Thursday, December 22, 2011

Year of Revolution, lack of leadership, sad exits and world cup....

2011 was a very strange year. It started with lot of promise with markets buoyant. Indian economy was shining as compared to Europe, US and things were finally looking promising as it was felt that world has recovered after 2007 great recession. Worldwide things remained same; curious, cautious and no solution was found for Europe crisis. The things did not turn out as bad as it were projected in the US market. Thanks to that, IT story still has another day to survive. Also new technologies like cloud and some interesting innovations in Mobile space have driven many corporate IT spending. Real estate industry as usual chose to hold on the rates but had to offer discounts and thus correction was applied. But real danger to Indian economy arisen in form of non action by the govt. UPA1 did well in 2008 to shield India from crisis. But UPA2 as bungling it is on other fronts have been so static that investors lost confidence by last few quarters of 2011, resulting in fall of rupee, flight of capital outside and many such effects. Inflation which was out of control by start of year at least has some respite by the end thanks to good monsoon and some real corrections.
The reason for govt failure to act can be attributed to gamut of corruption scandals that rocked UPA2 and public revulsion in form of Anna movement, froze some key decisions in economy. FDI in retails was again bungled. Govt acted very late to control Free fall of rupee. By then it could do nothing as real reason was flight of capital outside India as confidence levels were brought down.
The real involvement of media (which is controlled by vested interest and money making)and electronic social media (which is totally democratic and free till Mr sibal intervenes), in Anna campaign in April and August was really a matter of study for future public movements. There was leadership vacuum as no strong political will was displayed in incumbents and team anna filled that vacuum projecting Gandhian Anna. Anna and his team were severely criticised by establishment but one cannot deny the effect it has on corrupt polity. Arm chair crictics have a lot of food for thought. But role played by Dr subramaniam swamy in exposing 2G scam is exemplary how judiciary is inadequate to trap main culprits who are still at large. Corruption is the main issue which has to be tackled and we need mechanism. Though Lokpal may not solve everything but it can be a good start. All critics of Anna ignore this fact.
BJP as opposition failed, congress is in crisis, there was room for regional players and there were regional heroes like Nitish Kumar, much vilified Modi playing development, mamtadi ousting 36 years of Marxist rule, Mayawati talking on crown prince and so on.
In Maharashtra, DF govt led by Prithviraj chouhan has nothing to display except infightings between NCP and Congress. With municipal elections in 2012, BJP sena has joined hands with RPI athawale faction though there is lot of infighting and they need some serious action to challenge cunning tactics by both congresses. MNS is growing strong with some distinct mass appeal and can play key role as party pooper for opposition.

For Pune city, we had good rains ensuring water supply. But planning and implementation lacks for managing crisis as we had faced in 2009. DP was approved and so was metro amidst chaos. Elections due next year have caused lot of activities and sops for aam punekar. Road situation has not improved with more vehicles. Accident incidents have gone up.PMPML falters. Ganpati immersion had lot of controversy though festival had some mellowed and useful trends. Noise pollution in Diwali reduced. We still have seen no winter in 2011. Sawai was great and so was support to Anna in Pune. World cup celebrations were amazing. Biodiversity issue was also controversial. We saw load shedding for few days before Diwali. Crime rate has increased as a matter of concern and organized crime has settled in Pune. Domestic violence and cyber crime has increased making pune more unsafe. We saw lot of politics involved in Police posting...
Wordlwide, we have seen revolutions in Africa and middle east. This year is thus called year of revolution. The lack of leadership or tyranny of leaders resulted in their fall with democratic social media role played its part. Europe also lacks strong leaders to resolve financial crisis in southern European countries. The richer and stable northern European economies have refused to bail out laggards. We saw riots in UK which surprised us all. US also has seen weak leadership in Obama to push forth finance stimulus to revive economy and reduce unemployment. Also its bungling in Iraq, AFpak are monumental. Only saving face has been hunting of Osama bin laden. Japan has worst crisis in form of tsumani and nuclear tragedy but they have shown typical Japanese discipline and resolve. Africa needs good leaders to solve basic issues and conflicts. South East Asia also suffers from world slowdown and natural disasters. China story has cracked with internal fault lines visible but we don’t get real picture at all with govt censorship. Pak has gone one year closer to anarchy with Imran seen as only saviour but India hatred still continues. Kashmir has calmer year with bumper tourism summer. Interlocuters failed but there is a revived hope to resolve the unrest.
Terrorism has again shocked us in Mumbai and Delhi blasts and as usual investigators had no clue and our resolve to fight terrorism still remains hazy. We cannot act against afzal or kasab. Our investigators fumbled, our intelligence had no clues. After comparative lull in 2009/10 (except Varanasi and GB blast), we have again seen new face of terror. Though we claimed to solve some cases but vigilance remains an issue and everything is at mercy of fate. Though fight against naxalism has some break throughs.
This was also year of sad exits by stalwarts in film, music, sports, technology. Pt Bhimsen Joshi, Pt Sultan khan, Jajgit singh, Bhupen Hazarika, Tiger Pataudi, Devanand, Shammi Kapoor, Srininvas Khale, Steve Jobs, dennis Ritchie and list goes on.. This was real loss for all move,art lovers and tech followers.
Indian cinema dealt some unusual topics and challenged the establishment with films like Delhi Belly, Rockstar, Dirty Picture. Also there was a tourism brochure film like Zindagi milegi na dobara. First half of 2011 was commercial disaster due to world cup, IPL, exams, but second half saw many movies do well.
Marathi theatre had new life with big names back to stage and some old plays revived. Music scene saw many youngsters taking centre stage. Indian English literature saw many new comers.
International sports saw revival of Federer, great year for djoikovic, Spanish teams doing good in club level, Indians did well in Golf, shooting, boxing, archery and lot to look forward to in London 2012. Indian tennis saw end of Indian express. Saina Nehwal has now to conquer next level which is top most. Politics though continued in sports in India esp hockey. Next year will have London Olympics and euro soccer for which draws are interesting.
Finally this year was year for worldcup, Indian team did what was waited for 28 years. After slow start against minnows and a tie against England and loss against SAfs, team did well in matches that matter. Yuraj, dhoni, gambhir, sachin, zak, raina, everyone playing crucial parts including much maligned munaf and nehra. Capatin cool played crucial role in all matches by captaincy, wicket keeping and an innings in final and that final six. Role played by Kirsten as coach and his support team also must be thanked. The scenes all over India esp at wankhede when all team was crying and lifting the man who waited most for it: the little master were amazing. Administrators faltered by some inane scheduling and IPL resulting in injuries ahead of important England tour. This lost us world no1 status which we had carried since dec 6th 2009. Also many tongues wagged that india is champion in Indian condition while ignoring fights we had in SA and Aus in past. But real defining moment will be in aus after year end. That will really define mettle of the team.

on personal side, this year took me to trek in himalayas, and in maharashtra. Fitness focus started till may trek to himalayas was lost in last quarter but again there is new year. This year saw live world cup cricket. also had great personal acomplishment towards end. Could not focus much on riya though. Professionally things were fine with some old pending projects starting. This year saw me taking chairmanship for roundtable. results have beed mixed with some new achievmenst but some losses but half tenure is still there. as usual december had great parties. some involvement with writing for local media also went well but needs some plan. aslo saw me returning to theatre after a long gap. rainy season rituals were fine.

What about 2012? But there is gloom all around especially in Indian polity and economy. There are threats that 2012 will be worse than 2011 on that front. But then there is always hope that things can turn around as they did negatively in 2011. And i definitely don’t believe in dooms day prediction that world will come to an end in Dec 2012, notwithstanding natural calamities and global warming effects we have seen till now. We will still be partying on 31st Dec 2012. Have a great year end and happy New Year.

Monday, December 5, 2011

A sensational act...

King of the months has arrived (though winter has vanished)and lot of festivities planned throughout. Sad start though with demise of Devanand. Evergreen person, great contribution to cinema and timeless music (though he is just front end of that). wish list is being prepared for 2012 which again promoses to be significant year. 2011 has also been great with lot of things done which were pending or which were unique. Though it has seen many stalwarts fading to their end. Wait for this space for the roundup of this year of worldcup...

One very sensational event happened though in Nov. There was a slap to an elder minister. At this onset , i feel it was unrequired and violence is condemnable esp targetted against elder. Totally uncultured and pointless activity in itself.

