Fake IPL Player has revealed - he has exposed himself in his new video

Fake IPL Player has revealed himself in his latest post. persumably his last.

Fake IPL Player has decided to reveal himself to the realms of the world (See the link above). He still claims to be an insider as he has not revealed his full face yet his silhouette along with his voice has raised eyebrows of many.

I felt like I was watching an Afred hitchcock masterpiece or Sixth Sense or The prestige or the usual suspects that has a MIND CHILLING suspense that makes u glued to your seats. He is an absolute entertainer as he says the KKR's are !!!!!!!

Its like a movie in which every second is a master piece and you don't want that movie to end. While watching the video I beet one would feel as scared as they'd have seen any spine chillers. 

It takes BALLS OF STEEL to do what he has done and he still marches a bit close in every post of his ultimate exposing. 

Though it raises several names and co-releates to lot of personalities it is however still not convincive as to who he really is.. and is he really an insider. It is all left to be seen. Until then as he claims he is still a shadow play or as his name suggests, fake IPL player...

As he says... Kabi alvida na kehana... Cheerz guyz...

Creative Destruction Happens Quickly; Those Who Wait End Up In The Rubble

From the just-a-warning dept - Techdirt

When we talk about the economics of industries that are in transition, such as the newspaper industry or the entertainment industry, we often point out the need to adopt new business models that embrace the economic realities those industries face. Regularly, supporters of those industries respond that it's folly to jump to a new "unproven" business model without real proof that the new business model will succeed -- especially when the old business model is still going strong. There's this belief that the companies in those industries can just hang on while everyone else experiments, and when a new business model is clear, they can comfortably make the switch and everything will be fine. And, it is true, that even disintermediated businesses have a history of sticking around and throwing off cash for a long time after the disruptive technology disintegrates their foundations.

Yet, as this article in The Atlantic points out with regard to the newspaper industry, when "the end" comes, it comes amazingly fast. It is true that old industries can hang on for a while, but they reach a sort of tipping point where suddenly everyone realizes that the emperor has no clothes. And, at that point, there really isn't any time to make the necessary shift to the new business model. Instead, there's just bankruptcy. So, sure, the record labels and the newspapers can wait it out and hang on until there's "proof" that some new business model makes sense. But, by the time that proof is there, their old business might not be.

Latest Massive Fraud: Satyam Found To Be Swimming Naked

Warren Buffet's famous quote is that "It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming naked." Over the past few months, the tide has been going out with a vengeance, and we're certainly discovering plenty of folks swimming naked. The latest, of course, is Satyam, the Indian tech company whose CEO admitted that he basically has been making up the company's financial reports for years. It turns out that about $1 billion in cash the company claimed it had... don't actually exist. That's a pretty big problem, because that $1 billion represented about 94% of all the cash the company claimed to have. Oops. It makes you wonder what, exactly, Satyam's auditors have been up to the past few years.

This might explain why the company attempted to do a highly controversial merger deal last month, where Satyam tried to buy construction firms Maytas (Satyam backwards), owned by the sons of Satyam's founders. The deal between companies in two obviously unrelated industries seemed like a pretty clear cash grab for the family -- except most people didn't realize that the cash grab was actually to cover up all the lies on the financial statements.

Of course, there are some amusing side notes to this whole thing. Just a few months ago, for example, Satyam was awarded the "prestigious" Golden Peacock award for (of all things) corporate governance. That award is now being stripped away, but it seems a little late for that. Then, of course, there was the stock analyst who claimed that Satyam was an obvious buy just after the original merger deal fell apart. Considering that the stock dropped 90% today, that seems like an awfully bad call.

Time to rethink governance - By TT Ram the IIM Professor in ET

I dont really know why they named their comp. as SATYAM. Contray to their real stature.

Why on earth would they want to do that? Over the past month, bewildered investors

and media analysts have been asking the question of
Satyam’s aborted attempt to use
about Rs 7,000 crore in cash to acquire equity in two property companies.

The lack of synergy between the companies, the conflicts of interest, the issue of valuation — all these were so glaring that it was a mystery why a businessman of the stature of B Ramalinga Raju would have attempted such a move.
Well, it’s all falling into place now.

There was no cash pile waiting to be transferred out. It was a fiction created through some incredibly creative accounting. Revenues, profits, reserves, cash were all cooked up over the years leading to an inflation of the balance sheet by around Rs 7,000 crore.

It was becoming difficult to keep up the fiction. That’s where the proposed investment in the two property companies belonging to Raju’s family came in handy. If Rs 7,000 crore could be shown as having been used to finance the acquisition, the gap at Satyam would cease to exist. Of course, Raju’s sons, who ran the property companies, would have received from Satyam a cheque that was worthless. But that’s all in the family, you know.

This is the merest sketch of a story that has the hallmarks of a thriller. It will take a while for investigators to fill out the details. A whole slew of questions will need to be answered. How did the auditors fail to discern any sign of wrongdoing? How did all of it escape the audit committee? If cash of around Rs 7,000 crore was not there, how was it corroborated by bank statements? And so on.

Investor fury over Satyam’s failed attempt at diversification is now giving way to more universal shock and horror over a scandal that could turn out to be India’s own Enron. Following the terrorist attack in Mumbai last month, the incompetence of politicians was contrasted with the supposedly high standards of performance in corporate India. The Satyam affair has now dealt a severe blow to the pristine image of business in post-reform India. As the economic environment worsens, expect more skeletons to come tumbling out.

People and their mean attitude...

I feel outrageous seeing the other dimensions of ppl, the colours they change, the stands they switch yet proclaiming as if everything happening around them is meaningless except what they do is… Intolerable brutes prying on others. Incompetent and ill performers yet know how to deal the cards to be called as top performers. Ppl Pretending to be ruthless, straight-forwad yet corrupt and senile. Flamboyant, tasteless, infatuated yet calling themselves passionate, void yet claiming to be stuffed, knowing a miniscule yet talking as if had dealt in great deal. Banking on others lacklustre to shove themselves an edge. Assuming authorities over others. Prejudiced ppl practicing favouritism in great deal in varlous forms (caste,Creed, family background, home-town, colour, likes, dislikes, possessions, and what not ?? strangely never by knowledge). PPl staying low and always complain for what they do not have (presumably) to conceal their real stature (to ward off themselves from others vengeance). Ppl who seem impassive and indifferent and act like a deaf and mute to bind and back themselves for their own mis-judgements and favouritism. Ppl who are weak and fragile and can bear the bruises. Ppl who are true, expressive yet senile. Some who endorse the other to do the backing mutually yet turning traitors, and lot more.. Each one of them is different but they are always the same. They mean me no harm but its just that I feel so compelling to vent out my anger so that I could stay as I am instead of getting corrupted myself to become one such mean personality.

I feel like I had acquired a great deal of knowledge about the personalities and their mean and indistinct (yet distinct) characteristics; I had come to a state of mind where I cannot take this any longer… But how can I??? Myself being an intolerable, insane and nasty person...

Unusual request - Lord Ram's comments on RAM SETU

Lord Ram's comments on RAM SETU It has been copied from one community of orkut, i liked it so i m posting it here...

