Much to the anticipation, sorry beyond the anticipation circuit broke today not once but twice ensuring a holiday for the traders of both BSE and NIFTY and of course for a so called pleasant reason. Exuberance and excitement is exhibited beyond expectation and now I fear that these very expectations might overburden the new government and it is to be seen how many of these expectations would be really met by Manmohan and Co – If you ask me it would be very few and hence I see that all the enthusiasts are in for a shocker and might crumble down once they are back from their wonder land to this real world. If I am proved wrong I would not mind but I believe that though things are slated to be better but they cannot be so irrational. Agreed LEFT has left the government but do watch out for the people like the one in race for the railway ministry!
Showing posts with label Thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thoughts. Show all posts
Monday, May 18, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Closing In
After a series of one sided affairs and rain affected games it is heartening to see some close encounters. The fever is slowly catching up and the teams are finding themselves all over the table swapping positions after every game. No one except the last year flop teams Hyderabad and Bangalore are playing predictably, the former winning consistently and the latter losing consistently after their inaugural victory over the last year champs.
So the contest is definitely closing in and yeah Sri Lankan troops are also closing in on the LTTE camps and the NEWS is that the LTTE and Prabhakaran would be history in a couple of days from now. I wish that the story ends forever and both the Sinhalese and Tamilians lead a progressive life in future. What is difficult to comprehend is why is Indian government intervening now? If we wanted to do something we should have done it during the 48hour cease fire break last week; not at the stage when the war is almost nearing the end. We can suggest the Lankan government to ensure the safety of the civilians but there is no way we could hamper their plans of trapping the tiger to restore the much awaited peace in the area. Anyways it is too late for the sleeping Indian government to do anything silly and I hope that Lankan government just go according to their plans.
Friday, September 05, 2008
Mahi Way
Mahendra Singh Dhoni , not so favorite name for me since he threw the seniors out of the ODI team, but cannot resist myself from writing this post. The player who failed to manage an average of 10 in the world cup last year in spite of entering the tournament as one of the top3 ODI bastmen impressed one and all by regaining his No1 ODI bastman position last week after his performance in the Emerald Isle.
It should be appreciated that as soon as he became captain he made an effort to inculcate the good points of his predecessor, Rahul Dravid - who always lead the team by setting up an example through his master batting. Once known as the swashbuckling hard hitting symbol of Indian cricket, now bats with a purpose and responsibility and controlled aggression slipping into the shoes of his previous captain. (Strike rate as captain is 83.23 compared to 96.26 before being captain of Indian team). He has mastered the art of shifting gears - His batting might not look pretty and neat but it ends up being effective. Cool head has always been a plus point over his predecessor. As a captain over the last one year he averages close to 55 in 36 ODIs which by no means can be belittled and called as fluke as it was done when he saved the Lords Test last year.
Now everything is not over - just like Yuvraj, Kaif and Dhoni were groomed by batting around Dravid ... time has come for Dhoni to take up that role as well to allow young players like Rohit Sharma, Raina and Badrinath to blossom, batting alongside him. It is definitely a great role to be taken up by this young dynamite but then I am sure for a player who had found answer to the mysterious carrom-bowling even with lack of so-called technique, it will be just another challenge and he will find a Mahi way to it!!!
It should be appreciated that as soon as he became captain he made an effort to inculcate the good points of his predecessor, Rahul Dravid - who always lead the team by setting up an example through his master batting. Once known as the swashbuckling hard hitting symbol of Indian cricket, now bats with a purpose and responsibility and controlled aggression slipping into the shoes of his previous captain. (Strike rate as captain is 83.23 compared to 96.26 before being captain of Indian team). He has mastered the art of shifting gears - His batting might not look pretty and neat but it ends up being effective. Cool head has always been a plus point over his predecessor. As a captain over the last one year he averages close to 55 in 36 ODIs which by no means can be belittled and called as fluke as it was done when he saved the Lords Test last year.
