IPL benefits to indian cricket

A lot has been said and analysed about the Indian Premier League(IPL) in the cricket playing countries' media, more so ever in the Indian media. In my memory i am unable to recollect an event creating such a unprecedented hype in the (Indian) media. I don't want to discuss about neither the economic benefits of IPL nor about the "progress" made in cricket history in the longer run. This thought was born incidentally while watching an IPL match between Chennai super kings Vs Kolkatta Knight riders. Can IPL serve any immediate benefit to Indian cricket when the players return to national duty.

My answer is Yes. IPL or Twenty20 format will surely help the young brigade in their development as a cricketer in a 360 degree fashion. One of the foremost disadvantages of the Indian cricket 'team' till the recent series against the Aussies,is that the we have a bunch of great individual players but as a team we consistently fail against the world's best teams is the lack mental strength. Indian batsman and bowlers are intimated easily against the opposition players and if there are couple of failures by the top order or front line bowlers the morale of the team takes a beating. Also the Indian psyche's never really believed that they can excel in the world sporting arena's. Players will trust their potential and having done before in a crunch situation they will know how to pace their innings or bowl an over as per the situation.

The IPL will give an opportunity for the Indian players to understand and learn from the other 'national' players how they approach a game. In any team we have a bunch of foreign players sharing the discussion table with the leading Indian national players and young ranji players. This will allow the young brigade to learn the best from the eastern & western way of thinking. They will quickly realise cricket these days demands both physical and mental fitness at its peak.


The IPL will also help the young brigade to learn about survival and performing at their best during crunch situation. This will immensely help them when they play the 50 over match during any tense situation. Players can learn to cope up with pressure during their Twenty20 matches and this learnt knowledge will help them a lot. Since experience is the best teacher in this world.

This will also be an opportunity for players from different sides to understand and enjoy each other cultures(hopefully the on field spat between Indian players and Aussie players will be the thing of the past)

If the above mentioned benefits turn to be true i am sure we will have yet another era in the history of the game in India. There was the Pre-1983 era(when India was yet another country playing the gentleman's game), the post-1983 era(when kapil's devils won the world cup against the mighty west indies) there by sowing the seeds which would later on thrust the Indian board to be the most powerful cricket broad in the world and now the IPL era.

Finally many many thanks from myself and from other cricket loving fans to the Indian team which went for 2008 world cup and the BCCI. If not for their disastrous tour and not playing a fair game in handling of the media rights respectively, we wouldn't have got the ICL and hence the IPL.

My first attempt

Ever wondered how some events in memory keep coming back at us, like a song in a repeat mode in the mp3 players. it has happened to me a lot of time, especially with songs. whenever my father or teachers in my school days scolded me, my mind would start playing some songs in a repeated fashion. as a result i wouldn't have listened to what they scolded me and again i would get scolding for not listening. Phew!!! what a life.

Well yesterday was a bit different. while i was trying to sleep in the early hours after finishing my work, my roommate was listening to a beautiful romantic song. i wondered how the poet could write such meaningful lyrics. i was amazed and awed by the choice of words and the way the poet played with simple but yet meaningful words.

so i got inspired and decided to write a simple poem, thinking about my latest and evergreen crush. :)


If was a poet, I would have written a poem about my feeling,
If I was an artist, I would have painted a picture describing my feelings,
If I was a sculptor, I would have sculpted my feelings
If I was a king, I would have commanded my citizens to do the above

But I am no one special dear, I don't know how to express my thoughts.
Wish you can enter my heart to find them out, but you are far away.
Wish you could see my eye to feel my emotional turbulence but you are far away.

What do I want,
I don't know
I want everything but yet cant take it
Why?
Because i haven't met you still.

Is my love peaking
I don't know since
No experience
I like this.

