible effect but this one might take a few causalities, namely the already suspended ASI officials, maybe a “Soni” cabinet minister, and definitely a big chunk of Brahmin vote bank from the Congress. No wonder such comical events would be played out on the political stage as long as we continue to empower people propagating this non progressive narrow-minded ideology.

—–Before anyone concludes anything, the author himself is a North Indian Hindu by religion

Mumbai! There is something different about the city

It definitely sounds cliché, heard and read a bit too often. And no wonder it was definitely the same for me as I moved into the city around 3 months back. During the initial few days the only thing I found unique/different about the city was people, lots of them, a swarming sea of people everywhere-on roads, on stations, in parks, on beaches and even outside atm’s. And the best thing was that they all were totally unaffected by the crowd as if they had bought some privacy umbrella which I didn’t had access to. I could see people barely able to find a place to stand in jam packed trains yet fully engrossed in solving a sudoko or a crossword; I could see people discussing contracts/business plans while having lunch on shared seats at a crowded restaurant; I could see the enthusiastic lovebirds sharing intimate moments on overcrowded benches at public parks. Actually there was, still is, one more thing unique about the city and that is the disgusting stinking smell that somehow reappears after every kilometre or may be even sooner.

Well the time moved on and I began to get absorbed in this Mumbai lifestyle- getting on those crowded trains, walking through those stinking patches so that I could reach my workplace, or I could catch the play at Prithvi theatre, or I could reach the Goregaon sports club to have a nice game of squash, or I could enjoy a walk along Marine Drive and gaze the golden western coast during those beautiful sunsets. Strangely enough I began to like the city.

But today, something happened that took me right back to those initial days in Mumbai making me realise that I am still a newcomer in the town. While walking back form Inorbit, in no particular hurry, I notice a stray dog in deep slumber on the busy pavement of Link Road. I decided to greet him (or may be her) and purposely made my steps much louder just as I walked passed his ears. To my surprise no reaction, not even a single muscle twitched. I could not stand such ignorance, and that too at the hands of a stray dog and I decided to make an improved effort and stamped a loud thunderous step right next to his ear, but the reaction exactly the same. Believe me this is an old habit of mine and all encounters I had had before Mumbai such an action had been enough to bring an absolutely perturbed look on the face of the dog, as if the sky has fallen and induce an immediate run for cover. At this point I realised sound energy wasn’t potent enough in this region and decided to brush his legs with a soft kick. Alas the thing moved, actually just the head and that too to the bare minimum. He looked at the culprit and forgave him concluding that the contact must have been accidental, because of the crowded nature of the pavement and went back to his preferred activity, sleeping.

That is the privacy umbrella all Mumbaikars, even the dogs seem to possess, hope I can have mine soon!

Singapore, as Viewed !

Well this account was written a few months back, when I was still working out of Singapore !

As I gaze at the rain water, running right across the window panes blurring the lush green view of the adjoining “Bishan Park”, and look back upon the past 4 months, I feel that today Singapore looks strikingly beautiful! But wait it’s not the rain, not the greens but something else that makes me feel so good about today, it’s the fact that today’s a Sunday! Being in Singapore has made each one of us realise and appreciate the true worth of weekends. But this new enlightenment is accompanied with a new fear, a terrible fear of the Mondays. Believe me, it exists! But for the moment let’s savour the joy and comfort of the Sunday noon else the tone of the entire passage might be affected.

Singapore, the first onsite assignment , the first opportunity to bear the expatiates’ tag, these and several other promising thoughts had occupied most of our time before we actually arrived in Singapore. Though time and again there were those precarious moments, in the weeks just before our departure, which kept pushing the project into jeopardy. But finally the trip was confirmed although the date of arrival remained a well guarded surprise, even for us, till the day we actually took off for Singapore. For any one arriving in Singapore, especially, form India the first impression has to be a positive one. The reason being the two contrasting airports one that you have just departed from and the one you have just arrived at. And this first impression itself leaves no roam for guessing why Singapore has become the most preferred port city in this region of the world, indeed round the globe ? And in the months that have followed whenever any one of us has tried and compared even the most developed of Indian cities with Singapore we have only ended up discovering new ideas for improving our Delhis, Mumbais & Banglores.

