3 Idiots

"Gimme some sunshine , gimme some rain
Gimme another chance I wanna grow up once again..."

The lyrics above are from a song in the movie 3 Idiots.They epitomize the message of the movie.
I guess this again one of those flicks which re-defines the attitude of a generation , the last one according to me was Dil Chahta Hai.

I could relate so much with the movie being an engineer myself and how much I struggled during my engineering days with ragging and mechanics...

Its a must watch movie and a must buy for your respective DVD collection ...Aamir Khan and Boman Irani have delivered world class performance...

Bachpan to gaya jawani bhi gayee...ek pal to humein jeene do jeene do...

Allll is welll

2010 New Year Resolutions

My 2010 New Year Resolutions (not in any priority order)
> Work harder but smarter...plan things but always plan for unexpected events...
> Live each moment to the fullest and be thankful to the Almighty for what he has given me and not whinge.
> Write at least one blog per fortnight..that should make at least 24 blogs for 2010...realistic ain't it...
> Travel more and take my folks , sis and wife (offcourse) for one trip together
> Read more books and write reviews :)
> Be in touch with friends and relatives
> Start to learn Guitar...
> Keep fit..but not over do it..
> Be dutiful towards my folks.

Will review the above on 31st December 2010...

A Traveller's Commandments

Just came back from a great trip to New Zealand...thought of penning down some of my travel commandments :-

1. Thou shalt not expect to find things as thou hast them at home,for thou has left home to find things different.
2. Thou shalt not take anything TOO seriously , for a carefree mind is the beginning of a fine holiday.
3. Thou shalt not let other tourists get on thy nerves,for thou art paying out good money to enjoy myself.
4. Remember to take only half the clothes thou thinks thou needs and twice the money.
5. Know at all times where thy passport is,for a person without a passport is a person without a country and identity.
6. Thou shalt not worry , for that he worrieth hath no pleasure - few things are ever fatal.
7. Thou shalt not judge the people of a country by the one person who has given thee trouble.
8. Remember thou art a guest in other lands,and he that treateth his host with respect shall be honoured.
9. When in Rome,thou shalt be prepared to do somewhat as the Romans do.
10. Thou shalt respect the host country's culture,customs and rules with utmost dignity and care.
11. Thou shalt keep away thy from laptop , mobiles and internet cafe's.
12. Thou shalt be always be thankful to thy Almighty for giving thy the opportunity and capacity to plan and enjoy such a holiday.
- Amen

The Lost Symbol

I just completed reading "The Lost Symbol" by the best selling author Dan Brown.

If you are a die hard Dan Brown and cryptic novel fan , then you would enjoy reading the latest creation by Brown with the Masonic culture as a launching point for the thriller.There is no doubt that Brown conducts a thorough study before writing a novel and this book exemplifies none the less.
The book is a long read and not as exciting as its famous predecessors - Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons.Moreover the end is anti - climax with the whole issue around the threat to national security being a farce.However , the book is a treat for those intuitive minds who revel in the power of thoughts and Noetic Science , the author clearly outlines that ancient civilizations had achieved a lot in discovery and science and the present day modern science is in just a process of rediscovering the ancient mysteries.
The book builds up a suspense tantamount to Da Vinci however does fail to deliver in the end and reader is left wondering what was the chase all about.The main protagonist - the great symbologist Robert Langdon is again the central character and sometimes his explanation around everything becomes dull and overwhelming.Langdon's rants about religion and truth, when not directly tied to the mystery, are tedious and even a little preachy. In fact, the last 40 pages of the book try a little too hard to be enlightening.
Review in the Financial Times panned the book as "a novel that asks nothing of the reader, and gives the reader nothing back", adding that it "is filled with cliché, bombast, undigested research and pseudo-intellectual codswallop".The digested read by John Crace in The Guardianends with Robert Langdon begging Dan Brown "Please don't wheel me out again."

The book is a one time read for sure and definitely more interesting if you are planning a trip to Washington D.C soon , morever it compelled me to look at the US dollar note more carefully ...I will stop here :)

Will to Win

The ongoing cricket ODI series between India and Australia , is turning out to be an interesting one.Iam writing this blog when Australia lead the series 3-2 , I still can't predict who will win the series , but one thing is clear for sure that its a series which is defining the face of Australian cricket for years to come.
It can still be said with lots of conviction that Australian cricket is in safe hands, in the past 2 years they have lost - Warne,Langer,Martyn,Hogg,Hayden,Symonds,McGrath,Gilchrist and Gillespie all world class players who are capable of forming a world cup winning team amongst themselves.
Prior to the start of the series with India they won the Champions Trophy silencing their critics and lost key players to injuries who are forming the nucleus of the team - Michael Clarke,David Hussey,Siddle,Bracken,Lee,Haddin,Paine,Johnson and latest addition being Henriques.The fact Iam outlining this is that Ponting is leading a bench strength team currently against India who are ranked no. 2 in ICC world rankings and still have managed to lead the series 3-2.
I personally feel that the 5th ODI spoke volumes of the Australian teams talent and their will to win under any circumstances.
Not taking anything away from the Indians especially Tendulkar who played his heart out and was sardonic in mentioning during his Man of the match award speech that he will passionate playing for India.It was his frustration towards his other 10 players to rise to the occasion and also towards the media for besmirching his image as a selfish player who is not a finisher.
India has been fortunate enough to have a player like Tendulkar but have been unfortunate enough for not capitalising on his talent.Well I can go on ranting about this ...but that can be another blog for me ...
The 5th ODI was an absolutely cracker of a match and Tendulkar's batting was a ripper...at the end what matters most is which team wants the victory more and as the sagacious sage Sidhu would put it in his oxymoron style "India clinched defeat from the jaws of Victory"...how apt and true.....
I guess Dhoni's captaincy is like a bikini it hides more than what it reveals ...on that note adios.....

Maldives - a sinking feeling

Recently the president of Maldives along with his cabinet members held the world's first underwater cabinet meeting to send a S.O.S message to the world on the imminent danger this beautiful island nation is facing.
A string of coral islands in the Indian Ocean, south-west of India, the Maldives are one of the world's most desirable holiday destinations, renowned for its exotic marine life, relaxing beaches and luxurious resorts.Three of the archipelago's 280 inhabited islands have already been evacuated.
As per oceanologist Maldives as a nation would cease to exist and disappear from the face of the earth by 2100 due to rising sea levels.This is a problem which is just pertinent to Maldives , their are other island nations which are at the same sea level and could be facing the same danger.Its just a question of awareness and that's exactly what Mohamed Nasheed ,president of Maldives wants to do - spread awareness and save his countrymen from total annihilation in the next 90 years or so.
Readers might find this funny but Maldives has in their federal budget line a plan to "buy another nation" it sounds both funny and desperate and that's exactly what the situation is.
The fact that Maldives will meet its watery grave in about a century is not surprising, considering that the highest point on this island nation is just 2.4 meters or 7.8 feet above sea level. More importantly, its average height is just 1.5 meters above sea level, which means that a rise of just 1.5 meters in the ocean level will submerge 80 percent of the island.
I am pretty sure everyone would understand the logic of why sea levels are rising because of more emission of green house gases and the subsequent melting of polar ice caps/glaciers.However there is one more element of the oceans / water bodies expanding because of rising temperature , due to which they would encroach into island nations.
The country had a GDP of US$ 1.4 billion which is roughly 2% of Bill Gates net worth , out of sheer desperation the island nation is building an artificial island - Hulhumale which would host close to 80000 of the Maldives people.It is a stop gap arrangement and a way to buy more time unless the rest of nations do something about it.
The sinking of the island is inevitable as the Green house emissions wont reduce dramatically in the next 50 years , hence something should be done on a global scale to accept the beautiful people of Maldives in some countries.It has to be a collective effort and planned out effort.
Like the former president of Maldives said "What is our fate today , will be yours tomorrow".....

The White Masai

Just finished reading "The White Masai" a true life story of Corinne Hoffman , a Swiss national who fell in love with a Masai from Kenya.Its truly an extraordinary love story which surpassed the racial and cultural barriers.
What is even more amazing , is that Corinne herself was handicapped in communicating in English whilst she travelled first to Kenya with her boyfriend.Its a story of love at first sight and how two individuals in spite of coming from two different backgrounds stayed together and communicated with each other using sign language and broken English.
The novel unfolds into the daily struggle faced by the Masai people and how daily existence is a struggle , makes one feel privileged to have what we have in our respective lives.It also makes the reader think whether people can fall in love at the first sight and how does one find out who / what is the best possible situation for us to be in ....all though I had my one set of questions in terms of how could the protagonist - Corrine fall in love in a second and also than was able to justify her decision to stay and settle in Kenya...leaving behind a very luxurious lifestyle in Biel,Switzerland.
The novel has been made into a movie and was a hit in the foreign language film category.Its a must read for those who believe in hope , the power of love and want to make the world a better place.
Anyways the novel does have a twist at the end ...and makes up for a nice read overall...

