Hall of Fame for Amma

Today, while i was reading "Apollo Times", a local newspaper published from Vadapalani, Chennai i came across an interesting piece of information. It is about Edaya Theivam Puratchi Thalaivi Selvi Amma...aka Jayalalithaa, CM of Tamil Nadu. Her portrait will be displayed at International American Frienship Soceity's Hall of Fame in Chicago.

The article says,
"A pastel painting depicting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, clad in a green sari and against a yellow background, will be on display".

The painting was drawn by Ruckmani Thiyagarajan, general secretary, youth wing of the World Tamil Youth Federation.

The press release from the society says:
"The painting was presented to the society in recognition of Jayalalitha's efforts to empower women".

Ahoi:-)

Cricket Commentary - A Robots Job!!!

After listening to the commentary of the Indo-Pak Cricket series, one cannot but wonder whether you need a professional cricketer to do that job:-)

Today, when i was watching the match (3rd test), when a shot was played, some of my friends watching TV quipped some comments about the shot, which were same as those of the commnetators. If you think it was a mere coincidence, then you are mistaken, this happened for most part of the match. This made me wonder the rationale of having former international cricketers as commentators. When you listen to Ravi sastri , Arun lal, Siva ramakrishnan and their likes...... i feel a robot programmed to say some of the cricketing cliches can do the same if not a better job.

All you need to know is some of these sentences...

Elegant cover drive
Keep the scoreboard ticking
flurry of boundaries
Batsmen/Bowlers hold the key
Crucial period of the game
Catches wins matches
Went like a tracer bullet
Lion hearted effort
Batsman's paradise
Put the foot on the pedal
A thorough entertainer

........ are some of them i could remember now.

What does an ex-cricketer brings to the game???

Bucknor's love for Sachin

Steve "old" Bucknor has done it again. His love for Sachin Tendular continues. I think he will hold the record for highest number of mis-judgments against Sachin.

During the last test match, when Sachin's catch at silly point was turned down, there was a debate as to whether he should have walked or not? I gave a firm NO.

For my reply, i got stick from many of my friends on various issues like morality, ethics and what not.....

What happened today was there for everyone to see. Sachin was given out caught behind by an errant umpiring decision. Now i wonder what those people who spoke of ethics and morality and self-judgement have to speak...

One day you are not given out, when you know it was clearly out. Other day you are given out for nothing. Thats how the game is, marked with such stray incidents. Thats why i said, sachin should utilise certain decisions to his favour when it is offered, which is snatched at some other instance....

As i had already said before....it all gets evened out at the end...

Blogging is good for your health

Blogging is good for your health, according to a press release titled the "Brain of a Blogger" from two doctors, Fernette Eide M.D. and Brock Eide M.D. M.A.

The reasons given by them are,

1. Blogs can promote critical and analytical thinking.
2. Blogging can be a powerful promoter of creative, intuitive, and associational thinking
3. Blogs promote analogical thinking.
4. Blogging is a powerful medium for increasing access and exposure to quality information
5. Blogging combines the best of solitary reflection and social interaction

Read the full report here.

A Blog a day, Keeps the doctor away.....might become the saying of the 21st century:-)

Thirukural in Budget 2005-06

I was going through the print version of Finance Minister's Budget speech in Eonomic Times. I was not interested in knowing all aspects of the budget. I was browsing through the whole document. Surpringly there was no Yojanas or its ilk, like it used to appear in the previous budget announcements.

I read the complete report and came to concluding remarks of FM. It started by quoting Amartya Sen and then went on to draw parallel between his policy and the quote. Then came the most interesting aspect. I read it wice to believe what i was reading. I was reading a thirukural. It is written by a saint called Thiruvalluvar, two-thousand years ago.

The kural went on like this,

"Pini Inmai Selvam Vilaivu Inbam Emam

Ani Enba Natttirku Iv Iyndhu"

(Health,wealth,produce, the happiness that is the result, and security

These five, the learned say, are the ornaments of a polity)

I wanted to give the link to this speech, so i went to FM website. I got hold of Budget highlight Pdf. There were two versions available, English and Hindi. Here the second surprise was awaiting me. What was there on the conclsuion part in ET, was there on the front page of the Budget highlights. Interestingly, the hindi version also has thirukural in its first page.

Thanks Chiddu :-)

Statistical Abuse on Sachin!!!

