RaviSez

Richard Dawkins - The Root of All Evil

2006-10-23T17:01:00.000-05:00

Calling religion the root of all evil is bold in today's age: one automatically turns the majority of the world against oneself. This is a two part series in which Ricahrd Dawkins examines religion as it stands in today's deeply religious America. He travels to Israel and Palestine territories. In some segments he comes of as an evanagalist for Athiesm. I say this not in a bad way. I hold Dawkins with the highest regards but my skeptisicm( of his approach, not athiesm) is deeply rooted in the way most athiests like me view many religions: live and let live. We are unlike people in airports trying to convert you, trying to spread the word of god. We do not care if the other person believes in Jesus, Allah, Rama or the FSM. We know we are right but do not see the harm caused by people living in delusion. We think it's infringing on the rights of other people if they choose to believe it. We are uncomfortable to disclose that we are athiests in polite company -- much like gays were ( or still are in places like India). There are very few flaming athiests like flaming gays that cry out loud. In short we do not like the attention. That's what seperates Dawkins from the rest of us. He is not willing to stop at telling himself there is no god. He deeply cares about the wedge that religion drives between reason and logic. He is passionately against indoctrinating children before they are old enough to choose their own god( or not).
Even when he is talking to supposed religious know-it-all leaders he is extremely calm and never agitated. There is one conversation with a man who is a passionate muslim preacher( he was born into Judaism in New York) in palestine. Dawkins tells him upfront that he is an athiest presumably trying to indicate that he has no motives against his issue. The reaction he elicits from the preacher is stunning: he hates him even more than he hates Jews. He launches into a tirade about why people like him( Dawkins) dress up their women as whores and parade them in the streets. To which Dawkins responds that they are not his women and it's upto the women to decide on how to dress. It's brave work -- watch it.

So you've screwed up. Now what?

2006-10-18T17:16:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I read this amazing incident in The New Yorker. Apparently, Steve Wynn --owner of the Wynn casino in Las Vegas, poked a hole with his elbow to La Reve, Picasso's painting of his mistress. He bought it for several million dollars and had just sold it to another art collector for $139 million. I called it an amazing incident not because of the extent of damage caused to the expensive painting; it was his reaction after the damage had been done. He had just lost several million dollars because of an accident and he was pretty cool about it. Later he took his friend's out to dinner:

A few hours later, they all met for dinner, and Wynn was in a cheerful mood. “My feeling was, It’s a picture, it’s my picture, we’ll fix it. Nobody got sick or died. It’s a picture. It took Picasso five hours to paint it.” Mary Boies ordered a six-litre bottle of Bordeaux, and when it was empty she had everyone sign the label, to commemorate the calamitous afternoon. Wynn signed it “Mary, it’s all about scale—Steve.”

That's it. He said, "Nobody got sick or died," when he had just poked a hole in a $139 million dollars painting. How cool is that? Is there a better way to handle an crises except when people are actually dying or getting sick? Isn't that the best answer for all the crises? You see what you can fix in a bad situation and then move on. I like this Steve Wynn guy.

There's no fall in Chicago

2006-10-02T17:56:00.000-05:00

Weather's changing: time to dust that coat
long cold nights pushing the days
this october or any for that matter
the start warm, the end frozen
summer leaves like the train you see
trying to catch it out of breath
with a big white X painted behind.

Game in disrepute

2006-08-26T17:48:00.000-05:00

Cricketers are often charged with an offense called: 'Bringing the game into disrepute'. Usually, it's for something like excessive appealing, questioning the umpire when the batsman thinks he's wrongly given out among others. But isn't it funny that the officials never ever charged with bringing the game into disrepute? What bigger blemish on cricket than an umpire blackmailing the Cricket's Institution to leave the game? Is the game more tainted than racism being as the reason for decisions taken on the field? Who will frame charges of bringing the game into disrespute on the officials who believe they are be-all and end-all of the game?

It's all about the umpire: Part2

2006-08-20T19:07:00.000-05:00

I really have a problem with the umpire lording over the proceedings. The players are expected to grovel when they give bone-headed decisions and just walk away even without a hint of as much as shaking their heads. I've blooged about it here, earlier when Steve Bucknor thought he was all the rage.
Now, Darell Hair is somebody who is always in the news for more than what he should be doing. He too seems to have a problem about realizing who the crowds to come to watch the game. In pointing a finger at the Pakistan team without any proof, making a unilateral decision without as much as consulting the fielding team or warning them is absolutely disgraceful. Pakistan team has every right in protesting and not taking the field. But I know what will happen. The ICC will further give a free ride to it's umpires, dock the Pakistani team and the board some fines and keep everything normal.

Anil Kumble Circle

2006-08-12T15:36:00.000-05:00

Apparently there's Anil Kumble Circle in Bangalore. Given the way he bowls, I'm guessing it's just a straight road...

[Photo courtesy from here. Please let me know if it's a copyrighted image.]

There's a lot of happiness coming my way

2006-06-14T15:05:00.000-05:00

Given that most young people are broke, scampering for relationships, and studying algebra that most of them will find useless later in life, you wouldn't think they are the happiest people. Now researchers agree. Aaah, how I look forward to my retirement and play Bingo.

Stephen Hawking says

2006-06-14T12:51:00.000-05:00

Get ready to Star trek.

Link via [Instapundit]

To call a spade, a spade

2006-06-14T11:31:00.000-05:00

is probably the most difficult thing in modern life. I really don't care if politicians ban english rhymes in Bihar as posted here in India Uncut, because politicians are always banning one thing or another. For example, there's a ban on foie gras in my city Chicago and you can read all about it here. The problem is with stupid people thinking one can change status quo by resorting to euphimisms like calling a black sheep, a rainbow sheep and such as reported here. What's the point of that? To make black sheep feel better about themselves?

Link via [India Uncut]

Anil Kumble - Still unsung

2006-06-14T07:28:00.000-05:00

I've wanted for so long to write a post about Kumble and kept putting it off. Then I remembered reading this post a while ago, by one of my favourite bloggers Jai and I couldn't have said it better. He wrote,

Eight other bowlers have 400+ Test wickets. Their names are: Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, Courtney Walsh, Wasim Akram, Kapil Dev, Richard Hadlee, Curtly Ambrose, Glenn McGrath. Of these, a black mark has often been put against Muralitharan’s name -- but that’s because of the perceived illegitimacy of his bowling action, not on the grounds of talent/ability/achievement. The rest? Read the list again.