Lord Ram's comments on RAM SETU
The Lord Shree Shree Ramachandra Prabhu surveyed the Ram Setu and said"Hanuman, how diligently and strenuously you and your vanara sena had builtthis bridge several centuries back. It is remarkable that it has withstoodthe ravages of the climatic and geographical changes over centuries. It isindeed an amazing feat especially considering the fact that a bridge atHyderabad built by Gammon using latest technology collapsed the other dayeven before they could stick the posters on its pillars."

Hanuman with all humility spoke "Jai Sri Ram, it is all because of yourgrace. We just scribbled your name on the bricks and threw them in the seaand they held. No steel from TISCON or cement from Ambuja or ACC was everused. But Lord, why rake up the old issue now."

Ram spoke "Well, Hanuman some people down there want to demolish the bridgeand construct a canal. The contract involves lot of money and lot of moneywill be made. They will make money on demolition and make more money onconstruction. "

Hanuman humbly bowed down and said "Why not we go down and present ourcase"

Ram said "Times have changed since we were down there. They will ask us tosubmit age proof and we don't have either a birth certificate or schoolleaving certificate. We traveled mainly on foot and some times in bullockcarts and so we don't have a driving license either. As far as the addressproof is concerned the fact that I was born at Ayodhya is itself underlitigation for over half a century, If I go in a traditional attire withbow and arrow, the ordinary folks may recognize me but Arjun Singh may takeme to be some tribal and, at the most, offer a seat at IIT under thereserved category. Also, a God cannot walk in dressed in a three-piece suitand announce his arrival. It would make even the devotees suspicious. So itis dilemma so to say."

"I can vouch for you by saying that I personally built the bridge."

"My dear, Anjani putra, it will not work. They will ask you to produce thelay-out plan, the project details, including financial outlay and how theproject cost was met and the completion certificate. Nothing is acceptedwithout documentary evidence in India. You may cough but unless a doctorcertifies it, you have no cough. A pensioner may present himself personallybut the authorities do not take it as proof. He has to produce alife-certificate to prove that he is alive. It is that complicated."

"Lord can't understand these historians. Over the years you have givendarshan once every hundred years to saints like Surdas, Tulsidas, SaintThyagaraja, Jayadeva, Bhadrachala Ramdas and even Sant Tukaram and stillthey disbelieve your existence and say Ramayana is a myth. The only option,I see, is to re-enact Ramayana on earth and set the government recordsstraight once for all."

Lord smiled "It isn't that easy today. Ravan is apprehensive that he maylook like a saint in front of Karunanidhi. I also spoke to his mamaMareecha, who appeared as a golden deer to tempt Sita maiyya when I was inthe forest and he said that he won't take a chance of stepping on earth aslong as Salman Khan is around."

Hotel Taj : icon of whose India ?

Gnani Sankaran- Tamil writer, Chennai.

Watching at least four English news channels surfing from one another during the last 60 hours of terror strike made me feel a terror of another kind. The terror of assaulting one's mind and sensitivity with cameras, sound bites and non-stop blabbers. All these channels have been trying to manufacture my consent for a big lie called - Hotel Taj the icon of India.
Whose India, Whose Icon ?

It is a matter of great shame that these channels simply did not bother about the other icon that faced the first attack from terrorists - the Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station. CST is the true icon of Mumbai. It is through this railway station hundreds of Indians from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Tamilnadu have poured into Mumbai over the years, transforming themselves into Mumbaikars and built the Mumbai of today along with the Marathis and Kolis

But the channels would not recognise this. Nor would they recognise the thirty odd dead bodies strewn all over the platform of CST. No Barkha dutt went there to tell us who they were. But she was at Taj to show us the damaged furniture and reception lobby braving the guards. And the TV cameras did not go to the government run JJ hospital to find out who those 26 unidentified bodies were. Instead they were again invading the battered Taj to try in vain for a scoop shot of the dead bodies of the page 3 celebrities.

In all probability, the unidentified bodies could be those of workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh migrating to Mumbai, arriving by train at CST without cell phones and pan cards to identify them. Even after 60 hours after the CST massacre, no channel has bothered to cover in detail what transpired there.

The channels conveniently failed to acknowledge that the Aam Aadmis of India surviving in Mumbai were not affected by Taj, Oberoi and Trident closing down for a couple of weeks or months. What mattered to them was the stoppage of BEST buses and suburban trains even for one hour. But the channels were not covering that aspect of the terror attack. Such information at best merited a scroll line, while the cameras have to be dedicated for real time thriller unfolding at Taj or Nariman bhavan.

The so called justification for the hype the channels built around heritage site Taj falling down (CST is also a heritage site), is that Hotel Taj is where the rich and the powerful of India and the globe congregate. It is a symbol or icon of power of money and politics, not India. It is the icon of the financiers and swindlers of India. The Mumbai and India were built by the Aam Aadmis who passed through CST and Taj was the oasis of peace and privacy for those who wielded power over these mass of labouring classes. Leopold club and Taj were the haunts of rich spoilt kids who would drive their vehicles over sleeping Aam Aadmis on the pavement, the Mafiosi of Mumbai forever financing the glitterati of Bollywood (and also the terrorists) , Political brokers and industrialists.

It is precisely because Taj is the icon of power and not people, that the terrorists chose to strike.

The terrorists have understood after several efforts that the Aam Aadmi will never break down even if you bomb her markets and trains. He/she was resilient because that is the only way he/she can even survive.

Resilience was another word that annoyed the pundits of news channels and their patrons this time. What resilience, enough is enough, said Pranoy Roy's channel on the left side of the channel spectrum. Same sentiments were echoed by Arnab Goswami representing the right wing of the broadcast media whose time is now. Can Rajdeep be far behind in this game of one upmanship over TRPs ? They all attacked resilience this time. They wanted firm action from the government in tackling terror.

The same channels celebrated resilience when bombs went off in trains and markets killing and maiming the Aam Aadmis. The resilience of the ordinary worker suited the rich business class of Mumbai since work or manufacture or film shooting did not stop. When it came to them, the rich shamelessly exhibited their lack of nerves and refused to be resilient themselves. They cry for government intervention now to protect their private spas and swimming pools and bars and restaurants, similar to the way in which Citibank, General Motors and the ilk cry for government money when their coffers are emptied by their own ideologies.

The terrorists have learnt that the ordinary Indian is unperturbed by terror. For one whose daily existence itself is a terror of government sponsored inflation and market sponsored exclusion, pain is something he has learnt to live with. The rich of Mumbai and India Inc are facing the pain for the first time and learning about it just as the middle classes of India learnt about violation of human rights only during emergency, a cool 28 years after independence.

And human rights were another favourite issue for the channels to whip at times of terrorism.

Arnab Goswami in an animated voice wondered where were those champions of human rights now, not to be seen applauding the brave and selfless police officers who gave up their life in fighting terorism. Well, the counter question would be where were you when such officers were violating the human rights of Aam Aadmis. Has there ever been any 24 hour non stop coverage of violence against dalits and adivasis of this country?

This definitely was not the time to manufacture consent for the extra legal and third degree methods of interrogation of police and army but Arnabs don't miss a single opportunity to serve their class masters, this time the jingoistic patriotism came in handy to whitewash the entire uniformed services.

