abhay's blog

Life@ XIMB continues...

2010-08-31T15:50:00.000-07:00

Well finally after sooooo many days my mood swings have begin to fall towards my right side of the shoulder, so I have just picked up the pen and started scribbling, which I have not done much in the last 1 year, after shifting to Bhubaneswar.
Off late, the peer group has started inquiring and thus occasionally the question crops up-so what did you write latest! And then I say, well.. let me see the date of the last post I have come up with on my blog.

And I noticed that I have penned nothing great and infact I have committed some serious and some non serious crimes(as they call it in a B school) with my pen like writing 3 extra sheets in ‘ Organisation Development paper’ and scribbling on a paper like a biddable, meek and submissive school kiddo ready for DCP in the marketing classes to get some score in class participation prodigally assuming that the Prof. would atleast acknowledge your sincerity in the class after looking your constant nodding of head and some scribbling!

But if you assume, you tend to make an ass out of you and me (acknowledging ‘ Silence of the Lambs’—one good thing after MBA happened to me, I have started giving references, because the plagiarism filters are extra sensitive here at XIMB), but you have to keep on trying in the hope that atleast some Prof. would someday write the new testament for sincerity detection!

Now, when you see some post these days, you tend to share the link on Facebook and get some eye balls, it doesn’t inspire you to write something instead.

I always say to my friends, that my management education has ruined my literary skills, if at all you do not count drafting a docx. file for a final submission on ‘ Strategic evolution of Tata in India’ in the list of same skills, for which you almost get the Nobel peace prize by your group mates everytime you faff and stuff in pages by the facts already known but rephrased.

Now I am not proclaiming to be the one of the better writers between 4° N and 37° 6' North Latitude and 68° 7 ' and 97° 25 ' East Longitudes, prior to coming to Bhubaneswar ,its just that I used to savor the pen, because I used to read, I used to contemplate, and I used to experience. 1 year and 2 months of management education has taken a lot from me as a person who used to have a hobby. Now as one is supposed to do in a management institute, I read Mckinsey Quarterly, try to decipher Bloomberg Data findings and experience a false sense of superiority, arising out of complex and self concocted web of hidden and hurt egos of a typical mba.

Hurt because, every other day you find someone else in the newspapers making some else sense out of the same fact, than you used to envisage was right. Now, that will make you do 1 thing, you will think you can never conclude why did you decide to do MBA in the first place.

Most of these guys and gals here are geeky engineers, some of them were not getting the opportunity to be onsite (a typical jargon used to describe the foreign location where the client is actually located), some of them were not getting recognition for their work-frustration -they call it, and finally some thought that a management education will help them in better prospects and then there are some people, who thought well it would be really nice idea to go back to a college and have fun for 2 years more before they could really face the grind.

And to mention, just the shade of what the lucky souls actually get is fancy remix of holy and sacred –

Another brick in the wall courtesy Sir Pink Floyd,
Stand next by Lord Jimi Hendrix,
Thunderstruck by Majesty AC/DC and
Beat It by His Highness and Long Live MJ.

Remix because you are simultaneously listening to all of them at the peak of the volumes of the speakers and beats, coming down heavily from the rooms of 4 different rooms adjacent to each other, belonging to 4 different seniors on B Top. Now that makes sure another thing, no juni. can play as loud as music as seniors can, atleast in the first term so as not to connive in the scheme of beats seniors would listen!

Suffering writing Overdose now and by the fear of getting bore if I move further!

Signing off..Time to pick the Bass!
30 August, 2010
03.50 am,
B 178,
GR1
Xavier Square

A Girl and A Boy..!

2010-02-13T10:10:00.001-08:00

This post was posted on Valentines Day exactly 1 year ago on Arush’s blog(my younger brother)...But it took a bit longer to be rewritten than I “expected”…1 complete year. As they say, better late than never, and what better than the same day a year after. The time has changed, the place has changed, I as a person have changed, but somethings never change, your feeling is one such thing.

The story is about 12 years old and is still going on…

A boy was going on very easily with his life, one day he met a girl,
I year
Boy: Hi! I am new in this school, looking for some good friends; may I know your name?

[Boy was a complete flirt, he he!]
Girl: why should I?
Boy: Atleast you could wish me.
Girl: I won’t!

[The whole year passed by!]

II year
Boy: I know your name now! Ha-ha! Would you like to be my friend?
Girl: Not at all!
[Seriously, girl was a bit rude! X- and honestly it took that boy a complete year to know her name! Boy was too shy to ask someone for it! :P]

III year
Boy: I don’t give her a damn! Lemme study a bit!
Girl: [politely] excuse me...
[Boy was shocked!]
Boy: ha-ha! At last, you want to be my friend no..??
Girl: What!?! I am collecting notebooks; do you want to submit yours?
[Gosh! Girls--as always! ]

IV year
Girl: umm..I think I know you!
Boy thinking: *crap! It was supposed to be my line.*
*Girl tells him how.*
Boy: cool! So are we friends?
Girl: yes we are!
[Victory!] \m/

V year
Girl gave a call to the boy and he messed it up completely! Completely!
Girl: Hello!
Boy: Hey! How are you?
Girl: I am fine; listen...is my drawing book with you?
Boy: Nope!
[He smashed the phone quickly! Hell, why?]

VI year
[Grrr...I hate this part!]
Another friend for both of them, and unluckily he was a BOY! :P
Though all three of them proved to be good friends.

VII, VIII & IX year
These years were hell lot a busy for them!
Teachers were like monsters!
II boy was gone! Yippee!!

X year
But it seemed like ’III boy’ was waiting for entrance! :D
A great mess! Yup, this year was a great mess!
Not for everyone, but for the boy!
Girl: [blushing] hey, I want to tell you something, ----I am in love! ----
Boy: [expecting his name on her lips] Congratulations! Who is the lucky guy? :P
Girl:* ________*
Boy: [his legs shaking] Shall I ask him? [yup! It wasn’t his name!]
Girl: Only you can help me. Will you?
Boy did the job!
Girl and the III boy were together now!
The boy was feeling satisfied and shattered at the same moment.
He was satisfied because the girl he admired the most got her love, and was shattered because the one he loved was gone!
Chatting, ideas for gifts, orkut scraps and testimonials; boy helped the III boy everywhere in connection with that girl, just because he wanted to make her feel special and make her happy!

And one day for no reason they broke up!
You can call it a peaceful settlement! :P
III boy was out of the scene now!

XI year
Boy got admission in another school, so did the girl.
and now the only mode of their conversation---gtalk!---
Chatting, chatting and chatting!

Nothing special, always a general chat went on between both of them!
[boy never let her know that he loved her!]

XII year

A disaster!
Boy told her everything about his feelings!
Girl: what? Are you serious? What do you think of me? Who am I for you?
Boy: You are everything for me! Your eyes a sea wave, your hair a night without stars, your voice a sip of a wine, your smile a 1st day moon, your stare a blessing from god, your tears a mayhem.

[He, himself didn’t knew what he said and decided not to talk to that girl after all this happened, because he didn’t had enough guts to do the same, but girl insisted him and made him chat further.]

On 13th Feb. she wished Valentines Day to the boy and expected the same in return, boy didn’t wish her because he wanted to meet her. Boy felt too shy to ask her for a meet, and as always he messed it up again!

That Boy told me to write this post because he want that girl to forgive him, because he can’t tolerate her frustration and want to see her happy every moment of his life!

It might sound like a hindi film story to the readers, but it is true! God knows, what will be the end of this story!

Mumblings of a lost Mind..!!

2010-01-22T03:44:00.000-08:00

Quite honestly let me admit at the very beginning, my blog has been the experiment chamber for my writing stint, prior to coming into B school life. But,as they say the schedule never ever allows you to do something else than savouring the sumptuous delicacies on the platter of a B school life.

This is the unedited version of one of my assignments-Employment Relations they call it(yes, unedited,because what I present here could not have been given to Prof as an assignment. In that case I would have got a Gross Grade Point....!!!)

I found the subject as interesting as the name of the subject, not because it talks about the relationships and all which gives enough scope for the gossip for the fertile minds at a place like XIMB, but because it has allowed me and many others like me to self google(A term derived by very dear friend of mine, Akash). The Prof.asked us to write an assignment on 'Tell Me Your story'.

What happened to you in your school, college, what decided your career path and what made you land here in Bhubaneswar, you can tell all that, but what matters is how do you make decisions in your life in regards to your career(and personal life).

Well now that really seems interesting, first time an assignment on which I spent more time thinking than doing(This deduces that I have been doing lot of assignments without much of thinking).

I have not been shy of forming opinions even if they differ from the crowd to an unmeasurable limit and believe in setting up my own contours. Perhaps that is why some of you call me whackily insane. And here at the Xavier square,they have started calling me BABY.(pun not intended)

Ever since I grew old enough to realize that my opinions matter, I started forming them with much more conviction, but I think the part of putting them forward also came out very strongly in my personality, even if I have to put them across to my family, the details of which I will be sharing in the latter half of ‘my story’.

Let me first of all take you back in the flashback and give you the reason for the career dilemmas I faced and still facing in my life. My father wanted to be an IAS officer, he even appeared for it once in 1984, but due to some family problems he could never see himself realize his dream to be in the civil services. After that he got into job because he had a family to support, which got followed by his marriage and more responsibilities i.e. ME. !

My father used to practice strict discipline at home (which made me an obedient child) most probably because I think he had a fair idea what it takes to groom an IAS officer right from the childhood. I was very much convinced that the IAS is the only profile for me and thus after my schooling I am going to concentrate on my preparation for competition.

At the time when most of my friends opted for science after 10th standard, I opted for commerce; just because of the simple fact that I had decided that commerce was going to be one of my subjects for the civil services examination too. So, that was one of the important decisions of my life which I took without even realizing what I wanted to do.

But that was the time when India as an economy was growing and also the corporate salaries. Media bytes about high salaries and placements in B schools attracted my attention. Suddenly I realized that there are much more than IAS as a career opportunity.

