As the clock struck 12 and as I wish my Near and dear ones a Happy New Year, I keep wondering how this New Year's eve is different from Last year- None too different really. All of us are going to welcome it with hope in our hearts and a mood of celebration and with the defiant spirit to fight any challenge that life is going to throw at us. It is with this hope of a little kid I welcome this New Year too !!
A happy New year to all and Keep the spirits flying high , and I am signing off with one of my favorite poems by Rudyard Kipling:
IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
--Rudyard Kipling
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Cooperative Farming
I bet you have never heard any of our Indian Politicians talk about Cooperative Farming. Even though it is something that makes perfect common sense, Something like this has never happened in a prominent way till now.
Take the way usually things work for the average farmer. He owns a few acres of ancestral land, where he has been growing traditional seasonal crops. The farming process is itself is mainly that of gruelling manual labour. Even on recent train journeys I have often seen farmers plouging their fields with a couple of bullocks in the country side. Technology has not made too much of an impact.
A tractor is a luxury for the bigger farmers. and those who own it probably still dont have enough land to make efficient and optimum use of it. Each small farmer spends a high proportion of his income on water pumps , alternate sources of water etc.
If you are a Farmer and are having a good year and have reaped a good crop things are just about ok. But this is not the usual case a lot of times. Farmers have to fight against famines, droughts , floods. You might just see a lovingly grown crop close to harvest destroyed in one night by flash floods.
Teamwork can make a huge impact in increasing our Agricultural productivity. The farmers need to team up and help each other. Cooperatives are not new. Not many people know that the "Amul butter" brand is actually produced by a womens cooperative society in Gujarat. The society itself was a result of a few enterprising women coming together to create a livelihood for their own. If it worked a number of years back, Surely it can work now.
Imagine tens and hundreds of Farmers ploughing thousands of acres of land with a common goal and with common resources and modern technology thrown in too. Its a no-brainer. There is definitely going to be increased productivity.
Did you ever check how vegetables and farm produce are transported from villages to the cities ? Mostly in open trucks , at least a quarter of that produce is wasted due to bad packaging and some of it because it just rotted during the journey. If they could transport them in "fresh" vans using modern technology this could be avoided.
There are lots of such small improvement that one can think of.
I think the reason why Cooperative Farming does not happen is not because we dont know how to do it. It is because of very complex issues at the grass root level. the divided communities can never unite unless there is a strong inspiring leadership who can setup something like this and ensure that things function in a fair and equitable manner. Its all there in the lawbooks too - just a matter of implementing them.
We cannot bank on our politicians to implement these schemes. They will only be there to dish out sops such as free electricity , free water and then just disappear till the next election !
Take the way usually things work for the average farmer. He owns a few acres of ancestral land, where he has been growing traditional seasonal crops. The farming process is itself is mainly that of gruelling manual labour. Even on recent train journeys I have often seen farmers plouging their fields with a couple of bullocks in the country side. Technology has not made too much of an impact.
A tractor is a luxury for the bigger farmers. and those who own it probably still dont have enough land to make efficient and optimum use of it. Each small farmer spends a high proportion of his income on water pumps , alternate sources of water etc.
If you are a Farmer and are having a good year and have reaped a good crop things are just about ok. But this is not the usual case a lot of times. Farmers have to fight against famines, droughts , floods. You might just see a lovingly grown crop close to harvest destroyed in one night by flash floods.
Teamwork can make a huge impact in increasing our Agricultural productivity. The farmers need to team up and help each other. Cooperatives are not new. Not many people know that the "Amul butter" brand is actually produced by a womens cooperative society in Gujarat. The society itself was a result of a few enterprising women coming together to create a livelihood for their own. If it worked a number of years back, Surely it can work now.
Imagine tens and hundreds of Farmers ploughing thousands of acres of land with a common goal and with common resources and modern technology thrown in too. Its a no-brainer. There is definitely going to be increased productivity.
Did you ever check how vegetables and farm produce are transported from villages to the cities ? Mostly in open trucks , at least a quarter of that produce is wasted due to bad packaging and some of it because it just rotted during the journey. If they could transport them in "fresh" vans using modern technology this could be avoided.
There are lots of such small improvement that one can think of.
I think the reason why Cooperative Farming does not happen is not because we dont know how to do it. It is because of very complex issues at the grass root level. the divided communities can never unite unless there is a strong inspiring leadership who can setup something like this and ensure that things function in a fair and equitable manner. Its all there in the lawbooks too - just a matter of implementing them.
We cannot bank on our politicians to implement these schemes. They will only be there to dish out sops such as free electricity , free water and then just disappear till the next election !
A Sketch
This was done by a sidewalk sketch artist , close to NYC Times square. It sure was fun to sit on the sidewalk and act like a model ! :-)
Thursday, October 25, 2007
After a tiring day ( I poured myself a drink !)
On a tiring evening I finish work and wade through the sea of traffic and drive back home. As I come home,I kick off my shoes and lean back into that empty rocking chair and then as an after thought, slip in a CD and play my favorite track
the music is soft and the cool soothing evening wind from the window feels better than hours of air conditioned air.The city lights shimmer through the window pane lighting up the dark corners in the dim lit room.
I close my eyes and sway my rocking chair humming my favorite song. I try to smell the fresh air... instead I smell a familiar floral fragrance and my lips can feel that powder puffed skin and my finger tips buried in the tangles of long locks of hair.
As the the songs ends, so does my vivid imagination. I pour my self a drink and sink back into my rocking chair. I take a deep breath as I sip my drink - It feels really good!. The music is soothing too. I close my eyes and just relax.
the music is soft and the cool soothing evening wind from the window feels better than hours of air conditioned air.The city lights shimmer through the window pane lighting up the dark corners in the dim lit room.
I close my eyes and sway my rocking chair humming my favorite song. I try to smell the fresh air... instead I smell a familiar floral fragrance and my lips can feel that powder puffed skin and my finger tips buried in the tangles of long locks of hair.
As the the songs ends, so does my vivid imagination. I pour my self a drink and sink back into my rocking chair. I take a deep breath as I sip my drink - It feels really good!. The music is soothing too. I close my eyes and just relax.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Gandhi
"India has come of age" as the cliche goes...Sure we are making great progress and the world is looking up to India. The efforts of Private enterprise are driving the country's development and creating prosperity. But looks like all is not well because else where,which is actually every where else ! we are a nation stumbling and fumbling , our two steps forward are accompanied by a few steps backward.
We are a nation who like to be divided often, divided based on religion,caste , state, community... As a result we are forever focussed on the divisions rather than progress unitedly together. Some will blame the political system , corrupt and foolish politicians who hold a whole nation to ransom - Most rightly too may be.
Not many know our agriculture production is actually going downhill and soon we will be importing essential food commodities. Its hard to believe that a billion strong nation with huge energy needs cant adopt nuclear power because of some foolish communists. Ok let me cut the crap.. you know this already !
I am writing this article because I saw some bloke put up this video of Gandhi in Youtube.This person is apparently not Indian , and he even mispelt Gandhi's name as Ghandi. But though he got the name wrong It looks like he appreciates Gandhi's message which a whole nation has conveniently forgotten.