Now everything is not over - just like Yuvraj, Kaif and Dhoni were groomed by batting around Dravid ... time has come for Dhoni to take up that role as well to allow young players like Rohit Sharma, Raina and Badrinath to blossom, batting alongside him. It is definitely a great role to be taken up by this young dynamite but then I am sure for a player who had found answer to the mysterious carrom-bowling even with lack of so-called technique, it will be just another challenge and he will find a Mahi way to it!!!
Monday, August 25, 2008
43434343
This is one of the most familiar numbers these days in Hyderabad ... yes you guessed it rite - Radio Cabs, a concept that was non-existent in the city before the new international airport came up six months ago. The old airport was mainly served by autos, taxis and cabs. But the ultra modern airport has limited itself to radio cabs and call taxis as there was need to generate some revenue out of this business opportunity. GMR, the partner of the country's second PPP airport is now leaving no stone unturned to generate revenues - and the commission from radio cabs seems to be one of the options before the firm.
There are number of players who ventured into this business with a total of close to 2500 radio cabs between them and some of them are still waiting to enter the market. The government regulations exist even in this business ensuring that there is an entry barrier - read minimum of 100 cabs are required to enter the business and at the same time there is no monopoly - the number of cabs for any player is restricted to 1000. The sudden surge is largely helped by three factors - the distance of the airport from the city , lack of convenient commutation options and of course the increase in the disposable income . However, this wave has not been a smooth one - it has its own issues, major one being lack of supply of quality drivers. What it meant was another business opportunity to some of the driving schools and also the training schools to teach some etiquette to the drivers so that they present themselves well before the customers.
The radio cab companies are coming up with an lucrative salary and incentives to attract the limited pool of drivers. Now some of them have taken a step further and this is what has interested me and thats why the post - They have announced a scheme that any driver who drives a cab for a period of 7-10 years can own the car. This gives them various advantages - firstly the drivers can be retained, secondly the drivers will be careful after all it is their car in future and lastly it will become easy for the companies to dispose off the cars in future and may be they can gain some tax advantage utilizing the appropriate accounting mechanisms. Smart way to think - Isn't it?
There are number of players who ventured into this business with a total of close to 2500 radio cabs between them and some of them are still waiting to enter the market. The government regulations exist even in this business ensuring that there is an entry barrier - read minimum of 100 cabs are required to enter the business and at the same time there is no monopoly - the number of cabs for any player is restricted to 1000. The sudden surge is largely helped by three factors - the distance of the airport from the city , lack of convenient commutation options and of course the increase in the disposable income . However, this wave has not been a smooth one - it has its own issues, major one being lack of supply of quality drivers. What it meant was another business opportunity to some of the driving schools and also the training schools to teach some etiquette to the drivers so that they present themselves well before the customers.
The radio cab companies are coming up with an lucrative salary and incentives to attract the limited pool of drivers. Now some of them have taken a step further and this is what has interested me and thats why the post - They have announced a scheme that any driver who drives a cab for a period of 7-10 years can own the car. This gives them various advantages - firstly the drivers can be retained, secondly the drivers will be careful after all it is their car in future and lastly it will become easy for the companies to dispose off the cars in future and may be they can gain some tax advantage utilizing the appropriate accounting mechanisms. Smart way to think - Isn't it?
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Bouncing thoughts
This is the title of the mail that I received last week from one of my colleague and mentor at Wilco. The summary of the mail is to explore an option of developing low cost applications (may be at INR 1000) for SME's and use of rural IT talent to develop these simple tools using simple mySQL and VB. This mail definitely sounded very interesting and wanted to put in some efforts to have a closer look into this.
The rural entrepreneurs are enthusiastic to embrace the IT products if they are convinced about the benefits and of course ROI. Now who will help them out in creating such a solution - a new venture? Quick economics shows that it would take not less than INR6000 to create such a product- and how many takers are there for such kind of products at that price? It is very difficult for such a venture to sustain in long run and at the same time these applications needs to be priced lower so that the enthusiasm is converted into business . This is the reason to invite big Indian IT houses to cross subsidize these products and empower the rural entrepreneur with technology.