But there are two points i like to make

Number one is that though its standalone incidence (resulting out of intentional/unintentional security lapse, needs many answers), it represent anger people have against those who have abused power over years. The minister who was slapped, though is famous for not getting involved in any scams (excpet lavasa) , issues. He has political tact of getting across spectrum and has taken his opportunities. But public sentiment barring those who follow him for personal socio-econo-political gains is totally alarming. Here the kind of politics involved has a undocumented casteist tinge which many have denied unsuccessfully. The financial asset decalartion done by this MP was so unbeleivable and was a folklore. Many people have many claims about , but everything is murmur, hearsays. No one has guts to be public about it due to kind of politics involved. But since there is no crossing over of lines, one need not be judgemental without being unfair to the MP. Even suggestions or mentioning of above public sentiment publically is tantamount to defamation and cause for involving wrath of establishment. But there needs to be introspection from this incidence that romours have to be put to rest and concerned individual cannot come out clean unless there is credible effort from him /her to establish sincerity. But politcians dont care. They should learn from this that there is anti politician rage amongst people. They cannot ignore that. Point though is why this minister was targeted and why not those behind scene and have unlimited power for just being a party president. and why not a home minister who has involvement in 2G, why not the face of govt who is PM with economics background (though failed miserable in current downturn). One can argue that portfolio of agriculture is directly responsible for price rise and food infaltion which impacts most for public. some policies of minsitry have been bizzarre but this ministry cannot be singled out. Thus the act was denouncable and irrelevant but has created a real goonj across spectrum

The second point that needs to be made is freedom of expression is at risk. Example way anna hazare was ridiculed. Anna has his style so has thakrey and verbal violence is part of both characters. what anna said reflected innocent anger most have against incumbents. But all parties (who have all grudges against anna and lokpal, and his team which is targeted by govt), media were strongly against anna. Infact even writing or saying against anything/anyone on internet gets defamation threat. The way bandh was followed in Pune was nothing short of hooliganism. then why single out shivesena/mns ? also way politicians lended support made a sense of brotherhood which can be perceived anti people pro elite. though the act to hit an elder is deplorable and shameful, act to douse opposition is also one.
and one important point: pls investigate security lapse because intent of some in power cannot be ignored.. let there be CBI enquiry....

Monday, November 21, 2011

11,11,11

Lot was predicted of 11.11.11. entire decade falshed back. these dates have been hectic
Y2k (marraige), 01-01-01 (family event), 02-02-02 (UK), 03 -03-03 (during WC 2003), 04-04-04 (landmark for business)05-05-05 (social service), 06-06-06 (WC soccer germany), 07-07-07 (death of colleague), 08-08-08 (bejeing olympics and lights off), 09-09 (posted here), 10-10-10 (family function), only 12-12-12 to go...
someone messaged me saying we just missed 11.11.1111 by a millenium.. haha thats for the numbers

Its mere number and we always fall for numbers when they mean nothing. Just as we wait of 100th 100 when its just another inning. ash has delivered baby girl. Euro crisis is still unresolved. Indian ecnomy slowed down for sure thanks to some ineffective economic policies and in action. Corruption is at forefront. Mood is not so positive for an occasion like 11.11.11

We celebrated round table week by organizing Taare zameen par painting competition for differently abled children. Had a Gala time and thanking lord for making us what we are. November also saw IIT KGP alumni gettogether in Pune at a lovely resort amidst great weather. Weather has turned excellent with chill in air. KGP renuion always takes you back to those wonderful years . can we turn time back. lets hope our batch meets in 2012 to celebrate 20 years...

all set for December the king of the months and festive season. November acts as precursor. so was it this time but this Nov had 11.11,11

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Rare Partnership

Life springs around some rare partnerships in business and personal life. in sports you have sehwag and dravid. Both different school of thoughts. i had audacity to compare two in some earlier post gloryfying shewags positive attiture over dravids negativity. How so ever you be positive, there are some days when you have to guard. you have to be cautious. remember england 11 summer
anyways strangely that works in professional and personal life as well. some couples are diametrically poles apart but yet they have good life. some business partners add dimensions to business. so variety sometimes helps. though your thought process, interests,values dont match but bet they add new perspective in life. Life is beautiful and new perspectives are always beautiful....
There is lot to learn from each of your partner. in fact learning from others has been my greatest past time. Collaboration is need of date in business for gone are the days for solo enterpreuners....

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Celebration of Hope and zeroth law of nature.

Nights are dark. Clouds of Corruption, inflation, terrorism, recession looming everywhere. But we humans have came across every challenge.
Thats the spirit of Diwali: Triumph of good over evil. Light over darkness.
Diwali is celebration of Hope.

Life is fast and furiuous. Only thing constant in life is change. The Indian team which could not win a single game in english summer, is invincible here back home. Remember 07 world cup when we failed to qualify. The next cup was ours. Gaddafi who ruled libiya was found dead in gutters. No one beyond those interested in Maharashtra politics knew about Anna Hazare. we in pune who suffered due to load shedding in 04-05, have gone back to those days after enjoying zero load shedding for 2-3 yrs, sensex has gone shambles. Those in IT benefitted by Microsoft, have to look forward to oracles, apples, googles for innovating.

There are few things which are also constant apart from change: price rise and terrorism. Petrol costing 50 rs same time last yr is now 72. as we celebrated much hyped 9/11, we ended up getting 11/7,26/11, 13/2,13/7, 5/9,list never ends.

Nevertheless there is a hope this things can be changed by some astute policy making and leadrship. In 2008 we survived because of that as due to solid fundamentals in our system based on Indian values. This time we lack that leadership and indian values have been discounted. Thus we need to believe that we can change the things. And we need to trust zeroth law that change is constant. Be it individually, for family, neighbourhood, state, country or for the world.

so lets celebrate human spirit, hope and change. Time for diwali clebrations. Celebrations have changed over the years but spirit is same. Time to be with friends , family, eat, enjoy, travel, celebrate...

wishing you a very happy diwali

Friday, October 14, 2011

Bikhare Sabhi Baari Baari..

Year 2011 started on bad note with Panditji 's demise. This year had its more than normal share for losing stalwarts. Shammi, Pataudi , srinivas khale and now Gazal Maestro Jagjit singh just to count few.
Jagjit singh had special bond for me. I had met him at KGP during SF. Heard him live thrice. His gazals were the ones which i can sing reasonablly (as per comments by others maybe just as a consolation for my attempt). The voice the depth , the honesty in voice, stress upon lyrics, simplicity of music, all combined to make him legend. I was in state of shock for two days. His gazals are on in a loop till now.
Popular and not so popular yet beautiful ones.
Only evitability in life is death. another inevitable thing about this world is change. so his death will cause change in this world and that inevitable as well. Remembering a poem in marathi: Jan pal bhar mhantil haay haay. meaning people will mourn for two minues on our death and move on. Life always move on
Point is why will people remember you for. Then is publicity important that people will remember only if you are popular. There are many unsung heros who have led meaningful lives yet we dont regret a bit about their death. Is life unfair say for eg to a jawan or young officer on border who is killed due to dirty valley politics?
So is life only about recogintion from others ? or self belief and pleasure will make your life more meaningful. and i have not even touched money issue here. Money give you many pleasures thats sure. But is happiness only about money?
Huh many confusions. Idea is to stay happy, help others, do meaningful things important for you and others, live in today, stress for excellence. Life today as if there is no tomorrow. Make your mark today.. Kal ho no ho

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Last Quarter

As we enter last quarter of 11, seasons have changed globally. Rains have given way to autumn here. Fall has already started in US. English summer has ended. Its now 3D time, dandiya-dasara-diwali. This is special season for fun. Then after lull of november the king of the months set in with winter, parties, travel, events personally for me. Empirically for me, new things plan start from Oct and firm up in Dec and next year is action to get into some herrings by monsoon and 3rd quarter, which creates need to innovate on that plan in last quarter. I think its the same everywhere. In india, people traditionally start their conquests on dasara. so time to regroup and recharge. This year was fabulous in terms of getting back to old dreams. Live cricket, treks, world cup win and last but not the least Purshottam karandak.
This year had a chance to see final plays of purshottam karandak the most prestigious intercollegiate drama competition in pune. I had partcipated in 91 and now after 20 yrs was back at bharat. the slogans, the shouts etc were the same. tempo and prestige has increased. The quality of drama was amazing to believe lack of professional touch. that was the case in our time as well that alumni who later went big into professional stage used to proxy direct the plays. Now i think a trend of outsourcing can be experienced. so we have merceneries (motivated by money than college pride) helping out. But issues, depth , acting etc was amazing.
As coming back to 2011 last quarter, world economy still continue to scare. The mild shackles which were being broken in 2010 are again back. Companies are more scared. IT companies though is cautious. But its easy to predict a large panic like situation eauivalent to 2008 levels. and this time india wont be so lucky as inflation, rupee and interests have gone to recession levels as global slowdown has caught up this time and internal parameters are unsound. Need some real good policy making. But govt seems to be on tricky situation due to corruption and other political issues. The Euro govt intervention and US policies also are eagerly observed and any trend can setin mass actions from investors. Markets have already taken beating here. So 2012 will be fingers crossed and can turn out landmark. Ofcourse there still can be opportunities for innovation. tech scene is also tricky with new paradigms are set in cloud, mobility, social media. But end clients adopting them in such situation is a big question mark. again there is room for innovation.
Few new lessons learnt during rainy season last time can be bit help as well.
that marks beggining of new season, new hopes, new plans. Last quarter has always been challenging... same with indian team to recoup after a disaster that was in english summer.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Ganesha Time again

This blog started on Ganesh Festival. so its third anniversary of this blog.was just browsing archives from ganesha 08 where i had lamented on inability to transmit Ganesha traditions esp neighbourhood fellowship, art , drama etc to my daughter. in 09 festivities were marred by swine flu in pune. in 10 i had opportunity to transfer legacy to my daughter with rejuvinated spirit in my colony and had written blog about drama experiences. This year was great. We did Varshikotsav from Varyavarchi varaat by P L Deshpande. It was challenges but kiddos aged 7-12 did great job. People enjoyed it. so did kids . the process is amazing. practice, dialogues , props etc. Now that its done there is emptiness. There was a lot of socialization with friends, family and lots of food. must have added few kgs...