The point of that post was how under appreciated Kumble was inspite of all his achievments. That was when he went past 400. Like a champion marathon runner overtaking the ones in front of him, he went past Akram, Hadlee, Kapil Dev, Ambrose, and now, Walsh. So apart from the contemporeries McGrath, Murali and Warne, there is no one ahead of him. Anybody notice a difference recently?

Blog direction

2006-06-13T16:49:00.000-05:00

There you go...the interface is all jazzed up -- I even took the time to put in some code to change how it looks. Much to do, but looks good for now. I hope to update the content regularly as well. It's easy to fall prey to laziness and not update the blog, a certain way to turn-off traffic( I am not sure, if there was traffic before, but with this internet thing, you can never be sure).

That leaves me to give direction to this blog. And I assure you there is some brainstorming going on.

There's an old woman in the phone.

2006-06-09T22:41:00.000-05:00

Coming soon....A Chaperone service!!! From your local mobile phone company. What's the question again? Umm...was it, What do you do when the teen daughter simply switches of the phone? I don't know. May be you should ask the braniacs at Verizon.

A chance to redeem himself

2006-03-21T08:49:00.000-06:00

Almost a year ago, I wrote a post about Tendulkar's opportunity to do what Gavaskar couldn't complete -- winning an test within inches from defeat. Tendulkar couldn't deliver then, neither could the rest of the Indian team. The current test in Mumbai offers him a fresh chance: to redeem himself in front of his home crowd that was thoroughly dissatisfied with him. I, for one, do not believe he got boo-ed in Mumbai like the media says and would rather go with a more credible source, who was actually in the stands and wrote this. Indian cricket followers aren't that naive; they just do not diss the man. Granted, they might have been waiting for so long for him to perform in front of them and when the time did come, and the man tottered around for half hour scoring one run and getting out, they have every reason to throw a fit. But still he's their lad, somebody they've seen him perform for more than half of his life span.

So here's a chance to shut his detractors up. He doesn't have to make a century or score the winning runs. But a fair contribution and that's all the fans ask for. Now, what is fair contribution? We'll see about that tomorrow.

Adios, Laxman!

2006-03-17T22:37:00.000-06:00

I am a little saddened to see Laxman left out for the match today. I think that's the end of his career. The next series is a while away and I don't think he stands a chance. Kaif will be picked when the team gets back to the six specialist batsmen mode. There is very little Laxman did wrong in the past few months and to see him out of the team is agonizing.

The second best? I don't think so.

2006-03-17T21:55:00.000-06:00

Only when I was going through an scorecard for this match that was played in the Steel plant colony in Vizag, that I realized that Rahul Dravid played in it and that I might have seen him play in that match. Little did I realilze then, that a future Indian captain went unnoticed and he would go on to play hundred test matches; that match was all about Anil Kumble who we were all excited to see because he had already made a debut with the Indian team. A few years later I saw him on TV playing in what I think was the first champions trophy; this time it was all about Vikram Rathore, the golden boy at that time who stole the limelight and who played a test before Dravid did. Dravid debuted in the next test along with his pal Saurav Ganguly; now it's Saurav's turn to steal the thunder with a debut century and Dravid missed the mark by five runs. I think there are several occassions of which the most famous second best knock was with Laxman in Kolkata. The media called him bridesmaid and such. I notice one thing here: consistency. Whether it's the best knock or not -- he gave his best in all situations.

Then it turned around. I don't know how the transformation came. He picked up the wicket-keeping gloves just to stay in the one-day team when they called him unfit for ODIs. Suddenly he came from being the second best to becomig the best. He scored centuries at will but most importantly contributed everytime in an Indian win. I was never a fan of Rahul Dravid but I greatly respect this man for the way he plays the game. He commands it.

ArROYed to death!

2006-03-17T15:39:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, on my trip back from Houston, armed with my own distractions, the magazine in the seat pocket in front of me went unnoticed for more than half the duration of the flight. When I restlessly shuffled in the seat, running out of options to entertain myself, I picked it up. The first image that flashed my mind was some desi dude leaving his filmfare behind. But no, it was a crisp copy of the American Airlines magazine with Ms.Roy on the cover. That's it. I am moving back to United Airlines.

Have Tools; will blog in Telugu

2005-11-03T10:59:00.000-06:00

I am greatly excited. I discovered a new website with complete set of tools to communicate in telugu. When I started using a computer in the mid-ninties, there was only one Telugu Editor, written by a person called Srinivas Sirigina, and it came about on his efforts alone. It's a pity that so many IT minds working are from Andhra and very few of them did anything to take Telugu into the next wave of computer and internet technologies( I am definitely not one of them). There were a few of them coming up with their own editors, trasformers from RTS into Unicode but there wasn't any proper standard. With the Indian government intervention, this might change. I've downloaded all the tools that are available on the site and just started a new telugu blog called మరో ప్రపంచం. If anybody who reads by blog is interested and are able to read telugu, I invite you to మరో ప్రపంచం.

Pay inequity is a myth

2005-10-26T09:51:00.000-05:00

Every time I take the train on CTA, I see this poster, that complains, in Illinois, a woman earns seventy one cents for every dollar a man earns. Pocket change for her; crisp dollar for him. I've always wondered why an employer would hire a man to do the same job and pay him a dollar instead of hiring a woman and pay her seventy one cents. Makes economic sense, doesn't it? Steven Pinker in his book, The Blank Slate, explores this issue and explains it is not entirely true. While discrimination cannot be entirely denied in every field( and nobody talks of the reverse discrimination in certain fields), women earning seventy one cents for every dollar a man earns is plain wrong. Here's another article on why.

Link [via Dr.Helen]

Rosa Parks: Symbol of a movement

2005-10-25T23:22:00.000-05:00

Too many times, legends are perpetuated to present a human face for movements of struggle. Mangal Pandey of the Sepoy Mutiny in the Indian freedom struggle or Mahatma Gandhi being thrown out of the train in South Africa are incidents that come to my mind. They put the abstract notion of Indian resistance to the British rule on a level that people could identify. Instapundit points to this link about the Rosa Parks myth. Read it. And Rest in peace Rosa Parks.