Typically the kind of applications needed by SMEs are simple work flow applications and may be some billing and inventory monitoring solutions. These can be comfortably designed by any software engineer with 2-3 year experience and these can be developed by any software literate with basic guidance. There is huge talent that is being wasted on bench in all the big IT firms and it would be a good idea for them to use this bench strength to tap this opportunity. Even if not there are engineering graduates and students in every nook and corner of the peninsula (True at least in case of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) - the companies could use them to develop these applications after giving appropriate training - which in turn would also make them employable in future.
In the wake of weakening dollar IT companies are facing severe pressure to maintain the margins. The US Economy and the turmoil in the financial and banking sectors across the globe is only adding to the problem and would make it tough for the IT companies to find new outsourcing assignments. (Please note that BFSI sector forms 40% of the total IT-ITES exports) It is the time for Indian IT companies to check out the opportunities lying inside the nation in parallel. Agreed that they are not as lucrative as the existing ones in terms of margins but they are definitely challenging and moreover it would help them develop the nation overall. Promote the rural entrepreneur help him grow big and get a bigger business from them.
More over it makes sense for the companies to spend money on these kind of opportunities which would lead to an inclusive growth of the nation - if an entrepreneur becomes efficient the whole nation would be benefited, rather than just donating huge chunks to an unknown entity in the name of CSR where you don't even know where the money is reaching to. The government has provided the required conditions for the sector to grow over the last two decades, of course it was done in the larger interest of the nation - but this is time for the sector to pay back to the nation.
The rural entrepreneurs are enthusiastic to embrace the IT products if they are convinced about the benefits and of course ROI. Now who will help them out in creating such a solution - a new venture? Quick economics shows that it would take not less than INR6000 to create such a product- and how many takers are there for such kind of products at that price? It is very difficult for such a venture to sustain in long run and at the same time these applications needs to be priced lower so that the enthusiasm is converted into business . This is the reason to invite big Indian IT houses to cross subsidize these products and empower the rural entrepreneur with technology.
Typically the kind of applications needed by SMEs are simple work flow applications and may be some billing and inventory monitoring solutions. These can be comfortably designed by any software engineer with 2-3 year experience and these can be developed by any software literate with basic guidance. There is huge talent that is being wasted on bench in all the big IT firms and it would be a good idea for them to use this bench strength to tap this opportunity. Even if not there are engineering graduates and students in every nook and corner of the peninsula (True at least in case of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu) - the companies could use them to develop these applications after giving appropriate training - which in turn would also make them employable in future.
In the wake of weakening dollar IT companies are facing severe pressure to maintain the margins. The US Economy and the turmoil in the financial and banking sectors across the globe is only adding to the problem and would make it tough for the IT companies to find new outsourcing assignments. (Please note that BFSI sector forms 40% of the total IT-ITES exports) It is the time for Indian IT companies to check out the opportunities lying inside the nation in parallel. Agreed that they are not as lucrative as the existing ones in terms of margins but they are definitely challenging and moreover it would help them develop the nation overall. Promote the rural entrepreneur help him grow big and get a bigger business from them.
More over it makes sense for the companies to spend money on these kind of opportunities which would lead to an inclusive growth of the nation - if an entrepreneur becomes efficient the whole nation would be benefited, rather than just donating huge chunks to an unknown entity in the name of CSR where you don't even know where the money is reaching to. The government has provided the required conditions for the sector to grow over the last two decades, of course it was done in the larger interest of the nation - but this is time for the sector to pay back to the nation.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
My Experience with Dreams
Dreams are known to be manifestations of the suppressed thoughts and ideas which are lying in the sub conscious mind. If you dream more does it mean that you are an introvert who does not speak out the thoughts? Well I cannot answer this but my gut feel says that it has nothing to do with whether it is an introvert or an extrovert as introvert might complete the thought process but just does not express them. Wait!!! This is not something I want you guys to read ... let us talk about the dreams.
