IPL - Looks can be deceptive

The Twitter website asks “what’s happening” and makes the answer spread across the globe to millions, immediately.

The definition in the dictionary for Twitter is "a short burst of inconsequential information," and "chirps from birds." And that’s exactly what the product is about. It boasts of getting 1 billion users by 2013 while 41% of users still exchange pointless babble.

In India, where rumors spread like wildfire, this tool has caught the eye of many. Twitter has become a battleground of sorts – some smaller wars fought some bigger with far reaching implications.

The country is known for politicians who are downright corrupt and will get into any venture to park their illegal funds.

Business houses have also made this a money spinner of sorts.
Though many pundits and genuine cricket lovers dismiss IPL as a ‘circus in the garb of cricket’, this annual sporting event has become the biggest ‘sportainment’ (Entertainment with Sport) in the country.

When the viewership is so high, money at stake will closely follow. According to a brand valuation company Brand Finance, the IPL-3 is valued at $4.13 billion (Rs 19,000 crore) which is more than double of $2.01 billion in IPL 2009.

Though IPL-3 has been not all about cricket but has taken attention off the field for all the wrong reasons.
The bidding of a new team for IPL-4 -Kochi Team was by a consortium called Rendezvous sports – the people behind this consortium is not known, and that’s the center of all the controversy tweeted by Modi.

It now turns out that Mr Modi’s disclosure not only claimed the ministerial chair held by Mr Tharoor,The famous Tweet Minister but also put Congress on the back-foot, breathing, in the process, fresh life into the Opposition. The government now is under tremendous pressure to ensure that the BCCI and the IPL cleaned up their acts.

Rajiv Shukla, vice president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India said that whatever is needed to be done to keep up the BCCI's reputation will be done. He said, "BCCI has a reputation to keep and it cannot be maligned under any circumstance."

What reputation, a cricket body that is indirectly run by politicians who make the Sport in the Country that is a religion murkier by the day.
Upon his election in 2004, Dalmiya’s contribution in raising ICC’s fortunes gave BCCI a strong hold in all the cricketing matters. BCCI gradually went on to become the richest Cricket Body, thus, it became unfeasible for ICC to ignore it in any matter.

Since then the BCCI has been arm twisting the ICC in matters concerning their interest. Moreover, Indian cricket chief Sharad Pawar will become the International Cricket Council (ICC) president in 2010 after England's David Morgan, making it important for him to ensure his reputation did not get hampered.

While Lalit Modi, Commissioner of the Indian Premier League, remained adamant that he would not step down, the odds of him staying on in the job worsened after Sharad Pawar, former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and food and agriculture minister, gave the go-ahead to the move to remove Modi following a series of meetings during the day with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and home minister P. Chidamabaram. Pawar also met Shashank Manohar, who is currently the president of BCCI, to discuss the issue but declined to divulge details.

Even late C K Prahlad, the Marketing Guru agrees on the murky politics in the country.
He quoted earlier “Given the risky nature of the investments in elections, politicians as venture capitalists, we can assume, will not settle for less than a 10-fold return.”

After three years, the BCCI wakes up to disclose the murky deals and the ownership details to the public. The Indian public has no say in the matter and as usual keeps itself on the side watching the tamasha unfold.

It is the government which has to come clean and ensure that the promises to the public about the Austerity drive and cleaning up of the system takes place once and for all.

The public has little reason to believe whether this will lead to any change in the workings of the BCCI which is nothing but a battle ground for politicians to showcase their power in the big bad world of Indian Cricket.

As they say "Let the Show go on."

A book on Partition

Tridivesh Singh Maini graduated from the University of Sheffield in the UK in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Politics. He then received a Masters in International Development from The American University (Washington DC) in 2004.

After returning to India, Maini joined The Reliance Group of Industries (July 2005- April 2007).

He became an IMTD associate in April 2007, and is part of the Kartarpur project initiative. In November 2007, Maini joined The Indian Express and worked as a Senior Staff Writer on the Op-ed page. He wrote a weekly column ‘Pakistan Printline’ during his stint with The Indian Express.

Maini has also authored ‘South Asian Cooperation and The Role of the Punjabs’ (New Delhi: Siddhartha Publications, 2007) and co-authored ‘Humanity Amidst Insanity: Hope During And After The Indo-Pak Partition’ (New Delhi: UBSPD, 2008) with Tahir Malik and Ali Farooq Malik.