Blogger Add-on

2005-10-25T23:03:00.000-05:00

Another late find by me, is the Blogger Add-on to Microsoft Word. Try it . It’s fabulous.

Noam Chomsy: A capitalist pig?

2005-10-25T10:48:00.000-05:00

Read about the closet capitalist Noam Chomsky here.

Link [Via YazadJal.]

The Non-Credible Threat in Politics

2005-10-23T19:22:00.000-05:00

I was reminded of Michael Higgins' post on Non-Credible Threat, when I read about how a politician in Andhra successfully black mailed the state governement into meeting his demands. And this is not some nobody, he was a member of parliament at some point and worked a state minister as well. I remember this guy mentioning Gandhi as his idol when he went on hunger strikes, but I don't know of any incident when Gandhi threatened to kill himself. I would have really liked to see what would have happened, had the state government in Andhra refused to be taken at gun point. My guess is, the guy would have backed out, and the opposition parties would have started rioting citing the callous nature of the goverment.

Draupadi: A 21st century woman?

2005-10-20T16:58:00.000-05:00

It's a pet peeve of mine, when people look at mythological characters and start complaining how women got a raw deal due to the patriarchal deal then. In this interview, Mallika Sarabhai, says that Draupadi, infact, was an epitome of the 21st century woman. It's a very different period( had Mahabharatha existed the way we read about it), and the society was set in a certain way. Being animated about it now, is, pointless. Had Draupadi been a 21st century woman, she would have refused to marry five brothers -- just because her mother-in-law had a slip of tongue. Had Draupadi been a 21st century woman, she would have refused to come to court -- just because one of her husband had gambled her away. If you look at it that way, she comes out like she has no personality and personality is what defines a 21st century woman.
However, when somebody points to Seetha and says that's the way a modern woman is supposed to behave, that shouldn't make sense either. That was then; this is now.

Why not use Wiki for Education?

2005-10-20T15:31:00.000-05:00

Here's a great idea for all the schools with access to computers and the internet. Have students edit the Wikipedia. No matter the subject, the students will learn a lot by looking for more information along with writing skills. This may start around the 6th grade level, usually when students start becoming comfortable with language. It will be the teacher's responsibility to oversee what the students are putting on the site and maybe even partially grade them for the quality of the content.

Where goes Laxman?

2005-10-14T11:11:00.000-05:00

I see an end of road for Laxman. At least in the one day arena. If he cannot find place in a team without Kaif and Ganguly, after playing spectacularly in the challengers trophy, I don't think the selectors are willing to give him any more chances. I don't think there are any other avenues to show his one day prowess. I suspect he's fallen out of favour with Chappell or the selectors, when he commented about the negative vibes in the team during the "Ganguly imbroglio". The zonal machinery is in place and I think it's a choice between Venu Gopal Rao and Laxman, and Venu's in fine form. I see his test post going pretty soon, unless he makes another series saving effort. I hate to see such a fine batsman losing out to such petty politics.

Good Bye IE!

2005-10-14T10:48:00.000-05:00

I discovered Mozilla's Firefox. Well...I don't remember being excited about a software product like this in a while. It wasn't always like this. I used to be more open to using new products. But Microsoft lulled me into using IE without updating it for a really long time and I hadn't realized the rest of the world is moving on. Like the CNET review says, Microsoft just doesn't have any incentive to make their browser better anymore.

I haven't worked with any other browser except the Netscape Navigator and that was about eight years ago. But Firefox completely floored me. Tabbed browsing? Why didn't anybody else think of that? Built-in pop-blocker -- Welcome, and good-bye all those additional plug-ins I had to download from Yahoo and Google. And I definitely feel this is faster and less resource intensive than IE.

Suicide Bombing in Hyderabad

2005-10-13T18:41:00.000-05:00

A Powerful exposlion rocked Hyderabad today, at one of the high security offices of the Andhra Pradesh State Police. A suicide bomber linked to Pakistan's ISI is suspected, reports Eenadu -- a regional news paper.

Cow Dung. Packaged.

2005-10-12T17:20:00.000-05:00

Here's what Prof.Arindham Chaudhari says in the dean's message on the IIPM site.

"We need to understand that sustainable growth can be achieved only by committing ourselves to macro level growth strategies that would encompass the bottom 80% of the population and not just the top 20%. This conscientious approach would make a growth rate of 12% per capita per annum possible."

Um...What approach? Just employ macro level growth stratagies that encompasses bottom 80% and voila you get a growth rate of 12% per capita?

"In the light of globalization of the Indian economy and capitulation of Indian brands, it is imperative for tomorrow's leaders to be aware of the above mentioned facts, so that they can face the emerging global challenges of international markets with confidence, while remaining committed to remove massive poverty of Indian masses within a generation."

Above mentioned facts? What facts?

"While some wealthy nations enjoy the luxury of material of plenty, the fact remains that more than twice the number of people killed in the 2nd world war die every year of hunger and curable diseases. And yet we fail to realize that unrestricted satisfaction of all desires is not conducive to human well being! Nor is it the way to happiness, or for that matter, even maximum pleasure!! When the wealthy nations today talk of 'being one' with the rest of the world, and of concepts of global village, their talks simply border on hypocrisy."

Twice the number of people killed in the 2nd world war die every year of hunger and curable diseases! So, employ macro level growth stratagies to bottom 80%? Achieve 12% growth rate and then realize unrestricted satisfaction of all desires is not conducive to human well being? I am scratching my head here.

"The time has come for India to lead the way in showing that this carnage can be stopped with the help of determined leadership and long term committed vision."

Carnage! By who? Could it be by the wealthy nations enjoying the luxury of material of plenty?

"The Indian managers need to develop a strong vision for their companies, and most importantly, for the people who work for them, apart from having a terrific sense of commitment for the country, great motivational skills and leadership qualities."

The rest of the Dean's message is more packaged bull shit. Look's like he's farting and is amused by his own smell.

"A growth rate of 12% per capita per annum would imply that India can beat U.S.A. in terms of purchasing power parity within the next 25 to 30 years and become economically the strongest country in the world. For this, the Government of India needs to support the Indian organizations with suitable pro-people & pro-India policies, which would help Indian organizations in becoming stronger to compete in the world market successfully. Future leaders must be aware of this and not remain intellectually handicapped. IIPM strives for these commitments and continuously endeavours to educate its students and clients on these issues with the belief that sooner than later, structured economic independence can be achieved through a coordinated effort..."

