The Asian games is going on in Guangzhou, China now. As usual, our Indian atheletes are struggling hard to get medals. You can't blame them. They are trying as much and to the best of their abilities. So, Kudos to all the winners.
My rant is not about that, but more about the Indian media's coverage of the games. You can't get it more partial than this. Can you? While every Indian's bronze medals are touted to the maximum extent, there is no mention about the utter dominance of China in this games. I think, they have completely overwhelmed every other participating nation. In a way, it is like saying, "you guys are no match to us!". Yes, they did prove their mettle in the Beijing Olympics and they were far superior to even the mighty USA.
There was not a single mention about such an utter dominance of China in the media. They were happy to report only the 'highs-and-lows' of the Indian contingents. I'd like the media to get over this and present a more realistic picture, which is, CHINA is utterly dominating this games, while the Indians are scrapping somewhere. They couldn't go past even smaller nations like Chinese Taipei, Malaysia etc,.
So, media guys, wake up.. tell the real scenario!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Zimbabwe triseries
I'm trying to comprehend the necessary for this tri-series at the first place. I used to follow Cricket matches more closely and of late, lost a lot of interest and I'm not even reading the newspaper updates on the Cricket scores (am I ageing??).
I'm getting more skeptical about the tri-series that is going on in Zimbabwe (or is it already over?). The teams include India, SriLanka and Zimbabwe. One cannot get more tired than watching an India-SriLanka cricket match. It has been happening so regularly of late that nobody wants to watch them play anymore. I think, to have an even match, the selectors of India and SriLanka have sent their B team (or C or Z team) for this series. As otherwise, the contest would be too one-sided for the public (I mean the Zimbabwe public) to get interested.
So, one could understand the grouse of this person in CricInfo.
http://www.cricinfo.com/zim-tri2010/content/story/462208.htmlYes, the team sent is not the first choice XI. But, that is not reason enough not to try and win the matches. I tend to agree with the author, when he says that nobody is interested in this tri-series (Players, Selectors or the BCCI). There was a general lack of desire to win the matches than anything that was the undoing.
You may ask, if no one (including me) is interested in this tri series, then why waste a blog post mentioning that? The answer is simple, I'm trying to ward off my drowsiness :-):-)
Monday, May 31, 2010
Cobbler's son's predicament
The NDTV flashed the news about a cobbler's son, who cracked the IIT JEE exams and got admitted into the prestigious IIT. Now, the next problem starts, he can't pay the college fees.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/iit-cracked-but-no-money-for-fees-28788.php?u=1047
What an irony here! He has struggled hard to pass through the examinations but now finds himself at the cross roads again. His parents, who are already struggling to make their ends meet are now put in under more duress to realize their son's dream. I really pity that kid's situation.
Now, the NDTV is splashing this news and is looking for magnanimous donors to sponsor this kid's education. On one hand, I'm glad that media is playing its part in highlighting this precarious situation and hopefully help that kid to achieve his dream. On the other hand, I'm just questioning the need for the same.
I'm just thinking why can't the IITs (and other prestigious universities here) sponsor such kids' education. I think, affording the fees of such student is not a big financial stress for these universities. If that being the case, what is the need for the educational CESS, which is levied in ever tax being payed to the government? We, tax payers are already paying 2% of our Income-tax returns towards educational CESS. The very purpose of it is to help these poor and unaffordable kids.
If the government says that the CESS is only for primary education and not for universities, even then, with the financial assistance that IITs and other government driven institutions, get they can very well sponsor education for these economically backward kids. I think, this needs to be brought in place in the system itself and the universities needs to have a percentage of its students to be levied of these fees and help them achieve their goals.
If only finance is not the real constraint to the education, we can achieve bigger prosperity for the future generations of our nation. I don't know if any university follows such a practice, but I wouldn't certainly mind, if the finance minister increases the cess percentage on the IT returns from 2% to 3% to accommodate this kind of educational aid. For, I believe, the tax we pay is not only for the infrastructure development of the country but it sure must cater to the human development too.
Jai Hind!
http://www.ndtv.com/news/cities/iit-cracked-but-no-money-for-fees-28788.php?u=1047
What an irony here! He has struggled hard to pass through the examinations but now finds himself at the cross roads again. His parents, who are already struggling to make their ends meet are now put in under more duress to realize their son's dream. I really pity that kid's situation.
