Our Funarena!

Getting Fretting Seething Fed Up!

2022-12-01T15:44:00.009+05:30

It has become, particularly after the pandemic-driven desperation, extremely unsavory, unhealthy and irritating to avail of or buy any service or product from any service provider or business unit, ranging from an innocuous cup of tea to medical services, because once you do so which you cannot possibly avoid the marketing hawks of the concerned agencies will keep on bombarding you with text messages, WA posts, emails and also voice interactive or even live voice calls with no deadline for a most desired end, perhaps it's set to continue till the end of you or of the world! They holler and hammer you to rate them, recommend them, fill up feedback forms, take surveys and what not, and of course to continue buying from them. This is aside from the hawks of the bank/insurance/financial agencies who stop at nothing to lure you in, offering cards and personal loans even to hapless senior citizens, and the infuriatingly incessant reminders to pay up regular dues from about a month before the due dates, even though you've been extremely sincere in paying up on time everytime! Add to it the storm of the fraudsters who egg you on endlessly to click their dangerously spurious links.

Particularly irksome are the brazen advertizing from the health service providers and medicine providers. Their messages on your personal accounts do not at all seek to hide their open invitation to you to fall sick asap, preferably seriously enough, and that it's evident that it's them only who would be deliriously happy if you oblige them! Well, on my part I immediately block their accounts or numbers, but the clever foxes change their accounts or numbers instantly and never even indulge themselves in commercial breaks!

I've written about such issues quite a few times earlier too. What else to do? This perhaps gives me some vicariously avenging delight. If this is going to be the order of the digital age I'd have nothing of that! But how? I see no option of any kind.

Can you think of any?

All the Unknown Authors’ Money!

2022-11-29T16:56:00.003+05:30

We’ve been very much used to lament ‘all the taxpayers’ money’ whenever we come across some embezzlement of public funds or plain acts of bribery and corruption. In this piece we’ve decided to confront a new but emerging phenomenon as should be clear from the title given. That day during a writer-authors’ conference one author made a disturbing observation on or perhaps lamented that ‘nowadays the number of authors has exceeded the number of readers’! That observation instantly found a sympathetic supporter in none other than this writer; because I’d dwelt on this post-modern phenomenon quite often and I’d even extended this realization to ‘there are more singers than listeners nowadays’ and of that kind. However, I don’t intend to analyze the nitty-gritty of such phenomena here apart from just saying that such brazenly emerging facts of life have been owed entirely to the social media and all digital formats that convinced a huge chunk of the users that they could indeed write and can be veritable authors, and due to which there’s been a tremendous boost in the recent decade in the self-publishing sector, indie sector, training agencies about how to write a book, formation of more and more award-giving organizations and in the advertising/marketing-of-books sector.

*I think this above mention is more than enough to indicate the kind of money the authors, unknown obviously, have been made to shell out in their dream of becoming successful authors. First, if they are not fully convinced by their skills embedded in social media posts they spend money on learning how to write a book in both fiction and non-fiction genres or how to write a novel or how to write a children’s book or whatever.

*Second, they spend a sizeable amount on their hard-earned money or in the case of the fortunate ones surplus money on publishing their books through the self-publishing or independently or hybrid publishing companies. Now, even though books should be considered as the genuine assets of any publishing company by promoting which they only stand to gain the maximum, such publishers put the onus on the authors on every possible opportunity of squeezing more and more money out of the hapless authors: like asking the authors to buy authors’ copes after dishing out the miserly complimentary copies or none at all; promote their books through marketing at their expense; asking for more money on the authors’ intention to change the cover page design or the blurbs or anything; asking for additional funds for reviews and press publicity; asking for astronomical amounts just to include their books in the international book fairs; and so on.

*Third, the authors, unknown mind you, are always vulnerable because after publishing their books they’d naturally want those to be read by as many as possible and to get some feedback, and therefore they easily fall into the ‘squeezing traps’ mentioned above. The publishers concerned understand this craving and so they keep on organizing interactive author events for which, again, they ask the authors to shell out more money just to attend and much more if they want to interact or launch their books or give self-promotion speeches cum display or participate in panel discussions.

*Fourth, the unknown authors never give up hope even after being handed out no-sales reports for months/years, and they naturally crave for some official recognition at least. Therefore, they give in to the lure of the award-giving companies some of whom sell the awards directly while others disguise it as taking the money for nomination/registration/participation fees, with some of them, again, are cruelly brazen enough to charge the authors even for nominating their books without a guarantee to win the awards. In the good old days authors, both known and unknown, used to get nominated for awards and get good prize money on winning the awards; but now one has to nominate oneself and that too after parting with a good sum of money.

*And not the least, although a few lucky writers, unknown of course, do get published by the traditional publishing houses who don’t charge money for the favor, these traditional publishing houses know very well that these guys are unknown entities or rather nonentities and so they do nothing to promote such books imposing the burden of the same plus innumerable ‘paid self-promotion drives’ on the already heavily-taxed authors.

While there’s no escape from the squeezing entrapment for which I cannot give any cure simply for the fact that every author has the right to aspire for attention or fame or recognition everything is not as bleak as seemingly suggested here. There are now several international digital self-publishing platforms like the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) where an unknown writer/author can publish their books absolutely free of charge and in the case of KDP they get both e-book and paperbacks published with a free e-book enrollment in KindleUnlimited. Of course, the authors, as usual, crave for their books to be read and generate regular sales, and for that that they go on spending on advertising and marketing. The good thing is that on such marketing exercises one need not go for huge budgets and on account of the low-cost ads they can very well earn well through sales or being read on KNEP through nominal spending.

One must remember that even otherwise, meaning without having to go to make oneself an author by oneself only, every author or every book cannot expect to make it big; the tag of bestsellers is more of a magic than a thumping reality even for the celebrity authors. To not give up and keep on writing against all odds must have two basic considerations: that you are a writer by profession or passion or both, possibly making a living out of it, and it’s not just a hobby or pastime or ego; and that whether you are rich or not you must maintain a strict tab on your spends and expected earnings, preventing yourself from going over the top to finally succumb miserably to the luring offers from the publishers/trainers/marketers/reviewers/award-givers and so on. To end more positively, there's now no shame in self-publishing or indie publishing or anything of that kind; a good book can be a success irrespective of the platforms used.

[Disclaimer: All the celebrity authors and all the authors that have made it big irrespective of the platforms chosen are respectfully excluded from this rather weird preview. And above all, this is not at all about complaining, it’s only about a fact of life in post-modern digital age.]

Professional of the Homely Variety!

2022-11-24T22:41:00.007+05:30

He is of light medium build with specks of beard littering his round face and a balding head. He has a soft but monotonously lingering way of talking and is often not able or rather willing to concentrate on his work for more than say ten minutes; however, he, in his late fifties, doesn't offend his clients easily and manages to sail through on most occasions. Gunesh is a DTP operator with specialization in the vernacular languages which makes him stay in good demand. He works from his home that is dominated by his proactive better half. And this particular fact of his life does cause quite a bit of inconvenience to his clients. We have some information about a lady who's been suffering because of Gunesh's homely habits that include running off on a daily basis on various errands and desires of his wife even as clients who'd struggled hard to get the appoinments sit on in his homely chamber.

By some quirk of fate the said lady who stays in a far-off city from Gunesh's got herself entangled in a project with him. And the project has just entered the seventh year without any tangible sign of completion. The lady plans her occasional visits to Gunesh's city and accordingly fixes up a few days work with him, begging him for the favor in a bid to complete the work; but everytime, invariably, Gunesh gets busy during those days and manages to keep the project pending still.

The exasperated lady now decides that enough is enough. She plans one full week's visit and phones Gunesh in advance to sit with her continuously for a week to finish the work at any cost. As usual Gunesh shows no concern. He nonchalantly informs her that during that week the marriage of his immediate neighbor's daughter is to be solemnised and since traditional marriages in parts of Eastern India are elaborate affairs he will be extremely busy for at least five days.

The infuriated lady mocks him, "What kind of professional you are? How could anyone afford to not work for five full days for a wedding in the neighborhood?"

"That's very rude, madam! You don't understand! We're very close! And even if I plan to work I can't, because the wedding pandal extends to my workplace!" Gunesh replies sullenly.

"Why can't you understand that the project needs to be completed! I'm paying you regularly and yet...!"

"In that case take away whatever is in my computer and finish it with some other expert!" Gunesh plays his trump card, definitely not for the first time.

The lady gets worried knowing that finding another language operator is not going to be easy at all. On the other hand this trip of hers cannot be cancelled as she has already lined up few other urgent engagements too. There's no option but to coax him, she realises.

"After seven long years it's cruel to suggest that. Okay! Help your neighbour and enjoy the ceremony. But please consider my plight too! Please give me at least three days after your five days so that we can complete it in my next visit!"

"That's not possible at all, madam! It's not entirely because you just mocked and insulted my professional integrity but because after five days of compelling festivities I will be dead tired! I'd need at least two days' full rest! And one day's work is not gonna help you much! Right? So keep it for your next trip and I'll try my best to spare some time for you!"

Football Fever Next: The Much-Awaited FIFA World Cup-2022 Kicks Off from November 20 in Qatar!

2022-11-15T20:37:00.001+05:30

The FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) World Cup-2022, the quadrennial international football tournament, is set to begin from Sunday, 20 November till Sunday, 18 December in Qatar. The much-awaited event, coincidentally the 22nd version on 2022, has several other features: the first time ever it's being held in the Arab world or in the Middle East; the first time it's being organized during the northern autumn season (winter in India) instead of the usual summer months of May, June and July, and this decision was taken considering the intense heat conditions in Qatar during the summer; the FIFA World Cup event returns to Asia after 20 years and only the second time it's being hosted entirely in Asia; and it is the last tournament to be held with 32 teams, the decision finalized in 2017 to expand it to 48 teams from FIFA-2026 to be hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico. The inaugural match will be between host Qatar and Equador at 9.30 PM IST on 20 November, 2022.

FIFA World Cup-2022 will have 8 Groups with 4 teams each and at the Group stage teams in each group will clash with each other on a round robin basis during November 20--December 3. The top two teams in each Group will progress to the last 16 or the pre-quarterfinal stage with each match on a knockout basis during 3--7 December. The quarterfinals are scheduled during 9--11 December; the semifinals on 14 and 15 December; the third place playoff match on December 17; and the Final on 18 December at 8.30 PM. Barring the first two days and an occasional day thence all days will have 4 matches a day--the first match starting at 3.30 PM and the next three till past midnight that is 12.30 AM the next day. These timings are for India only. There will be 64 matches in all and channel Sports 18 has bagged the telecast and streaming rights in India. This time the tournament has a reduced timeframe of 29 days.

