MINUTES OF MEETING : Emergency BCCI meeting : 11 Aug 2011

MINUTES OF MEETING

Emergency BCCI meeting

Mumbai – 11 Aug 2011

Agenda:

• Team’s performance in England
• Future roadmap
• Issues and concerns of team members
• Discussion with representatives from sponsors and corporate Houses.

Open issues and discussions

In an emergency BCCI meeting with presence from sponsors and corporate houses, the following has been discussed, next round of discusisons would be scheduled on a later date.

1. It was discussed that Test cricket is for baby boomers, not for Gen X and Gen Y. India has traditionally not been very well off with old economy things, so as post liberlised india, only T20 and a few 50-50 would be played by the team. The focus has to be T20, IPL and Champions league.
2. It was also brought to notice by Indian Economoic forum that when for the same job, if one is paid $XX for 3 hours in place of 35 hours of same work, simple labor economics states this is not worth the energy and the effort. So, BCCI need to think strtegically in choosing Tests vs T20s going forward.
3. India would only play Tests in India (or subcontinent) with turners. No fast bowlers would be selected as there is none available for a long time now in the team. Australia, South Africa and England to be invited to play in the subcontient only.
4. The bowling would be opened with Harbhazan Singh and Amit mishra, followed by Pragyan Ojah and R Ashwin. Pitches would be made so that Harbhazan would ‘make it large’.
5. Munaf Patel would further be coached by Anil Kumble to make his leg spin even further effective. However, BCCI has been happy with Praveen Kumar’s off and leg spinners and doosras. However, the coach has suggested cutting down on his bowling run up as he takes a long run up for a spinner.
6. For thermodyanmic reasons, Ishant Sharma is needed to grow back his hair. It was proved through a research by IIT that Ishant’s bowling speed is directly proportional to length of his hair. This needs to be communicated to Ishant by tomorrow and accoridngly he needs to grow the hair back.
7. Team India would primarily play Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and West Indies for better statistical results. Also, BCCI would evaluate of placing someone from IIT Kharagpur (specialization in mathematics and statistics), speically with a ‘swamy’ in the surname for controlling the numbers game.
8. Players over 30 (in age), would not be allowed to bowl beyond 10 to 12 overs each day in test matches as it may cause serious injuries. Zaheer would be protected through this policy. The focus is that the bowlers should be fit to bowl 4 overs each innings.
9. Any format of the game, it’s specially difficult to keep the enthusiasm going without cheer girls. BCCI to talk to ICC for this. There have been options of cheer leading to be localised accrodig to the place where the matches would be played. BCCI to employ Subroto Roy as a consultant for his innovative cheer leading through bharat natyam last IPL. However, the senior players are more interested to see Salsa dancers cheering them up. BCCI to reach out to Shiamak Davar for more information.
10. Gautam Gambhir has been seriously offended by Saurabh Ganguly as Saurabh refused to provide enough Bangla lessons to Gautam during the trip as he has commentating responsibilities. However, this has depressed Gautam and has affected his concentatioon and health. BCCI to see if a Bangla tutor could be appointed for Gautam so that he becomes fluent in the language before the next IPL.
11. Virender Shewag has requested for his reliance phone to have ISD activated. Unless he is able to speak to his mother, he would not be able to score runs or concentrate. This is to be done with immediate effect.
12. The only problem that has came up from the England tour so far is through Rahul Dravid. Despite he is being given a chance again, he has declared quitting the limited overs game after the tour and also, has been spending long hours in the middle in the tests, this is contrary to team spirit. BCCI disciplianary committee to look into this.
13. The corporate houses has shown serious constraints of not having enough faces for adorning the commercial. BCCI has assured they would provide more chances to newer players by benching the older players in the pretext of injury. This would help in creating a pool of crickerts that could do the commericals.
14. Reckitt Benckiser representative was very vocal as they were in talks to replace ‘Hussain’ for their advertisements of Harpic, but the astronimical deals wanted by crickerts were very uncomforting. BCCI has promised to meddle in the issue. Reckitt Benckiser to lunch new Harpic ads with the selected cricketer after the england tour or during the tour itself based on his availability in the country.
15. Sachin Tendulkar has been offered a position with ‘Talwakers’ as ambassador for Cardio fitness – special emphasis on how to keep fit even when a job demands no physical exercise and seating for long long hours. Some cardio products are being also launched under ‘Sach’ brand. The products would be primarily targetted to IT and ITES sector in India where the business could be lucrative.
16. Sreesanth has been offered anchorship with MTV roadies in place of Raghu and he has sought permission from the board. He would be available for selection when roadies would be off the road. He also informed that he has also been offerred roles as ‘dance judge’ in reality dance shows. However, he would further discuss with BCCI on these.
17. All India Pub and Night club association has expressed serious concerns about Yuvraj being away from the country for a long time, as this has resulted in decrease in foot fall in their outlets across the country. He is requested to be selected in any one format of the game so that he is available within the country.
18. Few real estate builders endorsed by Dhoni has brought up that they were getting inquiries if their high-rises would fall like the Indian batsman against England. This has been a serious matter. It would be taken up in next BCCI meeting.
19. Additionally, it was informed to that board that after Virat Kohli was dropped from the team, he has got a new tatoo of Vivian Richards as a strategy to play the rising ball. The moment he would look into the tatoo he would imagine he is Viv Richards and would be able to play bouncers easily. The result of this would be observed over next two months.
20. It was also discussed if Anirudh Srikanth should be given the trophy of ‘Best Emerging Player’ of India, 2011. To be taken up in next BCCI meeting.

Compiled and circulated on : 12 Aug 2011

Time for an Indian "operation Wrath of God"?

Post Mumbai attack, there has been lot that’s going on. The public outcry has been huge and this time, it’s sheer anger that’s palpable across the length and breadth of this country.  There is a need to do something, something substantial, may be the Israel and Mossad ways. Israel, a country that has shaped up within the Arab world based on a historical theory that there was a country for Jews. They countered hundreds of attacks from the Arab world and stood tall. Israel was born, nurtured, brought up and now, a country all accepts. The intelligence of Israel is amazing. Mosaad is folklore. From the Nazi holocaust, to exodus to formation of a country, making it stand amidst adversaries must be some task. Well, I am bringing this into contention in terms of the operation they carried out after the infamous Munich massacre where Israeli athletes were killed by the Black September wing of Palestinian extremists. Israel responded back with Operation Wrath of God and Operation Spring of Youth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Wrath_of_God), covert operations executed by Mossad to assassinate individuals alleged to have been directly or indirectly involved in the 1972 Munich massacre. Their targets included members of Black September and members of the PLO, the operation may have continued for more than 20 years.  An effort of same intensity needs to set forth by our own intelligence to counter terrorism aftermath Mumbai attacks. Anti India terrorism is thriving on the soils of the neighboring country and very little has been done to stop it. That’s exactly the point. Go to their bases and bust them there with an Indian ‘operation Wrath of God’. If it’s not possible to directly attack the terrorist bases and terrorists and the people who sets up these attacks; stem the root, wipe off everyone who’s directly and indirectly related through clandestine exercises of Mosaad’s nature. India has had enough and it’s absolutely enough.