Now, the NDTV is splashing this news and is looking for magnanimous donors to sponsor this kid's education. On one hand, I'm glad that media is playing its part in highlighting this precarious situation and hopefully help that kid to achieve his dream. On the other hand, I'm just questioning the need for the same.
I'm just thinking why can't the IITs (and other prestigious universities here) sponsor such kids' education. I think, affording the fees of such student is not a big financial stress for these universities. If that being the case, what is the need for the educational CESS, which is levied in ever tax being payed to the government? We, tax payers are already paying 2% of our Income-tax returns towards educational CESS. The very purpose of it is to help these poor and unaffordable kids.
If the government says that the CESS is only for primary education and not for universities, even then, with the financial assistance that IITs and other government driven institutions, get they can very well sponsor education for these economically backward kids. I think, this needs to be brought in place in the system itself and the universities needs to have a percentage of its students to be levied of these fees and help them achieve their goals.
If only finance is not the real constraint to the education, we can achieve bigger prosperity for the future generations of our nation. I don't know if any university follows such a practice, but I wouldn't certainly mind, if the finance minister increases the cess percentage on the IT returns from 2% to 3% to accommodate this kind of educational aid. For, I believe, the tax we pay is not only for the infrastructure development of the country but it sure must cater to the human development too.
Jai Hind!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
IPL 3 bidding shuns pakistan players
That is the HOT news for today. The IPL 3 player bidding happened today. There were a pool of 66 players across different cricket playing nations and only 12 were eligible for selected (read as available vacancies in the IPL teams).
I, for one, am not surprised that the IPL team owners decided to shun away from selecting, rather bidding, for Pakistan players. IPL is after all a business and the owners are hard-core business men and women. They definitely know what they are doing. They have invested so much money on this and would like to reap benefits, aka profits. The ignoring Pakistan player part looks quite obvious to me. I'd have been surprised if one were selected. See, there is a rift between the two governments and the Pakistan player's participation in the IPL-3 is under doubt as there will be VISA processing issues. Why would anyone bid against a player, whom they know may not get to play in the matches? I don't think it is worth the risk to put money on the player who is not going to be part of this 'business'.
Well, a funny picture to complete this post.
[Coutesy: CricInfo]
This is the way our ancestors typically did their business in their local 'sandhai' ( a tamil slang for market!)
Monday, December 28, 2009
Delhi ODI
Well, well, it can't be as ironic as this. The first ODI held at Rajkot was a run fest with the ball not doing anything but accept the batsman's hit, the last ODI at Delhi had a different dish though, where the ball had its revenge, it hit the batsman!
Yes, it is not good to watch the batsmen getting hit quite regularly like that. It is bit tough to bat on that surface as the ball did few things off-the-pitch. The trick was the 'variable' bounce on offer. Now, suddenly the pitch becomes dangerous and in-conducive to batting and the play was called off.
With all the gears that the batsman wears, I just can't understand how a pitch can be dangerous. There is a helmet, a arm guard, a chest guard, a thigh guard as protective gears. This almost covers the entire body of the batsman from getting hit by the red-cherry (the cricket ball!). With so much covering, still they get hit means there must be something terribly wrong somewhere. This pitch called for a superior technique to survive, let alone score runs. There was no half-volley on offer and the ball did zip through, as well as crawl through.
The balls I remember were the ones bowled by Sudeep Tyagi to Sanath Jayasuriya. He bowled two balls that literally pitched on the same part of the pitch and behaved differently. The first one went, rather crawled beneath the bat while the second one sailed over his shoulder. Now, this is exciting stuff. A batsman needs to have proper technique to survive on such a track. I thought Sanath played really well there.
But, now comes the question of calling-off the match. Why can't the batsman try to negotiate such a variable bounce pitch (similar to the last day pitch of a test match with wide cracks and what not!)? Why did the match referee deemed the pitch to be unfit to play? Is that because, the 'modern' batsmen were all breed in a flat track and are incompetent to play on any different surface? I tend to agree with what Chetan chauhan said: "Sri Lanka Chicked out". I just doubt what would have been the decision were it not for a dead rubber (with India already sealing the series). If this match were to be a deciding factor, then I guess Sri Lanka would have opted to carry on rather than abandon it. As I'd guess, the pitch will only get progressively more unpredictable. It would mean a lot tougher to bat second on that pitch.