Therefore, in India this time the football fever will start from the afternoon hours every day instead of mostly the late night hours which had always had special effects of lightening, thunderstorms and pounding rains. France are the defending Champions of 2018, and it's time for you now to fix your favorite nations, teams and superstar players to cheer for all the way. Over to super soccer!

England White-Ball World Champions! And What of Pakistan and India?

2022-11-13T21:07:00.003+05:30

After being crowned with the ODI World Champions title in 2019 England today has completed the global white-ball supremacy by defeating Pakistan by 5 wickets in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Final in Melbourne. Pakistan has almost done an India just managing to post a meagre target of 138 and consuming 15 overs to score 100 runs after being put into bat by England like in the semi-final against India; but the target came to be even less than India's 169 thanks to Hardik Pandya. However, their famous pace bowlers gave England a hard time and but for the resurgent Shaheen Afridi's injury who was unable to fully bowl the last two overs of his quota the match could've gone down the wire at the death.

Like India, Pakistan openers failed once again to build the momentum and other Pak batsmen stumbled along, scoring a pitiful 18 runs in the last four death overs. But again, unlike India, they attacked England batsmen from the first over putting up two slips and not at all asking their wicketkeeper to come up to the stumps as if, in India's case, Bhuvneshwar Kumar got converted into a spinner. Like in the semi-final against India the magic-spinner Adil Rashid of England cast a spell over the Pak batsmen, taking vital wickets and not giving away too many runs. The supposed countries of the legendary spinners and masterclass-strokers of spin have failed miserably to do the needful in the respective matches.

Thanks to the Pak diehards we at least had a worthwhile Final keeping us glued till the last moments. Both the semi-finals were more agonizing in terms being extremely one-sided rather than only disappointing the respective fans: in the first it was kind of a cricketing enigma as to why New Zealand were so intimidated, not able to play even their usual in all departments of the game; and in the second the Indian scoring strategy, the bowling tactics and changes and the overall defense system were eye-opening examples about how not to play cricket.

The once-upon-a-time colonial masters of both countries, mercifully, were not much discriminatory in dealing with them: defeating one by 10 wickets and the other by 5 wickets; and not at all resorting to the famous divide-and-rule policy which, unfortunately, continues to dominate politics of both countries.

Any solace for the two Asian cricket giants? Well, first of all they must realise the fact that none of them looked the Champion stuff from the beginning of the tournament: Pakistan were on the brink thanks to their incredible defeats to India and Zimbabwe and finally they l made it to the semi-final due to another cricketing enigma of the Champion-looking-stuff South Africa losing to the Netherlands, and in a historical perspective, Pakistan always seem to make it big at the sole expense of New Zealand; and riding on their freaky wins over Pakistan and Bangladesh India only needed to defeat the Netherlands and Zimbabwe which they did convincingly after being rendered clueless by the Protea pacers to notch up 8 points-- the only team in the tournament to do so. However, in Pakistan's favor we must say that they tried very hard, winning three successive do or die matches convincingly and then only doing the waiting for the miracles, sort of.

Secondly and as a corollary to the first both countries must feel contented that one made it to the semi-final which was the best possible result for their 'playing' team and the other made it to the Final against all odds and fighting it out very well too.

Last but not the least, both countries do have their special areas of country-specific solace: Pakistan performing excellent in the shortest format despite not being a part of the 'empowering' IPL; and India having the solace of being able to defeat Pakistan, however incredibly. The biggest fools are those cricket mandarins and those crazy fans who expected and prayed vociferously for a India-Pakistan Final: pure business considerations for the former and the sheer frolic of the usual but rare subcontinental rivalry for the latter.

The Blame Stops Here!

2022-11-07T15:47:00.006+05:30

For anything bad that happens to us we tend, almost reflexively, to blame others for that. However, for all the good things that also happen to us we gratefully take the full credits, unable or mostly unwilling to appreciate the possible role of others in that. For example, when I slip on a wet spot of the tiled floor I reflexively thank God and my protecting angels for preventing a fall that could've been serious, if I am of the appreciating type. But someone of the blaming type would instantly burst into a furious verbal spree, blaming the carelessness of someone spilling water on the floor and going even to the extent of alleging a conspiracy to kill him or her.

Some people are always in the search for a blameworthy person to pass on the blame for his/her concerned failures or mishaps. This is despite knowing for sure that the supposed failures or mishaps were creations of his/her own, entirely.

It's really unfortunate that most people spend whole of their lives blaming others for everything. It never helps them in any way, it only makes them lead miserable and cantankerous lives. Wise people always tell us to sincerely acknowledge the fact that all our successes and failures remain our responsibilities, ours own only. However, I am not trying to moonlight as a preacher or adviser. I am only trying very hard to abide by, myself. So, we should always concentrate on the antonyms of 'blame' and not try to go on finding where to put the blame. Amen!

Populated Movies Revisited!

2022-11-05T13:24:00.004+05:30

Many years back I wrote a piece titled 'Populated Movies' that was later included in my first book 'Laugh and Let Laugh' in 2017. In that piece I argued that since India is an overpopulated country with high unemployment rates the creative art forms do adjust to that reality by trying to generate maximum employment opportunities in their projects. For example the goons in a mainstream Hindi movie: whereas just one bullet through the head by one villain is enough to kill the hero or the protagonist, the chief antagonist or the main villain sends an army of goons armed with an assortment of weapons for the job. I argued that this is done with a view to generate more employment. But I was mistaken, and so I just want to admit this here.

My argument got almost fatally shot after I watched all the three movies of the 'John Wick Franchise' (2014 onward). I failed to keep count, but hundreds of hapless goons got killed in each of the movies at the hands of the 'legendary' assassin cum killing machine John Wick (played by Keanu Reeves). The goons keep on appearing out of what the moviemakers imply as the underworld of citizen assassins and which in fact threatens to take over the whole world. Of course there are some other movies too: 'Red' (2010) in particular where a secret agency launches veritable armies to kill a few retired agents. But John Wick Franchise should still qualify for the world record in this, barring the war movies, of course. With the upcoming John Wick-Chapter 4 in early 2023 this should not be a problem at all.

Now, America or for that matter the whole of the developed West doesn't have population issues, although does have unemployment niggles from time to time, particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic. Therefore, my argument of 'employment generation optimization' falls flat here. And so, we'll have to focus our attention on the other usual factors like wholesome booming entertainment that applies worldwide, and with special reference to America, factors like spreading the gun ideology and its consequent aspirations. Just another argument only, mind you!

Courteously Yours!

2022-11-03T13:56:00.001+05:30

Breakfast at the dining table. Two ladies are talking in a rapt engagement. They've finished breakfast and the teas, but perhaps the interesting subject of their conversation keeps them engaged still. The younger lady belongs to the host family while the elder lady happens to be a surprise guest. At this moment the younger lady is describing something animatedly. The elder lady listens resting her hands on the table and bending forward to the other lady. Suddenly, a tiny droplet of the younger lady's saliva shoots out and unfortunately, lands directly on the listening lady's right forearm. She, still in the act of listening, looks mournfully at the droplet, but is too courteous lest it draws the other lady's attention and make the whole innocuous happening unnecessarily embarassing. It is not at all known though if the talking lady notices it or misses it, she as innocent as the other lady.

There has to be a bit of squirming inside the affected lady's mind, obviously. As the the talk doesn't seem to be ending soon the listening lady moves her victimised hand, almost as courteously imperceptibly as is possible, slides it slowly down the side of the table and rubs it on the hanging edge of the tablecloth.

As the keen observer of the unfortunate proceedings I do struggle to keep my composure too, and for the sheer love of courtesy do I try very hard indeed to not let any of the ladies become aware or conscious of anything. Fortunately the COVID-19 was not lurking anywhere near us then.

Site is Accumulating Historical Value! Ha! Ha!

2022-10-28T22:31:00.000+05:30

My first thought was to write on the spoilsport rains, a bit discriminatory too, that are adversely impacting teams like South Africa, England, New Zealand etc of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup in Australia. But then got pulled back: what's the use? who are going to read it? Therefore just abandoned the idea and decided to have some fun--if not with you then definitely with ourselves only. Don't worry! I am not going to bore you again with age-old lament of not having readers; instead I'll point out a positive thing about this site and will be very brief.

Well, in the last few weeks I've been noticing a surge of interest in the ancient posts of this blog and a healthy unabashed contempt for our newer pieces. Of course, if this surge is caused by genuine readers or bots or casual surfers or whatever is not at all known. In light of my consistently persistent experience I can tell you that the number of genuine readers for our site is less than or equal to ten only. Therefore, the 'surge' is caused beyond doubt by the newer varities as we indicated just now, and some of the newer varieties could indeed be readers too. However, even in the cases of the ten or less consistent visitors and the new visitors I'm not at all sure if they read or pass over. In fact, I apologize for erroneously referring to them as readers or calling some of them as genuine readers. I don't have enough evidence of proving any of such premises.

But anyhow, the surge is real! Doesn't matter at all if the visitors are reading or just are digging those up. I've promised you my positivity! So, I take it as a resurgence of interest in the olden, maybe golden, writings of the site. And I carry on by saying that our site is gaining on historical value which is very satisfying indeed, irrespective of the 'being read' or 'not read' syndrome. This development also gives us a direct and overwhelming advantage: we can just leave the site basking in its historical worth and not bother about adding anything new to it. Ha! Ha! Ha! 😀

T20 WC-2022: Virat Plays His Most Incredible Innings Ever As India Win the Most Incredible Match Ever Against Pakistan!

2022-10-23T19:26:00.006+05:30

More than ninety thousand spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) watched spellbound as Virat Kohli scripted his most incredible innings ever to propel India to an incredible victory over archrivals Pakistan in their opening Group-2 match of the Super-12 stage of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup today. India-Pakistan matches are always exciting, nail-biting and full of ups and downs. However, in my lifetime experience of watching Indo-Pak cricket today’s match is perhaps the most incredible one, considering the unbelievable climax. When most of Indian fans, including this writer prominently, were almost giving up on Virat Kohli, he has chosen today’s match to prove what champion matter he’s made of. He has made the impossible possible, snatching the most improbable victory from the jaws of sure defeat. No doubt, he has thus bettered the memories of Sachin Tendulkar against Australia in Sharjah. Well, Virat’s innings of 82 in 53 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes is not without precedents, but in the context of the depressing circumstances of the Indian chase it is momentous and unforgettable. Giving him the most enthralling company is of course Hardik Pandya—their match-winning partnership worth 113 runs.

