Posts
Long waiting for him to come
Its dark gloomy and glum
Miles away is fighting going on
Away for months he has gone
Hoping for return of their soldier son
From the battle having won
Pray his kinsmen to Him
Be bestowed with a long life
Endure the thorns in his strife
For freedom of the unknown
Assuring the belief of his victory, yet
What if we lose the bet
Who will suffice his sacrifice
Life will go on
Riding on the shoulders of a soldier's death
Hope not his, but what if we lose the bet
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Where peace had once been
There's a place with beauty which cant be seen
Where peace had once been
War is on since the past
Who knows till when it will last
Tension strives and hope dies
Gone away is life's spice
Smiles belie the grief within
The land that all want to hold
Killing faith in the cold
Drowned in tears' flood
For lost homes and men of blood
So many while fretting brood
Praying for the end of feud
Where peace had once been
and the beauty can be seen
Where peace had once been
War is on since the past
Who knows till when it will last
Tension strives and hope dies
Gone away is life's spice
Smiles belie the grief within
The land that all want to hold
Killing faith in the cold
Drowned in tears' flood
For lost homes and men of blood
So many while fretting brood
Praying for the end of feud
Where peace had once been
and the beauty can be seen
Saturday, September 18, 2010
India Cricket Team for WC 2011
Recently Cricinfo published an all time India XI for tests and that prompted to me too to think about what is the best team that can take field for India in the upcoming 2011 cricket World Cup.
Indian team has not done well because India has always lacked consistency in performance, the short period of time under Ganguly around 2003 being the only exception. So considering the balance of the team and the past records of the current India internationals i present here what according to me will be the best 15 for India and with the first 11 as the best combination from amont these 15. I do not pick Rohit Sharma for his inability to prove himself repeatedly in crunch situations and Virat Kohli too because his lack of consistency. I think Jadeja is good enough to warrant a place onhis skills as a spinner alone and hence Harbhajan is the only specialist spinner.
1) Virender Sehwag : The dashing opener is a an obvious choice.
2) Sachin Tendulkar: He will be the most key player for India, around whom the team performs.
3) Gautam Gambhir : Gambhir has to provide the back bone for the one day team till he doesnt get a chance to open. He has to play in Dravid-sque style.
4) Ravindra Jadeja : He is a very good all rounder and his batting woes have been that he has had to come in the last overs and throw his bat at everything, but all the matches that India lost recently he held fort from one end, he is more suited for no.4 where stability is required. He is a wicket taking bowler and his bowling is very important for India to do well.
5)Yuvraj Singh : Yuvi's flamboyance is an asset for India and he should sometimes swap positions with Jadeja at 4.
6)Suresh Raina : Raina can hit the ball hard and out of the park, something required at the end of an innings.
7)MS Dhoni : Dhoni should bat not higher than 6 and control the team's lower order as he is best suited to bat with the lower order.
8)Irfan Pathan : Having Pathan at 8 adds to the depth of our batting, and in India matches will be won on the batting strength. His swing bowling even though it has lost pace will be good in the middle overs.
9)Praveen Kumar : PK's been the most successful bowler in recent times so he has to be there.
10)Zaheer Khan : If batting rotates around Sachin Indian bowling rotates around him, so cant even think of leaving him out.
11)Ishant Sharma : This is one position which should be decided according to the wicket and the situation in the series. However a disciplined Ishant is my first choice over Harbhajan.
12)Harbhajan Singh : He will get a look in for sure if any of the last 4 above do not perform credibly.
13)Sreesanth : Sree is a good bowler and should be in the reserves and deserves to be there more than Nehra Munaf or Mithun because of his pace and swing.
14)Yusuf Pathan : Yusuf Pathan means raw power and can be of immense value to the team if required to play.
15)Robin Uthappa : If any batsman goes out of form he is best suited to replace any one as he has and can bat at any position. He is a part time wicket keeper and a very good fielder too so best suited to be the 12th man.
Indian team has not done well because India has always lacked consistency in performance, the short period of time under Ganguly around 2003 being the only exception. So considering the balance of the team and the past records of the current India internationals i present here what according to me will be the best 15 for India and with the first 11 as the best combination from amont these 15. I do not pick Rohit Sharma for his inability to prove himself repeatedly in crunch situations and Virat Kohli too because his lack of consistency. I think Jadeja is good enough to warrant a place onhis skills as a spinner alone and hence Harbhajan is the only specialist spinner.
