Chandausi Express

Whom to choose - First Love or Wife By Prabhat

2011-04-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

After so many years my first love is again trying to enter my life. She is knocking hard, she is haunting, she is visiting my dreams frequently. She is making me jubilant by reminding all the moments having been passed with her at some point of time in life. Its an utter state of dilemma that I am passing through. Should I move forward in life with my wife who gave me stability and recognition in society and ended the long era of my instabilities? Or should I embrace my forgotten love that provided me most beautiful and of course thrilling moments in life? Though there is third option also. I can continue both the relationships simultaneously by accepting the things in life as they are coming. I may be wrong but the third option look more practical and smart.
I have almost taken a decision to go with the third option - Being in very intimate and cozy relationship with my first love without telling my wife and of course without running away even a bit of my responsibilities to her. In simpler words if I pass daytime with my wife, night will be enjoyed with my sweet heart. I will proportionately divide the time
between the two and will allow neither of them to cross the set limits. I will make sure that neither of the two knows how actually I am playing the game.

Yes, of course you are smart enough to know the fact that the profession of Journalism is my wife and Teaching is my first love.

Respect for Individual

2010-12-04T12:04:00.000-08:00

बहुत पुराना एक किस्सा याद आ रहा है. बात उन दिनों की है जब सन २००० में मैं मुरादाबाद से M.Sc.(First Year) कर रहा था. रोज़ सुबह ८ बजे वाली ACM ट्रेन से जाता था KGK कॉलेज और शाम को ५ बजे वाली ट्रेन से वापस चंदौसी(अपने घर) आ जाता था. Classes तो कुछ खास होती नहीं थी लेकिन मुझे बहुत गन्दी आदत थी रोज़ स्कूल/कॉलेज जाने की( यह आदत M.C.A. तक भी बनी रही). Classes तो २ बजे तक ख़त्म हो जाती थी इसलिए कभी कभी शाम वाली ट्रेन की प्रतीक्षा नहीं करता था और बस से घर चला जाता था. लेकिन अक्सर ट्रेन की प्रतीक्षा करने के लिए मुझे रेलवे वेटिंग रूम में बैठना पड़ता था.

एक दिन मैं वेटिंग रूम में ही एक बेंच पैर वेट कर रहा था. बेंच पैर दुसरे कोने पर एक बहुत स्मार्ट सा लड़का (उम्र करीब २५ साल) बैठा था और किसी magzine को पढने में व्यस्त था.थोड़ी देर बाद एक करीब ५५-६० साल का व्यक्ति आया, उसके पास दो बैग थे, साधारण सा कुरता पजामा पहने हुए उसने हम दोनों के बीच में बैठने की इच्छा प्रकट की. स्मार्ट लड़के का चेहरा देखने लायक था. पता नहीं क्यों असहज हो गया था लड़का. लेकिन पब्लिक प्लेस पर किसी को बैठने के लिए तो मना कर नहीं सकता था इसलिए उन अंकल को बैठने दिया और फिर से मैग्ज़िन पढने में व्यस्त हो गया.

अंकल को शायद बातचीत करने का शौक था. मुझसे पूछा की कहाँ जा रहे हो. क्या करते हो? मैंने सब जवाब दिए. और भी काफी सवाल पूछे थे उन्होंने जो मुझे पूरी तरह याद नहीं अभी. उसके बाद वह स्मार्ट लड़के की तरफ मुड़े और उससे सवाल पूछने शुरू किये.

अंकल - बेटा कहाँ जा रहे हो?

स्मार्ट लड़का(बहुत irritate सा होकर) - Bareilly जा रहा हूँ.

अंकल - जॉब करते हो?

स्मार्ट लड़का (बिना अंकल को देखे हुए) - हाँ.

अंकल - क्या जॉब करते हो?

स्मार्ट लड़का(बेहद रूखेपन से) - M.R. हूँ.

अंकल - किस कंपनी में?

स्मार्ट लड़का(इस बार अंकल को देखकर) - "....." कंपनी में (कंपनी का नाम मुझे याद नहीं उसने क्या बताया था)

अंकल - बेटे, Graduation किया है तुमने?

स्मार्ट लड़का( अब अंकल की तरफ घूम चूका था ..थोडा विस्मित सा था) - हाँ जी

अंकल - क्या क्या सब्जेक्ट थे?

स्मार्ट लड़का( थोडा concious हो गया था) - जी, Zoology , बोटनी, Chemistry .

अंकल - अच्छा, कुछ पूछें chemistry में?

यह सुनकर मैं भी अचंभित सा था, स्मार्ट लड़के के मानो काटो तो खून नहीं.

स्मार्ट लड़का - जी, अब कहाँ कुछ याद है?

उसके बाद अंकल अगले १५ मिनट तक बोले और स्मार्ट लड़का अपनी पिछले ५ मिनट की हरकतों पर शर्माता हुआ और मैं खुले मुंह से अचंभित होकर उनकी बातें सुनता रहा.

