Year end wishes

Its not just time to change Calendar, Diaries and Planners but much more. Its a time to reflect what had gone right in 2010?
What could have been better and what should i avoid in and what should i must do in 2011.
After all new year is just another day. Sun rises and sets as usual.
Its more about hope that we can make change and make things better for ourselves and sorroundings in pursuit of happiness. Hope you will do all those changes which will help you reach your goal in 2011. Lets resolve to help others near and away from you. Lets resolve to make our society and country a better place. Lets resolve to do things helping save planet.
Let also resolve be in touch in 2011.
Wish you happy new year 2011
Gautam Naik

Special event

We organized recently a special sports event for differently able children at Jeevanjyot School on Karve Road.
Differently able and mentally handicapped children need special care, attention and support for the society. To highlight this point, cityblog supported the interschool event conducted by Jeevanjyot School. The occasion was World mentally handicapped day on 8th Dec. The school organizes various events like sports, dance, painting etc. We financially supported Jeevanjyot for this cause and also proposes to highlight the cause to support such schools. 14 different schools all around Pune participated on that day with around 400 such children and adults from vocational centers attending the sports competition. The events like Lemon and spoon race, weaving beads, throwing ball in basket, ‘lagori’ , carom, dumbbell race etc were conducted. Children enjoyed while participating in these events. The competitive spirit shown was exemplary even for non handicapped people. The winner’s faces said it all. There were competitions for teachers as well. The participants were also given snacks etc.
We had selected this event to salute the fact that mentally challenged people are the most vulnerable lot amongst all those disabled in some form. If one loses ability to think normally, one has great challenges as mind controls everything. So as society we need to care, support these people and make their lives happier and easier.

Can facebook kill email?

There is one ad on TV where an old man is asked about events 25 years back. He says in those days we used to talk face to face than over facebook. here i wont say facebook is responsible for killing person to person interaction. Rather i would blame internet as such. Facebook is just an application in social networking. Its the need to create a desired identity virtually which may or may not match your real personna. That is your virtual identity. Thus many people want incognibilty, inaccountabilty , anonymity offered by internet applications like chatrooms, social networking apps and they prefer over face to face conversations or tagged internet applications like email (where you have to declare identity). ofcourse pshycologist can add text over text on effects of internet in personal relations etc thats beyond the point. What i mainly want to compare is facebook and email.
Promoter of facebook has claimed that fb will kill email very soon. Though i have some doubts especially say from archival, attachment , official communication protocol points of view but i am sure it will kill person to person communication in form of email. Nobody writes snail mail today unless for above reasons. The way we have stopped writing letters to our friends, relative, colleagues, we will stop emailing.
One point of contention though is privacy. Though one can send message privately, most still prefer writing on wall which is public to all. The basic success of facebook depends on the fact that there is an urge to make others believe in your profile; real or affected. It has some ego trip about showing off people about your hectic social or professional life. Updating status is need to tell people what my life is. And people also love to peek into others lives and compare. Thats the same vouyeristic tendencies the reality shows cater to. Thus it offers opportunities for individual to assume an self image which he declares on his status. Man is socia animal. he always wants to be among close one. Facebook always makes you feel connected with your world. Some friends are just names you associate by means of some occasional interactions, most are old friends who suddenly appear after many years and whom you thought would never talk to again (thats best part of fb for me), some are very close friends, colleagues (thats very risky proposition on fb to have professional contacts to be there. better they be on linkedin)and some relatives (its again tricky selecting them). Thus your facebook means your world which you live in almost.
While benefits of facebook in promoting event, product is beyond doubt. the most intruguing point for me is psyhcology which drives people to post status updates like " today morning had dosa for breakfast" , ' Had great afternoon tea' , 'waiting to catch flight to seattle'. Why should i be interested to know that. Argument can be that you are only posting to your friends. So they will be interested to know what you do in life. But would you do same in real life ? will you bombard your friends with such trivial items. Just because you are 24/7 online and opportunity is there why should you. Talk about cinema, sports or some important event in life, politics, weather, society, crack some jokes: thats what you talk when you meet face to face. So why facebook should not follow face to face talk.
Coming back to email vs facebook. The convenience and speed offered by fb will bypass email esp for personal communication for sure. facilty to chat, message makes it fulproof. also add birthday reminders, apps, events.
What makes me believe this? On my just concluded birthday, i got a huge update on wall as it was ealier for all my friend to do that rather than send me email. Earlier i used to wait for emails but now my email box was full with fb updates. thanks my friends for all wishes. you made me feel special despite knowing that they were aided by fb. to remember b/day and send email/call makes one feel more special (i had many such friends as well). they say proof of pudding is in eating. so there lies my proof. Sure we will stop writing emails to our friends one day..

Its tough going with the flow

They say its easy going with the flow but very difficult going against the flow. In this case, going against flow is impossible but going along itself is a challenge. here i mean literally. I am talking about white water rafting.

Rishikesh was a place which fascinated me since 1989 when i went there first onwards for a trek in garhwal. The charm and romance of Ganges flowing first time onto plains itself is an event to witness. Add to that mysticism of Hills which are very tall. The anticipation of approach of The Nagadhiraj or the king of mountains the Himalayas. Narrow road adjoining the flow of Ganga which is deep down the valley. And some religious fervour makes it a special place.

Heard that in Rishikesh you can go upto level 6 of rapids. Maybe only ladhakh/beas can offer those. Rishikesh has gained popularity as it can offer rapids from level 1 to 4 suitable for novices as well as its proximity to Delhi/Dehradun.

This year we had planned to spend a weekend in rishikesh while attending a family event in Delhi and a meeting. Few friends roped in and we were set.

We reduced travel time by using overnight trains from Delhi and Dehradun so we get two full days in rishikesh. Our hotel was 25km from Rishikesh towards Devprayag. Thus we went upstream and air became more refreshing , cool . The entire region is scenic. And what a view from the rooms.

After a good north indian breakfast, we went towards marine drive (not the one in mumbai) a place where road and stream of ganges lie side by side for a very small patch thus maybe the name. That was the starting point.

Our instructor deepak rana explained basic commands, dos , dont, safety tips. He warned us that falling outside raft is very common and nothing to panic. Thats the best preparation you need. Problem is that water is very cold. So he made us jump to acclimatize. You lose all senses once inside the cold river. Hope all our sins were washed by Holy Ganges.
First track from Marine drive to Shivpuri (12 Km) has 6 rapids which are uniquely named for eg Good morning, Tee off, 3 blind mice etc. The rapids are smooth and good for beginers. Maximum rapid is level2. But still its thrilling as your raft wobbles and you need to really concentrate and hold over raft even at level2.
The arms start making their protestations as you have to do forward/backward oaring insite of being with flow either to navigate or balance or move ahead. Ours was team of six , guide and his helper. Helmets and life jackets are compulsory.
The next patch from shivpuri to laxman jhula in rishikesh has 10 rapids with two most rapids are level 2-3 and two of them level4 (roller coaster and golfcourse)
Level 4 is some experience. All three boats accompanying us upsurped. All the contents: people. oars, chappals, water bottles start flowing with stream. all you have to do is not panic. Hold your head, legs pointing downstream, Head upstream, start flowing till you reach calm. Your life jacket will help you stay afloat (depth of water some places is 50 ft). Only thing to avoid is getting hit on head and body by boulders on side. And dont panic. Experts are around. They will rescue. Our boat had honor to be only boat not to capsize. So we conducted rescue for two other boats. Only mishap was one of our friend (amongst group of 6) fell off . but she was cool and being good swimmer helps. This was at first level 4 . The second one golf course, the amount of water rushing makes it tough. Thats where mountain dew ad is shot. Its amazing experience. Then we had another experience of body surfing. Thats when you knowingly jump out of raft, hold the lifeline on side and cross the rapid along raft while inside water. Thats when you remember your Nani( grandma).
Then at another rapid you are supposed to leave life line and have a free flow. That was fun for swimmers like me. Finally we had cliff jumping. To jump in river from 17 ft cliff. you have to make final resolve prior to jump . Thats it. I had jumped into 30 ft well when i was 6 yrs. I was given prize by A B Vajpayee for doing that. That exp helped maybe. But thrilling exp nevertheless. After 5 hrs of rafting we ended at Muni ki reti and headed towards hotel for heavy heavy lunch which was needed.

To gain india its rightful place in the world

When we were young we used to have a pledge. In that there was a mention of we striving hard to gain India its rightful place amongst the countries of the world.

I think we have lived up to that pledge. When i say we, i say the foot soldiers of New Indian Economy. Proof of concept is the Obama speech in parliament.