My urge to be successful in corporate career and earn lots of money came out explicitly as my interest gradually starts shifting towards a career in corporate sector. I informed my father about my intentions of doing the management course. But as was expected, it was hard for him to see me going on a different career path altogether. Had I told him that I don’t want to be a babu but I want to be an IPS, then he would have accepted that somehow.

But my intentions of moving into the corporate sector, made my father astonished as for him the ‘government jobs’ are any day better than ‘private jobs’. But I was sure what I wanted to do, so in order to convince my father I decided to bring some modifications to my plan. We both decided that I will first do my management course, but after getting my MBA I shall sit for civil service examinations atleast once.
My decision about my career path made me land here at Bhubaneswar (nearly 2000 Ks from Chandigarh).

Having realized my dream of getting into a B school of my choice, the focus is now on the future. Candidly admitting, my short term vision was to enter into a B school, get some good marks in some subjects and decent in some others, and get a plum job and walk away out of the campus to enter the world to do what I always wanted to do, that is making a successful career in the corporate sector. Obviously, when you meet budding entrepreneurs and smartest minds in a B school, your thinking contours tend to touch new horizons.

I am discovering myself daily and learning new things about others and the immense possibilities which exist in the entire world outside the gates of the campus, other than earning money. Learn as much as possible, is what I am realizing now, for this learning will always be with me for the rest of my life. Earning money or moving abroad to earn greenbacks was a done thing for me when I entered the B school which now has taken a backseat; instead this seems too insignificant now. So, now the main reason why I entered into a B school stands futile, and I have no reason to offer to myself or to my father why did I enter a B school in the first place if I do not intend to make money and I really wanted to do something Big and significant.

I think at some point in life, money tends to cease importance. One wants to do the job which he wants to do irrespective of what material returns that ‘job’ will fetch. But that takes me back to the point on which I convinced my father, that a management degree will enable me to do things of my choice and earn enough so as to spend my life in the way I want to.

But due to this flip flop of career choices, today I am a half MBA and one fourth of an IAS aspirant, with one fourth still searching for more answers for my career path. After all, I do not want to join a job just for the sake of it, because my principles ask me to justify the position and responsibility which I have been assigned, and want me to do full justice to my job, thus ‘satisfying the job’.

All this comes from commitment, which matters the most for me. Discovering a new interest while being in another job, accounts for infidelity as per my opinion.

No job is interesting, and every job is interesting. The challenge is how to make a job joyful and interesting, so that each and every day at the workplace seems a ‘celebration’. One shall not always seek the job satisfying the employees, infact it shall be the flesh and blood satisfying the job, position and responsibilities. Changing careers due to flagging interests and plummeting levels of concentration are not good signs, even from an individual’s perspective.

This amounts that perhaps one has not given enough thought and time to oneself to think adequately and sufficiently about one’s career path. It doesn’t mean that there are definite career paths and everyone has to opt for one or the other, infact it implies that one should discover his interest and talent as soon as possible in his life, and then with unquestioned dedication move towards perfection, which itself is a sempiternal and absorbing odyssey, a reason enough to make the rest of life a celebration.

Familiarity breeds contempt, they say, but contempt is required for breaking the jinx and taking the path which both, our mind and heart commands but that happens less often. I thought of earning lots of money, but a short stint in my B school life has changed my thinking and has made me to rethink my career path.

Perhaps that is one of the many things which I am loving in my B School life!

Life @ XIMB

2010-01-21T05:18:00.000-08:00

The following words are the creation of Kartikeya Mishra,XIMB-2004-06 batch(My Super Super Super Super Super Senior..Perhaps that makes him my Superior Duperior Senior :P)
The text has been taken from Life @XIMB thread on Pagalguy. Quite frankly,I tried writing something similar, but could not dare, since the following account is as precise as it could get. Enjoy reading ...

XST: XIM Standard Time

Normal daily routine of a guy at XIMB

8:45 XST: Wake up time...the alarm goes off....
8:48 XST: The alarm which you conveniently ignored earlier ...goes off
again
8:50 XST: You finally wake up
8:51 XST: A quick trip to the loo
8:55 XST: You wake up ppl...who'r still in a slumber
8:58 XST: You dash to the class.
9:00 XST: If you are lucky you make it to class, JIT (just in time)
9:02 XST: The ones who are not so lucky, make an entry into class, some

would be asked to leave, if you are lucky, you get to attend the

class, but no attendance for u, if you are really really lucky...the
prof

is late!!!
9:05 XST: Attendance done...time to doze off in class
9:10 XST: Man when does this class end
10:25 XST: Yawn....of the class is coming to an end is it???
10:30 XST: Damn c’mon prof....you gotta let us go now
10:31 XST: Hey prof CMON
10:32 XST: Finally...you're out
10:35 XST: Breakfast time
10:59 XST: What time for the next class already...DAMN
11:00 XST: Class 2...more or less the same as class 1
12:30 XST: Time for lunch..or is it time for another nap...
12:45 XST: Lunch!!!
13:15 XST: Do i have to bathe today???
13:20 XST: Do i really need to bathe...
13:30 XST: ok guess its been days since i last bathed...
13:50 XST: Damn another class....what about my nap...
14:00 XST: Class 3..... read what happens in class1
15:30 XST: Class ends....time for a coffee...
15:35 XST: You sip coffee peacefully.....
15:45 XST: Class 4, what a quiz...a surprise quiz....how come the other

section gets to give it in the next class...how come no
"surprise"

for them....
15:46 XST: Damn was this ever discussed in class...i can't seem to recall

anything
15:59 XST: Thank god its over...lets hope..everybody got it wrong..that

way..it really doesn't matter..
16:00 XST: Time to sleep again
17:15 XST: Yawwnnnn...oh the class got over is it..
17:16 XST: Snacks time.....
17:30 XST: Time for football...time for tennis...time for badminton....
18:15 XST: Can't i bunk the next class...how about a proxy...
18:36 XST: You make it class...a whole 6 mins late...
19:15 XST: You need to be excused....you take a loo break...you walk out..
19:16 XST: You change your mind ...you don't wanna go back.....plus ...its

time you've been to sandy square...this is the time..when all the

pretty faces turn up ..there..you head to CCD..
19:20 XST: You get an SMS from a frnd in class "Dude ...why aren't you
back

yet, prof just announced a surprise quiz.....he's bolted the door"

aaarrrrrrrrggggghhhhh..you just lost 15% of your weightage....damn
damn

damn

20:14 XST: You just realise ...thats its a 6 class day....and today’s the

day..
20:15 XST: What another class....when does all this end..
20:30 XST: You turn up 15 mins late...
21:00 XST: Sir, can we end ...the class now...its been a long day...
21:01 XST: Just a few more mins..son...i promise to end the class 5 mins

earlier...(thats still 40 mins away)
21:30 XST: Sir can we end now puhlllllllease....sure sure....just a few
more

mins
21:45 XST: You start getting up to leave...its times the class ended...
21:46 XST: Just a min son, i know i promised ...we'd end early...but i
gotta

explain this....cmon..we'd can start something...new next class
21:50 XST: Finally it ends..
21:51 XST: Thank god the day is over....well is it...
21:52 XST: There's a commotion in the porch area...
21:53 XST: What the hell's happening......WHAT .... assignment......MC

assignment and it NEEDS TO BE SUBMITTED BY 11:59 tonite.....when was
that

announced.....there was nuthing on the notice board...when you chkd at

8pm...it just got announced.........

21:54 XST: WHAT ABOUT THE DINNER THAT WE HAD PLANNED OUTSIDE...
21:55 XST: You rush to the mess...and finish off dinner.......
22:00 XST: What did i have for dinner anyway......well does it really
matter

22:10 XST: You try and understand what the assignment is all about..
22:15 XST: You ping your grp mates....(thank god...they invented instant

messengers )....Guys get your ass down to my room ASAP..
22:40 XST: Your first grp mate arrives..."Man i buzzed you 20 mins
back..."

Sorry man..i just got your ms"..."What about others"...."Well who

elses there in our grp"
22:41 XST: Oh yeah good question...let me chk...
22:45 XST: Hey class rep....who all did you put in my grp...
22:46 XST: Class reps no where to be found....
23:00 XST: Class reps finally found...hey who all in my grp......the reply
"Chk grp listing on the intranet - The grps were made by prof"
23:05 XST: Damn why didn't i think of that...
23:15 XST: Distress call...you send a msg on the LAN mssnger "My grp

mates...whoever you are....please come to my Room ASAP...with regards
to

the MC assign...please please please come..."
23:20 XST: Whats the point...the msngr seems to be flooder with similar

msgs....
23:25 XST: You decide to deal with the assignment ...with just the 3 of
your
grp mates..who decided to turn up...hell with the rest...

23:30 XST: Google.com.... you copy paste...the question as mentioned in
the
assign......you do manage to get some results......download some
relevant stuff
23:40 XST: You start copy pasting.....your doc seems to building up... hey
not bad...i think we can finish it off...Hey Hey add the
names...add
the names of the grp member..ok done..
23:55 XST: You are pleased with your work..... man time to upload...you
gotta hurry....deadline 11:59 sharp...else the intranet won't accept
it.
23:58 XST: You login to the ..intranet//
23:58 XST: Where do i upload...wheres the damn link.....oh yeah found..
23:58:52 XST: NOTICE ON SOME SCREENS ..... UPLOAD COMPLETE....UPLOADED BY
USER U104082 at time 23:58:52..
0000 XST: Notice on some screens
"DEADLINE HAS EXPIRED" You cannot upload .... please contact the
course instructor...

0001 XST: What the f......... i did upload ...i upload well before the
deadline....you finally come to realise that your system clock is not
synchronized with the server lock.....DAAAAAAMMMMMMMMNNNNNNNN...thats
another 15% lost...