Power or responsbility

sometime back we had a heated discussion among my roommates, which comes first. power or responsibility. although the subject of discussion was different, the underlying theme was this.

consider the following scenario's

a person who is responsible alone can act and can prevent any loss of property or life, if the act involves him only. however if the damage is caused my some one else actions then this person can only fore warn but cannot prevent the other person from proceeding with his action.


now consider a person who has power ( administrative or political or muscle or financial) he can prevent or stop any person from causing any damage. but for that he should have the responsibility to stop another person / entities potentially damaging action. so power without responsibility can only do root cause analysis.

so i like to conclude that a person should first have the power and then the responsibility to prevent any damages from occurring.

pursuit of my biggest dream

have started studying for my GMAT. Hope to score above 730+. Wharton here i come.

Is this true

A different version of the Mac Vs PC ad, worth watching.
Watch it

Future Superpower

Throughout the history of time, there has been clear cut leading nation. Initially it was the Rome, Greek, France, Britain, and America. The cause for the superiority of these nations was because of their might in a certain field. The Rome because the first established the concept of armies. The Greek because of their intellect might. The France because of the French revolution. The British because of the industrial revolution, the Americans because of their edge in Science and Technology and in IT.

In the new century, which country will be able to dominate the world and join the above mentioned list? I am not so sure about which particular country, but with some amount of confidence I can say, which ever country is able to discover, innovate and implement an alternative form of energy suited for the mass will surely be the leader.
Scanning across the globe, I can the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) as possible contenders.

Out of these four, Brazil does have the head start in term of using ethanol as an alternative fuel. Then can Brazil lead the world. I don’t think so. Because the ethanol based fuel is being widely used in Brazil and some other pockets of the world. In order for Brazil to have a say in the world stage, the developed nations should start thinking about using ethanol, which is not going to happen in the near future, considering the clamor among the developed nations to have political influence in the oil rich countries. So Brazil can but difficult to become.

Russia, once part of the might soviet empire, which had missed it chances due to the break up of erstwhile USSR. Remained a marginal played in the world politics and started to nationalize all the oil companies. The price of crude oil was $20-$30 at that time. Now Russian economy is growing thanks to the peak in oil price ($60-$70) and the boost in service economy. Russians would not be encouraged to find alternative source of energy, since that will doom their current geo-political advantage.

China with its huge FDI and a trade surplus has got enough money to fuel the oil prices, to satisfy its growing economy. And through some shrewd negotiations they had managed to ink oil deals with African countries for exchange of Chinese investment in those countries. China in recent times, is a country of mass manufacturing with very little innovation, and discovery. Although Chinese invented a lot of things before the communism bug bit them, as a result that repository of knowledge is lost or hidden somewhere.

India, the biggest democracy in the world. One of the poster boys and the whipping boys of globalization, depending on whether you are affected or unaffected by globalization. During the last decade started the true economic reforms, and the Indian companies and Indian people have a new found optimism. Growth primarily fuelled by service sector although agriculture contributes roughly 22%. With an rising middle class of about 500 million, India doesn’t have any oil rich resources within its border. So it has to primarily depend on oil imports to fuel its economic growth. Rising international oil prices are wiping out the countries foreign exchange. Inorder to continue its economic growth, it is highly imperative for India to discover an alternate fuel. Any technology which succeeds in India, can be the solution to the whole world. Because for the Indian customers will accept things only if the product is cheap, cost effective and efficient, this is because of the various socio-economic strains prevalent in the Indian community. So I am placing my bets on India to lead the world in the quest for alternate fuel.

What are my odds?

Individuality

In my school days I used to hear a lot of stories from everyone. One of the stories is “The Snake and the Monk”.

In a remote village there lived a snake which had a bad habit of biting people as and when it wants, so many people died. As a result of this, the people of the village decided to kill the snake and started to chase the snake. During this chase, the snake and the villagers happened to cross the path of a Buddhist monk. Being a noble soul, and seeing the plight of the snake he requested the villagers to back off and talked to the snake.