I know that these speeches are empty rhetorics and carry no significance. But inspite of cynicism, the proof of imminence of India lies in fact that in first ten yrs of new milleniun US presidents have visited us thrice. It took fifty years for US presidents to visit India thrice in 1900s. Things have changed.

I remember we (India as country) meant nothing for international community read western world. We were a closed society with dubious political inclination towards Russian block. We were on wrong side of cold war. Troubled by treacherous neighbours like Pak and China, we had no voice . Though congress and nehru vision may sound gaga over NAM etc. Those were useless initiatives. Only high point of our international relations were winning of wars against PAK inspite of being at wrong side of world opinion.

The process of change started with IIT grads and medical students starting going out in 70s and 80s. They showed that Indians are equal if not more in adopting to best practices. International media and movies used to depict us as land of snake charmers, and tigers roaming around. Though our movies had impacted russia, central eastern asia, china and south east asia , gulf,etc but the western world or the image makers of the globe found us worth neglect and disdain. Cricketers from Eng, Australia, NZ used to find excuse to avoid indian tour.

Amidst this visionaries like JRD Tata, FC Kohli , Narayanmurthy saw value of computers and its impact on all other sectors. We also were lucky to have been ruled by Britain instead of other Europeans which resulted in young indian popultion getting educated in English.

Then came rajeev vision where he had opened small window for world helping indian technology, real estate. telecommunication revolution came in with cities and towns getting connected. All this helped IT and new economy.

Thankfully we had green revolution in 70s to feed our population which again helped increase purchasing power of Indian Populace. During and say 25 yrs after indian independance we struggled with agro economy and were unable to look beyond food security. Thus many western multinationals were attracted to purchasing power and numbers of Indian middle class.
It were calamitous years of evil regimes of VP singh, Chandrshekhar, that drove us to BOP crisis. This made liberlization only option for MMS and PVN to follow. P V Narsihnarao along with Dr Singh deserves a mention in this indian story. More often due to dirty politics of seculairism he had been vilianized.
That drove world to India as a market. indians went out going to attract export business in technology. There was Y2k and dotcom windfall. Indian economy was found stable esp after 97 asian crisis. Our diasporia already had broken stereotypes with great success stories on foreign shores. Thus we entered new millenium

New millenium mantra is money. Thus our economy helped us to gain political weight in world forums. Terrorism was common problem which india faced since mid eighties with punjab earlier, and Kashmir later. With 9/11, US and western world empathized with us. Energy , Climate were hard fought issues with western world which alienated india from developed world. But with Civil nuclear deal and with acceptance of climate change resolutions we do not pose threat value to westerm world. Till say 2008, we were just an equal entity amidst many other alies for western world.

Ofcourse oue cinema was truly global with our stars getting global recognition (in terms of popularity and not substance). Our cricket has attracted millions. Cricketers from Aus, SA, England crave indian riches.

2008 financial meltdown tilted balance finally for India. Indian was only place which seemed to survive in competition to hegemonial china. So now India is best bet for western world to stand against chinese domination while it was also found capable to create business opportunities for western world and help them survive the downturn.

Thats where Obama speech comes from. Thus the words...

That made me feel part of process to gain indian right place in world. India internally has enormous challenges to be able to be a great country: Terrorism, Corruption, rich poor divide, education, environment, naxalism, energy.... List is daunting and not much seems to have been done. we have to make a start..

Ofcourse, now that platform is set. Its upto our action that will define further course of political history. But economic position is irreversible. and that is an achievement from the days when i used to say pledge in my school.

Diwali: Down the memory lane

Diwali brings about a special ambience, happiness, peace, camaraderie within each of us. We are sure that readers of Cityblog are excited about upcoming Diwali festival. In special theme of Now and Then where we look upon what are the key points we remember Diwali thoughout our memories since childhood.
History and Mythology: Diwali marks the return of Lord Rama to his kingdom of Ayodhya after defeating (the demon king) Ravana, the ruler of Lanka, in the epic Ramayana. It also celebrates the slaying of the demon king Narakasura by Lord Krishna. Both signify the victory of good over evil. Sociologically it was the time to celebrate four months of toil of farming and celebrating agricultural success. Historically Diwali has been celebrated all over India in various formats. Here in Pune it is spread over six days. There are historical references of celebration during Shivaji era as well as in peshwa era. In famine ridden old days of bristish empire, people needed occasions to celebrate and most importantly eat well. Faral items were made only during diwali in the entire year. Now we can eat Chakli, ladoos anytime. New clothes were bought only once a year in diwali Pre independence days saw emergence of cultural social agenda in form of Diwali magazines. Post independence crackers got prominence as well as cultural programs like music shows drama. In post liberalization era, cracker menace was identified and also a phenomenon called Diwali Pahat gained popularity.
Let us now highlight each phenomenon unique in its association with Diwali Memoirs for atleast pst 3 generations and current one.
Holidays: One semester is over and schools break after a Diwali party, for Diwali vacations of 3weeks to allow students enjoy diwali as well travel. Some schools give homework which is spoilsport. But that does not dampen spirit of chidren and parents
Nature: Rains normally subside (last two years being exception), Nature takes its own course. There is typical aroma of seasonal flowers and air. Mornings and evenings are chillier with day moderate. I am sure most people associate that aroma of nature with Diwali.
Faral aroma: Another aroma paves way thorugh kitchens all over Pune, is smell of faral items mostly fried. Chivda, ladoo, chakli , karanji etc. Chakli being king of farals as its success defines total faral to be good or average. We kids used to love tasting samples freshly made braving few scolds from parents/grandparents/aunts
Killa and akashkandil; Once we had vacations, we used to plan structure of our clay fort. It used to be a mixture of modern city scape with old shivaji era forts. In one shot you can have four wheelers plying on road where shivaji and his soldiers used to be placed atop the fort and lord Shankar in cave with tiger. Clay idols were really attractive. Getting clay is becoming a task in concrete jungle. Its also time to make/buy an akashkandil or light to be hung from balconies/window. Some people do extensive lighting. That creates ambience.
Vasubaras: That’s the first day of diwali. Only part of celebration is puja of cow and her calf organized by some local politico. But it marks the beginning of festivities.
Dhanteras: Its lady’s Diwali. That’s also mark puja of dhan (money) and dhannya (grains): symbols of wellbeing.
First Cracker of morning: then comes the thirds day of narak chaturdashi. There used to be a competition where someone who lights first cracker of morning say at 4 am is winner. Nowa days cracker menace is identified rightfully so this tradition needs some bypass but idea is to maybe write the first rangoli or something.
Rangoli is drawn in every household on everyday. Creatively inclined are popular in Diwali
Abhyngsnan: You can associate Utne (multani soil), Fragrant Oil and Moti soap with this. All men folk are massaged and idea is to take bath before first rays of sun else you will get into narak (hell) .This was some threat for young ones .
Sarasbaug: After abhyangsnan, idea is to go the dev darshan or a temple. Sarasbaug was is immensely popular for its ambience. Everybody decked up in new clothes, a good sight seeing.
Faral with friends: On return, most families have traditional get-togethers to have joint faral where the faral quality was put to test. It also used to be marked with jointly viewing special programs on TV or some Marathi play VCD. I remember PL ‘s Varyyavarchi Varat on DD. Gone are those days.
Diwali Ank: getting to sleep in afternoon is must after early rise. Best way is to relax and read diwali special magazines. Good literary stuff.
Laxmi Pooja and Haldikunku: This is the fourth day . This is when goddess laxmi pooja is done. We can remember a lot of fire crackers in eighties and nineties where there used to be competition to light biggest cracker. Great noise pollution and decibel levels were really high. All lights were lighted up and ladies used to have haldikunku.
Diwali Pahat/cultural programs: Post liberalization era identified need of people to be involved in culture, music and drama. Thus a line up of programs was held and there was enthusiastic response for such shows. Nowadays these shows are held abroad also.
Deepotsav: Mjor temples, gardens are now lit up with earthen lamps in formation. It’s a sight to watch.
Padwa: This is fifth day. Here there is big lunch with a sweet dish. This also is time for husband to gift his wife. First diwali after marriage is very important and son in law gets gifts.
Bhaubij: This is sixth and last day. Now its sisters time to be gifted from brother.
Travel Plans: Diwali vacations had a window for those who could travel to faraway destinations like north /south or near destinations like Konkan/Mahabaleshwar. Also was opportunity to go to relative’s house outside town.
Cricket: Time to play and watch cricket as this new cricket season starts in Oct.
Charity: Some people do real good work to donate faral, colthes etc for needy. This angle of celebration has caught up.

