Akshay's True Lies!

Observe the pattern of Terrorist attacks in India ?

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:30:00 +0000

Did you observe the pattern ?

Everytime there is more tension between Indian & Pakistan, there is a terror attack in India!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What does this tell you ? If there is tention, between the GOVERNMENTS of PAKISTAN & India, there is a terror attack in India somewhere ?

HORRENDOUS !!!

The hatred is coming from the deepest and the deepest parts of my heart !!! Here is an account of the latest Blasts in Pune.

Not sure about 'em sick & corrupt minded people going to heaven, but one thins is for sure, BASTARDS are going to ROT in HELL !! Pardon me for the language, as I said the hatred is coming from deep within my heart ! Period.

Take of a Twenty something, on the Arizona cricket !

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:43:00 +0000

Into my 2nd season of cricket at Arizona, people might feel I am too inexperienced to write an article on Arizona cricket. Sure, I might not know the history, but I sure have my own personal experiences to talk about. This is just my take on Arizona Cricket.

I came to this alien land of America almost 30 months back chasing my dreams. 30 months after that day, I am still chasing the same dream, though in a different plane. New possibilities in a new land also meant crushing other dreams, not possible here. The cricketing avenues that Arizona had to offer me, presented me with a new found hope to reestablish my interest to play the game of my dreams-cricket, yet again!! As part of these 30 months a lot of things changed about me, but one thing that remains intact, if not more, is my passion for the game of cricket.

Sure clubs like my own-'I Kingfishers', are trying to improve the conditions of pitches, they laid down the region's first 'Astroturf concrete' pitch in Snedigar Sports Complex, Chandler. The Umpiring standards are trying to be improved by introducing 'elite umpires' chosen from the players who passed a written Elite Panel Umpiring Assignment Test (UAT). There are things that need more work to be done- especially the unity between the different teams and representation of the players from this region, in the nation (USA). Also there is no body representing the interests of the players.

The best way to describe Arizona cricket would be 'weekend cricket'. Rant as much as you want, it's hard to ignore that. Sure, it's different than the other leagues & formats of cricket played in this region, in the seriousness with which the games are played here. I was surprised with the seriousness involved in the games here, and that is the biggest reason I got attracted to them. The ACA has a set of rules & regulations of their own within which the games are conducted. Rules are needed to maintain discipline & proper conduct in such an environment. But with rules come responsibilities & breach of rules. Tolerance is needed in such a scenario. Jumping for heads straightaway as the only solution for breaching conduct is 'immature'. The 'disciplinary procedure' involved leaves a lot to be desired. The worrying detail is all of it is done in the absence of the player involved. I can talk about this from my own personal experience(s). Sadly, this chapter had been 'coldly' finished, without any concern about my feelings, neither from my team nor the ACA.

I call for a body representing the interests of the players, which keeps track of the feelings of the individual players. When there is punishment, there needs to be a chance for redemption too. The judges are not correct always. This is where ACA lacks I feel, in trying to ape other leagues & professional cricket leagues by conveniently ignoring those details which they are not comfortable with. Taking strides is of primary importance to them, in which direction, is something that is not well thought about. The exact working details of the executive committee is something, I am not in a position to talk about.

But complain as much as you want, professional cricket per se ain't possible with the kind of lifestyle people have around here, with work/school as their primary motive. People are all busy in their own lives where they have no time to worry about players feelings, but indeed have time to punish them, to maintain discipline that is!! I am sure a lot of people reading this are already prejudiced and view this as an immature attempt by rebel, rather than the honest pleas of a victim !!

Harsha Bhogle is passionate in the way he writes articles about cricket. Sachin Tendulkar is passionate in the way he wants to be a champion for his country. Sreesanth is passionate about the way he wants instant stardom, forgetting that his bowling alone can get him the laurels he craves for. Commentators like Ian Chappel, Sunny or Mark Taylor are passionate about the way they find mistakes in the current players, forgetting easily they did the same few decades back.

In a similar way I am just passionate about the way I go about with my cricket on the field, leaving them on the field. Everyone has a different way of showing passion for the game, expecting everyone to react the same way is unreasonable, if not naivety. If not for the passion, none of them would be playing cricket anyways. Sadly this tolerance is something I see lacking in the Arizona cricket among players & the so-called authorities.

Twitter as a news source - Twitter vs Google Reader

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:37:00 +0000

This is my take on Twitter as a source of news and how different could it be when compared to other sources of news in the present social media. I won't get too technical and as usual this is the perspective of an everyday avid user.

So of late there is this explosion of social media, applications and devices which specialize in bringing specific personalized news to the reader's (consumer) door step, instead of the traditional method of consumers reaching out and picking information that interests them the most, from a plethora of junk. Those were the days of the good old newspapers.

Times been changing and I have always been an ardent newspaper reader. Somehow I haven't been able to adopt properly and feel comfortable with the explosion of e-papers ad e-news. Plus the idea of traditional network news is too time consuming and too specific in terms of the news. All of that, along with the teenage-youth excitement and perpetual laziness have pushed me away from news for a while. Somehow it seemed all fine to be away from news, lesser things to worry about, plus I always kept track of things that I wanted to, anyways. With the lots of free time on hand social sites like Facebook, Myspace, Orkut and YouTube, made way into my browsing time. Ironically, I also stumbled upon twitter in this process.

I had my concerns before adopting to Twitter. But a series of incidents led to my first #helloworld tweet on twitter. It was surprisingly easy to use and the rest as they say is history.

In Twitter I found a social website, which lets you follow the tweeple( people on twitter) that you would like to follow and only them. This way you get to see only specific information that you would like to, right on your computer. The pain of going through news websites to search for news that interests you could be eliminated. This gave me a new hope for reviving my interest in news once again. Sure there have been devices which pushed specific news to your computer before, with the RSS feeds, etc, but I was attracted to Twitter because of its social interactivity and social presence.

Other news devices for example 'Google Reader' serve a similar purpose too, when it comes to pushing specific news to users. Add to that the power of google i.e the information they collect about users and their powerful search capabilities - we indeed have a device which potentially could wreck some major media houses. But that hasn't happened yet and why? if you wonder!!

I guess Google Reader lacks in a few areas. I have been using it off late and one thing that I don't quite like about it is, its inability to share information with my friends on facebook/twitter. For now, I guess we can safely say that the power of friends & followers in Facebook(FB) and Twitter can't be challenged. Other social websites like YouTube and news websites have accepted that and are harnessing this feature for their own good. It is surprising to see Google Reader not adapt the same. It allows you to share the information to your 'Google profile' or 'followers' on Google, which is minuscule in terms of the power of twitter or FB. I am feeling handicapped at not being able to share it with the people I know, who all have established profiles on either FB or twitter. So why should I change base to Google Reader ?

Sure Google Reader's selling points would be its excellent recommendations in terms of 'news you might like' ( thanks to powers of google) and of course the power of 'google news' itself. But I did a small check on most of the sources of information on google reader and found almost all of them having a twitter profile and who tweet at the same pace as information that appears on google reader. Add to that the powers of Twitter in being able to reach out to the audience and a big user database, I see no reason in changing base to google reader. Of course I will continue using google reader to get updates on the new blog posts of my friends who i subscribed to on 'blogspot', but is that the extent of google reader ?

Twitter might not have the data that google has, of users- so the recommendations are missing, but all it takes for someone like me, would be to use the 'recommendations' provided by Google Reader, and follow the tweets of those recommendations on Twitter. There, with that simple step the power of 'recommendations' provided by Google Reader, just became redundant. With the new additions of 'Retweets' & 'lists', Twitter has become a stronger source of spreading and accessing news. Lists are able to eliminate the deluge of information on Twitter. They are doing a great job in segregating useful information from random information. They are doing the same thing like what 'feed bundles' in Google Reader do. Almost all the major media houses have 'list bundles' now for the ease of 'news-push' on Twitter now.

Next with real-time updates of Twitter almost any netizen or a phone user can become a news reporter and push news real time from any corner of the world. That's another power of Twitter where as Google Reader does not have any such features. With the latest 'real-time search' introduced by Google, they have started collecting the real-time data from twitter users, thus recognizing Twitter as a very good source of real-time news.

The trends on Google Reader have already been challenged by the 'trending topics' on Twitter. The re-tweets on Twitter definitely are stronger than the sharing feature on Google Reader, thanks to the user database of Twitter.

The idea of using a simple hashtag (#), to reach out to almost the entire audience on twitter is overwhelming, where as on Google Reader I just feel like a single aloof entity in this whole wide global village. Unless Google Reader adopts the power of friends on twitter and Facebook, it might be a great potential resource not properly utilized. The 'Social search' on 'Google labs' has already been trying to harness the connectivity between users provided by twitter and facebook.

Also the feature of Google Reader in showing unread posts over the last few days is 'annoying' to sat the least. I don't like the idea of opening Google Reader after a week to see '1000' unread posts. Sure all it takes for me to do is 'mark as read', but well Twitter does not do that.. So...

Looking forward to a more technical comparison of Twitter and Google Reader by people working on Social Media like a friend of mine 'Munmun'.

The Twitter era - Twitter vs Facebook for dummies :)

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:19:00 +0000

At the end of the day it entirely depends on the user on how they would like to use these plethora of social networks, but this is my take on the social websphere and a beginners guide to twitter :P :). -My take not being too technical, but from the perspective of an everyday user with a little more analysis, when scratched a little more on the surface.

There are so many social networks these days. Gone are the days when a bunch of kids used to hang out after school and do stuff like pranks, play and do other things about which we do not talk.
Now they prefer sitting at home and doing most of it virtually on the computers. The frequency and the time spent on real-time interactions and communications has definitely taken a beating. They have created virtual networks on the computers, and doing which is the 'in-thing' to do. This is where the money and people are, so this is where the new investments are (lately) too. There have been huge success stories, the likes of Facebook, Myspace, Orkut(google) and YouTube, to name a few. Not surprsingly many new ones keep coming up everyday. One such social network has been 'Twitter'.

I wasn't too keen on twitter to start with. But after some discussions with friends, primary among them a Munmun and its visibility almost everywhere around me, I took my first steps in the 'Tweet-world'. It wasn't that difficult to adopt to, was an easy progression and then started the game. Slowly the focus shifted from facebook to twitter and that's where I am standing right now.

I like to tell people what I am doing and share information with friends and/or strangers with similar tastes as mine. When I was naive to the whole twitter era, I felt Twitter is similar to facebook's status updates. Now if I look back at it, the difference is that in facebook you push your news to almost everyone in your friends list, people who might not even know what you are talking about when you are talking about touchdowns and football. In twitter, on the other hand, only people who know football and care about touchdowns will follow you. Plus, another good feature in Twitter is, 'you don't have to follow your followers' - meaning you follow someone only because you are interested in doing so, not because they are interested in following you, like say the 'friends' concept in facebook. So the whole concept of 'friends' in facebook has been transformed to 'followers' in twitter.

So to say Twitter and facebook serve different purposes. Facebook is more like a social website where your aim is to befriend as many people as you can and network in the process. Of late facebook has also become a good source of video-sharing. The concept of 'friends' has not explicitly been defined in youtube. YouTube is good for videohosting, but in terms of social interactivity, it still depends on other social websites like Facebook and Myspace. Facebook excels at the concept of 'events ', where in you are able to spread the word about invitations to a large group of people.

Twitter is more specific where you choose to follow only people who might interest you and is a very good source of specific news being pushed to your door-step. It specializes in bringing specific personalized news to the reader's (consumer) door step, instead of the traditional method of consumers reaching out and picking information that interests them the most, from a plethora of junk. Also Facebook is good for creating a good fan base like communities/groups/pages, etc but I don't think Facebook has been able to really expolit the fan base, after creating them. This is where Twitter has been able to capitalize and use the power of fan base for some good. I feel Twitter is in a better position to harness the powers of a fan base and reaching out to a huge mass of like- minded people. Next, 'Trending topics' are something unique to Twitter, which facebook doesn't have. The concept of hashtags (#) , retweets and lists only work to make Twitter better at what it is.

hashtags (#) lets one know of the 'trending topics' and reach a specific audience ( esp strangers). This proves a good point to twitter being as a good source of news. Re-tweets is a new concept which lets other users re-send your information/updates to other people, thus resulting in spreading of information across the web. Lists are a new concept, which lets the users segregate information on the tweet-space. These are similar to the bundles in other news pushing devices. More about twitter as a news source in another article.

Why Mahathma Gandhi deserves to be 'the Mahatma' despite some bloopers !!

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:42:00 +0000

Well this has been one of the most discussed/debated issues, right up there with say the 'Indo-pak' debate or 'Sachin Tendulkar being the best batsman, debate. I am sure what I am going to say here today has been said hundred times before, but I do need to say this, as I just cannot digest the way a lot of Indian people treat 'The Mahatma' - MohanDas K. Gandhi, without the slightest of the tiniest ounce of respect. Don't already conclude where this post is heading, please read it till the end, before you conclude.

Time and time again, many Indian people have insulted and abused the Mahatma. Biggest of their concerns was his soft-corner to Pakistanis and Muslims and the 55 crore bounty he wanted to give Pakistan despite the lack of interest in doing so by the Indian Government, among other things. For an intense discussion on this and much more please follow this blogpost by my friend 'Anand' which contains a 'nice discussion among various friends about the Mahatma.'