To look back upon this blog, i see it from personal archive of memories, events, thoughts. More of society, politics, cricket, cinema, a bit of technology and business. Idea is theme of social leadership, to articulate thoughts and generate discussion. in some way this blog has served purpose with exposure to print/online media. Have received good feedback. period no more ambitions here but to share thoughts.

Anna Hazare and landmark august has come to end. so has england series. New season in India will start soon. I hope all lessons from anna movement and england defeat will be learnt and issues dealth with. Rains have lashed pune. administration hasnt learnt from past exp be it roads, flooding or water management. monsoons seem to have reached deficient areas.so food inflation wont go out of control hopefully. markets are down, world economic problems see no solution, inflation is hitting hard.
we need to see petrol prices going down. Terror has struck today again in delhi so we havent learnt there as well. Big netas are behind bars but only scapegoats. The major behind scene leaders are still at large.

This rains had opportunity to do two treks (lohagad, rajgad-shivthar), three outings (m'war, mulshi, lonavala). so all yearly rituals have been done except sinhagad..

Looking forward to autumn filled with 3Ds: dasra, dandiya and diwali.

what would be life without festivals???

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Landmark August

It was my birthday 6th Dec in 2009, Two wickets to take off srilanka in mumbai, they did in an hr to help me go ahead with usual sinhagad trip and party following. India displaced South Africa to get No1 test ranking. Its been 18 -19 months of some good cricket. Both SA series lived upto their reputation with 1-1 draw home and most imp away. srilanka can be tough opposition in lanka. They were drawn. Aussies were whitewashed though on home grounds. NZ defeated at home. Also there was world cup though in 50 overs format. It was key series with Eng in Eng. And we bungled. and bungled so badly that we went back to 90s when indians away were pathetic. Under dada in naughties we had away victories and series were tough. so what went wrong, is it begining of end as golden generation has set. (though only notable performance was from oldest member Rahul Dravid). Future atleast in tests looks bleak. Bowling looks very weak . that underline importance of a fit sehwag and zaheer to cause of test cricket. Injuries were blamed for this show. I agree totally as we had winning moments in 1st and 2nd test which we could not seize to to lack of key players. So has reality sunk in that our next gen of batting and bowling is incapable as aussies found two years back after retirement of warne, gilly and mcgrath. or is it because of IPL and its riches. Many theories have comeup. But as a fan these are disgusting times. aug was painful and even 100th 100 did not come up. Only time will tell the future but what is needed is involvement of Ganguly and Kumble in some form of authority to manage cricket. let corrupt politicians manage ' monies'. I hope BCCI comes under purview of lokpal.
That takes me to another landmark event in aug which is in news . Anna phenomenon. There are many theories one suggests it to be stage managed by super rich to sort of have check over govt to avoid arrests. some theory suggests US hand. whatever or whoever might be doing things following points are truth
1. Public is fed up with corruption and inflation which led them to roads. it was fashionable to be on roads one can argue due to media hype as we saw in world cup.
But aam aadmi suffers for sure. and that is truth.
2. Politicians have lacked credibility . There is leadership vacuum due to lazy and corrupt govt and non existent opposition. Team Anna used this.
3. Its positive phenomenon that youth have been involved in national causes. They used to shun politics. But this youth energy is positive phenomenon which can be landmark movement in Indias history
4. Strong laws like janlokpal can help on curbing corruption if not remove . But challenge is just begun to create effective system.
5. armchair philosophers, writers and so called elite failed to gauge public mood and have fallen from grace as they criticized anna movement for wrong reasons and personal vendetta. Its time to retire this useless institution of elite columnists, communists and free sensationalizers. Height was most corrupt politicians BCCI benefitted ones talking about parlaimentary system to be supreme after abusing sams system on caste and religion line....
Anna movement with all its flaws as attacked by these deadly tribes, is very landmaker event for India. We those who claim to be intelligencia, should not undermine this. Time to participate....


Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Message to Dhoni: Need to take blows when you are down

All and sundry experts and cricket analysts have spared no stone to hit at Indian tea, after england disasters at London and Nottingham. These were the same critics who were singing praises for indian team and its capt dhoni in april for WC win.
The 11 (14) players were treated like gods thereafter and folklores were created of every event...
Purely on cricketing sense one can analyse that main reasons in order of their problems
Absence of Zaheer and sehwag ; Two outright winners and holding prowess of Gautam Gambhir.
Dhonis fatigued captaincy: No inspired moves
Lack of fielding sharpness
Inadequacy of new players to support if not substitute the ageing and great middle order.
No century partnerships except one in first innings of second test where india actually got leads
Reason i am making this list is because i dont treat this english team as great at all. It might be good but batting has many problems which a fully fit indian team could have exploited by dhoni's captainship brilliance. Bowling is at the most sharp and steady and never destroying like aus in 90s and wi in 80s. I firmly believe that there is no clear no 1 team today. Eng/India/SA form a trinity and we will see no1 spot changing hands series after series for next few years.
So what do you make out of remaining series. with sehwag, zaheer, gambhir back, we can expect more fight. A win here will restore parity and its not impossobile though very difficult. even if we lose the series a win is necessary. You remember what durban win did to indian teams aura and respectability. The armchair eng/aus/sa critics also were made to take note of. same happended at perth after monkey gate. This time this sound bit difficult but thats waht champions are meant to bounce back. remeber how aussies bounced back in 2004 in india after debacles of 98 and 01. so a series loss is by no means end of world. But it gives chance to retrospect and learn. If we do not do that then doomsday is not far ahead.
But for next 10 days , we need to take full on the blows from all and sundry including our own past cricketers who are paid to echo public sentiments.
same inlife when you are down you need to take and absorb blows. Importance is to believe in your abilities and rise.... Then its your turn to give it back. Hope we rise from this situation. we have to....

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Lessons for monsoon season

There is a saying in marathi that "nehemichi yeto pavasala" meaning certain experiences in life occur regularly and periodically so whats new about it. and whats thje point to blog about it. Point is human minds wants more. quoting famous vikram batra quote on this Kargil Victory memorial day.
Monsoon magic has set in for sure. Time for hot wadas, bhajis, tea cutin at some pristine location atleast 30 kms from Pune. July has been kind with outings to Mulshi, Panchagani, Lonavala the usual suspects. I dont dare go sinhgad side to avoid getting stuck by weekend crowds. Need to find an off week day to drive atop sinhagad and enjoy.
Dams are full and i still remember water cuts in 2009. Nothing new has happen though we face situation every year. No dam connecting , no rain water harvesting, no pipe leakage planning. We dont learn from past even monsooon arrives every year.
since i referred to kargil, how prepared we are against such occurrences. It was due to personal strenght of brave soldiers and officers we won then. Is our political and military leadership adept now. Have they learnt their lessons.
Same with terror. It happen again and again and we dont learn anything.
why blame politicians, have we learnt that we should follow traffic rules to avoiud accidents, have we learnt to maintain cleanliness to avoid monsoon illness, Have we learnt to have safe outings to places like forst, dams, waterfalls. so horrific was patalpani.
Nevertheless have a great monsoon and may you have chance to go near nature....

Thursday, July 7, 2011

SCB to DKB

Indian public senses have changed from independance till today. No i am not starting favorite topic ridiculed by PL in Mhais. "It was different in preindependence days" starts a local politician to all travellers in that ill fortunate bus in Mhais...

But what really amazes me that Delly Belly is appealing to audience. Its a shocking film. Very entertaining and realistic though. The youth in the films talk same language as youth of today. After reconnecting with youth in trek this summer i can appreciate it more. Its the same way we used to talk at IIT though we were not sexually active as the hero here being left at kgp amongst batch of 35 boys and 6 girls. The graphic nature of film shocks and people can identify. Plot is hilarious and non issue but the film hits you in every frame. Period not a classic by any means neither a landmark film. But a film which you cannot watch with family. A film of todays generation and drives on their cool quotient. and the song DK Bose epitomises care a damn attitude of film makers and audience
In preindependance days S C bose (SCB)had garnered entire nation's imagination by means of sacrifice, values and struggle. Entire generation was working towards idealistic goals. They beleived that new dawn will arrive with independance. Whole society will develop. That was language of youth those days.
We lost the way in between due to false socialism policies and corruption. Globalization was inevitable after liberalization. and todays generation is product of that process and Delhi belly represents that. I am not judgemental by pointing out difference of values but am amazed by forces of change.....

