   |
Wanna Connect With Me...
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Incredible...Somethings only happen in INDIA...!!!
I just love this country...of course there are crazy things that are very special to each country...but my country...INDIA...though I think it to be a failure as a nation...it is the most incredible land on this planet...and some things just happen only on that divine land...I LOVE INDIA...!!!...and just like Jr. AB says in Delhi 6..."India works"...no matter what people think...it just works...!!!
Monday, June 7, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
Memories...Just Memories...!!!
They say life is all about memories and how we live in them and with them. I had my fair share of them and very recently have I had too many of them - some good, some very good and some not so good. Memories are like a selection of images, some illusive and some printed indelibly on the brain, and my grandmother told me, that each image is like a thread, each thread woven together to make a tapestry of intricate texture, and the tapestry tells a story, and the story is our past. This memory with my grandmother is a story too and I am completely indebted to her for sharing such a genius thought with me. Those were the days where any thoughtful talk by the elders was just a brain eater, a big no-no. I remember behaving as though I knew everything in the world and nothing could defy my acts and thoughts; but now I realize how that same exact thought by my grandmother defines me today. I am proud how well I have managed to keep this feature of mine so very dear to me.
The lines below define my time in the most recent past, past that could have held a lot of truth to it; but for reasons beyond human understanding, this past wasn't just meant to be mine...but yeah, no regrets; I love each and every bit of it; and thanks to whom so ever for giving me these.
This is again the same thought,
the same reason,
its reminding me of moments...
moments that I cherish yet struggle to remember
moments that define me
moments that tell me...life moves on
what remains is/are moments...
and the thought that someone should come from somewhere
some voice should beckon me too...
& the thought continues..
I will always love this past and love the reason behind it; for what ever it has given me and for what ever it has made me into.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
My watch says NOW...!!!
I bought a cheap watch from a crazy man
Floating down canal
It doesn’t use numbers or moving hands
It always just says now
Now you may be thinking that I was had
But this watch is never wrong
And If I have trouble the warranty said
Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On
And it rained, It was nothing really new
And it blew, we’ve seen all that before
And it poured, the Earth began to strain
Pontchartrain leaking through the door, tides at war
If a hurricane doesn’t leave you dead
It will make you strong
Don’t try to explain it just nod your head
Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On
And it rained, It was nothing really new
And it blew, seen all that before
And it poured, the Earth began to strain
Pontchartrain buried the 9th Ward to the 2nd floor
According to my watch the time is now
Past is dead and gone
Don’t try to shake it just nod your head
Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On
Don’t try to explain it just bow your head
Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On
According to my watch the time is now, the past is dead and gone...Wow...
And still, this is a great mindset… yesterday is a memory, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift; that is why it is called the present!!!
How many times have I gotten hung up on the past or worried about the future, when I should just take a breath and keep on moving?
How many times would it have been a great thing for me to look down at a watch that said “NOW”.
I don’t have some profound point to make about this. I’m just writing because the song makes me think. Hopefully, it’ll make you think, too.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Love and Kindness...
I feel...Love and kindness are never wasted...they always make a difference...In the midst of global crises such as pollution, wars and famine, kindness may too easily be dismissed as a “soft issue,” or a luxury to be addressed after the urgent problems are solved...but kindness is the greatest need in all those areas — kindness toward the environment, toward other nations, toward the needs of people who are suffering. Until we reflect basic kindness in everything we do, our political gestures will be fleeting and fragile... Simple love and kindness may be the most vital key to the riddle of how human beings can live with each other in peace, and care for each other in harmony...believe in Love and believe in yourself...for You are the one who could make a difference in the way people live in this world...Love is all that is required...nothing less and nothing more...
I always carry this line up my sleeves and in my signature...
Be the change You want to see in this World - M K Gandhi
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Running out of steam
Friday , March 12, 2010
Rajdeep Sardesai, CNN IBN
Lalu Prasad is the Pied Piper of Patna. One of the more special moments in journalism was travelling with the RJD chief to Pakistan in 2003. Indo-Pak relations were at a low, a series of terror attacks had brought the two countries to the brink of war. In this unnerving environment, the charismatic Lalu was transformed into a peace ambassador. Wherever he went, the cameras inevitably followed. At Lahore's Anarkali Bazaar, the shopkeepers queued up to greet him; when we went to Islamabad's Sunday market, he was again the star attraction. In the heart of the marketplace, he picked up a potato and exclaimed, "Bihar mein Lalu, aur Pakistan mein aloo!" The picture of Lalu buying vegetables made the front pages of most Pakistani newspapers.