India started the match in tremendous spirit capturing two early Pak wickets to Arshdeep after Rohit won the toss and put Pakistan into bat. As is usual in an encounter of the archrivals Pakistan recovered thanks to Iftikhar Ahmed and recovered again after being reduced to 98/5 in 14 overs and 120/7 in the 17^th over to post a very competitive target of 160 thanks to Shan Masood. In reply India lost both the openers at the pitiful score of 10 in the fourth over, and when India were reduced to 31/4 in the 7^th over even the most optimistic fans gave up hope despite the fact that the very capable Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya were at the crease still, basically because the scoring rate was extremely poor and the asking rate climbing all the time. As India labored to reach just 45/4 runs in full 10 overs it became too much to expect them to score 115 in just 60 balls more. To confound matters both Kohli and Pandya looked nonchalant and were going about in ways that suggested they themselves had given up any kind of a chasing dream.

If their total laidback approach was a clever ploy it really had its impact on the Pak players who apparently thought the victory was theirs and they went on perhaps a bit complacently, just trying to contain the batsmen with the spinners to make the target go beyond their reach. Pak captain Babar also made the cardinal mistake of not keeping one of his strike pacers for the last over by bowling out Afridi, Naseem and Rauf. Of the Indian pair Pandya first showed signs of aggression after 10 overs were bowled and then, of course, Virat started attacking in the most spectacular manner. Yet, the run-ball equations continued to be uphill for India. And, the Indian fans who were starting to live up nearly gave up hope when India needed 48 runs in the last three overs; lived up again as Virat plundered Shaheen Afridi’s last over, the 18^th of the match; and finally got resigned to fate when India needed 28 runs in 8 balls. In that penultimate over by Rauf Kohli hit two mouth-watering sixes to bring the last-over target to an immensely possible 16 runs.

However, Babar did not have a strike pacer for the last over and he had to hand over the ball to Nawaz Mohammad who was hit robustly in his third over. But even then, the last over was the most eventful of the match. Pandya gets out first ball, India needing 16 in 5 now. Karthik comes in and takes a single—15 in 4. And Virat takes a couple—13 in 3. Next ball was hit by Virat for a six just missing the onside boundary fielder’s hands and the umpire declares a no-ball, leading to Pak protests and debates on the field—so then now it’s a very easy 6 in 3 balls. Next ball was a wide again--5 in 3 even as the free-hit ball remained to be bowled. In the free-hit ball Virat loses his stumps, but smartly runs three byes as the ball ricochets from the stump to third man, the umpire not heeding Pak protests—now it’s up to Karthik to seal the match by taking 2 runs in 2 balls.

Dinesh Karthik, however, gets out stumped in the fifth ball and Ashwin comes in needing 2 runs in the last ball. The most agitated bowler under extreme pressure Nawaz then bowls another wide and finally, India need 1 in 1 ball to win as by that time the match is already tied, open to a deciding super over, and Pak players coming in closer to prevent the single. Ashwin lifts the ball over the mid-off fielder and India win by 4 wickets. What a match! What an incredible victory! And what a start for an ‘experimenting’ Team India in their World Cup campaign! The scenes unfolding on the field indicated as if India had won the T20 World Cup-2022!

Questions still remain though about the selection of India’s playing eleven, particularly in regard to the pacers and the spinners. However, amid such incredible moments we leave the questions and instead join in the celebrations—Diwali, the Festival of Lights, happening tomorrow all over the country. Happy Diwali! Meanwhile on the first day of the Super-12 stage yesterday New Zealand scored the most emphatic win over the reigning Champions Australia and England beat Afghanistan in Group-1 matches. After a tough fight in the qualifying stage Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Ireland and Zimbabwe proceeded to the Super-12 while terribly inconsistent West Indies and an unlucky Namibia were eliminated.

Does Sourav Ganguly Need A Rehabilitation Package?

2022-10-22T15:13:00.002+05:30

It is a historical fact that cricketers from the Eastern and the North Eastern regions of the country rarely make it as big as Sourav Ganguly and get to represent Team India at the international level. We’re yet to have a cricketer from the states of North East India who’s made it to Team India. Therefore, when some player achieves this feat people of that particular state or region get ecstatic and their euphoria normally gets translated into a range of sentiments and emotions—positive most of the times, but can be darker at moments of adversity that, according to their perceptions, seem to affect their loved cricketer. I remember quite a few instances while I had been to Kolkata and happened to listen to the radio commentary of India’s test or one-day matches out on the streets. Invariably a person would come up to me and ask what the score was. I would reply India was batting and the score was this or that. On almost a reflex emotion the person would want to know, “Is Ganguly still batting?” If informed that Ganguly was out with a poor score s/he would grimace bitterly. Well, emotions or sentiments are produced among the most powerful people of the concerned state or region too, with the exception that most of such people of the political orientation would use those to score brownie points for their party or for self.

Now, Sourav Ganguly, one of the finest opening batsmen of world cricket and arguably the very first genuinely aggressive India captain, remains a living legend of Indian cricket irrespective of what the BCCI or anybody has done to him. What happened exactly? The BCCI had ‘denied’ him a second term as President of the Board. Why use ‘deny’? He had been the first cricketer to be appointed or elected as the BCCI President for a full three-year term and we all hailed his appointment as the most welcome step as far as the game of cricket was concerned. BCCI being the richest cricket box office of the world that jingles constantly politics had been a part and parcel of its elections with political bigwigs always craving positions therein and to have their followers in the important posts. In its eventful and often turbulent history over the decades the BCCI had never had a President for consecutive two terms. Therefore, it should be gracefully accepted by all that to be able to serve the BCCI for full three years is more than enough honor for any individual of any level of celebrity.

Did Ganguly deserve a second term on merit by way of his outstanding achievements in the preceding three years? There’s not enough clinching evidence here. Of course, he had taken a lot initiatives in promoting the domestic cricket arena and started the first ever day-n-night Pink Tests in India in 2019; he’d brought in legendary veterans, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, into active cricket roles; and he’d clinched the never-before business deal for the IPL recently. On the dubious side, if we can call it so, the huge Virat-captaincy controversy could’ve been handled much better, and in our view, he allowed the endless policy of experimentation in Team India cum mindless changes in the Indian batting order go on under the very nose of Rahul Dravid who was appointed Team India coach by him only. The pandemic did prove to be a big obstacle for Sourav no doubt, but the IPL promotion almost overshadowing international cricket that has been always the policy of the BCCI went on unhindered though and Ganguly just fell or had to fall in line.

As per media reports Sourav Ganguly did expect a second term and on being not given he looked irritated and discontented. However, it’d be puerile to think that Ganguly was not aware of the underbelly of politics in the BCCI elections, particularly in view of the fact that his own appointment in 2019 was a last-minute decision, and if it was not so he should’ve been proactive enough to fulfill the desires of the powers-that-be, particularly in the arena of West Bengal politics. Apparently, he lost the BCCI votes, but won the conscience vote which should’ve made him happy. Besides, he was offered the Chairman post of the IPL that he turned down as a demotion, again justifying his principles.

As a natural outcome of the region-specific sentiments we mentioned earlier the ruling party of West Bengal, Trinamool Congress (TMC), has been raising a hue and cry over the underplay of politics in ‘denying’ Ganguly a second term. Now in recent days, TMC head and Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee had appealed to none other than the Prime Minister of India to consider Ganguly for the post of the Chairman of the ICC which was also reportedly denied to Ganguly by the Board. This is hardly better than begging for alms and I think it’s pathetic considering the stature of this brilliant and upright ex-cricketer. If you ask for alms you should do so for scores of ex-sportspersons who are languishing across nooks and corners of the whole country and are in extreme penury due to the lack of means to earn a living. And anyway, what’s so sacrosanct about the ICC Chairman’s post because everybody knows that it’s the BCCI who calls the shots in international cricket nowadays?

As we mentioned earlier Sourav Ganguly remains a living legend of Indian cricket and there’s absolutely no dearth of options for him in what to do next. In fact, days after the ‘denial’ Ganguly said in Kolkata that he’d been lucky to have served cricket admins in West Bengal and in India, and that such roles could not go on for eternity. It was reported recently that he was considering contesting the elections of Cricket Board of Bengal (CAB) again. Over the years Sourav Ganguly has been actively engaged in every possible sphere of activity in West Bengal or in India, both commercial and otherwise, and it’d be only matter of time before he decides what best to do next. Meanwhile, we must welcome the appointment of Roger Binny, another genuine cricketing gem and part of the 1983 World Cup winning Team India squad, as the President of the BCCI for the next three years and wish him all the luck for good work irrespective of the political pulls and triggers that just cannot be wished away.

India Post: Business Meet to Provide Logistic Solutions for Speedy Delivery of Parcels and Cargo!

2022-10-12T21:30:00.002+05:30

Maharashtra Postal Circle has today organized ‘Business Meet-2022’ in Mumbai with a view to announce the Circle’s new initiatives to its bulk customers in providing logistic solutions for the speedy delivery of parcels and cargo services. This Meet is a part of the National Postal Week-2022 being celebrated from 9^th to 13^th October with various daily activities wherein October 12 has been marked as the ‘Mails and Parcel Day’. The highlight of this Business Meet has been the presentation of the new initiatives in the presence of India Post’s major stakeholders from Mumbai and Navi Mumbai as regards the parcels and cargo services.

Amitabh Singh, Postmaster General (Mails & Business Development), made the presentation regarding the new initiatives taken up by the Department of Posts and apprised the Customers of the planned Logistic Post and Express Cargo Service revamp.

During the interactive session that followed discussions were held for ensuring better and speedy delivery performance, and also exploring new routes for the first-of-its-kind Rail Post Gati Shakti Project which had been initiated by the Western Railway in collaboration with India Post in Gujarat and Maharashtra earlier this year. Ganesh Sawaleshwarkar, Postmaster General, Navi Mumbai Region, made a very important point by emphasizing upon the need of better co-ordination between the Department of Posts and the Customs for speedy clearance of parcels at airports. If this objective is realized, this is bound to ease the woes of the concerned in near future.

More than top fifty stakeholders for Maharashtra Postal Circle from Mumbai and Navi Mumbai Region including the Election Commission, the Regional Passport office, Banking Institutions and other logistic providers, dealing in both Parcels and International mails, attended the meet. Pharmaceutical companies and Engineering product manufactures showed keen interest in the new Logistics solutions provided by the Department of Posts in co-ordination with the Indian Railways.

Veena Srinivas, Chief Postmaster General, Maharashtra Circle, presided over the Business Meet. Shrikant Deshpande, Chief Electoral officer of Maharashtra State and Dr. Rajesh Gawande, Regional Passport officer were also present on the occasion.

A special Diwali Greeting card was released on the occasion which will be available for sale to all citizens through selected Post offices in Maharashtra & Goa.