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Fight against Corruption

In my earlier post, in the backdrop of Arab revolutions, i had mentioned that people coming out on street can be possible in India only due to law and order issues like terrorism and gap between rich and poor. But in April, just after the world cup, Anna Hazare was instant rage. All and sundry supported him as rightfully we should have against corruption. People had candle marches, social networks went beserk...
So finally indians have said enough is enough for corruption. Or we are still like sheeps in the herd , herded by manipulators in the system with their new media tools.
There is a whole conspircy theory about phenomenon behind Anna movement. It was timed perfectly. Monday after world cup win on saturday. Media had over exposed itself on cricket frenzy. They needed new fodder. There were many fasts in Delhi which fail to catch even 100 eyeballs. What was different here? was there a media role to promote and highlight. If so who was behind and who were beneficiaries. Not all questions were answered but any logical mind can extrapolate. Not that i dont respect Anna Hazare. His issue is noble. He is a trustworthy guy who has taken rich maharashtra scoudrel politicians. Though some say he is stooged by maharashtra opposition (non congress ncp parties). Congress blames him for RSS sympathy. He was framed in false cases for sure. The faces of anti corruption movement are respectable: kiran bedi, kejriwal, bhushan, hegdes. Congress played its dirty politics as usual to attack the leaders of this movement. Last but not least he was attacked by idiots like mahesh bhatt who had only one point of objection that he praised Narendra Modi. whats the connection between that and anti corruption movement. what positibes has modi got into for gujarat is another topic. for that matter what nitish kumar has done to bihar progess is another matter.
But the movement had a specific agenda aboutr Lokpal Bill.Thats again a positive thing. You cannot have vague points to agitate. Lokpal bill with proper norms can be effective bill to fight corruption. some thought leaders argued that just like any other law in India this bill can be manipulated by those who have manipulated and milked indian system for last 64 years. What can a law do? But being a civilized democratic society we can only resort to lawmaking. Another criticism against Anna Movement was that it will undermine parliamentary democracy with sort of pressure tactics used by its leaders. Who were these people who criticized anna: digvijays, pawars, sibals, and whole set of incumbents who are known to be champions of special kind of politics, manipulation.
Then came ramdeo issue. First government wanted to explore if they can use ramdeo movement to fizzle out steam from anna movement. Moment both Anna and ramdev showed solidarity it cracked down badly. Its a blot on indian democracy. In fact we indians are used to congress version of democracy as in case of emergency. What made government motivated to use high handed ness is to douse fire before it builds up and then save ts skin using majority in parliament. It also knows that public memory is short and election in 14 will be fought on different issues. 3 years is long time in politics. Though state elections in states like UP are year away but in those states congress does not have any chance.
So its now for public to drive the fight against corruption for next 3 years. There seems no vaible alternative to congress as we see bjp today in shambles. But we need to give chance to get clean candidates elected. we need to cleanse system. The educatd should come in political mainstay. Let the parties who have milked india with corruption have civil society alternatives. Let there we revolution by leaders like anna, bedi taking constititional posts apart from just being watch dogs....

Monday, June 6, 2011

Himalaya Ki Goad Mein; Har Ki Dun experience

It was 1989; I had just appeared for my Xth exams. I was an ordinary student in school. Thanks to some external motivation, I had developed some interest in studies and some knack to get good marks in exams. That was though not enough for the great rat race of life. What was needed was that spark, a little bit of confidence to excel. Though I don’t claim extraordinary achievements but the Himalayan experience in 1989 really helped me in long run as I realize today when I return from another Himalayan trek after a gap of almost two decades.
Then world was different then. In fact state was UP today is Uttarakhand. Rajeev Gandhi govt was struggling due to Bofors. Ram Mandir movement was in its very early stage. Political uncertainty was 6-7 months away as general elections were looming. Here we were a group of 30 people led by Gore sir a trekking enthusiast from SP college and colleague of my father. The group was motley, a doctor couple, few banking couples, old collegians, an old but fit prof, hot college girls and boys after them, kids from 10th till 12th. I was the baby of team by birthdate. The facilities were very basic. In Delhi we stayed at Maharashtra Mandal. Rail journey was cruel with less no of confirmed seats than the actual number. We stayed at Dharamshalas everywhere in biting cold and just carry mat , sweaters and shawls. The journey was scenic. The route was Ghuttu, Panwali, Trijuginarayan, gaurikund, kedarnath, ukhimath,chopta, tungnath, gopeshwar, valley of flowers, hemkund, badrinath and mana. These all places were heavenly. The most important point there was I was chosen as a rope leader to manage a sub group of 8 college ladies and a couple. It sparked a leadership spirit inside me and gave me immense confidence.
22 years have passed. Life has taken twists and turns. Life has taken me to many places in India and abroad. But I always wanted to go where it all started. 2011 has been super. I achieved 4 sinhagad treks, 1 vasota trek, 2 WC live matches , WC win. To top it all, my plan to go on Himalayan trek materialized. I was encouraged by a friend who had done same trek via yuvashakti last year. Also I had a friend who had promised to join me but backed away at last minute eventually. This trek was a comfortable one. Started with flight to delhi, ac express to dehradun. There I joined the group which had faced torture of mainland heat from pune via sleeper class. Most of them were youngsters: eng 1st years, Xth, XIIth students and few elders with yuvashakti leader being eldest at 45.
We took an arduous bus journey to a place called sankri around 200 kms ahead of dehradun. For some time we were on jamnotri route. we could see yamuna flowing in the valley below. We had a very economical lunch and bread omlette/magi enroute. We wasted a lot of time and it was almost dark when we reached base camp of sankri.Before that we had to take permit from shri govind national park which is forest reserve. Jungel was getting thicker, taller and air was getting chillier. Sankri is on hilly front though just at 1930 mtrs above sea level. There is a great wind factor as its on peak top. We put on our warm clothing and looked forward to first evening together. Due to trees collapsing, there was power outage so we had gloomy evening descending with only torches and candles to support. We started on track of ghost stories to add to the ambience. The rest house has metal cots, mattresess and thick blankets. This is the case throughout but for harki dun where capacity of guest house is only 10 beds and we were 20. Yuvashakti had outsourced the arrangements to local party who sent two very sweet kids (sons of owner brothers), guide (gajendarbhaiiya), 2 cooks who were very friendly, 2 porters one of whose name was daftar (meaning office in hindi). They prepared normal food of rice, dal, rotis and sabji. Any food in the hills is heaven. So many of youngsters who were disappointed at bhendi being served could not stop from second helping. We had our first trek night.
Next day was kind of acclimatization. We walked flat alongside a mountain and valley which had at its base river Supin flowing. Forest was thick. We crossed two waterfalls where we drank fresh mountain water. We walked though 11 kms. There was no climb or altitude gain. Some clever tourists used jeeps to reach next destination called taluka. Taluka was the only place we had electricity. This was the time I realized importance of reaching destination early. All good rooms were blocked by those who reached first. We had to fight flies and had toilet which was away and unclean. We played cards and visited a local house. Local people were very hospitable and had kids who were very smart. Some of them knew geographical location of Pune and i was amazed. I know of same age students in Pune who cannot make out ahmednagar in Maharashtra map. That guy wanted to be engineer. God bless him and let him realize all his dreams. Till now I was close to only group which had fairer sex as members. We had only two.
We started the real trek at taluka and headed for osla. We had first river crossing over a bridge. We had to climb up and down. It was 14 kms of arduous trek. Most of youngsters tired. My motivation was to reach destination as i knew if i stopped it would be tough for me. Along with some young kids I was the first one to reach seema where we had guest house overlooking osla village on valley opposite and river supin flowing in between. Enroute we had a stall which provided us maggi which was out of world. I got best room for my group comprising of a stodgy Xth passout in whom I could see myself 22 yrs back. That led to a fun batter that I being senior was a god father of that kid. Anyways today’s kids are smart and I had a great chance to interact with them. They think differently. Their values are different. The inputs I got from this group am sure will help me raising riya when she turns at that age. I was totally disconnected from young generation. Now I know total psychology that these kids have. These kids are unruly but they are good. I repeat maybe P L Deshpande in asami but I got abreast with clock. At Osla we had another task to drive away a group of moneyed Punjabi guys on letching only 2 girls in our group. We managed that.
Next day was supposedly most difficult day of the trek. 14 kms with more than 1.5kms climb. We had two maggi stalls. Weather started getting chillier. Gradient was amazing. But again I was the first one to reach destination at HKD. The place is amazing with river supin flowing as heavenly stream . All snow laden peaks adding height quotient. We played cricket and handball which added to my fitness quotient.
As I said HKD has only 10seats and yuvashakti had managed only 1 room so we in a room were 2 per bed and oxygen available was limited. I suffered there first night but had guts to bang door to make them open the door and sleep .

Next day weather changed and it was raining. So whole morning we had to spend indoors with anatakshari in full flow. This was the time when some old ladies tried to put me into difficult position. I don’t know in what way I antagonized them and they felt that I was khalnayak no 1. I know that in immediate past I had intentionally made fool out of my adversaries, but here someone was trying to make me one. I was amused.
The weather cleared and most of us reached Mangad glacier where we played snow and had great time.
Next day was climb down to osla and seema. The return journey had started and climb down was easier. I again was first to reach osla. This was the only place which had satellite phone. So we all talked with our dear ones. And we were rejuvenated. We had great time at seema with dumb charades ruling. All the kids were calling me kaka (uncle ) and were very pally to me,
Next day was tougher as road to taluka is up and down. But with greater resolve we entered taluka and ended our trek. We covered osla to sankri atop of jeep. In 1989 I had travelled ukhimath mandal a top of bus and today it was same. I had with me a great singer in chinmay who can sing great Marathi songs.
We reached sankri to find that there is a landslide on way which can keep us at sankri for 3 days. But thanks to Col ss chawla, yogi (our local support) we managed to ply on both sides of landslide and enter bus that reached us to Dehradun
At Dehradun I upgraded myself to ac in transit hotel as I am spoilt with urban pleasures. I managed all my pending correspondence. I met my business and social friends. I reached train ac express in night where few youngsters from my group came in to bid me farewell. As with other short term friends, I know these kids will not be in touch with oldies like me. But I shared with them my only concern to be a good father to Riya and best practices involved. These kids are good and I spoilt them with party involving high spirits. I am feeling rejuvenated after being in touch with them. Though also I don’t understand reason for some old people esp ladies to have crossed me. But I don’t care. I have kept myself abreast with times esp with youngsters and incidentally I know someone in my shoes as a youngster who was in katariya or someone’s who were doing first trek after std Xth . I can identify with the thought process of most of them. But ladies I cannot. That’s the tragedy.
Now I am back with my loved wife and daughter totally rejuvenated and fresh and I hope it brings about same results as what himalayan trek did in 1989….