My experience with dreams is that when ever a dream is good or happens to be something of my liking the sleep gets disturbed or alarm blows off or something else happens to make sure that the dream is not completed and even if I get back to the bed immediately within a few seconds - stopping the alarm - the dream does not continue and in a very short while I even forget what it was. Where as when a dream is bad or happens to be something which I don't like even if I forcibly break out of the sleep and try to sleep after a short break of a couple of minutes the dream tends to continue.
One such thing happened to me last night and I cannot recollect what it was? But I can recollect a couple of dreams where I could sense what was coming my way- one such instance that I can quote is - 10 days prior to CAT 2004 - I saw a paper in my dream with 123 questions with different marks for different questions. I told my friend about it - we laughed over the fact that CAT was taking a large toll out of us. And come the exam - we see exactly 123 questions in the paper with variable marking although not as random as I had seen in my dream but the number was a stunner and I was amazed for a couple of minutes during which I recollected Joseph Murphy's words that says - if you want something to happen let your subconscious mind know about it and it will make sure that you go through a path to achieve the goal. The stronger you think the greater the chances of occurring - I cannot tell you how much water can this argument hold but surely at that moment I wanted to read the book that had this argument - The power of Subconscious mind - which happens to be one of the my favorite books. It says a lot of things on how you could use your subconscious mind and Oops wait again is this what I want you guys to read ... Not at all... I think ... Let me take a break...
My experience with dreams is that when ever a dream is good or happens to be something of my liking the sleep gets disturbed or alarm blows off or something else happens to make sure that the dream is not completed and even if I get back to the bed immediately within a few seconds - stopping the alarm - the dream does not continue and in a very short while I even forget what it was. Where as when a dream is bad or happens to be something which I don't like even if I forcibly break out of the sleep and try to sleep after a short break of a couple of minutes the dream tends to continue.
One such thing happened to me last night and I cannot recollect what it was? But I can recollect a couple of dreams where I could sense what was coming my way- one such instance that I can quote is - 10 days prior to CAT 2004 - I saw a paper in my dream with 123 questions with different marks for different questions. I told my friend about it - we laughed over the fact that CAT was taking a large toll out of us. And come the exam - we see exactly 123 questions in the paper with variable marking although not as random as I had seen in my dream but the number was a stunner and I was amazed for a couple of minutes during which I recollected Joseph Murphy's words that says - if you want something to happen let your subconscious mind know about it and it will make sure that you go through a path to achieve the goal. The stronger you think the greater the chances of occurring - I cannot tell you how much water can this argument hold but surely at that moment I wanted to read the book that had this argument - The power of Subconscious mind - which happens to be one of the my favorite books. It says a lot of things on how you could use your subconscious mind and Oops wait again is this what I want you guys to read ... Not at all... I think ... Let me take a break...
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Over dosage?
Today was India Pakistan final in a Tri-series and at least from the campus I found that there were very few who were following it and definitely there has been a notable drop in the passion of the viewers. There is a view point saying that there is an over dosage of cricket between these two nations. Lets see how much weight can be given to this view point.
The nations have restored their sporting ties in 2003 after a 3 year break. Since then the nations played 30 ODIs each winning exactly half of them. The following table gives data of number of matches played by India against various oppositions in the last five years.
No doubt we have played more cricket against them but its just 6 matches per year and if we look back we have played each other 44 times in the last 5 years of the previous decade. Each and every ball was savored by the spectators. So why is the case different today?
Is it the lack of big names - Sachin, Saurav, Rahul, Inzamam, Akthar? Common they cannot play for ever.