Lookout for more reviews coming up...

ICC 2009 Champions Trophy Predictions

With the Champions trophy approaching the semi final stage , with three semi-finalist confirmed - England,New Zealand and Pakistan my prediction is as follows

> Until and unless a miracle happens Australia will be the 4th semi finalists and will top the group.
> 1st Semi final - Australia Vs England - Australia will win
> 2nd Semi final - Pakistan Vs New Zealand - Pakistan will win

Final - Australia Vs Pakistan - Winner - Bookies would favour Australia , but I would say that it depends on how mercurial Pakistan behave on that day ...however I would favour the Pakis to go ballistic during the finals and win a close encounter.....

Whatever the result hats off to Younis Khan and the team for performing well in international tournaments inspite of not having played much cricket in the past 12 months unlike their high profile neighbours ...you know what I mean....

How Chappell and Packer changed the face of cricket.

Cricketing purists have always been ruing over the fact on how the popularity of test cricket been dwindling with the introduction of the one day format.Well if we go back into the 1960's-70's we would realize it was the bureaucrats of the game who forced the phenomenon of the one day format to come into existence.Its always interesting to know how some events / actions change the course of history.The Genesis of One Day cricket format was not out of the sheer drive of the cricketing bureaucrats to introduce a new format to draw more crowds to the stadium.Neither was test crickets popularity diminishing in any way during the 1970's.It was the sheer frustration of a handful of Aussie cricketers led by Ian Chappel with the Australian Cricket Board ably led by the great Sir Donald Bradman.It all started with the request from the then current Australian side for a pay hike which was rejected by the ACB citing umpteen number of reasons which had no rationale.Repeated requests by the cricketers for a marginal hike was met with sheer negativity.But as a sagacious man once said " When God closes one door , He opens another one."This time the open door for Chappell and his men was that of the Aussie business tycoon Kerry Packer.Packer approached Ian Chappell with the concept of one day cricket and off course with a lucrative remuneration.The concept was launched and the first world series of cricket was scheduled , critics and board members coined the format as pyjama cricket and involved players were levied with a life ban for never to play cricket for Australia.Chappell was responsible for selecting players to be involved in the World Series format and was also looking after the branding /marketing of the game on behalf of Packer.
Met with resentment from the governing authorities the game was played and was accepted by the public as an exciting form of cricket with colored clothing , under lights ...in a way just mirroring baseball in North America.
The rest as we know is history , the ODI format has changed the face of cricket and is permanent fixture of any cricket tour.With advent of Chappells intervention with endorsements and the new game , the current crop of cricketers owe a lot to the struggle and sacrifices Chappell and his men made to make One Dayers a reality.
Food for thought - will Lalit Modi deserve the same for introducing T20 ...only time will tell...

Punter Vs Tendalia/Lara

Congratulations to Ponting aka Punter for surpassing Allan Borders feat of the highest run scorer in test cricket for Australia.Considering how consistently prolific he has been over the last eight years, it was only a matter of time before he went on to become Australia's leading run scorer in Tests.
Considering the fact that he has broken the record in 134 test is phenomenal as it is 22 tests less than what Allan Border played in his cricketing life.Immediately the next question is whether Ponting is better than Tendulkar or Lara.Its a difficult question to ask and answer and pundit all over the cricketing fraternity will have different viewpoints.
My opinion on this is purely based on as a spectator and follower of the game , I would rate Ponting definitely as a better batsman in comparison to Tendulkar and Lara and I have my own gumption's for that.
Firstly , Punter made his international test debut 6 years post Tendulkar and 5 years post Lara in December 1995.Hence both Tendular and Lara have a lead of playing 6-5 years more test cricket before Ponting burst into the scene.Tendulkar has till date played 159 tests followed by Ponting at 134 tests and Lara at 131 tests. There is very little to separate between the trio wrt to the batting average with Ponting leading the pack at 55.25 , which is also the highest amongst the top 18 test run aggregators of all time.
Now Ponting has had an advantage of being part of a very strong Australian side since the time he has made his debut right up till 2008.Hayden and Langer one of the all time opening pair greats , used to build up a good start and as a result also tire the opposition bowlers.One down Ponting used to enter the scene and start scoring his bulk of the runs , however nothing can be taken away from him as he used to ensure playing a long inning to build a huge total for the team.This was a prvilege which Lara never had throughout his career and most definitely Tendulkar never had for the first 14-15 years of his career.
In terms of the quality of bowlers they have faced the same quality in all the oppositions , with exception of the Warne factor. Having said that neither of Lara or Tendulkar have ever had any major trouble tackling Warne.
Most of the runs Ponting has scored have resulted in a win situation for Australia , which cant be said for Tendulkar and Lara.Lara and Tendulkara have a fool proof batting style and have faced all forms of attack at various surfaces successfully , the same can't be said for Ponting as he has had congenital problems with off spin.
The fact that Punter has scored all his runs with a handicap of playing test cricket for a period of less than 5-6 yesars as compared to Lara and Tendulkar , simply prove on how good a batsman he is.
One can't predict whether he can break Tendulkars record of highest amount of test runs as both players are of the same age , Ponting is building a new team for Australia and would be handing over the team to Pup over the next 2 years.This does give him an opportunity to bat for longer periods as the openers slot is fragile.
As no one can take away the tag of the best spin bowler ever from Warne even though Murali might land with 850 wickets , likewise Punter would be remembered as the best batsman ever of the modern era.

Can we make a difference ?

A conversation with a relative hovered on how Non Resident Indian's and People of Indian Origin staying out of India impact the economy of the country.We as PIO's genereally talk about the merits/demerits of many sociopolitical situations in our country of origin.The question lies in the fact what differece can we make as individuals.I know that to make any impact one needs a group of people to , but do we as individuals want to be part of a group that will make a difference to the sociopolitical state of our country.

The common ramblings which we get to hear and take part in are how / when will the infrastructure of the country improve , when would we have a more stable government , when would we take more medals at the Olympics , why is population the root cause of everything so on and so forth ?

Well let me take a view on this which might sound diabolical , we as PIO'S/NRI's are one of the root causes which is slowing down the growth of the political/economic and social situation of India.I know while reading this the questions which will prop up will be WHY ?? HOW ?? IS THIS GUY INSANE....well think what you may want to but its true.....

From an macro economic perspective the barometer of success is GDP or other factors like per capita income.Now India's GDP has been clocking an amazing growth rate over the past 10 years but GDP is a myth for a country like India.Numbers like GDP , NDP etc are like bikini's they hide more than what they reveal , thats the beauty of numbers.....Well realistically if we divide the GDP by the total population we get a ratio called as per capita GDP...now in any developing country like India GDP is primarily contributed to by the middle class and the upper class population which would contribute to maybe 10% our total population.Generally all of us migrating out of India belong to this 10% , hence we hamper the numerator of the ratio substantially and the decrease in the denominator is minimal....hmm I think this might be confusing well more simply put its like the main bread earners for the country are leaving the country to take up jobs/or study outside India.

Thats the first dent which we cause to the economy , morever at the same time we are adding up positively to the economy and GDP to the adopted country in which all of us are residing...which is apt and there is nothing wrong in it as its the duty of an individual to contribute positively towards the society and economy of the country which has provided him/her with the oppurtunity to live successfully...by adding on to the growth of an developed nation one just increases the gap between India and other countries.

Off late in the past 10 years we have seen a lot of inflow in Institutional investors of Indian origin pumping in money to India to invest in projects ...however this is with the vested interest of earning profits and is a short term gain for India.

To bring in a radical revolution in the country one needs an intellectual think tank to lay down a premise for the revolution which is lacking currently or are in minorities in India.India desperately needs an intellectual revolution wherein like minded people are driven by patriotic feelings for the country rather than vested interest of monetary nature of the politburo.

If we really love our motherland there are some basic things which we can do :-

> Repatriate at some point of time (permanently/temporarily) to India for some charitable cause.
> Create a group of industrialists/entreprenuers which would support / put forth viable business plans and solutions for the betterment of our country in terms of infrastructure,sports and social and pathological improvements.
> Always put forth a positive and realistic picture of India in front of people from other cultures/countries.
> Inspire development by leveraging and sharing of good things from other cultures and countries at times we fall in the trap of reinventing the wheel.
> Try and encourage the build of manufacturing and infrastructure build up instead of setting up of a services sector.
> Learn and appreciate from China instead of criticising them....