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Passing it on

Its always pleasure when new gives way to old. New blood in management gives companies new ideas, plans, energy and often lead to successes (though some negative case studies also exist, but in terms of % positive impact cases lead in nos). In 2007 world cup new blood leased life into Indian cricket taking it to inaugural ICC T20 win, test no 1, and ICC world cup. New directors are giving new dimension to bollywood, marathi film and theatre. Music has seen new stars.Only worrying aspect is marathi literature where old still rules, very few new talents have emerged. Maybe due to decline of marathi as language in education. Though some new Indian english talent has emerged. Change is constant. Thus one feels great when you pass on your legacy to new blood. I am not retiring or i dont claim to have great legacy but i am simply sharing a great experience of passing on a hobby or culture or lifestyle called as trekking to my 9 yr old daughter.
Trekking is life style. Its an addiction. Pack off your sack every weekend and head to hills. We in pune are blessed with options, accessibilty and suitable weather (except maybe 2-3 summer months when you can do night treks) Rains add new dimesion to trekking. But as they say every trekker memoir starts with climbing sinhagad. Go to any place with open view , or any high rise or a hill near pune. The big wall of sinhagad with its unique shape and TV tower is something you will see. It has omnipresence here. It challenges, it calls and you follow that. There are people who go there every week. For me last few years have been resurrection in my trekking life. Years before that due to work pressure or lack of like minded fellows, bad habits, laziness, young family chores, physical challenges, i admit to have taken urban cosmo lifestyle. The trekking lifestyle was there throughout my student and single working life. But since last few years, have found likeminded people, groups and will to complete my trekking cv. 2011 has been fantastic. Vasota, sinhagad atleast 4 times with friends. Himalayas are calling this summer/monsoon. But what i experience last sunday was amazing. Doing trek with my daugther.
In fact she was so excited to go to trek that she was wide awake till late. I had also promised her to see 4 planets visible beteen 510 t0 5 20 am for this week. I woke her up and there she was ready. we went to chandani chowk to see that. we could see only 3 as it was getting brighter. then drove towards base.
We started climbing. There was lot of encouragement from usual sunday morning crowd at sinhagad. She was bit tensed as she saw the climb and destination. she was comfortable till first met when road is wide with stones. Sun was still behind hills. It was bit chilly as last few nights in pune are very pleasant. Then we have those narrow steep climbs where she was bit sacred . But gave her solid instructions to hold my hand. we were slow but reached the final met after a stiry telling session from me to disctract her. we had water and lemon drops. That refreshed her. Final strech is narrow and bit winds through shrubs. she was comfortable then as she could see destination nearer. as we recahed she sensed the achievement when i showed her parking place. we had famous buttermilk, bhaji , guava, kairi. i gave her option to climb down by road. These days though cars are not allowed up due to raod repairs, jeeps di ply. she refused saying she wants to complete the trek.
She was slipping while cimbing down as one normally does. One has to control climb down. Same logic of hold me, story went off well. Now sun was up so we drank lime juice at one met. also we started counting no of slips as 'prasads' and who wins with most prasads. we reached parking. She then called her mom at home who was worried. My wife in typical mumbai girl. she gets scared on water and heights.
we (I) have made umpteen attempts to convince her but we could only manage ARAI hill, neelkantheshwar, karal bhaje caves, lohgad, pratapgad, panhala out of her.
As i was driving back, i could see her doze off due to early rise or exhaustion. she was claiming her legs were not aching but could sense that they were. But seeing her determination and eagerness, i was impressed. Though it does not mean much, atleast i have satisfaction to have exposed to healthy trekking lifestyle. Now its upto her to take this baton. One good thing pointed by my friend is that, now i have a trekking buddy for whole of my rest of the life. Thats something is very good news and something i look forward to. stay with this space for more such experiences.
I am sure all my dad friends and other parents will identify with my feeling. I see many such parents taking children to sinhagad or more difficult treks. So this is not big deal and i am not bragging. But idea is to share with you feeling of passing it on and getting new trekking buddy. Thats a significant moment in everyone's life

Monday, May 2, 2011

Todays State: Lack of leaders...

We completed 51 yrs of Maharashtra state. When we were young and studying outside the state, all other state residents were envious about our state esp those from north and east. Country has been glamoured by Mumbai mainly out of bollywood, cricket, share market, business headquartered in south mumbai, taj oberoi, bandra, juhu, its lifestyle. They did not know much about rest of maharashtra. They knew about Pune mainly due to its young, hep crowd, weather, defence establishments (where many chose to retire). Beyond that they had only heard about nagpur oranges/rss headquarters, kolhapuri chappals and mirchis... period... Now that was the outside image of state.
Those inside has various things that constituted meaning of maharashtra. We were immemnsely proud about our heritage. Be it saints like dynaneshwar, tukaram or be it history mainly with shivaji, peshwas, holkars , shindes. We were leaders in cooperative movement with prosper farmers esp in western maharahstra. We in Pune had rich social service heritage with Tilaks, Agarkars, ranades, gokhales. We were also ahead in empowering neglected sections helped by some great leaders like Phule, Ambedkar, shahu maharaj. We had great literature and talent like that of Atre, Kusumagraj, PL, Vinda just to name a very few. We had good drama movement. Indian Film industry was born here and had great names like Phalke, prabhat, bhalji, raja paranjpe etc leading from front. Cricket culture in mumbai (and to some extent Nagpur)is folklore. Wrestlers in Kolhapur made name. Pune led in education. We had good universities for agriculture and engineering. we had great industrial belts like Thane, chinhwad and many more.Only problem with maharashtra was lack of good political leadership . We never had leader of national stature. In fact that was the problem of all leaders south of Vindhya. Some shrewd leaders from south gained top spots due to dynastic vacuum or sheer luck. Also another breed of regional leaders got away with good deals due to coalition politics. But maharashtra never had such gutsy politicians who bargained for state inspite state being highest contributor to party headquarters or towards govt exchequer. all and sundry in congress felt highest achievement to be confidant of Gandhi nehru clan. Last leader of national stature was dr B R Ambedkar. There was no real opposition to congress except during emergency when all intellegenisia and committed thought leaders (socialists) and opportunist (pawar and co) united to form an alternative. That dismatled in early 80s.But to form real alternative it took last decade 0f 20th century as traditional base of jansangh /rss got polarsised by Babri movement (arised out of congress misleadership), and urban , son of land politics by shivsena combined and formed govt in last half of nineties.
But again due to dirty politics of congress and due to failed opportunities of sharad pawar, congress came back and we now are where we are. First decade of naughties have taken us back 20 years. Nothing new is happening. Even in non related areas like music and drama we tend to rely upon past laurels than new work. cimena exception to this. some attribute decline conveniently to shivsena bjp govt when surplus budget got into deficit. But one has also to ackowledge work on mumbai flyovers, expressways, golden quadrilaterals etc . Congress cannot claim a single achievement except making alcohol double costly and further distressing families wrongly aligned with that disctraction. Jaitapur is another distant dream but wrongly managed. Industry has declined with every industrial land owner dreaming of a mall or office complex on his land. IT which started in SEEPZ Mumbai, is now only restricted to hinjewadi pune. Pune has done well thanks to educational institutes to create supply of labour for IT but now will lose advantage due to builder/leader nexus to escalate costs.
so whats maharashtra known for today esp by outsiders: Raj Thakrey and bal Thakrey have gained notoriety due to pariochal politics, Bombay is Mumbai now and there is fashion amongst cosmo english speaking media to hate Thakrey politics both sides. But moment you have sympathisers for both clans, one needs to understand that there is thought process which fet denied and thus the support. But both clans need to understand that there needs more than just posturing to make policies and do things of substance but you need to give them benifit of doubt that they were in power for only 5 yrs againts congress corruption for 46 yrs. also we should all unite against our common evil: both congress and not family egos. That is also another problem.
leading to corruption, maharashtra's identitity now is pawars, chavans, kalmadis involved in multi crores of scams with no respite in form of punishment etc. Nothing new happening in literature thanks to lack of marathi support by marathi parents. In education, no pioneering work exept minting money by private operators. In industry we lack behind well meaning gujarat. Load shedding and farmer suicides being common place, we cannot claim to be developed society. Thanks to all our leaders for this plight. So let me conclude that afer 51 yrs of formation of maharashtra we dont have leaders to lead us. Much proven case for false leaders like yours truly