The monk asked the snake why it is biting everyone unnecessarily. The snake told the monk, “If I don’t bite people then, these people will not be afraid of me and will kill me”. Upon hearing this monk asked the snake not to bite anyone unnecessarily since it results in loss of human life. The snake promised the monk that it won’t bite any human being unnecessarily. Satisfied with the answer, the monk continued his journey.

After few months, the monk happened to pass through the same village. He was astonished to see the same scene again, the snake being chased by a group of villagers. He stopped the chase and inquired what had happened. Soon he learnt that since the snake had stopped biting, people in the village grew less fearful about the snake and started harassing the snake. Looking at the pathetic condition of the snake, the monk asked the snake “why all this is happening?” The snake replied “Ever since people got knew of the promise the snake made to the monk, this has been a daily affair”. Then the monk said “you promised me not to bite, however you can still hiss at people” to show that you still have the venom and can be dangerous”.

Why did I think about this story suddenly? I don’t know. Extending the concept said to human beings, how can a person be assertive but at the same time make sure he is not bordering anger. How can a person make sure he is not treated according to the whims and fancies of other person? How can a human being “Hiss” but yet not “Bite” others. In short how can a person retain his individuality yet be flexible with others.

For now I can think of the following ways, it doesn’t matter what words you are using, what matters the tenor and harshness in the tone, because human being primarily being primates, body language is far more communicative rather than words.

Let me try this out in this open world, since for quite some time I have been branded as an ‘angry man’. If my existing network of people are able to realize a change in me or if the new people whom I may meet don’t brand me, then my solution is correct for my scenario.

Living a part of my dream

Phew life definitely takes you to places. After landing in USA, i had to learn everything from scratch.
Right from my early childhood i have a fascination for cars. Always dreamt of owing luxurious cars like Merc, Rolls Royce,BMW, Audi etc. Well suprises of suprises now i do own an Audi A4 model. what more can you ask in life right now. I am really living one part of my dream.

I call my car 'Jo', driving around with 'Jo' is definitely a great experince for me, especially when others praise 'Jo' i feel very happy deep inside.

Here i am

These past few have been really unique for me. Moved to a new place and a new country. Things are totally different here when compared to the place from where i had come from. Well i have landed in U.S.A. Wow what a country, i just couldnt help myself wondering whether am i really in US. This was one of my childhood dream. Today i am here. What a pleasant and eventful journey it has been so far.

Nothing is a constant

May 2004:

The congress party forms the government with its major pre-electoral alliance partners and names its government as UPA (inspired by the previous regime) much to the suprise of the urban indian.Yet another surprise was awaiting during the cabinet allocation.
The Indian railways(the white elephant) was given to one of the most charismatic and controversial indian politician Mr.Laloo prasad yadav.The indian railways financial health was neither too strong and nor many of the railway "experts" were willing to paint a rosy picture for the railways which was employing 1.6 million people.Mr.Yadav was given a ministry which not long ago(in fact in 2001) had deferred its dividend payment,whose fund balances had reduced to just Rs.350 cr and heading to a terminal debt trap.

The expectation was that Mr.Yadav can do nothing but watch and infact hasten the death of the white elephant, the world largest employer.

May 2006:

Mr.Yadav rises in the parliment to announce the railway budget for the year 2006-07.
There was a pleasant surprise waiting for the whole world and also for the major corporate chiefs, the white elephant has made one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the corporate history, under the able leadership of a rustic man, who was often ridiculed for his broken hindi jokes and his association with scams. The railways has a fund balance of Rs.11,000 crores and the internal generation before dividend has touched Rs 11,000 crores. Quite a remarkable turnaround in a short span of 5 years. Suddenly lalooji has become one of the darlings of corporate india and is one of the most sought after speakers in any corporate meetings. Infact the IIM-A, the most prestigious B-school in india, has decided include in its syllabus, the turnaround of the indian railways.And the topping on the cake is that, the whole of corporate india and the IIM-A students are awaiting for the day when Mr.laloo will deliver a speech, briefing about the turnaround of the indian railways.