Another major concern was this excerpt taken from the 'Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol.LXXXVII, p.394-5'

"I would tell the Hindus to face death cheerfully if the Muslims are out to kill them. I would be a real sinner if after being stabbed I wished in my last moment that my son should seek revenge. I must die without rancor. You may turn round and ask whether all Hindus and all Sikhs should die. Yes, I would say. Such martyrdom will not be in vain."

Now here is my response to it. I urge everyone to read this with a clear mind, please.

Firstly, agreed he was cynical in asking Hindus to put down their lives for Muslims, but hey, why do we get so emotional about it, isn't that the exact same thing ' the great mahatma' said 30 years before to make the Britishers leave our country. Did he not ask all the people to put down their lives for the freedom of the country ? When it worked then, why didn't it work now ? That is because of the sparks put in by the Muslim leaders and misinformed people like Nathuram Godse, who had only half-knowledge about things beneficial for the country in the longer run. Someone great truly said, 'half-knowledge is dangerous'. It indeed costed us the 'Great Mahatma'.

Mahatma has achieved so many things which we couldn't have achieved by going through violent means. He is known the world over, for this unique method he employed - Nonviolence. He was just being true to his ideals of nonviolence and urging the folk of his own country- India to follow the path of nonviolence. Be it for achieving freedom or when Muslims were going to attack India, for a separate country. He tried his best not to separate the two nations, but after he realized it was not in his control anymore, he just urged his countrymen to follow the path they have been following successfully, that of nonviolence. In line with that, I believe he said the above statement, if at all he did.

Secondly, just because he asked us to put down our lives to Muslims, didn't mean that was going to happen. Take the case of the Britishers before, everyone agreed to put down their lives for the freedom of the country. Did all the leaders die ? Did all the people die ? NO. True few of them died, but most of the people who died were because of the violent routes they took, how many people who took nonviolent ways got killed? Not many, but ironically the Mahatma was one of them, thanks to the misinformed people. Also, the final choice was with the people, he did not force anyone to do anything, he had his own teachings. Did anyone have a better plan, if they did why weren't any of those plans successful ? I believe the tension between India and Pakistan presently could have largely been avoided if 'Mahatma' was indeed not killed at that time.

And lastly, Gandhi is after all human and mistakes do happen, but he deserves the tag of Mahatma, more than any other person would have deserved. If anyone, it had to be him .....For all the great things he has achieved through nonviolence, he definitely deserves the respect and the title of mahatma, true he did some blunders, but hey he is human !! When sachin can make mistakes, Mahatma Gandhi also can ;).. they are both human, after-all..... but they are 'Maha-Purush' or 'Mahathma' meaning a 'Superlative Human', but still human.....RESPECTTTT !!!! :D

A little background about me. I am Indian :).... I don't like the aftermaths of the Indo-pak separation and wish it never happened and also hate what Pakistan do to India, every day.... Also I totally am a violent person ;), but I just respect what Mahatma Gandhi has achieved through nonviolence. It makes me question my own violent ways, but I have enough reasons to justify my violent actions and will take another post to explain those. Also I hate being humble and modest, which is the 'international identity' of Indians. I would like to change that, but what to do, being humble is in our blood :P :)...

But all said and done, Gandhi is indeed a Mahatma ! :D .. but then people can have different opinions, ... but I would just hope that people have a little more tolerance towards Mahatma, look at the 1000 good things he has done for India, instead of focusing on few blunders.. and if you actually read what I said above those blunders ain't that bad either, just a mis-interpretation!!

To a more tolerant Indian attitude to 'The Great Mahatma Gandhi' on his 140th Birthday celebrations.
Oct 2nd 2009.

Jai Hind !

Does 'Slumdog Millionaire' deserve all this hype ?

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 10:11:00 +0000

What's all this hype about the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire' ? The IMDb site shows that the movie has been voted as top#34 in the all time list at a rating of 8.7/10. Quite Interesting. You believe that ?

I am an Indian, so I see the hype more pronounced all around me. I have heard a varied number of people talk varied things about it, both people from USA and India. The attitude with Indians, mostly has been a feeling of pride about the movie and the attitude among the Americans also has been on similar lines, in fact they like the movie better. With Indians, the feeling is understandable, rarely does an Indian movie get nominated for Oscars these days ( that says nothing about the movies that get made in India). Surely, having made by an American, this movie did enjoy that 'luck' which other great Indian movies made by Indian directors, lacked. That's a good starting point to be noted.

Coming from an American's point of view, they had a shot at seeing more about India, and what do they see? India in bad light, as usual !!! For most Americans, even in this 21st century India is still all about Snakes (cobras), Elephants, Cows, Taj Mahal, AIDS, 2nd most populous country, Kama Sutra, Gandhi, cheap labour and of course the land of beggars and slums, the latter shown in particular by the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire'. So for once the world got a chance to look at India, much deeper than the surface and again the director portrays the same old bad things about India.

There are people who tell me, isn't that true ? I agree partly though. The way the movie has been picturized is bad. Sure, there have been beautiful movies in the past which threw some light on aspects like these. India is the country which makes the most number of movies in the world. All Indian languages put together, India makes more movies than the movies of all countries put together. Have any of these movies ever made it to Oscars ? Well, apart from "Mother India", "Salaam Bombay", "Gandhi"( not totally Indian) and "Lagaan", none of the other movies ever made it to the world stage. Does it mean those were the 4 best movies ever made in India ? NO. So when Slumdog gets nominated for Oscars ( mind you, it's not even in the best foreign film category, but in the 'Best Film'), is it as good as the 4 movies mentioned above ? NO. Not even close. It is not even close to any of these movies, a list of all Indian movies sent to the Oscars. What happened to movies like 'Roja' or 'Bombay' or 'Yuva' or the recent 'Rang De Basanthi' or 'Taare Zameen Par', does anyone outside India know about these movies ? NO. They were made with much better intentions, they and many others do show India in bad light, because that is the truth, but the way you show it, matters. Of course as a director, you try to cash in on the bad things of a society and in the process pass a message to the movie viewers. What was the message passed in this movie, other than the obvious bad things in India, known to everyone. Every country has its own unique bad points, but how many movies made in India, make fun of America? Hardly any and how many of those movies made it to Oscars ? NONE. So, I personally feel, this is where 'Slumdog' lost in comparison to other Indian movies.

It depicts how, many kids in Mumbai (India) are exploited in their infancy, the poverty in Mumbai (India), a glimpse of the Communal riots, the economic problems, the gangsters, the bad people, etc. That is all true, but the way it has been shown, never in the movie, I felt the movie made emotions flow out of me. Any of the other great Indian movies would do that to you. But I never felt that at any point in this picture ( except maybe a couple of scenes, but that was due to the merit of the scenes, not because of the attitude of the movie). It lacked compassion to all these problems, I felt.

I feel the movie's main theme was 'Entertainment' and if not for the horrors shown in the movie, it did achieve that. The sad thing is, the movie used the 'Indian common man's sorrows and tragedies' as its USP. It has cashed in on the sorrows of these Indian people to entertain the movie viewers the world over, as an entertainment. It doesn't have any message, doesn't have a stand on the bad things depicted in the movie, like say a Bombay or a Roja or a Yuva does. Neither does it provide any solutions to the horrific horrendous horrors that it has portrayed India to be, in the movie. It was an out and out, pure entertainment movie sold with India's sorrows as its USP and lo, it is in the nominations for the 'Best Film 2008' in the Oscars. Rest is for you to decide.

Also some scenes portrayed in the movie I feel, left a lot to be desired. What are we supposed to make out of the scene in which a Kid gets beaten up a taxi driver for stealing his passengers(Americans) luggage and the kid tells them, ' Here is a taste of Real India for you, madam'. To which the lady says,' here is a taste of Real America for you and hands him a $100 bill'. Also quite nonsensical has been the way ' the SLUMDOGS' aka the 'The kids/gangsters/ illiterate people', converse with each other in English. If the director, was so hell bent on showing the true colors of India, where did this trick come from ? Also the concept of the 'Kid' having come across each of the questions at some point in his ' slum life' was quite unrealistic to believe. But isn't that entertainment!!! These are few points, I noticed when I scratched more on the surface.

Also as a closing statement, I want to just mention about the music director, A. R . Rahman. Many consider him to be India's finest music director and it is sad that one of his worst works ever gets nominated for Oscars. It just gets to show us, how bad the other nominated movies music was and how lucky it is to have an American director, direct the movie for you and show bad things about your own country. Well as you see, it counts:). Btw I would suggest the interested readers to listen to his other works. ( people who do not know about A.R. Rahman's works I mean).

Well, I dissected it for you. There are many out there who totally disagree with me, here is an example, but this is what I personally felt after seeing the movie. As they say , to each one, his own, so it's upto you to decide now !!!!

Constraints faced by youngsters in Indian politics- Are you a 'doer' or a 'talker' ?

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:50:00 +0000

This article is a result of someone, asking me an innocent question- 'what my contribution was to the people back home' ? Also am I a 'doer' or a 'talker'. Here is addressing the questions and the constraints faced by the youth of India in today's politics.

I came to America with certain aims and I haven't yet achieved all of what I want to achieve. And me going back to India and future plans are all dependent on what I am planning to achieve here. So, I am helpless, until I achieve it and the way the things are going, it looks easily no less than another 5 years before I can achieve, what I require to go back to India and do whatever I want to. That's adding to my frustration and I end up writing articles like these, because as I am "trying" to achieve what I have to, there are people dying in India and no one seems to be actually doing anything about it. The terrorists and others are not waiting for me to come back and do something. They are happily doing what they have to do. That is adding frustration. A vicious circle, I want to go back and 'do' something, but I cannot because I have to achieve, what I have to achieve before going back.

Lemme tell you something, before I actually answer the question of 'what did I do to help people back home'?

I am sure everybody has plans like I do, for India ( yes it's safer to say everybody, even though it is NOT true ), but with a country of 1.13 billion ( 1,129,866,154 to be precise) and a further 33,599,855 population of Indian origin people outside India out of which 3,357,530 Indians are in America, not even a single one is presently doing anything to save India from the problems it is facing. It would be unfair to say, none of those people are acting, but the % of people from the TREMENDOUSLY HUGE Numbers that I have shown, that are acting is very very less.

My point is this. I am at a stage of my life, where in I am still 5-8 years away from SIGNIFICANTLY doing something for the country. I do not want to plunge into it prematurely and end up like the others, we have the passion, but if we do not channelize it properly, we cannot go nowhere in the India political system, handled by people whose only aim is to bring one down, under all circumstances. Now my question is, what happened to the previous generation of people , who should have 'politically-matured' by now. That is, for many other Indians, 2008 or much earlier should have been the ideal time to mature and plunge into politics and contribute to a better India. Where I ask, are those people, my time hasn't come yet, but where are the people whose time has come and gone away and now they say, " the future of the country is in the hands of the youth, not us, we are no youth anymore". So when the time comes, no one jumps into it and I hope I wont do it.

To answer the question on 'what did i do to help the people back home'. I was part of various NGO's back in the day, when I was in Hyderabad. There are up to 10 organizations, that I have been part of at some part of my life in India. Also, I always took it upon myself to write articles to keep reminding people of what is happening around them ( not that they didn't know ). Also, me and my family did our best to help the down-trodden people. My parents, every month contributed about 30% of their salary ( apart from other goods, etc) to help people 'directly' who needed basic amenities of life. They did not make 'donations' to NGO's per se, they wanted to help the people first hand. Those ideals rubbed onto me and I helped them in their cause. That has been my contribution in India, so far. I came to America, with certain goals to achieve and I am trying to achieve it for now. I wish to go back to India and with what I am going to achieve here, invest and help my country in ways, about which I will talk when the time comes. I hate the concept of talking a lot and not actually doing anything. So you will know of my future contributions, when the time will come. I am ready to get into politics, to help India's cause, will you?

Now with the 'innocent' question answered, would you please let me know of your contribution to India. Sure, there are 'talkers' and 'doers' , but there is a third kind who are neither. Which one are you ? I have always been a 'talker' or rather a 'writer' because I consider myself 'MEDIA', which is one of the 'Most Important systems' of a county. Also, I have been a 'doer' as I mentioned above and plan to 'DO' a lot of things in future, which are not appropriate to talk right now. I am curious to know, about your contribution, it is not an innocent question, it is a very curious question.

To be fair to Indians, surviving in Indian politics where as I said before, people's only aim is to bring you down, is very difficult. If you jump in, you are up against an entire nation of a million parties and a zillion politicians. That's why I say, that this generation of India, has to be different. If a huge bunch of Indian population jumps into it, no crazy politicians can do nothing. It is a time consuming process, results won't show up immediately, but it has to start somewhere. Well, yes, we see more number of youngsters these days in politics, but they can be counted .The country has some promising younger politicians, but they are all denied the reins of power. Only the older people get a chance at the big seats of Indian politics, citing 'experience' as a criterion. So if someone, starts young around 25-30, by the time he/she gets 'experience' it will be a few years, making them ideal to run the government. Recently, a group of IITians stood in an election in Tamil Nadu, but they lost badly, now that shouldn't deter us, results won't show up immediately, if we have an insurge of young politicians, in the long run, things will change for sure. Also there should an age, when people should 'retire' from politics. After a certain age, they should be deemed incapable of holding positions, maybe the very good (who are very rare in our political system), can be part of advisory committees, but that's what their role should be limited to.