अंकल B .H . U में chemistry के professor थे और अब retired थे. उनका एक बेटा अमेरिका में डॉक्टर था और दूसरा D.R.D.O में वैज्ञानिक. अंकल हरिद्वार से वापस लौट रहे थे और वाराणसी जा रहे थे.

साधारण सी वेशभूषा वाले उस ज्ञानी ने स्मार्ट लड़के की बोलती ही बंद नहीं की बल्कि ऊपर वाले ने "Respect for Individual" की शिक्षा उस स्मार्ट लड़के को रेलवे के वेटिंग रूम में दे दी थी . भले ही मुझे लोग गालियां दें लेकिन मुझे यह कहने में कोई संकोच नहीं की अभी भी अपने भारत में "Respect for Individual" की संस्कृति का अभाव है.

आप लोग वैसे भारत की संस्कृति को गली देने के आरोप में मुझे गालियां दे सकते हैं.

Who has the right to complain?

2010-06-20T01:18:00.000-07:00

I had a telecon in office from 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM so asked the guard to open the conference room. Out of curiosity, I asked him about his office timings. He told that it was from 8:00 AM in the morning to upto 10:00 PM (if required). His salary was not more than Rs. 5000 per month. At the very moment, I remembered one of my colleagues (rather all of my colleagues including me) getting frustrated over the company’s policy which makes is mandatory for an employee to spend 9 hrs a day in office. That colleague earns not less than 70000 Rs. per month.

I could not decide who has the right to complain - Guard or my colleague?

Transparency in Relatoinships(By Vikas)

2010-04-22T07:53:00.001-07:00

Transparency is supposed to be the base for any relationship. I somewhere read it or heard it from someone when I was in the initial stages of understanding the meaning of relationship word (At least 15 years back). Since then, I have thought and experienced that keeping the things transparent has always helped in strengthening the bond of affection in any relationship. But in recent past, I came across such an instance where it was only transparency which caused the damage to the relationship. Had I manipulated the things a bit as probably many other people do, I would still have been experiencing the same warmth in that relationship.

This is where I asked a question from myself - was I wrong in trying to make it as transparent as possible? In the heat of that moment, I decided that I was also going to be a great manipulator, be it my professional relationship or personal relationship with anyone. But within a day or two, I discussed it with my brother and felt relieved like anything. After that I could think in a normal way and decided that one instance is not enough for me to change my view or approach to handle something in life. Why should I change myself because of someone else? I shall still remain the same. I will still make sure that things are transparent be it a professional or personal relationship. Let us see up to how much time in my life, I am able to follow this theory.

SFO Trip : Part 1

2010-01-12T18:08:00.000-08:00

It was Aseem who planned and perfectly executed our SFO trip. As usual, we planned this trip when we got a good deal of air tickets. Aseem booked tickets in October for the trip which was scheduled for December. Aseem, very busy in office in that period, asked me to do some research about rental car, hotels and places to visit in and near SFO.

I, as usual, (because of carelessness) did not do anything and ultimately it was Aseem himself who did all the research and booking (for car and hotel). The other two friends Hemant and Pankaj were very excited (as they always are …sometimes even without any reason) about the trip.

Our flight was scheduled for 6:45 PM on December 11, 2009. We planned to leave office by 03:30 PM and then take taxi for O’Hare airport Chicago. It was decided that I will call the cab. I was driving with Pankaj in my car and Hemant was in Aseem’s car back home. Everything was perfect until I asked Pankaj to call Hemant and ask him where they reached. After the conversation, Pankaj told me that those guys have already called for cab and there was no need for me to call the cab now. We reached at our apartments and started packing up. We were supposed to leave to O’Hare airport at 4:50. At 4:30, I called Aseem to ask whether the cab was coming to my apartment or his. He was surprised and fired a question back to me.

Aseem: “Abe taxi to tujhe call karni thi. Kyon bhirri kaat raha hai?”

Me: “Are yaar Pankaj ne bola tha ki Hemant aur Aseem ne Taxi book ker di hai”.

Hemant: “Maine kab kaha Pankaj ko ki maine book ker di taxi?”.

There were questions all around, we laughed a lot and called for taxi. There was nothing new in this for us since if Hemant is involved in any matter, confusion is bound to happen, (Though he is not at fault always.)

We reached airport at around 05:30 PM. We all were so hungry but the irony was that we all were vegetarian except Aseem. The only thing we could manage was some fries and milk shakes from McDonalds. We took our flight and reached SFO airport. We took “BART” from SFO International Airport to Car Rental location. By this time none of us knew what this “BART” was. But as we could see, it was sort of a metro train which runs between different terminals of Airport.

We reached Hetz car rental location. Aseem asked me to show the insurance card for the car which we booked. He has asked me to take a printout of insurance card. And you know what – I again proved to be a “Kamzor Kari” since I forgot to take that printout. We asked at the counter whether we could take the printout but the person at the counter told that his computer was not connected to the internet. We decided that once we will take the printout from the hotel once we reach there.

