News , Views and More

Last few days in Mumbai has shown what is happening in major cities in India be it B’lore , Chennai , Delhi an Insider vs Outsider debate . Part of some issues raised are true that there is so much influx that resources in these cities are getting constraints but who is to be blamed ?

Here is my story I was born and brought up in MP did all of my schooling engineering there and then moved to B’lore for my master a place some 2000+ KM away from my home town , why did I moved because there were not much job opportunity in MP and only 1-2 good MTech program compared to what I was offered in B’lore. Now if an engineer has to move that much then one can understand the plight of majority of people who hardly had chance to complete there primary education.

Same is happening everywhere we have some cities like Mumbai , B’lore , Chennai , Delhi , Hyderabad which are growing and offering way better prospects , inviting people and in the process crumbling , so what is the solution ?

Goverment should develop more cities , give incentives to businesses for setting shops in small cities like Mysore , Nagpur . Give incentives to farmers so that they stay put in there villages otherwise what is happening in Mumbai might happen in all metros

India - 616/5 dec.
Pakistan- 385/6
centuries from Kamran Akmal and Misbah ul haq

 So, another brave effort being put by these two pakistani batsmen but still they need some 80 odd runs to ave follow on and india require 4 wickets. If Pakistan save this follow on then this test match might be heading towards draw. I think first session on Day 4 should decide the fate of the match, Lets wait and watch.

Still wondering do really India need a Cricket coach, they are playing so well for the last 6 months without any head coach but yes the real test for them will be in Australia.

As depicted in ongoing first test match at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi, this test series will be one of the most exciting series in a cricket events. Where in India, first time under Kumble guidance, wants to keep up with their One day winning trend. Other hand, Pakistan will try to take back home some victorious taste.

Till now, this 1st test match is behaving like a pendulum. Neither of the teams is able to maintain a upper hand. India started well this morning with Laxman and Kumble trying to make partnership & enhance the India’s 1st inning lead. But suddenly, after Kumble dismissal, tail was wrapped up within 15 runs keeping 45 runs lead for the 1st inning.

Pakistan fought back and opener Salman Butt gave solid foundation to Pakistan with its contribution of 67runs having 1st wicket partnership of 71runs with Yasir Hameed. As Pakistan was building their innings, India bowlers strike again and break the top order batting line in quick succession. Spinners Harbhajan and Kumble share 5 top wicket between them.

Another twist towards end of the day, when Kamran Akmal and Misbah Ul-Haq show some reluctance and stand for 51 runs partnership.

This game is open for both the teams and tomorrow 4th day will be crucial for this match and series.

Continue Reading »

There are sequence of blast in Lucknow , Faizabad and Varanasi. Terrorist are attacking at will in India and for me situation looks worst than Iraq . With all the talks of Economic Power , IT super Power ground reality is we are worst then Iraq when comparing the number of blast that have happened in the last year . I don’t remember when was the last month when there was no blast in the country .

Again there will be estimates given by the administration , cry of cross border terrorism , talk of foreign hand , talk of maintaining the harmony in the country by Shiv Raj Patil et. al. Government wont learn any lesson and things will eventually calm down before the next calamity happens. Questions comes to my mind is this the softest government we have seen in the history of India ? and I thing answer is yes otherwise it cant happen that terrorist can strike at will anywhere in the country. I don’t know What are our opposition parties doing ? Why Sitaram Yachuri and Prakash Karat don’t raise slogans and fight tooth and nail for the most basic of civil right ? Why BJP dont take government to task and bring no confidence motion at least to put there point firmly ? Internal security is the most important thing , if people cant step out feeling that they are secure then what is the point of having government ? It is like having a jungle raj .

Time has come to spend more on internal security then on any other thing beef our internal intelligence agency , beef the sagging morale of the police force (since most of them earns less then 10K god knows what is there in there mind , running family or focus on the job) . Government should stop giving assurances and do some positive things and dismantle the terrorist network and if things don’t slow down then take some assertive actions by crossing the border to dismantle the network.

Finally Reliance Communications and MS has agreed on a deal by which RCom will become exclusive partner for MS IPTV platform in India . Commercially it will be launched by next year starting from Mumbai and New Delhi. As per moneycontrol monthly cost will be somewhere between 700-800 Rs/- , but considering the scale I would expect monthly cost to be low. RCom may bundle IPTV services with mobile , fixed telephony , boradband to bring down the cost.

As an update looks like MTNL is offering IPTV as can be seen here. Tariff are still not given.

Fortune , magazine has dedicated portal for India with discussions and blogs from who’s who of businessmen and politicians all of them discussing the potential India offer as a market and as service industry and the challenges it faces for the growth . Not surprisingly all of them mentioned infrastructure as major bottleneck (some stats : India had spent 3.5% of GDP on infrastructure which is 21$ B vis-a-vis China which had spent 10.5% of GDP on infrastructure in 2003 which is 150$ B ) and surprisingly none of them mentioned any social issues like rich-poor divide , religious divide and terrorism as the challenges in fact none of these issues are mentioned at all in the portal . Looks like these issues are too small compared to lack of infrastructure to achieve our potential .

Looks like to reach our destiny all we need is connectivity aka infrastructure.

One can check the portal here.

Pakistan will play five one-dayers and three tests in India, starting with the first ODI at Guwahati on Monday(5 Nov).

Veteran batsman Rahul Dravid is left out for the first two matches in Guwahati and Mohali. He wasn’t able to impress selectors, after getting down from captaincy to concentrate batting and only manage meagre score in recent series with Australia.

Keeping in mind, amount of cricket ahead (Pakistan in India, India in Australia, tri-series with Sri Lanka, SA in India….uff) . This will give a good platform for new players (such as 21-year-old rookie all-rounder Praveen Kumar) to show their worth. Moreover, experience of great player can be extended for more longer test career. This will enchant good bench strength and urge to play in players with most experienced preserved for more sophisticated version of a game.

Schedule (courtesy - cricbuzz)
November 2007
Mon 05 India v Pakistan, 1st ODI Guwahati
Thu 08 India v Pakistan, 2nd ODI Mohali (D/N)
Sun 11 India v Pakistan, 3rd ODI Kanpur
Thu 15 India v Pakistan, 4th ODI Gwalior (D/N)
Sun 18 India v Pakistan, 5th ODI Jaipur (D/N)
Thu 22 - Mon 26 India v Pakistan, 1st Test Delhi
Fri 30 - Tue 04 India v Pakistan, 2nd Test Kolkata
December 2007
Sat 08 - Wed 12 India v Pakistan, 3rd Test Bangalore

So what do you think who will win the series ? Take a quick Poll >>