Guru

Yesterday i celebrated Gurupournima at Riyas music school. Riya performed few songs.
Life is a great teacher, its a mahaguru. God or whatever one assumes as divine energy provides inspiration throughout. But still there are many mortals who help us acheive our path. Idea here is to thank them.
In the stream of commercialization of education: schoolastic or vocational teachers have lost the humane aura. With impersonal media like elearning, multimedia, we have standardized learning. Globalization and worldwide classrooms have added new dimensions to learning. so where do old school of guru stand today. I think its a very personal emotion which someone has for somebody as a Guru. So institution of Guru has given place to role someone plays in our lives.
The first gurus are parents. then come family members and then the rest. still a special mention to role i had with my distant cousin (but yet very close) SD dandage as friend, philosopher, guide.
For me : Kale sir was the one who first saw any spark in me.Apte sir /abhyankar from school can be termed as a real Guru who changed my outlook towards academics and gave confidence that i was somebody in scheme of things, so was patwardhan madam who made me believe i can do well in academics as well. YG Kale sir and Dharne sir with whom i started my class experience, really created that confidence in me. Khasgiwale sir, and arun belare sir (both RIP) gave that edge which helped me greatly. Rahalkar sir from JEE coaching with his any problem any minute slogan really pushed me hard. At IIT to be honest i could not get into any personal equation with profs except maybe PPK (Project Guide), M K Ghosh and B Ray(fac advisor). For the lack of same maybe my interest towards technology took backside and aspiration of Management took drivers seat.
At the start of professional life i had a great mentor in Rangan from nocil from whom i learnt project management skills. They are still handy. attention to detail etc etc. luckily i managed whole plant shutdown as independant officer and not a trainee thanks to his recommendation.
I started my enterpreunership early. My friend subrato was the one for whom nothing was impossible. My BIL was very good technically, agressive and resolution of issues, My various colleagues , clients and partners had many things i could learn.
Thanks to Mahguri shri sai and pray that he illuminates path throughout.

water world

rains have played truant and normal life is soon going to be out of gear in my city. in one of my earlier postings i had talked about eyewash about carwash. that was just one instance that we could have made impact. recirculation of water needs planning, effective distribution, leakage reduction, rain water harvesting, effective storage etc would have avoided this situation. there is no contingency planning. one failed monsoon can create so much of havoc here. politicians the usual suspects dont care , neither do we to take steps to avoid wastage. western world does not have this problem owing to better planning and less population.
issues of common life are the last priority. who will change this: you and me...

Anti Climax

After a lot of build up, indian team lost. Jury is now out on why we lost. Inquest has begun. Kirsten's theory of blaming IPL fits in the tradition of typical western condescene towards whatever indian which according to them is anything but subtle. Westerners (with exceptions) think themselves to be sublte, balanced and saviors of world. Far from it, howsoever polished they may be they can take a unidimensional view of self interest and superiority. anyways thats beyond the topic. Point is all major players except winner pakistanis were in IPL too say westindies, SA, Srilanka. so fatigue has some difference sense in modern cricket.
Other justifications are nature of T20 which has luck as major factor, wrong tactics etc are valid in bits and peices. For me following are points of concern
1. Bench Strength of Indian team is weak, inexperienced and overhyped. All past major succcess ( post ODI worldcup 07) can be attributed to individual brilliances of sachin, yuvraj, sehwag or dogged determination of Kumble, Dravid, Gambhir. The fringe players got good exposure via IPL and IPL has helped in that way. But they lack quality and approach of above mentioned showstoppers in indian team. Batsmen are flat track bullies and Bowlers are anything but consistent
2. Bowling inconsistencies: difference in winning and losing is ability to produce 6 good balls in over. You can have 4 good balls in an over with say 3 runs. if you concede a wide and a boundary on any two (in whatever order) over goes for 8 runs which is decent. We did have very few good overs in super8s. That made huge difference. We won last world cup because we were able to produce good overs (remember those which choked SA and in Semifinals against Australia after symonds wicket). Noone seemed to care about this point year after year.
3. Lack of transparancy about injuries: sehwags exit was knockout punch which boosted opposition. Has sehwags injury known, we could have requested Sachin to be a part . That would have been master strike demoralizing opposition bowling. If not Sachin, we would have had someone like Manish Pandey to create unknown factor.(just like yusuf pathan factor in last finals). These injuries affected fielding as well.
4. Tactically we did not focus on opposition weakness: In IPL, it was proven that Bravo is not a good player of short delivery outside off, but we played by piching him up. same with KP, we bowled too many leg side deliveries where he is very comfortable. No approach while batting.
5. Club level fielding: Not much to add, maybe we would have been worst fielding side in torurnament.
6. crucial goof ups like sending jadeja ahead of Yuvraj, playing out of form Ishant ahead of Inform RP, not promoting yusuf pathan.
rest as they say is history.