Can anyboy decode this bull shit for me? It just wreaks like a pack of eggs left in a hot room - for a year! I can't believe people are paying close to Rs.800k for joining in the program he's offering.

Right to free speech and Right to work

2005-10-12T11:23:00.000-05:00

These are the things that seemingly are in conflict for Gaurav today. By now, most in the Blogosphere must be aware of the aggressive tactics that IIPM - a bizarre management institute, is bent on using. I, have a few questions.

1. What sort of institute is bent on behaving like Shiv Sainiks trying to force their views on what movies or books the general public is supposed to watch and read?
2. Why isnt' mainstream media(MSM) picking up the story?
3. What is IBM doing without taking a stand in favor of their employee?

Growing up in India, I am used to seeing organizations like IIPM, who spring up overnight, offering false promises to thousands and then couldn't deliver it later. It's pretty much like all the other institutes that you know about only via e-mail Spam. I am not surprised by it's tactics and I am pretty sure it will go down as soon as it has risen up.

But what bothers me is the way MSM chooses not maintain it's distance from this story. If they are worried about the advertising revenue, Michael Higgins has an excellent post about it here.
He says,

This raises an interesting economic question: how much does it cost a newspaper to lose its biggest advertiser? To answer this question, they should ask Mr. Chaudhuri, dean of IIPM, to place his head into a basin of water, (any bowl will do, even a toilet bowl), and then quickly remove it from the water. If the image of his face remains in the bowl of water, the newspaper will sorely miss this ad revenue. If the water quickly rushes in to fill the void, then one would assume that likewise many other advertisers would rush in to fill the void caused by the absence of IIPM’s advertising.

This is an important point: there really is no conflict of interest here. No newspaper needs IIPM’s advertising. In the long run, there is no better way to guarantee advertising revenue than to produce a consistently credible newspaper that covers all of the news. Any credible newspaper knows this and purposefully keeps the advertising portion of their newspaper physically separate from the reporters so that there is no interaction between them and so there is no potential for a conflict of interest. In the long run, reputation sells papers, and selling papers brings in advertisers. And the only time the reporters should consider their advertisers is when they read them and wonder: “Who are these people and why are they spending so much on advertising – what is the story here?”

I totally agree. The next point is, why the managers at IBM are giving in to IIPM much the same way as the MSM. Do they honestly believe that IIPM students burning their laptops will tarnish IBM's image and not the other way round? They should have dealt with their clout and used their lawyers to protect their employee and not giving in, to a petty client, however big their business might be worth.

Sachin Tendulkar -- A leader in hiding

2005-09-28T14:05:00.000-05:00

With all the clouds hovering over Indian cricket, the most senior player is in hiding -- at least figuratively. Some might say he is above and beyond all the pettiness that's happening in Indian cricket. My take is, the man cannot be bothered with all the mundane things like taking charge, step-up and insist there are alternatives. There are things to do in the meantime. Score the 35th century, go past Waugh and Border in total runs, and if the elbow permitting put that mark beyond the rest for some time. There are contracts to be signed, sugar water and mobile phones to sell, and if there's some time left, take the tax-free(or tax paid by the somebody else) Ferrari for a spin on the roads of Mumbai. With such a busy schedule, it was kind of him to make some time and comment, "dressing room stuff should stay in there." It's easy to forget, how he got the things that are mentioned above and what his responsibility is to Indian cricket or the fan that blindly follows this mediocre team.

Sachin Tendulkar has been hailed as a modern incarnation of the great Bradman; but rarely did he appear to possess any leader ship qualities of the Don. The darkest days of Indian cricket --the matchfixing imbroglio, he just pretended he was unaware that such a thing existed. His complicity was never in question, but his feigned ignorance is questionable. He was right there, playing his most productive days and the fact that he did not come up with what he knew should show his real self. That was the time to be a bold leader, with a young team, to rebuild it as unit and take it into a new direction. Unfortunately he was never equipped for it.

Ganguly, although his time has long passed, should be given the credit he deserves for doing the exact things that Tendulkar was unwilling to do. He put his career on line, saw his averages slipping, but single minded focus on rebuilding the team, making it the unit that is today. Had he, with the kind of team at this disposal at that time, been interested in only himself, he probably would have been a better batsman today. Not Tendulkar. There was occassional comment from junior players about the stature of the man, but he was happy to be relegated to the boundary post in the Ganguly-Dravid axis. For somebody that played the game at the highest level for sixteen years, he ignores responsibility, just like he ignored the off-side at Sydney to score a double hundred -- that didn't prove anything.

2005-07-18T13:26:00.000-05:00

Michael Higgins explains about The Economics of Obesity in his wonderful blog.

This is one reason why we tend to eat a different diet when we prepare our own food and when we go to a fast-food restaurant. When we prepare our own food, we are typically not hungry, so we think rationally about a good combination of taste and nutrition. When we get to work and look in the lunchbox when we are hungry we will eat whatever we packed and be satisfied with it, but we might have wished we had packed some cookies. When we go to a fast-food restaurant, we are already hungry and we have plenty of money to buy whatever. So when the server asks, “Would you like fries with that?” we might be tempted.

Read the full thing.

[via Chocolate and Gold Coins

2005-06-28T11:47:00.000-05:00

Belting out a blog on a regular basis can be quite taxing. I don't know how some dedicated bloggers do it. When something happens -- trivial or significant, do they just think about their blog and how to incorporate the incident? Or do they just start thinking about something to write about when they sit to write their blog

2005-06-23T14:35:00.000-05:00

Inzamam against pacers training in India reports Rediff. What is Inzy afraid of?

[via rediff Cricket]

It's a fortune cookie, all right!

2005-05-12T15:37:00.000-05:00

Who knew a fortune cookie can make you really rich? This one did. Not one but a hundred and ten can vouch for it. Here's what the powerball official said:

"Our first winner came in and said it was a fortune cookie," said Rebecca Paul,chief executive of the Tennessee Lottery. "The second winner came in and said it was a fortune cookie. The third winner came in and said it was a fortune cookie."

Read the full thing in The New York Times.