Can we change things ?Our generation, the generation which has seen the dawn of prosperity. You and me and your friends and their friends. how can we make a difference ? I know a lot of good people who are purposeful and passionate about contributing in some way to make a change. At the micro level they are making small improvements. But is that enough ? may be in the long run...What we need is some thing radical to happen. We need a revolutionary change , A change that will unite all the people and toil towards a common goal.
Our freedom fighters who fought for Indian independence had fought with a similar zeal and fire. India was totally united in one cause. Somewhere after the many years of independence, we have forgotten that common cause - to make our country a great independent country. so much that we don't realize the sea weed which is slowly creeping up tyeing up the wheels of progress.
Gandhi was a revolutionary. He brought about that kind of a change. He could unite people from diverse cultures and religions to fight for a common cause. todays people probably recollect Gandhi from their school history lessons. But his simple principles for every day life have been totally forgotten.
The funny part is that the way all kinds of schemes,flyovers,airports,highways are being named after Rajiv Gandhi, kids in later generations are going to confuse Rajiv Gandhi with the Mahatma !.
Its a problem - the Lack of inspirational leaders. Some one who will unify the whole nation and take them along to scale new heights of success. Some one who can tap the energy of a billion souls and make it flow in the path of progress. We don't have that someone. We probably wont ever have one. But there is you , me , your friends , my friends and their friends. Its just us . we have to do something to make this change happen. JUST US.
We are a nation who like to be divided often, divided based on religion,caste , state, community... As a result we are forever focussed on the divisions rather than progress unitedly together. Some will blame the political system , corrupt and foolish politicians who hold a whole nation to ransom - Most rightly too may be.
Not many know our agriculture production is actually going downhill and soon we will be importing essential food commodities. Its hard to believe that a billion strong nation with huge energy needs cant adopt nuclear power because of some foolish communists. Ok let me cut the crap.. you know this already !
I am writing this article because I saw some bloke put up this video of Gandhi in Youtube.This person is apparently not Indian , and he even mispelt Gandhi's name as Ghandi. But though he got the name wrong It looks like he appreciates Gandhi's message which a whole nation has conveniently forgotten.
Can we change things ?Our generation, the generation which has seen the dawn of prosperity. You and me and your friends and their friends. how can we make a difference ? I know a lot of good people who are purposeful and passionate about contributing in some way to make a change. At the micro level they are making small improvements. But is that enough ? may be in the long run...What we need is some thing radical to happen. We need a revolutionary change , A change that will unite all the people and toil towards a common goal.
Our freedom fighters who fought for Indian independence had fought with a similar zeal and fire. India was totally united in one cause. Somewhere after the many years of independence, we have forgotten that common cause - to make our country a great independent country. so much that we don't realize the sea weed which is slowly creeping up tyeing up the wheels of progress.
Gandhi was a revolutionary. He brought about that kind of a change. He could unite people from diverse cultures and religions to fight for a common cause. todays people probably recollect Gandhi from their school history lessons. But his simple principles for every day life have been totally forgotten.
The funny part is that the way all kinds of schemes,flyovers,airports,highways are being named after Rajiv Gandhi, kids in later generations are going to confuse Rajiv Gandhi with the Mahatma !.
Its a problem - the Lack of inspirational leaders. Some one who will unify the whole nation and take them along to scale new heights of success. Some one who can tap the energy of a billion souls and make it flow in the path of progress. We don't have that someone. We probably wont ever have one. But there is you , me , your friends , my friends and their friends. Its just us . we have to do something to make this change happen. JUST US.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Puppy Love
For the record, this is my first story that I am publishing on a blog. hint: I dont write stories in books , or any other media either :-) Hee hee. I have also figured the curios circumstances and factors which can influence a person to write a story. A foreign country, A hotel room, Not a friendly soul in many miles and.. Beer!. fascinating indeed... the usual disclaimer: the story is totally fictitious and bears no resemblance to any person living or dead.
*******************************
Have you ever felt like a Traveling salesman without actually being one ? Thats what i have felt about my self, May be it was the job or the way i lived my life. I seem to be making many casual acquaintances but no real friends, I seem to be wandering like a gypsy though i owned a couple of houses. It was the unrest where no place felt like home.
The airport terminals where I spent a lot of my time these days where my second home , after a while the people start to look all the same everywhere. Strange but comely in a way.
She was a proud beauty with many suitors. I never realized that there was such a long list when I was queuing up, I tried to be a good friend though, Often I would tail her like a silly excited puppy and get cheered with even the small attention that came my way. She found me "cute" and "nice" in her own words. Finally as it turned it was an outsider who got the precious job - some swanky guy working in a foreign country and making really good money and of course a great talker. Girls love good talkers. Needless to say it broke my heart big time. I changed jobs and cities to get away from it all , slowly I got over it and realised it was just infatuation. Its been many years since this happened.
So why do I bring this up now ? Incidentally I was going to the city she lived in on some work. I was chatting up to my good friend before my travel and he broke the news about her. Her husband got killed in a freak accident. Holy freak accidents....you can never plan for them , sounded awful.Life was so harsh and she was so pretty I thought. it was more than a year already since that happened. She was working and bringing up her 4 year old daughter on her own. I got her number , my well networked friend dug into another mutual friend to get the number.
I called her after reaching my hotel room. I was waiting in anticipation on how her voice would sound after so many years, but no one answered the phone even after several rings. It was going to her voice mail. I decided not to leave a voice mail I usually hate voice mails, they are very impersonal. my work day was busy but dull. The business it looked like was going to be a long haul job and this was just ice breaker stuff that I was doing now. So i returned early to the hotel room and killed time, I tried calling her again , she was not there, I left a voice mail which started like "Hi I am wondering if you remember me..." and concluded by leaving my number. There was no response to my message . I spent some time catching with other old friends from my work place and sampling the local pubs. I was glad it was a short trip and for some reason I was more gladder going home this time.
She called me the day i was leaving, she had been away traveling. Her voice was still the same but her accent sounded more foreign. She sounded cheerful. I told her I was catching an evening flight back home. She said we could meet for lunch and so we did. I tried guessing how she would look like while I was waiting for her. When she came by, I realized she looked nearly the same and as pretty as ever. Her face looked fuller and rounder,in fact i instantly liked those full cheeks , those eyes had lost a bit of the old shine, though only a small testimony to the years gone by, may be it was the glimpse of a few dark circles below her eyes. Her curvy dimpled chin and her straight dark hair were still the same.
"I hope you are fine after all that has happened ? " I said, actually I am not really good at expressing sympathies and all that kind of stuff,anyway since it was a year now I left it at that. "Yeah , I am doing great" I could see her strength in her eyes. We chatted upon so many other things. When you have been away for a long time , you become strangers ; It is like becoming friends allover again. Strangely I started talking as if i had downed a few beers. I was whining about my job , and life and speaking nostalgically about the good old times. She listened. In the past she would cut me short and dish out immediate remedial advice on what I should do. But now she just listened and said she understood. She told a few stories of her own. I asked her if she missed home and if she was coming back. She said she did but the nice thing was she had a some good friends here, and her mom kept her company for few months in a year. her sister lived in a close by city. Apparently she said her sister has been trying to fix her up with somebody. "Oh that is good" I said trying to sound very honest. There was a momentary silence after that.