0200 XST: You while away time..... happy at completing the assignment (or
cribbing over failing to upload ....in some cases)....you get a
buzz...
0201 XST: You read the msg "Hey....we got a presentation ...at 9 in the
morning....i forgot all about it......didn't realise it was our grps
turn...so what say ...we do that now???? "

0202 XST: what again.......you are too dumbstruck to even think...you
reply...."ok sure....i'd be in your room in a few mins......inform the
girls as well...make sure everybody's there"

0215 XST: You walk into your frnds room...everybodys there... except for
one
girl...where the hell is ...she...

0220 XST: After some frantic calls to girl2, girl1 says..shes taking the
ximb walk...with.. ..you know who....
You scream....."She better be here...or else...shes thrown out of
the grp"

0230 XST: Girl 2 finally shows up "Sorry yaar...was just discussing
...today‘s quiz with......" yeah whatever...

0345 XST: Presentation..doesn't seem to be making sense....2 of your grp
members have dozed off....
0400 XST: Two members leave.....
0415 XST: the three of you who are left.....finish off....the
presentation....pleased with ur work...at least thats what you think
0430 XTS: Its been a horrid day...time to crash..
0845 XTS: Man ..i gotta dress up for the presentation... man i need to
shave....
0905 XTS: You arrive in class..clean shaven, your clothes are unironed
though....never mind...
0910 XTS: The class is waiting for u to start..with your presentation..oh
you've forgotten the pen drive...well never mind...take it off.. your comp
on the network...damn i forgot to share the folder.....ok ok ...never
mind..you can map your drive....don't worry...oh yeah...i can ......but
it
wouldn't access.....DAMN i had turned my comp off..............
...............
..........

and so the saga continues.......

the routine continues....every single day........

5 Mistakes Women Make!

2009-06-16T03:13:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine sent me this article which was written by a man and she told me to spread the word. . Some of the language is a bit uuuhhmmm strong but it's been a long time I read something so powerful. There's only one thing he said I disagreed with and would like to counter. As Christians, our Christian standards must be internalized to be our personal standards or we will fail in our walk with God. I therefore submit that Personal standards and Religious standards should be the same; never different. Enjoy the read everyone.

5 Mistakes Women Make - By Ekene Agabu

Before I begin or rather let you into what I have written, I must confess that I had completed this article months ago but was a bit apprehensive in publishing it. I didn’t want to come across as being judgmental and if after reading this you feel judged or put down as a woman, please excuse my unskilled delivery, for that is not my intent. And if you feel that I have crossed the line as man sharing these with you, do not hesitate to express your disdain for my impetus.

Having said that, I feel qualified to write this as a man because I stand as an unbiased observer and also one who has had the opportunity to take advantage of these mistakes. But I must confess, we as men have been @$$#*%*$ . Where we should have given, we took; where we should have loved, we lusted and where we should have preserved, we devoured. As a Man, I must call myself to higher standards. Before I touch you, I must respect you like my mother, protect you like my sister and look out for your best interest like my baby – after all, that’s what I call you when I want you! We’ve failed to realize that the significance of our masculinity does not lie in how many girls we can dis-virgin but rather the honor we can bestow upon one. We fail to understand that the purpose of our strength and dominance is to defend and protect not to attack and destroy.

But the first mistake was not yours. You were born into a world that didn’t even give you the chance - the chance to be who you really are without any pressure or expectation. From day one you were unconsciously groomed from childhood to be an acceptable accessory to a man’s life. You were constantly made conscious of a false milestone that suggested your value was based upon a man finding you worthy to be his, instead of being made aware of who you are by virtue of your own unique existence. Your worth as a woman was reduced to two things; being a wife and your ability to bear a child – and in some cultures, you had to bear the right type of child. And if per chance you failed in one of these areas, you were nobody, no one – you were nothing.

Unfortunately, along the way, you may have made some mistakes in trying to fulfill this false notion of who you are supposed to be. Bad relationship after bad relationship continually emphasized the lie that you were nothing without a man. Not only do you sit there as one with mental wounds from childhood, but also with hurts and wounds that are self inflicted as you sincerely tried to fulfill the so called destiny of the woman – being someone’s woman.

As I share this with you, I do not come as one who claims to understand your plight, but rather I stand as one who has heard you. From my mother to my aunts to my cousins and my friends, I have heard you and will continue to listen whenever you speak.

That being said, I do not believe we are responsible for the things that are done or said to us, but I do know that we are responsible for allowing those things continue in us. It’s in this light that I share with you the five common mistakes women make in relationships.

Your Personal Standards! Don't leave home without them!

By not setting your standard, you’ve just set the standard. The standards I speak of are not standards for the relationship; I speak of your personal standards irrespective of the relationship.
What is your life’s moral compass? This could get a bit confusing, so let me explain.

Often times, at a certain point in life, people turn to religion for some sort of moral guidance or law. It’s an acknowledgment of some sort that they have made numerous personal mistakes and are in probable search for a turn around. So you might have a young lady who’s been around the block and has now become a Christian, and professes that she will be celibate until she gets married thereby claiming this new belief to be her standard. This is a religious belief that she has now adopted and not a personal standard. Your personal standards are born and realized from within you and become your principles rather than a law. A principle is born out of understanding; an understanding of who you are and why you are here on this earth. If you are roaming the earth like a lost sheep in search of a man to give you relevance, you will always find yourself jumping from relationship to relationship with each one leaving you even more confused than you were in the beginning.

But when you understand that you are not here by chance and your presence on this earth has significant relevance, the aura about you changes and the people and things you accept into your life will only be a reflection of your internal essence or your personal standard. A man can cause you to go against a belief because it was never yours in the first place, but he can never sway you away from your principle because you are one with your principle. A lady who lives from her principles takes personal responsibility for her own actions and responses. She takes charge and never leaves her fate to the opinions or actions of men. She doesn’t go on a date with every man that asks her out because she doesn’t need a man – she would want a man but she fully well understands that her worth is solely appraised on who she is and not who she’s with. She would not change her principle to have or keep a man. She’s doesn’t need to sleep with a man to have or keep him. She understands that whatever she can’t get by way of her principles will never be her own. That you are sleeping with a guy does not mean he’s yours. If you had to sleep with him to keep him, he was never yours in the first place.
In the absence of your personal standards, you end up trying many things and many people, but you never experience the love that is already within you. Allow that love within to write your standards and begin to live from them. That love will never lead you astray, never ever!

Why are you making excuses for him…..again?

I have come to observe that ladies often see the man as the prize. So once it looks like they have him – especially if he appears to be a good one – they want to do everything in their power to keep him. I understand that, but I don’t accept that and neither should you. You are the Prize. We should fight over you and want to do things to get and keep you. We should want to make sure you are ok. A man who loves and respects a woman will never want her in doubt when it comes her knowing of his feelings towards her. When we are crazy about a woman, we are no longer the reserved and non emotional creatures you think we are. We become a mess - drooling internally when we think of you. We would never want you to feel you are on shaky ground concerning your status with us. We will publicly profess and show you to the whole world. We will put up a picture with you in it as the our profile pic, tag you in all photos you appear in and most importantly make sure that our status box shows that we are in a relationship with you.

Yup, that’s what we do when we love you - we say it out LOUD! And when we are out and about with you, our professions are usually crystal clear: ‘Meet my girlfriend, Sandra’ or ‘Meet my fiance, Sandra.’ Not, ‘Meet Sandra’ who is Sandra??? When we love you, we want the world to know that we love you. But I get amazed when ladies see the writing on the wall and continually make excuses to justify a man’s blatant abuse towards them. What do I mean? Take for instance the introductions highlighted above; He introduces you as just ‘Sandra’: you know you don’t like it, but you make an excuse within yourself and say, ‘he’s a private kinda guy, he doesn’t like to publicly show stuff.’ Really? Ok, let me ask, “Are you enrolled in midnight gymnastics with him?” In other words has he bent your body in ways you didn’t think possible? Well, there is only one thing worse than a guy sleeping with a woman in secret; and that is, a woman allowing that to happen.
Before you allow a man do to you privately what can affect you publicly, he must first of all acknowledge you publicly as the woman he respects and loves. If he can’t do that, you need to tell me why you are still sticking around. How can you allow a man to knock you up when you are just ‘Sandra’ to him? You know you deserve better, so stop the excuses. Instead of making excuses for him, take charge – not of him or the relationship, but of yourself. Never remain in an environment where your integrity is compromised. Remember, you are the prize and we should work hard to get and keep you. And after all our hard work, you still have a right to say NO.

Why are you looking for ‘something’ in a bag of ‘nothings?’

A few years ago, a friend who was engaged was getting ready for her wedding which was just a couple of months away at the time. She called me occasionally during the preparation process, but on this one phone call, things were pretty bad. She was mad, upset, disappointed and unhappy that she was marrying this guy. So I asked her why she was still going on with the wedding if she felt the marriage wouldn’t work out. She said to me that she did not want the last four years of her life spent with him to go to waste. Hmmm! When she said this, I looked at my phone because I couldn’t look at her (she was in a different city) and in that instant – if I had a private jet – I would have flown to her city to give her a knock on her head - not a hard one, just a gentle knock - to help tilt her brain back to the center of her skull, because obviously it seemed out of balance with what she had just said to me. Let’s think about this, You are willing to screw up the next 50 years of your life, create babies in a hostile environment with a man you despise thereby screwing up the next generation, raising kids that would need therapy for the rest of their lives based on the abuse they will experience in that home, all because you don’t want the last four years of your life - 1,2,3,4 - to mean nothing (I’m having a headache just rehashing the story).

So you are trying to create a love marriage from a four year crappy relationship. Needless to say, this lady was a young beautiful 28yr old lawyer. With good life habits she could easily live another healthy 50 years (Have you seen Barbara Walters lately? She’s 80). And here you are, willing to mortgage a future on four years with this jerk? She was desperately trying to make something out of nothing. That you’ve been in a long term relationship does not mean you should continually stay in it. Unfortunately for some ladies, it takes a while to see the light and muster up courage to get out of a bad situation. But when you see the light; RUN, GO, your life deserves it. If you don’t make that change, you’ll never know what’s out there? And when I say out there, I don’t mean what’s out there in another relationship; I mean what’s out there in you that you are yet to discover. Some of you ladies are afraid – afraid that you might not be married by a certain time. You begin the calculations, ‘Ok, I’m 28 now, if I break this up, how long will it take to find another guy and get married? Oooh! It may take another 4 years and I’ll be 32. No! I can’t be single at 30.” You are killing yourself with this kind of dialogue. Like she later said to me, she always saw herself married by 29. Needless to say, she was divorced by 29!