The sacrifice of the commandos or the police officers who went down dying at the hands of ruthless terrorists is no doubt heart rending but in vain in a situation which needed not just bran but also brain. Israel has a point when it says the operations were misplanned resulting in the death of its nationals here.

Khakares and Salaskars would not be dead if they did not commit the mistake of traveling by the same vehicle. It is a basic lesson in management that the top brass should never t ravel together in crisis. The terrorists, if only they had watched the channels, would have laughed their hearts out when the Chief of the Marine commandos, an elite force, masking his face so unprofessionally in a see-through cloth, told the media that the commandos had no idea about the structure of the Hotel Taj which they were trying to liberate. But the terrorists knew the place thoroughly, he acknowledged.

Is it so difficult to obtain a ground plan of Hotel Taj and discuss operation strategy thoroughly for at least one hour before entering? This is something even an event manager would first ask for, if he had to fix 25 audio systems and 50 CCtvs for a cultural event in a hotel. Would not Ratan Tata have provided a plan of his ancestral hotel to the commandos within one hour considering the mighty apparatus at his and government's disposal? Are satelite pictures only available for terrorists and not the government agencies ? In an operation known to consume time, one more hour for preparation would have only improved the efficiency of execution.

Sacrifices become doubly tragic in unprofessional circumstances. But the Aam Aadmis always believe that terror-shooters do better planning than terrorists. And the gullible media in a jingoistic mood would not raise any question about any of these issues.

They after all have their favourite whipping boy - the politician the eternal entertainer for the non-voting rich classes of India.

Arnabs and Rajdeeps would wax eloquent on Nanmohan Singh and Advani visiting Mumbai separately and not together showing solidarity even at this hour of national crisis. What a farce? Why can't these channels pool together all their camera crew and reporters at this time of national calamity and share the sound and visual bites which could mean a wider and deeper coverage of events with such a huge human resource to command? Why should Arnab and Rajdeep and Barkha keep harping every five minutes that this piece of information was exclusive to their channel, at the time of such a national crisis? Is this the time to promote the channel? If that is valid, the politician promoting his own political constituency is equally valid. And the duty of the politican is to do politics, his politics. It is for the people to evaluate that politics.
And terrorism is not above politics. It is politics by other means.

To come to grips with it and to eventually eliminate it, the practice of politics by proper means needs constant fine tuning and improvement. Decrying all politics and politicians, only helps terrorists and dictators who are the two sides of the same coin. And the rich and powerful always prefer terrorists and dictators to do business with.

Those caught in this crossfire are always the Aam Aadmis whose deaths are not even mourned - the taxi driver who lost the entire family at CST firing, the numerous waiters and stewards who lost their lives working in Taj for a monthly salary that would be one time bill for their masters.

Postscript: In a fit of anger and depression, I sent a message to all the channels, 30 hours through the coverage. After all they have been constantly asking the viewers to message them for anything and everything. My message read: I send this with lots of pain. All channels, including yours, must apologise for not covering the victims of CST massacre, the real mumbaikars and aam aadmis of India. Your obsession with five star elite is disgusting. Learn from the print media please. No channel bothered. Only srinivasan Jain replied: you are right. We are trying to redress balance today. Well, nothing happened till the time of writing this 66 hours after the terror attack.

Why should we ban ‘live’ reporting of anti-terrorist & Hostage rescue missions ?

“Several foreign nationals are trapped in the Taj Hotel Mahal”
“The top management of a multinational corporation was meeting…”
“Terrorists are suspected to be on the 9th floor…”
“NSG troops are about to have arrived in Mumbai…”
“NSG commandos have entered the Hotel…”

Some of the information telecast live by all news channels on terror attack on Bombay last few days.

News channels have an objective—to fetch the latest news and share them with viewers, much before a competitor channel does that. But I feel this habit of indiscriminate live reporting, while a combat operation is in progress, can be catastrophic for the success of the military operations against terror.

Let us just think for a while. Do we really need to know everything on a ‘as soon as it happens’ basis? I feel not. Whether NSG commandos have just arrived at airport, or have entered the hotel or are on the first floor or second at this moment, is not necessary to be revealed to the general public on a realtime basis.

Showing such news live, will be immensely useful only to terrorists and their supporters outside.
Consider this. The commandos only know that the militants are somewhere inside the hotel, but the militants know everything about the movements and positions of their pursuers through TV.
Like:

# Who is on their trail (Army/ NSG/ local police, etc)
# What is their ETA (estimated time of arrival), which tells them, how much time they have before a gun battle would begin)
# Where they are right now, at the main entrance/ just entered their floor
# How is the world responding? Is there pressure mounting on the government to succumb to the demands of terrorists to get the hostages freed (so that they can act tough during negotiation)?
# How many of their friends are alive or dead (so that they can assess their strength)?
# What has been the impact of their strike-how many police and civilian dead, the current morale of police, who all as been detained/suspected?
# Live visuals of the street-to assess a possible escape strategy
# What information about them the outside world has (which floor they are in, their head count etc. And much more…

In my view, all this information, while useful to viewers and relatives of victims, also helps the terrorists/ militants to consolidate their position and pose a greater challenge to commandos trying to hunt them down and/ or rescue the hostages.

Why is our media helping them by airing live all the sensitive information about the anti terror operations?

The common man does not need to know them on a live basis.

Can’t the information & broadcasting ministry think of banning live reporting during a hostage crisis? Let the channels air the news with a delay of few hours, so that the police and security agencies will have a lead time of few hours, wherein terrorists would be as equally uninformed as they are.

Please note that I am not advocating censorship. I am all for free speech and expression. What I am proposing, is that security agencies should have the power to impose a delay of say three to six hours w.r.t live reporting of anti terror operations.

Let the TV channels record whatever they want, but they should be aired only after a gap of few hours. I do not think anyone loses anything with this.

The movie A Wednesday also shares same opinion. I feel the good old days of oncein a day news bulletin was far better.

What do you think?

(This post is dedicated to all the brave police officials and innocent civilians who lost their lives in yesterday’s terror attack in Bombay)

Where is thackery now ?? after mumbai mayhem, Raj and his pseudo feelings

Raj and his pseudo feelings. Where is Raj Thackeray & his ‘brave’ sena? Forget about he supporting the country, he didn’t even come to save his own state/city. Over 200 NSG from all parts of the country including Bihar and no Marathi Manoos, have been fighting to take terrorists out of Mumbai. Isn’t it ironic that when we required him and his ’sena’ the most, he was no where to be seen? Hitting on gullible poor Indians, this is the true face of his politics. Use ’solvable’ NON-issues to politicize his career.

Poor Raj

Where is his face now in the midst of all the chaos the mumbai has been under the last 4 days ?? What will he say now?? when the National Security Guard (NSG) with all its commandos came in to rescue the Hotels. They hardly cared about their lives as they fought not just for their countrymen but also for the foreigners saving the country some pride from this adverse situation...

Now it seems hez blaming the NCP Govt. for sending the Mumbaikar - Kakre, vijay and all for sending them to rescue foreigners from the Islamist terrorists The article in zeenews

How easily would his ’sena’ would come and bash people for buying greeting cards on Valentine’s day, his men would bash outsiders for ‘working’ in Maharashtra and now when his own people were brutally murdered, he has no qualms and watches TV in the comfort of his luxury home.