We started talking about our mutual friends back home and I was telling her who was where and who was doing what. She said "I have been out of touch for too long". "I wont have many people i know if i come back". she said with a smile. "Hey i can look you up regularly" I said with a bit of eagerness ,"Thats so sweet of you , I will remember that" she said. That was such a girlie answer, I thought. But her laughter that followed was the sweetest sound I had heard in a very long time.
Soon enough, it was time to catch my flight. and she dropped me off at the airport. When it was time to say good bye and when our eyes met , mine somehow got big and welled up a little with water without my own knowing.I was going to close this fast to avoid embarrassment. "It was good to see you after such a long time, take care" I said "Yeah it was great to see you too, you haven't changed too much"
As I was about to go away she said "Have a safe trip home and take care of yourself !" as she said this she came closer with her hand held out and close enough to smell the familiar wonderful smelling perfume that she was wearing, either that was a strong perfume or she was quite close! her eyes were suddenly brighter and genuinely warm. As I was shaking hands my Super Spider sense was calculating if She was close enough for a hug and concluded negative. In the split second I did think about the possibility of what would happen if i tried to hug her... and then I heard the sound of a jaw breaking slap from somewhere - my dream cloud sure vanished in a hurry !
As I walked inside I waved to her and she waved back. Once I was back in my familiar airport terminal lounge and started waiting for my flight,my mind did a recap. I was feeling glad for looking her up, too bad that I dint take a few pictures with my camera .I wasn't sure when I was going to see her again. Part of me wanted to grab my mobile and call her immediately from the airport and thank her for something...then I thought I would be sounding so foolish doing that. I let that impulse pass.
Her thoughts faded off quickly once I was back home and I got busy with my life again.The months that passed since have been calm. For some reason I was feeling more at peace now, the placed where I lived has started feeling more like home.
*****
I got a mail from Neetu today that she was coming back home for good. She had found a job in a branch of her own company which was setting up shop here. It was a tough call to make but she was happy to come back.
I almost did my mad puppy dog routine then and there in my office ,and had to calm my excited nerves by grabbing some strong coffee. After Saner sense prevailed , I started to think about the long queue this time around that I was going to join up !. at least I was better prepared for it this time around.
*******************************
Have you ever felt like a Traveling salesman without actually being one ? Thats what i have felt about my self, May be it was the job or the way i lived my life. I seem to be making many casual acquaintances but no real friends, I seem to be wandering like a gypsy though i owned a couple of houses. It was the unrest where no place felt like home.
The airport terminals where I spent a lot of my time these days where my second home , after a while the people start to look all the same everywhere. Strange but comely in a way.
She was a proud beauty with many suitors. I never realized that there was such a long list when I was queuing up, I tried to be a good friend though, Often I would tail her like a silly excited puppy and get cheered with even the small attention that came my way. She found me "cute" and "nice" in her own words. Finally as it turned it was an outsider who got the precious job - some swanky guy working in a foreign country and making really good money and of course a great talker. Girls love good talkers. Needless to say it broke my heart big time. I changed jobs and cities to get away from it all , slowly I got over it and realised it was just infatuation. Its been many years since this happened.
So why do I bring this up now ? Incidentally I was going to the city she lived in on some work. I was chatting up to my good friend before my travel and he broke the news about her. Her husband got killed in a freak accident. Holy freak accidents....you can never plan for them , sounded awful.Life was so harsh and she was so pretty I thought. it was more than a year already since that happened. She was working and bringing up her 4 year old daughter on her own. I got her number , my well networked friend dug into another mutual friend to get the number.
I called her after reaching my hotel room. I was waiting in anticipation on how her voice would sound after so many years, but no one answered the phone even after several rings. It was going to her voice mail. I decided not to leave a voice mail I usually hate voice mails, they are very impersonal. my work day was busy but dull. The business it looked like was going to be a long haul job and this was just ice breaker stuff that I was doing now. So i returned early to the hotel room and killed time, I tried calling her again , she was not there, I left a voice mail which started like "Hi I am wondering if you remember me..." and concluded by leaving my number. There was no response to my message . I spent some time catching with other old friends from my work place and sampling the local pubs. I was glad it was a short trip and for some reason I was more gladder going home this time.
She called me the day i was leaving, she had been away traveling. Her voice was still the same but her accent sounded more foreign. She sounded cheerful. I told her I was catching an evening flight back home. She said we could meet for lunch and so we did. I tried guessing how she would look like while I was waiting for her. When she came by, I realized she looked nearly the same and as pretty as ever. Her face looked fuller and rounder,in fact i instantly liked those full cheeks , those eyes had lost a bit of the old shine, though only a small testimony to the years gone by, may be it was the glimpse of a few dark circles below her eyes. Her curvy dimpled chin and her straight dark hair were still the same.
"I hope you are fine after all that has happened ? " I said, actually I am not really good at expressing sympathies and all that kind of stuff,anyway since it was a year now I left it at that. "Yeah , I am doing great" I could see her strength in her eyes. We chatted upon so many other things. When you have been away for a long time , you become strangers ; It is like becoming friends allover again. Strangely I started talking as if i had downed a few beers. I was whining about my job , and life and speaking nostalgically about the good old times. She listened. In the past she would cut me short and dish out immediate remedial advice on what I should do. But now she just listened and said she understood. She told a few stories of her own. I asked her if she missed home and if she was coming back. She said she did but the nice thing was she had a some good friends here, and her mom kept her company for few months in a year. her sister lived in a close by city. Apparently she said her sister has been trying to fix her up with somebody. "Oh that is good" I said trying to sound very honest. There was a momentary silence after that.
We started talking about our mutual friends back home and I was telling her who was where and who was doing what. She said "I have been out of touch for too long". "I wont have many people i know if i come back". she said with a smile. "Hey i can look you up regularly" I said with a bit of eagerness ,"Thats so sweet of you , I will remember that" she said. That was such a girlie answer, I thought. But her laughter that followed was the sweetest sound I had heard in a very long time.
Soon enough, it was time to catch my flight. and she dropped me off at the airport. When it was time to say good bye and when our eyes met , mine somehow got big and welled up a little with water without my own knowing.I was going to close this fast to avoid embarrassment. "It was good to see you after such a long time, take care" I said "Yeah it was great to see you too, you haven't changed too much"
As I was about to go away she said "Have a safe trip home and take care of yourself !" as she said this she came closer with her hand held out and close enough to smell the familiar wonderful smelling perfume that she was wearing, either that was a strong perfume or she was quite close! her eyes were suddenly brighter and genuinely warm. As I was shaking hands my Super Spider sense was calculating if She was close enough for a hug and concluded negative. In the split second I did think about the possibility of what would happen if i tried to hug her... and then I heard the sound of a jaw breaking slap from somewhere - my dream cloud sure vanished in a hurry !
As I walked inside I waved to her and she waved back. Once I was back in my familiar airport terminal lounge and started waiting for my flight,my mind did a recap. I was feeling glad for looking her up, too bad that I dint take a few pictures with my camera .I wasn't sure when I was going to see her again. Part of me wanted to grab my mobile and call her immediately from the airport and thank her for something...then I thought I would be sounding so foolish doing that. I let that impulse pass.