Hinduism in Danger!!!

2005-05-03T21:13:00.000-05:00

So screamed the middle aged woman with the mike at the LeMont temple, the other day. "The Christians and the Muslims are converting the Hindus and this needs to be stopped," said she. If you think there are hundreds of Hindus with thrishuls to take on an invading army of Muslim and Christian missionaries bent on converting the last remaining Hindu on the planet, -- I am sorry to tell you, you would be wrong. The stage was graduation ceremony for kids aged three to one-hundred-three(sic) in their respective mother tongues. The whole thing was hilarious. If I didn't enjoy spending time with my little nephew and niece so much, I would never be at the temple at that early in the morning. Once the woman finished her long speech of the impending gloom that is Hinduism's fate in the coming years, the kids got a chance to display their proficiency in the languages they toiled to learn every Sunday morning with a heavy dose of American accent. This is America: Kids are encouraged to speak English at home; and then sent to Sunday school to learn their mother tongue. And for the spirtually inclined kids, there is Religion 101 too. I can't wait for the day when my little one is on stage reciting okati, rendu, moodu...in Telugu. There are tears in my eyes, already!

Youngest non-pakistani

2005-04-28T09:09:00.000-05:00

This is hilarious:

1983
Siva's debut. The mysterious Indian legspinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan was the fifth-youngest player in Test history - and the youngest non-Pakistani - at 17 years 118 days when he made his debut against West Indies in Antigua. He went wicketless here, but when he reappeared against England two years later, Siva bamboozled his way to three consecutive six-fors. A star was born, or so it seemed, but Siva faded again and took only seven wickets in his last six Tests.

I love how the Cricinfo writer differentiates age records with Pakistani and non-Pakistani records. I was going through the age related records on cricinfo and every possible record was a pakistani and one by Ashraful( youngest to score a century, I think) who is from Bangladesh. Hailing from India, I know most birthdays on record in the Indian sub-continent are false, and proud that the birthday on my records is a real one.

Turn 360 degrees

2005-04-28T08:40:00.000-05:00

Wasim Akram, in his new found role as the guardian of Indian cricket has to say this:

"Sourav has been a great servant of Indian cricket and his contributions to the Indian cricket team in the last five years cannot be denied. Everyone will have to see Sourav's career in 360 degrees before the judgement on his career is passed. And I tell you it is going to be one hell of a decision because Sourav is definitely one of the best Indian cricket has produced."

That is funny; when you turn around 360 degrees, you end up right where you started. Akram probably meant 180 degrees. Or, he must mean, watch Ganguly's career from where he started, up until now. Well it's a small mistake, and I don't want to pounce on him for that. That being said, I still think Akram is a moron, not for that statement but bigger things he had said in the past. I was watching, "Harsha ki Khoj", an American Idol-like reality show, pitting contestents against each other to become Harsha Bhogle, a sports commentator on ESPN India and Akram was a judge on that show. This is how his conversation went with one contestant:

Akram: If you get selected, will you try and get a six pack?
Contestant: Huh?
Akram: Six pack abs man!
Contestant:Huh?
Akram:If you are in sports industry, you got to have six pack abs!

The conversation is not verbatim and only my recollection of it but that was the essence of it. Why a sports commentator needs a six pack( beer, maybe at the end of a rough day with Shastri and Akram in the commentary box!), I did not understand. And everytime stressing his credentials with having taken hundreds of wickets in International cricket, like that qualifies him to pick the right candidate.

Indian Blogs: Great things to look forward to

2005-04-19T11:35:00.000-05:00

I am amazed at the quality of some Indian blogs out there. At the fore front, I must say are Jai Arjun and Amit Varma's India Uncut. I have to thank Amit Varma for introducing most other Indian blogs. It all started with Amit's 23yards. Being a regular reader of Cricinfo, I thought 23yards was a great experiment and Amit made a great foray into non-cricketing blogs that were something to look forward to. His Tsunami relief travels got me hooked and his postings, while travelling to report cricket for the India-Pakistan series, were as compelling as can be. Not having enough to read, I clicked on the other blogs to read, I came across variety of Indian bloggers and Jai Arjun soom become somebody I loved to read on a regular basis. Having read a few interesting articles on rediff by Rashmi Bansal, her Youthcurry looked mouth-watering and her marketing gyan is thoughtful. Amit Varma's middlestage is resurrected by Chandrahaus Choudhary with great aplomb: it might turn out ot be one of the best literary blogs. Great days are ahead for Indian blogs.

Farewell to Lord Snooty!

2005-04-12T13:38:00.000-05:00

At last, the ICC did what the Indian public wanted and the selectors couldn't do. Make Ganguly sit on the bench for a while. The selectors predicament is understandable; Ganguly has done things in the past, both as a captain and a batsmen. But for now, it's best that he sits out the rest of the series. The damage however, has been done already.
But seriously, how can anybody err so much? This is not the first, second or the third time, Ganguly has been warned about a slow over rate. The last time he got away, peculiarly with an appeal. But now he gets to warm the bench for six matches. Last time a few people might have been concerned that he's not playing. This time with so much clamor around for his removal, barely anybody will notice that he isn't playing. India gets an extra batsman, thanks to ICC.

A disaster. Or is it?

2005-03-31T09:37:00.000-06:00

Often times, things are rarely as good or as bad in cricket as the media tends to portray it. Every newspaper in India is on a Ganguly hunt, yelling at the peak of their voices to remove him as a captain. Apparently things are bad because India failed to win the series they were expected to take with a glee, what with the inexperience of the Pakistani side. But what most people are forgetting is the wonderful performance put forth by their inexperienced side. True: it would have been a walk over, had Asim Kamal decided if he is just a lower-order batsman and not fought on the last day of the first tets. True: it would have been a second place at the ICC championship table( but with a considerable distance from Australia in first), had Younis Khan told himself, he's not good enough a test player. True: Sourav Ganguly would have been lauded on what a great captain he was if Inzamam thought to himself, he's the only batsman that can show some gumption in the Pakistani side. What people are forgetting is, that the Pakistani team never once thought they were out of sight inspite of people putting them down as a weak team in front of the Indian batting behemoths. Which naturally inspired people to think, this Indian team which showed tremedous ambition in Australia and came quite close to beating them at home. Pakistan, in this series showed similar traits that India did in 2003 in Australia. Which is good for them. And also good for International cricket. Because, if a team like India, who in my opinion are hyped up only because of the following of the game in the country, were as close to claiming the second spot in terms of rankings, there is something wrong with the other teams. A quick look at the other teams will tell you that barring England, nobody as performed consistently in the past few years. South Africa is in doldrums. New Zealand has no spine. Sri Lanka nope. About the other teams, the less said, the better. So it was no surprise that India with it's mediocre performances were seen as contenders for the coveted second spot in International cricket. Teams have forgotten that they have to fight for the top spot and not play dead to Australia.
Which brings us to Pakistan. If Pakistan can revive with the way it did, it can only be good for test cricket in the long run. If there are competitors, the sport will move forward and become more interesting. Kudos to the Pakistan team for a well fought series. I hope they show the same effort in the ODI series as well. Infact, given the Indian team's travails, my bet will be that Pakistan will come out as a winner at the end of it.