Seven years later, the Lalu charisma is fading. He still comes up with the occasional witty 'Laluism' and his persona remains delightfully endearing, but as the high drama in Parliament during the Women's Reservation Bill has shown, Lalu's bark is now greater than his bite. While he may rightfully scream that the Bill was passed through an act of 'political dacoity', the fact is that no one really takes Lalu's threats of bringing down the UPA government seriously. In a sense, Lalu and his Yadav soulmates - Mulayam and Sharad - represent the past tense of Indian politics, a politics where identity mattered more than issues.
When Lalu first burst on to the national political scene in the early 90s, he was an instant hit. The arrest of L.K. Advani at Samastipur in October 1990 during the Ram Rath Yatra catapulted him into the national limelight. That single act transformed him into the messiah of the Muslims, the politician who had dared to touch the Hindutva icon. Lalu dined out for the next decade on that one single moment of political bravado, his Muslim-Yadav combine forming the base for three successive victories in the Bihar elections.
The ascent of Lalu also coincided with the rise of private news TV. Lalu was, without a doubt, Indian politics' first TV star. The first time I interviewed Lalu for TV was in 1995 on the back of a remarkable victory in the Bihar elections. He insisted that the interview be conducted in his cowshed, the cows providing the visual backdrop to enhance Lalu's rustic image. That was perhaps the first glimpse of Lalu, the consummate communicator, on national TV. In the years that followed, Lalu on TV guaranteed eyeballs in a manner that no politician before or since has been able to match.
But like a saas-bahu serial that finally begins to lose ratings, Lalu's appeal too has begun to wear thin. The rhetoric, that was once both amusing and incisive, now seems tired and repetitive. Where did the decline begin? In his excellent book, The Making of Lalu Yadav, journalist Sankarshan Thakur writes, "Lalu Yadav lost his magic the day he said he was going to cling on to the chief ministership even if he were to be chargesheeted in the fodder scandal. That was the day Lalu Yadav, Bihar's great rosy-cheeked hope, exposed himself. He wasn't there to deliver power to the people, he was there to keep it for himself."
Unfortunately, Lalu allowed himself to become a prisoner of the caricature that he had created of himself. There was always more to Lalu than the court jester image; he was, and is, perhaps one of the most astute politicians in the country. But because political life for him was a manufactured myth, the very image that he had created eventually devoured him. The backwards and the Muslims began to desert him the moment they realised the wide gap between Lalu the folk hero and Lalu the politician.
Which is why the women's reservation bill has perhaps provided Lalu with a last stab at reviving his faltering political career. By raising the pitch over reservations for OBC and Muslim women, Lalu is making a desperate attempt to recapture his original constituency. The aim isn't to bring down the UPA government, but to create a new focal point for the Mandal forces who have been badly splintered in recent years. In the process, he has joined hands with one-time enemies - Mulayam Singh and Sharad Yadav - in the hope that a political realignment in the Hindi heartland can be achieved.
Where the Yadav troika may have got their calculations wrong though is in their belief that their Muslim-OBC support base is intact, and merely needs to be galvanised into action through emotive slogans. The last two decades have seen a dramatic shift in aspiration levels across the country, and to believe that UP and Bihar would be untouched by the winds of change is to remain frozen in time. How many Muslim women, for example, will truly believe that the Yadavs stand for political empowerment of the minorities when the fact is that none of the Mandal parties have made a serious effort to raise bread and butter issues of jobs and education for Muslims? When the Yadavs, after having enriched their families, claim to stand against elitism, how many people will trust them?
Which is why the anti-woman reservationists, despite the genuine deficiencies in the legislation, may struggle to get their campaign off the ground. The credibility crisis confronting the Yadavs may well rub off on their determined effort to become symbols of opposition to women's reservation. When Rabri Devi and Dimple Yadav are your women 'leaders', who will trust the claims being made to represent womanhood and gender justice?
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Quotes...My True Ramblings!!!
Long long long time...Hello people...indeed something fresh and just mine today...here below are quotes...sitting on my drive for good time now...some original, some inspired and some just copied...but truly truly heartfelt...obvious now that I cannot get a copyright on them; but at least take my reference when one wants to use it...lolz...Thanks!
Here are my originals to begin...
"True that there is something called FATE...jus that it comes in the most fucked up ways..." - after my 2nd project confirmation and at a time when a very dear friend on bench putting his heart and soul for a new job!
"A True friend stabs you in the front...!?" - just an abstract thought...for I believe in friendship more than anything else in this world.