Hence think before you talk about the demerits of certain amenities/cultural boundaries back home.

JAI HO !!!!

Welcome to the Fight Club

I watched Fight Club yesterday and the movie had profound impact on me.Don't panic I don't suffer from a personality disorder.But what I do realize that each one of us has an alter ego which is subdued somewhere in our subconscious mind. We constantly have an inner struggle with our alter ego in each and every decision we take in life.The alter ego could be at times negative and at other times positive depending on one's state of mind. GOD blessed us all with a brain , but over the past 10000 years of human existence as a homo sapien the brain has proved to be both a boon and a bane.
All of us are sometimes forced to lead and live our life's in accordance with the norms of the society.Now some of these norms are archaic and totally irrelevant in present times , hence they need to be modified.As most of the societies and cultures don't offer a flexibility of modification this leads for the human mind to struggle and ultimately choose path to redemption and complete self satisfaction. Some people who inherently are introverted and like to lead a quiet life are forced to lead a completely extrovert and public life due to circumstances and paths they have chosen.Some people are lucky to lead lives which completely match their personalities and inner self , these cases of a person with no alter ego , because life and society has offered them all they wanted.
In the movie "Fight Club" Edward Norton creates a split personality in Brad Pitt and leads his desired form of life through his character. Some people would described such people as insane and mentally sick , but I would take a different perspective on it.I think its in our human rights to live our lives the way we want to , till the time we don't harm anyone.Nature has given us better sensing capabilities as compared to all other animals and we need to exercise our basic right to live to the fullest. Hence let other live life in accordance with their own terms and lets not criticise each other with what is defined as right or wrong by the norms of the society.

The Susan "Boylemania"

"Susan Boyle stuns Simon and team"
"Susan delivers yet another powerful performance"
"Susan Boyle gets a 250 pound makeover"
"Susan Boyles suffers from mental breakdown"
" Susan rushed to the hospital'
" Susan Boyles dream collapses'

I have been trying my level best to avoid reading about the "Boylemania" which has gripped the whole world in the past 2 months.
It all started when an unassuming , never been kissed 48 year old Scottish woman walked to the stage in front of judges of Britain's Got Talent show.There was whispering and a slight giggle from the judges and the crowd too even before Susan had started to introduce herself. Susan sang " I dreamed a dream" from Les Miserables to deliver a perfect rendition and left Simon Cowell looking for a place to hide.The crowd gave a standing ovation which was followed by approximately 100 million hits on youtube.
Well Susan must have been surely dreaming and was totally oblivious of what more was to follow.Fame has a price and it is more expensive for those lesser mortals who want to lead a private. I presume Susan is one of those who would love people around the world to love her music and not interfere in her day to day lives.
For a person who led a relaxed and peaceful life along with her friends in Blackburn , being in the eye of the media 24X7 would have been overwhelming.
Media in any form these days has a habit of pushing situations to the limit , its really important for them to know which stars / media personalities crave for or shun the limelight.
Susan is definitely living her dream of becoming a theatre singer like her role model "Elaine Page" , but its definitely coming at a cost for her.

Susan is a beautiful person and deserves what she is getting now in terms of recognition of her talent and adulation from the public , what she doesn't deserve is invasion of her private life , makeovers to make her look like Beyonce or Lady Gaga and hype around her never been kissed.Little does she realize that this world is cruel to people who are overtly candid and honest.Its all about being politically correct.
The problem with such hype and popularity in such a short frame of time is that when a new act comes up , people would forget Susan and she would then remain somewhere on the search engines of Google , youtube or wikipedia.Susan is definitely more than just a mania or a fad , she has all in her to become popular and give a lot to the world of music.
There has been a scientific theory around the human mind remembering more about weird looking objects , things or any occurrence which is out of the normal.Its called the QUASIMODO effect and I feel that's exactly whats happening in Susan's situation.Here we have a singing sensation who looks very different from your normal glam dolls but has a voice to die for.I would challenge anyone , who would not agree that singing was not the only reason they are following Susan at the moment.

Its time for us to leave Susan alone so that she can get along in her life and start to handle her new found fame more carefully.

Susan had rightly quoted :-

" Modern society is too quick to judge people on their appearances. [...] There is not much you can do about it; it is the way they think; it is the way they are. But maybe this could teach them a lesson, or set an example. "

- Susan is living the dream of a successful underdog .

His Masters Voice

HIS MASTERS VOICE

When I hear my masters voice
I have, but no choice
To go running towards him
To put my face on his face's rim
His face shines like a beacon of light
as I catch a glimpse of his sight.
and it puts away all my fears of night

He is my master
He is my friend and my father
I long for his return back to home everyday
So that we can have fun and play

Yes you guessed it right
I am a dog for I cant be cat
Because I think their conscience smells of a rat

We more than often have a telepathic dialogue
To anyone else it would look like a monologue
But don't be fooled by the scenes
As it is a way to our means

Our paths crossed when he was in work life's sophomore
But who knew that we together will weave around our own folklore
Our love knows no boundaries
Every other relationship feels like sundries

At time he experiences his soliloquy
But it is a cover up for time he wants to buy
We are now separated by seven seas
Our lives are like chalk and cheese
But I know deep inside he yearns
His heart full of guilt
For the fortress he has built

But I know someday I know
We will be together for us to show
I pray to God for all the births I have
I still want the same masters voice
Because I don't want any other choice

-

Dedicated to my pug

A Freakonomics Quorum

Age old wisdom and laws of nature state that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
Experiences in my life have taught me that your own actions good or bad in life come back to either reward or haunt you in the most mysterious and unexpected ways.
It is my belief that each instance of our lives is an outcome of a past event either connected to us or connected to our kins.I am not John Nash hence cant promise a mathematical equation to you defining each and every life moment of yours however what I can try to do is to provide an insight on how life is charted or planned for each of one of us.

How do we connect our lives with destiny , is destiny a phenomenon which can be quantified or is it a dependant variable which is governed by a multitude of events , actions and people around us. I would like to combine two theories here : one of Six Degrees of separation and the other one of the butterfly effect. The first theory states that an individual can be connected to any other individual on this planet by not more than six relationships , the butterfly effect theory states that a the most trivial of all events can have life changing impacts.Its based on experiments on variance in the batting of wings of a butterfly which can change the course of a tornado.
Combining both the theories together their is a possibility that the small events in peoples lives we are not directly connected with can have far reaching implications on our own lives.

The combination of the above two theories can have profound effect in letting the human mind decipher the code of how event unfold in our lives.The theology has been described to a large extent in the book "Freakonomics" trying to link up events of small significance with huge ramifications over the next few decades of its occurrence.The unconventional premise here is if morality defines how we would want the world to work , our individual actions define how actually the world works.

I sometimes wonder what would have happened if Gandhi had not be subjected to racial violence in South Africa - would India have gained independence earlier by virtue of the efforts of Subash Chandra Bose and his allies or would India be still under the British rule.Would Nelson Mandela have been inspired by non-violence and led a freedom struggle of such magnitude spanning over sixty years to change the way the world viewed South Africa. Would India and Pakistan still have been a unified state there would have no acts of terror.

What would have happened if US had not entered into a battle with Vietnam , maybe it would not have shown that the worlds mightiest power is vulnerable.It gave hope to other freedom struggles and epitomized Guerrilla warfare as a way of defeating the Americans.

What would have happened if Billie Jean King had not played the battle of sexes match , maybe WTA would have existed anymore...maybe we would have seen stars like Sharapova and the Williams sister come into prominence.

These are some of the zillions of past events which impact our daily lives in some way or the other.The only way we can define our future is my doing things the right way to ensure that our coming generations bear the fruit of it.....

My Karma is my Dogma......

Is it commentary or the art of being gibberish

The IPL publicity manager of a major sports channel said "All the 59 matches would be telecast live and the channel boasts of a 15 member strong world class commentary team consisting of Ravi Shastri , Sunil Gavaskar,Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (LS), Arun Lal,Pommie Mbangwa,Greg Blewett and Jeremy Coney."

Hmm interesting because I have never thought of anyone of them barring Shastri/Gavaskar at times to be even a decent commentator.Thank God they left Najvot Singh Sidhu out of the fray or vice versa , else it would have been a torture to watch the IPL matches listening to these blokes alongwith the Strategy Breaks,the hot cheerleaders doing some inane dance moves and offcourse watching Kolkatta Knight Riders play.

I understand that cricket , life and the BCCI were not fair to Laxman Sivaramakrishan , being a prolific spin bowler at the onset of his career he was always set up for greatness , however a return from injury send him back to the obscurity of playing domestic cricket and finally relegated him to becoming a commentating derelict. I either sracth my nails on the wall or when in a sane mood just put the TV on mute when Siva starts to comment.He gets excited in the dullest moment of a cricket match and confuses the viewer all the more.