The little master of Indian Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, clipped a delivery from his hips to fine leg, for a single. But, this was not just another run. It brought him his 10,000 th run in Test cricket. He became the fifth player after Sunil Gavaskar, Allan Border,Steve Waugh and Brian Lara to score 10,000 test runs.

I wanted to write some statistics on Sachin's cricketing records. Everything i could think of or i could lay my hands on was taken by the media scribes. So, i am left with no worthwhile statistics....sorry sachin.

But don't get disappointed....i have something special for you,just for you...the cricketing GOD.

Sachin has scored 10,000 runs in test cricket. Of which, i assume he would have scored nearly 40% of his runs in boundaries and sixes. So, the remaining 60% is by running between the wickets. Approximately, if has to run 21 yards for every run, he had run nearly 114 kms ( 1 yard =0.91 mts) to reach this landmark.

Thats my Stats on Sachin's achievement:-)

Madras Baashai in Limelight;-)

madras baashai, local dialect popular among chennaites has found a place in wikipedia. Today, i read a post (in twingemini Blog) about madras slangs.

Chennaites, we have made it, atleast in this!!!

Should Sachin have walked?

On the third day of the first test match at Mohali, when Sachin was at eight, an appeal from silly point fielder for a catch was turned down Rudy Koertzen. The TV replays showed that sachin had infact got an edge.

My immediate reaction to the situation was, " Tommorow media will have a field day, questioning the integrity in the game and ask whether he should have walked?".

To answer the question, should he walk?, my answer is an emphatic NO.

I firmly believe, he is entitled for his chance of luck. How many times he had lost his wicket by poor umpiring decisions. These decisions are honest errors of judgement, take it in your stride, according to me.

One incident that immediately comes to the mind is the leg before decision he got in Down Under by Steve Bucknor against Australia(99-00 season) in the first test match.

On the other side, can you imagine what would have been the thought process of Sachin. A seasoned cricketer respected throught out the world, who believes in fair play knows that he should have been given out. But in that fraction of second he has to make up his mind, whether to walk or stay at the crease. With millions of eyes watching him and a landmark in the vicinity, what could have gone through his mind??? - $$million dollar question$$.

Whatever it is, he should consider that the rub of the green was on his side that moment. But as the saying goes, "it all gets evened out at the end of the day", he was not able to reach the 10,000 run figure. He has to wait for the next test match to reach the milestone.

Didn't it get evened out......

India - Pakistan: Test One

From day 1 of the first test match, i wanted to blog about the test match, but something or the other came in my way.
A test match billed as more than just cricket or as an initiative for peace process between the two old estranged friends, or as called by the media as "Cricket: It cannot get bigger than this", has for sure drawn more eyeballs.

Day 1:

With Ganguly deciding to bowl after winning the toss on a pitch which would favour pace bowlers proved to be right for him. Opening bowlers, pathan and zaheer were suitably rewarded for bowling an impeccable off-stump probing line. Then the first change bowler, black 'bradman' Balaji was too good for Pakistan batsmen. He ended the day with a five wicket haul. His form against pakistan is incredible, continuing from where he has left in pakistan. Pakistan was wounded up for 312 runs.

Highlight: Gritty innings from Asif Kamal

Final word: Ganguly's decision, backed by excellent performance from balaji gave India a good start.

Update

Day 2:

With the expectaion of watching Sewhag in action, i was glued to TV since 9:30am. But, rain gods did not show any mercy towards millions of fans. Thankfuly, it was drizling and not heavy showers with chances of match starting sometime during the day. Butit was a long wait.....

Finally, the authorities decided to start the match at 2:30pm and have an extended session. The drizling gave way to storm in the form of Veeru, to the delight of fans. He belted around the bowlers all around the park..( i cannot help myself but use this most used cricket parlance or cliche!!!). The effect Sehwag agression seemed to have some effect on his opening partner, Gambir. He did want to be left out in the run gathering race. He raced to 41 in just 50 balls taking the opening partnership to 113, before he got out to Kaneria. With Rahul 'Rock' Dravid coming at number three, gave no respite to pakistan bowlers. India ended the day with 184 for 1 in just 40 odd overs.

Highlight: Pakistan catching making life easy for Indian's and miserable for Pakistan.

Final word: Veeru's innings exposed pakistan bowling attack.