Well that’s the change in the surrounding i.e. the background, what was even more dramatic and tougher to cope with was the change in foreground i.e. our day to day lifestyle. Singapore has brought about, maybe forcefully, a new sense of discipline and time management in our lives. If I talk to you through a single working day it should be sufficient to summarize these 4 months of stay, because each day is exactly similar to the previous one and gives no reason to believe that the one following would be any different. Our lives can be tracked almost perfectly with the help of a very simple and jam packed schedule. The ever applicable schedule goes something like this, every morning the alarm clock gets up at 6:30 am and ensures that most of us are up by seven o‘clock. And getting up this early is surely not a matter of choice but a norm out here. Right from that moment on its a one and a half hours race against time. Grabbing whatever quick bite one can grab in the name of breakfast, putting on our best possible office formals we are out on our way to MRT(Mass Rail Transit i.e Metros in normal English) station. I know that timing might take some of us back to the good old school days, but the analogy ends here itself ! Once at the MRT station we have thousands of Singaporeans for company and for them all this seems so very natural. But its their company that has taught us how to make the most of the 40 minutes of bus/rail journey that awaits us from that point on. Emulating these seasoned Singaporeans, today none of us steps out into the open without his/her favourite tracks singing into their ears via the miniature MP3 player/I pod and a interesting book which is invariably in reading position for the majority of these 40 minutes. These were some of the habits of the local residents we found very amusing during the initial few weeks, slowly we have realised this travelling time is probably the only spare time one is going to get in the next 24 hours so better make the best use of it. Finally ,almost awake, we step out on to the Brash Bashar Street, which leads to our office. And it during this 5 minutes of walk that we realise how hot and humid Singapore is, because until now we were enjoying the air conditioned public transportation system of Singapore.

At the end of this 40 min ordeal we finally enter our working place, usually on time ! The place, for a change, provides a true atmosphere of an office. Or in other words there is always something serious and depressing in the air that keeps reminding you that you must not be yourself, probably that’s what is commonly referred to as professional behaviour. Once settled in to our seats we go through the usual chores of checking mails, reading Indiatimes/ndtv.com in order to catch up with some Indian news etc. But once those 20 min are gone we begin to realise the true demands of working out of client’s location. It can be seriously demanding in 2 situations, either you have a lot do as a deadline is nearing and the deliverable has to be ready in day or two or you have hardly any thing to do and don’t really expect the situation to change in the days to come. I know the choice might seem very simple lest I mention the underlying condition that you have to ensure that you appear equally serious and diligent in both the scenarios. So the race against time continues, for some to keep check of time to know how much more time they have on their hands to accomplish the given piece of work and for others to keep check of time to know how many hours have they successfully evaded . But for most of us its usually the former scenario, that’s true and believe me better as a small stint of the latter scenario has made each one of us realise that its much easier to be in the former. All in all it’s a steep learning curve, which you have no other option but to climb, both behaviourally and technically!

During these sober office hours comes the beautiful and eagerly awaited lunch hour. An opportunity to break free, talk at the preferred loud volumes and a necessity to recharge ourselves for the remaining part of the long day. But lunch comes with a new set of scares although now most of us have become more or less accustomed to it, but still as we head to into the local food courts the sight of those roasted turkeys and chickens dangling at various food counters serves as a perfect de-appetizer, especially for the dominant vegetarian species amongst us . No wonder that just to avoid these sights most of us have limited our lunch options to either a Indian food shop known as “The Jaggi’s” or “The Subways“. The choice of Subways has no relevance with the calorie conscious image, its just the fact that no other fast food chains like KFCs or McD spared a though for the vegetarians, they don’t have even a single veg sandwich/burger on their menu. Well once back from the well savoured lunch, which we always ensure to stretch to its one hour limit, it back to business as usual, accompanied with the never suppressible after lunch drowsiness. And this time around the only break to look forward to is the end of the day, which for some may be governed by the clock while for the most of us by the status of the workload. But usually we all manage to make a move around 7pm. That leaves us with just enough time to cook, have dinner and squeeze in an hour to enjoy the vast array of facilities our condominiums offer. The facilities at homes usually comprise gym, swimming pool, squash/tennis courts but still with the laid back Indian lifestyles engraved in most of us as true Indians, we prefer to make sure that we grab the couch and utilise that hour for an hour of refreshing TV viewing everyday.

But come the weekends the sunshine is restored in our lives all the dark clouds of starting the day early, sitting in that mourning office atmosphere vanish as we head out of the office on Friday nights. Once out of the office each one has his own recommended stress busters, for some its the loud music and the bold crowd of the dance floor, for others its a game of pool, for some ,the more passionate movie buffs, it is to ensure that the Singapore stay in no way effects their movie premiere attendance. Well the coolest thing about Singapore is the option to catch Bollywood releases on giant screen, although the quality of that screen is a different story altogether. Having enjoyed our Fridays and having balanced our sleep debt the next day we step out for a much more serene and calm outing on Saturday nights, usually its just a long chat and a few beers in the sand by the ocean side, at the East Coast Park. And Today is a Sunday ,I am still trying to wake myself up from those “few” beers we had last night at Beach Cabana, the dreadful Monday is approaching and lets not even think about it .

