Fighters in real life..

This is a very inspiring story about a young guy called Siddharth in Chennai.

Makes me think of how easy things are for people like me atleast.. And also makes you realize that maybe you aren't actually working to your potential.. Well, I am sure most of us know that's true in our cases..

I am reminded of the song "Another day in Paradise" by Phil Collins after reading this article.

"Just think about it, It's just another day for you and me in Paradise!!"

Economics of ecstasy!

This one is in stark contrast from my previous post..

Warning: Not for people who believe only in politically "correct" subjects!!

Found the link to this interesting study on "economics of ecstasy" in a blog called tattonement.. I must say the guys have used a very "interesting" subject to prove their signaling theory..

To be honest, even I don't care about the signaling crap!!

For those who talk about LOVE..

This one is for people who consider themselves romantics and/or are moved by all the sweet romantic movies(no I don't mean movies of SRK/Yash Chopra/Karan Johar and their likes!!)..

It was a busy morning, approximately 8:30 am, when an elderly gentleman in his 80's, arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He stated that he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am. I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound.

On exam it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound. While taking care of his wound, we began to engage in conversation I asked him if he had a doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I then inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer Disease. As we talked, and I finished dressing his wound, I asked if she would be worried if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.

I was surprised, and asked him. "And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?" He smiled as he patted my hand and said."She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is."

This is taken from a forward I received recently. There was some concluding note too which I have removed here.

PS: Nothing's wrong with me in case you are wondering why so many senti posts suddenly!!

Heart of Gold..

I want to live,
I want to give
I've been a miner for a heart of gold.
It's these expressions I never give
That keeps me searching for a heart of gold
And I'm getting old.
Keeps me searching for a heart of gold
And I'm getting old.

Yes, I didn't write those lines myself.. :)
Wish I did though.. I have just jotted down part of Neil Young's song called Heart of gold.. Don't ask me why I have added it now.. Just like the lyrics..

And yeah, I know I am too young to talk about getting old.. :)

About Friendship..

This is a really nice post on friendship I picked up from the blog 'Youth Curry'.. I am sure all of us can relate to it!!

The Anna Gang..

This is a pic taken when I was in second year during the new year's party at Pizza Corner.



(From r to l) Bala, Naval, Tanay and Yours Truly.

A signature photograph as far as my college life is concerned!
The funny expression on my face is explained by the Pizza in my hand. :)

Dada and the Indian Team..

This is an article which describes the situation facing the Indian team, especially our captain very well. Lets see how this story goes in the future...

A game of glorious uncertainties!

At the end of the 2nd test in Kolkata, I don't think anyone would have believed that India could lose the third test. However, as it happens so often in cricket, Pakistan outplayed India in every department of the game in the third test. They batted extremely well and the last two sessions were amazing with their bowlers attacking with 5 fielders around the bat at most times..

Although I am disappointed that India lost this match and ended up squaring the series, I feel that we deserved to lose the match simply because of our attitude.. It was really hard to comprehend the overly defensive batting by Dravid, Sachin and the batsmen who followed them. Kumble was the lone exception and his approach paid dividends with him remaining Not Out till the end.. This was the same mistake Pakistan made in the 2nd test when they start defending completely after lunch which allowed Kumble to control the situation then. Similarly, we allowed the Pakistani bowlers to take complete control by blocking even half-volleys.

I also feel that over-confidence was a factor. I think our batsmen were a little too sure that they'd atleast save the test match. It should serve as a really good wake-up call to everyone who feels our batting is very strong because if you take out Sehwag's contributions with the bat in this series, I think we would have been in bad shape in two out of the three tests. We seem to depend a lot nowadays on Sehwag or Dravid scoring at the top of the order. The middle order is looking increasingly fragile. Our team definitely needs to do some soul searching as getting out within two sessions against a depleted Pakistani attack does not augur well for us.