1) Virender Sehwag : The dashing opener is a an obvious choice.
2) Sachin Tendulkar: He will be the most key player for India, around whom the team performs.
3) Gautam Gambhir : Gambhir has to provide the back bone for the one day team till he doesnt get a chance to open. He has to play in Dravid-sque style.
4) Ravindra Jadeja : He is a very good all rounder and his batting woes have been that he has had to come in the last overs and throw his bat at everything, but all the matches that India lost recently he held fort from one end, he is more suited for no.4 where stability is required. He is a wicket taking bowler and his bowling is very important for India to do well.
5)Yuvraj Singh : Yuvi's flamboyance is an asset for India and he should sometimes swap positions with Jadeja at 4.
6)Suresh Raina : Raina can hit the ball hard and out of the park, something required at the end of an innings.
7)MS Dhoni : Dhoni should bat not higher than 6 and control the team's lower order as he is best suited to bat with the lower order.
8)Irfan Pathan : Having Pathan at 8 adds to the depth of our batting, and in India matches will be won on the batting strength. His swing bowling even though it has lost pace will be good in the middle overs.
9)Praveen Kumar : PK's been the most successful bowler in recent times so he has to be there.
10)Zaheer Khan : If batting rotates around Sachin Indian bowling rotates around him, so cant even think of leaving him out.
11)Ishant Sharma : This is one position which should be decided according to the wicket and the situation in the series. However a disciplined Ishant is my first choice over Harbhajan.
12)Harbhajan Singh : He will get a look in for sure if any of the last 4 above do not perform credibly.
13)Sreesanth : Sree is a good bowler and should be in the reserves and deserves to be there more than Nehra Munaf or Mithun because of his pace and swing.
14)Yusuf Pathan : Yusuf Pathan means raw power and can be of immense value to the team if required to play.
15)Robin Uthappa : If any batsman goes out of form he is best suited to replace any one as he has and can bat at any position. He is a part time wicket keeper and a very good fielder too so best suited to be the 12th man.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
The Indian Woman's failure to assert herself
Have you ever noticed that even though the Indian woman has achieved almost everything that is possible for her to achieve and is standing shoulder to shoulder with men in all the spheres of life yet the highest paid individual in all professions is a man. Its just not enoughto have a woman President and a woman Prime Minister or a woman Chief Minister. women need to rise up to the highest position as professionals where they are competing with men.
Is this because the Indian Woman is not able to effectively ascertain herself. Take the Hindi film's actresses for one, they sure do earn a lot more than most men in India do but why has it never happened that the highest paid actor (irrespective of gender) happened to be a woman say Aishwarya Rai or Kareena kapoor or Hema Malini? Its a similar story in all the walks of life. We have women entrepreneurs but not the richest entrepreneurs, we have women writers but even they are paid lesser than their male counterparts in the same profession. even the extremely popular and successful Barkha Dutt of NDTV is still left with a couple of notches to climb to the top spot in journalism in India. There has never been a girl winner of the Indian Idol unlike the American idol.
Is this coming out of the male dominated nature of the Indian society or it is simply because the women are not able to become the best in their business. I doubt the latter can be a good explanation and even the former cannot be solely the reason as what stops the Indian woman from going on to become number one when she can easily manage to become a number two. The real answer lies somewhere in the middle where both these factors play their part along with a third one which is very different. It is almost inexplicable as to why most successful women have to be either revolutionary or defiant of existing societal norms. When to be a successful politician a Mayawati or a Jayalalitha(perhaps not the best examples of good politicians) have to deviate from the norm and stay unmarried it makes me wonder whether its the fight to deviate from the usual that takes up the energy of women, likewise when Indra Nooyi the Pepsi CEO sports western business formals with her boy cut hairstyle it gives me an inkling of a feeling that it is the rebel in her, against the more widely accepted norms of dressing in Indian women that makes her don such an outfit.(Not that i have anything against western business formals or any kind of hairstyle)It is this rebellion that women have to put forth is i believe what wastes their energy which never gets wasted for men like this and hence women invariably end up with the silver medal.
Hopefully the time will soon come when the richest Indian business empire will be headed by a woman or may be the highest paid actor will be a Katrina or a Deepika or perhaps Sania Mirza or Saina Nehawal with the highest paid sportsperosons as brand ambassadors.