Her thoughts faded off quickly once I was back home and I got busy with my life again.The months that passed since have been calm. For some reason I was feeling more at peace now, the placed where I lived has started feeling more like home.
*****
I got a mail from Neetu today that she was coming back home for good. She had found a job in a branch of her own company which was setting up shop here. It was a tough call to make but she was happy to come back.
I almost did my mad puppy dog routine then and there in my office ,and had to calm my excited nerves by grabbing some strong coffee. After Saner sense prevailed , I started to think about the long queue this time around that I was going to join up !. at least I was better prepared for it this time around.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Aboard Air India
I have flown Air India occasionally in the past. once to singapore, on a plane that rattled during takeoff and then once while traveling to Taipei where I switched flights in Bangkok - as the AI flight to Bangkok was delayed, I had the misfortune of misplacing my baggage for a full 2 days. I did have a fun time shopping for underwear in taipei's night markets !
With these none too happy experience in the flashback, when the travel from hyderabad to newark via Air India was trhrust open me leaving me no choice i was filled with pessimism , and I am going to tell you how all my worst fears came true !
It was a reasonably good start , AI hyd to mumbai was in the smaller 737 aircraft and zero onboard entertainment and no drinks either. Upon reaching mumbai at 2 in the night I found out to my horror that lounge accomodation sleeping in the chairs in the lobby, they did not have a transit hotel.after spending the whole night without much sleep and wandering in the boring corridors, the flight to newark started at 9:30 in the morning - a delay of 2 hours. the flight attendant immediately announced "wee appoologieeese phor this delay" which sounded more like "we care a damn" :-). By the way i also found out that I was going via Paris. It seems non-stop meeannt that you cant get off the plane.
To cut a long story short it was a long and boring flight , unlike other airlines, there are no personal lcd+ video on demand. I had a daash of Johnny walker that they were serving to calm my nerves, only for a short time though. the food during lunch gave me a bad stomach.
After finishing immigration in Newark Collecting the baggage was a loong wait, after waiting for an houur, in my mind i was seeing my luggage arrive in Ethiopia or maybe Madagascar , an old gentle man who had an onward flight to Atlanta had already; missed his flight because of the delay.
As i was giving up , i saw the red suitcase and the small blue one that i was waiting for. I picked up my bags and fled...
***
I have ..33a round trip ticket by the way and will have to got through this again when I go back to india in november.
With these none too happy experience in the flashback, when the travel from hyderabad to newark via Air India was trhrust open me leaving me no choice i was filled with pessimism , and I am going to tell you how all my worst fears came true !
It was a reasonably good start , AI hyd to mumbai was in the smaller 737 aircraft and zero onboard entertainment and no drinks either. Upon reaching mumbai at 2 in the night I found out to my horror that lounge accomodation sleeping in the chairs in the lobby, they did not have a transit hotel.after spending the whole night without much sleep and wandering in the boring corridors, the flight to newark started at 9:30 in the morning - a delay of 2 hours. the flight attendant immediately announced "wee appoologieeese phor this delay" which sounded more like "we care a damn" :-). By the way i also found out that I was going via Paris. It seems non-stop meeannt that you cant get off the plane.
To cut a long story short it was a long and boring flight , unlike other airlines, there are no personal lcd+ video on demand. I had a daash of Johnny walker that they were serving to calm my nerves, only for a short time though. the food during lunch gave me a bad stomach.
After finishing immigration in Newark Collecting the baggage was a loong wait, after waiting for an houur, in my mind i was seeing my luggage arrive in Ethiopia or maybe Madagascar , an old gentle man who had an onward flight to Atlanta had already; missed his flight because of the delay.
As i was giving up , i saw the red suitcase and the small blue one that i was waiting for. I picked up my bags and fled...
***
I have ..33a round trip ticket by the way and will have to got through this again when I go back to india in november.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Budweiser in Hyderabad
The good news : Budweiser is finally here in India and its being brewed some where very close to Hyderabad. I have seen huge Budweiser hoardings and looks like it is already available in some of the popular pubs such as Touch in Hyderabad where I saw them unload a whole load of Budweiser merchandise. It is surely one of the most popular beers worldwide. I hope that other popular brands like Heineken, Corona and the rest will follow suit. This is truly good news to all my beer-pot-bellied beer guzzling mates :-))
Hic... Hic... Hurray !!!:-)
Trivia: annual Beer consumption in India in the year 2006 was 108 million cases (of 7.8 litres each) whoa !!
Hic... Hic... Hurray !!!:-)
Trivia: annual Beer consumption in India in the year 2006 was 108 million cases (of 7.8 litres each) whoa !!
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
World Environment Day
There is a day dedicated for every popular cause these days. So there has been a AIDS awareness day , a world friendship day, mothers day. Now the latest buzz is that Arjun Singh is coming with The Reservation day :-)). on this day , you will get to hug and make merry with your reserved mates and more reservations will be dished out...... ok jokes and A.S. bashing apart ( which are synonymous! ) , back to the Environment day. Mostly lip service is what is happening to this cause. On the world stage, the developed and developing countries just point fingers at each others to do more. While the developed countries are obviously doing more, the developing countries feel that taking up these initiatives to save the environment in a big way will put a big dent in their GDPs and fragile economies.
In the developed countries, you can see that some initiatives are working. recyclable products are a reality. Alternative fuel research to power automobiles is gaining momentum. the coming decades should surely see us moving away from Gasoline powered automobiles which will help hugely. The developed world has surely woken up to the reality and some sort of paranoia has already set in due to unexpected climate - Drastic measures are the need of the hour. These drastic measures could soon mean that we have to slowly change the way we live our lives !
Back home in India, things go on as usual. Obviously there are bigger things to deal with and am sure that on a list of 100 most important issues to deal with environmental degradation would not even figure on the list ! The effects of environmental degradation are showing up in no small measure
Tigers are becoming extinct from their erstwhile havens in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. mainly because of poaching and deforestation. Floods are a usual thing come rainy season. while some areas experience severe draught while at other places sever floods wreak havoc causing damage to everything.
It is said that the perennial and holy river Ganga will dry up eventually and cease to be perennial. Considering that the Ganga flows through Uttar pradesh and Bihar, which have been seeing inner turmoil for quite some time and development has been on the back burner. The administration has just ignored the environment completely. Industrial waste and sewage pollutes the rivers here. Encroachments on the river banks pollute the rivers further and obstruct the flow.
Only making the rivers a national property and administering them might save the rivers additionally , nationalising the rivers might also avoid the water-wars that happen frequently between states these days.
The urban supposedly developed areas are no better. Here people like parasites have taken up every inch of land to build houses and apartments. trees are cut down every day. Sewage is freely let out to pollute the water bodies are around. there is hardly any waste management done. nothing else can explain the change in climate in Bangalore which has become much warmer than it was say 10 years ago.