The other big debate after this defeat is regarding the future of our captain, Sourav Ganguly. Many journalists are already predicting the end of Dada's career with the Indian team. However, I believe he definitely deserves atleast one more chance. I admit he looked out of sorts in the whole series but he definitely deserves another chance to redeem himself. Unfortunately public memory is short and all the good work that he's done for the Indian team is being thrown on the back-burner. It is sad to see him look so clueless at the crease. He hasn't helped his own cause by some poor shot selection in this series. For his own sake, he'll have to perform in the ODI series coming up. Otherwise, it won't be too surprising to see the likes of Yuvraj/Kaif replace him in the next test series.

But credit where its due! The way the Pakis fought in this test series is really praiseworthy. They managed to save the first test by the skin of their teeth and bounced back really strongly after the loss in the second test. Younis Khan, who may not be the most attractive batsman to watch, definitely changed the course of the series along with Inzy. I don't think India ever recovered in the third test after that mammoth partnership.

Looking objectively, it was an amazing series which was fought until the last minute and brought out the best talents(Sehwag, Dravid, Kumble for India and Younis Khan, Kaneria, Akmal and Kamal for Pakis) in both the sides. It was truly fitting that the series should end with no side emerging as the clear winner!!

Is it really worth it?

This is an article in the week about the preparation for IIT JEE and other entrance exams and the coaching institutes for these exams.. I must say it reminds me of the days when I was in 11th and 12th.. Running between tuitions, bunking school at will, trying to keep up with the pace of all the tuition teachers as well as your friends.. It was one hell of a time.. Honestly, the best part in those two years were the times I would spend playing cricket in the evenings!! Had I not even done that(like some of my classmates) I would have completely gone mad!! Looking back, maybe it might have helped me clear IIT, but somehow I don't think so.. Anyway, it doesn't matter any more..

There is a mention of Dr. G.N.Chandwani in the article. This gentleman was our Maths teacher and is extremely famous not only in Bhilai, but in most of Chattisgarh for his IIT coaching. He is a legend in his own right and though every year there are easily 30-40 students under him who clear JEE, it doesn't tell the story of how many fail to make it. There are many students who are forced to go to him(and other tuitions) because everyone expects them to do that.

The problem of staying in a place like Bhilai is that the options for any student are limited. Anyone who is not very sure of what to do in the future ends up peparing for IIT. How many of these people make it to the IITs is a different story altogether.. When this system is going to change I don't know.. But it should.. However it is very tough to make people understand all the problems at that stage of their lives.. I guess people would start calling me a hypocrite now having been through the system myself.. At the end of it all, I think most of us come to the conclusion that it wasn't really worth the effort.. And all these poor students who are slogging it out now shall probably say the same thing when they end up joining any engineering college..
And invariably the realization comes too late for one to do anything about it!!

Southern Man vs Sweet Home Alabama ..

The inspiration behind this topic is today's quiz conducted by the IQCircle in Infy.. The quiz was a pretty cool one with the usual set of thought-provoking questions.. The audio and visual questions were actually quite good.. Although we(I, Pinaki and Ashwin) didn't fare too well in the quiz(not surprisingly!) all of us enjoyed the questions and we had a good time wrestling with them..

One of the audio questions was to connect the 2 songs mentioned in the topic of this post.. I did a little bit of research on the relation between the two songs after the quiz.. Neil Young's song "Southern Man" is a song which questions the racist practices by white-skinned people in the Southern states of US during the '60s.. Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote the song "Sweet Home Alabama" in response to this..
The lines below from this song make this clear
"Well, I heard Mister Young sing about her
Well, I heard ole Neil put her down.
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
a southern man don't need him around anyhow. "

Although Lynyrd Skynyd's song was supposed to point out(or so I think) that not all Southerners are Red-necks and that Neil Young's generalization was not accurate, the song created lots of controversy and the band was tagged as a racist band. In fact to this day, people interpret the song as they wish.. To follow the story of this debate, this is the link where I found a detailed account of the whole issue.

One can of course keep debating on such sensitive issues, but the fact remains that Neil Young himself has performed the song "Sweet Home Alabama" in some of his concerts and whatever differences existed between him and Lynyrd Skynyrd, they have been cleared a long time back..
Well, as far as I am concerned, both the songs are really great and I'd rather listen than go about demeaning them.. Personally I prefer listening to Sweet Home Alabama though..