One could argue that there is a generation gap between the viewers of 90s to that of todays - the interests and passions are different and may be for this generation the number of matches is over dosage and if that is the case the fact that we have about 7 - 8 matches lined up against each other this year is not a good sign. Wait but then ... less than an year back the whole nation celebrated the success of the India over the arch rivals in the T20 world cup. So is it the beginning of slide down of interest in 50 over cricket after the huge success of the latest 20 -20 format? Time can only tell us that.
It is also important to note that India - Australia encounters are evoking more interest in the nation. Has the Indian team graduated to a new level leaving Pakistan behind and have a clash with the world champions? Not really I guess - we just won one series against Aussies - Thanks to Sachin Tendulkar and the young bowlers.
Any ways it is sad to see one of the greatest encounters of the game losing its charm.
The nations have restored their sporting ties in 2003 after a 3 year break. Since then the nations played 30 ODIs each winning exactly half of them. The following table gives data of number of matches played by India against various oppositions in the last five years.
| Team | Played | Won |
| Pakistan | 30 | 15 |
| Australia | 29 | 7 |
| Srilanka | 24 | 12 |
| England | 18 | 11 |
| South Africa | 14 | 5 |
| West Indies | 14 | 7 |
| New Zealand | 12 | 5 |
| Small Nations | 26 | 24 |
| Total | 167 | 86 |
No doubt we have played more cricket against them but its just 6 matches per year and if we look back we have played each other 44 times in the last 5 years of the previous decade. Each and every ball was savored by the spectators. So why is the case different today?
Is it the lack of big names - Sachin, Saurav, Rahul, Inzamam, Akthar? Common they cannot play for ever.
One could argue that there is a generation gap between the viewers of 90s to that of todays - the interests and passions are different and may be for this generation the number of matches is over dosage and if that is the case the fact that we have about 7 - 8 matches lined up against each other this year is not a good sign. Wait but then ... less than an year back the whole nation celebrated the success of the India over the arch rivals in the T20 world cup. So is it the beginning of slide down of interest in 50 over cricket after the huge success of the latest 20 -20 format? Time can only tell us that.
It is also important to note that India - Australia encounters are evoking more interest in the nation. Has the Indian team graduated to a new level leaving Pakistan behind and have a clash with the world champions? Not really I guess - we just won one series against Aussies - Thanks to Sachin Tendulkar and the young bowlers.
Any ways it is sad to see one of the greatest encounters of the game losing its charm.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Delhi Metro - Second to None
End of Summers - Planned to stay a couple of days in Delhi before going back to campus. Completed the last day presentations and other formalities at Feedback and had to go to my uncles place at Janakpuri. Had a cab drop from Gurgaon office to Dwarka and from there to Janakpuri had an option of either taking an auto or try Delhi Metro. Went for the second option ... Metro is not an unfamiliar concept to me ... had seen London Metro and Tokyo Metro before ... but was curious to see how the Desi version of it looks like. My first metro from Dwarka to Uttam Nagar.
The stations were clean and marvelous. Thanks to the prohibition of food and beverages in the station area and the train. I think this was a good and bold step towards maintaining the cleanliness of the facility. The revenues from selling food and beverages are foregone for the sake of cleanliness and also may be the maintenance costs justify the decision - not aware of the economics involved. The security measures taken were adequate.
The ticketing system is fool proof very much like that in Tokyo Metro with very minor changes. Firstly tickets were reusable coins - no paper wastage as in other metro tickets. The charge correction facility at the destination exists which is a desired feature. However the ticket vending and charge correction activities are manual, it would be good to explore the possibility of having a vending machine - again having a look at the costs.
The station has route maps painted beside the counter so that the person can make a decision on which lines to take and where to change. However it would have been good to mark 3-4 popular places to visit at each station or in other words nearest station for each popular place. Example - For India Gate get down near Central Secretariat ... some thing on those lines would have been beneficial.