The city of Delhi is a good example of what can be achieved, The buses and autos run on CNG a clean and green low emission alternative to gasoline. The expanding metro train system is giving people an alternative to private transport. Delhi can do these more efficiently as it is a city state. In Other states there is an apathy towards the cities, though the cities generate huge amount of revenues in terms of taxes and other sources. Not much of this money goes into the infrastructure and development , leave alone for saving the environment. The governments are usually busy dishing out subsidies at large and thus emptying the state coffers just so that they can be voted back to power in the next elections.
Housing projects are eating up the landscape around Hyderabad, as the metropolis expands, the biggest causalities are open reserve forests and greenery, which are disappearing really fast. Why cant we expand vertically where possible ? I mean constructing a 60 storey building to house thousands of people in a one acre of land is better than occupying 5 acres of land and build several small building and there by laying a "concrete blanket". in the former case, you can at least leave the 4 acres of greenery alone and let it bloom and server us well in the future.
In the developed countries, you can see that some initiatives are working. recyclable products are a reality. Alternative fuel research to power automobiles is gaining momentum. the coming decades should surely see us moving away from Gasoline powered automobiles which will help hugely. The developed world has surely woken up to the reality and some sort of paranoia has already set in due to unexpected climate - Drastic measures are the need of the hour. These drastic measures could soon mean that we have to slowly change the way we live our lives !
Back home in India, things go on as usual. Obviously there are bigger things to deal with and am sure that on a list of 100 most important issues to deal with environmental degradation would not even figure on the list ! The effects of environmental degradation are showing up in no small measure
Tigers are becoming extinct from their erstwhile havens in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. mainly because of poaching and deforestation. Floods are a usual thing come rainy season. while some areas experience severe draught while at other places sever floods wreak havoc causing damage to everything.
It is said that the perennial and holy river Ganga will dry up eventually and cease to be perennial. Considering that the Ganga flows through Uttar pradesh and Bihar, which have been seeing inner turmoil for quite some time and development has been on the back burner. The administration has just ignored the environment completely. Industrial waste and sewage pollutes the rivers here. Encroachments on the river banks pollute the rivers further and obstruct the flow.
Only making the rivers a national property and administering them might save the rivers additionally , nationalising the rivers might also avoid the water-wars that happen frequently between states these days.
The urban supposedly developed areas are no better. Here people like parasites have taken up every inch of land to build houses and apartments. trees are cut down every day. Sewage is freely let out to pollute the water bodies are around. there is hardly any waste management done. nothing else can explain the change in climate in Bangalore which has become much warmer than it was say 10 years ago.
The city of Delhi is a good example of what can be achieved, The buses and autos run on CNG a clean and green low emission alternative to gasoline. The expanding metro train system is giving people an alternative to private transport. Delhi can do these more efficiently as it is a city state. In Other states there is an apathy towards the cities, though the cities generate huge amount of revenues in terms of taxes and other sources. Not much of this money goes into the infrastructure and development , leave alone for saving the environment. The governments are usually busy dishing out subsidies at large and thus emptying the state coffers just so that they can be voted back to power in the next elections.
Housing projects are eating up the landscape around Hyderabad, as the metropolis expands, the biggest causalities are open reserve forests and greenery, which are disappearing really fast. Why cant we expand vertically where possible ? I mean constructing a 60 storey building to house thousands of people in a one acre of land is better than occupying 5 acres of land and build several small building and there by laying a "concrete blanket". in the former case, you can at least leave the 4 acres of greenery alone and let it bloom and server us well in the future.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Traffic
6:45 pm on the office clock,time to call it a day - Its been another pointless day at work. I am not sure where my career is going really. Faintly hoping for a brighter future, I pick up my laptop bag and head for the door. I slide into the driver seat of my car, back it up and head for the cellar opening.
I reach the intersection point on the way back home where i have to make a decision. A steady crowded road which will get me home in about an hour and 20 minutes time or a relatively less crowded road but with a major bottle neck where they are building a new flyover.
I fidget for a while and decide to risk the latter - who knows, if i get through the bottleneck quickly i will be home in less than an hour
till about half a kilometer ahead of the bottleneck , everything seems ok. Then slowly traffic slows down and soon comes to a standstill I just add my self to the end of a long queue. On other days I have seen the Queue move steadily but today its not moving.
I just shutdown the car and wait. The radio keeps playing too many commercials so i switch it off. and then I start watching the scenery and people outside to bide time. The scenery is all filthy concrete, and the people are all around. There are Bikers and autowallas who try to creep through the smallest spaces. Noticing this, I inch ahead to the car in front of me and close the gap so that not even a cycle can sneak through. Its an art i have perfected over the years. Not allowing the other people to wade through the small nooks gives me a bit of sadistic pleasure ; I grin !
I notice the walking pretty lass I overtook a while back - now she is walking past my car. she keeps talking into her mobile and slowly disappears into the labyrinth of cars and automobiles - everybody likes to call pretty lasses :-) . I look at the clock close to - 7:45.I have Been covering inch by inch for almost an hour now. I finally get out of the bottleneck at about 7:55 pm and heaving a huge sigh of relief. still about 45 mins of driving to get to home.
I reach home finally at 8:45 pm. as i lock the car and take the elevator to my flat,I resolve to try a new route the next day :)
I reach the intersection point on the way back home where i have to make a decision. A steady crowded road which will get me home in about an hour and 20 minutes time or a relatively less crowded road but with a major bottle neck where they are building a new flyover.
I fidget for a while and decide to risk the latter - who knows, if i get through the bottleneck quickly i will be home in less than an hour
till about half a kilometer ahead of the bottleneck , everything seems ok. Then slowly traffic slows down and soon comes to a standstill I just add my self to the end of a long queue. On other days I have seen the Queue move steadily but today its not moving.
I just shutdown the car and wait. The radio keeps playing too many commercials so i switch it off. and then I start watching the scenery and people outside to bide time. The scenery is all filthy concrete, and the people are all around. There are Bikers and autowallas who try to creep through the smallest spaces. Noticing this, I inch ahead to the car in front of me and close the gap so that not even a cycle can sneak through. Its an art i have perfected over the years. Not allowing the other people to wade through the small nooks gives me a bit of sadistic pleasure ; I grin !
I notice the walking pretty lass I overtook a while back - now she is walking past my car. she keeps talking into her mobile and slowly disappears into the labyrinth of cars and automobiles - everybody likes to call pretty lasses :-) . I look at the clock close to - 7:45.I have Been covering inch by inch for almost an hour now. I finally get out of the bottleneck at about 7:55 pm and heaving a huge sigh of relief. still about 45 mins of driving to get to home.
I reach home finally at 8:45 pm. as i lock the car and take the elevator to my flat,I resolve to try a new route the next day :)
Monday, May 14, 2007
Trip to Narsapur Forest
I had been there long time ago...in the 1990s, It was with a bunch of friends from Hyderabad University that I had been to Narsapur Reserve Forest. A small undulated forest complete with small hillocks and thick tree cover.The best part is it is within 50-60 km of Hyderabad city.
That trek was an eventful one, we had traveled in a red colored APSRTC bus ...These usually ply to small towns and villages from the city. Having got off the bus, we hit a trek path inside the jungle, then we had got lost before a goat herd bailed us out.. Eventually we found civilisation and also a commute back to the city !