(Courtesy: Department of Posts, Maharashtra Circle.)

‘Echoes of Earth’ Festival is Back: Celebrate the Music of Mother Nature by Being Responsible!

2022-10-11T14:57:00.003+05:30

The ‘Echoes of Earth’ festival is righteously taglined ‘India’s greenest music festival’, because while the festival allows you to enjoy the musical presentations of renowned artistes from across the globe it primarily aims at making you a responsible human being of Planet Earth always caring for Mother Nature. The Year 2022 marks the grand return of the Festival with its fifth version to its home turf after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic. This year’s theme is centered around the ‘Circle of Life’ and the platform is set to showcase the spirit of five of India's most notable ecosystems through music, art, and stirring tales of how conservation and restoration have impacted people in the most healthy ways which are, in fact, the most urgent need of the hour in view of the looming climate change and global warming.

The festival is set to unfold at the Embassy Riding School, Bangalore, nestled amidst a sprawling green space of 180 acres. With inventive stages created from recycled material to curating eclectic music genres that are known to bring together a new-age listening audience along with the old-timers, the festival is set to bring back the essence of conscious lifestyle events that promotes mindfulness, sustainability and an alternate, circular lifestyle. The Echoes of Earth Festival begins its fifth edition on the 3^rd and 4^th December 2022. ‘Echoes of Earth’ is a multi-genre two-day event that celebrates the environment. Launched in 2016, it features solar-powered stages, no plastic zones, responsible waste disposal and reduction systems, and all installations made from recycled and up-cycled materials. No plastic or flex materials are used and a sapling is planted for every ticket sold. Sustainability has been a tool that has been instrumental in shaping the vision for the festival. Over the last 6 years, the festival has significantly decreased its carbon footprint through such initiatives. The onus this year is on regeneration, conservation, circular economy and how they can be used to build lifestyle events for the future.

Every year, the festival puts forth a theme, one that surrounds celebrating the Earth through newer, unexplored narratives. In its fifth edition, Echoes of Earth is bringing together stories of wildlife and nature conservation from the unexplored crevices of India’s diverse ecosystems through its theme ‘Circle of life’. This unique circle hosts a range of positive human impact stories that is empowering and uplifting the planet’s endangered species and landscapes. The circle can be best described as ‘A space that holds room for everyone and one where celebration has no pause. Circle of Life brings together over 40 local and international talents that are shaping the future of unique global sounds.

Festival director and a pioneer in sustainable lifestyle events, Roshan Netalkar explains this year’s theme, “Circle of Life is a concept that has been under works for years now. It mainly focuses on living life in moderation. We aim to rethink the use of our natural resources and to be mindful of the life that exists around us. This year’s festival hopes to elevate the experience we have created in the past through conversations, education, circular design that also encourages the recycling of our past year assets and finally to move toward becoming a carbon negative festival.”

Live events are making a comeback in ways unimaginable and Echoes of Earth in 2022 is set to create waves in multiple communities that are tied together by a passion for a cleaner, greener future; diverse music and distinct art. Unwinding and reveling in Mother Nature’s lap now has a name and it is no longer a distant echo. Around 150 artists have performed across the festival’s four editions so far. The headliners have included international and Indian electronic acts such as Arjun Vagale, FKJ, Kohra and Mathame. Among the activities and attractions are the solar-powered Big Tree stage, a flea market selling organic and sustainable products, and music and wellness workshops. Over the years, Echoes of Earth has won several live event industry awards including the 2019 EEMAX Global Award for Best Stage and Environmental Design and the 2020 WOW Asia Award for Festival of the Year—Art/Culture/Lifestyle.

(Courtesy: Press Release and Photos by oganizers The Other Circle.)

Is Team India Ready for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2022?

2022-10-07T14:28:00.002+05:30

It’s always opined by knowledgeable folks that when a car is kept sitting in the garage for months its maintenance suffers—ranging from battery disorders to even rusting in the body—not to speak of the atrocities heaped upon the inactive object by the rats. This means that all humans of various professions and even lifeless objects need to do what they’re meant to do, on a regular basis. Else, maintenance issues emerge leading to breakdowns of various types and escalation in the expenses. Cricketers are much more prone to such inactivity disorders, because it follows naturally that the more they play the fitter they get. Thanks to the experiments-cum-rest syndrome adopted religiously by the cricket management of India these basic principles have not been followed. As one of the results, the crux of the Indian bowling attack, Jasprit Bumrah who had been on indefinite rest, is out of the ICC Cricket T20 World Cup-2022. Now, the entire Team India management is in a daze, unable to take the final decision on Bumrah’s replacement. Unfortunately, things are getting confounded as quite a few of the main Indian pacers like Mohammad Shami, Deepak Chahar, and Mohammad Siraj etc. did not figure even in the experiments galore of late, but inexplicably figured in the list of reserves.

Confirming our worst fears the Team India experiments did not subside even during the three-match India vs. South Africa T20I Series, the last opportunity offered by the ICC to prepare. Of course, someone had to be tried for Bumrah’s back maintenance issues (despite the fact that he was rested again for the last match against Australia.) and particularly for assessing the replacement possibilities. But why on earth should Bhuvneshwar Kumar get rested again? Why on earth should they rest the coming-into-form batsmen, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, for the last encounter against South Africa as if they’d been hopelessly tired playing the well spaced-out five 20-over matches? Why on earth should they even think of Shreyas Iyer who had been abandoned in the most obsessive manner of late despite his selection as a reserve? Why on earth did they not push for a morale-boosting 3-0 victory over a clueless South Africa, instead of restoring the latter’s confidence by fielding a mindlessly self-defeating team? Again in hindsight, the 2-0 Series seal for India cannot be considered fully convincing as in the second encounter South Africa nearly chased out India’s fourth-highest total of 237 runs which underlined India’s consistent bowling woes.

We also fail to understand why on earth either the ICC or the BCCI should insist on having a one-day international series against South Africa at this juncture when all teams are on the way to Australia for the World tournament in the shortest format! Well, it seems to be helping the partially retained SA team to have a little more of batting and bowling practice to get a little more confident for the world event; but Team India, primarily the WC-selected Rohit franchise, had overwhelmingly ruled out the ODI Series and the obliging cricket board has fielded the not-forgotten Shikhar Dhawan franchise. Just look at the disarray of choices in the team—all the openers who’ve been abandoned from the experiments find themselves augmenting the batting order while even the ‘partly-experimented-then-abandoned’ bowlers like Ravi Bishnoi and Avesh Khan are back in the team without having any relevance for the World Cup.

So, apart from Bumrah, Jadeja and the lot, how well prepared Team India is for the World Cup? The batting order seems to be in good stead if the batsmen, particularly Rahul, Kohli and Pandya after the layoff, resume immediately from where they left. Selection of both Karthik and Pant in the playing eleven also seems to be a possibility and that is quite healthy. The bowling, however, is in extremely dubious territory. The often dropped-n-rested Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravichandran Ashwin would be expected to deliver immediately, if selected, as well as Pandya and Shami or Deepak or Siraj depending on the selection. The IPL rookies of Arshdeep and Harshal Patel would also be expected to reproduce some of their excellent spells seen in the recent matches. In the spinning arena Yuzvendra Chahal is always a candidate of glorious unpredictability whereas Axar Patel is indeed a tantalizing prospect as far as India’s bowling attack is concerned.

It’d all depend on how the eleven players finally perform on the field on the crucial days. Chance or sheer luck seems to have a better role to play than the recognized or otherwise capabilities of the players. The good thing is that Team India would still have a few practice matches to get ready when the qualifiers are on from 16^th October. As is usual in most of the world cricket tournaments India is going to start the campaign with the opening encounter against the archrivals Pakistan in the former’s favorite ground in Melbourne on October 23, 2022. Millions of Indian fans would expect their team to leave behind the Asia Cup-2022 legacy and fight it out diehard. Anyhow, you do get ready for the world cricket bonanza!

Durga Puja-2022 Heats Up Amidst Continuing Humid Heat!

2022-10-01T14:39:00.006+05:30

Kolkata is fully back to its old-normal ways after two long painful years as West Bengal's biggest festival Durga Puja heats up. Pandal hopping is in full flow with thousands on a spree of 'Thakur Dekha' (how many Goddess idols have you seen?) almost since the start of Navaratri. Although Durga Puja rituals start only from Mahashasthi which starts today, technically for all here Goddess Durga descends on earth on Mahalaya, the last day of Pitru Paksha, that is the eve for the beginning of the bright lunar phase or Shukla Paksha.

There are crowds thronging the major pandals, particularly from afternoon to late night every day, with their mobiles clicking non-stop, falling upon each other for a better view, the rush for the selfies in all available spaces, thronging all the eating joints to their fullest capacity and all the smiles. Celebration is the motif and soul of the festival. Married or unmarried couples of all ages who could be going through lots of strain and stress in the preceding months/years now suddenly find their spouses or partners emitting heavenly smiles before their mobile cameras in selfie mode. The smartly-dressed ladies do it the best possible way, posing in selfie mode for hours and in the process dishing out the sweet and heavenly smiles that their now-energised male partners never possibly witness easily, particularly on the home fronts.

There are hurdles too. The almost unbearable humid heat continues thanks to the near-miss meted out to Kolkata and some other parts of the state by the South West monsoon and the forecast of moderate to heavy rains in the coming days. Temperatures are around 35-degree C still, further worsened by the cloudy skies and up to 90% humidity. However, the unparalleled spirit and enthusiasm of the Bongs defies it all. They'll walk, commute and crowd endlessly, sweating and getting exhausted in the process. Then there is the policing! Perhaps fearing an extreme rush after the two-year COVID layoff some measures taken by the police were also extreme. Entry roads blocked on one side, at times quite unnecessarily. Then they allow you enter the Puja pandal on some lane and exit you on some unknown backside lane due to which many puja revelers lose their way like in a maze and in the pricess losing precious tine and missing out nearby pandals. But come what may, the hoppers would defy all and definitely won't have rains looking upon Maa Durga to grant their wishes.

Let the spirit of devotion and dedication prevail. Happy Durga Puja 2022!

The Celestial Messaging!

2022-09-28T11:39:00.000+05:30

It is a fact of life that we keep on getting celestial or divine messages from the invisible world—particularly during times when catastrophes/tragedies happening in or about to befall our family or locality or country and we might as well call these as intuition or premonition or telepathy or presentiment or the like. Most of the times we fail to decipher these in time; sometimes we understand but fail to act upon it and some other time we comprehend enough to prepare well for it. From at least three months prior to my father’s demise I had been having a very disturbing time—wanting desperately to go to him, be by his side; dreaming about him and at times having a hallucination of seeing him around. However, living quite far away from home, I failed to act upon it due to various external factors including a persistent financial strain. As was inevitable, he passed away one early morning and I could reach home only on the sixth day travelling for three days on an ordinary train as booking a flight those days was almost unthinkable. I joined my family, totally broke, depressed and inconsolable.