Nothing is constant in this world, and especially if your in the public domain.

I'm Back

My humble apologies for staying away from blogging. Was preoccupied with the my professional work which had demanded almost 18 hrs per day. Now that i have completed it, i shall start blogging again. I am back far more wiser than earlier from the recent events in my life. Life surely is teaching me lots of things in a very short duration. Thank you mother nature.

Mother natures wake up call.

In the days of the kings and the queens, the highness will be woken
up,by a band musicians playing music. Today i had felt the same way. It
was well around 5.00 AM when the atmosphere was chill and a gentle breeze
was blowing when i was in a half-sleep state, what neurologist call
Alpha mind state.As i regained my awareness, i realised that i am been
treated to a special symphony to wake me up. The instruments used in the
symphony were all kinds of natural instruments and the "conductor " of
symphony was Mother nature. All kinds of birds that live in my
neighbourhood gave me an arousing wake-up cermony. It was indeed a one of the
Exhilarating experince for me. What way to start your day. Thank you
Mother nature. Love you Mom.

"Call to Honour" - Mr.Singh.

The fact that Mr.Jaswant singh has expressed his full cooperation to the Prime Minister in identifying the "mole" in the PMO office, who had allegedly passed on nuclear secrets to the then US government was indeed quite surprising, because it increases the probable validity of his claim.

If indeed had the "Mole" existed in the PMO during P V Narasimha Rao-led Congress government, and Mr.singh claims in his book "Call to honour" that the "we are still snooped". What in the world had prevented the BJP led government to take action against the "Mole" when they were in power. Or at the least why hadnt Mr.singh revealed this information to the concerned authorities earlier instead of revealing the whole matter in this yet-to-be released book after an decade. Imagine the amount of sensitive information the US govt would have able to get hold off during this time.

The book "Call to honour" will be a sought of Pandora’s Box providing an insight to the diplomacy of the Indian govt. Last time an autobiography / biography (of an politician) which had created so many controversies was coincidentally "The Insider" by P V Narasimha Rao.

The differently abled people's plight in a developing economy like india is sure pathetic. It requires a intervention by the government to make sure that these people are properly taken care off.
Recently i had come across two events although unrelated to each other directly but still the had a common connection, the differently abled people.

The aviation industry charges Rs500 for providing "special" services for the differently abled people. Think of it, why should the differently abled shed out extra money for no mistake of them and/or what right does the "regularly" abled person has to charge the extra amount? isnt, it the moral responsibility of the "regularly" abled person to make sure that the differently abled be taken care of. The extra amount charged, will not contribute much to the bottomline of the companies, but if we take care of the differently abled people and treat them without any difference(attitude)the intangible benefits will be greater for both the aviation industry and more so for the individual person.

The other event is that the high court ,of one of the metros, had to intervene to make sure that the metropolitan buses are accessible to the differently abled people. Why is that the govt or the judiciary(as in this case) has to step in to protect and safegaurd the interest of the differently abled people. Why cant the individuals(Corporate CEO's, City Mayors etc) think about the plight of the differently abled people before they take any strategic decision.

High time each and every individual starts to think about this issue and act, if we aspire for a well and truly developed economy(not just in terms of fiscial growth, GDP, but also in terms of human development.)

P.S : Thank god atleast the govt, the judicial system and some concerned individuals are looking after the differently abled people.

Usage of Mobiles - During Calamity

Mobile phones are the means of communication in this modern fast-paced life. It is truly an icon in the global village, enabling people to keep in touch with their nearer and dear ones. Yet at times of catastrophe (natural or man-made), the mobile network fails, because of the unprecedented surge in the traffic. Most of the modern cellular networks are designed to withstand 200% surge in traffic, but during crisis time, the network traffic increases geometrically leading to failure of most of the cellular networks, while some cellular companies have designed their network to reject calls beyond a certain threshold limit.