I don’t have any words to describe the feeling when we got “Mercedes Benz” as rental car. We were very much excited with Pankaj and Hemant again going at least 2 feet above ground. We drove to our hotel – Holiday Inn. We struggled a lot with the GPS which was pre installed in the car and finally Aseem took out his own GPS and we moved then. Hemant kept on giving his usual comments about GPS, Car and the directions. No doubt, he had the best sense of directions among all of us and that was proved in next 3 days.

Wht to write about SFO?

2010-01-09T12:18:00.000-08:00

I was thinking of writing about San Fransisco for over a month. Not because I know a lot about San Fransisco, not because it is one of most beautiful cities all over the world but because I recently visited this city. Then I thought what to write about this city. Shall I write about the history, geography, architecture etc? I was in a dilemma. Anyone can go to Wikipedia and have as much information as one wants about SFO. So what should I write about SFO. After a month I have come out of this dilemma and decided that instead of writing about SFO, I can try writing about out trip (me and my three friends). So I will be posting about the trip in more than one installment (parts). I will post the first part on Jan 10 , 2010.

The Magic of word FUCK

2009-12-24T17:54:00.000-08:00

Irrespective of language, words have their own beauty and verstality. One such word is FUCK that has been described beautifully by MAHAGURU OSHO. OSHO considers FUCK as one of the most interesting words in english language today. According to him, it is a magical word. Just by its sound it can describe pain, pleasure, hate and love. It can be used as a verb, both transitve and intransitive, and as a noun also.It can be used as an objective. There are not many words with verstality of fuck. Besides the sexual meaning there are also the following usage.

IGNORANCE  :  Fucked If I know.

TROUBLE    :  I guess I am fucked now.

AGGRESSION :  Fuck you.

DISPLEASURE:  What the fuck is going on here?

DIFFICULTY :  I can't understand this fucking job.

INCOMPETENCE : He is a fuck off.

SUSPICION   : What the fuck are you doing?

ENJOYMENT   : I had a fucking good time.

REQUEST     : Get the fuck out of here.

HOSTILITY   : I am going to knock your fucking head.

GREETINGS   : How the fuck are you?

INNOVATION  : Get a bigger fucking hammer.

ANXIETY     : Today is really fucked.

This word is very healthy too if every morning you do it as a transcedental meditation. Just when you get up in the morning, repeat the mantra "fuck you" five times, it clears your throat.

Power of Surrender (by Prabhat)

2009-11-11T16:28:00.000-08:00

Have you ever noticed the power of surrender in your life? This isn’t a new phenomenon. A lot many seekers have defined and experienced it in their own way and have tried to establish the fact that sometimes surrender results in miracle. I am neither a seeker nor have I defined something but I am one of those who have experienced the power of surrender in their lives.

Way back in september 2008, I got an opportunity to visit Malaysia and cover the Merdeka Day Parade (Merdeka Day is Independence Day of Malaysia) but it was so disappointing that my passport was in process. The police verification was still pending. I had just 8 days to get my passport ready and send it for visa purposes. Since my residential proofs were not strong enough, I had to put my best efforts to get my verification done. Despite putting my best into the deal, I was emptyhanded. I felt so frustrated and helpless.
Finding no other option I sat peacefully, closed my eyes and then surrenderd the whole situation to divine. I said to myself - Leave everything on divine. Let it be happened in its own way and accept the result whatever it may be. I opened my eyes and felt sooo... relaxed and calm. Thereafter I reached the office and discussed the things with my boss. I requested him to send somebody else. The same moment boss called the Malaysia Tourism people and told them the situation. To my utter surprise the tour was postponed for almost a month. The overwhelming boss indicated that I still had a month time to get my passport. Finally I got my passport and visited Malaysia. I still dont know how the whole thing happened.

Some may call it a sheer coincidence but for me its a power of surrender - that actually means putting your best efforts in something and then leaving everything to divine. Nobody can claim that by surrendering the things to divine like this can bring the fruitful and positive results but it is true that one can get rid of his restlessness and feel relaxed and calm by doing so...

Who was guilty(By Prabhat)

2009-11-06T21:46:00.000-08:00

As a routine that day also I took the route number 73 from Laxminagar bus stop to reach my office. I came across a very pathetic event that occurred in the bus and which, I think, must be shared with others also. The moment I got into the bus, I saw a young lady, sitting on the seat, reserved for the handicapped. From the same stop a lame guy aged 20 years also took the bus and demanded the seat reserved for the handicapped from that young lady but it was quite surprising that the young lady took no heed of his request. The guy again asked for his seat but this time also the young girl was unmoved. The guy tried once more but got no answer. All of a sudden a middle aged lady sitting behind that young girl shouted at the guy and said, "Can't you notice that she is not able to hear you? Why are you repeatedly demanding the seat?" With that guy I was also shocked to see that the young girl was wearing a hearing machine and was completely deaf and dumb by birth. The handicapped guy was stunned and the middle aged lady, who was perhaps the mother of that deaf girl, kept cursing him for almost 10 minutes... The lame guy was speechless and the girl was looking at him without any emotions on her face. I was still trying to reach the conclusion who was guilty - she,he or HE?