To name a few 'young' politicians - Rahul Gandhi, Omar Abdullah, Aditya Sindhiya, Dayanidhi Maran, etc, but as you see most of them youngsters are from the family of politicians. You do not see people without political background jumping into politics, do you ? The day that happens in large numbers, only then will India see a better day ( I might have missed few names of politicians who are not from political families, but the point I am trying to make is that the number of such people is significantly 0. ) Also young doesn't necessarily mean late 30's, 40's and 50's. We need more people who are around 30. The country needs to be run by technocrats and not illiterate old people. Politics is much more difficult than building a microprocessor chip, we need young Indian brains in politics, not in chips anymore.

The reality is that politics is not as enticing as the other professions for today's youth. For an youngster to get into politics,is not an easy job. The rules of entry are not clear, people who deter you are a lot, there are serious financial constraints and also lack of family support in issues like these. You hear parents or family members say very often, 'Why should my son be the one to change the country. Why can't we all have a normal life. Why don't you get married and have kids' ? Surely, no single parent wants their child to be the 'scapegoat'. But what if every family comes forward, there wouldn't be a concept of scapegoat, then. Owing to these constraints, you see youngsters using other sources to vent their anger or passion to save their country. I chose the media and am trying to create awareness among my fellow beings ( not that they do not know all this !!!!), there are others who become naxalites or terrorists or 'religious-warriors'. There are yet another group of people, who choose to be part of NGO's. That's been the trend, especially for NRI's, who often feel guilty of not being present in their own motherland and often have to bear the abuses of their fellow countrymen from India regarding their ' Intelligent escape from the miseries of India'. There are many who have given up their 'high-paid careers' to be part of NGO's to do something for their country. But NGO's are more of a 'help the already suffering people', rather than 'change the conditions causing the suffering'. It is more reactive than proactive. Also NGO's are not exactly exercising power, as they are trying to improve the system. I have a tremendous respect, totally believe in the concept of NGO's, have myself been part of a large number of NGO's and plan to set-up my own in the future. But the point I am trying to make is that we need more youngsters directly involved in politics. It is great that there is a huge involvement of youngsters and NRI's in the NGO-NPO system, but the call of the hour is 'political system'. There are other youngsters who are lured by the wrong set of parties, owing to the above mentioned constraints, you see a lot of youngsters with passion ending up in places like Bhajrang Dal or Raj Thackeray or Gurjjar type of agitation or naxalites. Most of these youngsters are uneducated ( there are educated youngsters too ) and they are challenged to be leaders and end up following the orders of people above, blindly.

With so much of Indian support all over the world, if the country's future figured in the plans of at least a few % of that huge population, India would have been a much better place. Of course, the people back in India, right from the common man, celebrities, merchants, politicians are not helping the cause. I am sure each one has their own reasons, to turn their backs to India. It is understandable, you cannot expect a farmer who is not provided with the basic amenities to fight for India or expect a kid born in a poor family, who doesn't have money to eat one proper meal a day and so in the process turns out to be a 'goonda' or a goon to be honest and help India's cause. Also you cannot expect a middle-class guy in India, who has to pay the taxes, pay the corrupt people at each level and still support his family decently, to help India's cause. This ain't a movie like 'shivaji' or 'aparichitudu' or 'bharateeyudu' or 'nayak' where in one person can change the fate of the entire nation. This is reality, where every single person, has to be a hero. With many heroes and young leaders with passion, India can have a chance again, else it is going to be worse than what it is now.

Sure, India has been progressing in various areas, with many young people showing lot of passion for the country and opposing what is happening in the country, but lemme tell you that, everyone is just emulating what everyone else is doing i.e Raise their voices, but the people who are actually going to do something, well not many. It is easier to go with the crowd, than actually doing a different thing.

The youth of India is definitely involved in everyday system, but you see them mostly venting their anger in 'destructive ways' , rather than 'constructive' or 'productive' ways, helpful to the country. The dharnas, the protests, stone pelting, burning down public properties, burning Effigies, are all done mostly by youngsters who lack a sense of direction. That's why the call of the hour is for educated youngsters, who can channelize their angers and get into the real politics and 'make an effort' to change the state of India. For all we know, the coming year 2009 and the following year too, will have many many terrorist attacks, it is imminent, but it has to stop somewhere and it will, only if educated youngsters- technocrats with big degrees plunge into the real politics in huge numbers .

Jai Hind and to a better tomorrow, may the force be with us.

Another Terrorist attack - Now what ?

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:26:00 +0000

As much as I hate writing about stereotyped subjects, I can't help but vent my anger when it comes to the stereotyped subject of late, in India-‘Terrorism’. Guess we have all talked and read all about terrorism and we know it all, don't we or rather we presume. That's the point, everyone knows everything, but when it matters most, when it comes to changing the tide, everyone plays ignorant. We are the youth and we have always heard people say the future of the country, lies in our hands. Well, it is time now for us to actually go out and change the future of our country. Now is the time to act, else we will also end up saying, the future of the country lies in the hands of our next generation.

So I have been following the whole Mumbai blasts during the last week. I am surprised (or not surprised) to find that everyone blames everybody else for it - the politicians or the navy or the police or the media. It's an easy thing to do, isn't it blaming the politicians. Going with the crowd, trying to fit in, we say, " F*** the politicians". Why did you elect them in the first place, if that were the case? In the case that you voted for the opposition, do you think the situation could have been any better, if not worse? It is highly unlikely. Or do you belong to the group that didn't vote, well you have no right to talk, because you never had a say in the battle to decide which politicians donned the power seats. You had already given up on them, didn't you, so why act as if you are part of this system now? Instead of blaming the politicians, let’s have introspection. A government is just as good (or bad) as the people who have voted (or not voted) for it. Let us cast our votes and in the case that you do not like either of the parties or candidates cast a neutral vote or a 49-0 vote. Sadly, not many people know that, one can go to a poll booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey the presiding election officer that he doesn't want to vote anyone! This way, one can bring it to the notice of the proper officials that they do not want these candidates in the first place. Would you stay quite when the movie doesn't play in a theater you paid the money for or if the food is stale in a restaurant you paid money for? Then why do you keep quite when 'stale' and corrupt politicians get elected, feeding on your own income tax which is thousands of time more than a movie ticket or a restaurant bill?

The youth of the country needs to look into politics as a career. The Country needs us.

Please be clear, I am not saying the politicians are good, but what are we doing to make it a better place? Why don't we, the youth of India, get into politics? The Indians are world renowned for their intelligence and wit, so why don't we use it to make India a better place. The few people, who do use it in politics, use it for the bad or the dark side of the force, as they say. It is very easy to go with the flow and accept whatever the crowd says; we need leaders, leaders who can stand on their own word, against the common perceptions. Let us all be leaders. Gather a group of like-minded people for the common good of the country and get into politics. You will find many people, who are in the search of a leader. We have helped the world and USA enough with the number of Doctors and Engineers that we produce; let us help our own country now by producing more youth politicians. Don't again wait for others to plunge in, you be the one to plunge in and lead your fellow Indians.

TAKE THE INITIATIVE, DON'T WAIT FOR OTHERS TO LEAD, BE the LEADER!!!!

The youth of today has lot of passion and wants to contribute to the country, but they are clouded by the sense of procrastination and not taking the leadership into their own hands. We always wait for others to take the initiative. There are many people out there, who are very angry about this situation and write blogs like these, but the one different is the one who motivates others, educates others and takes the initiative to do something, which the common man doesn't do. But we all have our limitations (excuses), for not taking the initiative. People do not want to be the leaders, as they do not want to be in the firing line. There are others who cite career, family obligations, fear of death and other logical, but not valid excuses for not leading from the front. We want others to take the initiative and only then will we join them for support. What is it that they have, that you or I don’t? Well, nothing but the sense to act now and being the leader, instead of looking around for leaders. There is nothing more wrong in us, that's the only thing. So, let’s act from today and lead from the front. You can convince yourself all you want, just think if you are doing the right thing by convincing yourself. Would you be still able to convince or forgive yourself, if you lose a dear person in the blasts? No you wouldn't.

Where are the days, when people used to be all patriotic and quoted great quotes like, “Ask not what the country has given to you, but what you have given to the country"? Just because we are not under the British rule or fighting world wars anymore, doesn't mean there is no need to be patriotic anymore. Do that thing which justifies all the people- you, your family and your country fellows. If each one of the billion people, starts thinking this way, it is obvious that there will be a change. Also think not that your actions don't affect your country, that you are just one person. If every person thinks that way, we will have a country where most of its people, think, that the other person is going to do it and it is not his/her job. Be the change you want to see in other people. Remember small drops make an ocean. We are the largest democracy in the world; let us make it count in things other than world leaders in AIDS, corruption, pollution and poverty.

DEMOCRACY is the only thing for US, but with a FEW CHANGES and a large group of FRESH YOUNG LEADERS

Our political system is the biggest and the only true democracy in the world. With the varied number of religions, castes, cultures, groups and differences we have, the fact that, we are still operating as one of the top countries in the world, is in itself an achievement. But, we cannot be happy with that, because apart from that there is nothing good to talk about our government. Let us change that. Forget about other ideas like communism, socialism, and military rule or tyrant rulers. If we adopt either of them we will end up like the other countries of China, Russia, Pakistan, and Iran to name a few, which are either deprived of freedom or are always under the cloud of fear. I am sure, no Indian will like living in such a society. What we need is fear, the fear of not being close to, what our constitution makers dreamt of making 60 years back. Democracy is the only way for us, but with a few changes.

Changes in the number of parties we have. Having a zillion parties, doesn't help anyone. It only divides the people further, each one trying to pull the chair of the other, in the process setting aside the needs of the country. 2-4 competing parties all over the country should be the way to go. Also, the reservation system based on castes should be abolished and in its place, a quota system based on the financial income of the household should be established. Thus, giving chances to the ones who actually need it.

Democracy is for us and let us clear the clogs in our 60 year old Constitution. Any of the true political leaders of the yesteryears, wouldn't be proud with the way we are progressing. Do you want the efforts put in by millions of our ancestors, in making our country free, go in vain? Is this why they freed us? Definitely not! Let us put an effort now. Giving up, without putting an effort is the meekest thing ever.

Think about it guys, this is your country, only you can save it and no one. The country's politics awaits you. I am planning to get into politics in the near future, but I need more support from all of you. Do I have you, yet?

The 'Matrix' life - Eternal Paradoxes, vicious circles and rat races.

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:37:00 +0000

[ This is a letter that I wrote to a close friend of mine. She asked me to write something and this is what I came up with, this was the draft, which was later edited to actually make it look like an actual letter. ]

Sometimes I just think, I mean I think always, but sometimes, I just sit and think. So lemme take you on a journey now....

What do you think is the purpose of one's life ? We come into this world, without our choice and (in most cases ) get out of this world, without our choice too, so why the hell do we have the choice in between birth and death? We do not have the choice to decide who our parents are and the choice bout what happens after ones death, but why do we have the choice to choose who our best friends and our spouses are ? Did you ever wonder about that ? Yes the very choice which I have been yearning for all my life, the very independence that I always wanted and now that I have it, I question it and question the very authority that has given me, what I wanted back then. Does it mean I am crazy or does it mean I just changed ? Well, I am not sure about that but one thing I am pretty sure is that "I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same either".

I come from the school of thought, which preaches that whatever happens in life happens for a reason, as it is just just following the already set path or direction set by someone on a higher level than us, about which we are not worthy enough to talk about. I say that not because I am spiritual, but as they say in computer programming, we need to go to a "Meta-Language" level to talk about that and we are not there yet, so we should not talk about it. I am not sure if we will ever be there too, because as they say in computer networking, a layer (or human being) belonging to a particular level is not even supposed to know about the existence of another layer/ level above (below) , forget about getting there. Data abstraction and encapsulation. So as you can see, this is a clear case of "looping" or "eternal Paradox" or a "vicious Circle".

So coming back to the point that everything is following a set path, me writing this article, talking to someone yesterday, you reading it now, is all happening for a reason. So mad or not, that is not either your mistake or mine, we are just following directions/orders.

This is a good time for me to tell you that, I do not (for the above reasons) believe in destiny/luck/fate. Think of the computer programs you write in C/Java ,etc , what if they start thinking (yes you heard right), "why the hell did he/she assign me this job of a pointer, I would have loved being a data structure, ah My bad fate!" ( my programming knowledge is limited if you have not yet figured out). This is what I am reminded of whenever I hear anyone say " Ah! My bad luck " ....

Let's see an example as to why our lives have been programmed and why there is no place for destiny. On a personal level, this year 2008, I have forgotten a few close friends birthdays ( generally doesn't happen). It wasn't a conscious effort and as I said guess it happens for a reason, maybe as they say it " history was just being repeated ", or " It all evens out at the end", or " It is the unique style/flair of the programmer who has written the stories of our lives", as over the years many of these people did forget my birthday. I did invest so much of my time on their birthdays to make each one a special one, but none of those supposedly good friends made mine a special one. I know for sure this is no business which had to be returned back ,but at the end of the day the result is what counts right, isn't that what this world has taught us ? So it all evens out at the end, the law of averages. So there is no point in cribbing about destiny. As no single person (program) will always be happy or always be sad. It all spaces out, thus giving no meaning to the word destiny.

