Its that time again- when all one gets to see if one steps outside one's home are buntings strung over roads, wall graffiti defacing pristine walls of houses and flags waving over every street corner, when all one gets to hear are loudspeakers blaring at every hour of the day and even night and the hoolabaloo of processions-yes, its election time once again. Once again, the world's biggest democracy gets to exercise its great right.
But one glance at the people on the street might be enough to convince someone that nothing of this sort is happening. Indeed, its quite strange seeing this. Considering the amount of interest the U.S. Presidential Elections got last year, India has not seen anything of election frenzy. And we outnumber the Americans many times.
The interest is just not there, especially in the youth, who are seen to be the shapers of the future. The other day I decided to have a small survey in my hostel at college. Right from the morning I kept on asking whoever I met- Are you going to vote this year? In return I was questioned back-Why should we? I got truly exasperated with some of them. Forget knowing the date of elections, they did not even know under which Lok Sabha constituency their home falls. Some of them even asked-Are the elections being held this year?
Now this has been the bane of our country. The standing philosophy behind this mindset, I believe, is the present condition of our country. It has ingrained in the people a state of hopelessness. They believe that one vote will not matter, but it does. A lot. This attitude is seen a lot in adults. And what are we, the youth, supposed to do other than adopt their attitude?
People have to believe that they have it in them to change their own country. There is no dearth of talent in our country, as is demonstrated by the achivements of Indians working abroad. We have to ensure that this talent is made to shine upon our own nation and not benefit someone else first. It is time for us to make the 15th Lok Sabha elections a real example of our democracy.
But it seems that this year, the first time I get a chance to freely exercise my right to vote, I will have to give the elections a miss after all as I am going off on a vacation with my family. Oh well, guess that puts an end to my lecturing people about the necessity to vote.
Friday, 3 April 2009
Thursday, 2 April 2009
IPL-International Premier League?
Well, the second season of IPL is upon us once again and boy, has it lived up to its reputation of creating off-field drama. In 2008 a huge amount of media space was given to it even before it began, what with players feeling like cows to be slaughtered and unfathomable amounts of money being thrown at players and Bollywood stars tumbling over one another in a bid to cash in on the event first.
The second season has proven to be even more dramatic till now. With the general elections on this year, the IPL working committee went ahead and announced the schedule before the Election Commission decided on the polling schedule. The states in which the IPL were to be held went into a frenzy demanding central paramilitary forces to conduct IPL matches, a request which the Centre flatly declined. Lalit Modi, the brains behind the blockbuster had to work out 42 alternate schedules to ensure that IPL matches did not clash with elections in a particular state, but it was of no use. The states almost agreed to the third reworked schedule but after the Maharashtrian and Andhra Pradesh pulled out after agreeing just a day earlier, it was the last straw. The Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram, had also recently said in an interview that the IPL must take into account elections in a neighbouring state. This was a veiled notuce to the IPL that they will be better off if the IPL was not held.
But our man, Lalit Modi, had promised to hold the tourney and so something that was unthinkable just a few days ago had to be done. The IPL was shifted out of India to South Africa.
Now this has evoked strong reactions from the Indian public. Some saw it as an inevitable step, while others cannot get adjusted to the fact that the Indian Premier League is being played in South Africa. Another fact that almost everyone, including our media, has overlooked is that the General elections are also being held in South Africa this year, in April.
So the thing to consider now is will IPL be as big a hit in South Africa as it was last year. The economics of the show are the paramount factor as after all the IPL is a pure business venture. Will the games, suited to Indian TV audience timings, and hence to be held in the afternoon in South Africa, play to full houses? Will the cold weather in South Africa be suitable for cricket? On the other hand, holding the tournament in India at the time of an election would have been very risky without adequate security. Preliminary reactions have been encouraging with the South African public showing quite an interest in the tournament.
Preparations have already begun and teams have chosen their base cities. Teams will start moving to the Rainbow Nation in a few days time. It will be up to them to make this tournament "Bigger and Better" as promised by Lalit Modi. We are waiting.
The second season has proven to be even more dramatic till now. With the general elections on this year, the IPL working committee went ahead and announced the schedule before the Election Commission decided on the polling schedule. The states in which the IPL were to be held went into a frenzy demanding central paramilitary forces to conduct IPL matches, a request which the Centre flatly declined. Lalit Modi, the brains behind the blockbuster had to work out 42 alternate schedules to ensure that IPL matches did not clash with elections in a particular state, but it was of no use. The states almost agreed to the third reworked schedule but after the Maharashtrian and Andhra Pradesh pulled out after agreeing just a day earlier, it was the last straw. The Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram, had also recently said in an interview that the IPL must take into account elections in a neighbouring state. This was a veiled notuce to the IPL that they will be better off if the IPL was not held.
But our man, Lalit Modi, had promised to hold the tourney and so something that was unthinkable just a few days ago had to be done. The IPL was shifted out of India to South Africa.