Have faith in Team India

2009-09-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

A loss and that too against Pakistan is intolerable when it comes to the Indian cricket fans. Team India lost against Pak and fans started abusing the team. If only fans do that, it is acceptable but when some of the writers whose blogs are published on one of the pioneer news websites like timesofindia.com, do the same it looks a bit amateur at their end.
Avjit Ghosh and Tushar Srivstava have written blogs which suggest that Team India does not deserve win in Champions Trophy. India did not play well enough in the match – No doubt in that. But instead of thinking that this team is not capable of winning matches, this loss should be seen as a result of a bad day for Team India.
Avjit and many more of such journalists have raised questions over the ICC rankings which put India among the three best ODI teams. They don’t believe that Team India should be termed as one of the best teams of the world. With all due respect for our honorable journalists, I would like to remind them that ICC rankings are based on the team performances at home as well as foreign pitches. India has beaten England in England, Australia in Australia, West Indies in West Indies, New Zealand in New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka (twice). Does anyone still have any doubt in India being one of the best ODI teams right now?
Just a fortnight ago, the same journalists were writing wonders for Team India when India won the tri series in Sri Lanka. Just in 15 days and after one match same journalists think that this team is good for nothing. Hey…r they kidding us? If the team has played badly, it should definitely criticized for that match but just discarding the whole team for the tournament on the basis of just one match is not fair.South Africa is out of the tournament. Is it bad team now? Not at all. South Africa is still arguably the best ODI team in the world. Just two bad matches are not going to make much difference in their status of one of the best teams.
Honestly speaking I was also very sad and disappointed after the loss but I still have full faith in the team because it was the same team which won tri series just 2 weeks back even in the absence of Sehwag, Gambhir and Zaheer. Now team has lost Yuvraj but got Gambhir back. Tournament is still far from over guys. I am not claiming anything about the future of India in champions trophy but just sit and watch out this gang of 14 people. You never know what can happen in cricket. South Africa surely and Sri Lanka virtually are out of the tournament. They have suffered the uncertainty of the gentlemen’s game.
Let us keep our fingers crossed and have faith in the team because this team is definitely capable of doing anything on the field against any damn team – at least I think so.

Indian Payers missing WADA deadline

2009-09-12T20:48:00.000-07:00

There has been so much fuss about indian players not ready to abide by WADA rules and regulations. Some of the cricket experts are totally discardingthe concerns raised by indian players. The main reason behind their criticism is that WADA is being followed throught the world and in every sport.I remember one dialogue from an award winning hollywood movie "Australia". The dialogue says "If it is, does not mean it should be".If the whole world is following something, is it necessary that it is error proof? Indian players do have their concerns about the whereabout clause of WADA regulations.We should also keep in mind that FIFA had also raised some concerns about WADA regulations. Champion players like Rafael Nadal and Sarena Williams have shown their discomfort against WADA.
Now the question arises whether indian players were right in missing the deadline of July,31. Missing deadline cannot be justified but I don't see much of the players' fault in it. They had been constantly raising their concerns before BCCI right from the early this year. But BCCI did not have any time (or we better say "any intent") to take any action on those concerns because board officials were probably busy in their internal politics as usual.Once the deadline was missed, BCCI raised this issue in front of ICC and ICC rightly formed a committee to settle this issue.Had BCCI taken this matter to ICC earlier, this committe could have been formed a lot earlie r and by this time probably the issue would also have been resolved.
Now for the people who are saying that BCCI is using its money power in cricket, let us accept the truth. Might is right. I may be very blunt while saying this but big elephants of cricket (Australia and England) are now feeling the heat of the emergence of new cricket super power called India.Money power is being used in cricket for decades, it is just that the paradigm has shifted now from Down under and England to India. I don't know whether Indian Players are right or wrong but what I believe is that their voice should be given a thought and analysis if not accepted. Fortunately, this is what ICC has done by forming a committee. And above all, just recently Australian cricket board has also lifted their voice in favour of India. So, the wind is changing its direction, slowly though.

Dravid's Inclusion in ODI squad

2009-08-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

He is the wall. He is one of the best technical bats of India. He has been one of the greatest campaigners of the gentlemen's game. Rahul Dravid is back in ODI squad after almost two years.

According to one of the articles on cricinfo.com, Indian selectors have started looking back instead of future. But I think this inclusion is a step which is wisely taken by Selectors (headed by Srikanth). Not only because Rahul was in good form in IPL, but also because Indian young guns have struggled like anything against short pitched stuff and that too not against Akram, Younus or Mcgrath or Holding league but against much lesser dangerous bowlers. Rahul is definitely going to give some solidity in the middle order. It does not mean that the young blood of Indian cricket cannot manage the short deliveries but this will give them some extra time to look into their games to adjust to short deliveries. And they will be hundred percent matured by the time Rahul will say goodbye to cricket. Also Dravid can act as a mentor to the young batsmen in the team.