Update
Day 3:

With Veeru saying that he wants to play throughout the day and get big runs, Indian innings got a to a flyer with 117 runs in the first session wiping the deficit and in the process lost dravid's wicket. Sachin joined the party and added misery to the oppenents. First time in the test, pakinstan bowling attack in the form of Danish Kaneria showed some grit and exerted some pressure on the batsmen making it difficult to score runs. In an attempt to force his way through to make runs, Indian batsmen started taking chances. One mis-hit from Veeru cost his wicket, bring an end to a fabulous innings of 173. Ganguly-Sachin duo measured approach led to drought of runs in the second and third session of the day. Sachin required 121 runs to score 10,000 test runs, but was dimissed on 94 ( Eden gardens probably is lucky to witness the spectacle!!!)

Highlight: Sachin's bat-pad catch decision being turned down; Kaneria's relentless bowling.
Final word: Starting the day with great acceleration, Indian's ended the day crawling.

Update
Day 4:

Time for quick runs, put up a sizable lead on the score board and get quick wickets. Indian team partially fulfilled this objective. With 204 run lead, Indian innings came to an end. Balaji replaced Zaheer and given the onus of sharing the new ball with Irfan. He justified the move by picking up wicket in his first over followed by another in his very next over. Irfan followed up with another dismissal. Score board showing 10 for 3 created flutters in pakinstan camp, when youhana was joined by the giant captain. The pair took the attack to the indian camp scoring flurry of boundaries, rapidly increasing the scoring rate. The rock solid partnership, looked all set to spoil india's dream, but for the efforts of old war horse Kumble. Plauged with the problem of not having big partnership, pakistan finishes the day with a lead of 55 runs with 4 wickets in hand.

Highlight: Danish Kaneria's marathon bowling; first pakistan leg spinner to get 6 wickets.
Final word: India senses victory

Update
Day 5

Victory signs looming large for India, Pakistan were under tremendous pressure to bat India out of victory. Overnight batsmen, Akmal and Razzaq shouldered the responsibility and a valiant innings from the duo snatched victory from India. They put on a brave fight and batted nearly two-and half session. For India to win the match, they were required to score at an astronomical run rate. Match ended in a Draw.
Highlight: Akmal and Razzaq Innings
Final word: Pakistan renewed its Spirits!!!

Looking forward to the next test match at Eden Gardens.......

Sania Mania continues

Today two news grabbed my attention. One was the drive to improve sex ratio launched by the Cheif minister of AP,YSR reported in Telegraph. The next was the launch of a publication devoted entirely to sania, reported in NDTV.

Are we over reacting???

HSC exam blues!!!

The Higher secondary exams started last week throughout India. Every year we come across numerous news about malpractices in exams. Thsi year is no exception to that rule. There were incidents of stdents involving in copying, using mobiles, proxy exam writers and so on. The list does not end here. A new item is added to ths list.

A 17-year old boy who is supposed to appear for his exams had been abducted. The boy was found wandering in the streets of lonavala and the local police took custody of him and returned to his parents. Later, spilled the beans that ha had fled from his house for the fear of appearing for exams.

Towards whom should we be more concerned, the boy or the education system!!!

Read the story from Mid-day

Definition of Truth

I came across an interesting question from one of my friend,"What is the definition of Truth?". I though it was very stupid of him to ask such questions. I though there is well known universal answer. Our discussion went on like this,

Me: Truth is a fact that has been verified and which is conforming to reality or actuality

My friend: Do you mean to say there is only one version for truth.

Me:(thinking.....)

My friend: I mean to say, Can there be different versions of truth?

Me: YES (firm)...

My friend: (Silence.........)

Me: Yes, definitely there is no single thing called truth.

My friend: Then, why are people calling something as truth, when they know it has variations?

Me:(Why is this guy always questioning me!!...making me think)
(I was thinking of some analogy to explain my view.....)

Me: (Wow! It struck me...)
See there only two types of truth, one absolute truth and the other relative truth.

I will explain it with an analogy.Take water in 3 bowls, one extremely cold, one extremely hot and one lukewarm.

Action 1 : Dip your hand into cold water, remove it and dip it into lukewarm water. You will feel that it is extremely hot.

Action 2: Dip your hand in hot water, then dip it in lukewarm water, you will feel that it is extremely cold.

Question: Nothing has changed the characteristics of water in the three bowls, but still you have different feelings, Why?