Ever since I came back to Hyderabad, the desire has always been there to explore the forest again. I needed a group. my wife was more than keen enough add to that a group of trekkies at the office and my work team (whom I literaly had to con into coming) and we were ready to go !!
I googled for Narsapur Forest. Very little information could be found on the place on the web. As such Eco tourism is quite scarce in Andhra Pradesh .Still I found a few snippets here and there, my other great source of information was google earth and wikipedia. In wiki someone has clearly marked the forest and you can view satelite images of the forest from way above.
all in all i could summarise that the altitude is 1700-2000 feet. there are some hillocks and lakes inside the forest. it is definitely several square kilometres in area, my guess would be around 25 sq km. All sounded very exciting.
We started on a late saturday morning, group coordination and traffic meant we were very late so a long hike was ruled out. After you cross the jeedimetla industrial area and keep driving for about 40-50 km from the city basically, The forest just springs upon you like a surprise. suddenly the landscape changes into thick trees and wooded landscape on bothsides of the road.
We stopped and aksed a small tea shop owner just before the forest starts on whether the forest could be trekked through. Surprisingly he did not mock at us. he said you could go inside - nothing about naxal hideouts either ! then one of my friends asked him whether they were any animals inside - negative , dont expect to see animals !
There were monkeys - lots of them , and seemed quite naughty. The snacks we were carrying were firmly tucked inside backpacks so no worries. We headed in a North Easternly direction - the compass aiding our direction. The forest was quite thick and soon lots of small thorns were adorned on everyone's jeans and trousers. There are some open spaces and shady spots too inside making it a beautiful hideout place.
You could see several stream paths which had now dried out. This being december, it had not rained in quite some time. But i think it would be a great place to trek in the monsoon times. After treking through for 3 kms or so we decided to turn back and trek . There was a huge hill that me and some others wanted to trek but the majority of us were mostly office couch potatoes with not too much physical activity and doing further hiking would have seriously compromised lunch , so we had to turn back. I reserved the hill hike for my monsoon trek, also made a note to discover the lake in the middle of the jungle during that time !
There are plenty of beautiful birds to spot. We spotted some parakeets . Also we were lucky to spot a mongoose which shied away as soon as it saw us.
We had a tough time getting back to the road , even with the help of the compass - which turned out to be a great boon. Without the compass we would have ended up going in circles forever. By the time all of us got back to the road and our parked cars, we had all earned our lunch at the Dhaba on the way back to the city !
That trek was an eventful one, we had traveled in a red colored APSRTC bus ...These usually ply to small towns and villages from the city. Having got off the bus, we hit a trek path inside the jungle, then we had got lost before a goat herd bailed us out.. Eventually we found civilisation and also a commute back to the city !
Ever since I came back to Hyderabad, the desire has always been there to explore the forest again. I needed a group. my wife was more than keen enough add to that a group of trekkies at the office and my work team (whom I literaly had to con into coming) and we were ready to go !!
I googled for Narsapur Forest. Very little information could be found on the place on the web. As such Eco tourism is quite scarce in Andhra Pradesh .Still I found a few snippets here and there, my other great source of information was google earth and wikipedia. In wiki someone has clearly marked the forest and you can view satelite images of the forest from way above.
all in all i could summarise that the altitude is 1700-2000 feet. there are some hillocks and lakes inside the forest. it is definitely several square kilometres in area, my guess would be around 25 sq km. All sounded very exciting.
We started on a late saturday morning, group coordination and traffic meant we were very late so a long hike was ruled out. After you cross the jeedimetla industrial area and keep driving for about 40-50 km from the city basically, The forest just springs upon you like a surprise. suddenly the landscape changes into thick trees and wooded landscape on bothsides of the road.
We stopped and aksed a small tea shop owner just before the forest starts on whether the forest could be trekked through. Surprisingly he did not mock at us. he said you could go inside - nothing about naxal hideouts either ! then one of my friends asked him whether they were any animals inside - negative , dont expect to see animals !
There were monkeys - lots of them , and seemed quite naughty. The snacks we were carrying were firmly tucked inside backpacks so no worries. We headed in a North Easternly direction - the compass aiding our direction. The forest was quite thick and soon lots of small thorns were adorned on everyone's jeans and trousers. There are some open spaces and shady spots too inside making it a beautiful hideout place.
You could see several stream paths which had now dried out. This being december, it had not rained in quite some time. But i think it would be a great place to trek in the monsoon times. After treking through for 3 kms or so we decided to turn back and trek . There was a huge hill that me and some others wanted to trek but the majority of us were mostly office couch potatoes with not too much physical activity and doing further hiking would have seriously compromised lunch , so we had to turn back. I reserved the hill hike for my monsoon trek, also made a note to discover the lake in the middle of the jungle during that time !
There are plenty of beautiful birds to spot. We spotted some parakeets . Also we were lucky to spot a mongoose which shied away as soon as it saw us.
We had a tough time getting back to the road , even with the help of the compass - which turned out to be a great boon. Without the compass we would have ended up going in circles forever. By the time all of us got back to the road and our parked cars, we had all earned our lunch at the Dhaba on the way back to the city !
Dharnas and Rededication day
The long drive to office is getting longer everyday, Actually the roads are getting worser, most of the roads are being dug up for laying pipes/cables , plugging leaking sewage and may be even treasure hunts too :-).
To add to the woes, there was a demonstration by some SC / ST group asking for equal treatment. They were walking along the narrow road - a sizable group of at least a 100 people,walking obliviously in peak hour so the traffic was all blocked for miles behind them. I am not sure how many supporters they have found their cause, but surely there were lots of cursing commuters who were delayed to work because of the jam.
Also up ahead on the way near necklace road and Khairtabad flyover you can spot huge banners of the Congress government which is giving itself a pat on the back for having completed a successful three years, these 5 years are supposed to be full of illustruous milestones as the news papers advertisements point out.
In numerous huge hoardings, CM YSR can be seen smiling and waving his hand benevolently on all below as the "heavenly angel" like party leaders such as Sonia Gandhi and some state dignitaries look out from small circles above. One conspicous absence is PM Manmohan singh, but then every one knows who is the "real" Prime Minister of the country :-)
To add to the woes, there was a demonstration by some SC / ST group asking for equal treatment. They were walking along the narrow road - a sizable group of at least a 100 people,walking obliviously in peak hour so the traffic was all blocked for miles behind them. I am not sure how many supporters they have found their cause, but surely there were lots of cursing commuters who were delayed to work because of the jam.
Also up ahead on the way near necklace road and Khairtabad flyover you can spot huge banners of the Congress government which is giving itself a pat on the back for having completed a successful three years, these 5 years are supposed to be full of illustruous milestones as the news papers advertisements point out.
In numerous huge hoardings, CM YSR can be seen smiling and waving his hand benevolently on all below as the "heavenly angel" like party leaders such as Sonia Gandhi and some state dignitaries look out from small circles above. One conspicous absence is PM Manmohan singh, but then every one knows who is the "real" Prime Minister of the country :-)
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Ramappa Temple and Pakhal Sanctuary
I have been meaning to write about my travelouge to Warangal for some time now. Warangal itself is a unique proposition in the sense that , it is one of those places which can rank as a decent weekend getaway in the non-summer months from Hyderabad. otherwise, Hyderabad unlike other metros like delhi,mumbai or bangalore does not have any touristy destinations within a 3-4 hour driving distance.