There are some post diwali rituals like Dev Diwali or Tushi marriage which are not so wide spread. But Diwali season and vacations end with bright Tripuri Pournima leaving behind great memories and leave us longing for next Diwali. Wish you very happy diwali and prosperous new year.

If gods were cricketers

Indian cricket team is ruling roost esp with current victory snatched from a defeat at Mohali. With VVS Laxman as hero.I read a cartoon where people demanded temple of Laxman to be undisputed in backdrop of Ram Temple issue. Thats led me to a train of thoughts. pls note i do not want to create any religious controversy nor i intend to insult gods. If Gods in heaven form a cricket team whose T shirt will they wear?

In India there is cliche. Criket is our religion and players are Gods. But here its reverse.

Lord Ganesha: He is opener. He is attacking. He removes all obstacles. He is master of arts. All evil fear him. So he has be Sehwag

Lort Kartik; Brother of ganesha, equally capable. But remains not so prominent; he is gambhir

Now comes trinity in the middle order: Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh

He is creator, he created world , with whom everything starting, he cannot be created nor be destroyed. He remains on and on and on.. He is Tendulkar

He is saviour of world. He faces most trickiest solutions. he ends up winner in every incarnation. He is maryada purshottam, he is dravid

He is destructor, powerful , iconoclast, listens only to his own guts, he is ganguly

Where is Laxman: He is shesha. Accompanying vishnu in every incarnation. Remains sidelined. equally capable. creates great partnerships with vishnu (Kolkata, adelaide).

Now comes the king indra, dhoni; Leader on basis of his team of gods. Lucky, simple, has his own strengths like vajra.

we all know powers of nature. so they bowl out opposition
Suryadev: Bhajji with hot attitude and scorches opposition with spin
Varundev: Zaheer destructive yet productive
Vayudev: Ishant with pace and lightness. His putra Saved Laxman using sanjeevani booti like in mohali.
Agnidev: Shreeshant with fiery attidute and dance.

Yamdev: silent death : kumble with knack to kill opposition and yet be friendly. yam has most important role to maintain balance of life and death.

last pair of ashwini kr can be our spin twins ozha and mishra. they were twins. they were doctors. Here our pair doctors spin.

i think i have most gods covered . i know there are 33 crores of gods but search vedas or refer to any mythological serial list ends here. if experts know more, pls suggest.

oh kamdev i forgot; that has to be yuvraj....

thanks team india for all winning moments

Ayodhya Verdict : A monumental Opportunity

Last week whole India waited with baited breath for Ayodhya Verdict. Finally it came as a big suprise for many. For once law went beyond the irrelevant minor technicalities and delivered a solution, which seems to be only way out of this mess created by interested parties (say politicians , leaders cross the spectrum starting from Babar himself, followed by bristishers, congress and BJP).
Following the verdict, i could not wait to analyze reactions to the verdict from all parties involved, armchair philosophers and usual suspect crowd. and i was totally disappointed. No politician in country has guts to stand out of crowd and make sense to public. let me explain
firstly issue like Ayodhya cannot be solved using normal civil court procedures. Its matter of coexistance and tolerance. If No one party can remain victor or loser, Then only the solution can evolve. I have heard from wakf board claiming that land belonged to them and events in 1949 and 1992 created dispute. This stand has certain limitations as its virtully beyond court to reaffirm what happenend in 15th century or for that matter to go and ascertain birth place of almighty. The issue has to be solved with a view beyond the myopic and convenient positions taken by so called secular parties and media.
It has been historically witnessed that victors always went on stamping the humiliation on losers. babar was no saint, he was a plain invader. That is a fact. So majority community could get attracted to sentiments aroused by sangh parivar to this basis that they wanted to be part in restoring their pride. That does not though justify sangh Parivars thought process which denies existance and rights of 20% of population. That also is myopic version of saffornization. you need to coexist with 20% population. Minorities also should feel themselves to be part of mainstream and stop feeling alienated or pampered out of political equations. In fact this factorial politics played by Congress and other opportunists has resulted in the poverty and misery of Muslim population. They should see themselves equal and take benefit of modern education, economical opportunities in India (to which whole world is attracted to) and assert their rights rather than always look to create arbic indentity always as outsider and the feeling of being victimized.
So Court which was the last establishment to solve this. It sincerely tried to resolve matters by giving out of box solution. Leaders and politicians etc failed conveniently as it was in their interest to let the confict remain unresolved.
Court has tried sincerely, went with its limitations and delivered a super verdict which paves way for coexistance and conciliation. Each party should now accept others existance as per directive and once for all resolve this tricky issue. I know we are not done yet. SC might over turn this and that will be a disaster. I sincerly hope matter does not go the SC which by all means will. I really pray equally to Ram and Rahim to give sense to all parties and let us live peacefully. Its a golden opportunity.
But i had fun watching reactions from so called secular faces criticizing court. Had the decision been reverse they would have claimed court to be untouchble and any criticism would have been sacrelage. Even some media stawarts were busy explaining how decision is wrong etc etc. Media always has taken convenient position . worst were snakes like Samajwadis who went beserk. There is no reason for Muslims to feel dissapointed as they should understand that it has given them rights as well. Coexistance and tolerance are key words here. And There is no reason for Hindus to feel jubiliated as again here coexistance and tolerance is key. No one has lost and no one has gained. Perfect balance and sanity is restore. I hope SC does not tumble this applecart. cannot afford to go back to 92/93.....

Dramatic Moments

This is Ganpati time. After many years, i had an opportunity to be involved in drama during Ganesh festival. Thanks to rejuvinated spirit in my society, which celebrated public festival after 6 yrs of its inception. Drama with kids aged 6-8 was another challenge. So had to write script and work on practice sessions with those kids. Kids were so enthused abt it as they used to assemble for 4-5 mins earlier to 930 practice time and used to ring bell at sharp 9 30. They performed well including my daughter who later attempted to write her own drama. Everybody enjoyed it.

Drama is so fun. Mostly i have done one act plays expect for few productions at KGP. It all started at my high school, where kale sir (Shri Pramod kale, who wrote and directed kahe kabira and many more performances, and an active sudarshan rangmanch member) spotted talent in me. I was a non entity till say 5-6th. Jaagar Prasang Natya was a real best opportunity where we had to do extenpore drama. Thats a different challenge. We did some good plays for school gathering written by Kale sir/Tapasvi sir. I remember performing in front of Nilu phule and sriram lagoo. Then came a group play called Kavle where we won a competition. It was a ballet. We had great time practising it. We also participated in rajya Natya in mumbai.
The concept of writing script (hand written) from the Book. Remembering dialogues. Reactions, timing , positioning etc. Endless practices, tea shops, snacks, late night cycling, opportunity to interact with opposite gender, rangeet talim, final show, some blunders and timely recoveries, prompting. the process is real fun. The next day after performance was sad, as we felt loss of purpose of life.

Then came my opportunity to have tryst with purshottam karandak in college. It was different experience all together. though we did not do well as it was well foreseen.(It was sacrificial entry as other play from college was the main entry). Those practices in college campus, selection process (I had a friend whom people used to call as my godfather. he provided helpful jack.) Those snacks at 3 am. We had passouts and alumnii helping us. A great learning curve.

In kharagpur, with my background, i took interest in Hindi Drama. I had a senior from Pune who was also active in drama circles. He was genious. We did few sanjay pawar translations. In my first year (ours was the first batch to have separate fresher's hostel). I directed a hindi drama. I got best direction award. Since then directing took frontseat than acting. Spring fest was great event . we had plays from calcutta colleges. I volunteered as organizer there. For all 4 years i was involved in that. I became drama secretary and organized 3 competitions. Those organizational skill, right from booking auditorium, getting makeupman, budgeting, slotting, property really helped in professional life. I had an intersting senior called Rehan Khan from Lucknow. He ate, drank and breathed drama. We had very little female population. So all girls had opportunity to participate in drama at some event or other. Thus we were the most envied population on campus. We also performed at Ghatshila (near jamshedpur). we did picnics for drama teams. We did freshers play : Moruchi maushi hindi version. People had gala time. I performed in bengali translated plays by badal sarkar. I translated elkunchwar play Holi, directed and acted in it. we won a prize. Tried to understand bengali drama as well. Badal sircar, Mohan rakesh, tendulkar form trinity. In my final year, I was drama society governor.
After that saw many plays but never had that chance to perform again throughout my professional life. Attempted (successfully) to write a play. Also tried staging it but for lack of team. But its never late. Will surely try to be involved in stage, and also new media. lets hope this tryst during ganesha starts that track.

Coming back to where we started, very early in my life, we used to have ganpati festival at my wada. We did some kids plays. We used to watch seniors perform. It used to be an event which we used to look forward to from months together. We also performed for Dynandeep a TV program on social causes. That was a different era.

