A long and overdue rant

Well it has been close to 8 months since I blogged, after coming back to India, I took to liking in spending weekends doing mundane things. Nothing concrete, but the new definition of being lazy is, doing totally pointless things under the name of being busy. Finally I kicked myself out of this laziness, just to check whether i still have it in me to journal my thoughts rather than just thinking about it and letting it go after I snap out of it.

Being Oct 2, the TV channels are overwhelmed with special programs and brand new movies. But note, none of these have got any relevance to the reason behind this holiday, it just another day off for people to sit back at home and while away their time in front of the the idiot box and I am no different. But as expected, the staple Richard Attenborough's Gandhi was in one of the channels when I landed on the scene where Gandhi comes down to an indigo farmer's house to understand their cause of concern, the farmer cries about greedy landlords, indifferent government and no one person to really understand the basic needs of the people/farmer, end result, people suffer and have nothing they can do but toil their life out in pain. This got me into thinking, have we really progressed on our own home role in the last six decades? Beyond the regular media hype on 'India Shining' or 'new India' or articles on how we are really the next big economy, I seriously believe these all exist only on paper. The working class and service class are still finding it tough to meet their ends and the state or the central government is still doling out one populist scheme after another to just win the election and no agenda whatsoever on the future.  The serious lack of good thinking leaders and lack of ideas on the direction to take is really killing the nation from the inside. When the Congress came to power again in 2009, against rational thinking, I was happy to have an economist PM continue under the hope he will drive India forward in a time when whispers of depression and double dip recession were making rounds. But "coalition dharma" and alliance politics made India take 3 steps backward for every progressive step, there were slight glimmers of hope in the form of Gujurat and Bihar, but again nothing that could make the nation move forward.

The main culprit is not just the ruling Congress government, the blame should also lie with the opposition party BJP which boasts of reformist and progressive mindset. As I had mentioned in one of my earlier posts, BJP should shed its "oppose anything the govt proposes" mentality and grow up to support the government on any critical reform to help the nation's progress. The burgeoning educated middle class will definitely understand BJP's intention and willingness to support reforms and of course will help them capture power in the 2014 elections (not that the middle class alone represents the Indian electorate, but still is a significant number). Ofcourse the opposition's move to ensure the scams and money plundering doesn't go unnoticed, it is the right way to ensure that every move by the government is always being watched by the media and other political parties, but again, that alone will not ensure BJP is doing things right.

So with the nation heading nowhere and no clear leader emerging from the motley of regional parties, I think there is very little hope things are going to change in 2014 or if there is an mid term elections in 2013. There are intense debates in the 24/7 news channels on the pros and cons of the FDI reforms and at the end of day, it leaves the Indian electorate more confused than ever. As Arvind Kejriwal drama unfolds at one end, the Mamata's party to pressure the centre to roll back everything progressive while WB reels under mismanagement hogs the headlines at the other end. With Modi harbouring PM ambitions while the other NDA allies strictly against it, the 2014 elections will be a giant circus with the nation being the biggest loser. At the end of day it really pains to see such gross mismanagement and squandering of public money with use to no one while a part of the nation is without basic needs of food, electricity and water. A nation always on the tipping point on communal front (Assam), regional front (Telengana), infrastructure developments (Kudunkulam) is really a heavy machinery to move forward with so many rigid and leaking ends, but again to use those detrimental factors to personal gain and cheap politics is absolute disservice to a country with so many eager minds and expectant citizens waiting for a change.

The movie dialogue from Gandhi in a meeting with the British viceroy, "I beg you to accept that there is no people on Earth who would not prefer their own bad government to the good government of an alien power", was really thought provoking, but may be we took the thought a bit too seriously and never realized there can also be a home grown good government too!!