They got married alright, but their divorce was made final before a possible 1st wedding anniversary. Sometimes we allow fear to dictate what we should do. We will never get from fear what love has to give. Love is bold, confident and fearless. Why are you scared? Why are you letting fear keep you in a relationship that you know you don’t want? Why do you want to marry a guy who has already made you feel like trash? Why are you choosing to be with someone you are not crazy about? Ok, so you are more concerned about looking good and successful on the outside at the expense of how you truly feel on the inside. You are too special for that. Let people think what they think, you know what you know and that’s all that should matter. Sometimes, we don’t believe; we don’t believe in ourselves, so we settle and then try to make something out of nothing. You can’t change another human being, it’s impossible. You haven’t even changed some things about yourself; how then do you think it possible to change another?

You’ve gotta think before you have his baby!

Often times when I’m in conversation with one of my numerous lady friends, something always cracks me up. I know they been having sex for years in and out of relationships and that fact is not hidden between us. But on some occasions, when I ask them if they have been pregnant before, their voice takes on a new tone of ‘How dare you?’ And then there is a resounding NO, like, ‘how could I get pregnant?’ Wait a minute! Am I missing something here? If you are having sex – sexual intercourse, you are potentially making a baby. You are filing an application. As soon as he ejaculates into you, the application is submitted and the outcome of that process is no longer left to you or him but to the Department of Conception. And if they approve it, you become pregnant whether you want it or not. Sex is not just about the pleasure derived, neither is it an antidote for loneliness. Sex is Responsibility; meaning you will have to respond to the outcome of that sexual encounter and sometimes it could be a lifetime of responses especially when a child is conceived.

And when that child is born, you will forever have a symbol representing your union with your ex. Once a child is conceived, there is no moving on from that relationship. It begins the strongest bond known between a man and a woman. That man holds a special place in your heart regardless of how you feel about him today. You may have an abortion in trying to cut any future ties to this man, but may I have you know that the power of conception outweighs the power of birth. For something to be born, it has to be conceived. We are all on this earth first because of conception then birth. Without conception they will be no birth but without birth there can be conception. A strong bond is created when you allow a man’s sperm to start life within you. It is a major privilege to give to someone and not everyone should have that kind of access to you. If a man is horny and wants to be relieved, tell him to use his hand. You are no object and certainly no substitute for a man’s hand. So if you don’t want to have his baby, don’t make his baby.

I know there’s Pressure, but why are you under it?

I have come to observe that whether she’s 21 or 29, she always feels she’s running out of time. One thing you must understand is that pressure is not real. You are real and when you give attention to or come under the dominance of something that is impotent, you give it potency – you give it power. That is why this thing we call ‘pressure’ has the effect it has. You give it the effect. You are the effect. Sometimes we are driven by those voices of ignorance that may have come from people we love, so we try hard to get into a relationship and make it work. “Oh! This one has to work cos I’m almost 30.” Screw him and screw 30. You are more valuable to yourself and to the world than the timeline of your eggs or your age. Your world will not come to an end if you are not married by 30; in fact, it may just be beginning!

A few years ago, a lady friend of mine, who was 21 at the time called me up to talk about her ‘man' troubles. During our conversation, I observed that she had always been in a sexual relationship since she was 15. She confessed to me that she didn’t want to be alone; actually she didn’t know how to be alone. You see, you do yourself a huge injustice when you spend your formative years interrupted. Sex interrupts. It stops your creative and intellectual development and gives strength to your emotional cravings which should still be asleep. Your formative years are years you spend forming your person and your identity in readiness for your service to the world. Unfortunately, ladies give that time and space to some guy – a guy who may not even be in your life past your 30th birthday.

Have we as men failed you? Oh yes we have! As fathers some of us weren’t present in your young life. As uncles, instead of being fond of you, we fondled you. As friends we were more focused on the benefits instead of the sacrifice. We used you when we should have added value. We took advantage instead giving the advantage. We failed you quite all right, but you don’t have to do to yourself what we did to you – You don’t have to fail yourself. You can’t afford to fail yourself. You are the door to humanity. Life has to go through you to enter this earth. Even God needed a woman to come back into the world.

There’s no need to dumb yourself down or compromise your true integrity. We need the true you. We can’t exist without you and we will adjust to whatever standard you set for us – so why not make it high, why not make it YOU?

AR Rahman Does India proud

2009-02-22T22:18:00.000-08:00

This has been a special day for the Indian film industry. But not because ‘Slumdog millionaire’ has won eight Academy Awards at the 81^st Academy Awards ceremony at LA Kodak theater but because of the fact that our very own AR Rahman has won OSCARS for the best Music(song) Jai Ho and best original score.

In his thank you speech Rahman said—“Before coming, I was excited and terrified. The last time I felt like that was during my marriage. There's a dialogue from a Hindi film called "Mere paas ma hai," which means "I have nothing but I have a mother," so mother's here, her blessings are there with me. I am grateful for her to have come all the way. And I want to thank the Academy for being so kind, all the jury members. I want to thank Sam Schwartz, I/D PR, all the crew of Slumdog, Mr. Gulzar, Raqueeb Alam, Blaaze, my musicians in Chennai and Mumbai. And I want to tell something in Tamil, which says, which I normally say after every award which is... "God is great." Thank you.

Also Resul Pookutty wojn the Oscars for the Sound Mixing category alongside Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke. In his acceptance speech Resul gave a special mention to India when he said—“This is unbelievable. We can't believe this. Ladies and gentlemen... sorry... I share the stage with two magicians, you know, who created the very ordinary sounds of Bombay, the cacophony of Bombay, into a soul-stirring, artful resonance called Slumdog Millionaire.

I come from a country and a civilization that given the universal word. That word is preceded by silence, followed by more silence. That word is "Om." So I dedicate this award to my country. Thank you, Academy, this is not just a sound award, this is history being handed over to me. My sincere and deepest gratitude to my teachers, Danny Boyle, Christian Colson, Paul Ritchie, Pravesh... and everybody who has contributed to this film, Glenn Freemantle and all the sound mixers. I dedicate this to you guys. Thank you, Academy. Thank you very much.

"Slumdog" writer Beaufoy, who adapted the script from Vikas Swarup's novel "Q&A," said there are places he never could imagine being.

"For me, it's the moon, the South Pole, the Miss World podium, and here," Beaufoy said.

In all, Slumdog Millionaire" has cruised to eight Academy Awards wins including best director for Danny Boyle.

The evening is following the script of earlier Hollywood honors, with "Slumdog Millionaire" steamrolling its way towards the big prize, best picture. The other Oscars for "Slumdog Millionaire" include adapted screenplay, cinematography and both music awards, for score and song.

For his demented reinvention of Batman villain the Joker, Heath Ledger becomes only the second actor ever to win posthumously, his triumph coming 13 months after his death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs on Oscar nominations day last year.

The previous posthumous Oscar recipient was Peter Finch, who won best actor for 1976's "Network" two months after his death.

At the start of this piece I said that this is a special day because of Allah Rakha Rahman but not because of Slumdog millionaire in which almost everyone from producer to director, from technicians to distributors were foreigners so why is that the Indian media is going haywire over the ‘Slumdog success’. Of course there is no denying that we all are very proud for AR and we should celebrate his success as our own success but the media is jumping the gun just because there are some familiar faces acting in the movie. The movie has got its own share of critics as well like Amitabh Bachhan who has regret the fact that director Danny Boyle has chosen the slums and the dirty and filthy underbelly of the “Rising India”. So are we too touch to manifest the reality of India and does it make us uneasy when one foreign film director showcases Mumbai riots, beggary rackets, slums and brothels of India or are we mature enough to accept the facts as they are? What do you think?

Abhay Mittal

Courtesy-AP

Had you said yes...

2009-01-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

Had you said yes …
To My only dream
How content I would seem
Happy forever I would have rested in peace
To the length where love won’t stretch and cease

Had you said yes …
To My tried intent
Of such a Truth as I have ever meant
Would have shown depth infinitely like a sea
Etched in you so could never forget me

Had you said yes…
You would have known my only crush
But you said No, so don’t now put me in a rush
Say not this, say not that
Forget not this, forget not that

--Abhay--

Satyam Shocker

2009-01-06T23:32:00.000-08:00

Misfortunes always comes in twos—that is what perh

aps has been happening to B.Raju and his company satyam.

The chairman of Satyam Computer

Services B.Ramalinga Raju-India's 4th-biggest software services exporter, announced his resignation on Wednesday, triggering a more than 60 percent drop in the company's share price.

In a statement to the stock exchange,

B. Ramalinga Raju said Satyam's end-September balance sheet had been overstated. He apologised to staff and shareholders and said he was prepared to face the legal consequences.

The resi

gnation came in just within 24 hours after Forrester backtracked on Satyam and 24 hours prior to the scheduled Board meeting on 10 January.

The benchmark indices have extended losses further due to sharp cut in Satyam. Satyam's board in a press release mentioned that the balance sheet has in

flated cash & bank balance of Rs 5040 crore. The balance sheet has inflated accrued interest of Rs 376 crore in books is non-existent. The stock crashed nearly 50%.

According to press release, Rs 1,230 crore was arranged to Satyam,

which is not reflected in books. Raju said Merrill Lynch can be entrusted to explore merger options. Ram Mynampati to act as interim CEO.

In a letter to the board members, Raju also said that the company reported inflated revenues over years.
In reaction

to Raju’s revelations, the stock was hammered by investors and it is down over 48 per cent.

He said that he feared takeover due to poor finance performance. Coming clean on financial irregularities,

he said that the company had Rs 1,230 crore worth of understated liability as of September 30.

He also revealed that he tried to fill fictitious assets with Maytas deal.
His decision was conveyed to the company’s board members. The company was supposed to hold a board meeting this Saturday.

The company has submitted a copy of a communication sent by Ramalinga Raju, addressed to the Board, with the stock exchanges, capital market regulator SEBI and senior leaders of the company.

Satyam said that it is also in receipt of resignation tendered by Rama Raju, Managing Director of the company who will continue in the position only till such time the current Board is expanded and the continuance is just to ensure enhancement of the Board over the next several days or as early as possible.