The first night we slept in my father’s bedroom. Early morning I woke up; there was an incessant chirping of a few house sparrows just outside the window. And I got a flash: my father was content and in peaceful rest, and that I should also feel happy, not to depress the atmosphere further. It came instantly before I had any chance of interpreting the chirping, and it did have a soothing impact on my mental health for the rest of the period.

(You can find a very similar territory in my thriller The Astral Limbo! No harm if you'd like to take a look!)

There was also a very painful prelude to the demise of my father-in-law: he had not been well for some time, but since he didn’t confide in anybody about his condition and we failed to take it seriously enough his condition worsened, and finally when we decided upon the journey he was literally on his death bed. For our peace of mind my wife and I decided to shift him to the nearest city for intensive treatment; we were desperate to do something for him, however futile or too late it were. Those 2/3 nights we spent in my in-laws’ house were terrifyingly disturbing for me. Every night I felt: the spirits of all his ancestors descending on me, not allowing me to fall asleep. I interpreted it thus: the ancestors came down and wanted to take possession of his soul in peace, because the end was inevitable and they did not want him to suffer more at the hospital beds and labs; they seemed to be angry at our efforts to linger it further. However, my father-in-law, kind soul as his was, understood his daughter’s feelings and allowed us to transport him for one last attempt to save him.

And, as it happened, he came back home again after almost a tortuous month to pass away in peace a few days later. Meanwhile, I had to go to my workplace for an emergency, and returned as soon as my wife gave me the sad news of his passing away. During the next few days of rituals leading to the aadya shraddha on the 11^th day I had a few supernatural experiences which, in final analysis, were only a communication or messaging from his soul.

Once around noontime, when I was alone in the room normally allotted to me on our visits, somehow I had an urge of sitting on the old wooden chair with arm-rests preserved there which was the favorite chair of my wife’s grandfather. As I moved towards it something inexplicable happened: the chair seemed to have jerked sideways which froze me on my track. I deciphered it thus: it was due to the profound respect the grandfather was given in that household, and that my father-in-law who lost his father very early in life wanted me to adhere to it.

One night as we were sleeping I woke up suddenly to a peculiar sound. It was a sound of laboured breathing that seemed to emanate from within the bed. It was so loud and clear that the bed almost shivered and shuddered. I put my ears near to my soundly-sleeping wife—no, it wasn’t coming from her. I examined the bed all around, but failed to identify the source of the sound. My efforts woke my wife up. I told her about it, she advised me not to think much about it. So we went back to sleep.

Very late in the night another time I woke up without understanding why. There was a pin-drop silence and it was pitch dark in the room—the period being a waxing moon fortnight. Suddenly I beheld a patch or a circle of bright white light floating at the ceiling, then moving all around us. It continued its movement for more than a minute, as if watching us, surveying us. My mind immediately started exploring the possible source for an infiltrating light. There was no chance. The curtained two windows on one side of the longish room were completely sealed in by the tin-roofed pandal constructed in the courtyard for the shraddhaceremony; heavy curtains were also fully drawn across the two windows on the other side and from that walled-in side there was no possibility of any light; the lone street light in the driveway had not been working for a few days. I confirmed every facet the next morning and found no justification for an infiltrating light.

There could have been only one messaging in those occurrences: that the spirit of my father-in-law wanted to assure us again and again that he was with us all the time and would be watching over us for some time. It is also interesting to note that my wife never expressed surprise or shock at my accounts, because, as I came to know later, she was also having similar communications those days.

Hark! Such messages keep on coming and are all around you! You only need to respect those and try to decipher to your own benefit. If you deem it to be superstition you’re most welcome to ignore this piece, apart from the messages!

Tip of the Humbug!

2022-09-27T12:48:00.002+05:30

The tall, smart yet well-behaved and handsome young man did the job beautifully and had taken so much care of me during the process that I got gloated with gratitude and wanted to reward him in my humble way—meaning I wanted to tip him twenty bucks—even though I normally did not do such things in such places. I remembered I had a tenner in my shirt pocket and hoped I could get another one from the change I would get from the final payment.

I thanked him profusely, got up and proceeded to the counter as the young man took his position behind it. “How much?” I asked because it had been after a long time and in the fluid post-pandemic times prices shoot up anytime anywhere. He smiled and said, “The usual sir! Hundred and fifty rupees.”

I gave him a two-hundred note and hoped he’d give the required change. Unfortunately, he returned only a fifty-rupee note, sweetly and simply. ‘In the most typically tipping places the smart operators know how and in what denominations to give back the change so that the customers get various options to give the tip’, I thought and then knew why. ‘Yes, perhaps the reason is that he acted in this way because most people don’t tip in such places as I mentioned that I too do not do so.’

I took the change in my left hand and plunged my right into my shirt pocket to search for the lone tenner, now that I had to settle for only ten bucks. As I went on taking out the notes of various denominations and searching the depths of my shirt pocket, I remembered a scene from a comedy movie.

A very rich elderly gentleman enters a hotel room and the accompanying hotel boy deposits the luggage at the appropriate places and waits for obvious reasons. The rich gentleman understands it too and puts his right hand into his shirt pocket. He takes out a thick wad of notes and hands it over to the boy. The startled boy takes it amid waves of incredulity and greedy anticipation. The gentleman gestures him to stay, takes out another smaller wad out of his pocket and hands that also to the boy who is now about to faint. Finally, the gentleman finds, like me, the tenner he’s been looking for and holds it in his left hand. He then offers his right hand to the boy and asks him to put the wads back there. The amazed waiter hands those over obediently. The gentleman puts the wads back into his pockets, transfers the tenner to his right hand and gives it to the boy with a huge grin that smacks of his limitless generosity. The disappointed boy stands there for a long minute watching the rich man closing the door.

Of course, I did differently. I was not so cruel and sadistic like that dirty-rich guy. I kept the notes in my left hand, searched with the other and finally found my tenner. I handed it to the young man, not looking into his eyes as I was apprehensive of his disappointment.

I exited and as I started walking slowly back home, I felt very guilty. ‘Damn! I could’ve explained the situation to him or requested him to give small change for the fifty-buck note! It was just not right!’ I felt apologetic now and didn’t know how to express that.

All of a sudden, I had a brilliant idea! I took out my mobile phone out of my trouser pocket and dialed the number of my narrator.

I told him my story. My narrator laughed, but he understood my feelings very clearly. He instantly gave me a title of the story and explained why that was most suitable.

Eureka! The title as you all can see on the top of this piece settles everything amicably. It shows how modest, humble and self-deprecating guy I always have been! It expresses the apology crying to come out of me and it’s a public apology as it’s in public domain! ‘I don’t bother if someone sees or acknowledges it or not, the fact of this being is public space is just enough for me!’ I justified the title one more time as now I started walking briskly in a sprightly mood.

I told my family about the nice and caring young man whom I hated to describe as a barber. ‘Oh yes! I understand the dignity of labor, vouch that no work is either high or low and know that all professions are noble—from the scavengers to squillionaires. Besides, the salons are the most essential places for the modern human beings, how to forget the woes in COVID times!’

However, as regards some other professions I do have my reservations. Would you accept the professions of the thieves, the dacoits, the murderers and even of the politicians as noble? The so-practicing professionals might think so, but would you?

India Vs Australia T20I Cricket: India Now Looking More Like the Team It Had Been!

2022-09-26T13:40:00.002+05:30

Although the ‘experiment’ scare is far from over Team India is now looking more like the one it had been in the national sense as regards the international tournaments. Doing justice to the expectations of a decider the third and last T20I match in Hyderabad last night went down the wire keeping the thrill on till the penultimate ball of the match. It was a high-scoring match in a pitch that helped both the batsmen and the bowlers. Australia put up an imposing target of 187 runs for India after Rohit Sharma won the toss for the second time. And India skillfully handled the early losses of both their openers with Virat Kohli (63) and Suryakumar Yadav (69) having a rollicking partnership of 104 runs thus nearing the target with enough wickets left. However, the ride was still not without thorns as the Aussie fast bowlers started delivering beauties and scoring boundaries was difficult. With the demolition-man Suryakumar gone Kohli and Pandya got into some kind of a spot—India needing 32 in 3, then 21 in 2 and finally 11 in the last over. Before getting out in the second ball Kohli did an immense service by hitting the first ball of the last over by Sams for a six and the target got tantalizingly reduced to just 5 in 4 balls. Dinesh Karthik came in and scored a single off the third ball. Pandya failed to connect a outside-off wide fourth ball and with the wide not given the equation got a little tough with 4 runs in 2 balls. Luckily, Pandya managed to nick another wide ball and the lone slip fielder missed it. It went to a four in the third man area and India won the match by 6 wickets and the Mastercard T20I Series against Australia 2-1, thus providing the much-needed impetus for the team to go to Australia next month for the World Cup.

The defending World T20 Champions Australia would’ve much liked it to go home with a series victory to prepare well for the tournament in their own turfs. Apart from the match being a very close one that could’ve gone in either direction there were huge positives for Australia though: it fought all-out to win the first match and could’ve won the next two also; their pace and spin bowlers coming good most of the times to put the hosts under pressure; their batting depth remaining perfect as ever to help the team come out of any adversity; and the revelation that Cameron Green as an opener proved for the team and the management. This exciting new-age power-cricketer has become a tremendous prospect for Australia in the coming World Cup and his sparkling performance has put up question marks for the retention of quite a few stalwarts including even the legendary Steve Smith in the playing T20 eleven in the World Cup. Refreshingly enough, Green has debuted successfully in all the three formats during the last two years only. In this match he notched up his second half century (52 in just 21) and also bowled beautifully and economically.

The last five-over woes continue to rattle India though with their bowlers conceding too many runs in those death overs consistently in the last few internationals. Of course, the main strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah has come back to the team, but it’d be unrealistic to expect him to strike immediately after almost rusting for weeks. More hopefully, now in the company of Bumrah the other class pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is set to pick up soon. For the second time, spinner Axar Patel stole the show by capturing three vital wickets apart being part of the crucial runout of Glen Maxwell. This time he was joined effectively by Yuzvendra Chahal who removed Steve Smith early. Their efforts reduced Australia to a precarious 117/6 in 14^th over when Tim David came to the rescue with a brilliant innings of 54 in 27 balls. Daniel Sams did a cameo of 28 in 20 balls to aid David and the team. Next, India meets South Africa at home too in the last three-match T20I Series before the start of the World Cup. Pandya is supposed to be rested for that Series; we pray against more experiments and the only exception should be Rishabh Pant who was dropped for the third match.