Not everything needs to be spoken about. Commentary needs the touch of a Wong Kar Wai, not Jerry Bruckheimer, for light and shadow can be as dramatic, and more unexpected than an explosion. The perennial lilt in Siva's voice builds an image of a man who is excited by everything, even a depressingly slow passage of play. It casts on the commentator, sometimes unfairly, a light that shows his detachment from reality, and questions whether he believes his own words. The emotion of excitement is forced onto comments that do not demand that particular emotion. And like with all forced emotions, a niggling suspicion is aroused. Suspicion is not something any commentator needs from his viewers, for he loses credibility. It is a downward spiral.

Coming Greg Blewett , for once Bluey actually blew away his career in commentating completely , when asked to report on the dug out during one of the matches he responed in a very hushed tone " One thing I have noticed of critical importance today in the royals team is the level of confidence they have today ...thats it from my end back to you Sunny."Man , even I felt embarrased for him,can you imagine his plight.

Cricket commentary has become so much commercialized that the names of sponsors are mentioned in every 2-3 sentence.In IPL2 every moment of the match was a CITI moment of successs for our very own Sunil Gavaskar aka Sunny baba. For Ravi Shastri the first and last 20 overs of a game in a T20 match are very critical , mate have you forgotten that T20 is for 20 overs each so please change your line to 5 overs each.Even when the ball clears the rope for a six it becomes a DLF maximum.
As a spectator/viewer/fan Iam truly fed up with this version of commercialised and inane commentary , to the extent that Iam more than happy to devour and listen to our very own Navjot Singh Sidhu , atleast he has got a very good command over his grammar and dialect.

The key thing to learn is the value of economy with words and to never insult the viewer by telling them what they can already see.Great commentators like Benaud,Tony Greg,Cozier and Bhogle ensure that when the speak the timing is magical, the phrasing simple and the choice of what and when, quite brilliant.

I urge and plead to the sport channels to carefully cherry pick their band of cricket commentators to ensure that viwers dont get frustrated while watching a great game of cricket.

" Silence holds a certain power. It is a crutch to hold on to when words and emotions fail you. "

Impact of H1B visas on Indian outsourcing and IT companies

The US government, as part of its stimulus plan to revive the depression in the US economy, recently decided on including an amendment that imposes a ban on firms receiving government bailouts, from hiring workers from other countries. Microsoft has recently been asked to remove foreign workers that are employed under the H-1B Visa program, resulting in the software giant announcing that 5,000 jobs will be cut in the next six months; including 1,400 immediately.
H-1B visas are offered by the US government to enable international students and highly skilled international workers, from all over the world, or who are already living in the USA, the opportunity to live and work in America legally.
From the beginning, there has been criticism from various quarters, over the role of the H-1B program in replacing US workers. There were several instances of US staff being replaced with H-1B workers. The ploy employers used is to hire these H-1B replacements from contract job shops. This way the companies could claim that they had not applied for H-1B visas, making it possible for them to legally replace their US staff.
Another complaint was that US Employers hired H-1B workers because they pay significantly less than they would have to for US workers. This cheap labor causes depression in the overall wage structure.
Currently, 65,000 H-1B visas are granted by the US annually to Hi-technology workers from countries like China, India and Philippines.
The US government states that they are not against the H-1B program, but it has to be used in the actual spirit of why it was started in the first place – to have alternatives for specialized workers when there is no availability in the US. It was also clarified that since the 900 billion dollars for the stimulus plan is being paid by the American taxpayer, it is only fair that American workers are hired.
This decision for foreign countries could mean hundreds of thousands of foreign students studying in the US universities will not get employment and millions will be made jobless.
The US government is also planning on controlling outsourcing. American firms that move their jobs to other countries will not be eligible for any tax breaks. Obama, in his address said, “We will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.”
This will affect more than 1,000 American firms that have over the years moved their jobs outside the country. The government is doing away with a particular provision of the tax code where US companies pay lower taxes for profits earned from foreign countries. There has been opposition for this tax code for a long time, as it was seen as an encouragement for companies to send their jobs abroad, when they rightfully belong to the American workers. The government’s aim through this move is to make outsourcing unattractive to companies in the US.
However, many believe that tax breaks when compared to savings through outsourcing do not stand a chance. While the idea of tax breaks would certainly appeal to the US businesses, it would require a huge tax break to change the established trend of global outsourcing. It would be highly unlikely for companies involved in significant outsourcing to take their businesses, and the related infrastructure and human-resource costs back onshore. So, the impact of this move may be very little.
People who oppose this move say that this move will only hurt the US as outsourcing makes a lot of sense; both economic and logical. It is left to be seen what actually happens. However, with Obama focusing on the revival of the US economy, this is the kind of positive reaction that Americans expect from their new President.

Getting the basics right : The Story of Rajasthan Royals

Cricketing pundits , commentators and past cricketings greats are in a quandary wondering why Rajasthan Royals has been successful in the T20 format. The conundrum explains the state of the situation which all the teams in the 2008 version of the IPL failed to decipher.

The team is led by the wily Sheikh of Tweek "Shane Warne" who has been long retired for the past 2 years and doesn't even play cricket at the domestic level anymore.His energy these days is channelized more towards raising money for his charity foundation , spinning a web of intrigue around fellow poker players and at getting his family life back together. Warney was the first player to be put up for auction last year and had no takers amongst all the buyers , infact there was a silence for the first 4-5 minutes post the announcement of his name and that explains his price of US$450000.The owner of Rajasthan Royals must be mighty proud the day he picked up Warne as the leader of his pack of minnows.

As the captain and coach of the Royals the first right steps taken by Warne was to build a team which is more suitable for the 20 over format and he picked up players who are more of T20 players rather than ODI or test cricket players.Warney is an astute cricketing brain and has a nack of spotting talent , he has ably exhibited this by nurturing young cricketers like Asnodkar,Jadeja,Trivedi,Ojha and now lately our very own left handed replica of Lasith Malinga - Kamran Khan.The management of the team has supported all these decisions and has ensured total no interference with the daily running of the team.Giving such level of authority to any captain and coach can be good and can be diabolical at the same time.

Picking up a team of youngsters is always good for the shorter version of the game as it allows the captain/coach to immediately identify the sometimes flawed technique of the young brigade but also ensures that the young players accept the feedback in the right perspective and work towards improving their game.

A team of superstars like - Kolkatta Knight Riders / Bangalore Royal Challengers consist of players with inertia value hence are not open to feedback over the game in a 20 over format.Now exactly what can you ask Dravid,Ganguly or Chris Gayle to change in their batting technique and what better can you ask from Kumble who has taken more than 1000 first class wickets.
The team comprising of test and ODI cricketing greats wouldn't assure any team of success in any version of T20.It is pertinent to pick up the right combination of players with the right skills sets to be successful in this volatile game of cricket wherein the margin of error is minimal.

From a pure financial perspective buying average but effective T20 players ensures a higher returns to investment ratio as the auction prices of these players is sometimes as low as 2% to those of the most expensive player in the competition (comparison is between Kamran Khan and Andrew Flintoff).Rajasthan Royals have also ensured that most of the players in their squad (both domestic and international players) are available for the whole competition.This allows the players to work towards their strengths as the competition progresses and the whole team peaks at the oppurtune time.

Also the Rajasthan Royals team has not given away to long term strategies like the Multiple captains theory et all.Playing cricket in a basic fashion is the best strategy and implementing strategies which are an outcome of the various simulation runs of a cricketing software does not ensure success.

As a quick recap the mantra of success for a team to be successful in a T20 format is as follows :-

> Pick up an inspirational and astute captain / coach
> Completely disregard the multiple captain theory else you would be breeding a team of captains
> Pick up T20 format players at the best possible price
> Spend less on cheerleaders / advertising campaigns/merchandise and more on players comfort levels.