A Brand New Year

As we march ahead into 2012, a sneak peek into 2011 is always interesting. We had an interesting year  in the political arena with the 2G scam, the lokpal debate, the Hazare fever and Rahul taking the responsibility to win the UP elections for Congress this year. UPA-II lost its credibility amongst the public in the way it handled the Hazare incident and also its image when the 2G scam was unravelled. The year 2012 will be a year of soul searching for Sonia & co if they are planning about UPA-III, personally I think we had enough of Congress's indecisiveness at the top in the name of coalition dharma and petty politics, but they are still the ruling party and they still have an year before we run into elections again. BJP did not fare any better, they had heavy infighting as to who should replace Advani as the face of BJP moving forward, their actions in the parliament did not evoke any kind of positive attention and they played a pathetic opposition by opposing everything the government proposed. With a forgettable year at the the centre, I don't sense anything big happening in 2012 as well, but the UP elections can put wind in the sails of Congress if it manages to perform well there.

Politics in Tamil Nadu was a bit better with the DMK losing its elections against the arch rival AIADMK and Jaya as usual made her presence felt with a string a changes in the governance and also cases against the top leaders from the previous govt. AIADMK government is touted to be a welcome change to the corrupt DMK government, but if we have to go by the history, they aren't any different and when it comes to the common man, it doesn't matter who rules, essential needs are always hard to come by. An interesting development was VijayKanth party's improvement as the main opposition party in the assembly, but AIADMK having absolute majority, his role in important decisions will be severely restricted. It was also amazing to note how Jaya sidelined all her allies after her terrific comeback and how  she gets things done her way! There is a lot to look forward from this government as Jaya has always proven to be an excellent administrator and hopefully Tamil Nadu improves its rank amongst other states and also fills up its coffers which were left thread bare when DMK completed its tenure.

Cricket for India had an excellent start, we won the World Cup and the last piece of accolade which had eluded Tendulkar for long at last found its home in his drawing room. As the year progressed, India fared really bad in England and the team is seeking redemption in Australia now, also the 100th ton still remains something to look forward in 2012. We salvaged some pride when we played Windies late in the year and Dwayne Bravo was a revelation of sorts. So an interesting year ahead for Sachin, Rahul and VVS, also, we might get a glimpse of how India will fare when these three retire from the test arena. The year 2011 also turned out to be a dampener for the IPL as the TRP ratings fell and everyone felt a overdose of cricket when Windies tests were scheduled in Delhi and Kolkota, sparse crowd was something never heard of when cricket is played in this part of the world. So it will be interesting to see how BCCI and ICC are going to counter this cricket fatigue in 2012.

On a side note, we had the first Indian grand prix happening in Noida and the entire world lost a visionary in the form of Steve Jobs which will leave a big void in the technical world. We also had a coming of age movie in Bollywood under the title Delhi Belly. It was totally an interesting year and as always, we should be more eager than ever to see what is to unravel in 2012.

Thanks Steven Spielberg

Tintin should be one of the best movie in the recent times. No one could have captured the essence of the Herge's Tintin novels better than Spielberg, be it the motion capture technology or the 3D usage, the movie was a treat to all the Tintin fans. The movie will definitely initiate the non Tintin-ians into reading the Tintin comics, may be they could not exactly connect with the movie the first time, but after reading the comics if they watch this movie again it should be an exhilarating experience. The backbone of all Tintin comics is Haddock and the Thompson Detectives and this movie captures these characters as envisioned by Herge, the dry humour and quirky comic retorts from Haddock are a stand out. To see this comic on the big screen was really a treat and was really wonderful. All the characters in the movie were motion captured, while snowy alone was still a CGI creation and the reactions captured from Snowy were also brilliant. The only gripe should be, not able to see the regular Snowy's thoughts/dreams/opinions that are also an attraction point on the comics, I know it is not practical to show bubble thoughts on the movie screen, but still that will continue to remain 'a must want' from me. This should be one of the few movies after Hugo which has done justice to the term '3D'. A must watch definitely.

Daily Routine beckons!