(Photos from bcci.tv)

Amidst the Rohit Blitz Karthik Had His Moments as India Level T20I Series Against Australia!

2022-09-24T16:44:00.001+05:30

Chasing a tall target of 91 runs to win in 8 overs (the second T20I between India and Australia was reduced to 8-overs a side due to rain affected pitch and outfield) captain Rohit played out of his skin remaining not out at 46 off just 20 balls to steer India to a win by 6 wickets against Australia before a packed house in Nagpur. He kept his cool and hit some terrific shots all around the park as he has been known for despite the failures of KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya. For a change, we’ve used ‘India’ instead of ‘Rohit Franchise’ because the team finally looked like a national team with main strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah coming back and batsman-keeper Dinesh Karthik retained notwithstanding what happened in the first match. This is not at all due to India’s win. Of course, one of the main weapons for a national side Bhuvneshwar Kumar was dropped or rested as he’s been giving away crucial runs in his second spell in the last few matches. However, the fact that the IPL rookie fast bowlers have been consistently given the privilege of bowling the last over could’ve affected his confidence and form. Even with Bumrah around the last over in this match was also handed over to Harshal Patel and that over cost a lot of runs.

Earlier, during the extended pre-match panel discussion Sunil Gavaskar had welcomed the inclusion of Bumrah for the do or die match and made a far more important observation that with Bumrah or Shami bowling from the other end Bhuvneshwar just gets transformed bowling to a tight length and getting the rewards too. Gavaskar also welcomed the move to retain Dinesh Karthik saying that Karthik has always been a finisher and a team would love to have him coming in at a crucial juncture. His comment simply means that a ‘finisher’ must be utilized before the match gets actually finished.

In the match played last night, 23^rd September 2022, we justifiably had a nightmarish thought about having to watch Axar Patel coming in when a struggling Pandya fell in the fifth ball of the penultimate over and India still needed 14 runs in 7 balls. But to our heartfelt relief we beheld Karthik coming in occupying the non-striker’s end as Rohit did cross over during the Pandya catch. As a cruel blow to the Aussies who again saw themselves back in the match the sixth ball was a wide coming from an experienced Pat Cummins and the next ball was hit for a four by Rohit; the final equation being reduced now to 9 runs in the last over. Karthik was facing the last over.

He hit the first ball of the last over by Daniel Sams for a huge six and then the next ball for a resounding four. And the match was over as Rohit rushed to embrace Karthik. The ‘finisher’ sent ahead of Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel at long last seized the opportunity to prove his mettle and helped his team romp home to 92/4 with 4 balls to spare. Well, giving your key players the trust and confidence almost always works. Now what happens next is eagerly awaited as both the teams clash for the decider in Hyderabad tomorrow; the ‘experiment scare’ just refuses to leave us alone.

Put in to bat Australia had captain Finch blasting away in a determined frame of mind to seal the Series. But Rohit just then produced a masterstroke handing over the ball to Axar Patel in the very second over with, mind you, Bumrah around. Axar first affected a Kohli-fueled brilliant runout of the first-match destroyer Cameron Green and then clean bowled the dangerous Glen Maxwell for a first-ball duck in the last ball of the same over. Probably as there were only 8 overs to be bowled in all he was not taken off and was given the fourth over too, and in that over Axar clean bowled Tim David. He effectively prevented Australia from running away with a 100+ total in spite of the late charge by Matthew Wade (43 not out in 20 balls). Adam Zampa did more than an Axar capturing the top three Indian wickets, but could not force a win thanks to Rohit and that each bowler could bowl only two overs each. Josh Hazelwood was the most expensive Aussie bowler giving away 20 runs in 2 overs.

Web Series ‘Hush Hush’: A Promising Plot Peters Out to a Morbid Melodrama!

2022-09-23T15:22:00.003+05:30

The Web Series Hush Hush Season 1 started streaming on Prime Video from the 22^nd of September 2022. It has at least three very important reasons for being watched eagerly by a lot of viewers. First, filmmaker Tanuja Chandra whose intense flick Dushman (1998) is still remembered by movie fans features as one of the directors and producers in a clearly women-oriented story with mostly women in the crew too. Second, the cast is tremendously interesting and exciting with two of the most beloved babes of Bollywood since the eighties Juhi Chawla and Ayesha Jhulka coming back/appearing on the OTT Platform for the first time, and joined by the immensely talented Soha Ali Khan, Shahana Goswami, Kritika Kamra and Karishma Tanna. Third, the story begins on a very taut and promising note, seemingly doing justice for a mature series in the Suspense genre. But unfortunately, that lasts only till the third episode, and then, rather inexplicably, the storytelling breaks up and meanders to a morbid melodrama with all the focus on domestic affairs while we ardently expected it to roar to a shattering climax.

The story basically consists of four close friends—Juhi as Ishi, Soha as Saiba, Shahana as Zaira and Kritika as Dolly. While Saiba has an established family with husband and two kids Dolly is into a three-year-old unhappy marriage and the other two are supposed spinsters with Shahana having suffered a breakup previously. The story opens in Kolkata in 1978 establishing Ishi as an orphan having a close sister-like ties with the younger Meera (played by Ayesha in the older role) who is among others in the same orphanage. Then, the story cuts to 2019 in extremely posh environs in Gurgaon or Gurugram in Haryana showing Ishi as a high-end mover & shaker, the role almost inspired by the controversial real-life Niira Radia, and a huge scandal just breaking out in the media involving Ishi. Meera reappears much later in the plot. As per the time-period Ishi should be in her late forties, Saiba and Shahana possibly in early forties with only Dolly most probably in the late twenties.

The overwhelmingly female-cast is joined by Karishma as the tough cop Geeta who starts her investigation in a very promising note too as the four friends land up in a shady mess with Ishi dying a violent death the same night when the anniversary party of Dolly’s parents-in-law was going on. The plot moves intriguingly till the third episode and then, as we mentioned earlier, it falls flat. Instead of going into the detailed storyline that could possibly lead to spoilers we’ll just point out the main disappointments that mar the suspense elements that could have been built up in a telling manner.

· The biggest disappointment is with Juhi Chawla’s comeback to the OTT. She dies in the very first episode and then appears only momentarily in various flashbacks or revelations. She apparently has no solid stuff to prove her towering performance-related abilities, because the makers do not allow her or us to know how she moved up in her career as the most upmarket influencer Ishi and what had been the pros and cons in her success ride. The only point of reference as regards flashback is the consistent ‘five years ago’ which does not help anyone—performing or viewing.

· The ‘five years ago’ reference also applies to Ishi’s extremely close three friends and we hardly know anything about how their friendship started and grew and bloomed over time. Matters are not helped at all by the age-differences that we pointed out going by the time-period revealed in the story between the four fast friends.

· Karishma Tanna as the tough cop Geeta hardly does anything that proves her ‘toughness’ and never tries to go deeper into the shady affairs of a violent death, a missing person and the three clearly nervous friends. No doubt, she must’ve been hampered in her investigations by her obstinately unreasonable, unnecessarily foul-mouthed and apparently ignoramus lady boss ACP Madhu played by Vibha Chhibber. While we kept on expecting Geeta to excel as an honest and bold cop she gets more and more into a frame of mind to let go of the three ‘implicated’ friends, perhaps a tad more ardently than the writers-directors who’d really want to protect them for future use, and in the supposedly climaxing seventh episode we get treated only with Geeta’s lesbian leanings.

· Of course, being an out and out women-oriented story, the male characters have to be sketchy at best. However, it does create more roadblocks for the storytelling, because the seemingly important husbands of Saiba and Dolly and the photographer-friend of Shahana have been rendered clueless about what to do and how effectively to contribute toward the story.

· The reappearance of Meera in later episodes only adds to the melodrama rather than building up the tension. Anyhow, Ayesha Jhulka is able to do some justice to the insufficient role give to her.

· Finally, the makers of the web series Hush Hush should essentially have done much more to present a mature suspense series than indulging in endless hugging cum teary-emotional outbursts cum domestic-affair scenes of the most upmarket kind between the three friends in the glaringly disappointing last four episodes of the Series.

Hush Hush fails to live up to the suspense genre primarily because of not being able to give enough meat to the star performers and of trying to cover the whole matrix of the degenerating system of powerplay, corruption, criminality and human trafficking clearly prevailing in the society, as per the story of course. Perhaps, this is being done to have more Seasons in the coming months. This suspicion gets more emboldened by the ominous dialogues between the main villain (gets revealed much before the supposed climax) and the main associate in the last minutes leading to two more murders which are promptly taken up by the CBI as indicated earlier by Geeta’s abusive cop boss instead of the investigating police team. Well, we definitely expect more maturity and magic touches from Tanuja Chandra in the coming seasons, if indeed.

Is The Dinesh Karthik Riddle Over Now?

2022-09-22T12:12:00.004+05:30

Continuing with the Asia Cup-2022 legacy and the experiment-legacy since time IPL the swashbuckling Team India management, the dead- ‘wall’ coach and the devastatingly discerning selectors had once again preferred batsman-keeper Dinesh Karthik ahead of Rishabh Pant in the playing eleven pitted against the T20 World Champions Australia in the first of the three T20Is in Mohali on 20^th September, 2022. Keeping up with the ‘traditions’ Karthik came in to bat after the supposed all-rounder Axar Patel and was still lucky enough to have four overs to play out. Unfortunately, he could not capitalize on this golden opportunity and perished cheaply. Not only that, he failed miserably to read a suspected LBW ball to convince his captain Rohit Sharma to go for a DRS. As the replays showed the ball hitting the leg stump clearly Rohit vented out all his pent-up anger on the poor but experienced Karthik. Rohit’s magnanimously displayed public anger could perhaps also be the result of the ceaseless accumulation of the same thanks to the ‘stakeholders’ described at the outset.

During Asia Cup-2022 that the hosts Sri Lanka won magnificently roaring back into tremendous form the stakeholders included both Karthik and Pant in the second league match and then decided to forget about the former in the crunch matches. This time, however, things could be much firmer and more decisive. As we already said Dinesh Karthik had scored an all-round failure-laden outing in the match, he seemingly gave sound enough reasons to the constantly-experimenting-scheming stakeholders to rule Karthik out on a permanent basis thus justifying the esteemed management’s outstandingly long-lasting ‘kindness and understanding’ to ‘experience’ while basking in the spirit of experimentation; this ‘experience’ also has an unmistakable Dhoni ring that surfaced during the times of the devastating (for India) ICC Men’ World Cup-2019. We need not worry at all as far as the riddle called Dinesh Karthik is concerned because it is set to be crystal clear in the second T20I against Australia tomorrow.