Get over Slumdog

These days more often than not I end up discussing Slumdog Millionaire with my mates / work colleagues.Well let me tell you something I detest to discuss it any further and the mere mention of the movie vexes me.
Well to cut to the chase "Slumdog Millionaire" is not an Indian movie and it has no linkages for instance with Bollywood.The movie is shot in India and has Indian actors whom no one new before this movie.
The movie tries its level best to expose the frailities of India , I seriously doubt if the movie would have won any Oscar had the director been someone like Ashutosh Gowarirkar rather than Danny Boyle.
Iam just struggling to understand why did the movie win so many Oscars when we had so many better movies in nomination i.e The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
I mean winning an odd one Oscar is one thing but winning 8 Oscars is astounding and makes me wonder did I miss anything in the movie.I watched the movie once again with my wife and still couldn't find anything interesting.
There definitely have been better movies from or on India like "Lagaan" , "Paheli" etc.
What I fear the most is the fascination that the western society has for such movies like Slumdog generally turns into an image for the what India looks and feels like.
I feel sometimes stumped when people ask me stupid questions like if India is like what is depicted in Slumdog and it mortifies me all the more if its by a person in his / her drunken stupor...mate get a break I did not form any impressions about America when I watched "Beverly Hills Hillbillies" neither do I form any impressions after watching "Australia"
All of us as Indians whether staying in India or outside like to bask in the glory of any success attributed with anything remotely concerned with India or a person of Indian origin.
Take for example Manoj Night Shyamalan or Bobby Jindal we still get proud of them because they are "INDIANS" which is not the case they are all Americans of Indian origin.
How many times must have Shakeel O'Neil or Tiger Woods been credited with their ancestry originating from Africa.
Anyways coming back to Slumdog the movie has done more harm to India than been of any good , yes it has put the country in the spotlight but for what reasons - innocent orphan's being trained to become beggars and then being blinded for their whole life or for the girl from the pack of three musketeers being made into a prostitute valued at a high price for her virginity.
Its taken us years (I mean decades) for us to change the image of India from a land of snake charmers , elephants , freely roaming cows and being the epicentre of mysticism to a country of oppurtunities growing rapidly at the rate which America witnessed in the early 1930's.All this image building takes a lot of sacrifices and attributing ourselves with movies like Slumdog just mystifies that image all the more
So for the saving grace of GOD get over Slumdog ......

Knight Riders : A story of Bones to Ashes

The team ironically was christened as "Kolkatta Knight Riders" and like the Knights of Templar it seemed that this team would be invincilble and would uphold the cricketing pride of the people of Calcutta.
Like King Arthur we had King Khan who was epitomises the zenith of entertainment unlimited.He bought the team of knights for a cool US$75 million and personally expended all his energy for the glamorous ad campaigns.Well we know that the self proclaimed King of Bollywood can dance for anything and dance he did well....
The story was picture perfect with the team opening their IPL 2008 conquest with a bang and it seemed like this was the team to beat...well I think it was beginners luck and from their own the team saw just one side of a war - defeat....Well the King proclaimed his faith in his Knights and supported the team well at each match with his royal retinue (does the name Arjun Rampal ring a bell) ...the last time I checked in he was a good for nothing model turned actor with a beautiful wife..no wonder he had all the time in the world to be alongwith King Khan....
The team finished up at the 6th place out of 8 playing teams, talk of atleast seeking a ranking...in IPL 2008 the teams weakness was exposed to the tatters and the team definitely can identify themselves with the Real Madrid team of early 2000's with all superstars but no coordination.
The likes of Ponting , David Hussey came and went away for national team commitments and pocketed in a cool half a million for playing a cameo in the teams flop appearance on the field. I guess during all this time King Khan was still riding on his stallion of eternal optimism...good on him.
Cometh the holy war of IPL 2009 , one would think that things can't get worse.But I presume Khan / Buchanan & Co. have never bothered to read Murphy's Law - "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong".The teams performance has been nothing short of abysmal and to the utter dismay of fans the King has lost faith in Knights to uphold the tradition and to protect his holy chalice of Red Chillies...
Buchanan with the able support of his holiness Khan rotated the power hand by deploying a "Multiple Knight" theory and now the Prince of Kolkatta has been replaced by the Duke of Dunedin - Mc Cullum.The duke has been duped of a win in the last 6 games with all of his so called stellar performers notching up a debacle on field...
King Khan has fled away from his team leaving them in total disarray to dance at a wedding oops...Iam sorry to cast his democratic right of voting...he is also planning to barter his team of Knights with any takers.
Only a miracle can save the team from total relegation now....
There is no point in conducting post morterm on the debris of the Knight riders as we have pundits who can do a better job at it ...what I feel as a ardent fan of cricket is that the combination of so many superstars was never meant to be...we have too much of talent in the team and an ideal should have a combination of average and good players which is not the case here.....
The team who had their bodies exposed last year is in a state of total ruins now and everything around them looks ashen ..they have a traitor amongst the Knights who takes up the psuedonym of fake IPL player to post blogs on internet exposing the inner secrets of the team....do they have more to hide ..I thought all the skeletons were out of the cupboard but it seems the team is on the road to perdition and would only stop till they self annhilate themselves....post which the only time all of them can venture out of their castles will be in night and then they can be aptly call the "NIGHT RIDERS"......

Miss Morgan

As I tread my way back through the nostalgic lanes of memory to my first school - Tyndale Biscoe School in Srinagar (India) there is only one name which comes to my mind and that is of my favorite teacher Miss Morgan..
24 years on, I have a pretty blurred image of her face but her affection and care is still fresh as ever..Here I was a young shy and nervous boy of 5 going to the school for the first time with really high levels of anxiety in Srinagar which made me feel so alienated at that point of time.
I still remember the first day I met Miss. Morgan , a lanky frail British lady in her mid forties.Her big smile spread across her whole face, lit up the room; she had big blue eyes and her forehead had two distinct lines of age.She was my class teacher and met all of us one by one and talked to me specially, since I was crying during the recess missing my mum and dad a lot. She took her hankerchief wiped all the tears from eyes and said "Ishan , from now during school time I am your mother , so don't feel bad." The words soothed me beyond my expectations and had a profound effect on me for all the time I knew her.
I did find her accent a bit funny and at that point being a 5 year old I had no clue that it was her Scottish accent which made her English sound really different to me.
Over the next couple of years Miss Morgan used to teach us English and Maths , plus she was our music teacher too.She lived a solitary and disciplined life.Having been a missionary she had travelled to India in the late Sixties and then settled down in Srinagar taking up the role of a teacher at Tyndale Biscoe, an all boys school which is 129 years old and boasts of an esteemed alumni of the likes of the first family of Kashmir - The Abdullahs.
The school had a victorian architecture and Miss Morgan was provided with a cottage of her own within the campus. I distinctly remember one my friends Omar Mallik and myself going to her cottage once to eat home made cookies and cakes just before Easter.
Miss Morgan was a woman of immense warmth and affection and was viewed by all as a person of utmost integrity and honesty.
She was very illustrative in her teachings and once had got cookies and gems for all of us to vividly read out the story of Hansel and Gretel to us. It were these small things she used to do for us which makes us remember and miss her so much till date.
Then one fine day when I was in Class II we received the news that Miss Morgan is going on leave for un-defined time and we would be having a new class teacher .....two months passed away and there was still no sign of Miss Morgan. Omar and I visited her cottage within campus every alternate day to find out whether she is back or not.
Slowly and slowly we got used to her absence but I still missed her in a sporadic manner...like a typical 8 year old.
One fine morning in the spring of 1988 all of us were asked to attend an extended assembly , none of us could understand why but we knew it would be important...and then during the assembly I heard the worst possible news I could have ever heard at that point of time.....Miss Morgan had succumbed to her long battle with terminal cancer.
I was in a state of trance and had tears rolling down my cheeks.When I wiped my eyes, I saw that I was not alone...I was one of the students picked from Primary school to read out an eulogy in the name of Miss Morgan during a special assembly .
My hands shook and my legs trembled as I read out my eulogy for her with tears in my eyes ...I felt cheated, felt as if a son had been robbed of a chance to take care of her mother when she needed her son the most.....

Dev D is an emotional ATYACHAR

I was encouraged by one of my mates to watch Dev D and was set the expectation that it is a cult movie in its own sense ...well after having watched the movie over a tumultous period of 150 mins I would like to replace the "l" in cult with letter at my disposition...please pardon my syntax here but its straight from the heart.
I dont blame my mate for it I guess he too has been a victim of "Keeping up with the Jones" syndrome and to have social conformance with his mates might have watched the movie in disgust .....
Well well what can I say about the movie I feel empowered like Khalid Mahmud like having the right to tear apart the movie to shreds......the movie has a decent plot with the protaganist Dev D delivering well in his role ...what I just struggle to understand is why has the director put in so many real life stories into the plot of the movie ...I guess the USP of the movie is the frequent foul language and the openess with which sex is being discussed....

Now now I know that Sex sells and that we as audience gather a vicaral pleasure from watching lewd/nude scenes and Iam not a follower of Ram Sena......but what Iam concerned with current mental decadence of the current youth population of India...with the movie vividly portraying famous scandals like the MMS Scandal whereing the actress has scant respect for her father and at one point of time accusing him of jer@#$g at her MMS leading to his suicide.This prompts the girl to take the path towards prostitution.
Now portraying this as the independance of a teenagers mind inspite of doing something wrong is what I take as inference from the movie....
Abhay Deol is the only one who has done justice to himself and the movie by acting well....morever the movie meanders off track in between and fails to come back to its original plot....
If movies like Dev D and shows like Splitsville are a reflection of the mindset of the youth of India then Iam thouroughly sorry to say that Iam sad and that it disappoints me a lot.....what our teenage population see from the west and what we try to copy are two different things....
nyways I just sincerely hope that the future of India is in safe hands.....