"I always vow never to invest much love into anyone...but fuck up...I inevitably end up doing it" - did this a number of times, but wrote it down back during my Graduation days...no guesses yeh...lolz...?
"If you are wondering what is true and what is not...you can fuck off... because it’s none of your damn business..." - when a stranger of sorts, whom I had helped, questioned my integrity...piss off yeh...!
“Life is simple, you make choices and you don’t look back” - just the way I started looking at things after 25yrs into my life!
“Make no never mind about it, loving people is hard work... And with all those lives mixing together it gets kinda scary... But if we grab hold of each other and hold on, there is nothing more beautiful in this world.” - In a letter to a dear friend.
“There’s no such thing as a small act of kindness... Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” - After I watched a video on life in the poorest countries in the world and how the 'haves' can serve the 'have-nots'...and believe you me, the top 10 come from Africa...Congo being the poorest of all.
“No one in this world is perfect…But I will love her more than anyone else possibly could…And in the end that is all that matters!!!” - wrote this down after a conversation with my cousin, on how I will take care of my girl...nop, not my girl friend but my foreseen daughter...creepy in a way...isn't it...?
“Things remain the fucking same however hard you try changing them..it’s a fuck shit life...and one has to know how to deal with it...I think I know it much better than anyone else...hence I am where I am today...I am fucking proud of myself!!!” - after a situation when I was so effing angry with life and I had no one to share the moment except that I knew I could write!
“A Good Government is never a substitute to Self-Government!!!” - Oh yeah, very true and my all time governing principle!
“Blood is thicker than water... but it isn't as refreshing.” - Inspired from a situation involving my true love!
“To make something special you just have to believe that it is special” - by a dear friend.
"I believe in good deeds... in karma...I don't believe in going to temples but I do...! For me, religion is very personal. It's all about having faith ... We have heard and read that all religions are equal. Now I increasingly believe in this." - Actually inspired from what Preity Zinta said after being asked about religion and her belief...partially morphed from the original...but true to my belief...!
“The purpose of life is self realization... Love has peace and bliss, wish for Love rather than transient things in life”...morphed from original @ Baba Temple, Pittsburgh.
“There are no endings... only new beginnings” - A sign that read at a parking lot.
“It’s tragic when people die…But DIE we all must!!!” - can't remember, but its from a movie and the scene was the death of a loved one.
“Wear your heart on your sleeves…It’s PRICELESS!!!” - morphed from original, by Kara DioGuardi during American Idol Denver audition 2010.
" Be The Change You Want To See In This World " - by MK Gandhi
"Is Rome worth one good man's life???... We believed it once… Make us believe it again….HE was a soldier of Rome... Honor him!!!" – from the movie Gladiator.
“If time is just an appearance, not solid like we experience it, then the greatest problem in accepting past life karma is gone. There is no need for a place to store the karma if time is illusory. We do actions, and these actions have a result, fruition. For us in the illusion of time it can seem like much later, but as things are a unity, it is much simpler. An action causes an effect which may seem like it is in the future, but when looked at as a unity, it is all just happening in the radical now.” - by a dear friend...wow...and yeah, read it twice if You cannot digest it the first time...You will better understand...!!!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
The link between cricket and Mahatma Gandhi
Was Gandhi a spoilsport, not readily enamoured by the mass social appeal of sport, choosing instead to concentrate on yoga and meditation? Or did
  | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
he astutely employ its wide reach during the churn that was the Independence struggle? On his death anniversary, we explore the little-known link between cricket and the Mahatma.
The Mahatma was a self-confessed "layman" who knew nothing "of such sports" and the "special rules governing them" . Yet, ironically, Gandhi's subversive non-violent rhetoric did permeate into the realm of cricket and the cricketer's life; emancipating some while making others see red mist. Illustrated below are some fascinating instances when Indian cricket couldn't duck Gandhi and how Gandhi sometimes, even if he tried to, couldn't duck cricket.
The prince-turned-pauper vs the pauper-turned prince
The Rajkumar College at Rajkot in 1880 was a training pitch for Indian princelings. Hailing from a humble background, KS Ranjit Singhji was sent to the college as an eight-year-old boy, by his wealthy adopted family. But much to their dismay, he turned out to be a backbencher, scoring more on the field than in the classroom. Ranji showed aptitude for both tennis and cricket but went on to take the latter more seriously. One of his fellow students was Gandhi.
When Gandhi first went to England as a student, "one of the three letters of introduction that he carried was to Ranji" . Cricket commentator Scyld Berry has remarked that the "eventual prince originated from a humbler background than the Mahatma, subsequent champion of the people" and that "both the prince and the self-made pauper were schooled in the sporting ethos of Rajkot and both probably went out to the world with ideas of British sportsmanship which they had internalized in College".