Foreign Bodies

In medical terminology every human cell reacts to foreign bodies. This reaction varies from cell to cell. Similarly every society reacts to foregn migrants differently. This reaction varies based on many parameters. Recent attacks on Indian students in Australia is such a typical response. same can be made out of attacks on biharis in Maharashtra or assam. Obamas policy attacks on immigration from india china to protect jobs is another manifestation of such paranoia of foreign people. Thus i was cheering when australia were knocked off ICCT20 world cup, i feel for students.
Its age old history with such migrations. Britishers have tried to nullify indian history by claiming caucascian migration in form of aryans. This is a very challengable assumption to me.
The moguls and other tribesmen plundered india. Indians had never gone out of peninsula or plains as it had all natural resources to feed them as well the attackers. Colonial powers from europe came here and ruled us. The paranoia of outsiders coming and ruling the natives is well supported in History. Now when tables are turned, Indians had to move out to meet global aspirations. Now its turn for developed countries to feel paranoic having plundered colonies over centuries. add to that a caucascian beleif of being the pall bearers of human civilization. (this is well documented by kipling as white mans burden).
We indians can also be not given clean chit on this count. we as society have different problems based on caste, color, creed, region, releigion etc etc..
Coming back to migration, its only when foreign bodies fail to assimilate in local culture then clashes occur. One very important dimension is economical situation of immigrant. If he is poor he is a problem, if he is wealthy he is worthy.
americans, the first people to fight for open economony, liberalization call for open markets from developing countries. But when it comes to reverse open policies for migration or jobs, they are protectionists. every one has right to safeguard their interest but this process has to be mutual.
Its a very complex issues faced by mankind since ages.
i think global village concept is just utopia. world can be flat so long as it does not affect my job.

Final Frontier

There is always a holy grail for everyone (i am not referring to Dan Browns take on the topic and i am not promoting Angels and Demons). There is always a final frontier to be won for everyone.
Steve waugh had mentioned about beating India in India was that. South Africa had same feeling for australia conquest. England has ashes dreams. Sachin Tendulkar feels lifting ODI world cup to be that. Federer wants French Open, Lendl wanted wimbledon, Sharad Pawar wants to be PM. Narayan Rane wants to be CM. Whole Indian film industry feels that for Oscars. Whole science community feels that for Nobel prize. Whole IT community wants to be involved in 'the next in thing' featuring in silicon valley success stories. Whole bunch of fellow entrepreuners of our times wanted to be next Infosys. the much malignes Investment Bankers wanted to be featured in WSJ, All those in Music want to perform at Sawai, All trekkers want their foot on the everest. These are just examples. I am sure every individual has that holy grail. Few lucky people acheive the grail after few attempts. But i have seen whole lifetime spent unsuccesfully. someone has a bunglow in mind to buy, someone has a brand of car to buy, someone has a country to visit, someone even wanted to meet long lost friend. These cravings are varied. Its the intensity, desire to achieve that defines the quest. The time duration required to achieve that is the real test of character. Many people give up as well as its very easy to do that. There is nothing like achieving what you want and getting it after a long exhaustive road.
There are some dangers also in this, while chasing the grail, life's other achievement (which may even be bigger than the grail) will feel like no shows. Lifes small gifts and pleasures will be lost while having a single devotion towards the grail. Its the balance is what defines success in life.
In short not to give up on quest of the grail while balancing out the life with other important facets will define success.
There is certain unfairness about life. Some things happen in such a way that a particular achievement is denied to someone just for no reason or by chance. And then maybe owing to lack of interest to followup or some other priorities , that event never happens. and at later time you realize that achievement is still missing. And then maybe in some cases time has gone or its very difficult. Then arises that quest which is very strange for others to fathom. Example: One of my friends has taken admission in IIM after 13 years of graduation leaving aside a settled career and family.
The holy grail of life is central to all of us. They define our life, they provide meaning, motivation, substance, etc to our lives ( beware of dissapointments, demotivations, obsession, guilt as by products).
My Holy Grail is yet to be achieved. But i have many role models to guide me reach there.