Primitive and pristine…

Have you heard that wave, of mind and matters, of moments and moods…

The intrinsic bond weaves around dreams, eyes carry my expressions!

Behemoth of the moments spent or drop of tears so intimate!

Spontaneity has that Midas touch, bad or blue, I seize the pulse….

Life calls the instincts, primitive yet pristine!

Poet I am none, words just my friend, manifestation’s just my feeling!

Primitive and pristine..! My love waves through me….melody of heart…to you, my love..!!

Primitive and pristine…of mind and matters, of moments and moods, of life and love!!

Story of the river..

Curves on the stones, dazed by water, the river flows through the valley…
The naked soil stares the sky,
Clouds or clear, birds or bees, even emptiness has a story!

Have you ever closed your eyes, commotion to silence...
Even silence waves like water, turbulence perturbed!
Thousand and one stories amidsts, the pregnant river moves on...water flows, soil stays!

Still the naked soil stares the sky,
Clouds or clear, birds or bees, even emptiness has a story!

'Mitch's Tuesdays with Morrie': My Silent Reverberations

You know what really gives you satisfaction? Offering others what you have to give.
-Mitch Albom in Tuesdays with Morrie
Quite some time back, I got this book. A small book called “Tuesdays with Morrie”. Read through the first few pages before it rested on a huge stack of books in my book rack. I re-discovered it among that pile of books pretty recently and this time I made sure I devoured through it. And here it is, a small gem of a book with life's little secrets (or realities!) to happiness coming through a dying professor to one of his favorite students. I really liked few lines in the book and thought of scribbling the thoughts that reverberated my mind while going through the book. Few excerpts and my very own thoughts below. The books about Mitch Albom, a sportswriter who met his ailing college professor, Morrie after a long period of time and then kept on meeting him for sixteen Tuesdays to discuss things about, in and around life. Off came, one of the beautiful books that I believe is a must read.

"So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they are chasing the wrong things. The way to get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning. "
A child never has to look for a meaning, nor an adolescent or a teenager. Meaning at that stage manifests in different forms. As desires, as dreams…dreams unlimited actually. From being a toddler to infant to adolescence to teenage to early youth….the studies, sports, friends, all catapulting into one thing after another, platter full of activities, be it studies, exams posing as goals or may be getting your soul mate in youth poised to be the meaning of that stage. Stage by stage or event by event....all came through the spontaneous way and provided that exuberance for the missions seemingly important then. But once you past the age where all done, defining a meaning is perhaps the biggest challenge looms large in adulthood. With growing up and with materialized goals of youth, setting forth newer goals, giving newer meaning to the existence is perhaps one of the top challenges for each human being or it’s too intriguing even to think of. We are way too busy with work, busy with family, busy with life in general. But then what have been the defining moments of this mad rush? Have we ever even got a chance to stop and look back in retrospection? There there, we need to provide that fillip to our own existence, by providing meaning to our lives. whatever smaller way it may be. Life needs it and so does your soul, so does your individuality. After everything that money can buy, what’s that edge you have in your life? Easier said than done. Perhaps something to think about. Growing up should indeed manifests in growing up with the physical growth supplementing to spiritual or inner growth and that would really be an absolute winner. A meaning may translate to lesser worries, lesser issues, lesser agony in life as we at least know what eventually we want. I especially liked the following line Morrie uttered – “If you found meaning into your life, you don’t want to go back. You want to go forward. You see more, do more”.

Love is the only rational act. Love wins, love always wins…………………Without love, we are birds with broken wings………………You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship……………….Love is when you are as concerned about someone else's situation as you are about your own…………… Invest in the human family. Invest in people…………... Build a little community of those you love and who love you.
The small things or incidents or events around and with your love, your spouse, your parents, your family that makes the most memorable of moments, shaping the best of camaraderie to cherish throughout life. Life throws up many surprises, perhaps for the better, when life is full of love. Those unconditional simple tidbits of emotions, respects, honor and the feeling of being sought after. The conviction in the beauty of future gets strengthened or perhaps many troubles in life go away or reduce in magnitude when you have those healing ambience of love. That’s what it is perhaps. Investing in relationships, investing in love, investing in ties of human nature. Love perhaps the life’s blanket on those wintery days of cold, cold of grief, cold of unhappiness, cold of missing the mark. Albeit, with love around, moving ahead and making a newer beginning or may be a newer ending is always possible. I strongly subscribe to this. Love is perhaps elements of faith, elements of trust, elements of belief, elements of conviction, elements of being away from consciousness while being in conscience......love does not need to be bounded by diameters, it is being able to give in without thinking what to get out of it, it is bounty-less giving and reciprocating. This one sentence from Morrie perhaps is so elementary of love and relationships we aspire or savor in life -- “Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them, too- even when you are in the dark. Even when you are falling”.

But envy comes to me, I feel it, and then I let it go. Tell yourself - “that’s envy, I am going to separate from it now”. And walk away. ……………Do the kinds of things that come from the heart. When you do, you won’t be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be longing for somebody else's things. On the contrary, you will be overwhelmed with what comes back.
We are human, very human. We live by the things that our mind conceives, rational or irrational-- we learn-unlearn, we love, we respect, we feel envious, we feel zealous, we feel heartburns, we feel happiness, we feel pleasure, we feel successful. All states of mind, but perhaps the culture that we imbibe in ourselves make us getting hooked to or inclined to certain of these feels more dearly. In a mad rush of chasing life and its needed ingredients to become successful or to be man/woman enough ……..we end of losing sight of many things, simplest being forgetting to enjoy our today (with that feeling of frustration, that feeling of envy, that feeling of zealously, that feeling of not having the THINGS yet), enjoy this beautiful day of our living in this beautiful planet, with the people who are around us, loving us…..! Morrie said “You have to find what’s good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now.” Is not it so true, so elementary, yet we don’t care, we ignore it, since we only see the flipper side of the things most of the time. Hey, your today is a beautiful day, it would not come back, feel the breeze, feel the happiness, feel the sun, enjoy the moon, listen how birds chirp, love your dog….! Simple yet highly complex. I am no different - I am perpetually bitten by the same bug. But had I been able to inculcate such simplicity in me, had not the worlds been much more beautiful, more livable? Ah, life…! Perhaps we need to give our best to life, be very ambitious about reaching that position, that pinnacle of success (both material and spiritual) that we envision for ourselves. That journey is immensely beautiful and fulfilling provided we are only influenced by the rightful ways or perhaps we have the maturity to cling into those feels that make us prove we are human, we are indeed rational and we are indeed moving our lives to a direction that’s not defined by just a few mere material aspects. All round growth, getting and setting the goodness in life, creating a culture of values and culture of existence with best things in life is what perhaps we need to learn or aim for. Culture is what you imbibe into yourself, the process of learning about self and process of feeding in maturity to handle practicality of life while being let only those things come into your being that shapes your own identity in a way that shows radiance..it’s not important we pick up everything that the society, the people around, the world around has to offer. We being humans are perhaps best responsible for ourselves, our actions, our beliefs and how we grow up in life with the values. Mistakes, experience, learning from life perhaps reinforces my conviction into this notion. Pick up things that are important to you, that substantiate your vision towards life fulfilled. Morrie said - “How we think, what we value- those you must choose yourself. You can't let anyone - or any society - determine those for you. ……………You have to work in creating your own culture.”