Shares of Satyam have tumbled by over 60% to Rs.70. The scrip plunged to an intra-day low of Rs45 after hitting an intra-day high of Rs.188. The stock recorded volumes of over 100million shares within a span of 45 minutes Wednesday morning, on BSE.

Satyam has informed that DSP Merrill Lynch has terminated its engagement with the company. Merrill Lynch was entrusted with the task of finding a strategic option for the company in the wake of the controversial withdrawal of the plan to acquire two promoter group companies.

Reactions are coming in fast from the various quarters of the Indian IT fraternity, most of which are drenched with the feeling of shock.

CB Bhave, the chairman of Securities and exchange board of India said that, Satyam’s CEO’s open letter to all the affected parties itself does not clarify all the misdoings and the veracity of the letter can’t be vouched for. also the auditors, the independent directors, the banks cannot be washed away with, they also have a lot to answer.

R.K. GUPTA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, TAURUS ASSET MANAGEMENT, NEW DELHI:

"If a company's chairman himself says they built fictitious assets, who do you believe here? Not only Satyam, this has put a question mark on the entire corporate governance system in India. Probably he will face a rigid enquiry. Anyway, things are pretty bad."

V.K. SHARMA, HEAD OF RESEARCH, ANAGRAM STOCK BROKING:

"It reduces confidence (in corporate governance). It's absolutely wretched.

"There is no option right now (for Satyam). People will leave, clients will walk away. It's a very, very dire thing that has happened. There will be question marks raised everywhere."

JIGAR SHAH, SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT OF KIM ENG SECURITIES:

"I think there is no future for this stock. This case for India is similar to what happened to Enron in the U.S.

Perhaps this the biggest worry. Chairman of NASSCOM Ganesh Natarajan said in his statement on CNBC TV 18, minutes after the ‘Satyam shocker’, that it wont be easy to say that this entire episode would not affect India’s offshoring reputation, keeping in mind that the corporate governance has not always been on the priority of the offshore clients; fortunately or unfortunately. Well, any takers for that?

It’s an interesting twist indeed, as Forrestor was severely critical in its latest report after the Satyam Maytas controversy came out in the open.

But the way Satyam was apparently twisting another report to indicate how Forrestor always said good things about Satyam, is now clearly an embarrassment for both the sides.
The research firm, in its latest report suggests apart from the upheaval on the employee front that unrest amongst the clients is growing and can impact Satyam's business in a big way.

It will not stop at Satyam. Many more companies will come into scrutiny like that. There is a strong possibility investments in India will be affected.

News Courtesy: Economic times

NDTV Profit

--Abhay Mittal--

Would have said thanks to you...

2009-01-06T04:21:00.000-08:00

Would have said thanks to you...

But Today I thank Him,

For He granted with a friend, an angel to me

who found who I am,

A gem from God, a treasure to see,

She saw the beauty which is in me.

Never consumed with the friendship of ours,
Always gave the sensual feeling of being amidst flowers,

Spent many many and many moments with you ,
But they all seem to be very few
'Cause every moment happens to be a brand new .

All the colors in my life you brought ,
Could have just imagined in my thought ,

So believe it when I say ,
I will always cherish your friendship come what may .

Rising up in my life and Glaring like thousands sun ,
Making the sorrows go away never thought that you will be the one ,

When there was dark all around and blue ,
Would have said thanks to you…

But could never think of the friendship reward ,
Yet I tried 'cause it is just these words I could afford.

--Abhay Mittal--

Sports Diary 2008

2008-12-29T23:46:00.000-08:00

I was dying to post this blog but for the result of the 2nd test between South Africa and Australia prevented from doing so.The year has marked the end of Australian domination in the world cricket. Captain Ricky Ponting would be the most worried man going into 2009. While the omens were already there as the year started with the controversies galore surrounding Border-Gavaskar trophy with Symmonds and Harbhajan in the epicenter. The issue almost divided the world cricket into factions, but the BCCI was able to salvage justice for Harbhajan Singh after justice Hansen cleared him off all the charges including that of racism as claimed by Australians.

^{The test match victory at Perth following this whole episode gave Indian team a new boost and more than one reason to smile. India recorded one of their most amazing Test triumphs overseas when they beat Australia by 72 runs in the thrilling third cricket Test to snap the champion team's record 16-match winning streak at Perth.}

Set 413 to win a world record 17th Test in succession,

the Australians were dismissed for 340 to allow the spirited visitors to reduce the margin to 2-1 in the four match series with one full day to spare. Not many ha

d given the Indians any hope at the WACA, regarded as the fastest pitch in the world, but Anil Kumble and his men came out firing on all cylinders.

Then again India beat Australia 2-0 in the home series in which innumerable records were broken and India saw its finest players bidding adieu. Sachin Tendulkar became the highest run getter in the history of test cricket by surpassing Brian Lara’s world record. Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble retired form the international cricket after giving so many wonderful moments to the cricket fans in India and the worldwide.

Indian cricket scaled the ever new heights in the year 2008. Virender sehwag scored one double and one triple hundred in the year 2008 and Gambhir and Laxman scored double tons in the same innings in Delhi test against Australia. 4 Indian batsmen scoring more than 1000 runs in the calendar year is itself a testimony to the fact that India was arguably the best test team in 2008. India’s win over England after being pushed to the walls for 4 days gave some very emotional moments to the whole India, as the victory which came from the bat of the Mumbai batsman was quite necessary to heal the peoples’ sentiments which were disturbed by the terrorist attack on Mumbai. The year 2008 also saw the inaugural edition of the much anticipated Indian premier league, There was cricket but with that there were whole lot of other things as well to attract people to cricket stadiums which include loud music, splendid fireworks and cheer girls, which changed the definition of cricket, forever. Shane Warne led his side Rajasthan royals to win the inaugural IPL tournament.

The year 2008 would be etched in thehistory of sports for more than one reason. The year 2008 witnessed the most expensive summer Olympics being organized by China in Beijing. A total of an estimated US$42 billion were spent on the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, making it the most expensive games ever; the British Olympic

Association has announced that no more than US$19 billion will be spent on the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, while the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 2004 Athens Olympics cost US$7 billion and US$15 billion respectively. “One world one dream” slogan of the Beijing Olympics though proved to be futile for Tibetan protesters who tried to disrupt the torch relay throughout the world. (Some say that the Olympics had no more meaning after the torch was switched off in France in the midst of the relay).

But the 29^th edition of the Olympics would be in the memory of people not only because of the controversies but for the some phenomenon performances. Michael ‘phenomenon’ Phelps became the first

man in the history of the modern games to win 8 Olympic gold medals ( 7 of them in the world record times) surpassing the record of Mark Spitz of 7 golds in Munich Olympics way back in 1972. Usain ‘lightning’ bolt made a clean sweep winning 100 m with a record time of 9.69 seconds in a race dubbed by Michael Johnson as ‘the greatest 100 m performance in the history of an event’, and became the first sprinter since Carl Lewis in 1984 to win the three sprint events in a single Olympiad: 100m, 200m and 4X100m relay.

India won its first individual gold as Abhinav Bindra shot the gold in 10m air rifle.Some unexpected medals; courtesy Vijender Singh and Sushil Kumar put India at the 50^th place in the Olympics tally, somewhat respectable position in juxtaposition with previous Olympics. Also special mention of Saina Nehwal and Akhil Kumar who defeated world top seeds in the badminton and boxing resp. and showed great promise for the future. Sania Mirza however struggled throughout the year.

China ended the American domination by winning 51 gold medals and topping the Olympiad charts for the first time, though some controversies marred the Chinese celebration as there were reports of some members of Chinese athletics of being under age. The US ‘Redeem team’ won the basketball title back, which it lost in Athens in 2004.

As the defending Olympics champions, South Korea defended the title with only one remaining archer from the previous games, Park sung Hyun winner of two gold medals, thus extending their winning streak over 6 Olympics and 20 years.

Viswanathan Anand has had a phenomenal 2008 and his biggest moment of the year came when he retained the world championship title defeating the challenger Vladimir Kramnik. The match took place at the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn, Germany between 14 October and 29 October 2008.

The tennis court in 2008 saw the rise and the fall of some stars. Australian open defending champion and no.1 seed Roger Federer failed to make the mark in 2008 as he could not even manage to enter the finals after suffering a loss at the hands of

Novak Djokovic who ultimately won

the Australian open. Again in French open Rafael Nadal defeated ‘fedex’ in straight sets, while Ana Ivanovic lifted the women’s title. Rafael Nadal defeated five-time consecutive Wimbledon champion, Roger Federer in five sets to win his first Wimbledon title and fifth Grand Slam championship. It was the longest championship match in Wimbledon history with play lasting four hours and 48 minutes, and with two rain delays. The event stretched over seven hours ending just before nightfall. It marked the first time Federer lost a Grand Slam championship match other than the French Open. Williams sisters won the last two grand slams of the year with Venus bagging Wimbledon and Serena lifting US open title.

Spain was the European football champions with David Villa being the best player of the tournament, however the biggest spectacle was setup in Moscow when Manchester united and Chelsea went head to head in the champions league.

The match went through various roller coasters with Man united prevailing over Roman Abrahamovich’s Chelsea in the penalty shoot outs.

In August 2008,

Jeev milkha Singh achieved the highest ranking for an Indian in any major event at the 2008 PGA Championship in Oakland Hills, finishing at T-9, making him arguably India's best golfer ever.

Singh finished the 2008 European Tour season ranked 12th on the Order of Merit, and after winning the Barclays Singapore Open won his second Order of Merit title on the Asian Tour .

Lewis Hamilton topped the charts of the F1points table of drivers’ championship beating Felipe Massa by just 1 point, while Ferrari won the constructors’ championship. Also this was the first time that an Indian team, force One was participating in the 2008 season with Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fiscichella as the drivers for the team, however no miracles happened as Force One along with both drivers ended the season with 0 points.

The year has been great for the sports but there were some amazing facts in the sports, like Pakistan did not play a single test match in the whole year. This was the last time that baseball and softball were played as Olympic sports. The two have been scrapped from the program of the 2012 London Olympics.