I can think of one more thing about this inclusion of Dravid. Remember the inclusion of Sourav Ganguly in test squad last year. First he was included and then after the very series he took retirement and this made sure that he had a respectful exit from international cricket. It was not an ideal exit but yes, Srikanth made sure that the exit did not become so dirty as was planned and almost executed by the duo of Kiran More and Greg Chappell. So, is Srikanth planning the same exit for Rahul Dravid too? I am not sure. It is just a thought that came into my mind. But even if Srikanth is in mood to do so, it is a very good step. He has got a good record in case of dealing with seniors (Ganguly and Kumble took respectful retirements). Let us hope he maintains his record.

Whatever be the thinking of selectors, I welcome this step and hope that the WALL justifies his nickname in next two series at least.

A day with the leaders - by Sonu(Prabhat)

2008-02-17T15:49:00.000-08:00

Initiatives are taken by leaders and when the media leader like Times of India takes initiative to find out the leaders of the country, we have “Lead India”.
Lead India was a campaign recently initiated by Times of India to find out the leaders. The basic idea was to choose some persons who have the capability and worth to lead one billion people of the country and to provide them a platform from where they may be able to show their mettle. Only eight out of 35000 candidates who participated in the campaign were selected for the final round that was to be broadcast on Star One anchored by great actor Anupam Kher for almost a month and half. In the final the shooting was scheduled in Mahalaxmi Studio, Noida and luckily I was assigned to cover the big event. Here I would like to mention very specifically that this proved to be my ever best reporting assignment during my five years journalism career.
Anyways the fight for in the final was between Ahmadabad based lawyer Devang Nanavati and the entrepreneur from Bangalore R.K Misra. On one side there was Nanavati who had deep constitutional knowledge while on the other hand R.K. Misra’s real power lied in his social work done in Bangalore with the help of public-private partnership. Nanavati had the ability to put his thoughts in a very argumentative and succinct manner while Misra believed in the clarity of his thoughts. The eminent lyricist Javed Akhtar, the first woman IPS Officer of the country Dr. Kiran Bedi and Senior Editor (TOI) Vikas singh were there as a permanent jury members. Apart from that congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Digvijay Singh, BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad and Arun Jaitly, SP general secretary Amar Singh, RTI activist Arvind Kejrival were also present as special jury members. As the program started, Anupam Kher very outrightly asked the leaders whether they will give their party ticket to any one of the participants? I would call it less diplomatic and more logical what the leaders answered to the question asked by Anupam Kher. Abhishek said, “Politics is not a charitable trust. My party will give them ticket only after assuring that they will be beneficial for the party.” Arun Jaitly said, “First of all they will have to clear their ideology. They have to decide who is their ideal. Only then they are eligible to ask for a ticket.” Now it was the turn of Amar Singh. He said, “ To be a politician one requires luck, opportunity and utility. The two participants have got their luck right, they have got an opportunity too but they have still to prove their utility.”
In the next round both the participants were asked how they will utilize 50 lakh rupees sum if they won the contest. Misra rattled off a very well thought out plan with time bound targets and achievable goals. He said, “I would invest the money in my dairy project to be launched in my own village. One of the judges enquired, “Just by focusing on one village, how can you lead the whole nation?” “I believe in leading by examples. My project will not only produce sustainable employment but also serve as a role model for other villages. In India there is a big problem of effective implementation. There is a lot of talk and little action. My motto is work more and talk less.” replied Misra.
Nanavati in his dream project emphasized the need of an institution which can produce leaders. He proposed to start the Centre for Leadership and Societal Responsibility in Ahmadabad. Perhaps the dream project played a decisive role in deciding the winner of the contest as one of the judges patted Misra’s project for its rural connection.
A lot many questions followed by other judges and in the end the jury cast their vote, audience polled on their choice and SMS counted. Finally Misra was declared the man of the hour. As former president APJ Abdul Kalam presented a cheque of 50 lakh rupees, Bangalore finalist repeated rival Nanavati’s words ”This is not the end of Lead India, The actual journey has just begun” Later the two finalists had a meeting with Prime minister Manmohan Singh at his residence.
In today’s scenario when Indian Television is flooded with the reality shows having not even a single grain of seriousness and worth, it was really a nice experience to watch such a wonderful show. Salute to Lead India!!!