The dead- ‘wall’ coach has vindicated his age-old preferences very ominously now: Yuzvendra Chahal is to be played in every possible eleven irrespective of how he bowls and to be denied rest at any cost; Hardik Pandya (he displayed tremendous batting in the first T20I against Australia) is now a confirmed batting all-rounder along with Ravindra Jadeja whose injury could well be the ultimate cause of Rohit Franchise’s possible downfall (God forbid!) in the coming T20 World Cup; Jasprit Bumrah is to be kept on indefinite rest till he is ‘exclusively fit’ for the World Cup; the batting order has to be an ever-alterable variable, never a constant; encouraging the captain to insist on bowling the same bowlers (mostly five in number) irrespective of how they bowl till their quotas are fulfilled and to immediately take a bowler who captures a wicket in his first over off the attack; and contradictory contempt for youngsters cum veterans like Ravi Bishnoi or Deepak Chahar or Ravichandran Ashwin while welcoming the other, mostly youngsters, players as the future of Indian-Cricket (read IPL).

The unpredictability of the dead-‘wall’ coach is also as glorious as of the game itself. One of the consistently striking bowlers in all formats, Mohammad Shami, was benevolently considered meritorious enough to be included as one of the reserves for the T20 World Cup; but unfortunately, he caught the COVID virus perhaps due to the wantonly liberal ‘rest’ he was conferred with by the omniscient stakeholders. But horror of horrors of unpredictability! Umesh Yadav who was nowhere to be seen in the playing arena for quite some time was not only included in the revised reserves but was also played in the first T20I against Australia.

That the Rohit Franchise lost against Australia despite putting up a formidable total in excess of 200 runs had been a forgone conclusion. Call it the result of the ‘price’ to be paid for the ‘essential’ process of experimentation so mind-blowingly required to finalize the playing eleven in the World Cup or the reign of the glorious uncertainly or the dead-walled team management or whatever. The call is yours as you must bear with the future of Indian Cricket (read IPL). As a vital reminder you have to take notice of the only experiment that Australia made while chasing—asking their rank-new bowling all-rounder Cameron Green to open with captain Finch and the former breathtakingly took the match away from the dazed Indians. Having said all these rather dubious things the final outcome of the T20 World Cup starting in Australia from 16^th October 2022 could still change everything for Indian Cricket (don’t read IPL) for the better, hopefully.

The System!

2022-09-20T13:32:00.002+05:30

The calls never stop. They’re ruthlessly regular as always even if you’re going through a huge personal crisis or that you’ve been rendered ineligible for most of the offers in circulation due to various reasons. And I don’t blame the ‘casuals’ desperately trying to augment their measly income with the commissions cum incentives that they hope to earn by getting the customer’s consent for a personal loan or a deposit/investment scheme or a pre-approved credit card. In fact, I always have sympathy and understanding for them; that I get angry most of the times is a part and parcel of the hazardous virtual games being played in abundance nowadays. This time, for a change, it was a male voice that addressed me in all possible politeness. But he sounded weary and lazy, perhaps frustrated by the endless calls from his end since morning without any tangible progress.

“Sir, I’m calling from the xyz finance company. If you can spare a moment, please!”

For a change, again, I decided not to be angry this time, enjoying the fact that as the caller was a male, I could very well blurt out my anger the moment it’s required. So, I answered politely too.

“Okay, yeah?”

“Sir, our company is offering you a pre-approved super credit card without any charges or fees of any kind! If you allow me…”

“Do you know my age?”

“Um…uh…I don’t know sir!”

“How did you pick me out then for your most special offer?”

“Well sir! You name has been running in the system…so…”

“The system? Yeah, that’s the crux of the problem. Anyway, have you meanwhile changed your marketing strategy by deciding to start issuing the credit cards to senior citizens too?”

“Um…no! I’m very sorry sir!” and he hung up, for a change, once again. Normally I do that reprehensible job in what I always think righteous anger, at times right in the middle of the conversation.

(My e-book Free on Kindle for five days. Get your copy here!)

The System! Yes! The ever-growing mechanism of modern marketing that never spares any nook and corner in any possible territory of the targets from its ravenous attention. As I mentioned several times earlier the System has been drawing its sustenance from the ‘generous’ service providers who possess our database and make those available to all the marketing hawks. But why don’t they provide the crucial factors too, like say age? Well, perhaps, they’ve grown a little apprehensive thanks to the increasing public cries for privacy and data protection. Or maybe they don’t care, taking into consideration the possibility of catching even the old and near-dead fishes in the expansive nets of their ‘other’ customers.

However, it’d indeed be a good practice for the generous database holders to at times clean and weed out the old fish, thus eliminating the senior citizens, mercifully. This would also help the hapless endlessly ‘calling-casuals’ focus on the real targets and not waste their companies’ precious time trying to catch the ageing, useless and the ineligible preys. In such heartlessly competitive times, the predators must prepare themselves fighting-fit too as their prospective preys have also been becoming alert, conscious and smart in the meantime. Not to speak of the destructively creative and marauding online fraudsters who too have been drawing largely on the benefits of the doubts emerging from the generous goings-on!

Hindustani Classical Music Living Legend Dr. Prabha Atre Speaks!

2022-09-11T09:00:00.025+05:30

The living legend of Indian Classical (Hindustani) Music and the senior most vocalist of the Kirana Guarana, Padma Vibhushan Dr. Prabha Atre celebrates her 90^thbirthday on 13^th September, 2022. This is indeed a most significant and momentous occasion in the history of Indian classical music as the complete artiste goes tirelessly on serving the cause of music with her lilting compositions, her sweet and melodious presentations, her scholarly discourses, her progressive outlook, her in-depth research and enlightening books and her devoted role as the most ideal beloved Guru for her countless disciples. Dr Prabha Atre holds the world record in releasing 11 books on a single subject which is music and has been instrumental in propagating and popularizing Indian classical vocal music in the West as the late Pt. Ravishankar did with the Sitar. On this occasion the legendary artiste is also initiating a new chapter with the inauguration of the Kirana Gharana Library and Resource Centre in her Gurukul in Pune on the morning of 13^th September.

I have had the good fortune of knowing this great personality for over the last thirty years thanks to her adopting my wife Ragini as one of her leading disciples. I had great moments of meeting her in various ways—as a motherly figure in her home or in our home, her precious lessons to my wife and her sternly professional form in public concerts. What fascinated me from the beginning has been her modesty, simplicity and a down-to-earth approach to life. Her exemplary lifestyle is indeed the secret of her boundless energy and astounding success. To mark this great occasion, we reproduce below Dr Prabha Atre’s appeal to the music lovers and a thought-provoking article on music that could very well lead to the much-needed reforms apart from enlightening the music learners as well as music lovers on the modern trends in music. (Courtesy: Bharathi MD, Secretary, Dr. Prabha Atre Foundation. Thanks to the efforts of the Foundation the gems and the evergreen presentations of Dr. Prabha Atre are being made available on a weekly basis on YouTube.)

Dear Music Fraternity,

Namashkar.

Standing at the doors of 90, I, as a classicalsinger would like to share my thoughts

about raag-ras and raag-samay concepts in Hindustani classical music. We all know that

tradition is not a stagnant pool. It is a river flowing with time, assimilating new trends and

discarding outdated practices. We have to examine today’s music performance in the

context of present times. I request you all to go through the write-up given below. Don’t

you think we should make necessary changes to make our music richer based on logical

and scientific reasoning?

(Prabha Atre)

RAAG-RAS AND RAAG-SAMAY

Music is considered to be the purest form of art. It does not represent anything in this world. It has its own language and meaning. Its abstract nature detaches it from all the ‘known’ in this world. Man has used music consciously or unconsciously to express his feelings. Thus, the abstract in music became concrete and specific for him. The abstract quality of music is best represented in the concept of raag in Indian music where music exists for itself, it remains within itself. To approach raag in its bare form, therefore, is difficult both for an artist and a lay listener.

The association with some ‘known’ element helps the artist in giving character to the raag and listener to experience its emotional content. Therefore, in the process of creating a raag the artist in spite of having good knowledge of theory and technique looks for some outside help to transform the ‘abstract’ in raag into the ‘concrete’.

The concepts of raag-ras and raag-samay are an attempt to provide ‘concrete’ to the ‘abstract’ in raag.By identifying melodies with gods, seasons, hours of the day, etc., man attributed ras or moods to melodies, which helped him to create his music with distinct character.

Raag-time theory is also an attempt to provide ‘concrete’ to the ‘abstract’ in raag.At one time, man was very close to nature which perhaps explains the relation between a raag and a particular time. Today, man is far away from nature, living in closed walls, in an artificial environment. His life-style and habits have changed considerably. Under these circumstances, can one relate raag with time?

The abstract in music can be experienced best when there is some visual, some past association and some verbal communication to go with it. The time theory provided necessarycontext, especially to distinguish betweenmelodies having similarfeatures.

The modern theory of enjoying music advocates thatthe aesthetic emotions are generated mainly through the expressiveness of the voice, treatment of the musical material and tempo. The verbal text, visuals if used effectively, or associations, can also help to produce a specific ras or mood in music. A raag can express different shades of the same mood depending upon whether it is using aalaap, taan, sargam, or bol-phrases. Tempo, however, plays a vital role in creating moods.

A number of questions arise in the context of raag-ras and raag-time theories:

1. Raags are attributed specific ras. But very often the themes of the bandish i.e., song-text are contradictory to the ras. E.g., raag Bhairavi is supposed to convey Karuna (pathos) ras. The diverse themes of the song-texts in Bhairavi seem to give their meaning to raag, and listeners still enjoy it thoroughly. Raag Bhairavi is sung at any time.

2. Almost every raag, irrespective of time seems to create a lively, happy atmosphere when it enters into a fast tempo.

3. Over the years, some raags have changed considerably retaining their old names. What about their ras and time?

4. What is the time and ras of mishra (mixed) raags — raags evolved out of the combination of two or more raags having different ras?

5. What is the ras and time of a newly created raag?

6. Does an audience — Indian or non-Indian experience the same ras of a raag at a particular time?

7. When the same raag is presented by different artists, or when the same raag is presented by the same artist at different times, does every listener have the same experience?

All these go to prove that the raag-character and the raag-mood are intrinsically related to its own musical material and its treatment. Its characteristic phrases and their flow give it its musical identity and beauty, and generate aesthetic emotions.

These aesthetic emotions are converted into a specific ras or mood independently by the performer or the listener depending on their state of mind.

There are various other things which make one to think about the relevance of raag- time theory.