Now as i wrote this article im hearing the news about the resignation of the home minister Shivraj Patil facing the intelligence lapse in mumbai. I seriously think that its time the UPA led govt. had to tighten its belt to curb the violence and peaking violence reaching newer highs everytime it strikes.

Indians fear Adiga's Revelation - Telegraph Reports

Indians fear Aravind Adiga's 'The White Tiger' says too much about them - Telegraph reports

Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger was praised for highlighting the injustices and poverty present in the rapidly changing India when it won the Man Booker Prize, but now many Indian critics have expressed outrage at the judges' decision.

Many Indians feel that Aravind Adiga's Booker Prize winning novel - The White Tiger - presents their country in a poor light Photo: EPA

For some, Adiga's savage indictment of the way the rich treat the servant class panders to western prejudices.

"I felt the book took us back three decades," said folk art expert Ritu Sethi. "It had every stereotype going in it. The BBC used to show nothing but cows on the roads for years. We're back to that with this book."

Others criticised the novel for being dull and demeaning. Author and playwright Manjula Padmanabhan dismissed it as "a tedious, unfunny slog".

She agreed that much of the recent hype about India as an emerging superpower was dishonest and complacent but asked: "Is this schoolboyish sneering the best that we can do?"

Having bought the book, affluent Indians may shift uncomfortably in their seats. The daily inhumanity shown by the rich towards their domestic staff in The White Tiger is something of which many will realise they too are guilty.

The fearful crime which the protagonist Balram Halwai commits will send a frisson of fear up their spines.

Adiga says the Indian middle class is paranoid about servants and their "laziness", "greed" and "thieving" tendencies but expresses amazement that, given the huge disparities of wealth, so few actually commit any crime.

"Look at the intimate access that servants have to their masters in their homes, and yet there are very few murders or attacks. But that doesn't reassure the middle class. It is becoming more insecure than before because it is richer now and has more to lose," says Adiga.

The White Tiger marks a new departure in India by portraying the emotions, sorrows, and aspirations of the hitherto invisible poor. For Adiga, his achievement is capturing "something new" in India, a stirring, a glimmer of a refusal by the poor to accept the fate ordained for them by their masters.

But this flicker of an "awakening" does not mean the end of the current social order where the poor slave 24/7 as cooks, cleaners, drivers, nannies and maids so that the well off can feel comfortable.

"The system is beginning to deteriorate but it remains. It will remain, but with higher levels of crime and lower levels of security," says Adiga.

The author looks at India with the perspective both of an insider, having grown up in India, and as outsider, having emigrated for years and then returned.

"As an immigrant in the US and England, I was an outsider. I spent a lot of time being confused, trying to figure things out. That was how I understood how Indian villagers feel when they move to the big cities for work," Adiga says.

William Green, former Time Asia Edior understands why the book has raised Indian hackles. "It is an unsettling novel, it touches very raw nerves, but I think he captures the complexity and subtlety of India in fiction in a way that you don't see in journalism," he says.

For some Indians, The White Tiger is an appalling regression. Just when they thought they had finally shed the old image of India as a land of poverty, cows and snakecharmers and started being respected as a hi-tech, prosperous nation, along comes Adiga to, as it were, rub their noses in the dirt again.

"I used to hate Naipaul for talking contemptuously about India, about how cleaners mop the floor in restaurants by crouching and moving like crabs and all that talk about Indians defecating in the open," said a freelance editor, Anjali Kapoor. "Adiga is the same, focussing on everything that is bad and disgusting."

Sourav Ganguly: Victim of a revenge cult - cricketnext.com

Unjustified criticism is a popular media pastime in most parts of the world. Knock over the hero image and belittle his or her achievements by humiliating their performances.

The more public it is the better for those would-be assassins who, for the sake of stirring controversy have the comfort of their offices or studios in which to sit and fire sniper-like vitriol at the intended victim.

It was in early December 2004 during the Kanpur Test that involved South Africa when NDTV asked me to become involved in a discussion on Sourav Ganguly, his perceived lack of form as well as leadership skills.

The way questions were posed brought the realisation that on the other side was a hit squad with an obvious grudge against Ganguly. It also made me wonder why I had been asked to take part in this show and in the firing line of Raj Singh Dungarpur, who came across as someone who didn't enjoy the Ganguly style at all.

Maybe because articles I had written much earlier, as well as those during the 2003-04 Australia tour for the Indian Express, had praised Dada and the way he had not backed off from a challenge against the Australians on that tour.

It has rarely ceased to surprise me that in the past fifty years or more, how players who have performed well for their country have been ridiculed by those who have not played a club game let alone a Ranji Trophy match or in a Test. Yet they sit and pontificate as though they have scored over 6,000 Test runs and taken more than 100 wickets.

There was also an awful feeling earlier this year in Sri Lanka that there were those media types who wanted Ganguly to fail. Want to point fingers and loudly say, "We told you... We told you... He is finished. Good... Good. Get rid of him now; forever."

Yet this was in a three-match Test series where most batsmen, not only Ganguly, fudged their lines against mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan.

In Port Elizabeth, before the start of the fractious second Test of India's 2001 tour of South Africa, and following the defeat in Bloemfontein after centuries by Sachin Tendulkar and that on debut by Virender Sehwag, I asked Ganguly about the enraged reaction in India to that particular defeat.

He was precise in his comments by saying he did not worry what his critics felt, or would say, or likely to say as they would not change their criticism even if India had won that first Test.

As with the NDTV episode with Dungapur, you felt they want him to fail, so that they could get out their rusty sabres and use his back as their personal dart board.

Forgotten is how months earlier he had defied a rampant Australian attack by scoring 144 in the first Test in Brisbane: walking out to bat with the top-order a mess at 62-3, Tendulkar lbw to Jason Gillespie for a duck, and later 127-4. But India still managed a first innings lead because of his century.

Also forgotten is how he led India to a World Cup final in South Africa when there are those on the subcontinent who wanted India to win but Ganguly to fail. The poison from that defeat in the final, it seems, still flows as swiftly as the Hooghly River.

What has been amusing in this latest Ganguly episode is how newspapers run interviews on half-baked supposed comments and offer them as being genuine. Anyone who stooped to this level to sell papers should be asked to account for his honesty. In another country, his job might be on the line.

All Dada can do here is refute the allegations that he made such comments while the reporter now has a credibility problem. What is known is that he has long been the fall guy when it comes to India's middle-order failures and you don't need the former captain to tell you that. It has been a known fact for a long time.

Now joining those snipers is some typically bad-mouthing Aussie who is doing his own ludicrous pantomime act.

To suggest that Ganguly had indulged in time wasting is an excuse for ignorance of the laws. The Channel Nine loud mouth overlooked that there were no overs lost, despite the interruptions. So why the fuss?

That the target was an impossible one is overlooked by such media bullies who snarl and snap when they can't get their way and attempt caricature humour to make a non-valid point.
How many Aussies in the past have also been involved in such a tactic to prevent defeat? Memories of a Perth Test against New Zealand in December 2001 resurface. Apart from several appalling umpiring decisions, they were calling for gloves and pads and other time-wasting tactic they could conjure.