Time has flown by. Life has come whole circle. So let me live some more dramatic moments ahead. Thats a prayer to Ganesha, master of 64 arts.....

Good Old Times

Every philosophy talks about living in present. That seems to be only way of maximizing potential of achievements. Past is history. Future is unknown.
But i feel, what we treasure most is memories. especially the good ones. I am sure we are all selective about memories. How many of us would like to ponder over say sad memories or the tough times faced by each one of us. Human mind conveniently tries to mask them. that brings me to the topic of some of the very best memories of my life. School days. Reason, a gettogether where i met some classmates after 21 years. Three idiots met after 10 yrs out of college. Here we attempted to rewrite the script by rewinding 20 years. (sure not a remake of "bees saal baad").

School days were the most carefree days of our lives. Only purpose of going to school for me was recess and PT periods. Cricket, football, volleyball, hand ball, appa rappi, hand cricket, list of sports goes on.. They were seasonal. Primary school days were the most formative days. I still remember impact i had for every langauge class, maths funda, composition etc. But in secondary, the scholastics took back seat atleast till 9th. Exams were the only spoilers. Vacations were the high points. Extra curricular really started in secondary where the setup became more democratic. In primary , access to activities was controlled by teachers. Thus backbenchers like me never had chance. With advent of interest in Quizes, Drama, etc, extra curricular activities added a lot of confidence. My head master was another inspiration, such dedicated teachers are very hard to find. At home, no one pressurized me to study. And i compare what i am doing to my daughter. These are different times but still we all parents should have sanity and reflect upon our own school days. Ofcourse, we had many self motivated colleagues who used to be toppers and use to generate an awe. In my daughter's class , i find such characters. They say , your child is an opportunity for you to revisit your childhood. and thats whats happening with me as a parent.
Coming back to school memories, I remember those bus journeys, cycle journies, some crazy events. Fights with girls. (so silly of us as we realized that in later life)
In fact in our gettogether, we had girls (now ladies) outnumbering gents. Welcome change... Those interhouse competitions, social service camps, trips. Many more memories.
Its a tough choice for me to judge between hostel life in kgp and school days to be the 'best days of my life' (summers of 80-89 or summers of 91-96 as i can say)
Kgp life was different. i have an earlier blog titled Rocking memories here if you want to read abt that kgp life.
Professional life also has some great moments. But also were challenges. In both these phases (kgp and school), there were hardly any low points. Thats why if i had a time machine, i would definitely go back then. Buts its hard to chose if i had only one option to revisit....

Curious Case of Virender Sehwag

I am a total fan of Sehwag. I would pay anything to watch him play. More than Cricket, More i like his philosophy: Plain, simple, honest, positive. There is no fear of failure as failure is acceptable part of life as per his philosophy. He will on some day get out trying hyper ambitious shot. But most of the days he will send it for cleaners.

Aby baby in a hit film had said " Duniya mein do tarah ke log... ". There are two kinds of people: as per obama catch mantra: Those who think they can and those who think they cannot. and that though makes the final difference.

The only way he thinks is positive. If he thinks he can hit he does. More often than not, it succeeds. People have criticized that he throws away wicket loosely and does not have technique. What better technique you can have if you can hit like what he does. And about throwing away wicket , its shows for lack of fear of failure.
Even in life we need to do away with lot of mental baggage, remove negativity and stop being afraid of failures: Sehwag shows the way. Fear of failure comes with lack of confidence in ones ability and efforts. Back your strenghts, think positively: Think every ball as potential boundary ball : be it a bouncer (recession) or be it a half volley (boom time). Every ball can be hit. You will get beaten one ball or might even be out. But dont stop playing your shots....
Dont just block the ball. Purpose of life is to score runs , and while doing that is that you remain notout. If you dont score, better be out as blocking will not lead you anywhere. Score will remain same and there will be one ball which will take you out just as people who are comfortably enconsced in their jobs get fired during recession as an example.

When everyone struggles in srilanka on difficult Dambulla pitch, he ends up scoring centuries. I hope we remember similar story on greener Newzealand wickets in 2002-3.
and at galle against ajantha mendis in 2008, and his pace setting 83 while chasing 380 against england in chennai, and his almost 3 triple centuries: One matchwinning (multan), One match saving (chennai) and one game changing (brabourne), his great hundreds in Australia.

He has been earlier branded as flat track bully. But if you study his major succeses have come against toughest opposition on taoughest conditions as mentioned above.
He has score everywhere in planet. infact his stats against bangladesh and zimababwe are most average. Thats a curios point. He lacks motivation when there is no challenge. He is someone who takes opposition by his horns.
Thats why he terrorizes bowlers just like Viv richards used to do. Sometimes he gets under skin as what he got to srilankans and suraj randiv...

People have tried short balls, bouncres, wide of off side balls to trap him. He has comeup with answers everytime. He has habit of making to landmarks with big hits. sometimes he has perished as well. Thats another facet of sehwag philosophy: Discard that is common place do something big...

Another curious aspect is his average performance in limited overs. He is the most suitable guy for limited overs but its opposite. Reason for that is any contraint or restraint is painful for such souls. Field restrictions, runrates , wickets etc make him play some unnatural shots. Solution is simple and he seems to have worked out in recent series: Play naturally street smart cricket And thats a good sign with ICC world cup coming. India has great chance if he continues like this.

If you ask me, that who is the player whom you like most to watch, my answer would have been SRT in 90s but in new millenium it is Sehwag. Ands its not balsphemy with due respects to SRT, most will agree.

June

June had been hectic on work front. Schools have reopened. Rains had their entry in Pune. But has taken some respite as usual. No picnics till rains reappear, though had a small drive to hadshi a beautiful place in Maval. it will be matter of concern if this dry spell continues. Food prices are already up. if rains continue to desist then we are having an issue. Fuel prices have increased. Not so good time to live in.... but for football.
Its that time after four years when world stops. For us, we have to lose out on sleep due to late night matches. Everyone talks about demi gods like Maradona, Baggio, Ronaldo, Zidanne, Beckham, Rooney, Messi...... Pubs, restaurants are all abuzz with action. No other sport carries that mass appeal. maybe because its very simple. Man with a ball to kick. Thats it...
For me memories go back to days in 82 when paola rossi's headers caught imagination. Then it was Maradona's world cup that led into addiction. I remember in recesss time we used to discard cricket to play football for that month. 90 was boring WC. 94 I was in Kharagpur , i was doing project in vacation.Whole hostel was empty but for 3-5 mtechs and bhains (nick name of a wingie)with me. WC in bengal is a crazy experience. Everyone in market talks about it.
Final match was played on second day of sem when everyone was there. It was fun....There wer 6 of us supporting Italy against atleast 80 odd brazil supporters. Italy has been team of my choice due to their style of defense and counter attack. But this time i am supporting argentina...
98 I was in Mumbai . i used to share flat with some likeminded people at andheri. Mumbai rains was the memory alongside. and water logging was often. so soccer was only source of entertainment. 02 i had opportunity to see it live in Korea. My client had booked tickest for all office. we took a bus. It was some tempo. De hamaniguk was the chant. Ads of Korea team fighting were all around. Some fun and dream come true for me. When Korea lost yesterday, my client gave me a call and i had to console him. 06 was good WC with some good matches. I enjoyed at my club.... Now we are here in 10, almost half way. But clear pattern emerging of south american teams doing well... lets see if argentina goes all the way.
Another June highlight is memory of PL. I remember 10 years back, it was on 12th June he passed away. I felt a huge loss and attended his funeral, went to his home. PL has been a great inspiration. Even now after hectic day, i listen to haritatya, or asami in my drive back. And i am unwound... Simply a great person apart from being a great writer, orator, singer, musician,actor, social activist.... and so on..... A person who lived life and enjoyed every bit of it. He is a light and role model to demonstarte how one should live his life. .... He is know for humour but i feel he gives serious dimensions to make us think , guide us as to how one should live. But for that one should study his life, literature, drama, history etc.... There is a criticism that he dwelved upon only middle class values and was not all inclusive. To answer that, i feel though the medium he chose was based on middle class experiences but issues addressed were global. Also human values in each of his character are much deeper than his humour. salute to a great man...
last aspect of june is start of wimbledon, waiting for semis and finals...
And most importantly waiting for Rains so we can have picnics, treks and whole countryside turing into heaven....

