We are the champions

It was in the 1992 world cup when I first saw cricket matches with any interest. Incidently, that was also Sachin's first appearance in a world cup for India. I was told we won it in 1983. When Pakistan won it in 1992, I thanked god that atleast we already had one to show for ourselves.

For 19 years, I couldn't understand what it feels to win the cup. Heck, I didn't even know if it feels anything. For 19 years, this other guy didn't know that feeling either. We abused him while feeling sorry for him when we got destroyed on a faithful eden garden pitch, and then when we came tantalizingly close but got brutally drubbed by a certain genius in yellow.

A dream of a billion cannot be fulfilled by one, it has to be fulfilled by eleven. This is the time when the individual brilliance of the 90s is complemented with the leadership and teamwork of 2011. This is a new India, and it can take on the world on its own. I salute the stars who have given us this belief. I salute you Sachin, I salute you Dhoni. I salute the Indian Cricket Team.

Yes, and now I know that there is a feeling when you win the cup. And I am happy that now he knows it too.
(Photo courtesy: cbc.ca)

Chak de. India wins T20 World Cup

Somehow the release of Shahrukh Khan starrer Chak De India has coincided with one of the best time for Indian Sports.

In Hockey, India beats South Korea 7-2 to lift the Asia Cup.
In Soccer, India won the Nehru Cup.
Sania Mirza has been performing well too. I think her ranking has climbed to 27 at this point.

But the greatest of them all happened today, when Indian Cricket team won the first Twenty 20 World Cup. No one gave a team without Sachin, Saurav and Rahul any chance whatsoever. I had not even watched any T20 match before. But they way it all happened has been amazing. And there could not have been a more nail biting final. Am sure tomorrow morning when the players would wake up, they would not be able to themselves believe what they did.

Congratulations India. Chak de.

Don't buy fuel from Indian Oil

There is way too much fraud in most Indian Oil Petrol pumps. Have seen it in Noida, have seen it in Delhi, have seen it in Jaipur. I don't know how, all the petrol pumps where I see fraud belong to Indian Oil.

Their latest trick that I suffered in a petrol pump in Jasola Vihar, Delhi, I asked them to fill in petrol worth Rs. 500. This guy fills in only till 100, showing that he didn't hear correctly. Then when I asked him to fill in for 500, this guy resumes and fill till 400. Then he says that he had started from zero the second time when he started when it was pretty clear that he just resumed from 100.

I have found many other sufferers to this trick too.

Petrol is an essential item and that fact itself have made owners of these petrol pumps super rich already. I fail to understand why they need to use fraudulent techniques on top of that.

And that when other oil companies like HP and BP have so much improved there services and are so much more trustworthy.

The problem with Emotions

Lets start this with a small mental exercise.

There is this place where there are 2 parallel railway tracks. One track is old and isn't used anymore while another one is live and in use. There are 10 children playing on the live track. At the same time, a single child is playing all alone on the dead track. At this moment, a train is approaching on the live track putting the lives on the children on the live track in grave danger. Far from this place, you see this happening on your monitoring screen. The only control you have is the ability to switch the track temporarily so that the train goes on the dead track instead of the live one. Which would mean putting life of that single child into danger.
What will you do? Make up your mind before reading any further.

A majority of us would switch the tracks to save those 10 children at the expense of that single child. It seems right from the humanitarian perspective, saving as many lives as you can. If you did the same, read on to see this from a different perspective.

Why was that single child playing all alone on the dead track. Probably because he knew that the live track is dangerous. Who was doing the right thing by playing on the safe track? The single child. Who did the wrong thing? The 10 children by putting their own lives in danger by playing on the live track. And in your judgement, who gets punished? The one who was doing the right thing.
Second point - the 10 boys knew that they are on the dangerous track so they might flee on hearing the train noise etc. However, the single child, knowing that he is on the safe track will almost certainly not move and hence is in a much bigger risk.

So what is the moral of your judgement - Follow the crowd, Don't use your own brains to understand what is right.

Sadly, similar is the state of affairs in India. Decisions are not taken on what is right or what is better for development. Instead, its based on what would make maximum people happy. And while it is most fruitful if the general happiness of the people aligns with development of country , it is not always possible to do that, particularly in a country this huge.
Short term efforts are made just before the elections to make general people happy and gather the votes, while long term planning with no immediate benefits are left out.

In democracy, heads are counted, not brains.

Rang de Basanti

This one is I-Day Special. It all started quite some time ago when I read this post by greatbong. Do read it first to be in coherence. Since I read this post, I have had some thoughts and I even discussed some of it with few friends. I think its time to put my point of view.

What connects “shooting politicians” with “rubbing against Mallika” is that they are both fantasies. While many a director have realized that the way to make a quick buck is to pander to the second fantasy, there have been comparitively few that have realized the potential of playing up to the first.

I agree. I never thought in these terms before, but yes, movies are about selling emotions and fantasies. And contrary to whatever the elderly has to say about aajkal ke bacche, I believe that patriotism is as strong an emotion as ... say ... love. And solving all problems of India would be a fantasy to a lot of us. No wonder when you see something similar on screen, you are bound to get emotional. So where's the fault in that?