The Kiwis didn't grumble, but you knew they weren't too happy either. There was Aussie criticism of Steven Fleming's plus 300-minute long century; no praise either for Daniel Vettori and his six wickets in the first innings that helped the Kiwis a good first innings lead. No honesty among thieves.

What needs to be appreciated here is that there is far, far more to Ganguly's style of play than statistical jargon and metaphorical branding.

He needs neither a register of meaningless allegories nor statistical lists that categorise who he is and from where he comes.

Yet for some peculiar reason, universally the Indian media, always seeking new cult heroes outside the outlandish tinsel confines of Bollywood, have this arcane obsession to indulge in such inane metaphors and clichés when discussing a man whose individual stylish left-hand batsmanship as well as leadership showed that Indians can take on the bullies from Down Under and elsewhere.

Those so fond of rehashing the meaningless 'Lord Snooty' as a way to unjustly caricature and pillory the man, or Prince of Calcutta to explain his elegant strokeplay, fail to understand his innate competitive drive.

There have been times when watching him place a cover drive suggests the soft growl of a Bengal tiger on the prowl. Here there is the impression of his sensing the mood of the bowler and by scoring a boundary in such a way it evokes an instinctive habit of his stalking of the bowler, seeking to hunt down the next ball as well.

There is a finesse about the Ganguly cover drive that hints how its execution is unique; it has nothing to do with textbook technique but his style of adventurism. He has had that trendy manner since before he was selected 16 years ago and sent to Australia.

Yet as he is about to say adieu to a Test career, Ganguly deserves fresh descriptions and a new landscape as a tribute to his skills and leadership: not old clichés or tired metaphors that have long failed to describe his style of game or intense personality.

There was agony in Australia in 1991-92 where he was largely misunderstood by a self-indulgent team management system; then a heroic debut century at Lord's a little more than four years later. These are all part of the often haphazard journey.

It is one though that deserves a far better epithet than it is receiving from a malevolent sniping media.

Tribute to Saurav Ganguly - The prince of the cricketing world

Its always very easy to give up. all u've to say is 'I quit' and that's
all there is to it. the hard part is to carry on..


They say, there are few men every now and then after whom
the world will be changed forever
proud I am to see such a man in my lifetime
so virtuous and passion personified

To him winning is everything
The ever spirited fighter who lives his dreams
Rising often from the ruins with a never-say-die attitude
pushing his own limits, erasing his boundaries

the elegant strokes he played
And the powerful hooks he swayed
Throwing the bowlers tottering in tantrums
As a cold-blooded predator prying its Prey

so relentless are his display of courage, exuberance and style
A prodigy of valour whose contribution to the game will be ever lived
His aggression is synonyms with his name
whose eternal grandeur can never be quashed as his fame

The Bengal tiger snarls a little
while all those who faces him runs belittle
so powerfully he hits the balls
that dreadfully thumps into the foemen's walls.

An innate leader with a unique calibre
That made him the best ever a country can have
Who faces the victories in par with the loss
Even when all his works gone for a toss.

One cannot forget the blistering innings he played
Both with his contemporaries and critics
The all-round performances he displayed
That only goes to show his commitment to the game

But nothing was smooth for this storm rider
who has been the man of action both on and off the field
For a man who suffered the most due to politics and policies
He endured the most and still inspired a lot to who me meant something

Such a quality he possessed as a sportsman
whose willow speaks more than his words
Though his critics found it hard to swallow
He is the man the cricketing fraternity can never forget

For every fall he had, he bounced back and made his mark
The harder he hit, he hit back
If only the jokers had known they can't stop the shining sun with their bare hands
For it only grows with time..

He is simply a man out of time
whose integrity has been tested more than a time
have we honored him enough and gave him the respect he deserved ??
We cannot help but vacuously wondering why ??

will time heal the wounds he suffered
will the pain of the scars he bears ever abate
Only time will tell what remains to be seen
for we all know he is a fighter with a never ceasing attitude

An emotive final that he ever played
Awaits him amidst his protagonists and admirers
the greatest gladiator of our times
who resurrects himself every time out of nowhere

Its very unfortunate for him to call it quits and ever retire
a whole new conspiracy in its own attire
as the curtains draws for a final time in nagpur
Herez me wishing him. may a new life dawns on him altogether

the man of unquestionable integrity, commitment and passion
that had made him to the lords hall of fame
the ruthless display of him swaying his shirt
again only goes to show his aggression and passion for the game

He greatly inspires everyone with his flamboyance
and the remarkable display he exhibited as a scrapper
That makes everyone learn the lesson: No matter how harder you are hit,
The harder u push, the harder u can hit back

A true believer of hard work, determination and courage
he is the infinite pond amidst the mirages
The undisputed DADA of the cricketing world,
The epochal prince of the modern day cricket

one would only run out of adjectives
for he is a finesse display of class and courage
Whose prodigious life is an inspiration to everyone
Sourav Ganguly - I bow to thee...

- Chuppandi

Billion Indians, but where are all their medals ??

Billion Indians, but where are all their medals? - Hamish McDonald Asia-Pacific Editor

THERE is something truly Olympian in the disdain that the country with the world's second-biggest population has shown for its lack of Olympic Games success.

China has gone to ridiculous excess in hosting the current Games, combining the fanaticism of a Maoist "rectification" drive with East German-style incubation of athletes in its drive to be top medal winner.

But what of the other emerging Asian giant, India, which has 1 billion people to select from. It has dazzling cricketers with the eye of Sachin Tendulkar; thousands of village wrestlers; shooters expert at shikar (hunting); and horsemen who can skewer a tent-peg at full gallop.

Yet it usually manages to bring home only one medal per Olympic Games. Consistently, India throws out the modelling by economists at PricewaterhouseCoopers that postulates a link between population size and economic growth.

Only twice has India won two medals. First was in Paris in 1900, but that was by an English sahib named Norman Pritchard who received silver in the 200-metre dash and 200-metre hurdles. The second was in Helsinki in 1952 when wrestler Khashaba Jadav won a bronze, in addition to the routine gold for field hockey.

The run of hockey wins, which reaped all of India's gold medals until now, came to an end 28 years ago. This week, shooter Abhinav Bindra became his country's first individual Olympic gold medallist, winning the 10-metre air rifle event.

India, almost alone in the world, seems to apply the notion that sport is all about participation, not winning - the Kiplingesque adage that it doesn't matter if you win or lose, but how you play the game - and all that. Behind the sportsmanship, however is some grinding of teeth.

Rajeev Srinivasan wrote on the rediff.com website: "I am always embarrassed by India's wretched showing in the Olympics, which is a metaphor for the two things that haunt India: lack of a strategic intent, and lack of leadership. It is not that Indians are physically weak or incapable of competing at Olympic levels: in many sports at the junior level, Indians do very well indeed. The failure is in developing that early promise …

"One failure is in identifying an overarching goal: that of being the best in the world. This is an implicit assumption made by Americans: that America is the best of the best. Similarly, China has historically viewed itself as the Middle Kingdom and the centre of civilisation, deeming all others to be barbarians. But Indians have been content to be second-best, the sporting losers. We apparently do not believe we can win."