Remembering Rajiv

'Yeh Bharat Desh hain , Humme ise ikkisvi sadi mein le jaana hain'. (This is India and we have to take it in 21st century) How many times in my formative years i had heard this. I used to do a reasonabaly well mimikri in my school repeating these lines, tone, accent. 21st century has completed its first decade , and we really are in it. For a middle class boy then aspirtaions were to grow into someone of repute, money and knowledge. And i hold Rajiv Gandhi one of the enabler of dreams of many people like myself. Though someone may attribute the growth of Indian IT to JRD/FC Kohli or someone may attribute liberalization window, someone may define it as windfall of Y2k. For me reasons of clear. Alongwith me , i have few noted economists agreeing to this.
1. Penetration of telecom with STD/ISD
2. Mid 80s construction boom leading to urbanization of cities like Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
3. (Though done not with honest intent) Creation of policy to encourage private educational institutes creating pool of engineers much needed to promote IT.
4. Focus on technology and many schemes encouraging govt funding for initiatives like STPI
I can dwelve upon each of above and impact of those policies on IT , but thats beyong point. Its about remembering a leader whom i liked genuinely.
Maybe then i was young but today its very hard to find any politician whom you can like. In current spectrum after retirement of A B Vajpayee and to an extent Thakaray, i personally dont feel worth of affection. (I am clear about word affection; It does not mean i support policies or the politics). Leaders like Indira Gandhi, Rajeev Gandhi, Vajpayee, Thakray, are liked by people. They have charishma. People look upto them to stand out and be with them in thick and thin.
They have humane face. Their politics or policies can be cricitisised but not their personna.
Thats what is missing today : a politician with personna. Rajiv Gandhi was much more than that. Though into politics by accident (calamity), he literally blazed onto scene. His speeches, youthy, energy was infectious. We never had so presentable, eloquent and dynamic PM.
That was the time when we like to be involved in National affairs. Reason being advent of DD with its high quality serials (though it was only option). We really felt together as a nation. Remember those national networks or run for countries (which we participated).
Politics declined with advent of characters like VP singh, Devilal etc .... People could not realte to them as person.Only respite was honest characters like Vajpayee and Manmohan singh.
I still remember that night on 21st May . That was the day i got to know about one of my greatest academic achievements. But as news poursed in (by means of one of my neighbours reading a board in local square), i was shocked. I felt my academic achievement is worthless as there is no one in country whom you can prove your capabilty. Those were the teen ages ;inexplicable not understanding that noone and nobody is indespensible and life goes on and on with or without anybody. Strange emotions that time. Today i can laugh over them equipped with lifes experiences, sarcasm /indifference/hate for politics and leadership. Maybe elders then could have felt that time also. But honestly i dont see today's teenager carrying same emotions for politicians (atleast not those i know of).
Rajiv was naive in politics and had to pay ultimate price for it. he also was tainted and back stabbed by those close. He also played a role of constructive opposition once down from PM post in 89 for almost and and half year.
Coming back to point i started that Indian IT has enabled many people to lead a life their parents would not even have imagined them to live. Entire middle class could aspire to get equipped with skills they can demonstrate on global scale and be part of mean world of Business which was restricted to few in old economy. In my community its rare to have someone who does not have immidiate kin in US /UK or western world. In fact those who stay back out of choice have to face a stand out situation. And for me ,one of the enabler was Rajiv Gandhi. Point to be noted by all my peers in IT industry.

Innovation and IPL lessons

Innovation is the need of hour today. Whatever that was done in past should act as reference point. Innovation is a process. It builds upon several past attempts to make difference. Success lies in learning from past. Be informed about possibilties. take a new angle to same problem . Innovation does not mean doing something new but taking different look at same thing. Romantics may differ. They might believe innovation to be an eureka moment.
Everyone in life has eureka moments. But we fail to act and take calculated risk. innovation also is process of taking risk. Its combination of idea and implementation.
We have seen a movie at the start of year lamenting lack of innovation in education system in India. We have seen innovation like IPL making it big but creating so loud bang that itself was detrimental. IPL is disscussion topic nowadays. It symbolizes all that is wrong in Indian system. High and might egoes, manipulation, secracy, corruption.... Cricket is just a topic which generate passion. It could have been bollywood or any subject matter ;. basic matter remains We in India lack the culture of innovation , discipline and system to sustain innovation as proven in case of IPL.
In foreign countries you have double volume scams, corruption as we saw in 08 crisis. Greed is universal , but somethings stands out for India.
Coming back to innovation, its rather difficult today to just keep on doing same things as in past. We entered market with dreams of being next infosys. But now we need to change this and have dreams to be next google.
But foremost we must make impact to change the rules of game. (as proven negatively ) in IPL.
High Hopes but we shall overcome....

Midsummer's Night Dreams

IPL nights will be done and over with in a weeks time. Excitement is at its peak with semifinals and finals to go. My favorite team MI also feature.... what more you want.
Leading characters have created magic eyesolution just like in the original play by the bard. Anyone who sees IPL, its grandeur falls in love with it. They want to be part of glamour, money involved. Whole nation is sedated. Cricket is like mass opium.
No issues if it is treated like a sport. But amount of money, stakes involved have made it a big risk for all the stakeholders.
Till now players seemed to be out of bounds for corruption. But you never know.
Owners funding sources will definitely be under scanner with ministers etc getting involved.
TV rights, ad rates etc are so high that i really doubt the value it brings to advertiser.
Right now economics in conventional model, has made it unviable. But then real game is about equity. This equity is mainly valuated based on egos of owners than actual numbers.
The fanfare, glamour, power etc are added incentives.
Viewers and spectator who pay out of their pocket also want their share of glamour and glitz.
TV viewers fall into two catergories: serious indian cricket fanatic who can watch any cricket dished on TV and party animals who have another reason to party with match live.
Its the former one i am concerned about. For him cricketers are god and cricket is religion (sorry for using cliche.. But its fact, yours truly included). also i am worried about test cricket and integrity of criceters. Need of the day is realistic management of money involved with lot of transparency...
Hopefully still there are some sane voices who will make these happen.
Till then praying for MI to go all the way......

Break ke baad

Read somewhere that thoughts of holiday ahead gives pleasure. Infact act of planning a vacation is great happiness booster. Compare your own travelling for work and travelling for fun. Travelling on work is pain especially intercontinental ones. Some people like that. They keep on posting on email groups/fb entire itinerary. Maybe its cool to be a globetrotter. Today in London tomorrow Frankfurt before flying to NYC. How many times have you seen this status. For me its simply pain. Having done some years of globetrotting and due to peculiar circumstances i took a choice to stay put. Look after Indian side of things. Avoided almost confirmed journeys by hook or crook. lets see how long i can hold on . Reason being i hate the journeys especially alone. Though for education i used to travel 36hrs in train but those were different days. when you are 18-20, every journey has an expectation (esp after tracking bogey reservation chart for F 18-21s around). Life was different then. Seems like ages... Seems also like mid life pangs have started when you feel that way..
Its different story when i have to go on family vacations. Then flights are fun with my daughter around. Friends around. I remember last vacation we were 15 close friends & families around.
It was rocking.
Another year has passed by. At this rate i dont see that far that my daughter will reach serious academic standards. What summer vacations we used to have as child or as youth even in college. Total Fun. No worries. Read books, eat mangoes, go to grandparent's place, see films, watch TV, go on long bicycle rides, swim, sleep on terrace.... so much fun.
Our kids here do it differently. now they have summer camps, sleep outs, Computer games, internet, malls , multiplexes, IPL and so on.... They will feel about these with nostalgia when they grow up.
Vacations are refreshing. Away from mundane routine. No time-check, relax, eat, drink.
Looks like i need a good break. These breaks are necessary... I am looking for one promised to daughter in summer vacations

Buzz about Buzz

Most of us have already been addicted to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter. Now we have one more distraction called as google buzz. Is its just another of many such applications or is it really adding value to users. Do we really need one more such application
Why did Google release it even before it was ready in market?
It is known that Google still wants to buy Twitter, and putting Buzz into Gmail might be enough of a threat to bring Twitter back on negotiations. Buzz did not launch in some Google Labs backwater. It is placed front and center in Gmail. Buzz is Google’s strongest effort yet to enter the stream. If Buzz can gain traction it would certainly help Google’s negotiating position with Twitter.
Independent of any pressure it may place on Twitter, Google needs to have its own realtime micro-messaging communications system. This system according to many is just a more efficient way to communicate than email for many types of messages so it makes sense to add it as a layer to Gmail: broadcast your public messages via Buzz, and keep private ones on email or chat, all from the same place.
The other reason Google needed to establish its own social stream pronto is that links passed through social sharing are beginning to rival search as a primary driver of traffic for many sites. Part of Google’s prowess stems from the fact that it is the largest referrer of traffic to many other Websites. It doesn’t want to lose that status to social sharing streams such as Facebook or Twitter. Already, Buzz is helping to boost sharing through Google Reader. While Google doesn’t benefit directly from that traffic (yet), simply knowing what links people are sharing and clicking on is valuable data which can help it improve its search results.