The drive to warangal is via the new National highway , the road is single lane for most part but quite good. however there are very few eateries along the way , there are some so called punjabi dhabas but do not serve authentic punjabi food, these cater mainly to the truck drivers.
the winds of change have breezed through warangal too. you see wider roads, greenery, super markets and small malls in the city. the REC warangal has since long been one of the town's main identities.
We visited the 1000 pillar temple in the evening. the evening lighting elevated the viewing experience, but sadly the temple has for large part is being moved reassembled as its foundation was found to be shaky, so we could not see it in full glory.
The next day we visited pakhal lake which has a sanctuary surrounding it. the lake and the sanctuary are tranquil and looks like an excellent camping place, though it would take some adventurous souls to do this mainly due to the perceived naxal problem in telangana. the sanctuary is supposed to be home to some small animals and even leopards. AP tourism can do something to promote the destination and Eco tourism as there is literally zero infrastructure here to do anything.
Our last stop was the Ramappa temple, this is one of the temples that will leave a lasting impression in your mind. the sculptures are full of ornamental detail and in-fact have withstood centuries of hardship.the local guide gave us a good roundup on how each of the sculpted pieces was constructed and the background involved which was really interesting.
The drive to warangal is via the new National highway , the road is single lane for most part but quite good. however there are very few eateries along the way , there are some so called punjabi dhabas but do not serve authentic punjabi food, these cater mainly to the truck drivers.
the winds of change have breezed through warangal too. you see wider roads, greenery, super markets and small malls in the city. the REC warangal has since long been one of the town's main identities.
We visited the 1000 pillar temple in the evening. the evening lighting elevated the viewing experience, but sadly the temple has for large part is being moved reassembled as its foundation was found to be shaky, so we could not see it in full glory.
The next day we visited pakhal lake which has a sanctuary surrounding it. the lake and the sanctuary are tranquil and looks like an excellent camping place, though it would take some adventurous souls to do this mainly due to the perceived naxal problem in telangana. the sanctuary is supposed to be home to some small animals and even leopards. AP tourism can do something to promote the destination and Eco tourism as there is literally zero infrastructure here to do anything.
Our last stop was the Ramappa temple, this is one of the temples that will leave a lasting impression in your mind. the sculptures are full of ornamental detail and in-fact have withstood centuries of hardship.the local guide gave us a good roundup on how each of the sculpted pieces was constructed and the background involved which was really interesting.
The wold's tallest buldings
Ever since i have visisted Taipei 101, i have been fascinated with tall buildings. Taipei 101 itself is gigantic, and when you are inside the observatory on the 89th floor , it almost feels like you are flying in an airplane. the elevators climb so fast that the change in air pressure affects your ears.
Yesterday i was watching a TV program on Discovery about the new challenger to Taipei 101 which is the Burj Dubai building which will be completed some time next year. they are already building the 124th floor now. The program talks about the inside story and challenges involved in building such a tall structure. concrete is pumped in pipes mixed with silicon gas to allow it to flow almost like water without compromising on strength. GPS devices are used to measure the height of each structure to exacting standards. The pace of construction is fast, they have just taken 2 years to build 124 floors, for such a massive structure that is
really fast. when completed it will be a site to behold with about 160 floors and much taller than the taipei 101 (509m) and the Twin towers in Malaysia (458m).
I wonder when we in india will start constructing such tall structures. Usual pace of construction is so slow that a simple road flyover usually takes 2-3 years and some go on forever and some are stopped midway and just left like that. with land being scarce in India , Vertical space has to be utilized and must be the way to go in the future.
Yesterday i was watching a TV program on Discovery about the new challenger to Taipei 101 which is the Burj Dubai building which will be completed some time next year. they are already building the 124th floor now. The program talks about the inside story and challenges involved in building such a tall structure. concrete is pumped in pipes mixed with silicon gas to allow it to flow almost like water without compromising on strength. GPS devices are used to measure the height of each structure to exacting standards. The pace of construction is fast, they have just taken 2 years to build 124 floors, for such a massive structure that is
really fast. when completed it will be a site to behold with about 160 floors and much taller than the taipei 101 (509m) and the Twin towers in Malaysia (458m).
I wonder when we in india will start constructing such tall structures. Usual pace of construction is so slow that a simple road flyover usually takes 2-3 years and some go on forever and some are stopped midway and just left like that. with land being scarce in India , Vertical space has to be utilized and must be the way to go in the future.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Of Mad MAX and Repeat Trauma
I have never been so Irritated with a particular TV channel. And it seems unfortunate that Sony Set MAX telecasts the cricket Worldcup in India. Their coverage of the event is pathetic. The most horrible part is that the cricket is sidelined to the corner while ADs and gimmickry take centre stage. In good old ESPN/Start sports days which used to host the main cricketing events, the telecast was fantastic, quality of the commenting was a notch above the rest , even though Geoffery Boycott and Navjot Sidhu would often go overboard and mouth repetitive cliche comments. Its another story about those comments becoming part of cricket folklore !
I think SET max have employed the slimiest ugly miserly creatures who don the switch to toggle between advertisements and cricket, and the only money they make is with every millisecond of ad delivered to the viewers.
They try to slip in the ads as soon as the batsman asks the Side-screen to be moved or if the bowler wants a slight field change. Gone are the days when ads used to be shown only between overs. Now its a case of catching a bit of cricket in between the ads.
The commentary is way below par. the best part about Extraaaa innings is Mandira Bedi,who still looks ravishingly pretty and Gorgeous. but she seems like a sad lost creature out there. May be it is Indias early exit,you see very little of her childish exuberation and even little of her unintentionally funny comments :-)
Lets think about this for a minute, SET max is a pay channel, so why should we be allowing them to show us so many ADs ? by viewing them ,the viewers should be getting paid for putting through it and the trauma. Isn't it a good point to ignite a PIL !!!??
I am personally boycotting the following products with immediate effect because of repeat trauma caused by watching the Advertisements endorsing them:
Pepsi Gold - Sick stupid ad with a bunch of silly hoarse sounding adolescents.
Airtel - the ad with the old chap who is visited by his grandson - this one makes me puke - ughhh . its full of old Hindi movie repeat cliche.
Moto Rokr - I hate it more because of the timing . They slip it in between balls when i am watching the score. AB Jr looks cool though but in my memory he is chiseled with head swaying side to side now , he he.
The Santro and Getz ads : for starters they are so long and quite silly. if india is batting and they are showing these ads, you know that sehwag just ended is short stint at the crease :-).
I think SET max have employed the slimiest ugly miserly creatures who don the switch to toggle between advertisements and cricket, and the only money they make is with every millisecond of ad delivered to the viewers.
They try to slip in the ads as soon as the batsman asks the Side-screen to be moved or if the bowler wants a slight field change. Gone are the days when ads used to be shown only between overs. Now its a case of catching a bit of cricket in between the ads.