After 1936 it was the first time that a country other than the United States or the Soviet Union has led the medal count. Pakistan was the most populous country not to win an Olympic medal (164 million residents, sixth-largest nation in the world), whereas Iceland was the least populous country to win an Olympic medal.

Compiled and written by: Abhay Mittal [ Pagal Guy]

abymittal@gmail.com

Photos: Beijing Olympics official website

Outlook India .com

Someone stop this..

2008-08-06T00:28:00.000-07:00

Jammu has been burning for almost 5 weeks now but there has been no signs of government getting out of its deep slumber.

The mass movement in Jammu spearheaded by Amaranth Sangharsh Samiti has catched the attention of domestic media ever since the whole episode started but now even the international media has started reporting the disturbance in the belittled part of Jammu and Kashmir with BBC covering and reporting the daily happenings.

This has been the classic example of government’s indolence with Prime minister Manmohan Singh calling an all party meet almost after a month with millions of rupees worth property has already been incinerated ,on 6 august to address and solve the issue.

The government at the centre was acting like Nero and the government in the state was resorting to preposterous decision one after the other and waiting for the word of wisdom from the bosses in Delhi after they get free from the job of winning the vote of (dis)trust.

This all began with government’s order of demanding the immediate revocation of the government order cancelling the transfer of 40 hectares of land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board. The land was meant for creating temporary facilities for pilgrims who trek to the Amarnath shrine every year, braving inclement weather and jihadi attacks.

The land transfer order was revoked after The All-Parties Hurriyat Conference spread three canards: First, the transfer amounted to alienation of 'Kashmiri land'; second, it would lead to intrusion of 'Hindu culture' in Muslim Kashmir; and, third, it would cause ecological damage.
The PDP, sensing an opportunity to revive its pro-separatist -- if not brazenly pro-kashmiri image in the run-up to the assembly election in Jammu & Kashmir, joined the protest and subsequently withdrew from the coalition government. To his credit, CM Azad stood firm and refused to budge from his government's decision, till N Vohra took as Governor, replacing Lieutenant General S K Sinha (retd).

Vohra, in his capacity as ex-officio chairman of the SASB, wrote a letter to Azad, confiscating the land and also offering to relinquish the board's task of organising the annual yatra, thus making the pilgrimage to the Amarnath shrine subordinate to the hapless government’s arrangements.
For all his efforts to appease a particular community in kashmir by ‘returning’ the land that had been allotted for Hindu pilgrims, proved to be a pig in the poke as Vohra was unable to save the Congress-PDP government. The PDP pulled out from the ruling alliance on June 28; on July 1, Azad, obviously under mounting pressure from his party bosses in Delhi, reversed the earlier decision.

The most stupefying part of the tragedy is that the people of Jammu has been let down by the government in the gravest manner possible. The land transfer order was revoked on July 1 after some relatively miniscule protests led by some leftist groups. But the majority of the population of the region,as it seems , has to do something more than lynching the cops or uprooting the rail tracks to make their voices heard or atleast make the government realize not to commit mistake of taking the people of Jammu,or belonging to a particular community, for that matter, for granted .

It is quite necessary to ask at this point of time that has the concept of secularism, in which India is proud of, has atlast failed? In reality the common man of India has always been secular. There has been no riots in J&K in so many decades despite being a muslim majority state. The Amarnath Yatris are looked after by muslim community in Baltal area of kashmir. It is just ths secessionist forces and shrewd political parties exploiting the sentiments of people and converting them into their so called vote banks. When someone talks about Hindu, he is called communal, an when someone talks about Muslim, he is called secular. Quite analogous is the case when someone from Congtress talks about Muslims, he is acclaimed as a secular, but when from BJP pleads for Hindus, he is stamped as a communal. But the fact is that the minorities has always been appeased in India by some political parties by providing all sorts of benefits like reservations in various government and non government organisations,in the guise of secularism, taking the majority for granted.

Years of neglect of Jammu by Kashmir has resulted in what we are seeing today. The people are frustrated and have at last found a platform to vent their pent up anger. The minority appeasement has always been the favorite trump card of congress party but with the people of Jammu almost impervious to their demand this time or perhaps for the first time, the minority appeasement could well prove to be a achilles heel to run up to the upcoming assembly elections.

The incidence has not only polarized the communities in the Jammu and Kashmir but has also given a chance to the right wing factions like VHP to strengthen their presence and ideology in the Jammu region, which alludes to an ominous premonition of the things about to happen in the near future.

Quite astonishingly the ongoing civil war has been not led by any political party, but just by a common cause as is evident from the fact that the mass movement has almost gone out of control of Amaranth Sangharsh Samiti’s hands with more and more people joining in like the doctors, nurses and medical staff of the governments’ hospitals.

Someone if not the government should be able to stop this bedlam before things deteriorate further with Kashmir being heaven and Jammu being inferno.

--Abhay Mittal--
abymittal@gmail.com

2008-08-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

Jammu has been burning for almost 5 weeks now but there has been no signs of government getting out of its deep slumber. The mass movement in Jammu spearheaded by amaranth sangharsh samiti has catched the attention of domestic media ever since the whole episode started but now even the international media has started reporting the disturbance in the belittled part of jammu and Kashmir with BBC covering and reporting the daily happenings.
This has been the classic example of government’s indolence with prime minister manmohan singh calling an all party meet almost after a month with millions of rupees worth property has already been incinerated ,on 6 august to address and solve the issue.
The government at the centre was acting like Nero and the government in the state was resorting to preposterous decision one after the other and waiting for the word of wisdom from the bosses in delhi after they get free from the job of winning the vote of (dis)trust.
This all began with government’s order of demanding the immediate revocation of the government order cancelling the transfer of 43 hectares of land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board. The land was meant for creating temporary facilities for pilgrims who trek to the Amarnath shrine every year, braving inclement weather and jihadi attacks.
The land transfer order was revoked after The All-Parties Hurriyat Conference spread three canards: First, the transfer amounted to alienation of 'Kashmiri land'; second, it would lead to intrusion of 'Hindu culture' in Muslim Kashmir; and, third, it would cause ecological damage.
The PDP, sensing an opportunity to revive its pro-separatist -- if not brazenly pro-kashmiri image in the run-up to the assembly election in Jammu & Kashmir, joined the protest and subsequently withdrew from the government. To his credit, Azad stood firm and refused to budge from his government's decision, till N N Vohra took over as governor, replacing Lieutenant General S K Sinha (retd).
Vohra, in his capacity as ex-officio chairman of the SASB, wrote a letter to Azad, returning the land and also offering to relinquish the board's task of organising the annual yatra, thus making the pilgrimage to the Amarnath shrine subordinate to the hapless government’s arrangements.
For all his efforts to appease the protesters from a particular community in the Kashmir valley by 'returning' the land that had been allotted for Hindu pilgrims, proved to be a pig in the poke as Vohra was unable to save the Congress-PDP government। The PDP pulled out from the ruling alliance on June 28; on July 1, Azad, obviously under mounting pressure from his party bosses in Delhi, reversed the earlier decision.
The most stupefying part of the tragedy is that the people of jammu has been let down by the government in the gravest manner possible। The land transfer order was revoked on july 1 after some relatively miniscule protests led by some leftist groups. But the majority of the population of the region,as it seems , has to do something more than lynching the cops or uprooting the rail tracks to make their voices heard or atleast make the government realize not to commit mistake of taking the people of jammu for granted .

The incidence has not only polarized the communities in the jammu and Kashmir but has also given a chance to the right wing factions like VHP to strengthen their presence and ideology in the jammu region, which alludes to an ominous premonition of the things about to happen in the near future। Quite astonishingly the ongoing civil war has been not led by any political party, but just by a common cause as is evident from the fact that the mass movement has almost gone out of control of amaranth sangharsh samiti’s hands with more and more people joining in like the doctors, nurses and medical staff of the governments’ hospitals।

Someone if not the government should be able to stop this bedlam before things deteriorate further with Kashmir being heaven and Jammu being inferno।

I Am INDIA

2008-06-10T19:29:00.000-07:00

India is not 63 years old, but it has been feeling more young and virile than ever before. India rising and the feel good factor may have not worked for some political parties but no one could ignore or gainsay the fact that it was this campaign that spurred the confidence and invigorated the hoi polloi of India. Whether it’s the anti quota scheme of things or Jessica Lal and Priyadarshini Mattoo murder case protests, the youth is actively indulged in a pro active approach which has made India gate a new symbol of the people’s democracy and the people’s movement. A sense of fearlessness and confidence has been instilled in the pulsating youth of young India.

What is in this youth that make him stand for the justice in the society in the day under the beating sun and thronging the discotheques in the night? The youth here consider education as a worship and people here would skip their meals to send thier kids to schools. The youth of India has been known for its reverence for the elderly but when it comes to his rights and muzzling his speech; he leaves no stone unturned to deliver a befitting reply to the system. This audacity hasn’t come overnight. Post 1991, India has always been on the path of growth; making giant leaps towards the utopia of prosperity, and making it sure that the fruits of the growth are shared uniformally across all sections of the society. A meek Indian has been transformed into assertive and a devouring individual.

Since then India has surprised everyone with its success odyssey in the last decade and a half. India has leapfrogged into a new era where the internet and mobile phones have revolutionized the Indian consumers and corporations. The ever expanding horizons of thinking and imagination are the new trademarks of the global Indian businesses. 30 years back, moving to US was a done thing for IITians and MBAs from IIMs. But the scenario has changed drastically. What really lies in the future? The fact is incontrovertible that India would land in the company of developed nations by 2020. She would infact take over some of European economies like Italy, Germany and Spain and would further move to become the world’s third largest economy by 2040 and second largest by 2050.