Do you also ever wonder why the world is such a paradoxical place ? The very people who raised you, who grew up with you, the people with whom you spent the best days of your life, just get away from you or vice versa !! Do you wonder is this quest for "greener pastures" and career and independence much higher than spending your life with your loved ones. At the end of the day, when you are on your death bed, what is it that would pinch you more- not earning a million dollars or spending the best part of your life away from the loved ones ? Why does life always keep taking us away from the people who we love and are comfortable with ? Why does it then again bring us to new people and again let us fall in the same cycle of getting away ?

We go to school, then to college, then to university, and then crazy people like me decide to go to more and more universities and add more and more degrees and then finally get a job. Phew ! is it the end now ? Not yet, they say that's the beginning. Yup now you work from 8 to 6, get married, have kids and again the cycle starts out again for your kids and their kids and their kids and...... Of course take care of your parents too, but hey do we have the time to do that then ? Well like usual the answer is no. You never had the time for your loved ones when you went to school/college because you had to compete hard in this rat-race right ? You never had the time for your loved ones when you went to University, because you were in a different world (location) altogether. You never had the time when you got the job either, because you are too busy earning money for your family, so where is the time ? where is the time to spend with your loved ones, I agree you are working like a mad dog, for your family, but where is time to spend with them, is what I Ask ? Where ?

People are just consumed in this rat race, it is like programs blindly executing line-by-line, never stopping to think about why they are executing each line, one after another. Where is the time to spend with family anymore ? For programs, what does a family mean ? The ones which share the same class or parameters ( ala last names, blood for human beings) ? This is the 'Matrix' life.............. I feel the concepts portrayed in the Matrix trilogy are so true, makes a lot of sense now.

Then the more intelligent people say, you should find time to do all that, while you are working/studying, etc. To which I just smile and ........realize do I belong here? Do I belong on this Earth, inhabited by creatures who do not think like me ? If I do not belong here, where do I belong then ? lol....Never ending quest for what.... answers ?? Why ? Maybe because I am an erroneous program or a program just trying to spoil the other programs, like a virus ? A program which has gone out of bounds ? or whatever you programmers actually call me....

Anyways, one should always have patience in life. I never had it much before in life. I get restless now too, but everything just goes on , on its own pace and now that I look back at it, I realize, I should have had patience instead of just being restless. I do not give up, that's the good thing, like I have an option anyway, even if i wanted to give up.

So now that I have seen both the worlds, lemme tell you patience is the key to everything in life. Never lose hope, because if not today, tomorrow is your day ( or maybe the day after or the .... ), so you should always live to see that day and in your right spirit.

And maybe then someday will come, when my answers will be answered , I guess or that day, when my program will just be terminated. I have to wait till that day, like I have a choice anyway, if I wanted to quit. I will just keep going on until, I am supposed to go ....

I am not sure why I am talking about all this, these are just few of the random thoughts in my head. well.....so did you figure out the purpose of your life yet ? Let me open another part of my brain to y......

Religion- What's the fuss all about ?

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:32:00 +0000

As the name suggests this article is on Religion. On another day, when you would see the Sun rise from the East, you wouldn't see me talk much about Religion, Politics or Sensex. The first one is too sensitive and biased, the second one, well, I don't really give much of a damn as I think everything in politics is phony and the third one, I am challenged to talk about it.

But today I present my take on religion, as I feel I have experienced enough to talk about it. I strongly believe the best teacher in life is one's own experiences, I have enough so I feel I am worthy enough to talk about it. In any case, it is my take on religion.

Having been brought up by 2 broad-minded individuals, it is but natural that I am not an extremist or a hardcore orthodox person. Also add the fact that, my many friends and 2 relationships with 2 beautiful girls, were from the 2 other different religions. I believe that religion is something that should not have existed in the first place, it is one of the many bad things man has introduced. It is just another reason, for man to discriminate among themselves and all it does is create tensions and group-isms among people.

Yet, I also believe that the world does not run on its own, according to the rules of science. Sure, Science explains many things around us, but it is not because of science that the things are the way they are, as we see it. I believe, strongly at that, there is a supreme force which controls all this. I would not like to give this supreme force a name, because I do not know for sure. I prefer calling it an energy or a force. There are so many miracles, in this planet and the unknown parts of the universe and if someone says science is the only reason behind all these miracles, I would strongly disagree. The beauty of a zygote forming from a sperm and an egg, a child growing in a mom's womb, the mind and the things it can do, the imagination of the human mind, the power of the memory of the human mind, are a few of the vast examples to the miracles on this planet. There is definitely a force, which is co-ordinating these super-humanly deeds. If it wasn't super-humanly, man would have already understood what the mind is and replicate it or create a sperm or a egg on his own. Man tries to come up with explanations through science for all these miracles, for things which have been in place much before man even existed. This has been in place for millions of years now and we are trying to find answers to them now, through science. So saying, Science is the sole reason behind all these activities, is a little far fetched. For this very reason and the fact that I believe religion should not have existed in the first place, I call myself a 'Spiritual but not a religious person'.

Having said all that, deep down I am still a religious person. It may sound like an irony after what all I said above. But, we do not know for sure, do we, about anything that happens at a level, above which we cannot understand. And I do not take a decision or rule out a possibility, until I know for sure and when it comes to talking about super-power ala 'God', one (I) can never be sure, except for say, the belief. So I do have the belief. These beliefs have been imbibed into me, when I was a kid. At an age, when I was not mature enough to take my own decisions, my parents instilled in me some beliefs about the religion that they followed. I was born a Hindu and so I have my beliefs from Hinduism. When I was old enough to take my own decisions, my parents gave me the freedom to choose whatever I wanted to, they trusted me, they trusted their own upbringing, they knew I wouldn't falter. Present day, when I am 23, old enough to have my own kids, I am very thankful to my parents for having introduced me to a religion, in this case Hinduism.

I have had my moments too, I have also been through those phases, where in I was trying to be an atheist or an agnostic. I was convinced back then, that science can explain everything and I have never seen this so called God. But strangely, subconsciously when I was in troubles, or when I was tensed or when I was going through the worst days of my life, I always used to talk to this so called 'God'. Asking 'him' to give me the strength, to get out of this mess. When I realized what I was doing, I simply had to drop the idea that I was an atheist or an agnostic. I still remember, I was happy to tell people I believe in God once again. I wasn't shameful !!!

Here comes the importance of religion in one's life. A better way of saying it would be, how it has helped me in my life. I still stand by my previous statement that, if given a chance , I would have still tried my best to remove religion away from people's lives. In that case, something else would have taken the place of religion.

The point I am trying to get at is that I had someone to talk to, in my bad times, without actually revealing what I thought about something to someone in particular, like my parents, sister or friends. I always had someone to talk to, i.e I am referring to 'him' or 'God' or 'Super-power'. This way I stayed out of troubles. More importantly this helped me not take any of the easier shortcuts in life. I know many people who chose to go in the dirty lanes, feeling sorry for themselves and having no one to talk to. They ended up doing drugs, etc and spoiling their lives. I never had a reason to do that, because consciously or sub-consciously I always talked to that someone and told him my problems. I guess, that has been the biggest advantage of being introduced to religion at a very young age. I will always be thankful to my parents for that and I wish to do the same to my children, when they are young and still are not independent enough to take their own decisions. Of course, once they grow up it is their own choice. I have been tutored well on bringing up children, thanks to my lovely parents. I am a perfect example :).

Now I hate getting into which religion is good and which religion is bad. I tried my best not to take the names of religions in this blog. I do not want to make this blog a hate blog. I do not want to be biased. One simple point is that, almost every religion has about millions of people following it, which is enough to show that there is good in every religion. I am sure no religion orders people to do bad. Just that in few cases, the people who preach religion to others, they mess up the whole concept of religion and instill their own ideas and manipulate what must have been written in the holy books, thus misleading the people. It doesn't help that, The Holy books have been written in such a way, that more than one meaning can be deduced from most of the lines.

But before I round up, I would like to state a few facts which really hurt me. Religion is one thing, which should not be forced onto anyone. Each religion has its own good points and people should be free to choose it, just like how my parents gave me the freedom to choose what I wanted, after I was mature enough to take my own decisions. It is rather disheartening to know that there are people out there converting people from one religion to another, by preaching. I strongly disagree with this, because I know of many cases, where people have been converted by giving them bribes or other materialistic gains. The whole point of converting all the people on the earth, to one religion and the war of religions is so ironically materialistic. Religion is something which is not materialistic according to the holy books and the present day religion is all about materialism. For this reason I detest missionaries, all I want to say is leave the people alone, let them choose what they want to, instead of forcing it onto them. If one forces it onto them, what is the use of becoming mature enough to take ones own decisions themselves. As a closing point, I am proud to be a Hindu, which is one such religion, which does not allow conversions. If you are not born a Hindu, you are never a Hindu. I am proud of the fact that I belong to such a religion, which preaches the good in it, but does not convert people from other religions to its own. As I said, every religion has both good and bad sides.

Having said all that, I know many successful people who are atheists. I am not advocating all people to be religious here, I was just trying to share my perspective on religion and how I guess it helped me. Finally, at the end of the day it is all in one's head. It's the emptiness in ones life that has to be occupied by something. What we choose to fill that emptiness with is what defines one's life. An orthodox person fills it with religion, an ardent Boston Red Sox fan can think only about Red Sox, a drug addict uses only drugs to keep himself pre-occupied, a money-minded person thinks of ways to become rich, a scientist thinks of ways to make the world a better place and of course become famous in that process. So if I have the power to remove religion, I would remove it forever from our lives, so that we can have a tension free and more united society.

All of the people above, have something in their life, and that something becomes their life.
So remember, what you choose, defines your life ;)

Three Solutions to infinite Indian Problems- Jai Hind !!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:23:00 +0000

[I am re-posting an article that I wrote on the Indian Independence day, Aug 15th 2005, when I was still doing my undergraduation in India. Sad to say, the situation hasn't changed any further till today, Nov 11, 2008, it has in fact become worse. As I write in the last sentence of the blog, I hope we change for good, and we don't move backwards, but I guess that was inevitable.:(.. I still stand on my '3 Solutions'. Read further ......]

This is an old story retold again n again n again .........

Hello there .... As is the normal case , u might have forgotten the significance of this day...well , u gotta be debased if u thought it was just another day .. Just another Monday .. just another boring day .. just another bromidic start to a grumpy week ahead ....just another day in this stereotyped world of ours ...........

well stop cursing me now .. n stop scrutinizing everywhere and asking everyone what day is it today ....n please don't even think of looking for it in the calender , because u would never find the calender in the RUMMAGE , which u may call ur ROOM/HOUSE/DORM etc ...

Well Wake up to this new Hi-tech age of the ASSIDUOUS and HECTIC life of an average Indian ...Well i wish i cud say anything better bout me ...But i at least know today is OUR INDEPENDENCE DAY and am writing this article ..i know u r giving me one of your insane looks , u might be thinking " You are not the only one who knows about that, i even know this is our 58th year of liberty " !!! Well , First of all KUDOS to ya for knowing that , now let us see what is it that I am trying to address today !!!!! Well the prob is this .....

* A COUNTRY OF POPULATION 1,080,264,388 (rem it keeps changing every few seconds ..LOL..) , Doesn't EVEN PRODUCE A SINGLE GOLD- MEDALIST IN THE OLYMPICS ....

* MOST OF THE ATHLETES , WHO R SUPPOSED TO BE THE CREAM OF INDIA , ALWAYS TEST POSITIVE DURING VARIOUS DRUG TESTS ....

* INDIAN CRICKET ADMINISTRATORS R TRYING THEIR LEVEL BEST TO EMULATE THEIR COUNTERPARTS IN INDIAN (insane ) POLITICS ...A CRICKETER GETS SELECTED ON THE BASIS OF RECOMMENDATIONS /REGIONAL / COMMUNAL / LINGUAL FEELINGS RATHER THAN , BY THE CRITERION OF PERFORMANCE ...

* THE SUPPOSEDLY RESPECTABLE MOVIE STARS , DO INSANE ACTIVITIES, LIKE TRYING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF LESSER KNOWN ARTISTS , TRY TO EARN MILLIONS OF MONEY BY DOING HORRENDOUS ACTIVITIES , HAVING LINKS With UNDERWORLD , INVOLVING IN INFINITE SCANDALS N SCAMS , the list is endless ....

* MOST OF THE GOODS ( read as ALL commodities ) , MANUFACTURED IN INDIA ARE ALL SUB- STANDARD ...THE people AT THE TOP EAT MONEY OF THE people LIKE LEECHES and IN RETURN GIVE THEM NO QUALITY GOODS ...(P.S nobody has a right to question them !!! ) ..

*INDIA WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE THE THE LARGEST MOVIE BASE IN ENTIRE WORLD , ONLY PRODUCES 3 'GOOD' MOVIES with a message, which can change the people ( aren't movies supposed to be a powerful media ? ). The 3 movies are " APARICHITHUDU " , " BHARATHEEYUDU /INDIAN " , " OKE OKKADU /NAYAK " IN 7-8 YEARS ...MOST OF ITS CRAZY MOVIES REVOLVE AROUND --- LOVE/ LUST / VIOLENCE / SENTIMENTS / FACTION / ABUSE AMONG OTHER THINGS which surely provide entertainment, but don't address the tag of being called a powerful Media. They influence the citizens in areas of violence, romance, etc but do not even try to influence them in other matters, which are more important .... Kudos to the Media...