Flavor of season: T20

After IPL now its time to move to ICC world T20. Back to national colors after cheering for ambani, shahrukh, zinta, shettys , mallya etc. Though they talked abt citi rivalries, i feel there was nothing Mumbai style in Mumbai Indians or hyderabadi style in Deccan chargers. Last years losers were finalists. This shows very unpredicatble nature of T20 cricket. so dont be surprised if india doesnt lift trophy on 21st June. Its wide open though India and SA seem favorites. and we know what happened to delhi daredevils . One innings from people like Gilchrist, Jaysurya, or a ponting can turn any pre favoritisms. Thats a bookmakers paradise. I doubt with all ICC anti corruption machinery in place, and also with national pride at stake, there is any chance of corruption. But with IPL, owners controling monies, being a domestic festival situation anythings possible. You never know what Big Monies can do to ethics...
anyways had a month long feast of matches, coming home to tune in to something. Cricket was much exciting than IPL1. This time more friends dropped in. opening was seen at a resort outside pune. key matches someones place. I have stopped being MI fan.
Cannot wait for Dhonis Men in Blues to take on Bangladeshis on 6th. But for some schedule related issues arising, i would have been at Trent Bridge to see that. anyways....
There are many such things that have been missed and to be planned for
wimbledon match, world cup match where india is playing outside india, IPL match in India, olympics opening ceremony.
Two things have been achieved : seeing world cup soccer live (Korea02), Seeing India play at eden gardens amidst 100000 people.
My sporting world ends there; international soccer, cricket, grandslam tennis, olympics.
wish me all the luck, to follow my dreams

The Great Indian Electoral Surprise

Election results are out.
Congress has won hands down. In my earlier blog i had expressed strong desire to flush out third/fourth front antinational brigade. If need be i suggested Cong and BJP to form coalition govt in national interest. Great India has voted against these tendencies. I am not sure if that was a decision reflecting general sentiment. But election process is complex one. There are regional issues, local issues, combined with malpractices with govt blessings. Regional party equations matter most i suppose. Congress with all election machinery in hand played it well and did show good results. Gained in south, reestablished in cow belt, fell down red bastions, won major metros like mumbai and delhi, recovered lost ground in Guj, MP, Chattisgarh, Punjab, strengthened its hold on rajasthan, hariyana. Its all because of clear leadership and focus, the organization was existent. BJP had defined its leader but he did not have any organization to make people feel than trend. If BJP has to make impact it needs a clear second rung, party base and clear messages (advani made some very confusing flip flops).
And to great satisfaction of mine, these self proclaimed good for nothing leaders from RJD, LP, NCP, BSP, SP, Left have been shown their place. Regional parties have to be accepted but with a clear message that national interest should go hand in hand.
My moral of story is that you need to have a clear and well defined leadership with a coherent message identified by masses, you need to have a ground machinery in place and you need to play regional cards deftly. and you will elections.
After many years of coalition govt we will have a ruling party(front) with near clear majority and with no blackmailing from any quarters. Manmohan singh has to deliver now. If not now, then never. national security has to be addressed with first proirity, tough decisions are needed but i doubt if congress can dare do that. If not atleast they should enforce the govt machinery to deal with disruptive forces like terrorism; cross border and internal, naxalism, etc.
economy has to be boosted, reforms should be accelerated. China like model of boost to local strengths have to be pursued: eg STPI extensions, disinvestment etc.
Infrastructure has to be given big boost: Roads, Civic transport, energy.
Troubled Neighbours are a great threat: we need very strong leadership to deal. International diplomacy has to be at highest levels to get our ways in tricky issues like outsourcing, climate , nuclear deal etc.
Challenges are enormous, but now they have mandate and most importantly have got rid of anti national interests in Govt.

blog on a blog

fake ipl player blog is the main attraction of ipl season 2. There have been some close matches and there have been some goof ups , good cricket and pedestrian cricket. Politics and megalomania have been always associated with cricket since that fine lords summer evening in 83. But web 2.0 has unleashed some very intriguing prospects in cricket.
i am sure you must have heard of IPL fake player blog (fakeiplplayer.blogspot.com) if not followed it. Out of curiosity and gullibilty of a normal cricket fan, i latched on to it and have turned into a loyal follower. cant wait for the next post.
Guy claims to be a team member of maligned KKR unit. His basic fodder revolves around fight between KKR management ( shah rukh , buchanan) and dada ( bengal cult figure). Then the next theme revolves around night life of cricketers (an angle not much explored though many have guessed to be existant since that same evening in 83). He has penchant of naming the crcikerts and officials by innovative names. has good literary skills.
this guy cannot be a cricketer. he is some bengali cricket reporter who has sources within the circle. as his only motto revolves around ganguly. the events referred seem extrapolated as someone with common intelligence and some basic study can write about the events described.
the angle most intriguing is about the power of web 2.0 which can open inside views in many fields apart from cricket. wait for some more interesting blogs ...