Just wondering, how these 'modern' players would have played on the uncovered pitches of the past!
Yes, it is not good to watch the batsmen getting hit quite regularly like that. It is bit tough to bat on that surface as the ball did few things off-the-pitch. The trick was the 'variable' bounce on offer. Now, suddenly the pitch becomes dangerous and in-conducive to batting and the play was called off.
With all the gears that the batsman wears, I just can't understand how a pitch can be dangerous. There is a helmet, a arm guard, a chest guard, a thigh guard as protective gears. This almost covers the entire body of the batsman from getting hit by the red-cherry (the cricket ball!). With so much covering, still they get hit means there must be something terribly wrong somewhere. This pitch called for a superior technique to survive, let alone score runs. There was no half-volley on offer and the ball did zip through, as well as crawl through.
The balls I remember were the ones bowled by Sudeep Tyagi to Sanath Jayasuriya. He bowled two balls that literally pitched on the same part of the pitch and behaved differently. The first one went, rather crawled beneath the bat while the second one sailed over his shoulder. Now, this is exciting stuff. A batsman needs to have proper technique to survive on such a track. I thought Sanath played really well there.
But, now comes the question of calling-off the match. Why can't the batsman try to negotiate such a variable bounce pitch (similar to the last day pitch of a test match with wide cracks and what not!)? Why did the match referee deemed the pitch to be unfit to play? Is that because, the 'modern' batsmen were all breed in a flat track and are incompetent to play on any different surface? I tend to agree with what Chetan chauhan said: "Sri Lanka Chicked out". I just doubt what would have been the decision were it not for a dead rubber (with India already sealing the series). If this match were to be a deciding factor, then I guess Sri Lanka would have opted to carry on rather than abandon it. As I'd guess, the pitch will only get progressively more unpredictable. It would mean a lot tougher to bat second on that pitch.
Just wondering, how these 'modern' players would have played on the uncovered pitches of the past!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Of Indian Women and her abuse
Mahatma Gandhi once famously quipped... "India will attain her real independence only when her girl can walk alone in midnight without any fear" . I know, I didn't translate the exact message, but the crux is given here.
I think, this is true with any independent nation. A nation that offers equal rights to all people, not only in words but in action too. A nation that treats ever citizen equally, be it the prime minister of the country or your low-lying beggar down the street, is the real independent country.
But, I have always thought why did Gandhi chose to say 'girl' rather than 'anyone'. I believe, he thought, the women to be the weaker among the two sexes and so being more gullible to torture and offence. How true this statement is! You keep hearing the news about woman child molestation and sexual harassment each and every day now-a-days and there seems to be no stopping of this.
There are only a few that catches the attention of the media (read sensation) while the majority of them go unnoticed. The news that media propagates are the ones involving influential people trying their hand with a weaker and no-voice kid/woman and trying to use anything in their power to intimidate and bring them to submission. The latest one to be in the hot news is the news that happened 19-years back, which involves a 14-year-old kid to be molested by a influential DGP of the state. Well, a man's vulgarity knew no bounds but trying to wrest his arm with a school going kid, who will mostly be his girl's age, is atrocious.
He'd get a call-girl upon his wish and whim to satiate his sexual desire, so why bother to molest a kid? These women are there only to provide that particular kick or charm to the men's needs. I'm all for issuing a very high punishment to such people. I know it is easier said than done to look at a woman to be your sister/mother/kid but it is difficult to follow, especially when you know the victim is gullible.
So, how can you stop such things? I don't think you can stop that. It is like any other criminal activity (stealing etc.,), which cannot be prevented. These are done in a spur of the moment and mostly with a great deal of involvement too. I'm not going to say that a man cannot control himself from not doing such activities. It is perfectly a controllable act, but the ego of the person and the weakness of the victim adds to the extra pleasure that he doesn't bother controlling the emotion.