After Ranji and Gandhi passed out of the college, their paths crossed every now and then, although indirectly. Ranji was hostile to the Gandhian movement and when the political atmosphere started to heat up under Gandhi's influence he struggled to fend off the new spirit of nationalism. Thus he found himself marginalised.
In his Tao of Cricket, Ashis Nandy describes Ranji's game as an "art wholly independent of physical strength and dependent on human will and innovativeness" and he did so using his natural assets "magically born of insufficient training, physical vulnerability and what from the English point of view can only be described as effeminacy".
Although there were stark differences in their ideologies, Nandy indicates that there was a commonality between the way Gandhi and Ranji conducted themselves in their respective vocations. "Ranji's appeal and defiance of the textbooks of cricket were not different from Gandhi's appeal and Gandhian defiance of the textbooks of politics," points out Nandy. There is no surprise there, after all they went to the same school and passed out with similar orientations.
The bhadralok vs the sage of sevagram
In his lifetime, the Mahatma repeatedly hit a cul de sac when it came to charming the Bhadralok and the Marxists. While the Bhadralok didn't think highly of the support he had got from the masses, the Marxists considered him a traditionalist, vehemently dismissing his pronouncements on non-violence . Gandhi's greatest Bhadralok rival was, of course, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and by defeating the intent of his antagonist, it is widely believed, Gandhi helped cricket become the national game of India. "Had the British been thrown out of India in the violent, revolutionary way proposed by the Indian nationalist Subhas Bose rather than agreed to withdraw peacefully, football rather than cricket would have become the major game," writes Mihir Bose in A Maidan View: The Magic of Indian Cricket. As it happened, in the 1920s, when Gandhi moved the nerve-centre of Indian politics from Calcutta to western India and with the proximity of the Mahatma with the Parsis and the Gujarati capitalists, who were cricket-lovers , the game of football lost its No 1 status in India.
"The shift in political power also led to a shift in cultural influence. Hence, cricket became India's most avidly patronised sport," argues Bose. But there is another aspect to this. That the gradual damage may have been kick started a couple of years back and Gandhi might have only brought it to its fruition. In 1911, when Mohun Bagan defeated the East Yorkshire regiment in the famous IFA Shield victory, it was seen as a metaphor for a "victory of a particular style of play and of a way of a life too" and also "a reaffirmation of a moral universe in which the meek could inherit the earth," notes Nandy.
In the same year, the British shifted the Raj from Calcutta to Delhi which, some historians feel, was to avoid further humiliation at the hands of the "skillful footballers and bomb-wielding nationalists. The link between sporting prowess and militant anti-imperialism was thus undermined to be finally rent asunder by Gandhi and the Bombay capitalists," remarks Ramchandra Guha in An Anthropologist Among The Marxists.
But Vinay Lal, professor of history with the UCLA, adds a word of caution. "The observations about how the sport history of India would have been different had Subhas Bose prevailed over Gandhi should be viewed partly as a tongue-in-cheek remark and partly as a remark that deserves serious consideration since it implicitly delves into what we might call politics of knowledge. It's certainly true that Bengal is to soccer as Gujarat (or Maharashtra) is to cricket. But I still feel that it overplays the rivalry between Bose and Gandhi," he says.
Whether 1911 was actually the watershed year when cricket became a national game in India with the help of the Mahatma, or this is just a romantic notion enlarged by history stays a long-running and inconclusive debate that's has left connoisseurs of the game polarised about the exact year of the birth of cricket in India.
1917-1923 (Satyagraha, Swaraj and Cricket)
It was not until the summer of 1917 that the Mahatma began to find his political feet. Representing the tenants working on Indigo plantations, Gandhi unleashed his first satyagraha. After which he took up the cause of the farmers in Gujarat. Then, he successfully doused tensions between striking workers and textile mill owners. Owing to these small victories, Gandhi needed a larger stage. The movement also led to cordial exchanges between Hindus and Muslims and subsequently resulted in the Khilafat movement.
The life-altering political developments of these years, notes Guha, "were to cast a shadow over the cricket fields of Bombay." The Quadrangular of 1919 was played against a more tense background. That year PJ Hindu Gymkhana lifted the coveted trophy by defeating the Muslims. But due to the heated political atmosphere, there were subdued celebrations by the Hindus. "In the wake of the Khilafat campaign, Hindus and Muslims were like brothers: never before and - it has to be said - never since were the two communities on such terms of happy amity," claims Guha in A Corner of a Foreign Field.