What should be above:Amchi India or Amchi Mumbaiv - by Monu(Vikas)

2008-02-13T19:56:00.001-08:00

Russel Peter says "Indians are not terrorists. They are different from them because terrorists hate America while Indians hate each other." Russel said this sentence in a comic show but that seems to be somewhat true at least now a days. Some unfortunate events have happened in Mumbai and neighbouring cities in last fortnight or so. There is violance in Mumbai,Pune and Nasik just because of the ambition of a street leader who wants to be visible at the national level. That leader has never won any election till date. The worst part is that he is successfull in his mission. He is being talked about in the media. I don't expect anything from the politicians but I felt very disheartened when some of the common people also think the same way. They think that the people from UP and Bihar are taking their jobs, they are committing theft in Mumbai and they are spoiling their Mumbai. People from UP and Bihar are being beaten by so called Mumbaikers(Only handful of Mumbaikers are spreading violance though). We talk about living in 21st century. Is this the sort of thinking which will take us to the top of the world? I have heard the complaints from the same Mumbaikers about the behavior of south indians(specially chennai) with the north indians. Will those mumbaikars think what they are doing right now? The logic which Raj Thakrey and many Mumbaikers give for this violance is the same as Americans give about Indians who are in US. The same Mumbaiker calls the behavious of Americans as racist but when he himself behaves the same back in India , he thinks that he is doing right. Aren't these double standards?
I thank God that he has called almost all the freedome fighters to Heaven because had they been alive today they would have wept on these type of events. They lost their live not for Mumbai but for India. Mr Raj Thakrey has also criticized Amitabh Bachchan. The fact of the matter is that Amitabh has given so much to India that Raj Thakrey cannot even think.So criticizing someone just because he has opened a school in UP and not in Mumbai can never be justified. By the way, how many schools Mr Raj has oepned in Mumbai?
I don't know what the government is waiting for.What else does it need to put Mr Raj behind the bars? Is the goverment scared of something or it is also playing its political cards? You never know about these politicians. My question is - why shouldn't everyone in the country who spreads or invokes violance on the basis of cast,region,language or religion be behind the bars? Shoudn't AMCHI INDIA be above AMCHI MUMBAI?

A man who walked

2008-02-06T20:50:00.000-08:00

White dresses and the behaviour of the players were the probable reasons for cricket to be called "Gentlemen's Game". After more than 100 years of international cricket, the dresses have changed and so has changed the behaviour of the players. Now a days, the matches are becoming more intensed by each day. It has become very tough for the players to maintain the honesty and spirit of the game in such fiercely fought contests. That's why there are only few players in contemporary world cricket who have still maintained the "Gentleman Spirit" of the game of cricket. Among such players, Adam Gilchrist is arguably on the top. He has been one of the greatest ambassadors of the game in last 10 years or so. He has a phenomenal record behind as well as in front of the wicket.He holds the world record of most number of dismissals by a wicket keeper as far as test cricket is concerned. Besides being such an outstanding cricketer, he has set the new standards of honesty in the game. Today, probably he is the only cricketer who walks back to pavilion without waiting for the decision from the umpire if he is out . He has set this standard in last 10 years and no one in the world has shown the courage follow him.This shows the amount of courage and strength of the character which Gilly possesses.He is a member of the Australian team and he rarely sledges...isn't that surprising? He is a perfect answer to those who think that sledging is a necessary part of aggression. Though he doesn't sledge, he is still one of the most aggressive players of mordern cricket.There are some players who are also carrying the spirit of game to newer heights. Sachin Tendulkar,Anil Kumble,Shaun Pollock,Brett Lee are some of those names but one thing which puts Gilly above all of them is his habit of walking. Probably the same habit has inspired him to retire from the cricket even when everyone wanted him to be on the field.Gilly's retirement is one of the most graceful retirements of modern cricket.

There is no doubt that he will be remembered as one of the greatest wicket keepers and one of the most explosive batsmen the world has ever produced but he should also be remembered as "A man who walked"................shouldn't he?

Bharat Ratna - Ek khoj

2008-01-27T20:11:00.000-08:00

Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award of India. But if I see the list of the awardees for last 53 years since the award started, I see every reason to doubt that the list has a number of awardees who probably did not qualify for the Bharat Ratna. The irony is that the father of our nation "Mahatma Gandhi" is not on that list. The reason initially was that there was no provision of posthumous award when the award started in 1954. This posthumous clause was added in 1955, but aren't we still having a list of Bharat Ratna awardees without Gandhiji's name in it? Names like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi are there .Do these two names have contributed to the society more than Gandhiji? And remember these two are not the only such names in the list.
This year there were more than one names which were discussed rather proposed for bharat ratna by our honorable politicians. Vajpayee,Kanshiram,Mulayam Singh,Narayanmurthy and few more are some of those names. But did I hear someone saying Gandhiji? Should one be given Bharat Ratna because his current party head says that he was one of the greatest sons of India? Should one be given Bharat Ratna because someone from his party claims that he has followed the path of J.P.Narayan? I think highest civilian award should not be given at least for these reasons.Recommendation for Vajpayee and Narayanmurthy seems to be some what logical. Vajpayee has contributed a lot as a poet. He is the most respected politician in India for at least 17 years. He is unofficially rated as the best Indian orator who put Indian views in United Nations. Narayanmurthy has been the face of Indian IT which has been the driving factor in Indian Economy in last decade or so. But if someone takes my words, no one should be given the Bharat Ratna before Gandhiji. If there is still any technical hurdle(which I don't see at this point of time), make ammendmends in Bharat Ratna statute.