* A COUNTRY LIKE US STARVES FOR WATER IN THE OFF SEASON. BUT WHEN THE RAINS COME, they destroy everything through floods. THEY CROSS THE STORAGE CAPACITY OF THE DAMS and THEY FINALLY END UP Flowing INTO THE SEAS , THE people just FEED ON THIS STORED WATER FOR FEW MONTHS , BUT AFTER THAT AGAIN , ITS THE SAME STORY ..Y CANT V DO something better TO STORE THIS EXCESS WATER ... All the government does is to allocate millions and millions of rupees to these so called 'Irrigation projects', which come to a halt as soon as they are started. But of course the respective political heads see to it that the money allocated is used ( It is residing safely in their personal SWISS bank accounts !!!!!)

* INDIA LEADS THE WORLD IN AREAS WHICH ONE HAS TO BE REALLY SHAMEFUL - AIDS / CORRUPTION / POPULATION / GROWTH RATE / UNCLEANLINESS / ILLITERACY / POVERTY / WATER PROBLEMS / HOMICIDE / CHILD ABUSE / ABUSE OF WOMEN / POLLUTION / BAD WORLD ECONOMY / ...... etc etc .......

* INDIA IS THE LARGEST DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD .. IT HAS People FROM VARIED RELIGIONS /COMMUNITIES ETC ... EACH ONE BELIEVES IN A SEPARATE GOD and PRAYS TO THEM ...Y IS IT , THEN NOT EVEN A SINGLE ONE OF THEM PRAYS TO BE LOYAL TO HIMSELF , AT LEAST FOR THE FEAR OF GOD !!! Strange not even so many Gods from so many different religions can do anything to make our country a better place.

Of course, managing such a diverse population with such varied religions, castes, languages, cultures is a task which no country other than India can pull off. It is truly the only democratic country in the world, but that's where one should stop talking about its democratic nature, because once you start scratching more, only bad shyt is going to ooze out.

* INDIAN POLITICIANS ARE ELECTED BASED ON HOW THEY BRIBE THE PEOPLE ( that's very sad ) ... AFTER GETTING ELECTED , EACH ONE COMPETES With ONE ANOTHER ON HOW WORSE CAN ONE BE !!!

the list is endless ..ITS A CRUEL VICIOUS CIRCLE !!!! ..i guess i have put forward few of the millions n millions of probleme that we have in this country here ..

now here's a small list of how we can ATTEMPT to change it !!!

** THE MOST BASIC THING IS , BE TRUE AND LOYAL TO YOURSELF !! IF U believe IN GOD , ALWAYS FEAR THE JUDGMENT DAY (as you call it in your own religion ) ..WHENEVER U R BOUT TO do ANYTHING BAD , JUST FEAR THE GOD .. Remember you will have to pay for your deeds. Remember the "Power Of Karma". This is one way to keep control over your actions. WELL IF U R AN ATHEIST , THEN U JUST have to BE TRUE TO YOURSELF and still believe in the "power of Karma" , because ONLY THEN WILL GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO YA !!! Just because you don't believe in something, doesn't mean there is nothing out there, right ? So irrespective of your belief's you will have to pay for what you do. So do good and u will b good and the people around you and in the country will be good too. If you are good to someone, there is no reason why they will be bad to you. ( It's easier said than done, but it has to start somewhere, right ? )

* SECONDLY , THE RESERVATION SYSTEM HAS TO BE REMOVED FROM ALL SPHERES OF INDIA ..The society needs to be divided into 2 CATEGORIES - ONE, ABOVE A CERTAIN LEVEL OF ANNUAL PAY and ANOTHER BELOW IT ...THOSE BELOW IT HAVE TO BE GIVEN REDUCTION / DISCOUNTS / INCENTIVES, irrespective of their religion/caste, etc ... THIS 'LINE' HAS TO REVIEWED ANNUALLY ...BY DOING SO we are providing FAIR JUSTICE TO EVERYONE and GOOD N ABLE people WILL MOVE UP IN LIFE and SHAPE INDIA INTO A FLYING GOLDEN BIRD, that it was before tragedy struck it !!! I know there are problems to this solution too, like what is the authenticity of the 'annual income' of a household, among other things. But as we know, where there is a will, there is a way. It has to start somewhere, so why not start with this good idea. People who need reservations, because they cannot afford basic education, etc, will be provided and people who can do without them, will not be provided. This will eventually result in a balanced economic system.

* THIRDLY , THE POLITICAL SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE CHANGED TOO ..We need just 2 PARTIES and BOTH OF THEM Have TO show why either of them need to be elected FOR A SINGLE TERM .. BY DOING SO ,people WILL GET UNITED ...and the chances of VOTES being BIASED would reduce.... Also by doing so we are cutting down one of the main reasons, politicians are demons that we see today. The WANT for POWER is being cut, by limiting the number of POWERFUL SEATS AVAILABLE to rule India. This has its limitations too, in that, how can 2 parties represent the multitude of people in India, but it can be done, with representative from all groups in these 2 parties and they compete with one another for the betterment of India. I would want to go the extent to say that 'democracy' is not the way for India, but let me not get into it for now. I would like to first start with this idea proposed above and see how it goes. If it doesn't go too well, maybe tyranny would be the answer. But as I said, I am not going there for now.

I believe THESE three are THE three MAIN Things TO BE DONE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE ...IF WE IMPLEMENT THEM , I M SURE IT WILL AFFECT EACH and EVERY OTHER ASPECT OF OUR LIFE and IT WILL SURELY ELIMINATE most of the things I mentioned before ... For example, it is also going to take care of our medals tally in the Olympics, because what we are trying to achieve in politics and reservation will also rub into the sports system and with corruption out of the way, better and deserving athletes will get a shot at limelight.

Now it's upto the people of India ... if they wish to see INDIA as a bright star in future which they haven't been able to achieve in 58 (shameless) years , they need to implement these things ...

well for starters ,one can forward this message to others, just the way we forward messages to our friends, when it is about some scandal or controversy which excites us. Sadly things about changing the country don't excite no one and we don't forward stuff like this. As I said, the power is in your (our) hands.

Next year i write this mail , i hope my word list reduces n i hope we will take at least one step forward. I pray to God we don't step backwards !!!

Cheers

The Power Of Karma simplifies relationships!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:06:00 +0000

There are times when you feel proud and ashamed at the same time, but feel happy nevertheless. Paradigm shifting experiences are one such thing, for obvious reasons. You are happy and excited at your new found intelligence, which was somehow oblivious to you until now. I am sure you muster courage to ask yourself, how could you be so stupid, to be oblivious to that one simple point. Well, I am sure we all go through those phases. Accept it or not.

This article today is to talk about one of my paradigm shifts of late. There have been a few of late. One is about my relationships and attitude towards people; another is about my professional career, and a third one is about Religion and beliefs affecting one's lifestyle. Each of the three shifts have been sparked during my recent talks with three totally unrelated people, in the midst of conversations which initially had nothing to do with the final shocking paradigm shifting conclusions. I leave the last two to future blogs (if I somehow make myself write them down, after beating my perennial lethargy!!!).

It is no biggie that I have a nonchalant and sometimes a rather, numb attitude towards people, in general. The American lifestyle over the last few years has involuntarily made these feelings stronger. Let’s face it; I am not your good boy next door, who is helpful out of his skin. I mind my business and need my own private space and time. I feel socializing should be a part of one's life and not the other way round, where in all you have is only a social life. I always hated people doing something; they shouldn't have done in the first place. I don't necessarily mean it’s my perspective on things that people should follow, but it is from a general point of view. (Some people may or may not agree, but I always try dealing all situations with honesty, without any bias, except in cases when it comes to India or Sachin Tendulkar :P or some extreme cases). In situations like these, even though I forgive in most cases (but not forget), somewhere deep inside me there always lurks a grudge towards them, due to which I might end up taunting sometimes. It is just that, their actions in this case, nag and disturb me a lot. Also, I would not take the first step to confront them regarding this. Because if I did, this is how I would typically feel. "They did something they shouldn't have, so it is them, who needs to feel sorry about that, I am not going to do the dirty job of pointing out their doings. If they want to act oblivious to it, let it be." It is hardly that we see someone say sorry, without being confronted, on their own. and so I end up having that grudge and taunts show up.... this is like a vicious circle.... a 2 way see-saw which cannot be stopped until someone gets of it.

I guess I have had enough of that... I can say, to hell with all this, if I throw the blame on KARMA. The ageold Indian concept of 'cause' and 'effect'. 'You get back what you do'. The power of Karma for strange reasons has not found a place in my book until now. Ignorance has not been bliss in this case. With this new addition, my thinking seems to have changed( for good?). This is how I think now. "Everyone is going to pay for their deeds, let me not do the dirty job of holding grudges against people for doing deeds they shouldn't have done in the first place. If they act oblivious, it's their problem and they will be accountable for that. They are going to pay for it in some or the other form, so why bother? They are going to get the thorns (antonym used for fruits) of their own actions, who am I to offer them fruits? " It may sound lame, but we all know that's how it works in here. When was the last time, you came across a person who was off the leash, doing bad deeds all the time,? The answer is Never. At least, this paradigm saves me a lot of grudges. As a consequence, I am sure to drop out the taunting part. It is a win-win situation. 3 cheers to KARMA !!!

Being good or bad is nothing but one's perspective. But there is a line one should never cross with anyone, beyond which anyone's perspectives don't matter anymore, except yours. In this case MINE. You know, ' the power of Karma' can take you only some distance, if things cross this line too, well no Karma is going to do any good to you. That would be the time to use your instincts, but the whole point here is to delay taking that decision by instinct, and that's where Karma comes in. It helps you maintain your cool during the process of delaying. But if things get to that, well, please go ahead and do whatever it is that you should do and feel good about it. You did the best you could, in fact better than what you were capable of doing !! Thanks to the power of karma.

Well at the end of the day it is one's perspective that defines their actions towards people, society and the world. So why not have a good perspective on things, that may not matter, but definitely cannot be done without.

Cheers and peace out...

WESTERNIZATION or DESTRUCTION?? -Time to change Indiaa

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 03:15:00 +0000

[ I am re-posting an article I wrote on January 15, 2005 when I was still an under-graduate in Hyderabad, India. This blog was questioning the so-called westernization and Technological advancements in India back in the day ( or is it ?) ]

The first fortnight of the New Year is over and sadly , I haven't grown any taller or slimmer... just that i realized I CUD CRY TOO.. I HAVE FEELINGS TOO.. nah nah , my results haven't come yet .lol..the CRUELTIES n ANTI-SOCIAL ELEMENTS of the world made me realize that..
so u think people have gotten over TSUNAMI already .. maybe not !!(in fact will never)... but things r generally "supposedly" returning to normal ... LALLU wants to run JHARKHAND , MICHAEL JACKSON wants a private trial with unsuspecting vertically challenged lawyers , BRAD PITT n JEN split n JEN moved in wid her HAIRDRESSER , BRITNEY SPEARS wrote a small making up note to CHRISTINA with only , get this , SEVEN SPELLING MISTAKES. Luckily , a public interest litigation has stopped BRITNEY writing her own lyrics for good of the society :D .. i think that's the end of the fun in this blog...

OF late whenever I open any newspaper, Magazine or switch between channels on the Idiot box, all I see are these key words-

VOYEURISM , SPY CAMS , HIDDEN CAMS , CHILD ABUSE , PEDOPHILIA , TRAFFICKING , ABUSE , TECHNO GIZMOS , STAR N CELEBRITY SCANDALS , ..........................( n a lot of other obscene stuff , which i am scared to mention , lest crazos might brand my blog as OBSCENE itself .)..... Now all this i am talking about is INDIAN ( newspapers/magazines/journals/news channels/news sites...).. keyword is INDIAN .. now that's really troubling me ...
IS THIS the MODERNIZATION/WESTERNIZATION one has been talking about of late ?? .. about 4-5 years ago i was happy INDIA was moving western ways .. now if u ask me, i wouldn't buy this idea anymore ...I DoN't call this MODERNIZATION..it really hurts me so much ( n i am serious)..each term i used above is in itself a very dangerous one , leading to a worse society ...

Here are a few incidents which have come to light of late

* DPS SEX SCANDAL- .. a schoolboy, a school gal, a camera phone , an MMS , emails of almost every person now ...

* MATINEE MASALA - a star duo( read as kareena and shahid Kapoor) "supposedly" embracing each other in a night club...

* MISS TAKE - former MISS JAMMU ANARA GUPTA being arrested for allegedly appearing in a porn cd ... but after more than an year's torture by her, forensic experts prove shes not the one in the cd .... ( sheesh call that justice ? )

* ROOM WITH A VIEW - a landlord caught after hiding spy cams in 3 rooms occupied by outstation girls .....

* ATM- TRANS-ACTION - a senior television journalist getting cozy with her male colleague in an ATM ..

* BOY, WHAT A FRIEND - a cd showing obscene stuff in which the gal's boy friend named CHAMPION alias TANVEER ANSARI , forced the girl to do insane stuff ...

* SHOWER SEEN - this talks about catching popular film actress "TRISHA" , showering by a hidden camera .. obviously the gal denies everything ....