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

1983 to 2011

What final it was? There was a great knock from Mahila Jaywardena. Every boundary hit during last 5 overs was adding immense pressure. At the break someone asked me to predict. I said India will win, because
1. it was easy pitch to bat on as batsmen like Perrera and kulasekhara were hitting out bowlers like zaheer.
2. we had played lankan bowlers atleast 30-40 times in past two years and had chased much bigger targets.
Its that experience and belief that counted. Imagine india of 90s with sachin gone. we would have been all out 170s with some one holding one fort till end while a little cameo of 30 odd fast runs by some bowler. Not this team. Opposition fears Yuvraj, dhoni and gambhir as well. Then there is X factor of Pathan, Raina or bhajji. Not add that they are shit scared of sehwag and SRT. Bowling comes under severe pressure when someone bowls team india. This was evident even against Australia. That was tougher chase than final. we were 5 down and one wicket away from tail with 80 odd runs to get. Role played by sachin, gambhir etc was again crucial then which allowed us to survive middle order collapse. That match gave team belief and that made difference. I was very sure that we would beat pak and srilanka . In fact my close friends can vouch for that. Innings from Ponting was also great at ahmedabad. This world cup i had a chance to witness in person two great innings: one at Nagpur the 99th hundred for losing cause, and one by ponting for another losing cause. This makes cricket a team game and individual brilliance may or may not guarantee success.
That was the thing of past. Only sachin playing for lost cause.
Last 7 world cups we had be dissappointed as per above script though in 03 we had a team effort led by dada. its dada who laid foundation to rise of India in cricketing sense. coming back to world cups;
in 87, i was in IX . and those were diwali vacations. I had enjoyed cup in mumbai and pune. Sweeps of grahan gooch and vengasrkar's stomach upset costed us more that loose shot by kapil when we were crusing. remember jubiliation day before when pak was destroyed by Mc dermott
in 92 when i was preparing for JEE, the campaign never took off in australia. First world cup for sachin. we beat pakis, but lost to austraia due to rain rule. Lost to england, NZ, WI listlessly.
in 96 , i was in hostel and final year. Had seen every match as its most relaxed time after getting campus etc. Had a great victory procession all around kharagpur after we beat pakis. Dhoni was in kharagpur for 3 yrs as ticket collector. Its water of Kharagpur you know what makes everyone cool and tough.... But srilanka match was disaster even after getting dangerous kalu and jaysurya in first two overs. Till sachin was batting in 2nd innings there everything was fine....
in 99, we played two bad games : one gainst zimbabwe where we lost from winning position (sachin was absent for this match due to his fathers death), and one against Australia where Mcgrath outswinged us. These matches got us at bottom of table due to supersix rules. Only consolation was victory against pak as those were Kargil days. I was engaged during that world cup. another memories from mumbai.
in 03, riyas first world cup. she was 1.5 yrs old. she used to see matches with me. my grandma passed away a day after world cup final. India vs pak was highlight though team played well under ganguly to come out of humiliation against austraila in group stages, to beat all other teams till get humiliated by aussies again in final. yet near yet so far.
07 was disaster. newly joined to round table, I had arranged great parties for both matches but lost them both.
2011 was the cup. which brought back memories in 83 i had just started my 5th standard and highschool. we were staying in temporrary home as main house was under construction. we had old crown b/w TV. I remember shrikants shots, during half time we were dissappointed except one uncle who had predicted india win since start of world cup. Then that sandhu ball. We had news on TV for an hr , when we were back , WI were 5 down. we danced that evening...all over pune
in 2011, We partied a lot at table this world cup. had a chance to see live matches.
Now the god of cricket has everything in life. soon he will reach 100 hundreds. Many people have anologies for growth and liberalization of India to rise and career of Sachin. I agree to an extent. Really the growth of sachin can be paralleled with growth in wealth and purchasing power of Indian middle class enabled by new economy esp by IT. Today people like me can spend sizable money just to be at stadium. My earlier generation in 83 would not have atleast in my community. (white collored, middle class mentality with small town upbringing)
riya is 9.5 yrs old. she now understands cricket. i have passed on my crkcet craze this world cup. She is now what i was in 83.. she will join 4th next year. Entire circle has turned round.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Cheering for India

50,000 people walking out. all crestfallen. some are silent, some are cursing, some anxious to get out their car from the mess, some hungry, some thirsty for spirits.
That was 10 45 pm at Nagpur outside VCA Jamtha stadium just after Robin Peterson hit Nehra the winning boundary. some clever people rsuhed out immediately after peterson hit second ball for six over long on : farthest point where we were sitting.
Just imagine reverse scenario if Peterson would have giving catch to bhajji at long on or nehra would have been able to produce dot ball.... The same crowd would have seen dancing out of stadium amidst drums bugles, flags, shouts for India-India. Many would have waited till Man of the match interview to end.... And i would have ended my dream come true in most ideal pattern. But if wishes were horses. There was sad ending , final twist in tale. But what i witnessed was amazing.
Cricket is just another sport. It is not here in India. Its mass opium. Its a crazy combination of manipulation by media, commercialism, and corruption. We dont have cricket lovers we have cricket jingoists. Especially the trend is very scary. I have seen india play at the stadium in 80's Vs England at Pune.90's vs WI at eden gardens and here in 2011 at VCA Jamtha vs South africa. This was my first experience watching sachin century. That will be the most treasured memory of lifetime.
coming back to point, in 80s the crowd supported India but idea was to watch good cricket. In 90s it changed where crowd only wanted india to win. Now it doesnt matter, fans are taken for granted. Its all about TV audience. In fact Nagpur crowd was sporting to applaud great shots from south african batsmen. Reason i say fans are taken granted for is that howsoever you treat them, you will get full house.
Start with tickets, they had to suffer lathis. Those with connection (including myself) got it without pain. Its like Indian culture of nepotism. They said tickets were online but for those with foresight in 2010 , no one got hold of them. System crashed.
Then comes process of fan comfort during the matches. I know VCA is one of the best stadiums where seats are numbered and clean. You have cafeterias (though very inadequate for the crowd). Ground is a great sight. But the main problem is access. This stadium is 20km outside nagpur with single connecting raod. There was a whole traffic jam. The road is big. But anyone with common sense would have opened three lanes for vehicles towards stadium and one for reverse. But no such flexibilty was shown by police. some people started at 11 and just got in right time. many lost first 5-6 overs. Security was vague inspite of terror warning. They were just checking tickets and frisking was very superficial. Anything would have happened but thankfully or luckly it went well. Thats the state of our preparedness against terror. Rambharose; ie riding on good luck....
Water was served in polythene bags which was a big problem to open and drink without getting wet or spilling it. so by the end of match there was lake of spilled water over stairs and area. toilets were very reasonably big and clean.
Mind it this is best stadium in India. I cannot imagine how it is at some non descript venues...
To see whole one day match is energy sapping for spectators. Add to that constant dancing , music and antics to get camera attention. I dont know how foolish you would look when you see your own antics later. The urge to get seen on camera was spolier as everyone else who did not stand up had to lose out on action or had to stand. Thankfully score board was good and so was action replays of balls.
Going back again took us three hrs. So add six hrs to 9 hrs of match time. Real tough ask. But indian fans dont mind hardships.
Coming to on field, its an experience watching Sachin field. Surprised. A great learning curve watching him field. That was the most memorable part of the experience.
Lets start with indian batting. Sachin while batting is as cool as anyone can. He plays with bowlers mind. when to attack, when to defend. he is smart. Ofcourse his talent to score and technique is beyond comparison. But one can predict when and which ball he attacks based on match situation. He advised gambhir many times to either stand outside crease to dale steyn or go one step back for morkel who is high on bounce. Sehwag is also another cool chap. He was troubled initially by steyn. Thses guys bowl fast. The speed and carry of ball was visible from my position just behind square umpire. But sehwag attacked to get out of that tight corner. Only sehwag and sachin can attack such quality bowling.Gambhir took his time to settle but scored when he got set. I justify Dhonis decision to take powerplay because both sachin and gambhir had timed two offside boundaries of steyn very well in 38th over. so they felt they are in. But all batsmen including sachin went for lofted shots where they got wrong. smith was clever in making all players stand on edge. crowd was stunned. some even started cursing them. when indian innings ended, we knew we were 20 runs short and that was fatal in the end
Bowling initially has held smith, amla bogged. Though it was easier batting conditions in evening thanks to dew as ball was coming more upto the bat. Our bowling rose to occassion and ensure that we lost with 2 balls to spare. the kind of score we had would have been otherwise surpassed with 3-4 overs to spare with say 4-5 wickets in hand for a team like SA. our fielders though were sluggish when singles were converted to twos. Gambhir and yuvraj dropping sitters. Thats what is said it was learning curve watching sachin field. You know then what makes sachin as sachin he is why others are just termed others.He is fully committed. Others lose focus when action doesnt not revolve around them. But sachins body language is different. No south african batsman thought about second run when he hit towards sachin in deep. He took a catch, he saved few boundaries. i could not see same body language inside any player except raina or kohli to some extent. But age on their side, what about the most senior player at the age of 38.
The fact that i was there to witness sachin's 99th international century will remain a high point of my life. The crowd reaction was crazy. It went beserk as he reached 96 and amount of noise when he made 100 was deafening. I have those moments captured.
Add to that sehwags batting, gambhirs shots,nail biting finish, crowds roar after every african wicket, quality of steyn morkels bowling all was a great experience.
The very fact that you are part of something millions would be watching all over world made me feel different when i was a dot in 50000 strong crowd. I dont know how players feel when they are center of attraction with closeup cameras. what is it being sachin when you carry billions hope? spare a thought...

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

First impression

All teams except SA and Ireland have played two matches. Weekend saw two interesting matches: SL Vs Pak and India Vs Eng. Rest all matches have been onesided except maybe Eng Vs Netherlands. Eng, India,Pak and SL have advantage of coming across close situations which might be helpful in knock out stage.

