The Media Circus

I was going through CNN-IBN’s program 'Face The Nation' yesterday. The program discusses the main issue of the day. Yesterday it was about the changing face of the Terrorist and how it is observed that muslims youths are nervous about police resorting to area wise searches first in Jamia Nagar and than in Azamgarh.

Interestingly during a commercial break I switched to NDTV and I found that their topic of discussion is same!! The difference was ofcourse the host and the panel. As I watched Face the Nation I was wondering what really these news channels intend to come out with? Do they want some masala debate or do they really want to come out with a real solution to a particular problem?

Take the recent attacks on Christians for example. The media was more focused on collecting all sorts of abuses from around the country against the BJP and its so called ‘Communal’ actions. None of the news channels went to the people who were beaten or none of them went to those who had reasons to vandalize these churches. What they did instead was to sit in their studios and ask questions to ‘LEADERS’ who were not present at the ground.

Same is the case with Bihar floods. Media was more busy to take Nitish kumar’s reactions to Lalu’s allegations against the state government. What I mean to say is even when the flood has affected lakhs of people, the media was more interested to highlight the blame game. Sometime politics should take a backseat and it the media which can easily do so by not even asking questions which will lead to blame games.

When MNS workers attacked innocent north Indians on the streets of Maharasthra, the cameramen of different news channels were busy taking live footage of such actions knowing fully well that these offenders were beating innocents intentionally in front of the cameras so that their message goes out to the public.

The Media must understand that they are the tool for everyone to get publicity. Be it the political parties or be it the people who want to create instability. It is very important that these news channels should have a purpose behind reporting news.

Coming to the program, which I was watching I would like to say that as a news channel they have to decide what they want to telecast. A university student saying that “Probably the victim could have been shot on his leg” was something which according to me did not deserve to be aired. Same is the case with the report that “Muslims youths are nervous because of the police’s crackdown”.

In a democracy everyone has to express his/her views but we must understand that in the name of democracy we cannot afford to encourage anyone doing or saying anything they like.

Sometimes for the larger good not taking the middle path is the best option.

Uncle Sam goes for a Russian Lesson

Newspapers all over today are reporting US federal Reserve Bank’s bail out of American International Group(AIG). This is the 3rd time in last one month that the US govt had to bail out major investment firms.

The irony is that the pillar stone of a Capitalist economy is resorting to socialist tactics. The government is funding and rescuing these huge private enterprises. We Indians actually are watching all this in dismay and probably economic analyst are a bit confused with the policies to adopt at this point of time. Post 1990’s the Indian government started to throw open its economy to private players. We call it the the liberalization period. Congress as the principal party never supported socialism but it also never practiced the American way of doing business. Today as we see the Bush administration taking desperate measures to bail out companies, it is evident that Government even though less efficient and less progressive is after all more stable.

So for the Republicans it’s a bitter pill to take. India should take it as a lesson and role out its own economic policies much more cautiously in future. A need for a central control is necessary in whatever business is carried out in the country.

In our common language we say that if one gets a Government job, at least he will never be in danger of loosing it. But that’s not the case with private jobs. Thousands of pink slips are just an indication of that.

Are the Soviets laughing?

East Bengal –Mohun Bagan Rivalry

Football rivalries are among the most passionate affairs which can ever take place among all other things under the sun. On their day they have the power of creating separate groups of people based on their loyalties for a particular club. In the soccer mad continents of Europe, South America there are many such famous rivalries which leaves us in awe.

Some of the famous rivalries are Manchester United –Liverpool, Barcelona-Real Madrid, AC Milan-Inter Milan, Celtic-Rangers, Boca Juniors-River Plate etc. Back home in India we have a rivalry which dates back to more than a 100 years. The East Bengal and Mohun Bagan rivalry is as much as at the same stage as the other mentioned ones in terms of passion, supporters, match day excitement and spectators.The Salt Lake stadium at Kolkata with a capacity crowd of 1,10,000 can match any other football theatre in the world. What lacks though in this rivalry is quality of football as compared to others ones. Sadly that’s because of the decline of Indian football over the years.