My friend: (Long Silence.........) ....( i enjoyed every moment of it)

Me: The temperature state of the water in each bowl is known as absolute truth, the temperatures of the lukewarm water after certain action of yours are known as relative truth.

There was no reply from my friend. Knowing what he is capable of i am expecting a strong reply in few days.

Is Impossible always impossible???

Today, received a mail from my friend krish asking me to comment on the following statement,

"Is Impossible always impossible???...or is possible always possible..if the possibility of the impossible is greater than the impossibility of the possible, then it makes all the more sense to pursue the impossibile...if the possibility of the impossible is greater than the possibility of the possible, then will impossible still be impossible???"

I replied back saying:

"I think as the possibility of impossible tends to become more than the imposibility of impossible, then the probability of impossible becoming more impossible is more possible."

Another friend of ours replied back stating:
"Who knows what is possible. Everybody knows what's difficult. 'Possible' is only an excuse to waste time pursuing the impossible."

Awaiting more reactions to this statement.....

When to use ethical toothcomb in your career?

This article in TheHindu, by Prayaag Joshi on Morality of Career Choices throws lots of questions.

• Are we moral, ethical in what we do to earn for our living?
• Is it right to work for a company, whose values do not match yours, even if it is a powerful and lucrative job?
• Any work that we do, should it pass the litmus test of ethics and morality?

By looking at all these questions, one cannot be left wondered but to realise a bit of stretching in this logic.

The author has tried answering this question, the crux is, the individual makes sense of morality and ethicality of career, only when he has reached certain stage in his life.

To me, the answer lies in answering these questions,

• When do you address such isues,i.e at what age?
• the financial position of the individual
• Career choices available to the individual

It might sound a bit irrational, but i call it cold logic!!!

Left Voice transcends Border

If you think, Congress alone is listening to the voice of Left, you are mistaken. Their voices are heard acroos the border too, according to the report from Telegraph.
The article reports,
Pervez Musharraf ordered immediate release of some Indian youths jailed in Pakistan for illegally crossing into the country from Iran last month.

The foreign ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said in a statement,
"The President issued the orders on a formal request by Harkishen Singh Surjeet, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who met him along with a senior CPI leader A.B. Bardhan in Rawalpindi".

At the end of the trip, both the left leaders said they found in him the “courage of a leader and not a general” and commented “He is very frank and honestly answered all our queries". On his part, Musharaff acknowledged the role of the two leaders in promoting peace in the region and the Left’s support for the composite dialogue between the two governments.

Given the political situation and mood along the Loc, the mutual praise has to be treated with a pinch of salt.

Erotic quotient for Cinema

First it was IQ. Then we moved on to EQ, the emotional Quotient. Then somebody coined SQ, Spiritual Quotient. Bollywood doesn't want to be left behind in having a unique quotient for itself. Thanks to film maker Mahesh Bhatt, for coining one for cinemas, EQ, not to check the level of emotion being showed in the mega serials, but for meauring the erotic content!!!

Mahesh Bhatt, who is in the eye of the storm for his yet to be released movie, in an interview to Timesofindia, comes up with this proposition as a solution to end controversies in cinema.

Fabulous idea, are we to expect more such Quotients, given the type of movies that are being released!!!

IT revolution: Sytem designed to cheat your boss

Can you imagine a day where employees are taught how to cheat their employers. It has become a reality, its happening in South Korea. Telegraph says that a software firm has found a way to help people appear to be hard at work while they are actually playing computer games at their desks.

productivITy is sure to make some dent in the years to come.

Paedophile on IIT campus

One more sex scandal at IIT-Kharagpur, second one within three months. Telegraph reports of a Paedophile on campus. In IIT parlance, the Disco has expelled the concerned person. What has happened to the premier institute, always in the news for wrong reasons.

New Viagra, a wierd story

Mid-day reports about a weird instance of body piercing. Inspired by body piercing acts, Raju Shetty, a trader from mumbai found an innovative method of body piercing. This act landed him at hospital, scarring the medicos.
I am shit scared of such acts. My grandmother used take "Kavadi" to palani murugan temple. There is a ritual which happens in palani murugan temple, where people pierce their bodies with "vale" ( i don't know its english equivalent), a sharp object, pierced all over the body as a means for offering prayer. The sight of it will make me squirm. Being so sensitive to such acts, i cannot even imagine of such things even in my wildest dreams. The most astonishing thing in the whole episode is the reason given by him for doing so.

A new viagra in the market!!