He was crying again, a soft and quite cry, and because his head was back, the tears rolled off the side of his face before they reached his lips. Sorry, I said..…….Don't be, he whispered. Tears are okay.
Umpteen times you are told - “Man don’t cry”. Tears are not for man, but is it so? I never cried in many adversaries of life earlier. I kept those tears within....or perhaps even when I wanted to cry, tears did not come out. Perhaps those incidents were not dear to my heart, not very touching to my own being for the tears to show up. Indeed. I have broken down many times in the recent past…tears coming down, trickling from the moist eyes through heartfelt emotions. Nah, tears are okay. I am sure. Tears can only come when it touches matters to heart. If you know how to cry, you know how to love, you know how to value, you know how to respect and you know how human you are.

"As you grow, you learn more. Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more than the negative that you are going to die, It’s also the positive that you understand you are going to die, and that you live a better life because of it".
Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional. Is not it? Even the learning part. But once we start the learning process, we are able to have that spark of wisdom into us and we actually start to live our lives. The more awareness we create within ourselves, the more realization we are able to have within us as we grow up, more serenity sets in. From enormous mistakes, enormous learning, enormous errors, indecisions we make/take as we tread on in life makes us even better, perhaps with the growing understanding. As they say, the more you advance in age, the more you start thinking like your dad, unlike the rebelliousness of youth. Deep waters are always free of turbulence….: -).

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE : A highly recommended reading.

NB: All Pictures courtesy Internet :-)

From pages of my diary...cluttered words, I call them poetry - III

From pages of my diary...cluttered words, I call them poetry - III. This is something I wrote in 1999..ah, time sure flys by...:-).

From pages of my diary...cluttered words, I call them poetry - II

From pages of my diary...cluttered words, I call them poetry - II. Something scribbled in 1998 :-).

From pages of my diary...cluttered words, I call them poetry - I

From pages of my diary...cluttered words, I call them poetry. This is something I scribbled way back in 1997 :-).

Of dream that I breathe...!

The most decisive actions of our life ... are most often unconsidered actions.
-ANDRÉ GIDE

From crawling to walking, a mile in leap,
Take me back, those years of being a child…!
Moments turn to time, seconds to season,
I heard the whistling resonance...of dream that I breathe!

Exquisiteness has its language, word by word...,
I relive me, for every letter concocts to the motion.
Of all things clay and earth, life shapes the rhythm...!
I heard the whistling resonance...of dream that I breathe!

Waiting....ah,have you felt it..

Have you ever felt frustrated, felt anxious, felt bored, and felt time’s not moving in any of the following events. I believe I have -

1. Standing in the queue for platform ticket on a railway station

2. Waiting for water to fill up on the bottle hold under a water tap

3. Waiting for other customers to be done before your turn comes in a grocery store

4. Waiting in the airport till flight lands and your folks come out

5. Waiting in the airport knowing the flight has arrived yet your folks need to take time for visa/custom stuffs

6. Waiting in the office trainings for the next break

7. Waiting for rain to subside in a sports match you are eagerly waiting to watch

8. Waiting for TV to restart transmission just when it went bust while you are watching a stimulating climax

9. Waiting in the theater to get the movie started

10. Waiting for your spouse to complete work and then go home together

11. Waiting to collect your piece of cloth you have given for alteration on the store you bought it

12. Waiting for the delivery guy to deliver your pizzas after you have ordered pizzas

13. Waiting for your compensation letter to be published on your company intranet site

14. Waiting for work to be done in the government offices

15. Waiting for your exam results to be declared

16. Waiting for your email to load when you are anticipating an important email

17. Waiting for the download to complete when you are very anxious to see the content and download is damn slow

18. Waiting to get the System started quickly when you want to see something important in the system and you realize the bloody machine takes whole lot of time to get fully loaded

19. Waiting for Traffic light to go green and traffic to move

20. Waiting in the petrol pump to get your card back from the attendant

21. Waiting for cars to get their air filled up before yours

22. waiting for a place to park your car on a crowded mall

23. Waiting for the car parked before your car to move so that you could take your car out

24. Waiting in the queue to pay your parking ticket

25. Waiting in the toll bridge to pay your toll and the cars before you are taking so much time that it seems you are stuck

26. Waiting at the car workshop where you have given the car for a service to be handed over to you

27. Waiting at the interview hall as to when your turn comes

28. Waiting at the bank to get your coupon number to flash and your request be served

29. Waiting for electricity to come when there is no water in your water tank and there is no electricity to run the motor and fill water in it

30. Waiting for the bus to move when it halts in one of the stations in between the journey

31. Booze is ready on the party and you are waiting for your friend to join in so as to start

32. Waiting for electricity to be back on a sultry summer night when you can not sleep without the AC

33. Waiting to go home when you are stuck up at work on a Friday evening

34. Waiting for your spouse to get ready when you are already done and honking in the car for her to come out

35. Waiting as to when a boring long meeting ends and you could light a fag

Ah....:-)

Thou - that every word..

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,My love as deep; the more I give to thee,The more I have, for both are infinite. -Shakespeare in "Romeo and Juliet"

I lose myself within the words!
Stealthily I unravel the chains within,
I walk towards that fragrance..sinuous yet ancient,
Time, again fossils within the serenity!

Gradually I spread my hands in that chaotic rhythm...
On the rice grains or the sprouts,
On the winds or the skies,
On the commotion or the calmness,
On the rain or the drought..
I lose myself, within every word..word on word!

Thou - that every word,
Thou - that every meaning!

I only find myself lost amidst thou....stealthily!

Heartfelts..

"Sometimes you cannot believe what you see. You have to believe what you feel." -Morrie Schwart.

Matters related to heart are only understood by it. Logic, equations, 2+2=4,well, nothing works out, the string that pulls that music in those soft spots in the heart echoes in perfect rhythm or in an undeterrent harmony when calmness pervades all over. Love actually. Small dreams, small feelings or maybe tidbits that swell proportionate to a tsunami of introspective heartfelts. I remember those adolescent days when the poetries were just an ounce of a growing romanticism in heart and come youth it was a force that shapes up another facet into the character of your essence. Beautiful. Stealthily a new dimension grows within and harbored, very sacred yet under wraps, to be unraveled when that special chords are touched. This is the highest form, nothing comes its way, even when we merely see moon has a dark side, but does the moon have one?