In December 2008, he took up a job as a Research Associate with The Institute of South Asian Studies at The National University of Singapore.

Presently
In his present capacity as an Associate Fellow at ORF's Centre for Resources Management he is working on the project titled: "Re-imagining the Indus."
E-mail ID: tridiveshmaini@orfonline.org

'Humanity Amidst Insanity: Hope During and after the Indo-Pak Partition' (New Delhi: UBSPD, 2008) has been co-authored by Tahir Malik, Ali Farooq Malik (Pakistani Journalists ) and Tridivesh Singh Maini (Indian researcher).
The book is in interview form and deals with episodes where Muslims rescued Non-Muslims and vice-versa during 1947. 20 survivors of partition have been interviewed, 10 on the Indian side and 10 on the Pakistani side.

Reviews of the book are as follows:

http://splus.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Writers-Block/06-Dec-2008/Changing-mindsets

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20081221/spectrum/books.htm

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C03%5C15%5Cmain_15-3-2009_pg3

Links to articles

Here are the links to his articles-

http://www.himalmag.com/component/authors/articles/Tridivesh-Singh-Maini.html

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws29062011TheMissing.asp

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main49.asp?filename=Ws040511Keep_the_Saarc.asp

http://www.indianexpress.com/columnist/tridiveshsinghmaini/


Buy the new Book
http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=58918&concordeid=430285

India @ Beijing Olympics 2008

India is competing at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. A contingent of 56 athletes is representing India, and they have a support-staff of 42 officials. The athletics contingent is the largest, with 16 athletes.

For the first time since 1928, the Indian Men's Hockey Team was unable to take part in the Summer Olympics due to its failure to qualify. A two-year ban imposed by the International Weightlifting Federation after the 2006 Commonwealth Games doping scandal originally resulted in only one Olympic weightlifter, Monika Devi from India being scheduled to compete, but she too failed a drug test, and has also withdrawn. However, on August 9 it was declared she was clean, but the event she was to participate in had already closed.

On August 11, 2008,The final shot from Abhinav Bindra's rifle may not have been heard outside the packed hall in the Beijing Shooting Range Complex on Monday morning. But its bang was loud enough to lift the spirit of a billion-plus Indians back home.

No individual gold has mattered so much to so many people in the history of Olympics. It was a medal for Abhinav; it was redemption for India. Never again will anyone be able to point a smug, sardonic finger and say: "No Indian is good enough to win an individual Olympic gold."

India won more than one medal at a single Olympics only twice before at Paris Olympics in 1900 when Norman Pritchard won two silver medals in athletics and at the Helsinki Olympics, when they received a gold medal in field hockey along with the bronze medal in wrestling mentioned above.


Olympics have a total of 28 sports! 302 events! And India is sending a contingent of just 57 (USA is sending 596, China has 639 and even tiny Estonia sends 47 ). A look at the Indian contingent and their chances, reinforces the age old, sad story about Indian Sports, the most prominent this time being the absence of India’s national sport - Hockey. For the first time in nearly 8 decades, the Indian Hockey Team , which has done the nation proud (with 8 Gold medals), failed to qualify for the 2008 Olympics.

What is the cause of this dismal state of Indian Sports? We are the world’s biggest democracy, the second most populous country in the world. Then why is that in a span of 4 years, we are only able to produce 57 top athletes? ‘Outlook’ in their latest issue carried an article covering the top athletes favored to win medals at the Beijing Olympics! Not one of them was Indian! This is a matter of national shame, an aspect that the Indian Govt needs to look at closely. It is not enough to be a nuclear power, it is not enough to be an IT offshore house.

To be a real super power needs more than that, to be a real super power means giving the citizens every reason to be proud of their country. I also read about Iraq’s ban from this years Olympics and their subsequent approval to compete. Dana Hussain , a Iraqi female athlete has qualified for the 100 and 200 meter sprints. The whole world’s press has praised her commitment even though Iraq is in a grip of civil war. The world’s press has not even noticed or commented at Indian Olympians this year. Deservedly so.

These Individuals have now given enough reason for the government to take the sports seriously and start a steep rise in the health of Indian Sportsman competing at the Global Level!

Musharraf Falling!