But what we can still think about is the city itself! Having visited Singapore one is but forced to appreciate the order, the infrastructure, the smoothness and the definite class that the city possesses. Everything appears to be flowing in perfect harmony, everything would occur in the manner and in the order it was designed to occur and there would be no exceptions to it. Singapore is a city where you can actually save your travel time using the local trains/buses, where u don’t need to hit the national highways to drive at speeds greater the 100 kmph, where u forget that power can also fail, where u never need to brush your black trousers or shoes, and where you don’t have to visit an expensive ramp show to view those well sculptured………….. All in all looking at Singapore makes us realise that this is the way a city should be; it’s a perfect working model for an urban setup. Apart from this perfect planning Singapore comes with a world famous tag of a shopping paradise and believe me I do have sufficient evidence to prove the same. Just for start the city has converted most of us into tech savvy persons who just can’t help listening to their favourite tunes when travelling in a train thus always have to carry their miniature I pod/MP3 players, who are always tempted to capture every observable or non observable sight/event in with their jazzy new digital cameras, who can only think about laptops when someone refers mentions a “notebook” and this tale of technological advancement continues………

Just before you all feel that all the above mentioned praises may well be applied to any other world class metropolitan, let me share most exclusive attribute of Singapore, something intrinsic about the nature of the city which can be observed and appreciate only when you become a part of the city. It is not something apparent and may not be noticeable even to the eyes of the keenest of tourist. The city posses an extensively knit social fabric. Citizens who love to abide rules, form queues even when not asked to, protect and maintain the facilities that the city provides them with. With the warmth and respect with which you are met on any possible interaction, suggest that the city is a perfect example of how a multi religious and multi ethnic community should exist, Singapore proclaims and lives as a city with just one race.

But with a roam for all the aforementioned improvements and many other shortcomings, India is too beautiful to be separated from! And we realize this fact more than ever before as…….. 

Indian Presidential Race – 2007

This year has probably witnessed the most publicised presidential election in Indian history. Since when did the post of India’s first citizen, commonly referred to as a rubber stamp, become such a desired and keenly contested position. Before we look at each of the presidential candidates, we would love to discover the factors that made the entire nation get so very involved in the presidential race. Apart from the ever increasing number of media channels who have played their part by providing extensive coverage to the presidential race coming up with sms polls and all other spices to cook up some hot news, in my opinion it was the persona of our present President, A P J Abdul Kalam that made the entire nation stand up and take notice of the Presidential office. Abdul Kalam truly redefined the standards of morality and stature expected from the President of the nation. The two qualities that made him a great president were:

¾ Coming from a non political background he was free from any political affiliations which allowed him to maintain a neutral/unbiased stance on quite a few hazy recommendations of the ruling party.

¾ Having excelled in his chosen field, his stature as a person deserving to hold the highest office could not be doubted.Long after Rajendra Prasad and Radhakrsihnana, in the form of Abdul Kalam we had a president whose speeches we loved to hear, whose articles/books we loved to read. The entire middle/educated class has begun to associate the office of president with a sense of morality, a sense of pride and we just can’t see it being passed on to any “non deserving”’ candidate. Prathiba Patil, who in all likelihood is slated to become the first women president of India, somehow quite perfectly plays the part of that non deserving candidate. Having emerged as the only congress candidate that was acceptable to the left front, her candidature has received a resounding criticism from all directions, let’s look into the reasons why:

¾ Even if we accept a candidate with a political background for the post of president, does she simply have the stature by virtue of her political career to deserve the first citizenship? She might have been an active congress leader in the state politics of Maharastra, but I am really sorry to say she has never figured in the national level politics. Precisely for that very reason she wasn’t the 1st or the 2nd or the 3rd choice of even her own party.

¾ Once again it is highlighted that if Congress is in power the biggest plus on your job resume is the “loyalty to the family”. By giving such undeserving candidates a chance to hold offices that they had never dreamt of, Congress, read as Sonia, has ensured that these candidates remain indebted to Congress for life, and thus work to appease the Gandhi’s rather than do justice to their office.

¾ Some people in this country are going gaga over her candidature as a symbol of women empowerment. First of all this symbolism need to be removed form Indian politics, because this symbolism translates the truly deserving candidature of Abdul Kalam as a sign of Muslim/Secular victory and at the same time divert the attention of the country from a undeserving candidature of Prathiba Patil’s to a sign of women empowerment. Secondly the fans of women power need to realise that women empowerment is in a lady rising to the stature of becoming the Indian president, and not in an undeserving candidate being skyrocketed to the forefront by manipulating politicians, most of whom are men. In my opinion if this is how women empowerment is to be understood then Laloo Prasad Yadav practised it way back when he promoted his wife to the rank of CM in Bihar. I would be much happier if Medha Patkar, Indra Nooyi, Sonia Gandhi, Kalpana Morparia were to be projected as successes of women empowerment rather than Prathibha Patil.