Now for the other part. I ask - What is inspiration? Inspiration is an idea that you see which you never saw before. Its something that makes you start thinking in this new direction. Is there anything I can do to make mine and other lives easier? Its a switch from cribbing about problems to thinking about a solution.

I agree that the movie doesn't provide a solution. It can never, as there is no single problem. There are hundreds of problems, starting from an auto rickshaw driver asking for too much money to bomb blasts in Mumbai. But is there anything I can do about it. Maybe I can't. But atleast I'll think over it.

If a common man watches Rang de Basanti and comes out saying that he'll go and kill all the politicians, I don't think he has been inspired at all. Its just an hysteria that in all probability will die down in a few days. Inspiration would be if he finds out that he might have able to get the road of his colony repaired by filing a Right to Information Application.

When blogspot was blocked in India, I myself consulted a lawyer if there was anything I could do about it. I finally didn't do anything as the ban was lifted in a few days. Even if the ban had not been lifted, I might well have not done anything due to "high lawyer fees, too much trouble, external pressures or whatever excuse". But atleast I took the first step. I became Aware.

Are you aware of your rights? When you crib about a problem, did u ever think if anything can be done? It might well be that there is nothing you can do today, but down the line, there might be a time when you CAN do something, and don't hesitate when that time comes. Be Aware, Be Active. No need to remember how many people died in Jaliawala Bagh, no need to know who Bhagat Singh was, just open your eyes, see around and think if there is anything you can do make your own life easier.

And while the security checks this independence day doesn't make me feel that independent (I know I am cribbing but I know there is nothing I can do about it), I wish you all Happy Independence Day :-)

Back to the unblocked state

So this hasn't been as bad as earlier. Around 2.5-3 years ago, Indian govt. had asked the ISPs to block a certain yahoo group, and the ISPs ended up blocking the whole yahoo groups website itself (deja vu anyone). That block lasted for more than a month. Thankfully this time around, its been only a few days.
While most people do not even remember the above mentioned event, it was good to see that this time around, people used legal ways (one guy asked for clarification under RTI act, another one filed a PIL) to counter this irresponsible step.
Also check out this satirical post by greatbong.

At the same time, another point that one of my friends raises is the indirect effects of terrorism. How many times has it happened that you go to a mall/theatre and get annoyed by the extra security checks. Or talking a walk late at night and constables start questioning you about your intentions. Or this particular case, when thousands of blogs got blocked in India. Several of those blogs would have been revenue sources for their owners. Lots of those blogs had technical articles that help me in my work. This shows how blasts in mumbai can effect work of a software engineer in delhi or revenues of an american guy in California.
I am yet to see terrorism providing any tangible benefits to anyone.

This blog is blocked !!

So here's the story ... Yesterday, I completed 1 year in my current company. I thought about writing a post, but somehow this blog wouldn't open. Then I tried opening gullu's blog but that wouldn't open either. Neither would Anurag's.

Looked like blogger has been down for maintenance. I checked out Blogger Status, but that doesn't show any planned outages/network down for maintenance. Day ends, I come back home, try opening my blog again but it still doesn't open. How big can be an outage?

Today I get to read about this on newspaper (It rarely happens that I get to know technical news via newspapers). But what!!! blogspot is banned in India. What the !@#$%^&. How could this be true???

So India is now in the proud league of Pakistan and Iran. Check out Pkblogs It asks on top

Is your blog blocked in India, Pakistan, Iran or China?

Yes it is. Well, is there a lawyer out there who can tell me how to sue the govt. for its irresponsible actions?

For the time-being, access this blog via this link(I know it's a catch 22 situation, but there is nothing much I can do). I would soon write a complete post on how to circumvent all such situations.

Reservation in Indian Cricket Team

I was reading a news where Makaya Ntini destroyed New Zealand and took South Africa to victory a few days ago. The same Ntini whose first inclusion in the team had raised voices that his selection was based on his being black rather than his performance.
He proved all those people wrong and the SA cricket board right. But what if Indian govt. makes a law of 50% reservation based on caste in the Cricket Team.

Now this isn't a stupid thought without reason. With the govt planning 50% reservation in all engineering and management schools including IITs and IIMs and also in private sector jobs, why should cricket be spared. After all it is also a job that till now only few people get after going through an extremely competitive route. And it also brings pride to the country, just like IITs and IIMs have brought so far. Only so far that is.

I remember during my JEE preparation days how University of Roorkee, despite being the oldest and one of the best universities in India was losing all its reputation as compared to IITs due to almost 50% reservation in its entry system. And I was so pleased when it became IIT Roorkee as that immediately brought it at par with the IITs with similar performance based entry system.

And for all those who think that the govt is helping the poor and oppressed class by increasing reservation quota, let me tell you that being studied, and made friends with a lot many of these guys in college, I know how many actually got helped or even needed this help at the first place. I can count them on fingers.

Building up reputation takes decades, ruining it is just a matter of a couple of years. Sone ki murgi ka pet nahi katna chahiye.

Indian official entry to Oscar is Paheli

I just couldn't believe my ears. When I wrote this post, not in my dreams had I thought that Black would not even be nominated for the coveted oscar. Anyone and his dog knows that paheli cannot win the oscar.
I really don't know what happens in those closed doors and I really cannot claim myself as an art critique but I certainly can call myself heart-broken as a Big B masterpiece goes down the drain.