The Curious Case of Harbhajan Singh

Well well now what can I say/write about "Bhajji" , whenever I get ready to scribble something negative about him he just astounds me with his gritty performance on the field.There is not even an inkling of doubt in my mind that Harbhajan aka Turbanator is a patriot and is a player with a large heart.Now all of us love players with large hearts because of the fist thumping , the high energy levels which gives an adrenaline rush.
Bhajji loves to play for his country and is backed up by his exceptional talent to turn the ball but alas he is a mere mortal who always fails in front of his inner demons.He has had the reputation of committing "Harakiri" on field by acting in weird fashions.
How on the earth can he explain his behaviour of slapping Sreesanth and abusing Pietersen on field when he was clearly clean bowled.Iam on purpose leaving the "Monkeygate" scandal completely off limits as of now , as I feel it was a case of action-reaction.
Ohh Bhajji how art thou like this ? Why just not focus on cricket and do the talking with the bowl and bat instead of thy tongue....it would not be fair to say that our cricketers should not show acts of aggression on the cricket field but it should be controlled in nature.Dhoni exemplifies the case of controlled aggression and does that with his performance on the field.
Anger and more importantly exhibition of it at short outbursts is a weakness and a characteristic which your opponents would love to exploit to there benefit.
I think Harbhajan as a cricketer has a achieved a lot and would achieve all the more if he just puts his focus on the game and completely bring out EGO out of his game.He should himself learn the way he has mentally conquered Ponting and more often than not Ponting falls for Harbhajan for his past record than his guile in the delivery.
The monkey gate scandal was an altogther a different affair with Bhajji being instigated time and again by the players and public so to some degree his reaction can be justified ...however what Bhajji need to be cognizant about is that he has paid heavily for his conduct in the past in terms of match fees, not playing matches etc and more importantly has had his public image besmirched.
Bhajji should start to mature as soon as possible else he will land up mentally like our very own Benjamin Button.....

Celebrations of an abstract mind

Welcome to my world of evolution…To an existence beyond your wildest imagination…To a life of inspiration…To the eternal hope for salvation! I live in a world which exists only in your dreams! …
and THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING!

I’m back… and I’m bigger…better…and stronger! A new and improved version! We spoke of stories and songs…of life and rejoicing… of exhilaration and anticipation. So I ask myself… where do we go from here! And the answer my friend… is as clear as water! There is only one constant… CHANGE! And as I change… as I evolve… as I adapt…so must my thoughts. I find myself on a threshold. Make no mistake…I do not talk of a new life. I talk of change to an existing one.

I am not revolutionary… I am just another man…livin’just another life…fighting for his right to belong…fighting for his place in the sun! I stand on the edge… but I see a horizon.

Do not question my belief…for my life is free. I do not ask you to follow me…I ask you to keep the faith! I can only show you the way…the road is yours to take!

So I welcome you once again…to the musings of an abstract mind. Where my world rests on the laurels of my faith… where my freedom leads me to eternal hope…where it is not the power of my mind but the depth of my soul which will determine the fate of my existence.

Welcome to my world without boundaries…to a life without rules… to a celebration called humanity.

Welcome to my life… I AM THE WAY!

The Power of Six Hats

Early in the 1980s Dr. de Bono invented the Six Thinking Hats method. The method is a framework for thinking and can incorporate lateral thinking.The six hats represent six modes of thinking and are directions to think rather than labels for thinking. That is, the hats are used proactively rather than reactively.The method promotes fuller input from more people. In de Bono's words it "separates ego from performance". Everyone is able to contribute to the exploration without denting egos as they are just using the yellow hat or whatever hat. The six hats system encourages performance rather than ego defense. People can contribute under any hat even though they initially support the opposite view.The key point is that a hat is a direction to think rather than a label for thinking. The key theoretical reasons to use the Six Thinking Hats are to:
- encourage Parallel Thinking - encourage full-spectrum thinking - separate ego from performance.For me EGO stands for "Edging GOD out", a trap which all of us fall into.

There are six metaphorical hats and the thinker can put on or take off one of these hats to indicate the type of thinking being used. This putting on and taking off is essential. The hats must never be used to categorize individuals, even though their behavior may seem to invite this. When done in group, everybody wear the same hat at the same time.

White Hat Thinking
- This covers facts, figures, information needs and gaps.Its the phase of time when one drops arguments and proposals to look at the data.
Red Hat Thinking
- This covers intuitions,feelings and emotions.The red had allows the thinker to put forward an intuition without having to provide any justification for it.
Black Hat Thinking
- This is the hat of judgement and caution.It is the most valuable hat and is used to point out why a suggestion does not fit the facts,the available experience,the system in use,or the policy being followed.Black hat must always be logical.
Yellow Hat Thinking
-This is the logical positive.It can be used in looking forward to the results of a proposed action,but can also be used to find something of value in what has already happened.
Green Hat Thinking
- This is the hat of creativity,alternatives,proposals,what is interesting,provocations and changes.
Blue Hat Thinking
- This is the overview or process control hat.It looks not at the subject itself but at the "thinking" about the subject.In technical terms it is connected with meta-cognition.

Patek Phillipe

“You never really own a Patek Phillipe, you merely look after it for the next generation” – the permanence that this ad tag-line suggested caught my attention when I was in college and began my fascination with watches. I was initially flabbergasted why someone would pay thousands of dollars to buy ‘ultra luxury’ watches that use complex mechanical movements to perform functions that a cheap quartz watch can perform at a fraction of the cost. For example, an automatic watch that is powered by the physical movement of the wrist can lose upto 12 minutes a month when a quartz watch powered by a battery loses practically no time. Of course, to ensure accuracy in an automatic watch you need to buy a really high-end ‘caliber automatic’ rather than a ‘standard automatic’. I have realized that there is no objective explanation to this indulgence - it is similar to buying art rather than buying a photograph, you really pay for an extremely complex solution to a problem that has a simpler solution. It is also a celebration of your success and you buy it just ‘because you can’.

Wit is "It"

The great wit and playwright George Bernard Shaw walked up to Sir Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, and asked him if he would care to accept two seats for the first night of his new play? Shaw said, ‘Bring a friend….if you have one’. Churchill replied, ‘'GBS, unfortunately I have an engagement on that night, but I would like to come on your second night . .. if there is one.' Now that’s what you would call a classic retort. How many times in your life have you been in a situation when somebody either poked fun at you or ridiculed you and all you could do in retaliation was stand there fuming, gasping for words and not being to able to come up with a quick retort? How many times have you just walked away from a mild insult without making a quick funny humorous retort and then after an hour, the perfect retort strikes you and you beat your head with a tumbler because there is nothing you can do about it? Well, I am not talking about retorting in a pedestrian manner with either insulting language or a haughty exit but I am talking about a very ingenious, quick and witty rejoinder which makes the other person bristle at the retort but also leaves him admiring you. In fact,wit can be such an indispensable trait that when Oscar Wilde was asked if he had anything to declare as soon as he landed in America, he famously replied, ‘I have nothing to declare except my wit.’ Some of the greatest wits in this world have come from diverse backgrounds like theatre, movies, politics, armed forces etc. Some of them are Groucho Marx, George Bernard Shaw, Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde etc. If you don’t mind the retort being a bit on the extreme (Read: Bathroom humor wit), people like Woody Allen, Rodney Dangerfield would be the best bets, I guess. May be you should look up these guys at the holy altar of Google the next time you have a three day holiday. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you some witty retorts that have stood the test of time. The celebrated dancer Isadora Duncan once wrote to George Bernard Shaw declaring that, given the principles of eugenics, they should have a child together. "Think of it!" she enthused. "With my body and your brains, what a wonder it would be." "Yes," Shaw replied. "But what if it had my body and your brains?" George Bernard Shaw once found himself at a dinner party, seated beside an attractive woman. "Madam," he asked, "would you go to bed with me for a thousand pounds?" The woman blushed and rather indignantly shook her head. "For ten thousand pounds?" he asked. "No. I would not." "Then how about fifty thousand pounds?" he continued. The colossal sum made the woman pause, and after further reflection, she coyly replied: "Perhaps." "And if I were to offer you five pounds?" Shaw asked. "Mr. Shaw!" the woman exclaimed. "What do you take me for!" "We have already established what you are," Shaw calmly replied. "Now we are merely haggling over the price.“ And let’s end this with a classic from the Mahatma himself who once asked what he thought about Western civilization. "I think," he replied, "it would be a very good idea.“ Next time, someone says something funny, I guess you know now what to say

Work Life Balance is good during Recession!