The commentary is way below par. the best part about Extraaaa innings is Mandira Bedi,who still looks ravishingly pretty and Gorgeous. but she seems like a sad lost creature out there. May be it is Indias early exit,you see very little of her childish exuberation and even little of her unintentionally funny comments :-)
Lets think about this for a minute, SET max is a pay channel, so why should we be allowing them to show us so many ADs ? by viewing them ,the viewers should be getting paid for putting through it and the trauma. Isn't it a good point to ignite a PIL !!!??
I am personally boycotting the following products with immediate effect because of repeat trauma caused by watching the Advertisements endorsing them:
Pepsi Gold - Sick stupid ad with a bunch of silly hoarse sounding adolescents.
Airtel - the ad with the old chap who is visited by his grandson - this one makes me puke - ughhh . its full of old Hindi movie repeat cliche.
Moto Rokr - I hate it more because of the timing . They slip it in between balls when i am watching the score. AB Jr looks cool though but in my memory he is chiseled with head swaying side to side now , he he.
The Santro and Getz ads : for starters they are so long and quite silly. if india is batting and they are showing these ads, you know that sehwag just ended is short stint at the crease :-).
Monday, April 09, 2007
On the shores of the Andaman Sea
Far from the madding crowd
with friends
and the deep blue sea
for company
My 2 bits of firewood into the fire !
Being an ardent cricket fan, I must say the last few weeks have been deeply disappointing. First India's exit from the world cup , then the shocking murder of Bob Woolmer and then the reactions at home to India's loss , BCCIs supposed "sweeping changes" to indian cricket and Greg Chappel's exit from the coache's position.
Things seem hopeless frankly. It seems almost like what happened to india in hockey is happening to cricket. We dont seem to be producing prodiguosly talented cricketers any more , even in the domestic scene, there are not many great cricketers who can push out the existing 11 (which exited the world cup) on merit. After doing some Root cause analysis here and i could come up with several reasons as to why we might not see any drastic improvements for long.
The biggest problem is kids today do not take to cricket or any other sport seriously. there are very few parents who will encourage their children to take up a career in sport. it probably makes more sense to spend the time in IIT coaching or some such usual activity then participate in sport. and truth be told that for a nation as hugely populated as ours , the chance of making it to the national cricket team is 1 in a million.
Let me digress a little ... :-) When i was a kid, I used to live in some suburbs near hyderabad. there were vast tracts of unutilised land. the main road which connected our suburb to the city was about a couple of furlongs away and you could see the road from my house, as most of it was empty. my school used to end about 3:30 pm by the time i was home it used to be 4 pm or so. there was a scramble to change clothes munch something quickly and head into the huge field was our cricket play area , and on a summer day it was almost 3 hours of cricket , till you get bored and the clothes became all dusty. we had the place enough to imitate Waqar Younis's run up to the wicket :-). These days in urban areas, space is a premium in most of the big cities the most you can do is play cricket in your back alley and run the danger always of breaking a few window panes .
Community play grounds are far and few in india in both urban and rural areas; and there are fewer professional coaching places for kids which teach the sport. Cricket unlike a lot of other sports like athletics , needs lot of space and resources to be taught professionally. most of the schools infact do not have proper cricket grounds.
I do not know firsthand about the rural areas, but I think the main issue there is lack of visibility and lack of access to resources such as good coaching schools. Also talented cricketers in the rural areas may find it really dificult to struggle and make a mark to finally make it to the state team. As i dont think there is an efficient system in place to notice and nurture talent. Another thing that i never understand is how the cricketers who play at the club and league level get selected to the state level.
lack of athleticism is one more big reason where we have a huge handicap. Our batsmen seem to be slower between the wickets, our fielders are never too agile, and worst of all we dont have genuine fast bowlers. even the faster bowlers we produce seem to lose their pace and also their way very quickly. its may be our genes, our food habits, but look at srilanka and pakistan ( may be not such a great example at this point ! but atleast they produce good bowlers.) too they are not all that different from us.
Ever gave a thought to how much money ranji cricketers make ? I think its not too great. and may be the club and league cricketers , district cricketers make little or none at all. the point is if the money is not too great at the initial levels, not many would make it their full time activity.
I could go on and on, but its an exercise in futility, after all we are a nation of cricket crazy people how will we ever learn to pour life into cricket again ?!
On second thoughts , may be the time is ripe for Arjun Singh's quota and reservation system to make a grand entry into BCCI .... well that is the wickedest thing that i have ever wished for >:-).
Things seem hopeless frankly. It seems almost like what happened to india in hockey is happening to cricket. We dont seem to be producing prodiguosly talented cricketers any more , even in the domestic scene, there are not many great cricketers who can push out the existing 11 (which exited the world cup) on merit. After doing some Root cause analysis here and i could come up with several reasons as to why we might not see any drastic improvements for long.
The biggest problem is kids today do not take to cricket or any other sport seriously. there are very few parents who will encourage their children to take up a career in sport. it probably makes more sense to spend the time in IIT coaching or some such usual activity then participate in sport. and truth be told that for a nation as hugely populated as ours , the chance of making it to the national cricket team is 1 in a million.
Let me digress a little ... :-) When i was a kid, I used to live in some suburbs near hyderabad. there were vast tracts of unutilised land. the main road which connected our suburb to the city was about a couple of furlongs away and you could see the road from my house, as most of it was empty. my school used to end about 3:30 pm by the time i was home it used to be 4 pm or so. there was a scramble to change clothes munch something quickly and head into the huge field was our cricket play area , and on a summer day it was almost 3 hours of cricket , till you get bored and the clothes became all dusty. we had the place enough to imitate Waqar Younis's run up to the wicket :-). These days in urban areas, space is a premium in most of the big cities the most you can do is play cricket in your back alley and run the danger always of breaking a few window panes .
Community play grounds are far and few in india in both urban and rural areas; and there are fewer professional coaching places for kids which teach the sport. Cricket unlike a lot of other sports like athletics , needs lot of space and resources to be taught professionally. most of the schools infact do not have proper cricket grounds.
I do not know firsthand about the rural areas, but I think the main issue there is lack of visibility and lack of access to resources such as good coaching schools. Also talented cricketers in the rural areas may find it really dificult to struggle and make a mark to finally make it to the state team. As i dont think there is an efficient system in place to notice and nurture talent. Another thing that i never understand is how the cricketers who play at the club and league level get selected to the state level.
lack of athleticism is one more big reason where we have a huge handicap. Our batsmen seem to be slower between the wickets, our fielders are never too agile, and worst of all we dont have genuine fast bowlers. even the faster bowlers we produce seem to lose their pace and also their way very quickly. its may be our genes, our food habits, but look at srilanka and pakistan ( may be not such a great example at this point ! but atleast they produce good bowlers.) too they are not all that different from us.
Ever gave a thought to how much money ranji cricketers make ? I think its not too great. and may be the club and league cricketers , district cricketers make little or none at all. the point is if the money is not too great at the initial levels, not many would make it their full time activity.
I could go on and on, but its an exercise in futility, after all we are a nation of cricket crazy people how will we ever learn to pour life into cricket again ?!
On second thoughts , may be the time is ripe for Arjun Singh's quota and reservation system to make a grand entry into BCCI .... well that is the wickedest thing that i have ever wished for >:-).
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