The platforms display the train time and the trains are prompt. On the platform you can see people standing everywhere and this was the case in London also here I would mention about one thing I liked in Tokyo - there are marks drawn on the platform where the doors are expected to open and passengers used to stand in a line there waiting for the train. This is easily implementable and would help avoid the last minute anxiety among the passengers. The stopping time is decent and speed or smoothness of travel is excellent. The coaches are clean and spacious. The distance between stations is adequate again.
The connectivity to the stations is ensured by feeder bus same as those at MMTS stations in Hyderabad - I read about the concept however have not seen them as I had not travelled by MMTS. The stations have parking lots similar as to MMTS stations again.
Overall the experience has been fantastic and with many cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai going for a mass public transport in metro - it would not only save cities from traffic and ensure a fast, smooth and pollution free commutation but also would encourage the sale of ipods, ishuffles or mp3 playes and books/magazines improving the reading habits of the nation in the long run.
The stations were clean and marvelous. Thanks to the prohibition of food and beverages in the station area and the train. I think this was a good and bold step towards maintaining the cleanliness of the facility. The revenues from selling food and beverages are foregone for the sake of cleanliness and also may be the maintenance costs justify the decision - not aware of the economics involved. The security measures taken were adequate.
The ticketing system is fool proof very much like that in Tokyo Metro with very minor changes. Firstly tickets were reusable coins - no paper wastage as in other metro tickets. The charge correction facility at the destination exists which is a desired feature. However the ticket vending and charge correction activities are manual, it would be good to explore the possibility of having a vending machine - again having a look at the costs.
The station has route maps painted beside the counter so that the person can make a decision on which lines to take and where to change. However it would have been good to mark 3-4 popular places to visit at each station or in other words nearest station for each popular place. Example - For India Gate get down near Central Secretariat ... some thing on those lines would have been beneficial.
The platforms display the train time and the trains are prompt. On the platform you can see people standing everywhere and this was the case in London also here I would mention about one thing I liked in Tokyo - there are marks drawn on the platform where the doors are expected to open and passengers used to stand in a line there waiting for the train. This is easily implementable and would help avoid the last minute anxiety among the passengers. The stopping time is decent and speed or smoothness of travel is excellent. The coaches are clean and spacious. The distance between stations is adequate again.
The connectivity to the stations is ensured by feeder bus same as those at MMTS stations in Hyderabad - I read about the concept however have not seen them as I had not travelled by MMTS. The stations have parking lots similar as to MMTS stations again.
Overall the experience has been fantastic and with many cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai going for a mass public transport in metro - it would not only save cities from traffic and ensure a fast, smooth and pollution free commutation but also would encourage the sale of ipods, ishuffles or mp3 playes and books/magazines improving the reading habits of the nation in the long run.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Free Time bole to Free cell
Its been close to seven years that the winning streak of 1628 games was broken. It used to be one of my favorite pass times along with NFS, Cricket, Pinball and Minesweeper during my engineering days at MS Ramaiah and from then I might have hardly played about a dozen games of Freecell all these years. Now I think its time to rediscover the game-definitely not to emulate the winning streak but lets see how far it goes.
Ab sey free time bole to Free cell
Ab sey free time bole to Free cell
Monday, June 02, 2008
Life after IPL
Today it feels like a calm after a storm. The storm called IPL which has become a part of my routine for the last two months. Today when I switched on TV at 8PM as I do every day, some dreadful movie is being screened at the same channel which telecasted the first edition of this mega event for the last fifty odd days. Even in the wildest of his dreams Mr. Lalit Modi - the man behind the concept would not have thought that it would become such a huge hit. Some thought it was an overdose of cricket but it was definitely not for me. Almost daily you have a cliffhanger- Close to 50 percent of the matches were close finishes what else would I want as a spectator? But Yes - it might have got way too hectic for the players and support staff.
Irrespective of who won the tournament we have seen a good number of emerging players like Niraj Patel, Abhishek Nayyar, Sidharth Trivedi, Manpreet Gony, Yousuf Pathan, Wridhiman Saha, Swapnil Asnodkar, Ashok Dinda, Shikar Dhawan, Amit Mishra, Vijay kumar Yo Mahesh and Virat Kohli.