* MANY OTHERS ....so many others stories to follow .. every day the newspapers talk about many such insane activities .. who can forget the recent killing of a gal in Briton by an Indian national ...n should we talk about Cyber crimes ... arising due to chatting n giving out private information on the net ... The will open yet another can of worms... All this means is that there is a

DEATH OF PRIVACY !!!!

If u have ever owned a credit card , a cell phone , a passport, a motorized vehicle , joined a club or social organization , sent an e-mail, engaged in an e-transaction, taken a loan , had yourself admitted to a private nursing home , taken medical insurance , .. it is almost certain that somewhere or the other personal information about u has been stored... Is this technology such a good thing ? What good is technology when you have no privacy ? where is security in this world???

what is happening?

is HOMO-SAPIEN becoming a HOMO-SPY??

is TECHNOLOGY inventing VOYEURISM , or as some would have it , is VOYEURISM spurring on TECHNOLOGY ?

Will we all end up, willy nilly , as PEEPING TOMS - or as their victims ? actually, at this very moment dun be surprised if somone sitting in another part of the world is peeping over ur shoulder n reading this very blog along with u !! WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF SATELLITE SPY CAMS ( forget web cams! )..

who r we to blame .. i am asking this from an INDIAN point of view .. we were supposed to have the BEST N OLDEST N........ CULTURE of all time.. where has that disappeared ( don't be offended by my asking this as if i am so different from ya all.. ).. we should have picked only the good of the WESTERN WORLD .. but we hav showed a more liking to the bad as well .. Well, that's why the age old syaing goes, 'Everything comes at a price, be ready to pay for the side affects too, just not for the good part' .......

this never happened in INDIA .. u c people smoking cigarettes n drinking alcohol at a very young age ...what about this culture of Scandals like the DPS and others I mentioned above... .. this is really hurting .. its been there for like few years now .. been happening in most top bracket schools of top metros of India ..only this time it has come to notice ..

who is to be blamed ?? RAUNCHY VIDEOS being aired on tv ?? LACK OF SEX EDUCATION IN SCHOOL?? national geographic/ discovery / fashion channels??? AIDS AWARENESS prog being shown on TV?? TEEN- AGE ?? talk bout the word "SEX" being a " TABOO" ... ?? what ?? what r the answers?? for most people " OBLIVION " comes to the rescue !!...... Just because we dust the dirt under the carpet, doesn't mean the place is clean. Guess for all of us, it is good enough, if we don't see it or if we don't talk about it. No one care what actually happens below the surface or behind the screens.

one thing which is scaring me now are the AFTERMATHS of TSUNAMI ... so much of destruction everywhere!! ......'child abuse'?? the thought itself is scary .. TSUNAMI has given the TRAFFICKERS a perfect opportunity .. already false vows have started and many people have been kidnapped .. INDONESIA has woken up , so did SRI LANKA, to stop trafficking of ppl......what about INDIA though ?? no answers yet ?? sad to say that INDIA actually encourages such ANTI-SOCIAL ELEMENTS to happen .. everything for money .. no UNITY ...200 years back BRITONS invaded us , taking advantage of our GREED FOR MONEY AND LACK OF UNITY .. even today child abuse/ pedophilia/ trafficking/ still exisst in this country only because of the people and politicians .. so many people are illiterate or lack common sense .. this became obvious when in a popular show called INDIAN IDOL , ( Indian version of American Idol) people started voting for a part. candidate without much thought process ...They give more importance to regional, caste and religious feelings, rather than taking the side of truth and honesty.....For the rest who are literate and have white collar jobs, they are blinded by money, power, sex among other things. Corruption is at its highest. For no reason this era has been called 'KALI-YUG' in the hindu sacred books....

LACK OF UNITY/ ILLITERACY /CORRUPTION/ POLITICAL WHIMS/ POVERTY / GREED/CASTE SYSTEM/ QUOTA SYSTEM ..are few of the reasons for our fate even today ...

so people .. let us all join hands today ( n i really mean it ).. let us all be united .. and then try to remove the anti-social elements from our country.. selflessness .. is required... Be the one to make the decisions and take the first step, instead of throwing the lead to others.... let us make our country a better place to live in .. HOW DARE THE BRITONS CALL OUR PLACE ONE OF THE WORST PLACES TO RESIDE IN?? let us prove them wrong .. The whole fact that we are still one of the leaders in world in may areas, despite being ruled and exploited totally by the Brtions, years back is an achievement in itself, which talks a lot about the character of the Indians. Let us make it a better place, let us make India, the best place it was before anything ever happpend to this land of angels and gods....

P.S: I wrote this blog with lots of emotion.. It was not written to offend anyone's views. Please overlook that, if you feel so. hope u understand my grudges.....

Let us start doing something good for our country.. MAKE IT A WORTHY PLACE TO LIVE IN ...we r no less than any of the SUPER POWERS .. TAKE A CUE FROM COUNTRIES LIKE AUSTRALIA N AMERICA .. they are also as big nations as us ,, but still they are super powers ..Why?.. We can whine all we want.. I gave few of the reasons why this is happening, but talking about them is one thing and actually doing something to change it, is another thing...So let us start doing something...... let us stay UNITED ..

UNITED WE STAND , DIVIDED WE FALL...

Remember WE ARE INDIANS and Let's FEEL PROUD ABOUT that

Cheers and Peace

Is history as we know it, the REAL HISTORY as it happened ?

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:16:00 +0000

History is one of the most fascinating things. For me it is hard to believe it sometimes. I can't. But it amazes me.

Such a shame that we cannot trace back as to what exactly happened in the past. There are records and accounts for most of the events in history, but sadly they are all shady and unclear. For every event in history, there are as many records proving it as false as there are that say it is true. This results in 2 sects or possibly a third or a 4th, for each and every such event in history, which instead of serving the main purpose of teaching history just creates tensions and confusions between people. Such a shame I say again that we, the present generation cannot gain access to the exact turn of events in the past. There are people who disrupt the actual records and introduce duplicate or false reports to satisfy their own personal needs and contests. In the process disrupting the history, changing the exact course of events. This , our generation is the first generation using Internet, so lets see whats in store for the future generations about their history i.e our present. Maybe the Internet will play a better role in teaching our future generations about their history, than what we could understand about our history.

But Internet's role as a record keeper and encyclopedia has two sides to it. Apart from being easily accessible, easy to use, cheap and very extensive, it can also be easily manipulated by anyone and gives the freedom to anyone to publish almost anything about any topic. As my professor was saying the other day " There is too much of shyt out there on the Internet. What you choose is important".

I agree totally with him. Let me give you a few instances from the recent past. 2 very debatable issues. The most recent one is the 9/11. I was not in USA when the most horrific and tragic incident in America's history happened. I just followed the turn of events from what was broadcasted on TV, written in newspapers and mostly from the Internet. There was no sense of doubt initially that, it was all a terrorist activity. Slowly emails started being forwarded to people and several sites posted several stories, about how all of this was pre-planned and turned out to be an inside job. Well, I was totally shocked when I encountered this. Curious and perplexed I did extensive research online. What's the end result ? There are enough facts that show it was totally an inside job. Now as a layman, or even a common man, what should I believe. I want to know the truth, but I am just being flooded with enough facts from both sides of the story. I was slowly reminded of the movie 'V for Vendetta'. So as usual, I don't know for sure what happened.

The very next example, would be NASA's first shot at the moon in 1969 when Apollo 11 commanded by Neil Amstrong landed on the moon. It was such a great step for mankind, that we came up with quotes like, 'One Small step for man, One giant step for mankind'. As a kid growing up, when I read about such miraculous things like these, I was just very excited and always wanted to go into space. Travel in space. But once I started growing up, life wasn't exciting anymore. Most of the things that I read or was made to believe as a kid turned out to be false. There were these videos and e-mails on the Internet which said, the entire landing on the moon in 1969 was one GIANT HOAX. Think of what would have gone through my mind or any other kid with similar dreams. It's like all my dreams have been squashed in a minute. That day I gave up all my dreams of working in NASA and travelling the space. Of course, I still want to travel in the space, but you know what I am talking about, don't you.

The situation gets worse when we get into areas which are more spiritual and religious. Also topics which deal with the ancient past are too hazy to even talk about. There are so many different groups that talk about the existence/non-existence of Jesus. When it comes to India, there are so many groups which say that the classic epics like 'The Ramayana' and 'The Mahabharata' were just works of fiction. Yet, there are scientific facts which show the existence of both Jesus and the Hindu epics. Recently, studies have shown the existence of a rocky bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka, which was talked about in the Hindu epic 'Ramayana'. It is supposedly visible from the moon. Similarly, there have been carbon radioactive tests which show that they found a cloth in which a 'Jesus like man' was covered, from Jesus's time.

I can keep going on and on about examples like these. It is such an intriguing experience to read about articles or works like these, which show that the ideas that have been instilled in us, are all true. This gives us ( at least me), a warm sense of assurance. But sadly, there are enough detractors who try their best to make the truth, as hazy and as confusing as possible. In a way, they do succeed in what they do, because for instance, look at me write this article in confusion. But well, I am confused. There are enough facts to support each argument. Which one do I choose in this case? Should I go with my belief ? If I go ahead with my belief, what is the point of looking at facts in the first place? Can someone please relive me of this misery ?

Why do people have to make everything in life so difficult ? Why does every small thing in life be manipulated ? We are not even sure anymore, what 'they' speak is true and what 'they' speak is false. It is like 'they' are just laughing at us, by making us believe, what 'they' want us to believe. I feel I have no more control over my life. My life runs according to how ' they ' want us to run our lives, by making us believe what ' they 'want us to believe. 'They' only let us know, what we are supposed to know. As a citizen of planet Earth, I ask, why am I kept in dark, about 'ALL' the details, that there are to be known ? Isn't this hypocrisy ?

As I said, earlier, I can simply say, please relive me of this misery !!!!! I don't believe history no more. Fill me in if you have 'Brighter' ideas.

A Novice's guide to LOVE, MARRIAGE and RELATIONSHIPS!!

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:31:00 +0000

Well if you are thinking that this is just another blog on love and relationships, then you are Darn wrong!! This is my perspective on Love and marriage. I am no love guru or marriage counselor, I have just seen and experienced enough to talk, but I am pretty darn sure I can talk better about it than say time management or sensex. The way this article is written is this. We will first look at the differences between love and marriage. Next we will see the very common myths/misconceptions that people(including you) have about relationships and in the process see, what exactly is this "Right Time".

You might have already heard or read a lot about some of the good things about love. You see no one wants to talk about the bad things, like when things go bad in love, no one wants to talk about it. Even if they do talk about it, they are mostly biased!! So this article tries to tell you, how to avoid the bad consequences of a 'Breakup' - one of the major issues in a relationship. The timing needs to be just about right.

But remember one thing, most of the people spend their lives, TRYING to experience what true love or love is. Sadly, love doesn't zero in on everyone. This whole quest to find love, can lead you to some amazing conclusions and will be a great experience, it will teach you much more than what any book can ever teach you, much more than any love guru/therapist/any friend/any parent can ever teach you. This is just my perspective, from what the whole quest has taught me.

Love and marriage are 2 completely different things. According to me, Love is divine , where as wedding is a sort of compromise, something very materialistic. Love is something that just happens between 2 people, no one knows when and why. Marriage on the other hand is, an agreement that 2 individuals with similar needs , decide upon for the mutual benefits of each other. That definition itself sounds like a big business agreement between 2 individuals. There might be exceptions, but that's not the point here. Love is not about compromises, it is about you involuntarily accepting someone and involuntarily respecting the differences between the two. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be. This is love. Marriage is no way to close to that. In marriage there is no meaning for the word Acceptance, it is always about NOT accepting. Marriage is all about compromises and sacrifices. It is about voluntarily not accepting the differences between the two, and working over it and deciding on something, which benefits both, which in other terms is called a compromise. So I stress again that Love is divine and marriage is materialistic(compromise/business). I am not saying marriage is a bad thing, I am just trying to show the differences between both. I know there are some of you, who won't agree with what I said above, but well this is my perspective and am sure many people know what I am talking about.

Our brain is programmed to think about only the one/two bad things that happen amidst an infinite sweet and good things. Our brain easily forgets the many good things that someone has done for us. So if you decide not to marry that one special person, the right time to break up is, when you are in love, and when you have no reason to break up. It is that time when both the people, know it is not going to work and it is time they break up. No hard feelings though. Then your brain doesn't have that one bad thing to crib about, when you think about her. It might sound crazy but it definitely is the way to go about. So everytime you think of her and the relationship, you have everything to cherish about. You will have only the sweetest of the memories and nothing else. Of course, this is all only if you decide not to marry that one special person.
But if you decide to marry her, then good luck to you. You either have won yourself " THE ONE " or a lifetime supply of fights and misunderstandings. In such a case another thing you would want to think about is, do you have it in you both, to take the marriage a very very long distance. Suppose you decide to marry this one special person, who you love, you have already been with her for a long time ranging anything between 1-7 years. So you mostly know her in ;) and out . She knows you in and out too. There is a very high possibility that either one of you/both takes the other one for granted. And if that happens, the whole point of a relationship/compromise/wedding is lost. If you recollect , marriage is all about compromising and if you are taking the other person for granted, there is no way you will compromise with her for anything. So you join the club of infinite such marriages out there, which don't work anymore. Maybe that's the reason, the success rate of love marriages is way less when compared to the other kind. So basically its all a tradeoff. Marriage would be a tradeoff between love and compromising.