Cricket. Sport or classic literature

2005-03-27T22:05:00.000-06:00

How wonderful it would be if we could write scripts for cricket matches! Not that people haven't tried and weren't successful in the late ninties, I am not going to dwell on the match-fixing of earlier times. But here's a scenario I made up and works best for the current situation at the beginning of the last day of the third test between India and Pakistan: the revenge to Gavaskar's last test. Wasn't it almost the same then? India chasing a target( the pitch was terrible then); Gavaskar plays one of the greatest innings of his life; India comes close to the target; Gavaskar gets out a little short of his thirty-fifth century; Pakistan wins the series; millions of India hearts(including mine) break.
Now here's a scenario for today: ninteen years after that match, it's almost the same situation; India is chasing, Tendulkar is the only good batsmen left; it's the nintieth over, India is short of the target by four runs; Tendulkar is four short of his century which will be his thirty-fifth. He hits the boundary; India wins the series.
But if you want this to be a Kafka-esque classic, Tendulkar gets out, India loses and Pakistan squares the series. Pick the ending based on whatever side you are on. Oh, if only sport worked like literature. Well, we already had that in Cheannai in 99 -- so I am rooting for an India win. Although I know I will sorely be disappointed.

Terri Schiavo -- The last hours

2005-03-25T15:19:00.000-06:00

Terri Schiavo is supposed to have reached her last hours. Like most issues, this one has reached extreme proportions in terms of polarising the country. To be in circles that considers themselves progressive, it's hard to imagine there are thousands of people who believe in the spin that it's wrong taking her life. A life that's in persistive vegetative state for more than a decade now. I can understand the parents being troubled by it. But spare a thought for the husband too. President flying half-way around the country to sign a Terri Schiavo bill intended to serve only her; Governor making repeated calls to the courts; people or more aptly conservative christians who demonstrate and call thousands more to join, the motive seems more political than saving a life that the person living it would gladly let go. These same people think killing somebody using a lethal injection is fair, war and thousands of innocent people written of collateral damage is justified makes me wonder if politics is only about agendas and nothing to do about real issues. Let Schiavo die in peace.

Vile Attitude

2005-03-22T16:35:00.000-06:00

By now, my distaste for Ganguly is certainly evident in my earlier blogs. Not because he's a bad cricket player but because to me he comes of as a bad human being. Consider this: when asked about his bad form and if he's going to move down a slot, he says he's fine, there's a big innings around the corner and he's made most of the runs at his current spot. Then he says both him and Laxman are out of form and need to make runs. What's wrong with that, you say? Firstly, it's not proper to talk about other player's form when asked about yours. Why? Because you are implying that not only I am not in form, there's somebody else like me and I want you to look at his numbers. Second Laxman did not seem like he's out of form. He made a fifty and was out ninth wicket at Mohali. The first ball duck in the first innings was inexcusable but the second innings he was out looking to increase the scoring rate. It was unfortunate he got hit and couldn't continue to bat in his normal position and did what he was asked to do and got out. With Ganguly it wasn't the case. The three innings he played were disastrous and each time it was a free wicket for the opponents. They've spotted the man and they know how to get him out. I doubt he will have any success in the coming matches. So what does this mean? Ganguly says, if I am going down, I am taking Laxman with me, which is unfortunate.

It's all about the umpire

2005-03-18T11:56:00.000-06:00

People who came to Eden Gardens from far to watch Steve Bucknor were delighted to see him perform once again. The great man standing in his 100th test did not disappoint the crowd when he gave his trade mark decision, ruling Tendulkar caught behind. Almost all of the paying public are his loyal fans for many years and kept track of his career diligently. "He's absolutely top class," gushed a young boy who begged his father to take him to see Bucknor umpire in this test. "I want to be just like him when I grow up," he said.
But for Bucknor it's a typical day on the field. Back to nets after a tiring day, he practiced his methodical raising of the finger, slowly and steadily. "Preparation is the key," he said. "Everybody has his style -- but I employ guile when I umpire. So much so that sometimes the batsmen are cajoled into thinking they are not out -- but when I think it's time up for them, they have to go." He then practiced his walk to square leg and back a number of times to get his rhythm right. "You don't leave these things to chance," he said.
That preparation since he was a young aspiring umpire, confused as to which sport to choose -- football or cricket, made him what he is today. From the day he started officiating in his first test to his hundredth in Eden Gardens, he always had one motto: the umpire is always bigger than the game.
Ehsan Mani, the ICC president is full of praise for him. "If not for Steve, the game would have gone to pieces. He is the single biggest reason crowds come to watch cricket, or turn on their TVs whenever a cricket match is being played around the globe. Our members always see a drop in attendance when Steve is not umpiring for a Test, or a one-day international. Everybody wants him; some adjust their tour itenariries so as to have Steve umpire in their matches.
It's the other end of the spectrum for the players. He instills a certain fear in them. "I am always worried when the bat does not touch the ball," Tendulkar, one of the Indian cricket players said. "Everytime I missed the ball, I had to go. Then again, it's an honour to be given out by Steve. Not for nothing he officiated in 100 tests." He added, "We all love him very much."
Indian captain Ganguly couldn't contain his admiration. "Did you see the guy?" he said. "Every time he stands imposingly on the other side of the wickets, you know you have to edge the ball. Otherwise you are out -- caught-behind. Personally, I like the ball to come on to my pads obstructing the wickets directly. It's the only way to save myself from an LBW decision. But when a great umpire is officiating, you can't help but being awe-struck. And I just don't mean dumb-struck after being given out -- caught-behind to a wide delivery."
Indian vice-captain Rahul Dravid had excellent things to say. "He is the game; and the game is him. We are all honoured to be playing when he is officiating. When he reached his 100th test, I walked up to him and told him: 100 is not your goal; 500 is. And many more bone-headed decisions." He also agreed Bucknor is a master at playing mind-games with players at the crease. "The gentle rubbing of the ball, imitating my actions in an earlier match where I was fined, definetely had it's desired effect. I marvel at his shrewedness in shattering players' egos. If anything, the he needs to officiate in every test match."
Parthiv Patel the young former wicket keeper for India said he is afraid to make a comment on Bucknor. "I am scared of Bucknor," he said. "Ever since he waved his finger at me in Sydney, I always wake my mother up, if I have to go to the bathroom at night. That's how bad he scared me."
West-Indian captain Lara said he is disappointed Bucknor could not stand in matches that the West Indies played because Bucknor is also West-Indian and cannot officiate because of the ICCs neutral umpire rule. "The reason West Indies matches have poor attendance rates and television ratings is because Bucknor cannot officiate in our matches. We are asking ICC to make an exception just in his case.
Inspite of all the adoration from around the world, Bucknor is humble. "Every time I walk on to the field amidst the cheering crowd, it's for the game of cricket, not me," he says. "But then again, I am cricket," he adds humbly.
So will he stop after reaching the age of sixty? He smiles, "And let the players take the spotlight? No way!"