There are presently 700 million people under the age of 35, more than twice the population of United States. Today there are 100 million mobile users and more than 70 million internet users in India. With Indians buying nearly 1 million computers every year and computer education an essential part of education, they are becoming intimately familiar with the medium and associated technologies. But it is just the tip of the massive iceberg.
The filing of the tax returns of Americans have been outsourced to India, the education of the American children have been outsourced to India, their legal expertise have been outsourced to India, and their surgeries have too been outsourced to India. So that wont be stretching it too far too say that India is truly becoming the world’s global service centre and Indian economy has been shifting gears from “developing economy” to “rapid developing economy

But how does India feel today? Thomas Freidman, renowned columnist of the New York Times and the author of ‘The World Is Flat’ explains this immaculately.
According to him if one really wants to experience how India is feeling today, one should take a bottle of champagne and shake it for one hour and then take off its cork. You surely won’t like to come in the way of cork. Would you? According to him the 21st century belongs to India. It has been the aspirations and hopes of millions and millions of Indians for the past 60 years that would now thrust the whole world into mystique.For him, INDIA is a MIRACLE.

There are 2 faces of India-one trying to straining at the leash, trying to spring forth to realize all the expectations that the world has shown upon us, the other India is still in leash.

One India says give me a chance let me prove myself, the other India says first prove yourself and may be then you have a chance.
One India lives in the optimism of our hearts, the other India lurks in the skepticism of our minds.
One India wants ,the other India hopes.
One India leads, the other India follows.
These conversions are on the rise. Slowly and slowly more and more people are moving quietly to the confident Indian side, without the world looking at it. This is new India which doesn’t boycott the foreign goods but buys the companies which make them instead. This is a new, pulsating and dynamic India.
History rarely gives a signal about its intentions, but this is the moment when history is taking a turn-this is that moment when history is turning a page. For over half a century now, we have stumbled, ran, corrupted, and sprung, fallen, rolled over but always stood again.
For one India there is a tiny little voice at the back of its head, looking down the bottom of ravine inhesitantly, the other India looks up in the sky and say it is the time to fly.

I am poised,I am rising, I am coming,I am unstoppable ......and its My turn now.
I am India.

Why is that...?

2008-05-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

Why is that, you don’t always get what you expect?

Why is that, when you expect you get nothing?

Why is that, when you don’t, you get plenty?

Why is that, when you hate someone but can’t forget him?

Why is that, when you love someone and have to let her go by?

Why is that, we love a stranger so dearly?

Why is that, we proclaim oh…I love you the most in this world?

Why is that, still you are just another guy?

Why is that, we seldom realize that someone loves us?

Why is that, at one point we imagine how our life would be with her?

Why is that, at the other point, we try to be stoic?

Why is that, you have a lot to say deep inside?

Why is that, you have nothing to utter outside?

Why is that, when we know we not gonna get it, still?

Why is that, we reach out for it and fall over?

May be, some gains were to be made out of pain…
That is Why.

50% Reservation 100% Politics

2008-04-10T22:33:00.000-07:00

RESERVATION INVESTIGATED

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld 27 per cent reservations for Other Backward Castes (OBC) students in higher educational institutions like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).

Candidates falling in the ‘creamy layer’ though would not be eligible for the quota.

The creamy layer concept was first introduced by the Supreme Court in the Mandal judgment delivered in November 1992 to indicate an elite group among the Other Backward Classes.
The court had in 1992 asked the government to exclude the `creamy layer' from the purview of quotas to ensure that only the neediest among the OBCs benefited by reservation.
As per the principles laid down in the Mandal judgment, the children of constitutional functionaries including the President, judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, members of the Union Public Service Commission, Groups A and B or Class I or II officers of the All-India Central and State services and children of public sector employees are excluded from reservation.

Persons/Sections Excluded from Reservation which constitute Creamy Layer of the Society:

Sons and daughter(s) of

(a) President of India;

(b) Vice-President of India;

(d) Chairman and Members of UPSC and of the State Public Service Commission; Chief Election Commissioner; Comptroller and Auditor-General of India;

(e) Persons holding constitutional positions of like nature.

II. Service CategorySon(s) and daughter(s) of:

(a) parents, both of whom are Class I officers;

(b) parents, either of whom is a Class I officer;

(d) parents, either of whom is a Class I officer and such parents dies or suffers permanent incapacitation and before such death or such incapacitation has had the benefit of employment in any International Organisation like UN, IMF, World bank, etc., for a period of not less than 5 years;

(e) parents, both of whom are Class I officers die or suffer permanent incapacitation and before such death or such incapacitation of the both either of them has had the benefit of employment in any International Organisation like UN, IMF, World Bank, etc. for a period of not less than 5 years;

B. Group B/Class II Officers of the Central and State Services (Direct Recruitment)Son(s) and daughter(s) of:

(a) parents, both of whom are Class II officers;

(b) parents of whom only the husband is a Class II officer and he gets into Class I at the age of 40 or earlier;

(c) parents, both of whom are Class II officers and one of them dies or suffers permanent incapacitation and either one of them has had the benefit of employment in any International Organisation UN, IMF, World Bank, etc., for a period of not less than 5 years before such death or permanent incapacitation;

(d) parents of whom the husband is a Class I officer (direct recruitment or pre-forty promoted) and the wife is a Class II officer and the wife dies; or suffers permanent incapacitation; and

(e) Parents, of whom the wife is a Class I officer (Direct Recruit or pre-forty promoted) and the husband is a Class II officer and the husband dies or suffers permanent incapacitation;

C. Employees in Public Sector Undertakings, etc. The criteria enumerated in A and B above in this category will apply mutatis mutandis to officers holding equivalent or comparable posts in PSUs, Banks, Insurance Organisations, Universities, etc., and also to equivalent or comparable posts and positions under private employment, pending the evaluation of the posts on equivalent or comparable basis in these institutions, the criteria specified in Category VI below will apply to the officers in these Institutions.

III. Armed forces including Paramilitary Forces (Persons holding civil posts are not included). Son(s) and daughter(s) of parents either or both of whom is or are in the rank of Colonel and above in the Army and to equivalent posts in the Navy and the Air Force and the Paramilitary Forces;

IV. Professional class and those engaged in Trade and Industry.(i) Persons engaged in profession as a doctor,lawyer, chartered accountant, income tax consultant, financial or management consultant, dental surgeon, engineer, architect, computer specialist, film artists and other film professional, author, playwright, sports person, sports professional, media professional or any other vocations of like status.

V. Property OwnersAlso, son(s) and daughter(s) of persons belonging to a family (father, mother and minor children) which owns:(a) only irrigated land which is equal to or more than 85% of the statutory ceiling area, or(b) both irrigated and unirrigated land,

The decision of the Union government to provide for the 27% reservation to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in higher educational institutions including elite institutions like IIT’s and IIM’s , has received a severe criticism as the sordid move caused a widespread consternation among the millions of aspiring and talented youth of the country। They are feeling as if they have been disowned by their own state. The very fact that the move to provide 27 % reservation to OBCs is based on an obsolete data which was collected nearly 7 decades earlier [the last census on the basis of castes was done in 1930s], means that government is trying to use the data which is 70 years old for formulating a policy for the next 35 years of the 21st century.

It was quite normal to see that the anti – quota protests received a plethora of support whether it is from the IMA, alumni and current students of IIT’s and IIM’s and the India INC. The student’s movement against the quota proposal under the banner “Youth for Equality” got an overwhelming support and the myriad followers
who openly expressed the dissatisfaction over the decision as it, according to them would not do our country any good.

Perhaps the basic dilemma to ponder over is “would reservations provide for social justice, as it is claimed to be? “Give it to those who deserve it in the real sense”, should be the punch line for the policy. There has been the provision for the reservations in other countries as well. The reservations are provided to Malays in Malaysia and to Negroes in US, so nobody could actually rule out the role and relevance of reservations in uplifting the oppressed.

But in fact, it has widened the gaps and created a ridge quite difficult to surpass, between various classes. Prior to the entire episode, neither anyone ever thought of his cast nor did anyone ask his freinds’. But now the spirit of the casteism is ominously swooping upon all other sentiments. If the reservations did not prove to be beneficial for the afflicted and the underprivileged section of the society even after 60 years of independence, then there is either something wrong in the policy or its implementation.

Youth has the right to know why they are being punished for the deeds of their forefathers and how long they would have to face the sentence. The reservations were put in place for the 10 years after the independence by the drafting committee but those 10 years have not been quite over yet, as it seems, and there is no chance either in near future.

There are some remedies also in the offing for giving the chance to the underprivileged to join the mainstream. Proper primary education , free coaching and tuitions and letting the OBCs compete with others at par, which would not only provide a fair chance to all but also preclude their own self esteem from getting being hampered. The comprehensive solutions would at least provide some respite in between the strife and would enable to bury the hatchet and lower down the tempo of communal skepticism.

Just as there is a universal immunization against polio, the proper primary education would be performing the same act against the imminent reservation। But what our government trying to do is perhaps “let the oppressed classes have polio and then provide them with the crutches of reservation.”

India is on the verge of a virtual take off to land in the company of some big players of the global economy.

The government ,as it seems has jumped into the murky waters and swooping to a hasty conclusion could lead to the de-mobilization of the talented youth, ready to conquer the world.
The prime reason of disappointment is that merit certificate has taken a place second to the caste certificate.

Feedback-- Abhay Mittal

abymittal@gmail.com

नज़र नजाने हमें लगी किसकी ..

2008-04-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

पूछा किसी ने मेरे बारे में ,
तो आज ये ख़याल आया

नज़र नजाने हमें लगी किसकी ,
ना जाने हम कब बदल गए
पूछता है कोई हमसे ये हुआ क्या है ,
बताने में अब अल्फाज़ कम पड़ गए

दिल की बात कहते हैं कैसे
ये हमें मालूम नहीं था
अदा थी उसमें पर ,
हम में कोई अंदाज़ नही था

प्यार है कितना ये तुमसे
कह पाया नहीं हूँ ,
पर जब से गए हो मुझे तनहा कर के ..
सच कहूँ ….मैं ठीक से मुस्कुराया नहीं हूँ …

A HOLY PRAYAAS..

2008-03-21T10:19:00.000-07:00

It was holi as usual once again..another year..another holi
Something was knocking deep inside…hey!! Wasup?? Wat r the holi plans…….i peeped inside….and the reply came back…nay man..nothing special this time around too…floundering on the roads..chasing some slicky gals..and then a visit to FUN CITY or YORKS like other holies.
t was a week ago when one mah frens ,Puneet came to me and proposed to do something special on this holi.