Is this because the Indian Woman is not able to effectively ascertain herself. Take the Hindi film's actresses for one, they sure do earn a lot more than most men in India do but why has it never happened that the highest paid actor (irrespective of gender) happened to be a woman say Aishwarya Rai or Kareena kapoor or Hema Malini? Its a similar story in all the walks of life. We have women entrepreneurs but not the richest entrepreneurs, we have women writers but even they are paid lesser than their male counterparts in the same profession. even the extremely popular and successful Barkha Dutt of NDTV is still left with a couple of notches to climb to the top spot in journalism in India. There has never been a girl winner of the Indian Idol unlike the American idol.
Is this coming out of the male dominated nature of the Indian society or it is simply because the women are not able to become the best in their business. I doubt the latter can be a good explanation and even the former cannot be solely the reason as what stops the Indian woman from going on to become number one when she can easily manage to become a number two. The real answer lies somewhere in the middle where both these factors play their part along with a third one which is very different. It is almost inexplicable as to why most successful women have to be either revolutionary or defiant of existing societal norms. When to be a successful politician a Mayawati or a Jayalalitha(perhaps not the best examples of good politicians) have to deviate from the norm and stay unmarried it makes me wonder whether its the fight to deviate from the usual that takes up the energy of women, likewise when Indra Nooyi the Pepsi CEO sports western business formals with her boy cut hairstyle it gives me an inkling of a feeling that it is the rebel in her, against the more widely accepted norms of dressing in Indian women that makes her don such an outfit.(Not that i have anything against western business formals or any kind of hairstyle)It is this rebellion that women have to put forth is i believe what wastes their energy which never gets wasted for men like this and hence women invariably end up with the silver medal.
Hopefully the time will soon come when the richest Indian business empire will be headed by a woman or may be the highest paid actor will be a Katrina or a Deepika or perhaps Sania Mirza or Saina Nehawal with the highest paid sportsperosons as brand ambassadors.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
The PM India could never have
Its Telangana vs Andhra Pradesh, Copenhagen summit and India Sri Lanka series thats dominating the news these days. However the change of guard that has taken place in the BJP over the last two days has gone almost unnoticed.
Even an ardent follower of BJP like me came to know of the stepping down of Shri Advaniji as leader of Opposition, only through a small piece somewhere on the inner pages of the morning paper.
Its the end of an era as Advaniji makes way for the generation next leaders in BJP. Its the right time to pay tribute to this great gentleman who though he deserved to be the PM of India could never become, once because of his own humility and then for yet undiscovered reasons.
The man's journey started way back in the Partition days when he had to flee Karachi and come to India, despised with the Congress and its policies of minority appeasement he decided to follow the Sangh and later went on to found the BJP.
If people like Gandhi and Nehru are credited with making India a democracy, it is the duo of Advani and Vajpayee that deserves the credit for making our democracy a functional one in the true sense of the word. More so Advani as he single handedly galvanized the Indian masses and put forth the BJP as an alternative to Congress at every level of functioning of democratic organizations in the Indian setup. However the humility of the man was so high that he refused the PMship when the chance came, out of his respect for Vajpayee who was senior to him both in experience and age. People talk of Sonia Gandhi's sacrifice but she sacrificed something she knew she did not deserve as she was getting it because of her name, however Advaniji's sacrifice was that of a hard earned position for which he had striven for almost 50 years. Whether his sacrifice was right or wrong considering he never later got a chance to become the PM is only for the historians of the future to determine but we the current lot of the India electorate i feel have missed out on a great Prime Minister. Hopefully his legacy will continue in the BJP and in the national politics at large and we will see his prodigies come to power in future.
After 60 years of hard work in public life Advaniji certainly deserves this retirement. The examples of leadership and of smooth transition to new leadership that Advaniji has set will be remembered by one and all. More so because it teaches a lesson to the other dynasty dominated political parties that they need to move on from a dynasty based identity and allow real leaders from the masses to come forth. Such abstract contributions that Advaniji has done for the Indian political sphere are the real highpoint of his career more than anything else. With great respect and high regards for the former Deputy Prime Minister of India, i will just say this much as he himself would always say "Sangthan mein Shakti hai". (Dont know whats the right English translation, perhaps, "Organization is all Powerful")
Even an ardent follower of BJP like me came to know of the stepping down of Shri Advaniji as leader of Opposition, only through a small piece somewhere on the inner pages of the morning paper.