Begging on Devon

2005-03-17T10:51:00.000-06:00

Yesterday night, as I walked out of a grocery store on Devon street – a street in Chicago, well known for Indian grocery stores, Indian restaurants and an Indian atmosphere, I saw something for the first time in my entire stay in the US: an Indian woman begging. With an eight year old girl in tow, this young woman barely looked like somebody who asked money from strangers. She was good-looking, dressed reasonably well, her accent was spiff and one could tell she is not somebody that has immigrated from India recently; she appeared she has been in the States for quite sometime – even grew up here. Curiously, the little girl had a scarf tied across her face, so one could not see her face.
At first, when she approached me, I thought she was looking for directions; turned out she was looking for money. Money to buy food for the little girl, she said. She started explaning that her husband had left her and the kid – living with some other woman now and that there is no food in the house. Soliciting on the streets was not new to me, and I never offered money earlier. I just stood there weighing in, how I could help her when my wife walked out of the store a few minutes later and wondered what was going on. I explained to my wife that this woman was looking for help. My wife immediately suggested to the woman that she should seek help from Apna Ghar – an organization that was close by and provided shelter to distraught women, primarily of Asian origin. . Having done volunteer work for this organization, my wife knew that was the right thing to do rather than walking away after giving a dollar or two. The woman did not seem interested in the idea and was pressing for immediate money. She said she wanted money to go to the nearest grocery store and buy food. My wife kept insisting that she should go to this place and they will assist her. She offered to give her the number, address and such but the woman just turned a deaf ear to all that and there was little we could do to help her and we walked away.

Shastri-bot

2005-03-16T13:18:00.000-06:00

I thought I was the only one who shuddered when Ravi Shastri said "It will do his confidence a world of good." Clearly there are others. I have been away from Indian TV for a long time but had plenty of opportunities last year to see him perform his role as a commentator. He would come on ESPN Sportcenter and say inane things like the one mentioned above. He might just be proving that he can be as bad at commentating than he was while he was batting. The Shaz-Waz show is one program fully riddled with cliches; with both Shastri and Akram throwing one after another. I remember one episode during the championship in Sri Lanka where they would ask a woman to sit in the commentary box with them. That particular day the woman in question was the starlet Priyanka Chopra. Shastri was so floored by her, he would go on and on about how lucky they were to be in the presence of "The woman in red". He at least said "Woman in red", twenty odd times. A classic case of Shastri-bot crashing.

I know what Ravi Shastri is going to say on TV tonight. "There's a lot of cricket left in him," he will say referring to Tendulkar. Incidentally which is what Tendulkar said during his end-of-the-day interview. He also said "Test cricket is a different cup of tea". But Tendulkar is paid to bat and not appear cute on TV while it is Ravi Shastri's job to come up with something orininal when he is called up on as "Expert Commentator".

Bravo! Sachin. Bravo!

2005-03-16T11:20:00.000-06:00

It was just a matter of when. There was never a doubt if he will ever get past the 10000. I think Gavaskar knew it when Tendulkar entered Indian cricket. To a remarkable career, which for the most part has been Tendu...and Ten don't*, I say Bravo.

*A brilliant banner I remember seeing in a match in Australia.

Dude! Can you change the batting order?

2005-03-15T21:18:00.000-06:00

Every one has their suggestions to make the team better. Here are mine. Send Laxman at No.3: he thrives on agressive field settings. And he is a natural at that spot. Rarely does teams start playing defensively at one down. For a long time the Indian batting order was one of my biggest gripes. It all started when Laxman was relegated to No.6 by Ganguly during the Indian tour of West Indies in 2001. Laxman was hitting his usual 30s and 40s and getting cozy in the pavillion. So he was moved from No.3 much before that. The reason Ganguly gave why he came in ahead of Laxman: he hated waiting in the dressing room. Since he was the captain and could do whatever he wanted, he came in earlier. But not as early as to precede Dravid or Tendulkar. The reason? Dravid clutches his No.3 and Tendulkar, even in his dreams grips his No.4. Traditional logic seems to make No.4 a position for the best batsman in the team. Even though one doesn't play by the traditional rules, it's a good place for a slow starter who is rock sold after that. Too much initiative is lost when Dravid comes in at No.3. No.4 may just be right for his style of batting. Why break something that ain't broken? But dude, it was -- a long time ago. We just persisted with it and think it's right.

Another Warne saga

2005-03-15T21:04:00.000-06:00

Warne is planning to make England home and has a Hampshire home. He says:

"At the moment, it's home and down the track it will probably be home for the family as well," Warne told the Courier-Mail. "I'll live over there and base myself there and come back and play my stuff for Australia and head back. I'm only in Australia for a couple of months each year."