The reason for my support to Gandhiji's name is that I am not able to remember even a single indian who has been able to even touch the status and greatness of Gandhiji in more than 100 years. Do u remember any such name?

Ghar ya Makan

2008-01-21T16:24:00.000-08:00

Information technology has been the driving force of indian economy for at least last 5 years if not more than that.This industry has provided the opportunity to the younger India to go to western countries a lot more easily. And the foremost goal for the majority of young aspirants is to earn money.They earn in dollars or pounds and live a comparatively easy lives. Some of them decide to stay here forever but there are many who want to go back to India after a certain period. The main thinking of the second type of yougsters is to earn dollars or pounds and then spend them in ruppees in India. The biggest motivation for them to stay here is their plan of buying a grand MAKAN in India. They keep on earning the dollars or pounds by each day.By the passage of time their expectations start growing.
A guy who thought to buy a MAKAN of 20 Lacks or so, starts thinking of a MAKAN of 30 lacks within a year of his arrival in U.S. or U.K. Gradually this 30 goes to 40 and the count goes on and on and on. The increase of this count compells him to stay here for a longer time than he anticipated initially. The family keeps on calling from India asking him to come back but he is somehow able to convince even them about how important it is for him to stay here for a longer time. The reason which is given in most of the cases is that of MAKAN.
This is when the guy starts ignoring the difference between a GHAR and MAKAN. One he already has(GHAR) and the other he is aiming for in the future(MAKAN).One is the present and other is the future. One gives him the emotional support , the other one financial. One gives him the place in hearts, the other one in the so called high society. Even parents don't say anything because they also want their son to live a grand life but somewhere in their hearts they feel like they are missing a lot in their life. In today's society it is impossible to leave the temptation of MAKAN but that should not be at the cost of a GHAR. There has to be a balance between the weightages given to GHAR and MAKAN. One has to keep in mind that there is no point in getting a grand MAKAN at the cost of a small GHAR. One should keep in mind that 1 year for which one came from India doesn't become 10 or 15 or even more then that. So guys, go for the MAKAN but
"Let not ambition of MAKAN mock the emotions of a GHAR".

Who can avoid another Sydney

2008-01-07T18:03:00.000-08:00

So much has been written about what has happened in last seven days in Australia. Most of the indians are of the opinion that Steve Bucknor has some personal agenda against the indian team. But inspite of watching his faulty decisions for more than 4 years now, I still hope that he does not have any personal agenda against India. Otherwise, before 1999 also he had stood in indian matches and performed pretty well. He was categorized as one of the best umpires world cricket has produced. His name started to be taken with the likes of Dickie Bird and David Shephard.
Even if we admit that he has a personal agenda against India, can we imagine any reason for it? One of the reason which is frequently given is that Ganguly gave him a rating of 0 out of 5 after 03-04 series.But this does not seem to be convincing since after that series Bucknor personally apologised from sachin for his decisions against him. So if some umpire has courage to apologise for his decisions against a player, should we still think he runs a personal agenda against that team? I think ...NO.
Now the question arises - Is bucknor not guilty of stopping India from becoming the first team in last few years to defeat Australia on its own soil in test matches ? The answer is - NO. He is 100% guilty for that. But the reason in my opinion is something else. The reason might be his age . Probably he is not able to sight the ball and hear the snicks properly. Probably he is not able to handle the pressure created on umpires by the technology.Probably his ego has stopped him from referring the decisions to the third umpire. Probably he does not want to admit that he is not competent enough to stand in test matches at least because test matches demand for tonnes of concentration and stamina. And above all, he is definitely too old to stand in an internatinal match.
Definitely india has every reason and right to ask from ICC that Bucknor should not be standing in further matches which India will play.According to me also, bucknor has neither logical nor moral right to stand in any of the indian matches. Moreover I would love to watch his farewell from international cricket umpiring within a week or two. But is sacking of bucknor really going to improve the situation? my answer is again - No. Because tomorrow some other umpire will come and give the same type of "Historical" decisions against any other team(though I m sure the team on receiving end will never be australia). So who can solve this situtation? My answer is - ICC.
Actually the problem with ICC is that it is not able to decide whether technology should be fully implemented in the game or it should not at all be used. The solution is that either don't use the technology at all or use to to its fullest.
In first case if the techonolgy is not used at all, hawk eyes, ultra slow motion and all should not be allowed so that no one knows whether the decision is right or wrong and in that case umpire's decision can be the final and correct decision. No one is going to question the decision(provided mark benson and steve bucknor get the farewell in next week or so) given by the umpire.This is something which used to happen before earlier nineties.In this case no matter whether the decisions will be right or wrong but there will not be any questioning about them.
The second option is that technology is given the full hand in decision making. Third umpire is given the right to overrule the decision given by the field umpires. I don't think anything wrong in it , since third umpire is also an umpire.....isn't he? And if an umpire helps another umpire...nothing wrong in it.If simon tauffel can call peterson back to the crease after watching the replay on the big screen , why can't the third umpire has a right to do so? ICC is plannnig to allow the captains to appeal against maximum of 3 decision in an innings. But what if the fourth decision is also wrong? The only solution to this is to give the authority to the third umpire to overrule the field umpires.
Another prospect is that ICC pannel has no umpire from India ...while at one time AV Jayprakash and Venkatraghwan used to be in that list. Venkatraghwan has taken the retirement(Mr bucknor ...u should read this sentence) but where is Jayprakash? He was removed from the pannel. Jayprakash did not have such a bad match in his entire career. Then why he is out of the pannel and bucknor is still enjoying umpiring on the field? So i think ICC needs to be held responsible for the debacle that has happened in the last one week on the cricket field and it is only ICC who can avoid another sydney in the future.But I doubt that ICC will do anything........................