In the months leading up to the 1920 Quadrangular, Gandhi raised his voice against untouchability. Mahatma's campaign gave a big boost to those fighting for just recognition of the Palwankar brothers - a family of Dalit cricketers - constituting Baloo, Vithal and Shivram. When the Hindu team was announced with MD Pai as captain, although Vithal and Shivram had been included in the playing eleven, their elder bother Baloo - considered the first great left-arm slow bowler of India - was dropped. In protest, Vithal and Shivram too stepped down citing the "Hindu selection committee's decision as partial with a bias in favour of caste".
Gandhians initiated a movement to gather funds for the Palwankar brothers but the Hindus played their first match against the Muslims without the brothers. However, in the second match against the Parsees, the committee included all brothers, naming Baloo vice-captain. The 1920 Quadrangular was their most substantial social victory. In the wake of Gandhi's movement, the cricket-loving public had generously supported the revolt of Vithal and Shivram.
In 1922, the Mahatma was arrested by the Raj on suspicion of inciting violence. He was sent to Yeravada jail near Poona where that year's Quadrangular was played. Poona and its Brahmins were not too receptive of Gandhi's untouchability campaign. SM Dalvi was named the captain of Poona Hindus, Vithal and Shivram challenged the prejudice once again to no avail. Predictably, the Hindus lost in the Quadrangular that year. And when the tournament came back to Bombay next year, the PJ Hindu Gymkhana committee decided to include the Palwankar brothers. Vithal played a captain's knock in the final to help his team clinch the Quadrangular and on his way back to the pavilion "was carried on the shoulders of the Hindus belonging to the so-called higher castes" .
1929-1946 (Civil disobedience movement vs the quadrangular = defeat of Gandhi)
After a relatively lull period, Vallabhbhai Patel, on the direction of Gandhi, launched a no-tax campaign. Amidst the rising anti-British feeling, the Quadrangular was still played in 1929. But in 1930, as Gandhi picked up a fistful of salt to "shake the foundations of British empire," the MCC tour of India and the Quadrangular was called off. In fact, till 1933 no Quadrangular was held due to the Civil Disobedience movement. In 1932, yielding to BR Ambedkar's demands and against Gandhi's wishes, the British announced a "Communal Award whereby untouchables would be chosen for the legislature from a separate electorate composed only of themselves." Gandhi decided to fast unto death in protest. With Ambedkar sticking to his stand and Gandhi's health deteriorating, Baloo, the former cricketer-turned-leader of the Dalits successfully mediated between the two leaders.
After the Quadrangular resumed in 1934 after a five-year gap, there were fervent calls from Gandhians to stop the tournament. Their argument was that if the Muslims had a separate cricket team, it justified their demand for a separate nation. While the Gandhians clamoured for inclusive nationalism, the Bombay Quadrangular turned into a Pentagular in 1937 with the inclusion of the Rest consisting of Indian Christians, Buddhists and the Jews. But the tournament's organisers couldn't escape the pressures of the world for too long. With the growing divide between the Congress and Muslim League and World War II, they had to pay attention to off-field events.
The Congress reiterated its stand on the 1940 Pentagular while the League lent its full support for the annual carnival to go on. CK Nayudu, the Hindu player, and 21 others called "for the tournament to be stopped for this year only" . In a dilemma over whether to participate in the tournament or not, three delegates from the PJ Hindu Gymkhana decided to travel to the ashram in Wardha to seek the advice of the Mahatma. It was described as Gandhi's "most direct, considerate and consequential intervention in the world of cricket" . The Mahatma released a statement: "I would discountenance such amusements at a time when the whole of the thinking world should be mourning over a war." He said that it was beyond his comprehension to have communal elevens in a cricket tournament. The Hindus withdrew from the tournament that year while the rest of the teams played. The Hindus changed their mind the following year. The Mahatma didn't. He reiterated his stand: "I retain the same opinion as before. I'm utterly opposed to communalism in everything but much more so in sport."
But the pro-Pentagular versus the anti-Pentagular tuss
le was a fight among equals; full of oscillating advantage, punch and counter-punch. And in 1941, the pro-Pentagular cohort won it hands down. Not so next year, though, when Gandhi after the breakdown of the Cripps mission passed a resolution for the British to Quit India. It was to 'spoil the fun' for the last time as Gandhi failed to play 'spoilsport' ever again and the tournament continued until before partition. As Guha puts it succinctly: "Neither cricket nor Gandhi could stop it" : the creation of Pakistan.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)