From what I have seen, people tend to mix up lot of terms used in relationships. For the record, having feelings/ being in a relationship/ Falling in love/ having the LUSTY feeling/being with an FWB(Friends With Benefits)/enjoying the relationship/ officially committed /wedding are all different terms and each one of them is TOTALLY DIFFERENT from another. I call myself the analogy guru, so let me instantiate.

Scene 1:
You(a HE) are at this friend's party with a bunch of homo wackos, who you call "FRIENDS" ( a lot of HE's too) and give an impression to others that you are having the time of your life. But everyone of us , out there knows that each one of you is waiting to lay your hands upon some girl, for the night.( unless you really are a homo). Walk in , a bunch of deliciously "HOT" ladies. The moment you look at the them, you have that feeling, you know down there, that racy feeling, yup that one !! Well, that's what is called LUST. What happens next depends on you. We aint gonna talk about it. Let's continue about another possibility from here on.

Scene 2:
You pass out of the LUST phase. You have narrowed down your radar. Your eyes just can't get away from this one girl, from the bunch. Your brain has done the calculations and zeroed in on her. Now you start getting these crazy thoughts about her. You want her in any way, possible. You just want her. You feel she is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen ( yes, your senses and decision making are getting biased now). Of course, you don't make it obvious to your homo friends, yet. ( Who likes being called a jerk ? ). You can't wait any longer. You make the move. You go to her and negotiate in a different way this time. All you care is that you want to talk to her and like spending time with her ( that's what you thought) . You have more than just lust for her. Well then you started "developing feelings" for her. [MYTH:Please get this straight, you are NOT in a relationship with her, YET. So you can HAVE FEELINGS for someone, and not be in LOVE/RELATIONSHIP with her. ]

Scene 3:
Thankfully things are working great. You ask her out and she agrees to it. You try making it the best date that ever was ( common, that won't ever happen, they always crib about something or the other). You both really like each other now. (or that's what you thought she thinks about you!! ) It is definitely worth a shot, you think ! You want to call her your GIRL FRIEND. She is apprehensive, yet she thinks, she can get to go to a lot of restaurants, movies, get lots of free gifts and she agrees. :p. Before you realize , you are in a RELATIONSHIP. She is your GIRLFRIEND and you are her BOYFRIEND( doesn't say anything about the number each one has!! ). [MYTH:Please get this straight, still doesn't mean you are in love with each other, YET !!]

Scene 4:
You keep going out on more and more dates. You start seeing movies together, go out to restaurants every other night, she takes you to the craziest art galleries, where you could literally puke. You take her to the super bowls, football matches of your school. Of course, you guys did something by now. You definitely did explore. O common she is your Girlfriend. She just loves the way you kiss, you just love the way, she well..... you know.
Most of your friends know about you both, by now. Definitely your mom/dad/sis/bro know about them by now. The clock's ticking. Well this plateau is called " Enjoying the realtionship" phase. As the name says, good things, don't last long. You have been in the plateau long enough now. Time to take the next step-either the Hill or the Valley. You have 2 routes now. Either go to the next phase or end it( because you can't continue in this plateau for a longer time, something will eventually give in here !! ) .[MYTH: you are still not in LOVE!!)]

Scene 5:
You just feel she is "THE ONE". From the previous scene you realized that she is the one you have been looking for, all your life (you mite still be wrong, but that's not the point here!!! ) . You liked what you saw/got/experienced in the Plateau phase. You like the way she cooks( or makes you cook). You like the way she takes care of you( or you take care of her) . You DON'T FEEL SUFFOCATED in her presence. That's when you realize you are IN LOVE with her. This is what this blog is all about, this phase, this is the "RIGHT TIME". Ideally, she also feels the same way about you. But it is good enough, if one person feels that way, as in most of the cases the other person ain't sure. So they decide to go ahead or not, depending on how much they believe in their partner. So either one of scene 5 or scene 6 happens.

Scene 6
Suppose she doesn't feel the same way as you do, it's the end of the road here. You break up at this point of time. So you break off on a bad note. And our brain is unfortunately programmed to remember only ONE bad thing, instead of the millions of good things that happened between you both. You are officially EX-es from today. In this case, I call the above phase, the "RIGHT TIME" , because that was the time your brain couldn't find any bad thing to crib about, for several years to come. So you should have been mature enough to call it a day, before it came to scene 6 from scene 5. I agree it would have been a very tough and cold call, but then you are breaking up on a high, as you see no future. Sadly, if you came to scene 6, you break up on a bad note. Well, you might ask, how would you know, if she will say yes or no, without asking her ? Well that's a tricky question. I am not going to teach you telepathy here. But by now, you would already know whether she is in love with you or not. 98% of the cases, they would know by now. So then it calls for a mature and wise decision from your side. If you are the type, who says, "Heck !! I don't care what is going to happen, I just need to know, I just need to hear it from her mouth". Well, then go ask her and come to this phase. To save yourself, some embarrasment, you can always fall upon the ageold saying, "I was just kidding !! I wanted to see the expression on your face !! " .... lol... but you cannot fool your brain, it is upto you in that case, to ignore the fact that she doesn't feel the same way about you, if you want to cherish the memories. It varies from person to person, how they handle this situation.

Scene 7
Suppose she ain't' sure, but she believes you, she will also start believing that she is in love with you. So now that you are in love, you are OFFICIALLY COMMITTED to each other. So what next? Well, then you decide upon the biggest of 'em steps. Now you have to decide , if she is the one you want to spend your life with. It gets really complex here. You might be in love with someone, yet you cannot marry them. It is definitely an option. It happens. Once man, starts thinking practically, a lot of crazy options like this arise. A lot of External factors also start playing on your mind here. Suppose you want to break up at this point of time, it can get really messy again, as you should have done this in Scene 5. It can still be done, but it depends on the situations and what kind of people you both are. One can still break up on a good note from here, IF they are mature enough to realize that marriage cannot happen. Generally one of the two, doesn't want to accept it ( even though they know it!!) and things can get really messy from there.

So I leave it to you both to decide if Scene 5 or scene 7 is the right time to break up, that is assuming you made it to scene 7 instead of scene 6.

So hopefully, I did drive home the point I have been trying to make i .e 'The right time to breakup'. I know that it gets kind of hazy, but this is no generic solution. It depends on a lot of factors. All I wanted to say was that, don't let that one or two bad things, that happened amidst an infinite good things, between you and your gf, affect some of the best days of your life. Believe me, these are the only good things you are going to cherish when you are on your death bed.

as a closing note, I would like to talk about FWB's too. Just in case, you wanted to know. I have no stand on this. Just an information session. Well it is FWB-Friends with benefits. Let me get a textbook definition here. It is a term used to describe the physical and emotional relationship between two people who may have a sexual relationship or a near-sexual relationship without necessarily demanding or expecting a more formal relationship as a goal. It is more than just casual sex and different from a one-night stand. Casual relationships sometimes include mutual support, affection and enjoyment and is much more than casual sex!!! ....

Suite yourself ...Long live the people. The choice is definitely yours. I can't wait to get married :P. As a closing note, what's your take- Arranged marriage or love marriages ?

Video collection on the IN-FAMOUS SYDNEY TEST, 2007 !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:19:00 +0000

Some videos which i thought were really good.
Add more and send if they are worth seeing ...

RICKY PONTING- The BIGGEST RACIST LOSER to ever play cricket and HE CLAIMS TO HAVE TAKEN THIS SHOCKING CATCH!!

"There's no way I grounded that ball. If you're actually questioning my integrity in the game, then you shouldn't be standing there," Ponting told an Indian journalist. It's for you people to see and decide , and he talks about credibility.. Shame on the Aussies, especially PONTING, we are tired. Strip ponting of captaincy, the most disgusting aussie player ever to play cricket and just strip them of the INFAMOUS 16th win !

AUSSIES ARE THE BIGGEST RACISTS, HYPOCRITES AND CRY-BABIES THAT EVER REPRESENTED CRICKET !!- Agony of GAVASKAR and TONY GRIEG

This video shows why Australian cricketers - the likes of Ponting, Symonds, Clark, Gilchrist, Hayden and before them the likes of slater, McGrath, warne, Lille, and Innumerable many are the Biggest racists , BIGGEST CRY-babies and who have double standards. The next video shows WHY AUSSIES don't play cricket in the right spirit, this one shows why they cant take it , if someone gives it to them, they dun have the guts they always keep talking about, because if they do, they will let the things on field, remain on field and not take it to the referees as cry babies. Double Standard B***** !! well that's not a bad word, don't you hear the Aussies joke around saying , 'LUCKY BASTARDS !! " oh wait i should be hanged for saying that, because I am not Australian , remember the double standards ! I am racist eh ? now ? .. these AUSSIE cricketers will ROT IN HELL !! if not for anything

Umpiring HORRORS- all in a single game, Unblvable- 3 racist A(u)ssies- Ponting, Symonds and Clark and 2 Umpires-Benson and Bucknor, KILL SPIRIT OF CRICKET

This video summarizes only 60% of the umpiring goofs . Plus what is not included is, Michael clark , firstly not sure whether he took a clean catch of ganguly or not, but he surely bumped the ball into the ground, after his somersault, so that's not out and when his chance came to bat, he was caught in the slips , yet stood his ground that's the next video after this, and ricky ponting stood his ground when he edged to dhoni and andrew symonds edged to dhoni and still stood his ground and we take the verdict of such people who don't play cricket in right spirit and claim to play in the right spirit. Arrogant B******* -these 3 useless AUSTARALIAN RACIST CRICKETERS -symonds, ponting, clark along with umpires- bucknor and benson, help Australia win a very famous test !! GOD BLESS THESE B****** !!!!! Remember that's not a bad word !!!! Austrlain way, mate !! Bucknor needs to retire, he is too old to understand or listen to anything of what is happening on the cricket field and Benson is a puppet in the hands of Ponting.

CLARKS DISMISSAL in 2nd innings- HE STANDS HIS GROUND FOR THIS DISMISSAL :-o

He stands his ground after this dismissal, please tell me whats happening ??? Oh wait ! I know, he's waiting for the umpire to rule him out, don't u know the match is fixed ?? hello , why else do u think he is standing his ground, the umpires are sold, so even if India plays game in the right spirit, it won't help !! and we are taking this guy's decision of whether the catch is clean or not, it is not surprising that the catch he took of ganguly wasn't clean , as you saw in the above videos !! IRONY !!

HArbhajan and Symonds ISSUE - part 1

HArbajan and symonds Issue- part 2

What world thinks of the RACISIM

STEVE BUCKNOR - the real HERO !!!

ANIL KUMBLE's Interview -CONTROLLED AGRESSION - poor guy !!

PONTING's Intreview. JUSTIFYING HIMSELF -SHameless Buggaa !!

SYmond's Interview - so happy Of course

CLARK's INTERVIEW- acting like an innocent 'pup'

A Cricket/Indian FANATIC

teri Maaaaa(nn) Ki... -Harbhjan/India/BCCI vs Symonds and co/Aussies/ICC/Peter Roebuck

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:57:00 +0000

[ Here I re-post another article I wrote, when I was terribly disturbed by the series of unfortunate incidents that happened in the Jan of 2007 in Australia, during the most awaited India-Aus test series. At the end of the day, it will remain that Aussies cheated their way to win the series 2-1, nevertheless, the writing on the wall, which everyone knows is that " India is the superior team and the only team of the two, which plays the game in the 'right spirit' ". These incidents hurt me the most and here I am expressing it. ]

I couldn't express my disgust anywhere else, so I am back here rambling about cricket. If I had the chance I would have machine-gunned the entire A(u)ssie team. I suggest you read till the very end, to get the gist of all the things that's been happening in Australia over the new year.

Well I am talking about the aftermaths of the IN-famous Sydney test between India and Australia , which resulted in Australia winning their worst match ever. That this match turned out to be their record equaling 16th consecutive test match win, is another totally sad fact. That India eventually broke their record in the very next match , yet again, shows that , the game is a great equalizer and that's the only totally true and marvelous fact. Well, it's difficult to say justice prevailed finally, because what remains on paper and records finally is that A(u)ssies retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy for 2007-08 by beating India 2-1 at home. For centuries to come, that is going to remain on paper, when it should have been 1-1 and they shouldn't have won their 16th consecutive test. But one thing, they deserved to lose it for the second time, for the second time, they could not make it 17 in a row and the 2 times, it was India who stopped them in their tracks. I am proud of that. I am sure the agony of the Aussies is unexplainable and inexpressible as, SO FITTINGLY , so painfully, they couldn't make it No. 17 , yet again !!! Go feeedd losers...

As if that wasn't demoralizing enough, India's hothead Harbhajan singh was slapped with a 3 test match ban and a high level of racial abuse offense.

What followed is all history now. Justice always prevails and India has a say in cricket. We are the rulers of present day cricket, BCCI is.

Click here. That should give an exact account of the turn of each and every event regarding the sydney test and the ban on harbhajan.