I shall probably collect all the questions asked in the quiz and post them sometime.. Maybe tomorrow, its time to go home today..

RTI

I came across an interesting article in the Hindu about the Right to Information(RTI).. The writer, Amit Bhaduri, has raised some good points on the lack of transparency in our country.. I agree with him when he says that despite all the hues and cries about development and GDP growth of 6% or 7% or whatever, the fact remains that a large population in our country is still extremely poor, lots of children remain malnourished, illiteracy is still a large problem.. There is no simple solution to these problems.. Capitalism and globalization aren't really changing the situation at ground level.. He stresses on accountability of the executive, the legislature and the judiciary to the people..
Is accountability alone sufficient? Isn't this much more deep-rooted than that? Can it just be solved by a few hundred people sitting in offices and making policies? We've faced all this for more than fifty(in fact almost sixty) years now and have come nowhere near arriving at a solution for the poor standards of living of almost half the population in our country..

Is there any chance that we'll be able to solve this problem in the future? If so, HOW? I do not pretend to have the answer to this question.. My concern is - does ANYONE have an answer to this question?

The Draw for the quarters..

Just got the news from UEFA's website that the fixtures for the champions league quarters are:

1) AC Milan v/s Internazionale
2) Liverpool v/s Juventus
3) Chelsea v/s Bayern Munich
4) Lyon v/s PSV Eindhoven

The Chelsea-Bayern encounter seems to me to be the most interesting tie.. I shall post in detail about these teams some other time..

The MODI controversy..

The denial of a visa to Narendra Modi, the Gujarat Chief Minister has raised a huge debate on whether US is right in taking such a step.. In my honest opinion, I don't think its any business of theirs.. India can deal with erratic leaders and we certainly don't want the United States of all countries to preach us on how to cope with people like Narendra Modi..

At the same time, the BJP has come out with statements that this decision by US is an insult to the whole nation.. I don't think this decision is anywhere near as big an insult as the Gujarat Riots were to our country.. Who cares what the US thinks anyway? But the fact that the riots were condoned in our country is what is the actual concern.. In a way this controversy is a blessing in disguise as people will be forced to think about what happened in Gujarat again..

Mr. Modi himself has said that the denial is an insult to the constitution.. Tell you what Mr. Modi, what happened in Gujarat was the gravest insult to our constitution.. He's countered this saying "If the riots is the reason why I have been denied a visa, on what basis has this decision been taken. America must not forget that my government was elected after the riots in a free and fair election." Excuse me, but why should America be bothered whether he got elected after that? Is he trying to tell us that all the Muslims in Gujarat voted him to power again? Does he think they are all very comfortable with the idea of him being in power? They don't have much of a choice if the majority in the state happen to be Hindus who think on the same lines as their "honourable" Chief Minister, do they? Tell me why would the riots would have happened if the Hindus were more tolerant?

I guess I am now digressing from the main topic of discussion. But the point I wish to make is that The Gujarat Riots Happened.. We all witnessed it.. We still haven't nailed all those behind the riots.. And until we do that, it will keep coming back to us.. Yes it will Mr. Modi, whether you like it or not.. This had to happen some day, and you can expect this issue to be raised again and again!!

Isn't it ironical that it is the US who is pointing it out to us? And all of us sit back and try to please all the people sitting there in the US just because they call the shots.. Do we have the guts to deny a visa to George W. Bush or Donald Rumsfeld, if and when any of them decides to come to India because of what happened in Iraq? I don't think so.. And considering the impact such a decision would have, it'd be wise not to do so as well.. And so we shall do exactly what is politicaly best for our country which is what our government is attempting. Raise the issue with the US embassy.. And hope that they shall relent after some diplomatic dealings.. Yeah, it doesn't help our nation's image, I know.. However, as I said, its they who call the shots, whether we like it or not..

The need for leaders..