Shashi Tharoor, the novelist and former United Nations official, puts it even more starkly. "Every Indian who follows the Olympics has cringed scanning the daily list of medal winners, eyes travelling down past dozens of nations big and small before alighting on a solitary Indian bronze in tennis or wrestling," he wrote in his syndicated column this month.

"Worse yet, we have all known the shame of waiting day after day for India to appear on the list at all, as countries a hundredth our size record gold upon gold and Indian athletes are barely mentioned among the also-rans."

The excuses are many. Most of India's people live in villages, with poor nutrition and many illnesses and sports facilities are few. Only the wealthy, who traditionally supplied the cricketers and sportsmen such as Karni Singh, the Maharaja of Bikener who won a shooting bronze at Tokyo in 1964, had time and money for serious training.

The sporting bureaucracies are a byword for cronyism and freeloading, with the politics of the Board of Control for Cricket in India almost as intense as those for the national government.

Tharoor doesn't think failure is encoded in the Indian DNA. "Indian genes in a developing country did not prevent Vijay Singh emerging from Fiji to rival Tiger Woods as the best golfer in the world," he wrote.

"The newly globalised India can no longer content itself with mediocrity in this global competition. For a land with world-class computer scientists, mathematicians, biotech researchers, filmmakers and novelists, sporting excellence is the last unconquered frontier. But 2008 won't be the year in which that frontier is breached."

When it happens, something sort of noble will be lost.

Babies or guinea pigs?

Last week, newspapers reported that 49 babies below the age of 12 months have died at India’s best known medical institute, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences , better known by its acronym AIIMS. The babies have died since January 2006, following the administration of new drugs and therapies.

On Tuesday, August 26, AIIMS said that the drugs used for clinical trials were ’safe’. The institute also strongly refuted allegations that the children chosen for the drug trials were from a poor socio-economic background. Read the PTI report [via The Hindu] here.

News of the infants’ deaths was obtained under the Right to Information Act when Rahul Verma [pl read his comment to AW in the comments section] who is associated with a non-government organisation called the Uday Foundation for Congenital Defects and Rare Blood Groups applied for information on ongoing clinical trials at AIIMS.

What he found out: 4142 babies were registered by AIIMS for clinical trials; of these, 2728 were less than 12 months old. And 49 (or under 2 per cent) had died in the past 30 months. For the same period AIIMS conducted 42 trials in its paediatric department.

As with most things Indian, health minister Anbumani Ramadoss has called for an inquiry to be conducted by the AIIMS director. The findings are expected to be submitted within a week.

AIIMS doctors have been maintaining that the children who died were ’seriously ill’ and were not a part of the intervention programme.

Nevertheless, the deaths seem to have focussed attention on India’s booming outsourced clinical trial business. According to Rahul Verma there is urgent need to regulate India’s booming outsourced clinical trial business, which he pegs at $120 million for the last year and which he estimates is growing at a whopping 25 per cent annually.

“When you are not able to afford a particular treatment in a private health care centre you look forward to getting free medication in something like this,” Verma recently told AFP.

“We wanted to know what are the socioeconomic condition of these people? Are they given consent forms and counselling?”

Good questions. Some years ago, I was in Chennai visiting the facilities of an NGO that provided medical treatment — much of it free — to poor HIV positive patients. The NGO’s director freely admitted that many new drug trials were being conducted at her institute. All the patients, she pointed out, were given counselling and trails were conducted only after their consent had been obtained.

But to a poor man or woman who had been served a death warrant, the promise of a breakthrough by a new drug is too powerful to resist. Especially, when he or she cannot afford expensive anti-retroviral drugs required for the treament of HIV/AIDS

Verma said the hospital did not provide information on the incomes of the families in the infant trials.

Incidentally, a clinical trial conducted in India costs 40 to 60 per cent less than what it would in a developed country. According to consulting firm, Ernst & Young the outsourced clinical research market in India could grow to two billion dollars by 2010.

Ramadoss has promised legislation and regulation of these trials. But given India’s desperately poor population and the numbers that simply cannot afford treatment and medication, there are serious concerns and questions about the practice and ethics of clinical trials in this country.

What do you think?

On Musharraf's speech on PAK's Independence Day

I cannot help but laugh out-loud on hearing his comments. He surely seems so desperate to show his interst in his country by playing the cards so meanfully. By saying kashmir is in every pakistani's nerves, he surely will get on the nerves of the ruling govt. by saying this out-loud in a independence day speech he has not less than proved his credibility as another dictator of our times (The American being another)

this to his surprise is neither gonna buy him some time for his impeachment nor gonna earn him the respect of his own countrymen rather had only triggered the newdelhi responding in cold steel.

How could we've talked for the peace and unity of kashmir with this satan who says uniting kashmir with pak is embeded in the nerves of every pak's adding fuel to the burning fire...
i dont think this neither gonna help him nor his countrymen in improving their credibility with the world.


I think its time Pak stops thinking about India alone and rather concentrate on its own affairs (staking in aplenty)

7 reasons why the world will end on 21/12/2012...

Wonder if its true.... all is left to be seen :)

Scientific experts from around the world are genuinely predicting that five years from now, all life on Earth could well finish. Some are saying it'll be humans that set it off. Others believe that a natural phenomenon will be the cause. And the religious folks are saying it'll be God himself who presses the stop button...


1. Mayan Calendar



The first mob to predict 2012 as the end of the world were the Mayans, a bloodthirsty race that were good at two things:

Building highly accurate astrological equipment out of stone and
Sacrificing Virgins.

Thousands of years ago they managed to calculate the length of the lunar moon as 329.53020 days, only 34 seconds out. The Mayan calendar predicts that the Earth will end on December 21, 2012. Given that they were pretty close to the mark with the lunar cycle, it's likely they've got the end of the world right as well.

2. Sun Storms



Solar experts from around the world monitoring the sun have made a startling discovery: our sun is in a bit of strife. The energy output of the sun is, like most things in nature, cyclic, and it's supposed to be in the middle of a period of relative stability. However, recent solar storms have been bombarding the Earth with so much radiation energy, it's been knocking out power grids and destroying satellites. This activity is predicted to get worse, and calculations suggest it'll reach its deadly peak sometime in 2012

3. The Atom Smasher

Scientists in Europe have been building the world's largest particle accelerator. Basically its a 27km tunnel designed to smash atoms together to find out what makes the Universe tick. However, the mega-gadget has caused serious concern, with some scientists suggesting that it's properly even a bad idea to turn it on in the first place. They're predicting all manner of deadly results, including mini black holes. So when this machine is fired up for its first serious experiment in 2012, the world could be crushed into a super-dense blob the size of a basketball.

4. The Bible says...

If having scientists warning us about the end of the world isn't bad enough,religious folks are getting in on the act aswell. Interpretations of the Christian Bible reveal that the date for Armageddon, the final battle between Good an Evil, has been set down for 2012. The I Ching, also known as the Chinese book of Changes, says the same thing, as do various sections of the Hindu teachings.