Some fellow managers are surprised when I start to talk about how important is it to maintain Work Life Balance during these tough economic times, the response is ‘Are you serious? There is a full scale recession out there and the thing you now want to talk about is work life balance!’ My simple and honest answer is: ‘Yes! Work Life Balance options have a proven record to help companies and national economies to deal with severe recessions’. Let me explain how this works. During the last severe recession in the 1980’s work life balance initiatives were used to help companies and countries to deal with the down turn and to help them to get back on their feet again. Multinational companies are looking at Work Life Balance and flexible working initiatives to help them through this down turn as the cost associated with the recruitment and training of new staff is great. Even companies who had to seriously restructure their organisation in good economic times used Work Life Balance initiatives.There are many examples of how Work Life Balance can assist an organisation during a recession but let me just give you a few: Part Time Work arrangements / Job Sharing: Giving your existing staff members the option to work part time is a very effective manner by which to boost the eiciency of your staff. Part time workers work more effectively than full time workers and have a higher output per hour then full time staff members. Research has shown that the most efficient and effective employees work 19 hours per week. It is a myth that you need to work non stop to be efficient! Furthermore, establishing part time arrangements is a very effective way to reduce your staff count. Two staff members who start to work part time (50%) have reduced your count by one full timer. This is possibly the most effective and popular manner to reduce your head count.Sabbatical Leave: Offering sabbatical leave for your staff members to go to travel the world or use it to improve their education is another way to temporarily reduce your wage bill. If you are overstaffed at the moment, but expect you need staff in a year’s time when the economy picks up why not offer your staff the option of sabbatical leave? Look at the recent example of Permanent TSB who offered their staff members even a paid break for a number of years in order to reduce the staff members for the coming period. Normally sabbaticals are unpaid. One of the benefits of such an initiative is that you keep your staff members who you have invested in through training and establishing a social network.Flexi-time: In these difficult times it can be important to extend your organisation’s opening hours without increasing cost, Flexi time could have this effect. Extending the starting and finishing times for employees has the effect of being longer available for your customers and your business hours can increase which can be of benefit to service industry organisations. Most organisations are now working in the service sector and fixed opening hours which were necessary in an organisation which was confined by the working of the production belt are no longer necessary.Term Time: Term time working is that employees work more during certain periods in order to work less during other periods. If these periods relate to your business peaks then both the organisation and the employees are on a winner. If your organisation works less during the summer months why not let your employees work less hours then and let them build up extra hours during the times when the organisation is busy in an employee Working Hours Bank.E – working: In our time of e-mails and Internet working from home can be of great benefit to the employee and organisations, especially during a recession. Working from home through an internet connection is in fact more productive than working from the office through factors of less distractions and old fashion guilt, which makes employees work extra hours to get projects finished. There is also less time wasted on talking to colleagues, traffic congestion and other disruptions.As you can see Work Life Balance provides creative solutions to meet the needs of organisations during a recession and increase the job satisfaction of your workforce. Taking time to reflect on this topic can give you solutions which suit your organisation.

I am on a diet and only eat soaring ballads

But this is not about me or about food. This is about one ( of several) tinglish errors…err…I mean English terrors, Spoonerism. Greeks call this phenomenon of slipping founds (oops...I did it again) as metatheses. But that is restricted to adjacent sounds like ‘ask’ is pronounced as ‘aks’. However the humor in the flip-flop is attributed to Rev William Archibald Spooner. He is known to have scolded a student for "hissing at his mystery lecture" and " tasting two worms". Spooner ( 1862-1964) was a small man, an albino but for all that very intelligent. Till his dying day he claimed that his was a tipping slung ( that’s mine by the way), and that all the mix-ups were involuntary. Some say that his mind was so fast and histongue could not cope. But somewhere one gets a feeling that he was just having some fun at the world’s expense. He once proposed a toast to "Queer old dean"and he "traversed the streets of London on a "well-boiled icicle". The latter I find particularly brilliant ‘cause it involves spoonerism and is an oxymoron. Spooner, whether he intended it or not, is a legend and since there have been several spooners trying for their worth. I have spend sometime trying to make one half as witty as his but have been singularly unsuccessful. But best I have ever done is "The groom is made of mean geese"for "The moon is made of green cheese. I guess Spooner’s true genious was in spouting them out at the spur of the moment. The below limerick is by one R. Frank Tulakthat I found particularyfunny.

My wife I call bunny hunch
though her response is sometimes as slow as a turd of hurtles;
most of the time I am pickled tinkto be harried tomer.
Except when I have to go to fart and sinalwith her for the purpose of cinding a fart and ushingit through the piles.
Being married is a londerfulwife.

The Day the Music died

Generation after generation has grown up listening to " American Pie" by Don Mclean and over the years fans have fallen in love with the song all the more and many are still trying to decipher the exact meaning of the lyrics as Mclean still maintains his silence of what he meant when he wrote the lyrics.3rd February (1959) is officially known as "The Day the Music Died" when three American Rock and Roll musicians - Buddy Holly,Ritchie Valens and J P Richardson died in a plance crash near Clear Lake , Iowa.The death of these musicians inspired Don Mclean to express his feelings through his song the "American Pie".The song has had a profound effect on me as each line is as meaningful and intriguing as the previous line.The songs exihibits the vicissitude of emotions Mclean felt and went through during the 1960's.Sociologists credit teenagers with the popularity of Rock and Roll, as a part of the Baby boomer generation, they found themselves in a very influential position. Their shear number were the force behind most of our country’s recent major transitions. McLean was a teenager in 1959 and he begins by simply commenting that the music had an appealing quality to him as well as the millions of other teens. McLean also had an intense desire to entertain as a musician. His dream, to play in a band at high school dances, was the dream of many young boys who wanted to make people dance to Rock and Roll.Music was believed to “save the soul” and slow dancing was an important part of early rock and roll dance events. Dancing declined in importance through the 60’s as things like psychedelia and the 10-minute guitar solo gained prominence.McLean was asking many questions about the early rock ‘n roll in an attempt to keep it alive or find out if it was already dead.Back then, dancing was an expression of love,and carried a connotation of commitment. Dance partners were not so readily exchanged as they would be later.Before the popularity of rock and roll, music, like much elsewhere in the U. S., was highly segregated. The popular music of black performers for largely black audiences was called, first “race music,” later softened to rhythm and blues. In the early 50s, as they were exposed to it through radio personalities such as Allan Freed, white teenagers began listening, too.McLean was writing this song in the late 60’s,about ten years after the crash.
The jester in the song is Bob Dylan , there are several interpretations of king and queen: some think that Elvis Presley is the king, which seems rather obvious. The queen is said to be either Connie Francis or Little Richard.An alternate interpretation is that this refers to the Kennedys — the King and Queen of “Camelot” — who were present at a Washington DC civil rights rally featuring Martin Luther King.The song also mentions about a generation lost in space which refers to hippies, who were sometimes known as the “lost generation,” partially because of their particularly acute alienation from their parents, and partially because of their presumed preoccupation with drugs (which was referred to as being “spaced-out.”).Being on drugs was sometimes termed — being lost in space because of the TV show, “Lost in Space,” whose title was used as a synonym for someone who was rather high.
The song inspired Janis Joplin (lady of the blues) to write and sing the song "Killing me softly with his song."
The song is one in its class and has been voted as the 5th best song of all times...please take some time out to listen to the song its an absolute beauty....

Recession is a necessary evil....

They are calling this current economic crisis as unprecedented and worst in the modern times , infact some financial analysts are comparing this trough as bad as the Great Economic Depression of 1929.