During crisis time, most of the people try frantically to know about the well-being of their beloved ones by calling them in their mobile phone, realising little that, their cellular operator network is down. This anxiety can cause enormous amount of stress and stress related problems to their health.

Unfortunately the technology hasn’t developed so much, that when there is unexpected surge in the amount of traffic, the networks can dynamically change their operating patterns. The need of the hour is to educate the people about the usage of the mobile phones during the time of crisis, basic things like sending SMS rather voice calls, can enable more people to establish connection with their dear ones at the same time.

Good luck montoya!! F1 will miss you.

Juan pabalo montoya(JPM), dumping F1 for NASCAR was the most shocking news for the hardcore F1 fan.Why ,because he has done what no-one in the history of F1 racing had done everbefore, switching to NASCAR from F1.Suddenly everywhere people are talking about the unexpected departure of JPM from F1. Is F1 losing one of its world champion driver, for everyone to be corncerned. No not all, had it been anyother driver other than JPM, i doubt whether it would had a such am impact. JPM was yet another gem, unearthed by Sir patrick williams but unfortunately before he could cut and polish the gem, JPM switched to Mclaren Mercedes under the supervision of Rob Dennis who everyone thought would be able to handle this spicy, colorful south american bcoz of his previous association with the other all time great south american (ayton senna). But to the hard luck of JPM fans, that wasnt the case to be, since Rob dennis had other pressing concerns. So JPM decided to quit. F1 will surely miss JPM because of his instinctive racing skills, and his sheer passion & love for overtaking. In his debut season he sure ruffled most of the existing established F1 drivers by his unique style of racing, the most prominent being the then F1 world champ, Michael Shumacher.He brought life and color to all the F1 races he was involved, by saying what he really fealt about anything.

We will miss you Juan, adeus. todo o mais melhor.

The other side

I am confused about the purpose of life and what and where am i heading to. It seems

this world is full of desires and aspiration, which seems to drive all of us.In fact if we

can take few precious(so called) minutes from this frentic rat race, to think where we are

all heading too, i doubt anyone can answer such a simple question. Because nobody seems to

realize the ultimate challenge or the whole purpose of life.What we all realize as the

ultimate goal be it financial status or fame or anyother motive, is infact not the very

purpose of life.It is quite unfortunate that this mystic/materialistic hinders our view to

see beyond the horizon to realize the very essence of life. That is to lead a well balanced

life where love, harmony and other humane things are given much more importance than

anyother things.

Most of us believe these soft skills doesnt have a place in this materialistic but all of us

have witnessed all these humane things, during the time of natural clamity or during an

terriost attack. When 9/11 or 7/7 or madrid bombings we all were witness to strangers

helping strangers,the outpour of sympathy from people far away from the place of event,

which drives home the point that the humane things still exist deep down in our hearts. It

seems that we all need a stimulation to express and exhibit these things. Do we need a

catastrope be it man-made or natural to express our love and kindness to fellow human

beings? If we can try to express our love to strangers even on ordinary days, i think the

world would be a lot better place to live, filled with laughter and harmony. Lets us shower

our unconditional love to a stranger for one day, see how much of a difference we have made

to him. As the famous FISH! philosophy says "Make it their day". Shall we?

My first blog

Today i have very much decided to start blogging. I didnt want to blog for a very long time and managed to suppress my temptation. But as we know, the change is the only constant in this world, i have decided to start blogging. What shall i blog about, well i will blog about anything under the sun.

I was wondering of all the disruptive technological breakthrough why did blogging catch so fast. Well some of the probable reason can be

a) It provides an wonderful oppurtunity for people to express their opinion without any fear, "Freedom of Speech(expression)" (luckily i am blessed, it is my constitutional right)

b) It is just an extension of the age old habit of dairy writing.

c) It provides a sneak preview of what is going on in another person's mind.

Well i have started what should suppose to be a long and eventful journey. Hopefully i should be blogging very often. As the old adage goes "Well begun is half done".