This is an article by Harish Khare in The Hindu about the aftermath of the Jharkhand fiasco.. Call me partisan if you want, but I more or less agree with his opinions.. Haven't got much to add to that..

Q-final line-up complete

So it is Inter Milan who make it to the last eight in Europe's most prestigious club competition with a relatively easy victory over Porto, making it 3 teams from Italy in the quarters. No teams from Spain this time, 2 from england, 1 each from Germany, France and Netherlands.
Can't wait for the q-final fixtures.. The draw will be decided in a couple of days..

Really sad to see Dravid get out in the last over of the day. India has allowed Pakis to get back into the game from a postion of strength at 297/3 to 344/6.. Lets wait and watch whether they'll have to pay for this..

Those were the days..

Was thinking about good ol' days back in college today.. It all started off after a chat with Bala regarding his post on the situation in college nowadays.. Apparently there's a lot happening behind the scenes now and a lot of dirt has come up recently. Anyway, I'd rather talk about some of the "better" times in college..
Can't help thinking of my 2nd year in college when I have to look back(not that the other times weren't good!).. It was probably the time when I studied the least(what's new!).. The one year spent in good ol' JH Block is probably what I remember most about the hostel atleast. And easily the most eventful year as well.

Who can forget the midnight ride on Yogi's bike to ECR!! Or the bicycle ride to Adyar at 3 a.m.!! Taking a bath at the Hand Pump near the Health Centre in the morning and realize that our VC and Warden are watching us!! Standing in queues to take a bath in the morning.. All the midnight conversations sitting on the JH block terrace.. All the post-dinner conversations sitting in room no. 205 with Pavan's 2-in-1 blaring in the background.. All the birthday celebrations that year(yeah the bumps as well).. Ohh the wonderful food served in good ol' ACTech Mess(MESS is correct!).. All the hours wasted in the canteen.. Mechanical Engg. lab with Berk(Lab in-charge) chasing one of my classmates out of the lab.. Polymer chemistry classes - isn't it self-explanatory?.. Getting major lecture from a watchman for sitting on the terrace of my friend's house and chatting(can u believe that!).. Cricket on the terrace of the RBI building near Secretariat.. Reading Lord of the Rings bang in the middle of end-sems..The Euphoria concert at IIT Saarang.. The Coimbatore trip immediately following that.. Biotechcellence... Kalakrithi.. Texplosion...!! The new year's party at Besant Nagar Beach/ Pizza Corner.. Hostel Day Cricket Matches - belting all the unfortunate First Year teams and in turn getting belted by the Final Year Team(we still managed to win the tournament that year!!)..

I guess I could keep going on forever.. yeah, Those were the days.....

Remembering the Mahatma..

With the 75th anniversary of the Dandi March this year, it is quite overwhelming to see so many people paying tribute to the Father of our Nation.. Although I am someone who does not necessarily agree with all of Mahatma Gandhi's philosophies, I still think he is the greatest Leader that India has produced. I don't think any other leader could have claimed to be able to mobilize the masses in the manner that he did.. He managed to convert the National Movement into a movement of the masses.. In fact, as I write this, I am wondering what right people like me have to comment on a man of his stature. It is very easy for us to sit and criticize whatever happened without even beginning to understand all that happened during our national struggle..
I would strongly recommend India's Struggle For Independence by Bipan Chandra to anyone who is remotely interested in reading about our freedom struggle.

Of all the things that the great man spoke about, I strongly believe in and advocate the principle of non-violence. I don't think war solves any purpose, neither do I agree that war can't be avoided.
As the song from Dire Straits goes:
"But its written in the starlight,
And every line in your palm,
We're fools to make war on our Brothers in Arms!"

Swades and Patriotism!

Watching the on-going circus in Indian (read Jharkand, Goa and Bihar) politics, one can't help but wonder when this is going to stop.. Whatever anyone says or does seems to have a political angle to it.. Even if there isn't any, people come up with amazing conspiracy theories. It's come to a stage where I find it hard to trust anyone.. Not that my thinking is going to change the political situation anyway! However, a man is entitled to his own opinion after all..