Have you heard what Powell Davies said, have you…"Life is just a chance to grow a soul"....

Scribbles

"He who stops being better stops being good".-Oliver Cromwell

The ground is set, the rules are made, the ball is set rolling and you get inside to the momentum. You work to the clocks precision, work doubly hard, beat your own expectations and then you are grounded to the fact you are not doing anything to add value. And adding that extra bit is so important when you have to blow your own trumpet some day. Sheer work may not get its due unless you are doing something that’s changing the way the things are done; improvements the forte. Then again the battle of being naturally gifted for something or developing oneself to be better at something.

I remember keeping awake watching those famous Boris Becker and Ivan Lendel matches, one with natural style and gift and the other with sheer grit and determination. Lendel never managed to win Wimbledon, but somehow I still root for him, would have been happy had he won once. Am bringing this to context for one reason, at times you are gifted for a particular craft, particular work and with hard work you can create your own niche there. But then there are the Lendels, the Jim Couriers who were thought to be not as naturally gifted as some other people such as Pete Samprases or Roger Federeres but with their grit and gumption, they also made a way for themselves. Ain’t that amazing!

In life and general work also, we all have our natural styles which dominate our personalities or our way of work, or how we succeed and how we shape our lives. Winning and losing! Few years back when I was going through a patch of self-doubt, my brother told me “turn your worries into action and things would fall into place”. This still is very close to my heart, I utter the words when I feel something odd/awkward about anything my mind initially says am not potent to do. Challenges, that’s what we call them, getting out to the courage zone and see if we can play there, come out triumphant and then get more of it. Every moment of our lives we need to push ourselves to the courage zone to see what’s there within us, if we have it and if we can do it. We can, provided we think we can, ain’t it, one turf may elude us, but rest all can be ours, that’s what I have gathered from these real life examples. It’s a mind game all the way. Move your pawns strategically, visualize early what would be the options you would have later! Ah, life….!

But then the famous quote, sometimes being good prevents in becoming great. That’s what perhaps happens when we get to cozy, too comfortable in our comfort zones, and most of us perhaps at certain point of time, with all the world’s liabilities tend to get into. We resist getting into the courage zones anymore and then we start decaying in terms of what we are capable of (fyi, absolutely my point of thought ;-)). Another question that comes up, we may not know ourselves if we need to move to our courage zones….feedbacks, does it help here, am not sure if it does unless you have a 360 degree system in place. That’s the worst part growing up in the hierarchy, you stop getting constructive/corrective feedbacks as you move up, unless you fail. Solution, what would be the solution if we don’t get feedback that can help us improve, perhaps, taking hints from the surroundings and immediately work on that, perhaps. If we can hear that call, work on that, we may not have to say what Lendel has said “grass is for cows”.

The hows, whats, whens,wheres would rest with us to find out, aint it :- ).

Theaters on 'waning winter' nights

"I made mistakes in drama. I thought drama was when actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries." -Frank Capra

One of the few cherished memories that I carry from my growing years is watching mobile theatre groups performing in my suburban hometown. The concept of mobile theatre is really an intrinsic part to the social culture of Assam during eighties and nineties. Ankiya Bhaonas has been rooted to the Baishnava culture in Assam and perhaps somewhere in the chain, mobile theaters also got into the societal framework of the state. Though I don't have current knowledge how mobile theatre groups are doing, back in Assam, with the upsurge of easy availability of DVDs/VCDs and cable networks pervading even the rural part of the state and then, perhaps over the years the context has changed, the new generation is taking up to different cultural ethos.

In my suburban township, during eighties and early nineties, three or four theater groups used to visit and they used to stage four different dramas spread across four nights. It was used to be an event that also used as a mean of socialization, the supposedly better offs are provided with tickets that used to be called "patrons" followed by the second off the class tickets - 'season'. These two classes have access to four days of drama. After these sections, one section is for people who can get ticket for a particular drama. The final section for viewers is multi level gallery. Gallery tickets were the cheapest and it's the section where when drama used to be in progress, some pretty interesting comments used to come which at times used to set the entire audience into a roar :- ).

Coming back to dramas these groups used to choose was pretty interesting starting from mythology, history, social issues, current events to adoption of dramas from renowned novels of Assamese and other international writers. I recently heard there were theters based on anaconda, Lady Di and also on 7/11. I remember seeing dramas ranging Macbeth, Cleopatra, Julius Ceaser, Alexander the great, Romeo and Juliet to saint Sankardeva. It used to be a good experience which perhaps used to imbibe into young children with the inquisitiveness to go further and explore on the subjects. I did. Even it used to refresh the minds of the not so youngs too. I vividly remember quite a few those engaging moments from the dramas I saw as a young boy leaving me thinking for a few nights :).

Interestingly, the flavors of dramas were quite diverse. It used to be full of all the emotions, swings and dramatic events, a la a movie. Nataraj Theatre Company is supposed to have started this trend of mobile theater groups and among the best known groups, Hengul, Kohinoor, Abahan used torule the roost. However, there were a few groups who used to stage a surprise or two with their superlative dramas on and off. I sincerely hope the movement remains rooted to the culture of the state and flourish too. May be, an industry status could help it prosper too….. !

Two moments of retrospection

Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before, how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever...-- Isak Dinesen

How true these words are. We live in perfect disarray of different specifics, we chase ourselves, we chase our dreams, hopes and where one ends, another starts. The essence of life it is. Life goes on, things happen, we learn or unlearn and we feel, we sense, we act, we experience and we enrich ourselves. Just the same way, I have rediscovered certain simple facets of life, yet again. It was torrid 3+ months for me from September to December, with both parents with me ailing and then going through medical checkups, doctor visits and visits to pharmacies, with my work in its break neck speed and dad had to be put into hospitalization. I took him to Apollo and what caught me is their banners on the entrance, “Years ago he has put his heart into you, now it’s your turn to repay, take him to Apollo for a heart checkup”. With pictures, it touches that chord in human emotions when you start thinking from your heart, that feeling of giving it back what I was bestowed upon being a kid, being into school, being into college and during the years when I started my career. You start having that heady feeling, of being able to look up and straight. Yes, life goes through different cycles, different dimensions and different times. I have seen such a change in dimension from a very close quarter, a very close distance (perhaps all of us do). You want to give back everything that has been given to you in your growing up years and that’s so true, even one can give back a little portion of what he has been given in life, the feeling of happiness just crosses the boundaries. It’s sacred. I have rediscovered and relived one particular lesson of life, at times, simple and simplicity make things better, brighter. Each moment of our lives, we just rediscover ourselves, perhaps..

