democracy

hehehehe ... This is democracy.

A tale of two owners

One of the attractions(?) of IPL has been the team owners - well, at least the two more audible, visible or high profile ones, namely Vijay Mallya and Shahrukh Khan (with due respects to pretty Preity, high-profile she may be, but she hasnt been as audible as the other two during IPL).

Mallaya's team, as well as Shahrukh's team has been on losing streaks. Mallaya's team has won 3 out of 12, while Shahrukh's have won 5 out of 12. The difference though, has been the way in which losses have been handled. Shahrukh seems to have kept his spirits (and tried to keep the team spirits) high. Mallaya has been brooding over what went wrong, and pointing fingers (to the extent of firing CEO Charu Sharma). Mallaya has of late, blamed the captain Rahul Dravid for team selection and has openly said that Rahul Dravid didnt chose proper players (players of Mallaya's choice).

Net result? Despite Kolkata Knight Riders turning out to be a damp squib, Shahrukh ended up a winner, with his popularity higher than ever (and as significantly, with a stronger fan following for the Knight Riders). In Vijay Mallaya's case though, it is probably worth asking who is a more sore loser - the team owner, or the team?

And they talk of industrialization!!

Jardine (well, not Douglas Jardine but Henry Jardine) sent out a strong message to Bengal. The US-consul general voiced what everyone already knows: a culture of bandh is not conducive to industrialization. If Bengal is to court foreign investments (and Indian investments for that matter), they should cut out bandhs and all "adda" and no work culture. Wonder if the political hooligans will hear this message. probably not.

Payback!

Nandigram paid back CPI(M) in the best possible way! By voting (Booting:) out CPM from East Midnapore and South 24 Parganas. Truth be spoken, CPM deserves much worse; unfortunately, the lack of strong opposition parties in Bengal means overall, CPM still rules the roost.

Burglery with a toy

Never even think of committing a crime with a toy gun. Otherwise you will end up like this chap.

"Dumb"bells

Ever wondered why dumbbells are called dumbbells? They are called so because the original dumbbells lifted by early strongmen where actually churchbells with their clappers removed (and hence muted or "dumb"). This piece of information appears in this wonderful site primarily about Eugene Sandow and other "ancient" musclemen.

How India lives

Rediff has a new series titled "How India Lives". Here is the link to the first post. It talks about the superstitions still prevailing in the hinterlands, and how it robs the common folk of a normal life. The story focuses on a 50 year old lady named Nandai, who believes that she has been possesed with an evil spirit, and now spends her days largely to get herself rid of it. Go ahead and take a look at the link for the rest.

Corruption in the ranks

We always knew politicians were corrupt. Here is one more proof. CPM MP Lakshman Seth has been heard ordering CRPF DIG Alok Raj not to patrol the Nandigram area. Luckily Alok Raj was in no mood to oblige.

Traffic fines

If you get a speeding ticket, hire a lawyer to get you out. That's what Andrew Flintoff did. Hired a lawyer who charges 10K pounds per day(yeah thats right, 10K per day) to get out of paying a 60 pound traffic fine

WTF!

Bal Thackeray: Raj Thackeray is a chicken suffering from bird flu.

Raj Thackeray: (on throwing bottles at Amitabh Bachhan's residence) My men did not do that. Had they done it, they would have thrown not a single bottle but a whole crate. Ooooh! Zero for creativity Raj. How about thinking on lines of chicken droppings? ;)

eh, minister?

Huh! And the prime minister prattles of new IITs when he cant even ensure that students enrolled in his dream project of IISERs get a degree. Talk is cheap. So typical of these politicians. The current Congress government, and the future governments of XYZ parties are hereby humbly requested to shut their mouth and deliver an iota of their promise. That includes you too, Manmohan ji.

Revisiting Singur in context of the current food scenario

Prez Bush has apparently come up with a new "Bushism". However, this piece of Bushism is not original, and this statement of his is "borrowed" from Ms Rice, who has "backed up" her statements with a "few facts". According to Condolenza Rice:

we obviously have to look at places where production seems to be declining and declining to the point that people are actually putting export caps on the amount of food... that in countries like India and China, it was not as much a problem of declining production as growing prosperity, which has pushed up demand resulting in “pressures to keep food inside the country...

Well, as far as I am concerned, in case of India it may not exactly be "declining production" in the strictest sense of the word, but it is something equivalent to it, since it is a clear statement that the supply is struggling to keep up with the demand.

Now, the part I am interested in is when Rice mentions that there is actually an export cap on the amount of food. From the point of view of India, as a country, as of now, this might just about work, if, after the export cap there is enough food for the people. But, surely, this is a pointer that in future, probably India will have a case where not only will it have an export cap on food, but it will also have to import food. Despite all the grand statements of "India shining", I dont think that the poor Indians (or even the "middle class") have enough resources to buy food at higher prices that will inevitably result from importing food. An average Indian in US spends around $150 per person for food - that is Rs 6,000 per person per month, which roughly translates to Rs 24,000 per family of four per month. No, the rates are too high.

Which is exactly why I choose to differ with the left front when they decided to let Tatas use Singur for their car factory. I had a post on this topic earlier where I outlined a few arguments why Singur should stay a farmland, and an alternative location should have been picked up by the CPM government. There was a comment from a commentator that there are "lifestyle needs" and there are "livelihood needs". Apparently the commentator thought that cars were going to be "livelihood needs" soon enough. In reply to this an anonymous commentator replied:

"Yes, but if you dont take care of today's need, the question is, "will you survive to see tomorrow?"

Prophetic words.

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Update: Another report that highlights the crisis. India has blindly stumbled into an inflationary situation.

Old school Indian bodybuilding

Link to an YouTube clip taken from Satyajit Ray's film "Pather Panchali".

An young achiever

Here is the video link for Akim Camara's performane in Carnegie Hall in New York. He was just 5 years old during the show. A superb violinist in the making. By the way, if you like violin, check out other links in the youtube page for Andre Rieu's music. He is amazing as well (although much older than Akim Camara).

playing truant

What is this, Mrs Prez?

Is cricket a full contact sport?

May be. Just, may be (according to LA times).