During that time one writer Peter Roebuck -very acclaimed English turned Australian citizen said how Australians are killing the spirit of the game, how Ricky ponting should be sacked and how crazy is India for still not packing their bags and going back home. Well I was surprised back then, reading those articles, but now I am not. He was very predictable this time around and did what was expected of him. He goes out blazing all cylinders on Indian board-BCCI and Harbhajan Singh. Read it for yourself, what I think is one of the cheapest, biased and most useless piece of crap that he has written in his illustrated career as a cricket columnist.

Now coming to the facts. The way I look at it and it surely makes sense to me. Think about it

1. Symonds agreeing to the fact that he started the feud.

2. Symonds saying 'Playing cricket on the field is no place to make friends' , clearly shows the Australian attitude and ready to be sparked attitude.

3. Symonds already being involved in a similar situation back in India and he agreeing yet again that he started the feud in that case too. But strangely he hasn't been charged with anything, where as the Indian HOTHEAD harbhajan was banned for 3 tests and when India decided to walk out of the CB series, it has been reduced to 50% of his match fee. Even then Symonds wasn't charged anything. That's shocking and unacceptable.

4. The whole "sparking the Harbhajan Feud" looks very pre-planned. The whole pre match agreement done by ponting was done having this in mind. The Aussies if one can remember, made it clear to the 2 Indian Hot heads- Sreesanth and harbhajan during the one day series in India, ' mate ! come down to Australia, we will show you what you have just done'. Unfortunately sreesanth missed the tour due to a shoulder injury ( though he is coming back for the one day series now- I Can't wait to see what happens next ) , but harbhajan made it and so they decided to give it to him.

Harbhajan tucking his bat at Lee, sparked the feud that the Aussies- Symonds, Ponting , Hayden , have been planning for a while now.

5. The craziest decisions was yet to come- Mike Procter the ICC referee had taken the most horrible decision that ever was , slapping Harbhajan with the ban. Firstly, there was no proper evidence back then. Nothing on the tapes back then proved anything. He next dismissed the only other Indian in picture- Sachin Tendulkar ,saying he wouldn't have heard anything. How then that Hayden /Clark could have heard something? The umpires were also taken out of the picture ,as they said they didn't hear anything. How the BLODDY HELL, I ask, did Mike Procter take a decision like that, a big decision abusing someone for racism ,is no mere joke. He based his decision on the evidence of Hayden, Symonds, Ponting, Clark, all of them who have been either at the end of Harbhajan's feuds or whose integrity in that match, was anything but contentious. Doesn't all this look pre-planned and the Aussie domination. Someone needed to break that.

6. So the BCCI then reacted to the horrible decision , the correct thing it did. Sunil Gavasker ICC's working member, couldn't keep his mouth shut any longer and so he erupted and all the people out there go on talking about how big a racist Gavasker is. Well, that's the way to be mate ! 'If you act smart, we will act smarter' ! Sunil is a true embodiment of that. Way to go mate !! If you guys can't take it, then dare not give it the next time to someone else!!... right mate ?

7. So now that the BCCI has seen the way things are going-Aussies achieving what they wanted to, people like Procter and ICC supporting the wrong Aussies, BCCI decides to show who the real power in cricket was. Well It is undoubtedly that and will remain that way. So better not act smart. If things go out of way, BCCI has to step in and restore justice, at whatever price, if it means calling their team back home and that they showed by hiring a chartered plan, Hell yes , they will and they should do it. !! You guys break the rules, we need to restore them. and of course since the path you have chosen is dirty, we also need to take the dirty path , Mate !!!!

And now Peter Roebuck goes crazy over this point. Well, Mate !! I know you got almost kicked out of your new nation- Australia for those absolutely correct comments u made a few days back - about sacking ponting and how aussies can't take it when someone gives it to them. So what does he do ??? Write this crazy article which makes no sense at allll...

At the end of the day justice prevails and BCCI wins and you know how all this started ???

Harbhajan responding to the Ill abuses of Symonds saying " teri MAAA(nn) Kiiiii ( heard /decoded by symonds as MAAANKIIIII - MONKEYY ). If you have no evidence, you don't accuse anyoone. I think that's what even kids know, you don't need to have a degree in law to know that. Strangely people who took decision were no kids, yet they take decisions the way they did !!!!

It is clear the grudges people have against the all conquering Indian team and the world cricket being run by THE BCCI !!!!... it will remain that way !!!!

India’s World Cup 2007 Fiasco- It came to an end, even before it started!

noreply@blogger.com (Akshay_P) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:41:00 +0000

[I am re-posting an article I wrote when I was disappointed with India's lackluster performance in the WC 2007, when they were eliminated by Bangladesh ( Pakistan got eliminated by Ireland..lol ).. I am happy to see the transition in the team India right now, on Nov 13, 2008, when they are the unofficial No.1 team in the world, as they trash A(u)ssies 2-0 in the test championship !!!!] ...

I AM WORST AT WHAT I DO BEST – Kurt Cobain

WE ARE WORST AT WHAT WE DO BEST-Indian Cricketers

Yup, so India has been knocked out of the world cup 2007. Put in a better way, India hasn’t qualified for the world cup. Would it be a saving grace that Pakistan has been kicked out before us ? That too they lost it to Ireland, no one even knows that countyr plays cricket, right ? Not really. Its time for introspection. And then of course India has to sack the famed Indian super cricketers, ala PAKISTAN.

Here’s something, what we think, Dilip Vengsarkar & co. should do immediately,

· Sack Dravid as Captain, keep him as a player.
· Captain DADA- Sourav or Sachin. Mostly, Sourav because he has the true leader ship qualities of Aggressiveness, Innovativeness and Zeal.
· Introspection needed by Sachin. He is a class act, will surely come back hard.
· Sack Harbhajan Singh , Anil Kumble and Ajit Agarkar from ODI’s.
· Bring back proven customers like Kaif and Powar and give them more opportunities.
· Time to look around for new players, who have potential to perform under pressure.
· Look for pacers who are willing to bend their backs and are innovative.
· Make people like Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel play more First class matches and improve their fitness levels and get back their pace.
· Time for Ajit and Harbhajan to don their state caps.

The famed Indian Batting line up, supposedly the best Line-up in present day world cricket, the batsmen who have more than 50000 runs among themselves, will remain strong only on paper. Twice in 2 matches they weren’t able to score 200 with this line-up. All this at a time, when people keep underlining the fact that our strength is our batting. That should talk amounts of how weak our bowling is, in that case.

So here’s the big question? Does India have the KILLER INSTINCT? I am a big optimist when it comes to Indian cricket, I can call BULL-SHYT as a fertilizer for India’s sake. But I Guess each and every one of us, however patriotic we might be, should wake up to the fact that INDIANS (cricketers) LACK THE KILLER INSTINCT. Well, India will beat everyone for the title, “ THE CHOKERS “. Tell me when was the last time, India came out of a pressure cooker situation? Whenever pressure has been applied over Indians, they crumble like delicate glass. They are not able to break out of such situations, time and again. They lack the self-belief.

One would ask why? That’s a very difficult question to answer. But let’s start with the leader. If someone were to ask me, who my favorite cricketers of all-time were? Dravid and Sachin, would be me apt reply. But of late I have had grave doubts about both of them. I will tell you why.

I am not questioning Dravid’s batting even now. I have a problem though with his Leadership skills, creativity, innovativeness and zeal. Dravid’s body language is always down. When the chips are down, it looks as if he never makes an effort to lift them up. His bowling changes, field placements and everything on the field lack the freshness and innovativeness required of a true leader. He just has 2 plans I guess- Plan A and Plan B. If both of them fail, he is left stranded. Agreed that he is not backed by his players with their performances, but that’s what a captain is for, to lift the morale of the team. Long back, when Sourav was faltering as a captain, just like everyone else, I immediately jumped to have Dravid as a captain. Because we always knew he was a good student of the game and had a cool head. But now, as he has doned the role of he captain, it has become very clear that he is not the right person to captain India.

Sourav has been a great leader in this aspect. Always leading from the front. Very aggressive. Lifts the morale of the team when chips are down. Much more innovative and creative than Dravid.

Next the little master, the batting genius Sachin Tendulkar. I have fought many battles with many people, both verbally and physically, to state that, SACHIN IS THE BEST BATSMAN OF THIS GENERATION. I have been an ardent fan of his since life existed on Earth. But after seeing his performances of late, I am having doubts about Sachin too. There was a time when I had more confidence in Sachin, than I had in myself. But tell me, how many times has Sachin performed for India OF LATE, when it mattered most?
Over the last 2 years, Sachin has started losing his sheen. People like Ponting, Yousuf and others, who are nowhere, close to Sachin’s class are taking over him. One thing that has to be considered in this situation is the PRESSURE ON SACHIN TO PERFORM. I can undoubtedly say, the burden that he carries on himself is, BY FAR THE MOST ANY SPORTSMAN EVER CARRIES/CARRIED. Trillions of people, expect him to score a century every time he takes to the field. That’s too much of an ask. But well, he has handled the pressure brilliantly for ages and so he has been called the best in the business. But of late he has been failing when it matters the most. How can we forget the 2003 WC final, The test series against Australia, The Recent ICC knockout, the match against Bangla and of course the horrendous dismissal against SL in WC’07. I guess, he is just trying too much. His contribution to the team and his 100% on the field were never in doubt, but performing when it matters, definitely is in doubt now. His peers like Lara, Ponting are smiling for that very reason. They are performing under pressure. Knowing Sachin, I am sure he will rise through all this, but all said and done, we are out of the WC yet again and Sachin’s promise to bring back the WC, sill remains a dream.

Sachin, please start playing well, I can see you play this way. Dominate the bowlers again and show the other batsmen, who the real batsman is !!!

Well, I don’t want to question the integrity of other batters in the team. That will be too hard on them. Robin Uthappa has been given a license to go haywire and that has cost his wicket. He is very young and will learn. Dhoni faltered badly, but I guess, it’s just bad luck. Let’s move onto the bowlers now. The spinners to start with. Harbhajan Singh. He should be sacked right away. His ODI stats for the last 3 years are bad, worser than a part-time bowler.

He hasn’t been taking any wickets. And almost all batsmen in world cricket, right from Australia to Bermuda are picking his doosra and spanking him all over the ground. I see no reason in persisting with him. Next, Anil Kumble. He has been one of the biggest serving cricketers in the true sense to play for India. He is a true workaholic. But I fell he is past his prime at least in the ODIs. But still he was persisted with. They said the experience would come handy. Then why wasn’t he picked? When it was already clear that he would have to sit out in big games, why was he in the squad? Ramesh Powar would have been hitting himself hard to find out the reason, why wasn’t he picked? But its time he is back into the squad and we say good-bye to 2 QUALITY SPINNERS- Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble.

Then my other favorite. Ajit Agarkar. I have been a staunch supporter of him for ages now. Almost 300 wickets at the age of 28, I always believed if persisted with, he would become the highest wicket taker in ODIs ever. Such amazing are his strike rate and wicket taking abilities. But the one thing he has been fighting all his life is INCONSISTENCY. He was the spearhead of the Indian attack many times in the past and he has faltered very badly. This world cup was no different. He was given the new ball and he sprayed it all over the place. Where did all his experience go? Munaf was denied the new ball too, thanks to Ajit. Sadly, I have to say this, but its time he is bid farewell and should be made to tread the path taken by Zaheer Khan.

Munaf came into the scene a year back, as a Tear-away pacer. Now His average pace is hardly 130Kmph. Where has all the speed gone? I agree he is concentrating hard on his line and length, so the deficiency in his pace, but this is unacceptable. Chaminda Vaas came down to bat towards the end of SL innings and smacked Munaf cleanly over his head for a SIX. Tear-Away pacer indeed!! Why isn’t he given the new ball?

Does any Indian Pacer ever BEND HIS BACK? Does any Indian pacer ever BOWL A YORKER, forget the TOE-CRUSHING YORKER? Where is the pace guys? How come the pace dies away? Irfan Pathan bowls around 115Kmph now a days. Sourav bowls around 115, so what is the difference between Irfan and Sourav now? Does one have to compromise so much on pace, to have a good line and length and swing the ball? I don’t think so, because except for Indian pacers, every pacer from every country bowls with more variety, speed and control. Indian Pace attack was so monotonous and so dead. And people said, we are strong contenders for the world cup. Heck, even I said and thought that.

I agree it is very easy for me to say all this, sitting back in my house, But as a fan, as an observer, as a great follower of Indian cricket, these are my observations. I hope India will work over them. Well, I have a feeling India never believed that they could ever win the world cup. They lack the self-belief. Here is where Greg Chappel comes into the picture? Hasn’t he been instilling these points into the players? I am sure he did. It would be pointless, accusing the coach (in some cases, killing the coach too ..lol..) for the poor performance of the team. Blame the Captain and the players.

I agree that Indian players play with huge amount of pressures than any other cricket playing or for that matter, any sport-playing nation. That is the connection between the Huge Indian population and cricket having a religion status here. I sympathize with Indian cricketers in a way in this aspect, but then the main reason for disappointment has been the manner in which India has lost matches and been kicked out of the World cup. They never had the killer instinct in them to rise out of the ashes. They surrender meekly. They don’t put up a fight. Sadly, they love being crowned, ‘the Undoubted chokers’ title.

Well, Next time I write a blog about Indian cricket, I am sure it won't be this disspointing, bcs I know Indian will bounce back. Please make the correct changes and give deserving players more chances.

India WIll shine

Cheers