Turn-around in IT

It amazed me immensely how people can’t understand or differentiate between good, better and the best or refuses to do so. Part of appraisals at work, I found people generally qualm over the ratings they get, being quite oblivious to the fact that out of 20 people in the same job profile, it’s the ones who has the drive to go beyond their boundary of assigned tasks, stands out. In corporate parlance results is the only tangible thing, not efforts, if efforts substantiate to results, it definitely pays. Only efforts don’t make sense, neither can it be a parameter for performance judgments. Value, as it sums it all.

I just tend to remember Year 2001 when IT got into a recession and people who started their career in and around that timeframe worked doubly hard knowing the market dynamics and the need to shape ones career and in turn the future. Money never actually mattered that much during that time as is now. Perhaps, change in the market dynamics all together and in the demand supply equation has turned around things to a great dimension. Back to year 2006, the IT scene in this country has sky rocketed to a new frenzy. That resulted into high pay packets, even when experience doesn’t commensurate with the expertise. Exactly then when you get to rate people who have just set a foot on the IT world (relatively), the expectations seem to be so high, it sometimes goes beyond the realm of reality. Market is overtly positive for everything, even an 80% jump for someone having 2 years of work-ex seems so normal when s/he tries a switch in job.

Attrition is such a nuisance. I have seen people in my organization holding their fort for years, without switching from organization to organization and it actually helps learn a lot of things that in later years perhaps aid a lot when it comes to project and people management.

That leads to another important point, where one for-sees his growth, in a typical R&D environment or in a services based model? In a R&D based model, technology matter more than anything else, one gets to work with technology and actually gets to the dept of subject matter expertise. Whereas, in a services based organization, it’s the vertical growth, ability to manage projects along with people matters eventually. In a services based model also, subject matter expertise is essential, but it can give the option for one to choose to be with engineering or with management. This is where people need to find out where the call is! Even when switching jobs or sticking to an organization, one needs to have a vision to leave or stick around..!

Well, just few random thoughts over what’s I have been experiencing off late ; -).

Of Salvation..

"People seek salvation because they are experiencing emptiness in their Lives. This emptiness can take the form of lack of Love, lack of purpose, lack of fulfillment and so on".

One of my friends posted this comment and I pondered over it for a long while infact, salvation, when we seek some kind of the pie, does it have to have some kind of pre-action, in terms of some kind of emptiness or lack of something, as in lack of love, or lack of purpose or lack of fulfillment.

Let's see how the word 'Salvation' is defined:

"Salvation"-To be eternally saved in every respect from all the influences of sin. Thus it means to be made whole, to be made complete, to be made healthy. Salvation, according to the Biblical revelation, is always and only a work of God for man, and never in any case a work of man for God. From www.calvarychapel.com/redbarn/terms.htm

Does this sentence ring a bell -"only a work of God for man, and never in any case a work of man for God"!!

When people seek salvation, can't it come by itself, from an inner voice, from the person within, without any strings of 'history', or emptiness or something that has to settle to materialistic dimensions. I strongly believe one can. It needs time to be able to listen to the inner voice, either of attainment of maturity, or of being deaf to inner-self, people doesn't get into the notion of salvation. Its only when something happens or an emptiness is experienced, the wake up happens. Just the catalyst. Perhaps, if we go by common wisdom, lack of fulfillment is one factor which might ignite that kind of vibes in someone. In a relative world where everything is based on a 'compare-value', the concept of salvation again is so relative, a man with possessing nothing in materialistic achievements can say he/she's happy and content and a man in a swanky merc can feel this emptiness, so where do we stand in terms of all these! Long back, I attended a session on corporate training organized by my organisi0on and the trainer told us why he settled for training corporates instead of founding his own company (he was a Elite Business School pass out with the potential to earn great), as never wanted to get into the rat race (rather he got bored of the routine) where people judge you by the length of your car or how posh your home is and going by that conviction, in a world of cut throat competition where the compare value assumes a huge proportion in life, being a part of the race or being out of it, eventually would have it's say. So where/how/when one listens to those mystic bells to seek salvation?

Outlook carried an article long time back as how people are leaving lush jobs/careers to become part of NGOs, part of theater groups, running schools in mountains etc.. But eventually the happiness or emptiness matters on the individual being, the Karma might be anything; the factor of comfort, factor of happiness, factor of fulfillment, factor of completeness is relative! Being able to define ourselves first, being able to asses our potential as to where we can go (tough, aint it), being positive, being a part of the minusculity of the universe, being in love with plants or flowers or rather having a happy time with your pet too can make someone happy.

I go by 'Kahlil Gibran's' those words:

"Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children."

Drunk mans words=Sober mans thoughts.

"A drunk mans words are a sober mans thoughts".

-Steve Fergosi

A couple of drinks would do the trick! Perhaps all of us (or rather I) have heard this line umpteen times, in the course of growing up or right after we grow old enough to gallop a drink

:-) ! Talk about those days of 'collective drinking' (four-guys- going-dutch-on-a-full-bottle-of-alcohol), the most important part has been strategizing how to resolve the impending challenges (read: winning-over-a-girl mostly) and then drink after drink, the strategies are devised, plans are made, though most of the times in the barren(?)shores of a professional college, it ends up being the futile effort, Lol. But the ideas conjured during those sessions were amazing, right from the weirdest to the most sublime management style of tactic :-). Yes, a couple of drinks did help all of the guys to think beyond and come with ideas!

Coming back to the point "a drunk mans words are a sober mans thoughts", it seems the truth lies in the fact that when people let go fear of something, they actually raises one level up, possibly, the couple of drinks takes one to a subconscious/semiconscious state where the courage takes over, the inner voice comes up (am talking the vibes people tend to have after a drink, not to those who drinks and spoils everything once the kick sets in :-)). The fear of treading on the wrong while being in conscience gets off to an angle and this helps tilting the balance in favor of some courage, or rather some thoughts taking shape to words-of-the-mouth.

Like my friend in college days proposing to his girl (oh yeah, she’s popped ayes)from a PCO at 10'o clock in a chilly December evening or my best friend finding his girl at a Indian porn site and blushing/thrashing/abusing her to find next morning, the pic doesn’t resemble her a bit :-). Lol, stories galore :-).

Of detachment..