The last two weeks had been so brutal on my regular routine that I have totally lost touch with reality. All my regular activities were put on hold and a parallel routine emerged out of nowhere, this new schedule dictated my routine to the extent that after the two weeks, it is as if I am awake after a really long deep sleep. Seriously, in the last two weeks, I couldn't look beyond my work into my browser to take a break and today when I look into my RSS news feed,  it is as if I am from an alien planet. So many things have happened and it would take me a week to stay up to date, but on a deeper retrospection I sincerely feel that I have become addicted to my daily news feed. Initially I thought it was just a aberration on the part of my mind since it was not doing its routine, but after the 3rd or 4th day I realized my addiction was deep rooted. Anyways, since I did not have an option I survived the two weeks and the coming weeks are not going to alter anything.

So after a revelation, am I going to do anything about this? Nah! Just find the easiest way to get back to old routine and stay put.

Cricket Classics - Australia Vs West Indies 1999

This should be one of the best tests played between Windies and Aussies. A video below is a gist of the second innings. The reaction from Walsh when he plays the first ball says it all.



A more dedicated video on Lara's innings, its is a 40min video and pure Lara innings.



One has to remember that Lara had just lost an entire test series to S.Africans and had totally hit rock bottom before the Australian Series. In this series he again proved why he is a genius and why he is the prodigal son of the West Indian soil. The final moments of the test were so interesting that even today you would bite your finger nails before the last ball.

India down under

Another three more weeks before the Boxing day test starts in MCG. It is all exciting when the cricket behemoths battle against one another in a four test series with the third test scheduled at WACA. The squad for the Indian squad was announced last week with no major surprises, Bhajji was again not in the contention as Ashwin and Ojha are proving to be handful and it will really be a test of technique and temperament when they bowl against the best batsmen. In Australian conditions, except for the Sydney test, I think India will go with 3 pacers and 1 spinner and who will don the role of the single spinner will be an interesting proposition. Kohli and Rohit Sharma will again fight for the vacant middle order spot and it will be another closely fought competition to grab a berth in the test starting eleven. There is also speculation as to whether Zaheer will be fit before the tour and if he is not going to make it, it will be a really young bowling team that will face the likes of Clarke, Hussey and Ponting.

This should be a really interesting series after India's disappointing performance in England. So all eyes will be watching the Indian performance down under and hopefully we get to see the Ishanth Vs Ponting magic again! Lets hope at least this time around, India come back home with the 'Border-Gavaskar' trophy.

Politics Vs Growth

The FDI fiasco is getting murkier day by day and there doesn't seem to be an end except for Govt. to roll back their policy. This has stalled the parliament for the last 7 days and nothing concrete has been achieved either by the ruling political party or the opposition. This entire battle seems to be a game between the political parties to show their might and in this noise, the consumer's interest, in my opinion, has been pushed to the back burner. In a developing economy like India, policies of this magnitude must be discussed and everything in the policy needs to be worked out in cohesion to ensure the policy brings out the best for the country.

In the recent times, BJP seems to make an issue out of anything the government brings out in the form of reform. I sincerely believe a party like BJP should shed this image and try to work with the government when it is trying to hash out a policy that might serve well for the Indian economy on the longer run, thats the progressive way forward and also it will actually make BJP look pro-reform which is actually one of the points put forward in their election manifestos. Yes, this reform will have few negative impact on the society, but which policy of this magnitude doesn't ? As representatives of the electorate, these parties have a responsibility to provide the best for the people, ideally, they should help the government come up with the best case situation where there will be minimal impact to the people and also serve well for the economy. It might work in an ideal world, but no democracy is ideal so at least the BJP can back the government on crucial policies like these.

Even though there has been widespread agitation and protest across India, it all looks to be politically motivated than being sincere. There have also been reports where the trade bodies themselves have welcomed such a move which would help them with the money inflow and spur the demand. Anyways, from the look of things, this reform will be suspended for the time being till the Government can win over its allies. The wait continues!