Finally a Visit to PRAYAAS ,a school for mentally challenged kids was organized . we took along with ourselves BDAY caps..though iot was holi but the caps helped to create the atmosphere to build up the spirit…peepnis—the small honk sound producing gadget ;), created the euphoria that we were almost the part of those special kids…{I remember last time I bought that peepni was when I was in 5th standard and my dad took me to the dussehra ground for watching the spectacle of burning of effigies of evils…so thanks.. hey u kids…..u gave my childhood back to me :) }

holi famous Gujjias were distributed among the kids and the staff of PRAYAAS along with 5 STARS chocolates and bananas…..it was more looking like a bday party rather than a HOLI celebration. Indeed it was a special occasion … Special for me and special for all of us…more than those kids of PRAYAAS..coz m not sure whether we made a difference in their lives,,but they have certainly made a difference to our lives…by making this holi one of the most memorable one.

We went there to make this holi special for them but I realized that perhaps they have something to offer to us…a gap filling in our busy lives by understanding these special and lovely kids..and a pause to realize that there are people around us who need us and who need our affection and love more than nothing else!

Celebrating holi with GOD’s own children was an experience of its own kind….wish u cud be there folks..!! :)

People who visited PRAYAAS- Abhay (Me ofcourse), Nipun, Deepika, Puneet,Sonia,Shweta,Shivam,Rohini,Ashima,Madhur, Deepak,Avneet,Anubhav, Sanam,Saurabh,Shubham,Amrit,Ankit, Ankur,Ravi and my apologies to all those whom I have forget to mention.

THANKS TO THE KIDS AND THE STAFF AT PRAYAAS FOR GRANTING THIS OPPORTUNITY TO US! LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE OCCASIONS LIKE THIS!

Bezuba ab hum hain…

2008-03-12T09:21:00.000-07:00

Ekpal koste hain khud ko
Anjaane mein tujhe yeh kya keh diya

Doosre pal sochte hain
Ki Kabul kar “haan , chahte hain tumhe” apne dil ka raaz khol diya

Khayalo mey to bas tum hi thi,
Tumhare khyalo mein koi aur tha

Gilaa karte to kya karte
Kisiki wafaa par na kisi ka zor tha

Jo tha mere man mein use chhudayaa sabne milkar
Kabhi sochte hain kya gunah kiya unse bolkar

Kehne ko to aur bohat kuch tha
Par bezuba ab hum hain unse chand lafz bolkar..

कुछ खोने को है ...

2008-03-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

आए थे यहाँ सब अनजान ,
आलम ये है की आज तुझमें मेरी और मुझमें बस्ती है तेरी जान .
आए थे यहाँ खाली हाथ आज कुछ होने को है
लगता है डर क्यूकि कुछ खोने को है

देखा करते थे कॉलेज में जिनको
अब यादों में हे याद करेंगे और भूलने न देंगे कभी उनको
मिलना चाहते हैं पर बहाने कम हैं
लगता है डर क्यूकि कुछ खोने को है

तुम्हारे बिना ये कॉलेज की बातें अधूरी सी
तुम्हारे बिना ये कॉलेज की यादें अधूरी सी
उनसब पलों में तुम हो पर वो पल सोने को हैं
लगता है डर क्यूकि कुछ खोने को है

और हर साँस है सहमी हुई सी धड़कन को एक डर
तुम्हारे जाने के बाद कैसे कटेगा ज़िंदगी का ये सफर
ये पल भी अब जाने को है
इसलिए लगता है डर क्यूकि कुछ खोने को है ….!

Feelings are too many...

2008-02-14T20:42:00.000-08:00

Thoughts are too many,few of them take shape
Feelings are toomany, few of them get expressed

I'm tired of being what the world want me to be
because i have decided what i would be

I know I may end up failing
But then thats not going to get my dreams bailing

Thats not hoping against the hope
but then if it is , then hoping against the hope is worth for...

Happy Valentines Day..!

Cricket- A White Man’s Game ?

2008-01-08T23:16:00.000-08:00

The Sydney test will be remembered for a long time as a model of how Australians play their cricket and would keep on highlighting the fact that Aussies value victory more than anything else. The former Somerset captain Peter Roebuck was furious and minced no words when he claimed that Australians were behaving like a pack of wild dogs in the in the ill famous Sydney test. The behavior that the most professional team [italics added] in the game of cricket leaves an ordinary fan with too much to think and complain about. The manner in which Ricky Ponting led his team in the Sydney test was distressing and embarrassing for many Australians. Frustrated by being awarded the template of Bhajji’s bunny by the Australian media and a surprise cameo by Harbhajan Singh with the bat in the first innings of Sydney test left Ponting with no other choice but to poke him with the racial discrimination charge. That further fomented and stirs up the already boiling pot.
The most bizarre episode was that Harbhajan Singh was handed over the suspension for 3 test matches for making racial slurs against Andrew Symonds on the testimony of fellow Australians Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden and captain Ponting. That too when there was no audio video evidence available.

Cricket has always been regarded as the Gentleman’s game but the saddest part is that very few gentlemen play it today. The Indian skipper Anil Kumble hit the nail right on its head when he remarked that in Sydney there was just one team playing in the spirit of the game. Ricky wanted to win the 16th consecutive test at any cost and it seems both the umpires wanted him too!

Umpire Steve Bucknor was recklessly lifting his finger on every single occasion when Australians appealed while Indians were left begging for their chances. Perhaps it was not for the first time that the teams from sub continent have been made a special target. In 2001 there was a huge uproar of a similar kind when referee Mike Denniss handed over the suspension and hefty fines to 5 Indian players for excessive appealing while the little master Sachin Tendulkar was banned for ball tempering! If these can be termed as excessive appealing, what do you call South African captain Shaun Pollock’s non-stop appeal, like a man possessed, till he get decisions in his favor? Dennis the “menace’ turned a blind eye to that abominable act. But then, Pollock is a South African, and a white to boot. That made all the difference.

Quite similar is the case with the incomparable Glenn McGrath who realized very late in his career that he needed to change his grumpy and occasionally ugly on-field demeanour. "The times when I did blow up, I used to regret it afterwards," he said just before his retirement.

While players from Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and England get away with disgusting deportment on the field, those from India (universally acclaimed as nicest of the lot), Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Kenya and West Indies get severely punished even when they appeal within the limits. If this is not un-regenerated racism, then, what is it?

No wonder, the outrageous decision evoked a sharp comment from former England cricketer and commentator Geoff Boycott that these people enjoy paid holidays, indulge in racism and show a complete lack of balance in their decisions

Australia toured India in 2001 and then Michael Slater created
quite a scene after claiming catch, which he took after one bounce. He haggled furiously with umpire S Venkatraghavan, and said vulgar words to a nonplussed Rahul Dravid. He got reprimanded only after Indian media raised a hue and cry.
Another victim of the racist rulings has been Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan, who was subjected to the ignominy of being dubbed a chucker. This time the ‘villain’ was Australian umpire Darrell Hair. It is to his credit that Murali, who enjoyed the solid support of his teammates, continues to annihilate the biggies of cricket with his magical spin bowling.

These worthies should do well to remember one thing. Players like Sachin Tendulkar(a player and man of unimpeachable integrity) and Muralitharan are made of sterner stuff. They are too good to be detracted or demoralized by such below-the-belt hits. Decency demands that scores are settled on the field, not off it. Is that too much to ask of these square pegs in round holes ? Until recently, it has not been the Indian way. Sachin Tendulkar always has been serene in the face of Australians' barbs, so they gave up sledging and gave him the silent treatment instead this time around.

But whatever standards are upheld in the Ponting backyard, there are plenty of Australian four-year-olds who have been sledging from the time they emerged from the womb. Australians often claim that they are not too aggressive, perhaps this is the only way they play their cricket, so why do they honk when someone stands and retorts in a similar manner, that’s a part of game!

Ever after India beat Australia comprehensively in the T20 WC in South Africa in September last year , there has been a tussle creeping between the two sides. This came to the forefront when Andrew Symonds made statement in the Indian press that he didn’t like the way the Indian team got reception after winning the T20 WC as if they are some rock stars. He further went on to add that Indians have beaten us just 1 test and a one dayer in the past 3 years, that’s too much to brag about. This came after Andrew Symonds said the Indians, who have had precious few triumphs with which to satisfy their cricket-mad public since the 1983 World Cup, lacked humility in their Twenty20 victory celebrations, a statement that itself did not scream graciousness.

The moment when ICC is trying to spread the game far and wide, anything like a charge of racism would seriously question its integrity.
That further raises a question in my mind- - it seems like the sub continent nations are allowed to play, but they are not allowed to win, just because cricket is a white man’s game?

Feedback—
Abhay Mittal
abymittal@gmail.com

उड़ान ....!

2008-01-02T23:43:00.000-08:00

चंद मुश्किअलें पार की हैं , असली इम्तिहान तो अभी बाकी है ...
कुछ कदम ही चले हैं , उड़ान के लिए तो सारा आसमान बाकी है

है जिद्द एक मन में , कि दुनिया को बताएं कि किस काबिल हैं हम
चले और बढे अपनी मंजिल कि ओर कुछ इस अंदाज़ में, कि ये जूनून होने ना पाए कुछ भी कम
देखता मैं नही हूँ इधर उधर , जाना है जहाँ दिखता है वो साफ साफ
कर लिया है प्रण, बस कुछ कर दिखाना बाकी है

चंद मुश्किलें पार की हैं , असली इम्तिहान तो अभी बाकी ...
कुछ कदम ही चले हैं ,उड़ान के लिए तो सारा आसमान बाकी है

Exploring my inner self...

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

I dont know where to begin..

this is my last chance dont keep up with me

now i just wanna sing

i just wanna live

i just want to get out there n follow my heart as i have never done before

i was loosing my mind

i was loosing my sight

its getting freaky everywhere i go

they wont leave me alone

there are things they all wanna know

i thot i wud give it a call

whatever i do is right

a new hope is in the sight

everything is fine everything is all right

just looking at the stars they are bright

whatever comes gonna be allright

i would give it a call

& remember all those who ever meant to my life..........