¾ To top it all we have all these cases of default and criminal charges appearing against her in the 11^th hour, putting even the morality issue in doubt. I would give her the benefit of the doubt and fully agree that these allegations, probably dug out by media and the opposition, are nothing till they are proved in the court. But once again, for me this entire saga of allegations brings her personality/stature more in doubt then her morality. Ever since these allegations have come out, we haven’t heard a single statement of defence form the lady herself, it seems the entire Congress party realises the need to protect, actually overprotect, their symbol of women empowerment.

And then the most unexpected happens, just a few days before the filing of nominations we hear that the name of Abdul Kalam is back in the contention. The third front representatives in the form of Mulayam and Amar Singh have managed to convince Abdul Kalam to contest for a second term. Although this latest development brought about an air of joy but it hardly made any sense as the numbers were always tilted in the favour of UPA+Left combine. Indeed this development had two seriously negative impacts:

¾ It undermined the non political image of Abdul Kalam, by exposing a political ambition, an inherent desire to continue in the President’s office even at the cost of getting into a dirty political battle. Although political fight is not something to be feared of and we must respect Abdul Kalam’s decision to venture into it, although temporarily, but there is no denying that this saga has tarnished his non political image and undermined his greatest virtue of being a candidate with no political ambitions.

¾ It made Mr Bharov Singh Shevkhavat, the vice President appear merely as a gap filler. He was NDA’s candidate, then he wasn’t and now again he is. Personally I never liked his candidature, as it is inconsistent with my opinion of having a non political person at the helm of Presidential office but at the same time there is no denial that based on his political career he is more deserving a candidate then Prathibha Patil

Well all this should be over very soon, and we shall see the first women President of India. This statement just highlights the powerlessness of an average Indian citizen in influencing the race, and brings us to a bigger question, should an average citizen have a say in electing the highest constitutional power of the democracy? For the benefit of those who still do not understand the complex algorithm of electoral college I would just like to give a brief summary. The Electoral College comprises of the elected members of state legislative assembly and both the houses of Parliament. The strength of a MLA vote is :

= Population of the State(in ‘000)/Number of elected members in the sate assembly

Thus in Sikkim the value of an MLA’s vote is just 7, while in Uttar Pradesh the value is 208.Similarly the strength of a MP vote is:

= Total number of votes assigned to the elected members of the State Assemblies/Total number of elected members of both Houses of the Parliament

Thus a MP has much higher number of votes than a MLA. The total value of the votes of all members of Parliament is 5,49,408 and that of the state assemblies is 5,49,474, the total value of the votes of 4896 members of the electoral college coming to 10,98,882. On the basis of the above calculations this time MLAs of the UPA and Left parties have 5, 17,369 votes, which when combined with the Mayawati’s BSP add up to the majority mark.

No wonder at this moment the entire nation seems to be voicing this opinion of direct presidential election or some form of public participation in the election. I would like to present a few points which should help people realise why this is not such a great idea.

¾ The Cash Involved: Direct presidential election would affect the finances at two ends, firstly it would lead to one more additional burden on the taxpayer and secondly it would involve huge amounts of campaign expenditure by the candidates who would therefore look for ways to recover that cost once they make it to the president’s office. Would it be justified for the government to undertake this additional expenditure for electing a candidate that has very few vital functions to perform?

¾ It would lead to the development of 2 power centres which is never a good idea for any state or organisation. A president elected by the people would assume greater political strength and would like to have his share of involvement in the process of decision making, which as per the Indian constitution is a domain of the Prime Minister and his cabinet.

Thus I believe given the current structure of the Indian constitution the best practise for presidential election can be achieved by incorporating a couple of changes

¾ Firstly the parties should not instruct their MLAs and MPs to vote for a particular candidate, instead allowing them to go for a conscience vote. This would ensure that the stature and not the number games determine the success of a Presidential Candidate. Constitutionally there is no whip issued by the party to its legislatives, it’s just that conscience vote is not a practise at the moment and needs to be publicised and advocated.

¾ Secondly all political parties should realise that they could very well be playing the role of opposition tomorrow and how much would they prefer to have a neutral president with no political bias at that pointing time. This would help them understand the importance of non political candidates and thus back such candidates. The changes that I have talked about require no constitutional amendment and are very much implementable for all practical reasons. But till the time the above mentioned changes are absorbed by the political parties and practised by their legislatives we as citizens of India can voice these opinions and ensure that next time onwards we elect representatives who are open minded to listen understand evaluate and bring about such positive changes. Jai Hind!

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