Was reading a very interesting article on Swades, the movie and what inspired it .. I haven't yet seen the movie, though I have heard from many people that it is a 'must-watch'.. I guess the movie would be worth watching just for the idea it tries to portray rather than the fine points involved.. Being a Hindi movie, one can expect the normal drama. However as long as it conveys a message , it should be worth a watch..

One of my friends in the US was telling me that he could connect with SRK's character in the movie.. He really found it thought-provoking.. Here's another guy who echoes that sentiment.. However, it does seem to me that it is more a case of NRIs appreciating this movie than 'desis' like me.. I should be able to talk more about it after watching the movie..

The controversy surrounding Lawrence Summers..

Was reading an article in Frontline about the huge fiasco caused by certain "sexist" comments made by the President of Harvard University, Lawrence Summers. I wonder what prompts men of such stature to pass comments on subjects like these, which in my honest opinion should not bother him at all. Even if there is a genetic difference which results in men being more capable in certain areas in life and vice versa, I am not sure whether that can be generalized in the first place. More importantly, I think there are better things that the President of Harvard should be engaging himself with rather than some vague study involving differences between the sexes.

There is another article in the same edition where there is report on the situation in India for women when it comes to education. It is really sad to see the sad plight of so many women in our country. I would like to believe that this situation is improving, however I think we can't escape from reality. Most of the women, even in educated families have to bow to the wishes of their parents/husbands/in-laws. Wonder when our society will come to the stage where ALL the women would be allowed to choose their own career/path in life.. Until that day comes, all we can do is hope to see that day!

Minorities and the Sangh..

Was reading a report on the Akhil Bharat Pratinidhi Sabha, where I believe it was said that Muslims and Christians are actually not minorities because they are from this country only and that their forefathers were actually Hindus. And so the concept of "minoritysim" should end. Well, makes sense to me.. However, as long as the large Hindu population of this country claims to be a majority and demands a "Hindu Rashtra", I don't blame the "minority communities" to think that they ARE a minority!

As far as I am concerned, I really don't care how many Hindus/Muslims/Christians etc live in this country.. I am not really concerned about which religion my friends follow, whether they think they are a"minority". I really don't see what purpose a statement like this addressed to entire Sangh Parivar solves and how it helps anyone(be it a Hindu or Muslim or Christian). But then, I guess being a majority, one can get away with statements like these. After all, it is easy to say all this when you actually aren't part of any "minority" community!!

Sportsman's spirit in today's sports..

An interesting day lies ahead in Mohali.. Can Pakistan hold on for a long time with their tail? Will the Indians cruise home and go to Calcutta with a 1-0 advantage? Well, we'll find out tomorrow.. As they say, cricket is a funny game.. And anything's possible!

From cricket to chess, Garry Kasparov has apparently announced his retirement after the recently concluded Linares Super Grandmasters chess tournament. This probably marks the end of another era in World chess. Now it is upto our very own Vishwanathan Anand to claim the top spot in the world of chess. He's probably the most successful Indian in any sport today.

Moving on to soccer, it was a very satisfying pre-quarterfinal round for me in the Champions league. In practically every match, it was the underdogs who made it through. Who would have imagined a quarterfinal line-up without Real Madrid, Man U, Arsenal and Barcelona at the beginning of the season! The latter stages of the championship might see more defensive qualities coming to the fore with teams like Milan, Juve, Bayern coming through. Chelsea is probably one of the favourites now while Lyon would be the team to watch out for.

There's been a lot written and discussed about Sachin not walking yesterday when he was clearly out bat and pad to Kaneria. The fact is that not many(in fact hardly any) batsmen walk nowadays. A lot has been written about sportsmanship and media rarely misses out on an opportunity to praise any sportsman showing the "True Sporting Spirit". Here's a very interesting article on this by Rohit Brijnath. He brings out a very pertinent point about a lot of discourtesy shown openly nowadays. It is very commonly found in the soccer field as well, a very good example would be the last match between Real and Juve where Ronaldo and Tacchinardi were sent off for an unnecessary tussle. Things are seeming to go from bad to worse with every passing day. And there seems to be no escaping it with individuals/teams resorting to anything in the name of competition.