If you ask me to take my neck out and predict a winner: South Africa. Reason variety of their bowling attack and experience batting. Only weakness seems to be long tail and lack of allrounders. we in past have seen great SA allrounders like Boucher, Pollock, klusener. Now only kallis is left but with injuries bowling slow. Also their usual bugbear of choking can go against them. But they have strong potential to beat everyone.

Australia is second favorite with good bowling lineup and allround abilities of watson. Batting looks out of form but with players like Ponting, Clarke you cannot rule them getting back to form.

Pakistan looks next solid team with dangerous players like afridi, razzak , akmal giving great allround depth to batting. Misbah, Umar, Younis form sound middle order. Openers seem inexprienced but can give fast starts. Bowling is good as well.

India will be lucky to grab fourth slot in Semis unless their bowling and fieldling improves. Batting has clicked but bowling unit is below par except zaheers second spell against england. So unless bhajji, or someone else picks up we might see teams scoring heavily and batting under pressure while chasing or just like what we saw at banglore. England lost their nerve so we could save a point.

Srilanka's spin looks ordinary. Malinga fitness will be crucial. Batting also had chinks. But since they will be playing in their country they can easily reach semis if malinga is fit

England had advantage of playing hard cricket so their only road ahead is to improve. Their bowling is underconfident. Batting looks good. But mentally seem brittle. so you might not bet them going past QF.

New Zealand will reach QF but no more. Nothing extaordinary from team yet.

WI have lost Bravo and will find tough to go to next stage by knocking over bangladesh despite great perfomance against netherlands. If gayle is found early by bangladesh, then we can see some upset at Dhaka. But mostly will be last QF team.

Bangladesh can cause upset against WI if lucky to get gayle early. Batted not so except Tamim . Bowling has not clicked as well but have crowd support.

Zimbabve is on revival and will definitely give some established teams some scare. But they will be better off than most of minnows

Ireland and Netherlands have european ethics and built. But they lack confidence and experience. They do have one or two good players but will be force by 2019 WC.

Kenya after so many years of World cup exp flatter to deceive with same set of old players. Their cricket needs revamp

Canada should have been replaced by Afganistan to make interesting viewing.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Amidst Unspoilt Wilderness of Vasota

I woke up in morning, I felt city buzz. While going to office i faced Traffic, pollution. I saw cement jungle everywhere. Though i have a lot of structured sorroundings near home but situation in major cities like Pune is alarming. Hill slopes are destroyed, tree are cut, rivers are blocked and what we face is urban nightmare. Add to that carbon pollution, noise pollution, traffic chaos, inflation, corruption. Its unbearable. As the people in Arab world are doing it, it was time for me to revolt. I revolted and headed towards Vasota, a fort amidst koyana backwaters. and i was successful in my revolution. I am now refreshed and ready to survive in good old bad citiscape...
Everyyear i make a resolution. There were few things as a collegian or working single professional, i missed. Maybe due to sudden migration to kgp or for jobs. later due to business. Harischandra and Vasota are two 'dhams' for trekking enthusiasts. Add to that list; ratangad, rajgad, bhairi, rajmachi... many such dhams. I had done rajgad, torna, torana rajgad, shivthar rajgad, khandas-bhimashankar, lonavala bhimashankar, dukes nose, madhu-makrandagad, rayreshwar, umpteen times sinhagad, but somehow missed these popular slots. three years back i went to harischandra (blogged then here). I was impressed by grandeur of Kokankada, terrain, sorrounding peaks. It was amazing.
Last two years went dry ( i mean not that dry due to my focus on partying and socializing. also work pressure took toll) But year 2011, is year of health. Going back to where i was. Thus year started with two climbs to sinhgad. Solaris my health club has started Transform challengs. so lot of activities.
Had heard that Vasota fort will no more be accessable for trekkers after formation of Koyana Tiger reserve. So felt feb11 was my last chance. I searched web and found giridarshan having trek on 13th Feb. Called few friends, one of them joined. He being lecturer at sassoon, roped in his four students. Prepared on home side. Wife and daughter felt sigh of relief as i was supposed to be out of equation for more than 24hrs. (just kidding..) Got a sack, sleeping bag and headed towards meeting point which was in city at 10 30 PM. There were many takers for this trek maybe due to the tiger reserve threat. We had two bus loaded of trekkers heading towards vasota. After innumerable delays and pickups on route we finally took highway at midnight. Night was cold. I caught up with my school mate and shared memories of school, college etc. Had a great tea break on mahabaleshwar phata and reached satara at 1 am. I dont know for what they halted at satara for more than 30 mins. Finally we took Kaas ghat. Kas plateau in night is another story. In this blog here i had written about trip to Kas. Two buses in total darkness and steep turns can be scary.
Finally we reached Bamnoli at 4 am. Just two hrs to sleep. Found a corner at mandir. spread the sleeping bag. But before crashing, met the most important task during trek: Cleaning bowels. Open air task has to be accomplished in dark. so went near lake alone. It was scary experience. Managed that and slept amidst snoring of atleast 20 odd people and 60 odd trekkers. Cannot run away from crowd here also.
Next morning had a breakfast of pohas and tea. Launch people came in at 9 just like any govt office. Forest permissions are also granted on the spot as against my information that we have to get in prior from Pune. But staying at vasota is not allowed. If found there is penalty. So our fleet of 7 launches with 12 people in each started by 9 30. Expanse of Koyna dam is amazing. Right from Tapola till dam wall is nearly 60-70 km north south. add to that inward stream of lake on both east west side . some of them as long as 5-6 kms. Add to that its standard east west width of atleast 6 -7 kms. Huge water storage. Still Maharashtra suffers from power and water crisis in summer is another story. On west side of dam we have huge jungles and few hamlets cut off from world. Launch is only way to access these villages. Comparing vegetation on east slopes and west slopes indicated human touch of destruction on east side which is accessible. West side is unaccesible due to mountains and sahyadris on west (heavy climb from konkan side amidst treachourous mountains and valleys) and dam water on west. So we cross two valley on lauch and finally saw vasota fort on west. The extension of lake entered almost 2 -3 kms . As we entered the vegetation thickened out sizably and by time we reached Met Indavali, launch station and start point form vasota, it was thick forest which i had never seen maybe expect at Bhimashankar.
So we started trek at 1030. There is forest office and small gate to enter. Once we cross that its jungle all the way. We never saw sunrays till almost we reached top. We say vegetation, shapes, butterflies, birds but did not see any other wild life (fortunately or unfortunately). Saw a cat which people claim to be udmanjar. The gradient is steep but taxng. Lack fo sun makes it easier also cool breeze helps. maybe a km ahead you have a natural water stream which is last water source till you reach top. The water is amazing. The jungle noises soothe you all along. I pitied those who had their earplugs on with some music. Thankfully inspite group being large, chatterati was less. After one and half hrs of forest climb we reached open spot from where we could see how far we had travelled from starting point and could see jungle, dam waters, mountains. The view is amazing. i cannot describe, neither photo will give that feel. Walk amidts forest is an experience and summary of trek. We reached on fort at 12 30. There is nothing atop the fortexcept water tank, and old dilapidated temple and some basement structures. It seems Britishers destroyed the fort when they captured it. while they have preserved silliest of castles in scotland, they have ruined our forts and history. For that i will never pardon them (as if it counts). In fact when it was ruled by marathas, britishers were kept there are prisoners. Imagined being imprisoned on fort thousands of km away from home that too in such landscape. some guts. This fort was captured by shivaji during conquest of Javali from mores. since then till british took over was always with marathas. Thankfully no mughals or shahs.
then we headed towards babu kada which is a great view. It might be second tallest rock formation after kokankada on harsihchandra. On top of it is old vasota which now is very diffficult to reach except when you have a guide. View of kokan on west is amazing.
Giridarshan had provide lunch of chinese mix veg, roti, shrikhand. amazing. Lunches on trek are always great.
Then we saw machi, where we could see nageshware cave. Its 3 km ahead and has old cave and mandir. we started climb down at 3 and reached launch by 4.30. Climb down takes toll on your knees. But same forest experience helps.
We took launch , caught few naps and reached bamnoli by 6. Bus took us to satara where they ahd ordered thalis at rajatadri. Reached pune by midnight
24 hrs of extreme bliss amidst some scenic landscapes and thick forest...

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

People on Streets

I was closely following Mass uprisings in Arab world. We Indians hardly know about lives of people in Tunisia or Yemen or egypt (leave aside few songs shot near pyramids). What resulted in such an extreme step taken. How was is made possible for people to communicate and organize protest. Who led the people? Was there any financing involved to sponsor this? Role of web2.0 is also matter for research.
Very intriguing indeed. But thats beyond the point.
Will there be such situation in India? Can we imagine people coming on streets and protesting like Arab world? Though one can argue that such situation happens when people's basic human rights are abused by dictators or financial situation leaves no hope situation for common man. On both count India seems to be doing ok. We have a so call democracy atleast people are 'made' belived to be the one in control through means of well organized polls. Human rights of individuals are atleast portrayed to be respected through sound legal system in place. Financially, apart from very high inflation, indian economy is doing good. Inflation and corruption though can spark a discontent but as in past we have seen govts toppled democratically (remember delhi electons won on onion prices). main reason is that inflation is steady and gradual process. Due to market econmony demaind supply mechanism do balance out.On corruption, we indians seem to take it in stride to be part and parcel of life. Its our social psyche to assume things to work that way. we have also seen govt toppled (eg bofors) but hardly any cause for public outcry. Its more a media phenomenon now a days.