5. Super Volcano



Yellowstone National Park in the United States is famous for its thermal springs and Old Faithful geyser. The reason for this is simple - it's sitting on top of the world's biggest volcano, and geological experts are beginning to get nervous sweats. The Yellowstone volcano has a pattern of erupting every 650,000 years or so, and we're many years overdue for an explosion that will fill the atmosphere with ash, blocking the sun and plunging the Earth into a frozen winter that could last up to 15,000 years. The pressure under the Yellowstone is building steadily, and geologists have set 2012 as a likely date for the big bang.

6. The Physicists

This one's case of bog-simple maths mathematics. Physicists at Berekely Uni have been crunching the numbers. and they've determined that the Earth is well overdue for a major catastrophic event. Even worse, they're claiming their calculations prove, that we're all going to die, very soon - while also saying their prediction comes with a certainty of 99 percent- and 2012 just happens to be the best guess as to when it occurs.

7. Slip-Slop-Slap-BANG!

We all know the Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that sheilds us from most of the sun's radiation. What you might not know is that the magnetic poles we call north and south have a nasty habit of swapping places every 750,000 years or so - and right now we're about 30,000 years overdue. Scientists have noted that the poles are drifting apart roughly 20-30kms each year, much faster than ever before, which points to a pole-shift being right around the corner. While the pole shift is underway, the magnetic field is disrupted and will eventually disappear, sometimes for up to 100 years. The result is enough UV outdoors to crisp your skin in seconds, killing everything it touches.

Why India will beat China ?

An excellent article discussing India's real strength and weakness.. Read it from Buisness week...

BusinessWeek - By William Nobrega

An entrenched and vibrant democracy will ultimately drive India to outperform China socially and economically

Authoritarian regimes often yield impressive short-term economic results, as seen in Germany in the 1930s, the Soviet Union in the 1950s, Brazil in the 1960s, and China in the 1990s. Unencumbered by such things as property rights, legal recourse, and public debate, the authoritarian regime can harness significant economic and political resources to create impressive industrial and economic feats.

Conversely, democratic regimes tend to be sloppy affairs with loud public discourse, a vocal press, stubborn land owners, and a myriad of civil liberties. Far from being able to harness economic resources, the government often must act more as a regulator. The result is that there are very few grandiose government-sponsored projects. Instead, there are countless private-sector initiatives driven by the invisible hand of the market. While the authoritarian regime is envied by some, the fact is that longer term, this type of socioeconomic model has typically led to economic and social distortions.

That is the dilemma that China faces today. Since the 1980s, the Chinese government has focused on developing an export-driven economy supported by an artificially undervalued currency. Foreign direct investment was encouraged while domestic consumption was limited. Massive infrastructure projects were initiated, fueled by a growing trade surplus, with cities sprouting up in the hinterlands like some mythical phoenix. For years, the Chinese economy benefited from these policies with double-digit gross domestic product growth, vast foreign currency reserves, and ever increasing capital inflows.

Inflation Could Spark Social Unrest

But now the economic and social distortions have begun to appear with rising inflation rates, numerous asset bubbles, looming overcapacity, and rampant institutionalized corruption. The Chinese government finds itself in a quandary. If the government allows its currency to rapidly appreciate to reduce inflation it will drive down exports and fuel unemployment. If it fails to quell inflation, social unrest will quickly unfold.

But even if the hare is running into obstacles of its own design, how will it give India the competitive edge? The advantage comes in the form of an entrenched and vibrant democracy that will ultimately drive India to outperform China socially and economically. Messy, frustrating, and more often than not agonizingly slow, India's democracy would seem to be chaotic at the surface. But if you look deeper you will quickly see why the tortoise will win this race. Let's take a look at two of the major advantages that India's democracy provides:

• Property Rights: As India becomes urbanized many families will choose to sell or borrow against their land so that they can start businesses, buy apartments, or provide education opportunities for their children. India is at the beginning of a gradual migration that is being driven by the development of high-end manufacturing and other sunrise industries that will require a vast pool of semiskilled and skilled labor. This migration will create an increasingly urban India that is expected to attract more than 200 million rural inhabitants to urban centers by 2025, primarily in what are known as secondary or "B & C" cities.

This transition will facilitate the sale of land holdings by an estimated 30 million farmers and 170 million other individuals indirectly tied to the agricultural sector. The sale of these holdings is expected to generate more than $1 trillion in capital by 2025. This capital will have a multiplier effect on the Indian economy that could exceed $3 trillion. The development of the mortgage-backed security and asset-backed security markets, driven by financial institutions like Citigroup (C), will create the liquidity required to free up this capital.

China, by contrast, has no rural property rights. China's 750 million rural residents who lease land are at the mercy of the local and regional government as to what compensation they will receive, if any, when they are forced from the land as a result of development, infrastructure improvements, etc. Additionally they have no right to borrow against their lease, and as such they have no assets. In fact, the Chinese government's official figures state that more than 200,000 hectares of rural land are taken from rural residents every year with little or no compensation. According to some estimates, between 1992 and 2005 20 million farmers were evicted from agriculture due to land acquisition, and between 1996 and 2005 more than 21% of arable land in China has been put to non-agriculture use.

The result is not unexpected, with over 87,000 mass incidents (or riots) reported in 2005, a 50% increase from 2003. Many provincial governments in China have begun to use plainclothes policemen to beat, intimidate, or otherwise subdue any peasant that dares to oppose these land grabs. And, as would be expected, the beneficiaries from these policies are developers and corrupt government officials.

• Rule of Law: The rule of law is a fundamental cornerstone of any modern society. India has a legal system that has been in place for well over 100 years. This legal system is internationally respected and includes laws that protect intellectual property as well as physical property. The rule of law creates predictability and stability that allows entrepreneurial behavior to flourish. This is clearly evident in India, with more than 6,000 companies listed in the stock exchanges, compared to approximately 2,000 in China. More telling is the fact that of the 6,000 listed companies in India only approximately 100 are state-owned. This stands in stark contrast to China, where more than 1,200 of the 2,000 companies listed on the exchanges are state-owned.

Can there be any doubt as to where the next Microsoft (MSFT) or Intel (INTC) will be created? Certainly not China!

More than 100 Indian companies that completed initial public offerings as midcap companies now have a market capitalization of over $1 billion. Companies such as Jet Airways (JET.BO), Bharti Tele-Ventures, Infosys Technologies (INFY), Reliance Communications (RLCM.BO), Tata Motors (TTM) (which just acquired Jaguar), Wipro Technologies (WIT), and Hindalco Industries (HALC.BO) are becoming multinational competitors with globally recognized brands. China also has numerous companies that have a market capitalization of over $1 billion, but the majority of these are state-owned behemoths recognized by their sheer size and not their nimbleness.

When the rule of law is recognized by investors and foreign companies as something that is beyond question it serves to facilitate additional investments in research and development. For instance, 150 of the top global multinationals now have research and development bases in India. Additionally the U.S. Food & Drug Administration has certified more companies in India then in any other country outside the U.S., a testament to the innovation that free markets and the rule of law foster.

Little Protection for IP in China

China has a legal system that does little to protect intellectual and physical property rights, a fact highlighted in the 2007 edition of the International Property Rights Index, which ranks China with Nigeria in protecting intellectual property rights. In fact, China's illegal copying of movies, music, and software cost companies $2.2 billion in 2006 sales, according to an estimate by lobby groups representing Microsoft, Walt Disney (DIS), and Vivendi (VIV.PA). This figure may in fact be understated as it does not include pirated products that have been shipped to overseas markets by government-controlled Chinese companies.