Now this has evoked strong reactions from the Indian public. Some saw it as an inevitable step, while others cannot get adjusted to the fact that the Indian Premier League is being played in South Africa. Another fact that almost everyone, including our media, has overlooked is that the General elections are also being held in South Africa this year, in April.
So the thing to consider now is will IPL be as big a hit in South Africa as it was last year. The economics of the show are the paramount factor as after all the IPL is a pure business venture. Will the games, suited to Indian TV audience timings, and hence to be held in the afternoon in South Africa, play to full houses? Will the cold weather in South Africa be suitable for cricket? On the other hand, holding the tournament in India at the time of an election would have been very risky without adequate security. Preliminary reactions have been encouraging with the South African public showing quite an interest in the tournament.
Preparations have already begun and teams have chosen their base cities. Teams will start moving to the Rainbow Nation in a few days time. It will be up to them to make this tournament "Bigger and Better" as promised by Lalit Modi. We are waiting.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Rafa vs Roger
Man, wasn't satisfied with just one so I came back for another. No, I am not talking about Lays but blogs.
Returning to the theme of the last one, the Australian Open saw a new winner in Rafael Nadal, who beat Roger Federer in the final which was once again a tennis epic. These two-should I call them players or supermen-have fought like true warriors on the tennis court whenever they met. But seeing Federer's recent record against Nadal in the last year or so, what with the loss at Wimbledon
and now this on a hardcourt, it makes one wonder whether Federer has got an unspoken apprehension of Nadal or he is truly better than Federer even on fast courts.
The sensational news was Federer's crying when he was asked to speak. It showed how much this title would have meant to him. He still showed his gentlemanship by speaking ahead of Nadal, while still in tears, letting Nadal have the final word. One has to marvel at Nadal's fitness who played the 4-hr+ final right after a 5-hr semi-final. His intent of chasing down impossible balls was as active as ever and that got him through.
All of us hope that this rivalry, probably one of the greatest in sporting history continues. Let us remain in wait of the day when Federer will win his record-equalling 14th Grand Slam title.
Returning to the theme of the last one, the Australian Open saw a new winner in Rafael Nadal, who beat Roger Federer in the final which was once again a tennis epic. These two-should I call them players or supermen-have fought like true warriors on the tennis court whenever they met. But seeing Federer's recent record against Nadal in the last year or so, what with the loss at Wimbledon
and now this on a hardcourt, it makes one wonder whether Federer has got an unspoken apprehension of Nadal or he is truly better than Federer even on fast courts.
The sensational news was Federer's crying when he was asked to speak. It showed how much this title would have meant to him. He still showed his gentlemanship by speaking ahead of Nadal, while still in tears, letting Nadal have the final word. One has to marvel at Nadal's fitness who played the 4-hr+ final right after a 5-hr semi-final. His intent of chasing down impossible balls was as active as ever and that got him through.
All of us hope that this rivalry, probably one of the greatest in sporting history continues. Let us remain in wait of the day when Federer will win his record-equalling 14th Grand Slam title.
Welcome to my new weblog everyone. This will be my portal for siphoning out my thoughts on recent topics. So, lets get started.
The success of Indians at the recently concluded Australian Open is on everyone's mind. Yuki Bhambri, only sixteen, won the Juniors' Singles Title and Sania Mirza alongwith the perennial Mahesh Bhupathi won the Mixed Doubles Title. This success lends credibility to claims that India is fast becoming a tennis superpower. There is also Somdev Dev Varman, from whom great feats are expected in the future. But before jumping on the bandwagon, let's consider the facts-No Indian has performed in the relatively more important Singles tour since the time of Ramanathan Krishnan and Vijay Amritraj. The lack of infrastructure, that same old problem we have been hearing of since ages, is still present. All the three winners have trained abroad. Yuki Bhambri is still training in Florida.
The fact of the matter is that these celebrations might be in vain if the authorities do not start improving lawn tennis infrastructure in our country soon. Otherwise only people with enough funds will be able to go abroad and obtain quality training. We remain in wait of the day when an Indian holds aloft a Grand Slam Singles trophy.
The success of Indians at the recently concluded Australian Open is on everyone's mind. Yuki Bhambri, only sixteen, won the Juniors' Singles Title and Sania Mirza alongwith the perennial Mahesh Bhupathi won the Mixed Doubles Title. This success lends credibility to claims that India is fast becoming a tennis superpower. There is also Somdev Dev Varman, from whom great feats are expected in the future. But before jumping on the bandwagon, let's consider the facts-No Indian has performed in the relatively more important Singles tour since the time of Ramanathan Krishnan and Vijay Amritraj. The lack of infrastructure, that same old problem we have been hearing of since ages, is still present. All the three winners have trained abroad. Yuki Bhambri is still training in Florida.
The fact of the matter is that these celebrations might be in vain if the authorities do not start improving lawn tennis infrastructure in our country soon. Otherwise only people with enough funds will be able to go abroad and obtain quality training. We remain in wait of the day when an Indian holds aloft a Grand Slam Singles trophy.
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