Oops! Here I go again...

A quick round-up of the champions league matches yesterday:

AC Milan 1-0 Manchester Utd.

Milan managed to carry on with the good work they started at Old Trafford and ended up as comfortable winners in one of the most anticipated ties this season. Man U is still to beat Milan in the champions league and judging by the way they played, they'll really have to improve to make any mark. Milan dominated in the midfield again and their defending was exemplary. Boosted by Stam's return, with Maldini switching to his favourite left-back position, the Milan defence ensured that Rooney was never in the game. Van Nistelroy was also disappointing on a day where Man U created only a handful of chance. Milan could have actually won 2-0 had Gattuso managed to roll the ball in after Crespo scored from a well executed header in the 61st minute. Goodbye Man U! We'll see you next year!

Other matches: Chelsea beat Barca 4-2 on the night of tense and exciting football mixed with some sheer brilliance by the magician, Ronaldinho. They go through 5-4 on aggregate. However, the second goal Ronaldinho scored for Barca was one of the best I have seen for quite sometime now.
Lyon destroyed Werder Bremen 7-2 at home cruising thru' to the quarters.. Watch out for this team! They can surprise a few people this season.

As for today looking fwd to Real-Juve encounter.. Should be a sparkling match..

On to cricket, after a frustrating morning, Sehwag more than made up for the lost play by providing lots of entertainment to the crowd. Shall try to catch the highlights of his innings tonight. India is in a strong position right now and unless they do something daft(assuming the weather holds good ofcourse!), they should win this match..

Been a busy day with many meetings and sessions.. Tomorrow there's a project party planned in the evening.. So that should be good fun..

I seem to have lost in touch with all the latest happenings.. I think it's been 4 days since I touched a newspaper!! That's about it from my desk for the day..

Swinging with the Sultan ...

Still trying to convince myself that I was actually there watching Mark Knopfler perform LIVE! (that's the link to the Mumbai concert, the songs he played in Bangalore were almost the same!)What an evening.. We reached Palace Grounds around 5.45 in the evening, almost 2 hrs before the concert. And a good thing we made it early. We managed to get a place in the front row of the second section, with a good view of the stage and the display screen. Although it was frustrating waiting for the show to start, well, it was really worth it!!

Around 7.30 p.m., before we even realized it, the Sultan was on stage! He started off with "Why Aye Man" and the crowd went berserk.. Over the next two hours, the whole crowd(pretty huge one, i must add) was completely spellbound as we watched the Sultan("His Guitarness" as Bala calls him!) and company take the breath out of everyone with some phenomenal music. Although one can say he could have played more Dire Straits numbers, I for one really liked his own numbers. For Dire Straits fans, there was Walk of Life, Romeo and Juliet, Telegraph Road, Brothers in Arms, Money for Nothing, So Far Away and of course, Sultans of Swing! He played Sailing to Philadelphia, Boom like that, Donovan's gone among others as well..
Of all the songs, I must say I was absolutely blown listening to Telegraph Road live with the amazing lighting effects. I could keep going on and on about the Sultan i guess, so suffice to say that this was a day I don't think I'd ever forget...

Moving on to the other big story for the day, the Indo-Pak Test Series. I came to know that Pakistan scored 312 in their first innings.. I very conveniently forgot that the match was starting today!! Honours even at the end of the first day.. Let's see how this match proceeds..

It feels good to blog again after 3-4 days.. Been a hectic time lately without really doing anything worth writing about.. The only thing I can think of is meeting Vijee and Bhaskar last weekend.. Vijee is of course my senior from Dept. of Textile Technology at ACTech.. He was the gold medallist in his batch!! Bhaskar is working in NCBS now.. Although he is technically in the same city, the distance we have to cover to actually meet is almost 30 kms.. Anyway, it was nice catching up with them..

Thats all I can think of after a busy day.. Hopefully will cover a wider range of topics in my next post..

Elections, Governors, Democracy ....