The rule of law when applied evenly and justly in a democratic society also helps to ensure that wealth accumulation does not favor those individuals in political office or individuals connected to those in political office.

Democracy is a messy thing, especially when you have an electorate that exceeds 600 million people who are motivated to vote. However, democracy also helps to ensure that individual liberties are respected and that the government is responsive and beholden to the will of the people, rich or poor. A democracy also ensures accountability through impartial courts that help enforce and protect such things as property rights, environmental rights, human rights, and good governance.

India's democracy is far from perfect, but it is also quite young, and as incomes rise and the populace becomes more informed we can expect that India's government institutions will become more responsive and transparent.

And what about the hare? Consider this fact: A recent survey found that of the 20,000 richest men in China, more than 95% were directly related to Communist party officials. Where would you place your bet?

Copyright 2000-2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.

Provided by BusinessWeek

Global warming and the climate of

“It does, however, seem difficult to believe that our species, that has dominated the planet for a relatively short period of time, could have such a huge impact on our planet’s climate, whilst the Sun, the most massive body in the solar system whose influence dominates our planet, could have such little impact.”

So concludes Jeremy Dunning-Davies at the University of Hull in the UK in a paper discussing the various possible causes of climate change, including the influence of the Sun.

Dunning-Davies also says that a climate of fear has descended over the global warming issue that makes it hard to debate the science behind it in a reasonable way.

That’s a sorry state of affairs. Partly because the alternative hypothesis must alway be given the oxygen of open discussion. But not least because it means we’re going to miss something important when somebody, somewhere is afraid to speak up at the right time.

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/0806.3418:

Some Comments on the Possible Causes of Climate Change

of The Trust Vote Debate and the last lap of UPA...

I had grabbed every chance i had to watch the trust vote debate held last week following the crisis the congresshad to face in pursuing the Nuclear Deal. As advani had said clearly in the debate replying to pranab mukerjeescomments "IF you are in this state its because of yourself not because of us as pranab complaines. You wereonly trying to convince left to save the government and never at any point you considered conveying an all-partymeeting on a strategic Deal involving national security by putting it to risk for the years to come. Instead ofdoing so u convened a Left-UPA meeting only to convince left which apperantly you failed to"

I felt jolted as to why cant they atleast act like matured politicians unlike their state members. Should theycontine doing so by criticizing within themselves putting the nation under risk. Manmohan had surely took thischance to show the politician in all his acts which surprised evem the UPA ppl. Atleast the argument could've been decent without any personal attacks. which had been exchanged equally between both the sides amid the quarellingfuckers (i mean it) constantly shouting without a point...

However the Speaker deserves a salute in conducting the proceeding in a dignified manner even with the heart-pumpingMoney-for-vote scandal extravaganza.. many parties and even media complained of ethics and cried of pollutingthe assembly's ethnicity by showing money in the assembly... i donno why they can't show it in there.. if whatthey showed is true PM surely doesn't deserves right even to live.. Im sure both the sides would've been involved in the so called Horse trading but this is absurd... chaotic, pulling off such a thing could only worsenthe pm's state in the current state of affair of rising inflation, insecurity due to the recent bombings, scamsetc.,

appart from these i think most of the proceedings were a delight to watch... be it Omar's inspiring speech, advani'spiercing attach on PM (also personally), Pranab's conter attacks, rahuls maiden speech, CPMs new found flaws in the government, had pm maintained his dignity by avoiding personal counterattcks on Mr. Advani, it would've beenadvantage UPA. Now being won the trust vote by a undpredicted margin, it had only worsen its already shatteredimage in the country.

Now having won the trust vote, the UPA has got its last (Lost) opportunity to correct its course and sail completelyin the opposite direction atleast by completing its promises like loan waiver ( which is in troubled waters), Controlling inflation even at the cost of rising fuel prices, compromising the nuke-deal but the cons seemed to weigh morethan its earlier counter part, having only its supporters yet undependable allys viz sp, amarsingh, mulayam et al.they only enjoy the backup whereas they've got to restructure heavily to accomodate their new found ministers likeshibu soren, amarsingh and almost every individual seemed had wanted a piece of the cake, DMK drivng sethu deal as itspart and mulayam being won its ally back for the next election, it seems the going can only get tougher for the UPA

having depleted on every section of its boat the government seems to be on troubled waters what it can achieve in itslast lap is left to be seen as the whole nation watches including the to-be-pm...

of The Trust Vote Debate and the last lap of UPA...

I had grabbed every chance i had to watch the trust vote debate held last week following the crisis the congresshad to face in pursuing the Nuclear Deal. As advani had said clearly in the debate replying to pranab mukerjeescomments "IF you are in this state its because of yourself not because of us as pranab complaines. You wereonly trying to convince left to save the government and never at any point you considered conveying an all-partymeeting on a strategic Deal involving national security by putting it to risk for the years to come. Instead ofdoing so u convened a Left-UPA meeting only to convince left which apperantly you failed to"

I felt jolted as to why cant they atleast act like matured politicians unlike their state members. Should theycontine doing so by criticizing within themselves putting the nation under risk. Manmohan had surely took thischance to show the politician in all his acts which surprised evem the UPA ppl. Atleast the argument could've been decent without any personal attacks. which had been exchanged equally between both the sides amid the quarellingfuckers (i mean it) constantly shouting without a point...

However the Speaker deserves a salute in conducting the proceeding in a dignified manner even with the heart-pumpingMoney-for-vote scandal extravaganza.. many parties and even media complained of ethics and cried of pollutingthe assembly's ethnicity by showing money in the assembly... i donno why they can't show it in there.. if whatthey showed is true PM surely doesn't deserves right even to live.. Im sure both the sides would've been involved in the so called Horse trading but this is absurd... chaotic, pulling off such a thing could only worsenthe pm's state in the current state of affair of rising inflation, insecurity due to the recent bombings, scamsetc.,

appart from these i think most of the proceedings were a delight to watch... be it Omar's inspiring speech, advani'spiercing attach on PM (also personally), Pranab's conter attacks, rahuls maiden speech, CPMs new found flaws in the government, had pm maintained his dignity by avoiding personal counterattcks on Mr. Advani, it would've beenadvantage UPA. Now being won the trust vote by a undpredicted margin, it had only worsen its already shatteredimage in the country.

Now having won the trust vote, the UPA has got its last (Lost) opportunity to correct its course and sail completelyin the opposite direction atleast by completing its promises like loan waiver ( which is in troubled waters), Controlling inflation even at the cost of rising fuel prices, compromising the nuke-deal but the cons seemed to weigh morethan its earlier counter part, having only its supporters yet undependable allys viz sp, amarsingh, mulayam et al.they only enjoy the backup whereas they've got to restructure heavily to accomodate their new found ministers likeshibu soren, amarsingh and almost every individual seemed had wanted a piece of the cake, DMK drivng sethu deal as itspart and mulayam being won its ally back for the next election, it seems the going can only get tougher for the UPA

having depleted on every section of its boat the government seems to be on troubled waters what it can achieve in itslast lap is left to be seen as the whole nation watches including the to-be-pm...