Its the end of an era as Advaniji makes way for the generation next leaders in BJP. Its the right time to pay tribute to this great gentleman who though he deserved to be the PM of India could never become, once because of his own humility and then for yet undiscovered reasons.
The man's journey started way back in the Partition days when he had to flee Karachi and come to India, despised with the Congress and its policies of minority appeasement he decided to follow the Sangh and later went on to found the BJP.
If people like Gandhi and Nehru are credited with making India a democracy, it is the duo of Advani and Vajpayee that deserves the credit for making our democracy a functional one in the true sense of the word. More so Advani as he single handedly galvanized the Indian masses and put forth the BJP as an alternative to Congress at every level of functioning of democratic organizations in the Indian setup. However the humility of the man was so high that he refused the PMship when the chance came, out of his respect for Vajpayee who was senior to him both in experience and age. People talk of Sonia Gandhi's sacrifice but she sacrificed something she knew she did not deserve as she was getting it because of her name, however Advaniji's sacrifice was that of a hard earned position for which he had striven for almost 50 years. Whether his sacrifice was right or wrong considering he never later got a chance to become the PM is only for the historians of the future to determine but we the current lot of the India electorate i feel have missed out on a great Prime Minister. Hopefully his legacy will continue in the BJP and in the national politics at large and we will see his prodigies come to power in future.
After 60 years of hard work in public life Advaniji certainly deserves this retirement. The examples of leadership and of smooth transition to new leadership that Advaniji has set will be remembered by one and all. More so because it teaches a lesson to the other dynasty dominated political parties that they need to move on from a dynasty based identity and allow real leaders from the masses to come forth. Such abstract contributions that Advaniji has done for the Indian political sphere are the real highpoint of his career more than anything else. With great respect and high regards for the former Deputy Prime Minister of India, i will just say this much as he himself would always say "Sangthan mein Shakti hai". (Dont know whats the right English translation, perhaps, "Organization is all Powerful")
Dearth of good Hindi Cinema
It peeves me when i open the papers on Friday and do not see any good Hindi movie releasing that day. 2009 has been a bad year for all genres of Hindi cinema, no good, substantive or masala movie thus far. Perhaps the good directors and script writers are on a vacation an extended one at that. The only movies I watched in 2009 were Love Aaj Kal, Main Aur Mrs.Khanna, Whats Your Rashi and Paa. "Main Aur Mrs. Khanna" i dont know in a fit of what anger i decided to inflict upon me and my family the ordeal of sitting through the movie. It was an extremely stupid and predictable movie with big time underperformances by Salman and Kareena and unnecessary over acting by Sohail as usual.
Love Aaj Kal was a good When Harry Met Sally kind of romantic flick but came no where close to its director Imtiaz Ali's Jab We Met and is an over statement to call it a masala movie.
When i went to watch Paa i thought it would be blessed with the AB magic and would turn out to be at least as good as Black if not better but was sadly disappointed. The lack of a definite story line, too many themes and utterly confused relationships put into one script made a mockery of the message the director was trying to convey. Actually what the message was i am still not able to decipher.
That brings me to what i would call the best among these three movies (am not even counting Main Aur Mrs Khanna it was that bad) Whats Your Rashi. Ashutosh Gowarikar of Lagaan and Jodha Akbar fame came up with this unique movie highlighting the double faceted nature of most Indian families who want to display themselves as cool and modern but go back to square one when it comes to property feuds and marriages. The put offs about the movie were it was to long and had too many songs. Priyanka did her best to portray 12 different characters all with different personalities and behavior. However what impressed me most was the last line of the movie when Priyanka asks "So What's My Rashi" and after having sat through the whole three and half hour long movie it is difficult to recollect as to what Rashi did this character belong to. Wonderfully put the movie gives out the message to do hell with Rashis and horoscopes. Wish the movie was a little shorter in length and Ashu had used twelve different actrese rather than just one Priyanka playing all the actresses.
Anyways that brings me to the core point as to why 2009 has not had good movies at all? Is this the start of the decline of the rejuvenation that had set in Indian cinema in the last few years wit good movies. I bet it is not coz we Hindi cinema has survived for more time than any other film industry in the world other than Hollywood and hopefully the movie makers will come out of this slump. Yet it remains a mystery if movies with different themes would work in Hindi cinema. A trend was beginning to set in with the movies like Munnabhai Lage Raho, RDB, Page 3 and Fashion but will this trend continue is to be seen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)