Although I am not a huge fan of politics, there are times when it really amuses me to see all our "leaders" carrying a fight over morals through the media. With the conclusion of the latest state assembly elections, there's been complete chaos in two of our country's 'not so popular' states, namely Jharkhand and of course, Bihar! The manner in which the governor of Jharkhand has responded to the election results is outrageous to say the least. The situation in Bihar is no better with another hung assembly.. And then we had the circus in Goa with the governor taking the matter into his own hands again. As I am writing this, I believe that Congress has proved its majority there(atleast for now).

These latest developments have triggered off many debates about our country's democratic setup and structure.. Well, I am someone who will definitely defend our system of electing representatives for the people. In my opinion, people will always find a workaround in any system to get into power. But I guess there are lunatics like me who still have faith in our country's resilience. I know there may be a thousand shortcomings in our country, however showing the spirit of a true Indian, all I have to say is that given the option of living in any country at any point of time, I'd definitely say "Gimme India anyday!!" As the SRK Movie title/song goes "Phir bhi dil hai hindustani!"

Jai Hind!!

Rambling on!

With every post, the urge to keep blogging seems to increase within me! I definitely know what people mean when they claim to be blog-addicts! Bala's blog has been a very useful source for me to pick up info about lot of other bloggers. I think I must have gone through as many as 10 blogs just today!

Bala's post today about philosophy/views on modern day "kids" was pretty interesting.. His observation about kids today not reading books is true to an extent. However, I would like to point out that kids today are a lot smarter than what I was atleast as a kid. I don't think even I cared too much for books when I was in school though I used to read all the popular novels.

What I think a lot of kids miss out on (especially in big cities) is outdoor games. The amount of pressure kids face nowadays academically here in India is pretty scary. I remember the times when I was in 10th standard when I never even bothered to go to tuitions. Nowadays, kids seem to attend tuitions right from 5th standard! I can't imagine attending tuitions every day after school right from 5th standard! I and my friends(some of them,not all!!) used to play cricket during our annual exams in school!! As a kid, I never missed a single oppurtunity to play Cricket or Football. Living in a place like Bhilai as a kid also helps I guess where you have loads of open spaces.

As for philosophy, I bought myself a book on Vedanta philosophy very recently and I should be in a better position to comment on this issue after reading the book. I must admit I have developed an interest in philosophy lately and I am making a sincere effort to collect info from different sources.

I was reading an interesting story (Thanks to Amit Varma's blog) about how poor women in our country are unknowingly getting affected by our traditional sources of fuel. It is an alarming thought that so many women have been/are getting affected. It is very difficult to see how we could actually tackle a situation like this.

Last but by no means the least, I read a nice review of this year's budget. I think it is the most unbiased account of this year's budget that I have read.

With that, I shall sign off for today!!

The New Indian Star!

It seems as if I am blogging more about sports than anything! It is tennis' turn this time ..

After an unexpected run to the third round of the Australian Open, Sania Mirza definitely captured the minds of the Indian media. We had to wait for a long time to get a youth icon like her in sports other than cricket. To be honest, I was still pretty skeptical about terming her as the next big thing for Indian tennis, etc. The Indian media has a tendency to go overboard anyway. But seeing her win the Hyderabad Open(I hope that's what it was called!) and now come up with an incredible victory against the reigning US Open champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova has definitely quelled any doubts I had regarding her talent. I sincerely hope that she is able to build upon this extremely impressive start to her career. There is always the danger of athletes like her succumbing to injuries which affect their career.

On the positive front, she has age on her side. She's four years younger than me, can you imagine! I've started feeling old nowadays with so many sports personalities younger than me making the news, not just in Tennis, but Cricket, Soccer and so on...

Well, at this point of time, one can only wish that Sania will live up to all the expectations that will inevitably follow her from now. Go Sania!

Another conspiracy theory!

Could the United States have orchestrated the Tsunami? Well, sounds incredible, doesn't it? Check out this link.

I am not sure whether there is even an element of truth in the whole story. However, I found it pretty thought-provoking and thought it may interest a few people. Well, who doesn't like controversy!!