Suspension of the chief justice last year began this unstoppable slide.
by Tridivesh Singh Maini (link to books written by him on this page-right side)

March 9, 2007: Musharraf suspends the chief justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Lawyers across Pakistan boycott court procedures to protest against the suspension. This sparks countrywide protests
July 8, 2007: Army troops attack Lal Masjid in Islamabad and carry out ‘Operation Silence’. Militants had abducted students, were using them as human shields. The government delegation led by Shujaat Hussain declares that negotiations with the militants holed up in the mosque have been successful. The clerics, however, decline to release the hostages. Musharraf gives the militants half an hour to abide by the agreement or face military action
July 20, 2007: The Supreme Court reinstates Chaudhry, also dismissing charges of misconduct that Musharraf had filed against him
October 2, 2007: Musharraf names Lt Gen Ashfaq Kiyani as vice chief of the army starting October 8
October 6, 2007: Musharraf wins a vote to be re-elected Pakistan’s president. The Supreme Court rules that no winner would be announced till the legality issue is dealt with
November 3, 2007: Musharraf declares a state of emergency
November 25, 2007: More than a month after the return of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan. He had made an effort to enter Pakistan on September 10, 2007 but was deported to Saudi Arabia
November 28, 2007: Musharraf gives up his military uniform and Kiyani becomes chief of army staff
February 18, 2008: In the general elections, the PML-Q, owing allegiance to Musharraf, is virtually wiped out
March 25, 2008: Yousaf Raza Gilani of the PPP, the party leading the coalition government, is sworn in as PM. Other constituents of the coalition are the PML-N, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Awami National Party
August 6, 2008: PPP and the PML-N agree to force Musharraf to step down and begin his impeachment. They also decide to prepare a joint chargesheet against Musharraf
August 11, 2008: Resolutions to impeach Musharraf begin to be passed in provincial assemblies. By August 13, three provinces, Punjab, NWFP and Sindh, pass such resolutions by overwhelming numbers. Many of Musharraf’s supporters vote against him
August 16, 2008: The PPP-led government gives Musharraf a Tuesday deadline to resign
August 18, 2008: Pervez Musharraf resigns as president of Pakistan. In a televised address to the nation, he says: “No impeachment or no chargesheet can stand against me.... In the interest of the country, I have decided to resign”.

Delhi roads a commuter's nightmare in rains

When I started writing this blog, I didn't know I will find articles on the topic on the net, well what is the use if 200+ channels in India highlight a problem, and the politicians in the country don't watch or act on it. Are we fools to vote for them? Don't we deserve the basic neccessities of life that are prevalent in the developed countries .(who take these common things for granted"not that common sense is that common in our country.") Basic drainage system, missing in delhi, we build new city(gurgaon) and hey no learning again, we make the same mistake.(I wonder what happens when in a place like gurgaon , which is known as the Corporate Capital (hub), I drive in the morning to the latest constructed 4 lane road that connects me to MG road and then to delhi, and I find a meeting of cows taking place, and before that A dead cow lying on the road (not taken care of) . I wonder if the cows were meeting to discuss the same. Then I move to MG Road and voila ,dont be surprised to see a cluster of mini swimming pools on the roads, and vehicles playing splish-splash with each other and the countless potholes reminding me of Appu Ghar rides that I used to enjoy in childhood. What is happening here...I wonder!! Are we keeping our eyes closed, or are we speaking to deaf ears.

One thing that I have heard from many people.

"Make a line of these politicians who build the road and shoot them"." Then I think, what about the people who elected them? Is it Corruption or is it keeping our eyes closed and participating in the corrupt practices that are happening. Is it that difficult to take care of these small things." It's wake up time, and I hope we wake up before its too late.

More articles on the topic:
www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Delhi-after-the-rains/324575
www.wordpress.com/tag/bad-roads

25th August 2008
Finally,
Thanks to TOI, Citizens are now going to the law and fighting the system.

Arranged Marriage

(Picture of my dear Cousin and her Husband Now settled in US.)

WE all have heard of dating but here is a new term in 21st century matrimony. Its called "Arranged dating."

Gone are the days when parents provided the conventional resolution to the question of finding the ideal match. In that day and age you would be thanking your stars to meet your match once alone before making the final decision.

But nowadays, thanks to women's liberalisation, they ensure that they get to meet the guy alone at least 3-5 times so that they can figure if they are compatible or not.
Compatible, well that's a strange word.