Osho: a book by the man what I have been devouring off late and it has actually put me in a state of thinking, thinking of being of "me" and the events that has shaped my thought process over the years. The essential concept of being alone in the world and detachment is core to being in a state of bliss irrespective of matters around, the basic truth we all know, but the explanation on the book on a new light has what kept me hooked on to it. On the course of life, we pick up  things, we create values for ourselves or we learn them, we inculcate certain cultures and we grow relationships, we are afraid of being alone, that’s the essence of being surrounded by all the halos, of the world around us. We despise being left alone, but yet we feel alone being in a crowd. The path to self discovery may be the path to finding our own wisdom of what and where are we, and to understand our being alone! We get into relationships and at times, we want to get out of it due to some obscure reasons too, it creates sentiments, of hurt, of anger, of pity and so on. But at certain point, we start accepting all of that. Acceptance is core, understanding is essence and being able to detach ourselves is what appreciates to a newer level. It sounds philosophical living in a pluralistic society that shows us the materialistic view of the things. And it’s hard since success is directly proportional to materialistic achievements in life and drifting apart is not an easy task. Essentially!

Serendipity..

serendipity


Dawn beckons me, yet again..
Of that two walks of life and the raga,
Stealthily, am lost amidst myself..!

Spread your wings..
Of ballads and bonhomie,
Just might that be my serendipity..!

Gurgaon unrest..

Gurgaon Violence

Excerpts from NDTV:

"The dispute that led to this violence actually started more than three months back when workers demanded a pay hike. Nearly 1700 workers went on strike in May. Things got worse when Honda tried to hire other laborers. Angry workers gheraoed the management, which led to the suspension of 50 laborers. An enquiry was ordered following, which four workers were sacked. But just last week 1600 workers signed an undertaking to resume work. Despite the move, the workers took out a protest march demanding that the 50 suspended workers also be taken back. It was during that protest that clashes broke out with police."

HMSI has suffered losses of nearly Rs 125 crore as production has been badly hit for the past month.

There are two sides to the whole thing: 

Firstly, the action of Honda authorities and the agitated workers. A flawed management policy that has lead to the final act of violence and counter offence from the authorities? The issue should have been handled right in the beginning when it was Sprouted rather than HMSI now offering to take back the employees apart from the ones who were sacked. Its a failure on part of the HMSI management (that too, coming from a Japanese style of management) to foresee things and implications thereof. Bad.

Secondly, the way administration handled the situation. The barbaric lathicharge or atrocious behavior on part of the police can’t also be rationalized. This is simply mismanagement of a crisis scenario on part of the administrators. Agreed, setting vehicles on flames and stuff are the sparks that lead to the sordid state of affairs, but then when a mob gets violent (perhaps propelled by goons within the crowd!), it can get into a destructive spree. Police has to get into action anyway and control it, the way they have done it, is the only aspect that’s questionable.

Gurgaon is fast emerging as one among the top industrial hubs and incidents of this nature can jeopardize the investments that may come its way in the near future. The NCR needs to evolve in terms of foreign investments, in terms of mncs setting up firms and in the long run it can actually help the region to flourish in many ways. One off incidents of this nature shouldn’t be the yardstick for assessing investment potential of this area. Let’s hope.

Friday rambles..

Friday Morning.

Mood: Relaxed

State: No signs of beer overdose from Thursday evening ;)

Till Release:

March, April and May has been hectic with works taking a torrid pace: running after deadlines, meetings targets, testing all the risk areas for any impending break on the product due release, long hours, boredom over repetitive regression of certain areas of the product and then came May 19th and finally, the product has been released. Ah..we did it finally then. :-).

Post Release:

I went for a vacation, phew, it really did wonders to me, was kind of stressed out. Literally.

Now, after that, what!

Problem with product development environment is once a new product or a version is released, its time for service packs, hot fixes, qualifications and stuff like that. So, get ready for the tasks that’s coming up, sooner or later. Also, its time for some studies, some learning, some post-released activities and yeah, free, cosy weekends without having to worry/think what are impending tasks that needs to be addressed on Monday next.

Of People:

It’s an experience and learning of people skills when you work in a team. Of my 4.5 years of Work ex, I have met people: of different attitude, attribute and ambition.

There are self styled geniuses who fume, grin for the work they are into, since (according to them) it's not testing their skills, their energy and ample knowledge! And the whining continues, yet no signs of their working towards a newer/bigger challenge or possibly, trying for change in terms of better work potential. No, they would be there to continue the story :-), a classic Dilbert Case.

There are guys who work, not necessarily the best, but are motivated, keen to learn and do best, have ample direction and can help you actualize your potential too. Am lucky to have guided by a few of them. My best colleague till date, Vinod, created an opportunity for himself when nobody thought he ever could and now, happy and gladly settled in Tokyo. I love your ethics, Vinod.

The self styled managers: phew, better of the mouth, poor from the hands, yet they survive.

Finally, the followers, happy with work and situation, they abide by all the rules of the game and surely, they are star employees too.

A team is a perfect team when all are there, that’s a must I guess. Little conflict, little friction, little competition actually draws all to finally excellence...of course with a firm masthead who can keep all things tied up :-).

Of life:

Been a while since I have started working and gradually the need to discover myself in terms of my potential, my goals, and my future has arrived. Hmmnn…. life is getting routine too: work, home, work!

Time to find the way....which way, the road less travelled? Or, the safe way to happiness!!

Criss-crosses ;-)

No more ‘fag-acts’ :-(

no more..

The government has officially banned the depiction of smoking in film and TV serials from October 2. And the first word comes to my mind is 'crap'. There are better things for government to control/govern then to stop smoking scenes from movies or for that matter acting as the moral police on unimportant issues. So, Indians can take to the habit by watching heroes/antiheros smoking! Wow, a cool stand from an able government. But yeah, the sleazy sex scenes, smooches, gruesome murder and rape scenes can continue. We won’t take them up, we are Indians. The heroes can actually drink in the movie (that too, they drink neat from a full bottle in most of the movies), but we are not going to take up that either. But smoking, yes, we would, for sure. Cigarette packets anyway carry the words ‘Smoking is injurious to Health’ but movies like ‘D’ where the hero (or the antihero) executes different crimes to be the king of underworld and those stories not going to lure the young minds (from the underprivileged sections of society) as a quick way to big bucks! Amazing.

As I saw it

After 3 long years, I paid a visit home, Assam, that is, for a fortnight. Was really eager to get back to the place after this long! Yes, there have been a multidimensional change to the state, though, am afraid the basic facets have yet to get proper nourishment in terms of development/improvement.

Electricity (rampant power cuts), pathetic roads (e.g., the National Highway to Upper Assam), irregular salary credits to state employees, closing down of business units and such basic amenities do need a through look for further improvements, maintenance in right earnest immediately. Guwahati, being the only city in this Northeast part of India, has grown exponentially in terms of people, infrastructure, growing presence of national and international companies, shopping plazas and stuff like that. But the alarming trend that’s getting developed in the state is a growing tribe of people for whom hard earned money is not relevant at all and that’s being propelled majorly by surrendered extremists who are getting in the helm of all the major business points with their might! Employment options to qualified people are growing thinner and thinner in terms of state and government organizations.