It was good to see young guns like Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla along with the current Indian players like Mahendra Dhoni , Irfan Pathan, Sreeshanth and Virender Sehwag shoulder responsibility for their respective leagues.
It would be incomplete if I don't mention that Saurav Ganguly played with as much zeal as "an youngster performing to find a place in the national team". Another big gun Rahul Dravid seemed to have discovered his lost strokes and shots - it was a heartening effort from him to adjust to a format of game which many thought would least suit his style.
Then we saw some great performances from foreign youngsters and current players like Shaun Marsh, Luke Pommersbach, David Hussey, Shane Watson, Sohail Tanvir and Dale Steyn along with veterans Shane Warne, Sanath Jayasuriya , Muthaiah Muralitharan and Adam Gilchrist.
More importantly we have a good option for a future coach in Shane Warne.
The last few lines might have seemed like a vote of thanks ... but then I think it was a good tournament and the players deserved to be listed by name in this post ... such was the entertainment provided by them during this summer.
Irrespective of who won the tournament we have seen a good number of emerging players like Niraj Patel, Abhishek Nayyar, Sidharth Trivedi, Manpreet Gony, Yousuf Pathan, Wridhiman Saha, Swapnil Asnodkar, Ashok Dinda, Shikar Dhawan, Amit Mishra, Vijay kumar Yo Mahesh and Virat Kohli.
It was good to see young guns like Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla along with the current Indian players like Mahendra Dhoni , Irfan Pathan, Sreeshanth and Virender Sehwag shoulder responsibility for their respective leagues.
It would be incomplete if I don't mention that Saurav Ganguly played with as much zeal as "an youngster performing to find a place in the national team". Another big gun Rahul Dravid seemed to have discovered his lost strokes and shots - it was a heartening effort from him to adjust to a format of game which many thought would least suit his style.
Then we saw some great performances from foreign youngsters and current players like Shaun Marsh, Luke Pommersbach, David Hussey, Shane Watson, Sohail Tanvir and Dale Steyn along with veterans Shane Warne, Sanath Jayasuriya , Muthaiah Muralitharan and Adam Gilchrist.
More importantly we have a good option for a future coach in Shane Warne.
The last few lines might have seemed like a vote of thanks ... but then I think it was a good tournament and the players deserved to be listed by name in this post ... such was the entertainment provided by them during this summer.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Four Cities in a Week
Exactly last Wednesday I left the campus at Ahmedabad after completing my exams and had spent the long weekend at my home at Hyderabad. Moved on to Delhi for my summer internship and from today I will be at Mumbai for my summer project for the next 8-9 weeks. I cannot recollect any other occasion in my life where I was at so many cities on a purpose and not on a holiday tour. By the way this is my first visit to Delhi and Mumbai.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Whatmore ... what else?
BCCI looking beyond Whatmore - reads the headlines of today's newspaper. Now what else?
What is that we are primarily looking for?
No Indian Coach - we tried many in the past - lots of '-isms' (favoritism, egoism, criticism,...)
No English Coach - cannot think beyond the textbook - they are too orthodox
No Australian Coach - they are simply too good for us - we are not in a position to take it from them
No South African Coach - they are very much concerned about fitness
No Indian Coach - we tried many in the past - lots of '-isms' (favoritism, egoism, criticism,...)
No English Coach - cannot think beyond the textbook - they are too orthodox
No Australian Coach - they are simply too good for us - we are not in a position to take it from them
No South African Coach - they are very much concerned about fitness
No Italian Coach - we don't have a sardar as captain (Just kidding!!!)