1. Radio, TV, and recording companies record any raag any time and that does not seem to have any effect on the presentation of the raag. Not only that, radio and TV channels broadcast these recordings at any time, according to their need. It is only in public performances that time is imposed on a raag to manifest its mood.

2. One practices any raag any time, according to his convenience and that does not seem to affect or tarnish the mood of the raag or its character.

3. What about mishra raags? Why should Bhairav-Bahaar and Yamani-Bilaawal be presented in morning only? Bahaar and Yaman are night raags. Why shouldn’t these raags be rendered at night also?

4. When one listens to film songs, naatya sangeet (theatre songs) of Maharashtra, or devotional songs based on a pure raag, the raag-time principle does not even remotely cross one’s mind. On the contrary one seems to enjoy any raag any time.

5. Carnatic music is considered more tradition bound; yet it does not follow the time theory strictly. However, Hindustani music with all its flexibility still advocates the time theory!

If time theory is to be strictly followed, then there is a danger of losing raags which fall outside the concert timings. Isn’t that a great loss to Indian music?

All these queries need to be addressed scientifically, logically.

At present, raag-ras and raag-samay concepts are mentioned more due to the conditioning of tradition than to be followed strictly. These concepts have been deeply embedded in our psyche due to age old traditions. They have lost their relevance, context with the passage of time, but they are still followed blindly. Don’t they need to be tested scientifically? It is tradition alone which provides new pathways. If tradition starts hampering the progress and growth, then it needs to be redefined in the changed context. In such circumstances, it does not get broken or mutilated, but gets rejuvenated to provide new directions.

What should matter is not the time of presentation, but the quality, the effectiveness of presentation – the raag-roop evolves well and irrespective of time and ras the presentation should to be effective and should give aanandaanubhooti/bliss to both the artiste and listener.

--- By Dr Prabha Atre

Asia Cup-2022: Teams Playing for National Pride, India Played for IPL Pride!

2022-09-09T01:11:00.002+05:30

That India had been kicked out of the Asia Cup-2022 should hardly come as a surprise or some kind of a setback for the Indian cricket board, the Selectors, the India captain and the India coach, because this tournament too has been another clog in the machinery of experimentation for determining a ‘national’ squad for the ICC T20 World Cup-2022 that starts in October in Australia this year. While the ICC had been trying laudably hard to provide valuable practice in the shortest format for all the contesting national sides Team India or the franchises thereof or the team management had been basically trying to justify the IPL and to vindicate the selections therefrom. During this time most of the cricketing superstars of India had been rested or allowed to recuperate from supposed injuries, and as a crucial part of the experiments the superstars, all IPL-captain stuff, were brought in for this international tournament which totally neutralizes the earlier experiments with the IPL stars and rookies. No doubt, as we indicated in an earlier post, after the epochal revenue deal struck for the IPL, cricket in India has virtually become IPL-oriented, and so the endless experiments that are set to continue even during the upcoming big international event. Since the IPL is the future of Indian cricket there’d hardly be any national side for any international event in the coming years, and therefore, in this particular tournament Team India has right royally played for IPL pride, thus disappointing and frustrating the genuine cricket lovers and fans of the country.

We see no other alternative but to stick to this opinion after considering the ‘decisions’ regarding the playing eleven in Asia Cup-2022. First of all, knowing fully well that most of the crucial Super-4 matches are to be played in the pacer-friendly Dubai pitches the selectors included only three pacers in the squad, that too consisting of two IPL rookies, and fielded four spinners. Apart of course, from the ‘definitive’ all-rounders like Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja and it has not been clear at all if they were bowling or batting all-rounders. Perhaps, the absolute drive to make Jadeja a superstar batsman, also an IPL-must, contributed toward his becoming unfit in quick time and repeatedly over the last two years, and he being ruled out of the tournament seemed to have made the entire team utterly useless, even making Pandya so frustrated that he could not bat nor bowl effectively. And all the while the team management talked of a cohesive and fighting playing eleven.

Dinesh Karthik, the experienced keeper-batsman, was included in the squad and was allowed to face just one ball in the group matches, and was dropped inexplicably from the Super-4 matches. As the India batting saga in the Pakistan and Sri Lanka matches unfolded it was Karthik who was missed sorely and almost fatally; in both matches India fell short by 15-20 runs and lost both. A genuinely promising batting all-rounder Deepak Hooda was included in those crunch matches; but Pandya superseded him in the batting order every time, and in the bowling department despite Pandya being hit mercilessly and ceaselessly Hooda was not at all tried by the ‘experienced’ India captain as the sixth bowling option. Why? Because the promising IPL-captain stuff had to be promoted at all costs.

Of the pacers, the rookie called Avesh Khan got injured and was ruled out of the tournament; therefore, the other rookie Arshdeep Singh had to be included along with the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Now who is Arshdeep Singh? That he was trolled for the simple catch he dropped in the penultimate over against a struggling Pakistan just could not be a national news with all the masala ingredients. It was simply a reaction of the hapless fans, caught in the continuously frustrating chain unleashed by the selectors or the captain or the coach or the Board or the IPL mandarins or whoever concerned. There are other more pertinent questions that are integral to the experiments: where is Deepak Chahar? Where is Mohammad Shami? Where is Mohammad Siraj? Where is the fiery Umran Malik? Of course, the superstar captain-stuff Jasprit Bumrah is too delicate to be wasted in the mundane international matches or minor tournaments. Of the spinners if the experienced Ashwin was to be considered he should’ve been considered from the beginning of the Super-4 stage. However, when he was finally considered he replaced Bishnoi who, though another IPL rookie, fought spiritedly in the Pakistan game instead of replacing the listless Yuzvendra Chahal. Well, contradictions are bound to happen in a mindless quest!

After the Asia Cup hosts Sri Lanka came roaring back into form eliminating an equally determined Bangladesh at the last group match the Super-4 stage was bound to be tough and fiercely competitive. Pakistan too asserted their determination after routing Hong Kong, and Afghanistan was waiting eagerly for their encounters, being the group topper along with India. With the exception of India all the three teams have fighting-fit national sides not beleaguered by the senseless changes, and are fighting for sheer national pride, determined to enter the World Cup as serious contenders. In cricketing terms the basic differences between India and the three teams are the former’s batting inconsistency cum a haphazard batting order and their bowlers, particularly the spinners, lacking the intensity required in such competitive tournaments.

Afghanistan was extremely unlucky to falter in the last over against Pakistan, losing a low-scoring match while Pakistan’s fighting spirit till the last man outstanding must be appreciated. With that win by one wicket Pakistan entered the Final to meet Sri Lanka on 11^th September, making their Super-4 encounter on September 9 inconsequential, but of great value for both in gaining confidence for the Final. Meanwhile as expected, Team India experimented in an exemplary manner in the match against Afghanistan with the captain dropping himself (read resting himself) and giving another go to the franchisee captain KL Rahul. In some kind of a sadistic joke the selectors included Dinesh Karthik again and also decided to try Deepak Chahar. My God! What apathy and total disregard for the national spirit of the country!

With the ICC still providing more T20 practice by facilitating two three-match T20 series of India Vs South Africa and India Vs Australia India later this month in India the India experiment-juggernaut can still go on testing their IPL rookies priding itself of having the strongest bench-strength in the world with limitless choices of players and give a much-deserved rest to their superstar cricketers, again. But unfortunately, at almost the same time the glorious Selectors will have to finally announce their ‘dream’ squad for the World Cup even as the dream of an India-Pakistan Asia Cup final, the third much-awaited encounter of a rare variety of cricket, got cruelly dashed by that same bunch of businessmen of cricket. Amen!

T20 Cricket: Why Should Team India Need Batsmen?

2022-08-29T12:58:00.004+05:30

Well, as far as the three batting stalwarts of Indian Cricket—Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul—are concerned they’re needed all the time irrespective of the relentless experimentation process with promising youngsters and whatever frame of mind or form they’ve been in recently. They can come anytime anywhere and for all key white-ball world tournaments they are a must, and they’re always justified in displacing batsmen like Deepak Hooda, Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan and even seasoned campaigners like Shreyas Iyer and Shikhar Dhawan. However, it stops just at that point. After they do or don’t do their bit in their batting the all-rounders take over. No doubt, all-rounders like Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya have been doing great in recent times. But putting in them all the responsibility to bowl, to bat and to win the matches cannot be a long-term strategy. Besides, as has been witnessed in recent months, the in-form and specialized batsmen like Suryakumar Yadav and Dinesh Karthik are demoted down the order to facilitate the all-rounders and the hapless Karthik is even asked to bat after Axar Patel if that all-rounder figures in any of the Team India franchises.

Again beyond doubt, the new ‘batting’ order has been delivering in terms of wins. In the second match of the Asia Cup-2022 hosted by Sri Lanka in UAE against the archrivals Pakistan Team India Rohit Franchise managed to win in the last over thanks mainly to the all-rounders, Jadeja and Pandya. But as we’ve said this cannot be long-term strategy, because the presence of Shaheen Afridi in the Pakistan team could’ve altered the course of the game and in that eventuality the demoted batsmen couldn’t have offered suitable resistance to win the game. This is very obvious that putting bowling all-rounders ahead of the established batsmen would inevitably affect their confidence and performance adversely. On the Australian pitches in the upcoming ICC World Cup T20-2022 this strategy is fraught with the gravest of dangers, if the previous T20 World Cup in UAE is any indication. The ICC has been doing everything to help the international teams prepare well for the event including that of converting the format of the Asia Cup-2022 into T20. But unfortunately, Team India with all its varied franchises, all-rounders and experiments is not able to reap the benefits in the desirable way.

Now to Dinesh Karthik of whose peculiar position in the team we’d mentioned in an earlier post too. It’s being said that in that crunch match against Pakistan he was preferred over the inimitable Rishabh Pant due to his ‘experience’. If that is so, then his ‘experience’ as a batsman who can dramatically change the course of a game with his furious shots must have weighed more than his ‘experience’ as a wicketkeeper. And if that is so, then why he was sent after all the bowling all-rounders to face just five balls when India needed seven runs of that. But for Pandya’s six in the fourth ball of the last over the match could’ve ended in any direction. The Indian bowlers did a great job to get the Pakistan side all out to a total less than 150 and with Team India’s batting strength it should’ve been an easy chase. But for the ‘superseding’ experimentation you know…! Anyway, a lot has to be been seen yet in this tournament. An upbeat Afghanistan routed a crisis-laden Sri Lanka in the first match of the tournament and has emerged as a strong contender for the Super-4 stage from Group-A with Bangladesh being the third team. India is set to face Hong Kong next before proceeding to the Super-4 and we can expect one more encounter of the rarest variety, India Vs Pakistan, at that stage, and a possible third one if both teams make it to the Final.