However, the silver line being the emerging presence of the corporate houses. One of my graduate friends, has been working in the sales function of such a corporate and has been able to earn decent money and that’s actually encouraging lot of others to take up such avenues. All this culture of gun power and black money has been a propellant to growing habit of drinking as an escape route to the youth with mushrooming wine shops across towns and villages, and also, this trend of uncertainty among the youth has been creating an exodus of qualified manpower from the state to other states, other places where there is a proper channel to utilize their skills and energy. The entire northeast has been in a state of unrest ( in terms of movements by people, by militants, by separatists) for a long long time now and without getting into the debate of why and what has caused these, its about time concrete and positive steps needed taken to further develop this part of the country.

Apart from all the negativities, the road transport system has been completely overhauled to a success story, swanky new buses (e-class buses :- )) and number of buses plying among different routes has increased manifold: a respite, indeed. HLLs plant has been a great move too. Increasing campus placements from technical colleges of the state is another good news.

This part of the country really needs a proper planning and execution in terms of development and that too, via qualified people, since till date, all the plans have failed to transfer the region to the state we all would have liked to.

-Hiru Da-

HiruDa

A few line from Hiren Bhattacharya and my very poor effort in translating the words :-):

With flow of blood floats music!

Whose tears are they on the rice grains!

Life, it's hard to understand you!

His poetry has this appeal of simplicity, usage of simple words to craft magic, magic of words and rhythm, that touches your soul.

Power!!

Simi Garewal has recently quoted the following line:

"Power itself is the most powerful thing in a person’s life, even more then sex. It’s that thirst for power that drives a human being".

I second you Simi.

Power-

• Can become a man’s passion in ‘all its forms’
• The bonus of respect or fear
• You feel free and liberated
• Power can get you almost anything (in India at least)
• You don’t have to linger on many small things in life
• It can make you feel satiated for a long long time, unlike sex, where the thrill only lasts moments.

The mind crowd

For umpteenth times, off late, I keep on getting this feeling of having some new, distinct, separate and worth while sense of purposes for next few years of my life. Living in a suburb also helps me think things, propelled by some idle and silent time post work everyday. All phases of life have a distinct purpose, distinct sense of what to expect and achieve and am still far away from the mid life to have a crisis. Yet, a sense of restlessness, unable to sink in to a particular mode of life-being happy and effervescent as others is not always happening to be true. The urge and wants keep on changing, though I try to keep the basic ones streamlined always. The mind crowd (lol, this is my word for all the noise and commotion that keeps on going through my mind) veers deep inside. Perhaps nor everyone can afford to be “The monk who sold his Ferrari” J or can we! Why people turn to spiritualism, why people try to be a kid more and more often as they keep on growing old, why sometime all around seems very petty and something they matter the world! Somehow we all go through the same phases of life perhaps, trying to find an answer to life’s questions, the paths that we have been choosing and the quest leads from one thing to another, unraveling, untying many a myths and many a truths. Food for thought : -) or its me trying to break into another realm!

Ophra's 'Indian Bahu' show

Was catching up with Oprah Winfrey’s show a few days back that took up the topic of dowry and plight of Indian woman. I won’t cry foul as to if she has portrayed a wrong picture to the world, rather this topic still needs a proper look through, she backed the show with ample facts and figures. Ophra did show a few woman or organizations working on this subject in India. The urban woman has come of age in India and she’s everywhere, right from corporates, politics, sports, you name it and she’s there. But then, the India interiors have to undergo manifold changes in attitude, perception, thinking for the same thing to happen. Over the years, the perceptions, the attitudes have been changing and if the waves keep on flowing on the positive direction, the gender equality in the country might be feasibility. But for now, it’s a distant dream and the urban educated people need to take a stand...!

Everybody says I am fine :-)

Okay, things are going just fine and. then when I count on the ambition aspect, the factor by which we decide our happiness quotient, as am thoroughly puzzled.

How about going for CAT now, as many of my friends are doing/gunning for and then somebody says, hey you gaining on work-ex side, don’t leave your job, either go for an exec. MBA or for ISB. Lol, when I bring up these kind of topics, the advices are aplenty and even if sometimes it yields nothing in particular, it really jams up the session of discussion among we friends. Everyone has an opinion and when friends generally get together for a bout of drinks, yes, I see bit of a finance minister, bit of a national cricket selector, bit of a kishore kumars all rolled up in them. But I wonder why a drink is the necessary catalyst to bring out the best in all, lol, are we too preoccupied with our lives and work that we have forgotten we followed some passions while we were students, and we have liking to many things apart from those class room books.

Thinking about the job and the gains and pitfalls it brings with it, the stress is high, the stakes are high and you need to keep yourself updated at all times, technology changes, work changes, requirements changes, projects loom large on deadlines, and the list goes on. Life’s going on in a hurried pace, albeit routine, and things are becoming too nerdy alongside. Greetings cards are gone, it’s now e-cards, you don’t have to go to shop to buy things, order online and then, your mailbox is cluttered everyday with hundreds of marketing initiatives, leave aside the fact that majority of them being prolonging sex urge or for increasing member sizes, lol.

But yeah, the equation of life and equation of things that goes with it has been changing rapidly alongside. And yes, we are fine. All of us have our own insights to life and so is the share of problems and also, keeping the fact in mind the grass proverbially is greener on the other side.

Once in a while, I compare myself with the strides my pals or my ex-colleagues are making and sometimes, I feel good thinking am okay and sometimes, it frustrates me to no end thinking am an absolute waste!. But then life goes on, the process of ‘define/refine’ continues.

Sania, Narayan and the new face of Indian sports!

Sania Mirza and Narayan Karthikeyan have finally got into big league, catching the frenzy of the masses and in the process catapulting the aspirations of the players of other sports into a new dimension too. Sania and Narayan are players of talent and grit; and they have really epitomizes the new face of Indian sports. Narayan Karthikeyan, after years of juggling between different places and race circuits, will be the first Indian to participate in the 2005 F1 championship for team Jordan. I saw this morning in a news clipping, he’s slipping into his car with his helmet draped in the national tricolor. A sight to feel proud about! Few people could have imagined an Indian would star in F1 someday, kudos to the brave heart. Sania is again a classic case, she’s just as elan with her style and poise as with a racket in her hand. She seems to be cut out for bigger things, what Ramesh Krishnan or Vijay Amritraj couldn’t do it in Singles domain, she might be the one who can carve a niche for herself there. Let’s pin our hopes on these powerhouses of talent, guts, grit and gumption!!!