Dictionary meaning-
1) Capable of orderly, efficient integration and operation with other elements in a system with no modification or conversion required
2) Capable of existing or performing in harmonious or agreeable combination.

Well I guess Shaadi.com believes the same. Their website quotes.

"A successful marriage requires a mix of Compatibility, Chemistry, Commitment, Community, Communication and Compassion."

Is it that easy? Think of it, how will someone know in 3-5 meetings and maybe a dozen of phone conversations that they are compatible to the other person.

Well also, at the outset, you probably are not prepared and brush through the first couple of meetings not knowing that you missed the bus.

Well according to me, if the person is caring enough, then he/she would go out of the way to make the other person happy. I believe opposites attract. Think about it, looking for your soulmate aint going to be that easy. It’s a game of instinct.

However there are some tips to make it happen for you. Golden rule is to make the person enjoy meeting you. He/she has to look forward to meeting you. If you are not interesting, funny, witty, then obviously its less obvious for you to hit it off. The reasons could be different. One person could just go on instincts, the other would see if they really gel well with the other. But at the end of the day, they have to agree on each other.

I spoke to a friend and he said whenever he met a girl he would take 5-6hrs chatting up with her in a hotel coffee shop or a fancy restaurant.My jaw dropped at the thought, as I thought that was a long time for one to talk about anything with a stranger. Me, being really shy talking with a stranger(meeting for the first/second time) it would have been almost impossible.

So was I not prepared for these exchanges, or there was something horribly wrong with this friend of mine. Well, time doesn't matter as long as both people enjoy each other's company and their is a mental/emotional connect between them.

Then there are others who fret on small things and decide that its not their cup of tea. Let me give you an example.A friend met someone through his relatives. They met up 2-3 times and then the girl asks if the guy loved his parents, and then asked if he was alright about moving out of his parents house. The guy flipped at the question and decided the girl was not for him.Then again, one classic incident happened when a girl rejected saying the guy was the same height and hence, it would be tough for her to wear sandals with heels.

In this fast changing online world, where you can find your partner on the click of a mouse, However, personal exchanges and dates still make sure your decision online, doesn't get you trapped offline in the real world.

So go out there & Happy Searching!!

Incredible India!!

Stuff I got from Fortune Global Forum about India-

India is the 4th largest economy after USA,China and Japan in terms of Purchasing power parity and is among the fastest growing economies in the Asian Region.

GDP Growth in FY 07 has been 9.4% and strong growth potential is in the future.
Sector wise the GDP Composition is
Agriculture - 20%
Industry - 26%
Services- 54%

India accounts for 2.7% of the world's agriculture production and ranks 6th in the world.
World's largest producer of milk,sugarcane and tea, and the second largest exporter of rice,wheat, fruits and vegetables.

The software sector along with the IT enabled services employs over one million people in India.
Exports of software and ITes grew by 35% in 2004-05.
India's imports and exports have increased threefold since 1990-91 as a direct result of liberalization.
The middle income households or the consuming class are expected to grown from 35% in 2006 to 48% in 2010.
With a stable 9% annual growth, rising foreign exchange reserves of over US $190 billion, a booming capital market, increase in flow of foreign investment,
India is emerging as the prefered destination for global investors.

GDP share of Indian billionaires' wealth is more than four times of the global average also. Forbes magazine put the combined wealth of all 1,125 billionaires in the world at 4.4 trillion dollars, which is just about seven per cent of the world's total GDP size. ""

If it's investment, it's India.
From software giant Microsoft to telecom biggies Nokia and Samsung to auto majors Honda and Toyota, global players now eye India as the most attractive destination for investment.
December 2005 alone saw a number of global business leaders in India lauding India's great economic prowess and making huge investment promises.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, during his visit to India, announced that the company would invest $1.7 billion in India over the next four years to expand its operations.
"India has a fantastic pool of software professionals. The world needs to benefit from this. I never thought with so little product companies software services sector will grow so strong as it has grown here," Gates gushed.
Toyota Chairman Okuda Hiroshi praised the quality of products made in India, which he said was better than even Japanese companies.
While billions of dollars have been committed to boost business in India, it needs to be seen how much of this actually turns into reality.

More links
http://www.indiainbusiness.nic.in/business-news/media_report.htm
www.incredibleindia.org