But there are primarily two things that can topple the cart. One is lack of indian will to fight terror, and second is so called India-Bharat divide.
As we had seen in past, post 26/11 we had people marching streets of Mumbai saying enough is enough. There were series of blasts in 08 which led to 26/11. People were threatened that if they leave out of houses in morning, they were not guaranteed if they would return safe. (remember a dialogue from wednesday movie?) If Indian govt in future faces such challenge then people will again take up to streets. Govt seems to be in control or we are plainly lucky to have escaped with only two blasts (varanasi and pune) after 26/11. It must be latter as nothing has changed in system . Though we see police alerts or some modernization of tools.

The second is India Bharat Divide: We have already seen this struggle resulting in thefts, kidnapping, dacoity, rapes. The crass consumerism in cities has created craving amongst have nots so they try to use these ways to get there fast. We have seen unabted migration from villages to cities. The governance does not reach remote villages thus leading to new rulers like Naxalites to take over the power vacuum. In cities, welfare policies are as well nonexistant and add to that perpetual greed of land mafia on resources. It will be hard one day to manage law and order in cities.

Having said that will people in india take to streets. Political parties have already shown that they can halt india to still using bandhs and violence . But to have 100% success, they need issue which will be acceptable to all. We are so divided that there cannot be a single cause that will bind us. Those who rule the IT and media tools are not interested in politics so social networking revolution does not mean in india. Only interest garnering topics will be out of bollywood or cricket.

so rulers in india, dont worry about such uprisings, we indians are very resilient.
Carry on with your plundering...

Monday, January 24, 2011

Two positives: one negative

They say 24th Jan (correct me but i think its some date in third week of Jan) is the saddest day for all. They have some quotient that holiday season is over, year looms ahead, new years resolutions end here for many and so on... I think some points are true but i think its just useless study. Here i am am finding time to muse on this day. On work side things are hectic and looking up as here in IT things seems to have gathered momentum since third quarter of 2010.
Start to 2011 can be summed as Two positives and one negative for me.
On personal side, physicall fitness and detox has worked. This resolution is still intact. tough as they say shwaznegger was not built in a day. its ongoing process. I had opportunity to climb sinhagad, ARAI,parvati twice. also had chance to enter swimming pool on the coldest day in this winter (5.3 deg c) for acquaerobics session with some lovely ladies. All this thanks to solaris xform challenge.
Second postive is the performance of Indian Team in SA. Though Durban test was won last yr and fightback started at centurian in dec, it was wonderful fight at Capetown between legends like kallis, sachin and good cricket all round. India earned respect through this series. They will not be criticzed anymore for being lucky test team to be No1. No1 ranking is justified with tied series. Though we had golden opportunity on fourth day at Capetown. we let them through the jail... ODI series also was close inspite of absence of sachin, sehwag, gambhir . I really though we would struggle but bowlers did good job along with few batters like pathan, Kohli. Rest batting collapses but fight shown was great. With us winning T20 and they winning by 3-2 again i feel limited over series was tied. Looking forward to great world cup. But keeping fingers cross as in past we have seen strange things happen.
Last thing which made 24th Jan the saddest day in real sense is demise of panditji. Great singer Pt Bhimsen Joshi. I feel a personal loss. I remember attending his santwani prog with my grand mom when i was 7 yrs old. That voice mesmerised me. That baritone, melody, discipline, style everything. Though i am not classival buff, but his voice (along with pt Jasrajji) i feel some great feeling which i cannot define. The depth of voice, some magic. His film songs, abhangs are the ones i really like. Remember Ramya hi swargahun lanka, majhe maher pandhari, yachi sathi kela attahas, amazing.... feel like this gap can never be filled. People like PL, Panditji, Latadidi, sachin have made our lives rich. We are poorer today....

Monday, January 17, 2011

Time flies

I remember that evening in march 07 when all plans of world cup went awry. India played 2 matches, we had partied on both days with friends around. I remember the agony fans faced and the jokes , postings etc .That time facebook/twitter had not caught on like today, but those savvy people used to forward mails... Now its 2011 . Month to go for another world cup. Four years have zoomed past, sachin has gone from struggling mode to different level another. we have seen worst recession of our professional lives (though end is not yet near esp in US and europe). We have seen UPA1 and UPA2 . Thankfully left parties have been shown door. UPA2 fumbles on all fronts. we have seen terror in 2008 bomb blasts in five cities, 26/11, pune, varanasi. we have seen dirty politics in coloring terror from ruling party. we have seen inflation. we have seen obama, we have seen pak blown away, we have seen MJ's death, we have seen spain winning soccer WC, we have seen some classics at wimbledon, we have seen IPL, we have seen indian team playing very good cricket.. coming back to where i started
anyways lots of things happen in four years. It seems just like yesterday. We are so busy in our lives that days pass, weekends are spent, quarters zoom past with varied numbers, academic years end, you turn older....
so whats new in this, we all know . why lament, live in a moment... i can hear all those cliche advises and know it all cynics who migh scorn at this posting to be non issue. why i thought, i should share this. Its just the fear, at this rate we will soon go past our whole life span. I am sure most of us feel that way but for few really balanced and yogic people.
Other day few friends from school (including some old flames from school days) met, all of us have cross wrong side of 30s with families etc taking priority. someone shared school snaps, 25-30 yrs ago. That seems different age. College days at Kharagpur seem another era,... thats a paradox as we cant track time at all on one hand and feel those early stages to be years gone on other hand.
anyways no one can stop time and there is no point in complaining as my know it all freinds can advise.
But point i am making is the scary feeling of running out of time in hand.... Is this mid life crisis? Time to follow your heart....

Monday, January 10, 2011

Wish list 2011

Welcome 2011. Having seen past 2010 across the memory lane, at a popular sea side beach in Konkan, I had a great start to 2011. Reason for that being Indian teams drawn series in SA. It had never happened be it 1992, 1996, 2001, 2006. It used to be same old story of tendulkar hitting century in losing cause. It happened same at Centurian. But this team is special. It bounces back as they did in Durban and fought in Capetown, But for kallis and some defensive cricket on fourth afternoon , we could have made history.. anyways a great acheivement.

2010 saw corruption taking all limelight. IPL, Adarsh, CWG, telecom. Not say that NDA regimes have been clean, atleast they were functional like we had on roads and infrastructure. UPA1 and UPA2 have failed nation on NREGA, UID whatever projects they undertook. Plus they are corrupt to core. Totally non functional. eg agriculture ministry. Thanks to it, we have unprecedented Inflation esp on food. On oil one can blame global economy, on food we can blame on climate but what about simple steps to avoid supply chain jackups of item cost, hoarding, storage, planning. All that agri ministry is interested in Land around Pune-mumbai, Lavasa and IPL.. Create meaningless controversy on historical greats under name of maratha pride ..

Shivaji was a great king. His biography is lesson to all politicians and so called netas. I see an attempt to make his career drawn on caste lines. We had seen that in past. Great leaders like B R Ambedkar, Mahatma Phule have already been marginalized on caste lines. Every citizen has right to feel proud of these great leaders. But our politicans create heady concoction of caste, religion, vote politics depriving young impressionalbel minds to really understand essence of teachings of these great leaders. what remains is jingoism

Another trend I see is unaccountable power enjoyed by non democratic power house which is first family. They hold no constitutional post apart from being MPs. But they have unlimited power. Its high time they should get on some post in governance.

Our fight against terrorism is also politicized by serious attempts made to color the terrorism on religious lines. This will weaken our fight. Also no concrete steps are taken to follow vigilance, alertness, preparedness to fight terrorism or naxalism.

Only effective people we have is FM, Home minister, Ramesh, Sibal on educational reforms. PM himself should come out of political compulsions and loyalties to revive all above as he did in 1991 with help of PV Narsimharao , a great leader maligned by petty politics. Thats my dream for 2011.

On economy side recession seems over apparrently. Though in US and Europe experts disagree. Here in India, job market has picked, so has sensex (which had greatest loss in a day due to inflation). But let there be no unreal growth story this time. Let us all follow correct valuations , let managers not leverage out of mob mentality. Let job market not result in unrealistic wage demands. We can thus lose cost competitiveness without really going up value chain (many companies claim that but differ when it comes to numbers and scrutiny). Let real estate prices be realistic atleast in urban india. else housing will be unaffordable for many.
Government should play active role in ensuring supply of land in non corrupt manner, with proper planning of environmental and growth issue (plan for next 20 yrs).

Our growth story for last two decaded and so called rise has only few dimension: consumerism from large middle class, innovation in IT/education/manufacturing, good manpower and liberalization in that order. It all was private initiative with out any significant Governance done except for what P V Narsimharao govt did in 1991 and what rajeev gandhi did in 1986, and infrastructure focus in A B Vajpayee govt in 2001. Another problem is non inclusive growth. Anyone can drive 5 kms from city limits to understand stark difference in basic life defining parameters.Time to go to villages for nationally inclined youth. Thats when we can do real nation building.

Tasks are enormous. But let 2011 be a good start towards that. It will define our survival as nation after two decades. Its very important for me as i have my daughter who will live then. Thats how everyone should think. Starting with me doing things very important: save environment, follow rules, vote, and so on....

The change starts with me. Then only we can change system and yes system can be changed. It has to. ....

last point in my wishlist is that India should win world cup 2011 and Pune team shoudl win IPL, and i lose few kgs,.....