Punish the real racist

2007-12-27T16:30:00.000-08:00

Australians can say MotherFu..... on the cricket field(they go even beyond that) but if they complain that you called their player "Monkey", no matter whether there is any evidence for it or not, u are going to be banned for 3 test matches because ICC says that there is no place for racism in the cricket.And if the ICC says so then it must be right,because ICC is an honorable organization. This is exactly what happened in the sydney test. It does not matter whether umpires heard anything or not, whether microphones caught anything or not and whether there was any video of lip reading or not but if Ponting and Clark say that they heard Bhajji saying Monkey, Bhajji might have definitely said it because Ponting and Clark are honorable men(though very soon I will discuss the reliability of World conquering australiaan team and specially Ponting and clark). Also it doesn't matter what umpires think about on field behaviour and what the cricketers across the world think about it but if Mike Proctor says Bhajji should be punished, Bhajji should be punished because yes.....Mike Proctor is an honorable man.

Bhajji was banned for three test matches for the crime he never committed. Mike proctor himself gave a statement that no umpire had heard anything, no microphone had recorded anything. Now only Mike Proctor can tell the basis of the punishment given to Bhajji.It is necessary now for India to go all out in this case and they should not be ready for anything less than lifting the ban from Bhajji and removing the "Racist" word from the records(if it has been anywhere used for Bhajji). The team has shown the right attitude in completing the match but refusing to play further unless the ban is lifted.This is the kind of attitude which is needed if India or better say Asian countries want to fight to the partial ICC. And moreover let us ask the australians.....who was the first player in international cricket to be banned for racist remarks. If they don't know let me tell them. It was Daren Lehman and we all know where does he belong to.I don't mean to say that all australians are that way but still it forces us to think about their attitude. And ban on Daren was fully justified bacause he himself admitted his fault and asked for apology from Sri Lanka team to save himself from a 8 match ban . He succeeded in it and was banned for 5 matches.

I can't find any better time to count some great justices which Mike Procter, the honorable man, has done to asian players.In the current series yuvraj was asked for the explaination because he stood on the crease even after he was given out. But why was ponting not questioned when he showed the bat to the umpire to suggest that the ball touched his bat first not pad?
In the year 2003, Mr. hounerable(Mike Proctor) imposed a 5 match ban on Rashid Latif for appealing for a catch which he actually grouded. And that might be a good decision because that might have hurt the spirit of gentlemen's game. But why the same Mr. honorable did nothing when Ponting claimed for a dhoni catch which was grounded in process of holding it. Mr. hounerable can give the argument that umpires overruled that catch . But what about the catch which was taken by Great Michael Clark and certified further by ponting and in this case Ganguly had to walk back to the dressing room. Did Mr. honorable take any action against them? We all know the answer. I don't think anyone can doubt that Latif's and Ponting's case were the same. But the actions were not the same. Why?

Same Mike Procter was criticized the way he handled the match between Pakistan and England when Pakistan were wrongly accussed of ball tempering. Many still believe that the match could have been completed, had procter behaved in more pro active and responsible way. Now based on the above three incidents(out of many other, all of them cannot be mentioned here) why should Mr. Proctor himself not be accussed of racism. Why he should not be punished for taking the decisions against a particular colour. Is it a coincidence that I am not able to remember any of the decisions which he took against a particular color, or is it something else?

I think if the ban on Bhajji is lifted(without which India should not play further), bhajji should file a defamation case against Ponting, Symonds and Mike Procter. BCCI should lodge a written complaint to ICC for a hard hard actions against Mike procter because lifting the ban means that ICC thinks that Mike Procter was wrong in making decisions and Bhajji suffered a lot because of that. Will BCCI and ICC will do what everyone of us expects them to do?....we all know the answer.