It's now been just a few weeks now since Google launched its Google Buzz social-sharing service and started rolling it out to Gmail users. Much of the coverage so far has not been very streamlined . It had a major privacy issue: the initial list of people you auto follow on Buzz is based on who you talk with most often in Gmail, and that list is public unless you choose to make it private.
To its credit, Google responded to complaints: It's made changes in Buzz to make it more obvious what information the service is making public, and to help you crank up the privacy settings. Users thought their contacts were being made public without their knowledge (in particular the lists of people they follow, and the people following them). They have resolved this issue
Google's explanation of the post-release changes points out that millions of people are now using Buzz...and maybe that's part of the issue. Rather than let a sizable pool of testers outside of Google try the service out before opening up the floodgates, it's gone straight to a full-blown launch. Sounds like the company didn't expect some of the confusion that's happening.
Highpoint of Buzz is that it has one of the nicest photo-album viewers .
Buzz lets users include thumbnails when sharing web links, making them more graphic and attractive (according to Google). One way in which Google differentiates its service from Twitter is that Google Buzz also lets users attach various degrees of access to posts, from completely public, to limited to hand-picked friends.
Quite fun is the Buzz map, which lets you see who is Buzzing in your neighbourhood - (albeit with security risks entailed). This is a good way of finding fellow Buzzers in your area.

People may not Twitter and Facebook anytime soon, but Buzz is full of potential and it can become the third major service of this sort. Given Google's history with social stuff, that's impressive in itself.
But multiple aspects of Buzz in its current form are frustrating. And quite frequently, the service leaves user confused.
Consider the following points:
If you're on a PC or Mac, Buzz is a feature within Gmail and therefore requires that you be a Gmail user to use all its features. But if you're on a mobile phone, it's a separate service, not a Gmail feature. Odd!
* Even in a desktop browser, the Google Public Profiles that are part of the privacy concerns over Buzz don't live in Buzz. Since the Profiles provide personal info that goes beyond Buzz-specific stuff. It is still confusing and ungainly -- if you're in Buzz and want to figure out who somebody is, you'll probably have to click out of Buzz and into his or her Profile...and then back into Buzz.
* There is a yellow strip alongside the left-hand side of Buzz posts for 24 hours which is not explained. One has to figure out that the posts to its right are new since the last time user checked Buzz.
Buzz-in-your-Gmail-inbox feature is also confusing. When someone comments on user’s posts, user gets a thread in his inbox, but it starts with a message that looks like it's coming from user himself, listing his own post . It's especially unhelpful when I'm looking at the message in his own iPhone's inbox, since the subject line is the pointless "Buzz from XYZ," and I have to open the message to see what message is. User can't figure out which post someone has commented on.

Vacation to Mama's (Uncle) Place

Summer vacations are round a corner with a very small business of annual exams to care of. With IPL as distraction all school going readers and mainly their parents will have tough time to chose between studies and watching people like yusuf pathan going beserk with six of very ball faced. Its a difficult choice for me as well. Most of us have made plans for vacations. Some must have planned at exotic foreign or domestic locations. Some must have planned for beaten domestic/abroad tracks. Some will plan after series of entrance exams. But i am sure there will be a plan. But amidst this holiday galore and economic freedom to achieve that, have we lost upon an institution called as "Mamacha gaon". Till say about Mid to late eighties (or say liberalization) most of my friends had single agenda to run across to relative's place : be it near or inside pune or be it out of town. Famous songs have been written to depict that excitement.
Its was mostly for a week or (in some cases month) that we use to stay at relatives place. Most of older families never lacked in numbers. We had cousins pouring in at same time and used to have gala time. My own uncle and grand parents used to stay in Dombivali. We children in Pune had great fascination for Mumbai and its suburbs. Reasons: Different life style, local trains , crowd, famous landmarks, food, and most importantly cricket (to play, watch on TV and discuss). Dombivali is a unique concotion: Open gutters, haphazard buildings, mosquitoes, climate ; seemingly not so good place. But due to people there, fun they used to have, it created a unique place. We have some great memories of my own 'Mama's Gaon'. we used to count our days before going to this place.
Have we lost out on this institution. Some people may not agree. But many will i suppose.
There can be many reasons.
Increase in Economic Power: Only way of bringing about change as expected during vacations, was to travel to place where there was no need to spend on hotels and food. Thus public transport was only mode. With high disposable incomes as a result of economy this constraint was removed. With international and domestic arirfares going south it became more fashionable to travel to holiday locations.
Nuclear families: With lack in relations either resulting out of less siblings and more complicated intra family relations, it became difficult to justify 3-4 guests for whole long duration.
Advent of private transport and better roads : With larger number of families having access to Cars, travelling to mumbai /konkan/western maharashtra became matter of hrs , so need to stay was removed from any vacation plans.
Alternate modes of occupation: Vacation camps, interest groups eat a major pie of vacations. I see some kids getting busier in vacations than during academic year. Its out of peer pressure or out of parental pressure for kids to excel in everything.
US migration: Atleast one member of a family has migrated to US . These people holiday mainly in December.
Reasons can be numerous, but i am sure, like many institutions in Society, this institution is on decline. Its worthwhile to revive this. There are many wonderful memories there.
Is anyone planning vacation to his or here Mamache gaon. Do comment.