The questions which arise are why do we land up in such a situation and why is it cyclical phenomenon.I like to view things in a very simplistic way in life and would like to do so now too.I feel that such an economic downturn is a blessing in disguise.
The world readily accepted the merits and success of Capitalism more after the Second World war and the fallout of the USSR in 1990 weakened the stance of Socialism all the more in the 90's and in this century.USA and her allies grew larger in stature and suddenly Capitalism was viewed as the best possible economic model with Utopian principles.With global economy becoming more interconnected with each other the dependancies of individual economies grew more on the developed nations and vice-versa.
The liberalization of some of the developing economies opened up the possibility of offshoring jobs and building up of the services sector in some developing countries.In some cases even manufacturing was getting offshored to other developing economies .Everything seemed to be picture perfect and it seemed that nothing could go wrong , but the fundamental problem laid in the fact that for any economy to sustain and grow the common man needs to have a net disposable income.By offshoring jobs to developing countries i.e India,China,Phillipines the income and spending power of the common man was eroded due to unemployment.Morever with the influx developed markets with cheaper commodities and goods from developing nations the indigenous industries suffered miserably leading to shutdown of many companies.This erosion of income took some time before it started to impact the paying power to clear off credit card debts and mortgages.
To add on to this spiral downturn the financial institutions eased of their risk models to give of loans to home buyers etc.This time period also saw a rise in the number of mortgage brokers who acted as conduits to give easy loans to individuals with a besmirched credit history.
All was still safe till this point had some regulatory body interjected and stopped the flow of blood , however to add on to this the Investment Bankers converted these bad debts as attractive investment with "ZERO" Net Present value as a future investment which would yield returns over a period of 10 years.Large institutions invested their surplus funds into these investment options to gain profit over a long term.Hence over a period time money was being lost without anyone realizing what was happening.
With the happening of this recession , I hope everyone across the world has realized about some of the demerits of capitalism.Capitalism is great when the distribution of income is equal across the realms of the society and when everyone aspires to grow at a steady pace.
The one thing which I fail to comprehend is the concept of market capitalization , its something which governs the lifeline of each sensex index across the world. I personally feel all the mad rush in share markets is in the endeavour to protect the market value of a company which is directly linked to the share prices (as the number of units remain constant).No one till date has been able to give me a concrete list of all factors which impact the share prices of a specific set of companies in an industry.Everything is based on speculation (I might be wrong here , but would be obliged if someone could enlighten me here) and prices jump up and down over a period so does my pulse in my jugular.
There are some key learnings from this recession for all the companies and leaders , and I have enlisted some of them below :-
> Growth of any company should be based on current profits and net earnings and not on future investments and projects.
> More strict guidelines need to be incorporated to ensure that audit companies comply with the standards before publishing the quarterly/yearly results of each company
> Leaders of developing nations should understand that the backbone of every strong economy is always the manufacturing sector.
> Their should be more science applied to the forecast or control the share prices and the sensex , and it should not be based on forecasting trends based on historical prices which were always speculated
> Companies just dont grow by increasing their wingspans sporadically , the growth can be achieved organically and inorganically.More controls should be levied in terms of controlling the expenses within and each investment project should be analyzed properly before being given a go ahead.
> Lastly , lay offs is not the solution to resolve the economic problem , its a problem to which the solution lies in creating more jobs by creating more infrastructure and manufacturing projects.
I would say that one should not loose hope in these times of distress and always look at the positive aspects from this dark period.Capitalism is fantastic when controlled within an achievable growth rate and thats what all of us should realize at the end.Each one of us individually is a capitalist in himself/herself , our needs and demands grow each minute and that can be explained with the number of cars we buy and the number of "investment properties" we invest in.Its time for all of us to take a break in life and slow down our pace.
Hence all of us individually can make a difference , by no means should we increase the demand of any commodity which gives rise to a false demand.
Its important to realize during such times to realize what we value the most as individuals is it money invested in locked in options or is it the peace of mind.
There are some things money cant buy for every other worry there is always a beer lying in the pub nearest to your house....
Cheers !!!!

Is Shane the greatest cricketer ever ?

After reading a lot of cricketing autibiographies,articles and initiating discussions with random people at bars I have been able figure out to a large extent who all have had the greatest influence on cricket in the past 200 years.Please bear in mind and treat this as a caveat that these are purely my thoughts and have not been influenced by any person living or dead and definitely Iam not writing this under the influence of any amber spirits....

Many names jump up for the likes of W G Grace,Jack Hobbs,Douglas Jardine,Harold Larwood,Graham Gooch,Gavaskar,Gower,Lillee,Thompson,Vivian Richards,Richard Hadlee,Wasim Akram and the list is endless but this list will surely be incomplete without the mention of Sir Donald Bradman,Shane Warne,Sachin Tendulkar,Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting or what I would call from now on the "The famous five".

It is an ardous task to ascertain who is the greatest of them all , but over the past 200 years the game has majorily been a batsman's paradise barring a few years of instances wherein the West Indian bowling greats and sultans of swings from Pakistan tormented the batsman and scared the living daylights of them.Its been a game thoroughly enjoyed to witness the runs scored by a batsman and hence the job of a bolwer becomes all the more tough to take wickets,control the flow of runs and also be a crowd puller.

Now of how many instances have we heard off wherein we go to watch a certain bowler take wickets or just to watch him bowl up his run up to deliver an inswinging yorker or a googly.Such has been the nature of the game that it has always been a tad unfair to the bowlers.Out of the famous five Shane Warne is the only bowler present and rest all are star batsmen in their respective era's.

Sir Donald George Bradman was, without any question, the greatest phenomenon in the history of cricket, indeed in the history of all ball games. To start with, he had a deep and undying love of cricket, as well, of course, as exceptional natural ability. It was always said he could have become a champion at squash or tennis or golf or billiards, had he preferred them to cricket. The fact that, as a boy, he sharpened his reflexes and developed his strokes by hitting golf ball with a cricket stump as it rebounded off a water tank attests to his eye, fleetness of foot and, even when young, his rare powers of concentration. His batting average record of 99.94 is one which maybe would never be broken and thus also makes him immortal for ever.Sachin,Lara and Ponting have taking batting in tests and one dayers completely to a new level and have a tremendous influence on the game inside and outside the field.

Which now brings me to the phenom called "Warney",acclaimed by many greats of the game as the best bowler ever.In 2000, Warne was named by a 100-member panel of experts as the fourth of five Wisden Cricketers of the century, Warne received 27 votes, behind Sir Donald Bradman (100 votes), Sir Garfield Sobers (90 votes), and Sir Jack Hobbs (30 votes). Sir Viv Richards took the fifth place, with 25 votes.Warne has had such a tremendous influence over the game for the past 18 years for enumerous reasons , the top reason being for reviving the dead art of leg spin thought to be extinct, and is now pre-eminent in a game so transformed that we sometimes wonder where the next champion fast bowlers will come from.He was the first cricketer to reach 700 Test wickets. He swatted more runs than any other Test player without making a hundred, and was probably the wiliest and best captain Australia never had. His ball that gazoodled Mike Gatting in 1993, bouncing outside leg stump and cuffing off, is unanimously esteemed the most famous in history.Shane's life has been a like a straight picking from a Hollywood movie, nicknamed as "Hollywood" by his team mates for his great looks and exuberant way of life Warne has always led his life in the fast lane.Fans and general public have mystified his love for fast cars,women and gambling with his wizardry of spinning the leather ball on a 22 yard strip anywhere on the world.

Warne has a great fan following across the realms of society almost making them sycophantsfor the enigma he has been on the cricket field.It was said of Augustus that he found Rome brick and left it marble: the same is true of Warne and spin bowling.Warne's place in cricketing posterity has been assured by the fact that he has overturned the domination of cricket by fast bowling that had prevailed for two decades before his debut. Despite the presence of high quality spin bowlers such as Abdul Qadir on the Test scene, Australia's fast bowlers Lillee and Thompson had dominated cricket in the early 1970s; while from 1976 until the early 1990s, the West Indies had lost only one (ill-tempered and controversial) Test series with a bowling attack almost exclusively comprising fast bowlers. In the early 1990s, with the West Indies on the wane, Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram of Pakistan were assuming the mantle of the world's most feared bowlers. It was in that context that Warne's tormenting of batsmen became so significant rather than his actual statistics. His humiliation of Gatting and subsequent dominance, in particular, of English and South African batsmen, provided a welcome sight for cricket watchers weary of the relentless intimidation by West Indian bowlers of the 1980s and 1990s. His treatment of South African batsman Daryl Cullinan was such that Cullinan was said to have sought the help of a therapist to overcome Warne's psychological hold.So tormented were the English by Warne that British Airways at on epoint of time had planned to put up the image of the leg spinner at the tail of all their 747 airbuses.

One of the greatest compliments which I feel Warne received was the amount of time and practice Sachin Tendulkar had put in specifically to tackle Warnes leg spin before the 1999 India-Australia series.Warne was totally taken offguard and did admit that the images of the Little Master hitting him haunted him for months to come.


The story of Shane Warne is still not over , with him leading the Rajasthan Royals to victory in the first edition of the IPL he proved to his detractors in ACB that he deserved his shot at being the captain of Australia.Fans across the world still want him back to face England in the upcoming Ashes'09, such has been his impact on the game.

This treatise might be thought by many as an eulogy but its not , its my love for the game which is supreme and will so till the end.....

I will pose a question to all the readers "Is Shane the greatest cricketer ever ?"

Regards

Ishan