Equation of life

What’s the best way to balance the equation of life when so much everyday going onto imbalance it, I wonder, perhaps success (success itself, again a relative term) comes when we learn to keep things simple, placing the priorities in place. But perhaps that’s the toughest thing to do; we live in the present, we live among the crowd giving shapes to our designer dreams, in the process, somewhat little things in life stop matter to us and we start chasing certain things we are not cut out for or not suited to our attitude. We live in contradictions, we contradict ourselves (no, not everyone does!), sure the open economy has made life better and has changed the ground realities to a great extent and things becoming bigger and better, our purchasing power has increased, the living styles are getting better, put together everything, it gradually boils down to having an attitude that calls itself as ‘GenY’. But does happiness is always the byproduct or is it chaos! Well, am in search of that answer, am in search of life myself!! What’s that element that can put the perfect numerics to both sides of the equation to balance it to perfection!! The question still holds between then ‘the old world charm’ vs. ‘the empowering new life’….lets get ahead and find out ourselves ;-).

A Perfect Morning!

What is a perfect morning for me, a bright morning with chirping of sparrows in my verandah and my pet 'Derby' licking me all over my face while am still half asleep :-). Well, sometimes that’s what precisely happens and I feel enormously happy to see the sparrows chirping, in a team of around 5 or 6 and with the morning sun ushering in the bright rays to half of my room! Growing up, the chirping of sparrows or other birds in an early morning commotion never meant anything to me, but for years in the hub of south Delhi, I never had this wonderful site, but Gurgaon greens still has enough to make sights like this normal and thank God. The more sophisticated life has become, the more we go detached to small, small things like these. I never knew I can derive so much of pleasure in such small things, but now, I know I do. I always wish the sparrows to come, the sun to shine bright and ‘Derby’ waking me up early, to start another day with a Perfect Morning!!!

Tsunami and some random thoughts

Just a few days back I had a chat with a senior ex-colleague of mine about Tsunami and burst of problems sweeping through the world for a while now. According to Hindu mythology also, there are 4-yug creation cycles and we are in the last, that is kali yug. This ages are divided as the following:

Satva-yug: 100% honesty

Tetra-yug: 70% honesty and 30% dishonesty

Dvaapara-yug:50% honesty

Kali-yug: 30% honesty and 70% dishonesty

Is this apparently the case!!! We are in a so fast pace world now, only I-me-myself matters than anything else in life. We are generally going away from spirituality (in whatever way) and with it comes lots of other problem to human kind. Tsunami has occurred just after the Xmas day and it's really something to think about. Perhaps we don’t believe to live in moderation anymore. We do need to have a faith and thank God in every step instead of asking things or remembering HIM when we are in some kind of trouble. Am neither an atheist nor a devout, but when you hear stories like Temple of lord Murugan at Tiruchendur which is very close to the sea shore didn’t get affected by Tsunami at all, you start really thinking how come!! Amazing. Perhaps we can’t rationalize everything with logic and facts, but some things in life always have been beyond that!!!

2005: Happy New Year

2004 would be history in a couple of days and we stand on threshold of another new year with new hopes, dreams, aspirations and yeah, resolutions too (but then resolutions and eggs are meant to be broken!). Being human, we live on hopes and dreams, that the new year would bring about that midas touch to our lives. Hope and dream afloat, for sunshine and happiness, all over!!

But, on onset of 2005 and ripe season of festivities, the tidal Tsunami waves brought about mass devastation in Asia and wrath and fury of nature has caused so much of human and material damage. This morning I saw a small boy narrating his story of losing his mom to Tsunami and my mind wept in silence, how can life be so rude to him, for that matter thousands of others hit by it? Is this what we call Destiny!! We cross our fingers, we pray for the suffering of the millions by Tsunami/wars raging in different parts of the world and hope 2005 would bring good news and prosperity to the world we live in, amen!!

Indian Hockey and PHL

Indian hockey might just get the much needed fillip and life to it, if the concept of Premier Hockey League becomes a success. India has so much history, tradition and passion associated with this sport ( then do we ever give a thought to the magic and wizardry of Dhyanchand now a days!), it’s just about time the game gets its dueful place.PHL is conceptualized by Indian Hockey Federations, ESPN STAR Sports and Leisure Sports Management and we all hope this becomes a resounding success. The names of the teams are also pretty interesting ones: Sher-e-Jallandhar, Maratha Warriors, Chennai Veerans, Hyderabad Sultans and Bangalore High-Fliers. sounds interesting. Hope an effort involving three years of extensive work from IHF, ESPN STAR Sports and LSM would help Indian hockey to thrive and be a rage again. And yeah, we just might see a Gagan Ajit Singh or a Dilip Tirkey or an Arjun Halappa in a cola add soon :-).  Amen.

A TV Show, India and Olympics

I happen to catch a TV program in NDTV 24X7 the other day, it was a debate about why India an Olympic zero, despite the fact that it’s the second largest country in the world in terms of population. I loved the way Rajdeep Sardesai presents the show with verbal volleys, facts, figures and witty statements.

There was a verbal stick play between former hockey international Ashish Ballal and IHF president K P S Gill about the way players are chopped and changed for each tournament, about the treatment meted out to players of the caliber of Dhanraj Pillay. Whatever the reasons or situations, under the coaching of Gerhard Rach of Germany we only hope they bring back glory from the games in Athens this time.

Indian sports ,apart from Cricket, is without little or no sponsorships and that factor is perhaps one of the biggest reasons why kids prefer to get into academics rather into sports, thus, the professionalism is yet to grow the way it has been in some othercountries. One thing is sure, money would come to Sports which have fan following and the increase the popularity of a game, the media has to play a role. Anyway, there are so many factors and we can only debate and talk, the real action has to begin somewhere else... to improve the things, let's hope.

Hope the predictions come true and India comes back home from Athens with 11 medals...shooting, archery, tennis, hockey..we are pinning our hopes………..!

A sojourn called life..

A sojourn called life..

With every passing day-when it amounts to taking on more responsiblities, working your way up, taking decisions on every step of life, oops, put together everything, growing up is such a tough task, it's such a balancing act of keeping both professional and personal commitments in right earnest and getting into the voyage of life taking into account all the dimensions. But then that’s what life is. We all are committed to a cause, only the perspectives are different. Then, here I am.

I hail from the picturesque land of Assam in the North East part of India where I spent my cherished childhood and growing up years and then, my professional career brought me to the bustling city of Delhi and it's my home now, a home away from my home. The city has its charisma, the more you loathe it, whine it or grin it, you just can’t even stay away

from it..lol.

Growing up, I had many dreams and thoughts..(well, my thought process is always on a spin)..! A graduate in engineering, I started my professional career with a small Dot Com startup in 2000, later I worked with two more organization until my present employer. Have worked on component support and software testing domain primarily. Am still going through my learning phase in all the spheres:-).

Professional Interests:

Software Testing and Quality Assurance

Software Engineering and Architecture

Software Support Trends

Personal Interests:

Reading fiction, non-fiction and software Quality related readings

Literary activities

Am a sports buff and love cricket and tennis

Love to keep a tab on current affairs

My work-stuff blogs: http://geekswithblogs.net/dthakur

Favorite quote:

"It ain't braggin' if you can do it."

-Dizzy Dean, 1930's baseball player

That’s it then.