The atrocity is the one that follows that act, if the man, who committed this crime is influential, he will use all that is in his power to escape from the punishment. This is where the law of the land seems toothless. It is flexible enough to accommodate the influential person and it is bent backwards to prevent serious punishment to the offender. This needs to be changed. The man needs to 'pay' for the crime. He must undergo and realize the suffering that he has caused the woman. But, are the makers and practitioners of the law listening or rather willing?
I think, this is true with any independent nation. A nation that offers equal rights to all people, not only in words but in action too. A nation that treats ever citizen equally, be it the prime minister of the country or your low-lying beggar down the street, is the real independent country.
But, I have always thought why did Gandhi chose to say 'girl' rather than 'anyone'. I believe, he thought, the women to be the weaker among the two sexes and so being more gullible to torture and offence. How true this statement is! You keep hearing the news about woman child molestation and sexual harassment each and every day now-a-days and there seems to be no stopping of this.
There are only a few that catches the attention of the media (read sensation) while the majority of them go unnoticed. The news that media propagates are the ones involving influential people trying their hand with a weaker and no-voice kid/woman and trying to use anything in their power to intimidate and bring them to submission. The latest one to be in the hot news is the news that happened 19-years back, which involves a 14-year-old kid to be molested by a influential DGP of the state. Well, a man's vulgarity knew no bounds but trying to wrest his arm with a school going kid, who will mostly be his girl's age, is atrocious.
He'd get a call-girl upon his wish and whim to satiate his sexual desire, so why bother to molest a kid? These women are there only to provide that particular kick or charm to the men's needs. I'm all for issuing a very high punishment to such people. I know it is easier said than done to look at a woman to be your sister/mother/kid but it is difficult to follow, especially when you know the victim is gullible.
So, how can you stop such things? I don't think you can stop that. It is like any other criminal activity (stealing etc.,), which cannot be prevented. These are done in a spur of the moment and mostly with a great deal of involvement too. I'm not going to say that a man cannot control himself from not doing such activities. It is perfectly a controllable act, but the ego of the person and the weakness of the victim adds to the extra pleasure that he doesn't bother controlling the emotion.
The atrocity is the one that follows that act, if the man, who committed this crime is influential, he will use all that is in his power to escape from the punishment. This is where the law of the land seems toothless. It is flexible enough to accommodate the influential person and it is bent backwards to prevent serious punishment to the offender. This needs to be changed. The man needs to 'pay' for the crime. He must undergo and realize the suffering that he has caused the woman. But, are the makers and practitioners of the law listening or rather willing?
UPDATE: Looks like this issue is not indigenous but widespread even in the developed world. Look at this news report from NewYork Times on the sexual abuses meted out to military women!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Compulsory Voting
Gujarat government has announced that the citizens have to compulsorily cast their votes in the upcoming local body elections. Now, this is a serious stuff and a very hot topic for debate. Our media, not the one to shy away from such 'sensational' stuffs have all gone ga-ga over this proposal.
At one end, they complain of poor voter turn outs in the elections and on the other hand, they call the compulsory voting as a 'force feeding' of democracy. Are there any better way to ensure proper voter turn outs?
For one, I think, making voting compulsory, although sounds rigid, may be actually something good for the citizens. Even after 60 long years of democracy, the citizens are yet to realize the power of their votes. A single vote can change the government itself. I think, some times it is not a bad idea to be rigid. Much like the way mothers force-feed their babies, although much to their dislike. But, she knows, the feeding is essential for the kid's growth. Likewise, this force-feeding of democracy is required to make people realize their value in the society, rather nation.
As far as I'm concerned, I have not debunked any elections till now and ensure that I cast my vote. This is true with my parents and wife as well. I ensure everyone in my family do cast their votes at the elections. This is not merely a duty of us citizens but rather a responsibility that we own.
I have seen a lot of people feeling negative about casting their votes, they just whine a lot about the inefficiency in our voting/election systems. There is also a group that says that, there is any way bogus voting, ie., someone is anyway going to vote on my behalf, so why take the pain to go to the booth! Well, if you cannot spare a few minutes (or hours, depending on the crowd) to cast your vote, then there is no use cribbing about the politicians, who are eventually elected. Your one vote would have made a difference. Each drop constitutes a ocean. So, abstaining from vote is not an option. I welcome this move by the Gujarat government to be bold enough to amend such a rule. Let us wait and watch how effective this turns out to be.
I pray for its success for sure!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