We are the champions

Whats scenes we witnessed last week at Eden Gardens. Most office system administrators would have complained about heavy load on the network due to constant updates on cricinfo or cricket nirvana. Bhajji sealed the win , with last wicket in the penultimate over. Most of us had given up looking at comfort level Amla and Morkel had during the innings. But in cricket all that you need one deliver for a batsman to get out. Thats the beauty of the game. Ofcourse, the match situation and the bowler/captain 's previous strategies to set up a wicket do count. Such things make test cricket special than say ODI or T20 where all it matters is to hit boundaries. Ofcourse thats also an excitement but these scenes of great defense or holding up an end for 8 hrs like what Amla did is also fun for cricket lovers like me. How many of us would prefer a pizza or a burger over tasty but simple home food like dal roti or pithale bhakri. Once in a while for change maybe we can opt junk food. Test cricket is also enjoyable. For that matter every version has a room, be it ODI or T20 or test. What we need is a balance. People in US get crazy over the fact that a game can go on for 5 days and yet there can be no result. In commercial world, it makes no sense. Also its a national wastage of time resource. But still we love test cricket. We have generations growing over. I dont want to argue merit of other sports over cricket. Fact is cricket has caught our imagination and so be it. There is no harm to be ashamed. Does a US fan is ashamed of the fact that their domestic teams play world series for a sport which is only played in US?
And its special when we know that India will win test no 1 prize this year , after 7 years of Australian dominance since its inception. We flash back to the days of 80s and 90s. 80s more difficult as you had dominant teams like WI, Pakistan decimating us in India as well as abroad.
Even moderate teams like England or Australia used to compete hard in India and mostly defeated us abroad. We had some great players in Gavaskar, Kapil, vengsarkar and some fighters like mohinder, madanlal, kirmani. But we were at bottom of heirrarchy ahead of newborns srilanka and kiwis.
In came 90s with decline of WI and rise of Australia under AB. We were completely sold on to ODIs with advent of satelite TV and liberalization with sachin as national Icon. Our past successes under kapil, gavaskar in 83 and 85 really started this phenomenon. But we invented a formula in Home test to have tailor made tracks where even rajesh chauhan or a raju could have won us game singelhandedly. It was fortune to have world class operator like Kumble to make a kill. But when it came to overseas tour, 19 for 4 , or at best 50 for 2 , were the normal scorelines. The opening pairs were innumerable. then we used to witness master class from sachin in a losing cause. Some times a aggressive knock from azhar or kapil or VVS. All this happened till our horror show in Aus at the turn of millenium. Nadir was the lost home series against proteas, (famous later for other reasons outside than those in the stadiums).
Ganguly is the man who changed the things. We anticipated this dawn with sachin was made captain. But that did not work out. Some things never work out in life as we expect. He also never had team which had true experienced world class talent or clean motives if they had everything else. Ganguly, Kumble, VVS and Dravid were part of that team as well. But they were young , unproven and even their places were not granted.
With advent of Ganguly, we started winning overseas. We had batsmen who could face music of fast bowlers or swing bowling. We had good pacemen who could take wickets and spinners who could be effective even overseas . ganguly had an eye for talent and guts to back them. Thus we had talent of sehwag, yuvraj, bhajji, zaheer, dhoni (also not to forget irfan, balaji, nehra, parthiv) nurtured and matured. Its this core now one of the important cog in No1 test team today, in addition to the master class of Tendulkar, VVS, Dravid as well kumble and ganguly himself). This master class had work ethics, attitude, resolve, which rubbed off onto juniors and took Indian cricket out of fixing chaos, home paper tiger status, poor traveller baggage. But only thing this batch has to achieve is an ICC event trophy ( only one shared champions trophy to show). T20 world cup winning team did not have any respresentation from this class. The last standing survivor of this batch has last chance in 2011. And i think that will be a great tribute, swannsong and most romantic vision for all cricket lovers. Not only to SRT but also to all five. But in life we have seen that we can only hope.. I pray for that. Another person who owes tribute is John Wright who back Ganguly and his proteges. And also to board and selectors for backing Ganguly the prince of Calcutta (ofcourse they had some ulterior motive then under King of Calcutta)
Then we had a debacle in form of Chappell Dravid era. Players were taken out of comfort zones. Ofcourse on test arena it did not hamper much apart from defeat in pakistan, home series leveling against england and pakistan. Also then injuries started creeping up for Tendulkar. Sehwag who later emerged under Kumble after sydney test regaining his greatness was eclipsed in this period. Irfan faded, Zaheer has injury and fitness issue. Bhajji, was taken out of equation.
Worst suffered loss was in World cup 07. But few credits also must be given to Dravid for his conduct in chappel and post chappel era of his resignation, work ethics never changed. We had success for first time in south africa though we lost next two tests. We had win in WI. We best Srilanka at home. Post chappel we won in England.
In came Dhoni with T20 success, but it was resolve of Kumble who was overlooked all the while for captaincy which came handy amidst crisis in Australia. I think we could have much better results had he been given longer stint. Famous sydney test started another chapter of decline of australia coupled by retirements. We beat them at Perth. We then had few setbacks with SA leveling us at home and complete surrender to magic of murali and medis in Srilanka. But even then we had a Galle test and kanpur to fall back upon. Post IPL, we beat Aus at home, england at home, srilanka at home and NZ in NZ and Bangladesh in Bangladesh. Its been a steady rise along with decline of Australia, rise of South africa who beat australia in australia. So it resulted in a pack of Australia, India and SA at top with England just behind. Englands story was strange. They focussed only on ashes and inspite of having potential to be no 1 in mid naughties, they withered away. Also injuries to Freddie, jones, harminson and Vaughan never helped. Now they are rebuilding under strauss along with some south african talent. Pakistan withered away from a good team to average but unpredicatable. Srilanka has given rise to some great talent but their record overseas is not allowing to break in top 3. They cannot boast of even an occassional win in SA/Aus/India.
For india, we agree that we are not the best team now. We are yet to reach that level. We might be on top of rankings for now. But till we win series in SA and Australia there will be a debate.
Also future is difficult as we got small glimpse in nagpur where SA attacked new comers who replaces VVS and Dravid. Else we will fall like Australia did after retirement of Warne, Gilchrist and Mcgrath. We need a bowling allrounder badly. Someone at the level of kapil, flintoff, Pollock. That is the key as we cannot continue hoping to get 20 wickets with 4 bowlers, 6 batsmen and keeper. In case one bowler is off-color or injured then we are bound to lose. In india we can still manage as we have likes of sehwag and yuraj to turn arm over. But if we need to win in SA and Australia we need Irfan pathan badly to deliver. He seems to be only one in horizon as abhishek nayar and praveen kumar have to prove yet in bowling and batting respectively. Our opening pair in batting is fabulous. We need injury free zaheer and a steady partner at other end. Ishant and shreeshant have been erratic but in SA and Australia they have proven to be effective.
And we need few great debuts who will fill in great shoes of Dravid , SRT and VVS who will retire for sure in next 2-3 seasons for sure. We need Ganguly as selector to spot this talent..

My Name is Bush

"Hello All,
I might be the villian of many movies. I might be subject of many jokes some very nasty ,Ouch!!!
Some people have added that i conspired to have people killed so we could control oil.
Some rouges attacked my country like never before. They hit us hard. They psyched out my people. As their leader, what i did, i wiped them out of my country. I attacked two countries which could damage my country in future. I hit them where it hit most, inside logistics and financial support. In this process, i generated lot of ire. Some innocents would have beenprototyped but those killed also were innocents. I dont want any innocents to get killed in future.
And you can see that apart from one failed attempt, we do not have repeat of 9/11. At least i did my job..... defense rests..."
If i were a bollywood director , i would make a film with this theme; My Name is Bush.
I have not seen movie, neither i know the plot. There is a mention of US president.
Amidst all hype around, i felt a need to give sensible perpective. Controversy was needless.
One wonders if its all a ball game about any publicity is good publicity.
What started with Cricket ended up as political quadrangular series between Cong, SS, MNS and NCP. Needless
Basic point is do our politicians have guts to stand up as hero of my proposed film MNIB. can anyone take hard effective steps to stop repeat of 26/11. I know terrorism has no religion. But all religions need to introspect and remove elements which lead to prototyping. The ping pong of cause and effect should stop. Just because there is persecution which leads to terrorism. and because of terrorism there is persecution. some sane voices should be heard. It has to come from within a community. a leadership has to be developed which not treats communities like vote banks but really works for their good.
We in india need peace. We need prosperity. We need to work on real issues like infrastructure, water, power, cleanliness, civic amenties, remove corruption... we dont need to waste time , resources on protecting a film. We need to fight terrorism. all this is needless. Nevertheless i would not pay to watch any SRK movie as i dont like him as actor. But i would be curios now to see the content. Thats where a controversy helps a film. sometimes you believe if that could be a strategy. You can never know.
Pula had said in asami asami, "bembtya kumbhar ho, gadhvaas kami nahi".... For all us gadhavs... paise phenko tamaasha dekho..

Winter

Living in tropics has some advantages. You dont have to face extremes of weather. More or less you get warm climate throughout the years . Here in Pune, you have three months of monsoon magic which takes people like me who have wanderlust to the hills around Pune. Summers have their own charm. In pune, thankfully evenings are breezy making things bearable. Modern lifestyle has given us comforts of ACs at work and home to help. Summers meant holidays for us as kids and now for our kids. Dont forget mangoes, icecreams, and ofcourse now we end up filling coffers for vijay mallya. Thats a separate fun.
But whats the most enjoyable part of year is winter. Have experienced harsh winters at some Northern locations, thus know difficulties. There of course we had modern technology helping us.
But for outdoor man like me, its a pain.
In pune, at the onset of november you get 'pink cold' a marathi term translated. Its Gulabi thandi. meaning romantic chill. Sweaters are out and you see punekars taking morning walks etc. Evenings start setting it quickly. Blankets are out. Fans are put off. Then comes in month of year December. Nights get chilly. Thats a great time to drive out. It then starts becoming diffoculy to keep up Morning school timings. Add to that the party quotient and spirits to take care of the cold.
In the newspapers, temperature starts getting headlines. By reading the celcius ( we get confused by Faranheits as used in US, why US has to be different i dont know), we decide whether to wear a sweater or not. I remember a day in my 12th when mercury recorded 3.8 deg. I remember that night , it was unusually cold. Blankets were inadequate. so we took out moms sareers etc. Morning i had a tution class. The teacher himself suggested we go out to a tea shop and have hot tea to help. We used to sit on steel benches which has turned ice cold.
Then we read next day that it was 3.8 deg. a delay of 1 hr was declared by my teacher.
In my school, i had to cycle 3 kms. In those dec/jan days it used to be difficult on saturdays.
it was tough to hold cricket bat. (playing cricket was only incentive to go to school on saturdays as we could stay after school for an hr)
In kharagpur, winters were more severe. Getting up for 8 am lecture was tough. Daytime also we had cold. ofcourse we had holidays in dec and jan used to be a start of new semester. Academics were at ease and spring fest was what used to get the attention span. so overall good funfilled weekends.
In my service days, december meant time to be healthy with early morning jogs. Few winter visits to foreign countries made me taste the dreadful winters. But if one wants to enjoy snow, freezing cold, one can really enjoy.
In my entrepreuner life, December also meant Holidays in US meaning less work load. But plenty of client visits, thus eating outs, parties etc. January meant start of new hopes, aspirations etc.
Winters have been great througout...