Hmmm...his wife, only on the next day says:

"We're not moving overseas. It's something we have talked about and we will see what happens later this year but that's about all I can say at the moment."

Good point for New Zealand to sledge, I suppose. "Hey Warney, did you talk to your wife lately? You know, if you want, I can set up a meeting!"

The perils of trying new beer

2005-03-15T20:43:00.000-06:00

Got into this habit of trying out new brands of beer. So while shopping for bread and cheese, picked up a six pack of Oranjaboom beer. Apparently this beer was from Holland. Hmm..Heineken country, I thought. Got home, poured myself a pint. Didn't care much for it. Mental note: stick with the ones you like the best. Then again, how is one supposed to know there isn't something better out there? Have to try Grolsch the next time.

Ganguly's claims

2005-03-15T16:25:00.000-06:00

This was before the first test between Pakistan and India. When asked about his poor form recently, Ganguly replied:

I haven't got a hundred from the last one in Brisbane on the 2003-04 Australian tour, but I still averaged over 50. But, yes, it's a criteria to get a Test hundred; I was close a few times – the next time when I get near to a hundred, I will try and convert it into a big score.

I was curious as to when he averaged over 50. Is he talking about his career average? Or his average since he got a hundred in Brisbane? So a quick look at Cricinfo gave me this: his career average in tests is 42.06. Since Brisbane, his average is 40.9.( Figures before the first test with Pak). He made five fifties ever since and two of them against Bangladesh. Just from an averages perspective he didn't do very badly but claiming a 50+ average is a false claim and there are no significant contributions when the team is in trouble. In the recent past he's been very good at promoting himself as a better player than he really is.

Why the Aussies are the best team in the world

2005-03-15T15:04:00.000-06:00

Consider why Australia is a good team: they have Adam Gilchrist. Simple as that. If Gilchrist played for Zimbabwe they would be the best team in the world too. Well...that might be taking things too far but if somebody can keep wickets and then bat like only he can, no wonder Aussies are the no1 team in the world. He is pivotal to their success; for starters his batting position comes when other teams around the world start preparing for a long day in the field waiting for the tail enders to get in and get out. Imagine you are Hayden and Langer going in to bat: oh there's Ponting, Martyn, Clarke, Katich and Gilly to follow. And then just imagine yourself as the next person in that order until you are Gilly. Little reason to worry there will be a collapse. If there is one, time and again Gilly has come in, without even settling in, unsettled the opposition. There is one way India can have a shot at the top: teach Sehwag how to keep wickets and send him at no7 and hope he retains his current form. I know, I know, I am on crack!

India and the rest of the teams lack a player who fills that role as wonderfully as Gilchrist does and that is an advantage Aussies have over other teams. The day Gilchrist retires the Aussies will no doubt have problems retaining the top spot.

India Vs Pakistan: 2nd Test

2005-03-15T14:44:00.000-06:00

I was following the first test between India and Pakistan and was only a little bit disappointed when India didn't win the match. It's heartening that the encounter was turned around by a little known wicket keeper and a man fully of potential but vastly unrealized. I remember the days when Razaq was the next big thing in the world cricket -- somebody who was deadly with the ball and the bat. And the series needed to maintain it's interest unlike the last test series where it was a conspiracy theorists dream: India goes 1-0; Pakistan levels it 1-1; then Pakistan plays dead by rolling over in the third and India wins the series 2-1. I doubt it was a set up then but one has to admit the matches were one sided. With so many catches going down for Sehwag I thought this one was going the same way. Tendulkar was left six short of his 35th century, just like he was with 194* on that ocassion. These days Tendulkar reminds me of Gavaskar in his last days when we used to say he's only playing for records. I agree with him that his batting has matured and he is no longer the young blow-away-the-opposition kind of guy; but doesn't it make sense that his batting order need to be changed to accomadate for his new found maturity? More on batting order later. I hope to see a tense encounter in the second test as well. Thanks to Cricinfo for making this possible.

Resuming blogging...

2005-03-15T13:36:00.000-06:00

Aaah...the frenzy to create home pages back in the early days of the web. I've been there. Seems like it was such a long time ago but I remember when we lined up to post HTML on our college servers with garish backgrounds, crazy fonts and links to the favourite websites with jokes about the desi in the US. Why, I got my cushy campus job when I showed my page to the professor who was looking for an HTML coder to have his own web page for his department( I have to admit it was definitely useful than mine.) After the initial pages I never went back to the web page ever again. Now, the need to post personal information seems to have taken over by blogging. I am not late here either: I had short-lived blogs on cricket, life, and well...nothing else. The point is I was there when blogging was still in it's diapers but didn't keep up. I never went back to my blog pages again. However, this time blogging seems somewhat useful. Let your opinions rule. If it's cute enough somebody might notice and you might have a following. If not you can go into hibernation. So again -- what will be another attempt at persistent blogging, I give you RaviSez.

Pretty close to Tsunami

2004-12-28T06:36:00.000-06:00

My deepest condolences to those affected my the tsunami last sunday. Had it occured a few hours earlier, I probably would have been one of them. Just the day before, a friend and I were sitting on the rocks with waves hitting us and enjoying the beautiful scenery that Vizag presents. Little did we imagine it was going to be tragic for hundreds of thousands of people.

Even in the morning, there was no warning whatsoever and when we heard that people were running scared, we didn't take it seriously. Only the images on TV as to the actual happenings else where, showed us the kind of disaster it was.

Life in Hyderabad

2004-12-27T23:59:00.000-06:00

So I am living in Hyderabad for a while now; but never once did I feel that I belong here. I have no affection for this city and the city did not grow on me. Everyday it makes me move away a little bit more. The reason: I know I will not stay here for longer than I need to and will move out by the end of the year. Still, I have known to be in love with the place I know I will be living only for a shortwhile. Like Ann Arbor for instance. I lived there for only a few months but loved the atmosphere.

Hyderabad for me is everything that's wrong with the globalization. It grew too fast, the priorities were wrong, and then we had a leader whose sole concentratred on the external make up of the city. For all the popularity he had has a man with a vision( he even floated something of a vision document called vision2020 -- perfect vision so to speak), the city stood very little by the way of improving quality of life. For those in the Banjara and Jubilee hills, maybe.