A school of thought proposes big names like - Viv Richards, Ranathunga, Brain Lara, Wasim Akram etc ... Please we are not looking for players to fill up the places we are looking for a coach, preferably a proven one. A great player necessarily need not be a great coach - we have already some tried big names like Kapil Dev. Another school says "We can run the show with a manager, bowling and fielding coaches. We just had a manager during 1983 world cup".
Looking at the recent past - We had a foreign coach for close to 8 years now. Ganguly - Wright Combo worked very well for us where as Chappell - Dravid combo could not achieve the needful - now let us leave out the reasons for some other day - of course the naming of the combo itself should tell it all - it never looked like Dravid - Chappell. It seemed like we need a coach who can work in the background and help the players using his keen eye - a technical facilitator . There were some stories, which said Ganguly could have been a better captain during the previous world cup but then it might have been a disaster as it might have resulted in high profile battle of egos between coach and captain. But now if we end up finding a coach who is comfortable with the back office role it might even result in a bigger trouble of both Dravid and the new coach shying away from the limelight. The story might just not end there.
Finally do we know what we want?
It looks like the BCCI and the selection committee has not done their ground work properly. They have given enough hints to media which made it look certain that Whatmore would be the successor of Mr.Chappell. It is the players who actually browsed through their network to find the potential candidates in terms of availability and interest and recommended the names to the committee. Its good that we are still having people like Graham Ford in the queue - Hopefully he occupies the hot seat. His style looks similar to that of John Wright and Dean Jones.It might just work for us!!!
It looks like the BCCI and the selection committee has not done their ground work properly. They have given enough hints to media which made it look certain that Whatmore would be the successor of Mr.Chappell. It is the players who actually browsed through their network to find the potential candidates in terms of availability and interest and recommended the names to the committee. Its good that we are still having people like Graham Ford in the queue - Hopefully he occupies the hot seat. His style looks similar to that of John Wright and Dean Jones.It might just work for us!!!
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Bulandh Bharat ... Naye Tasveer
Was browsing through and suddenly found this masterpiece - Old Ad of Bajaj .. with a tag line of Bulandh Bharat ki buland tasveer. It was very much refreshing to see it after a long long time.
The main idea of any ad is to leave the viewers with an impact. This one strikes the emotional chord perfectly resembling the Indian culture and the contemporary lifestyle. It made sure to convey that owning a Bajaj scooter is a mater of style and pride.
Now I could not resist myself from checking the next edition of the commercial which came out in the early days of this century ... Those were the changing times ... with changing lifestyle ... culture ... trends … thoughts etc ... No more scooters ... it was all motorbikes ... Boxer, Legend, Caliber and Saffire. We were trying to accept this new changes without compromising on our roots and this fact was perfectly portrayed in this ad ... Naye Bharat - Naye tasveer still Bulandh buniyaad
Hmmm... Time for 'Hamara Bajaj' to come up a new ad with Platina, Discover, Eliminator and Pulsar..... Must be Interesting isn't it !!!
Friday, May 25, 2007
Earlier the better
Once there were three friends A,B and C.
A won a cash prize of Rs 100/- in a school competition at the age of 10 . He invested the money such that it earned him an interest of 18% per annum .B won a scholarship of Rs200/- at the age of 15 which he invested in the same way as A did. Five years later C invested Rs 400/- in the same fund as A and B did earlier. At the age of 60 all three decide to withdraw their investments . Any guesses on who got more returns? It should be C as his investment is 4 times to that of A's and twice of B's . But lets get in to mathematics.
Applying the 18% interest on the respective principles for the respective periods of investment we have the value of returns as follows
A - 392735.7
B - 343336.7
C - 300151.3
Surprised ... Yes A receives more returns...though his investment is the least!!!
Now Lets try to apply the same to our life.
Moral 1 : Earlier we pick up any habit--hobby--anything, better we will be at that. We might start to inculcate any habit at later stage of life with a greater intensity but still it might not help to that extent.
Moral 2 : Persistence is the key -- We will have to continue to pursue the habit--hobby . The amount would have not been so high if it was not invested for so long.
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