N B S visit to Round Table 105 school

New Business School is a leading business school in Netherlands. Round Table India has an opportunity to interact with students and professors on regular basis. As a part of their curriculum, they have an international charity section. They decided to raise funds in Netherlands for worthy Round table india school projects. After a lot of scrutiny of worthy charities they zeroed on work of Round table in Building schools all around india. Within Round Table they had invited proposals from various table units. We at PRRT105 had proposed our permanent project Nerlekar School at Khadakwadi for this purpose. Based on shortlisting, our project was one of the three projects in area they selected. As a part of process they arrived in Pune for cultural understanding as well as school visits. There were 12 students and Prof Rammers who accompanied them.They attended Antarnad program by Art of Living where 2000 vocalists performed. They had industrial visits to Tata Motors and Volkswagen. They enjoyed stay in families and also had few social parties hosted by tablers.
On saturday 16th, we took them to our school at Khadakwadi. They were visiting rural area for first time. They realizes stark difference in India which parties in city and Bharat which lives in villages. They were really moved when they were informed about economic status of students and hardships they face. They were presented to a musical welcome and cutural show which they throroughly enjoyed. They also saw self defense demonstration by girls. They were introdued to national integration theme songs. They really enjoyed it.
They understood school building construction plan. They realised that there was no library so they decided to help that cause. They had already committed 3500 Euros funding for the building. In addition they donated cricket sets to the school. They were interested to see kitchen where midday meal is served.
The highlight of event was all NBS students mobbed by school children from villages for autographs and photos. It was touching sight. They mixed with children nicely while some even dancing with them.
Really a satisfying experience for all tablers of 105...

Energy Crisis

India is making a lot of progress with more new billionaires being minted every month. The focus on software industry sometimes takes away from what are more pertinent problems- Water and Power. Mumbai faces worst water crisis in current years. Similarly, the business of electricity invertors is booming. It is no wonder that VCs have identified water and energy as the mega opportunities for the next few decades.

The crunch of energy has led Indian strategists to believe that the only solution to India's power problems is Nuclear Power as a result we signed the Nuclear Deal to import fuel and technology. Power problems are faced by all developing nations and United States of America too went through such a crisis in the 70's. As a result of it, presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter promoted the use of renewable sources of energy like solar power and also increased the mileage standards for the automobiles from 13.5 miles per gallon to 27.5 miles per gallon. This helped to create a global oil glut during mid 1980's. But as things eased off, the focus was shifted. When Ronald Regan became the president, he let the tax incentives lapse for the Solar Energy Research Institute and stripped of the solar panels in the white house installed there at the time of Jimmy Carter. He also reduced the mileage standards to 26 miles per gallon.Looking at India's energy model, we are adopting a model, quite similar to US model. Looking at successful energy models, Denmark's model is the most inspiring. Denmark also faced an energy crunch in the 80's and as its power demands grew, it had to look for alternative sources of energy. At that time, 99% of Denmark's energy requirements were met by the Middle East oil. To change that scenario, the government decided to go against nuclear, and went ahead with the scheme of levying high taxes. Japan too adopted such an approach. In Japan there is higher tax on bigger vehicles and the taxes on oil per gallon are also very high. In Denmark, to reduce electricity consumption, a CO2 tax was introduced. When the consumers saw a CO2 tax in their bills, they automatically resorted to an energy conservation approach. You might think that Denmark's economy would have slowed down. No, it has risen by about 70% since 1981 and there is only about 2% of unemployment there.The model of nuclear powered energy model has also been successful and countries like France get 78% of their electricity requirements from nuclear energy. But the atomic path has had its fare share of negative effects. The two major accidents that have happened in the nuclear era has been that of Chernobyl in Russia in 1986 and the partial meltdown of core at three mile island in 1979. So it is a very risky proposition. But since now to power our economy forward have decided to follow a high energy print, we could be in for tough times ahead, in terms of our oil consumption. Being an agricultural nation we could have come up with a more ingenious solution, similar to that followed by Brazil, when it started a national program to produce ethanol from sugarcane. Today, between the domestic oil production and the ethanol industry it does not need to import oil. India today is highly depended on oil. Now that global oil prices have gone down, the government is thinking to reduce the price of petrol and diesel, rather than helping out the oil companies to recover their losses incurred during the last few years. Right now there seems to be a gloomy prognosis for our economic recovery, which is heavily dependent on energy and power.
Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said India had to curb its high-polluting coal consumption in the near future or risk burning through its reserves. "There's going to be a major constraint in supply of coal and if we don't bring about a shift to a more sustainable pattern of energy consumption and supply India is going to face a major crisis," he told reporters in New Delhi. He added that India was projected to import 750 million tonnes of oil and 1.4 billion tonnes of coal a year by 2031 and 2032. "We have already become major coal importers and it is a myth to believe that India has unlimited mineable quantities of coal and that we can use as much as we want," Indian-born Pachauri said. According to the International Energy Agency, more than half of the world's energy demands by 2030 will come from India and its fellow emerging economic powerhouse China. Already among the world's top 10 oil importers, India is expected to become the world's fourth-largest by 2025, according to US government data. The Ministry of Coal projected India's coal imports for 2008-2009 to be around 58 million tonnes. Coal currently provides just under 55 percent of the country's massive electricity needs, resulting in a huge carbon footprint on account of the country's 1.2 billion population. Pachauri urged India to improve energy efficiency and make "a very rapid move" to use more renewable sources of energy.

While the state is facing power shortage and with no sustainable solution visible in the near future, experts feel that renewable energy resources could be highly effective in solving problem
Though solar energy, if made grid specific, can do wonders in solving the energy crisis of the state, lack of political will-power is the biggest hurdle in effective propagation and subsequent use to generate electricity.
According to an expert on renewable energy resources, "Solar energy is the ultimate solution. The wind sector is progressing fast and as of today, India is generating 7,400 MW of electricity through wind. Solar photovoltaic is lagging behind due to some hurdles."
Solar thermal is already well accepted in the country. Solar dryers, water heaters have directly contributed in conservation of electricity. But due to some technological limitations solar photovoltaic has failed to gain necessary popularity.

3 Idiots and Me

Once upon a time everyone amongst us was in college. We had great dreams, some unique vision about our life. We went into the world from the college with great enthusiasm. We made random decisions which after 10-15 years have made us reach where we are now. Life has taught us some hard lessons; life has been very generous sometimes. Life has given some really beautiful moments and some very challenging. But we have enjoyed the journey. But again college days really were the best days of life. Why all this thoughts?
Reason: I happened to come across a cult movie released very recently 3 Idiots. In the movie the main three (or 4 if you consider the comedian colleague who is modeled on to most of us who are in rat race) protagonists meet 10 years after graduation. Movie took me back to those days. I am of the opinion that each one should have at least a year of hostel life to make their education complete. It invokes bonding which we have seen that run through lifetimes. We were also subject to intense academic pressures but also enjoyed a life secluded from world (we being stationed in remote town as per Jawaharlal’s Nehru’s vision of IITs). We had our friends, hostel mates, seniors, juniors as a part of extended families. Thankfully in those time internet was just newly launched and only computer exposure was in labs. We had many extra curricular activities. We enjoyed a lot and suffered a lot through hardships like lack of basic amenities like toilet, water. We had to eat refugee camp food etc. But we then enjoyed it. It taught us perspective. Education was good: definitely it taught us to manage things in life irrespective of whether you know the subject or not. Some topics really made us interested to know the subject. That’s not what is called excellence but effectiveness. That’s what makes even elite Indian institutes to churn out good managers, good performers but very few original scientists or innovators. They have to go out of Indian systems to enable them with those skills. But mere mortals like me are happy to be part of this great Indian dream. Our vision was to create new Infosys but not Google…
Coming back to Movie review, it’s a well made movie. It runs through cliché and predictability why typifies Bollywood. But it excels in performances and sheer new idea of story. It tries to address a problem but that is hardly any novelty. We already knew that we cannot create Nobel laureates within IITs. It has general appeal as it touches each one of us and taking back to our college days. Each one of us had faced academic, family pressures. Each one of us had those peculiar professors. Good marketing, presence of Aamir khan, great directorial touches has made it cult movie like sholay, ddlj. Movies has some really funny moments: Virus speech, Chatur speech, induction motor start, many more.. Movie also sends a good message that what matters is journey and not the end. Success will follow you pants down if you enjoy your journey.

There is hue and cry about the fact that movie glorifies ragging and also has resulted in few suicides. I think its bit too harsh on the movie. I agree movies do inspire reaction in real life from immature audience but that’s a problem for all movies as a media form of expression. It’s our value system that is at fault. There are far many catalysts than movies which influence us.
For those who have seen engineering and hostel life from inside will find it more appealing. Movie will surely be the reflection of own experiences. That’s what makes this movie more effective.