Being a lad from this city I have known what this match is all about in the life of a common Bengali. Sentiments dating back to pre independence period is attached with this match. I would not like to go into history of this rivalry. Instead I am giving you all this two links from where you can learn more about these clubs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohun_Bagan_AC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Bengal_Club

Coming to the present situation today’s match is very crucial as East Bengal although out of the Calcutta Football League title race will have a big role to play in the identification of the eventual winners. If the red and gold brigade(Jersey of East Bengal) beat the men in green and maroon(Mohun Bagan),than it will be left to Mohd Sporting(Another Big club with a history as old as the other two clubs) to win the title provided they win their match and go ahead of Mohun Bagan in goal difference. Also interestingly Mohun Bagan has defeated East Bengal in last 7 consecutive matches ! A reason strong enough for East Bengal to spoil their rivals party. All in all it has all the makings of a classic !

Remembering 9/11

It’s been seven years since the dreaded Terrorist attack, which shook the world. The most powerful nation’s pride was reduced to the rubbles of the World Trade Center. The famous tourist spot of WTC turned into Ground Zero.

Today as we enter 11th September 2008 there is a need to analyze the situation and to what extent we have been able to curb the chances of yet another such attack. USA since 9/11 has been pursuing these terrorists with a single-minded objective of finding them and killing them. The war in Afghanistan was a right start according to me but it got distorted when Iraq’s invasion began. As we stand today even the Bush administration knows that Iraq was not needed. Instead getting a strong foothold in Afghanistan was necessary. Today the Taliban is making a strong comeback and that has caused Washington to sit up and take notice of the root cause of this development.

What will always remain surprising to me is why in spite of numerous CIA reports president Bush was more than happy to keep Musharraf as his ally? From his sources he must have known the reason behind Taliban’s regrouping. Yet Pakistan was Bush’s major ally. Barrack Obama recently claimed that much of the aid US gave to Pakistan has been utilized by the later in preparing itself for a war against India!! Close on the heels of this statement the US army launched an offensive against terrorist hideouts inside Pakistan.

So what we can see is a sharp change in the perception of who really is behind the menace. But what about Terrorism itself? What have we done to reduce it? According to me there are two ways to reduce terrorist activities. One is towards identifying the cause and one is towards preventing it from causing havoc with efficient handling.
If we need to identify the cause we have to understand the situation under which a human can resort to such work. Why is that certain organization with evil intentions are getting men who are prepared to die fighting against nation states? Poverty, lack of opportunity, long lasting hatred against his/her own country can be some of the main reasons. Its time we look into these issues.
The other way is to handle terrorism with strict hands like what USA has done. Why the US was able to do it? Because it feels that it has given everyone a chance to live happily, earn money. Than whosoever will work against it, it will crush them to death. Our country cannot adopt such a stance because we realize that we have not exercised the first option at all. Have we given J&k the kind of development, which a state like Maharashtra has seen? Have we allowed the people of Jammu & Kashmir to dream big staying at their homeland? I am afraid we have not. Same is the case for the north eastern states.

We have matured in our handling of terrorism and shown a lot of restraint against countries that promote such activities but with this maturity I expect that Terrorism should be treated as a problem of the nation just like other social problems like education, employment etc. The target should be to cut the supplies of these militant outfits by pulling away of youths from joining them.

I do hope that such incidents of 9/11 do not happen even again and our next generations can live in a world free of Terrorism.

Saurav Ganguly – Is this the end?

I was passionate for Cricket since my childhood and loved to play as well watch the game more so when the Indian Cricket team played. The English summer of 1996 and I had the privilege to watch two of the greatest Indian batsmen of all time making their debut at the same test match. Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly.

Both went on to become idols for the lakhs of supporters around the country. On one hand Rahul became an epitome of solid technical batting in Test matches and on the other Saurav took Indian cricket to another level with his charisma, flamboyance and fighting spirit. I was so happy to be able to live in this era of Sachin,Saurav &Rahul.
Things got even more sweeter when Dada was handed the Captaincy.

Do we remember the critical time when he took over? Some of the fancied Saurav bashers might not remember but it was the time when Cricket was going through the turmoil of Match Fixing. I would not like to talk about what he achieved as Captain as we all know that and probably all of us will salute him for that. I would rather like to talk about the reason why I as an individual started getting irritated with Indian Cricket and it went to a point where i even stopped watching them play.

The chapel era combined with Pawar coming to Power at BCCI made me upset. This was the beginning of the end of Saurav Ganguly. Many people squarely blame Greg Chappell for what he did to our Dada but I would like to believe that what he wanted to bring in to Indian cricket was a shift in attitude. He wanted to tell the selectors that look you got to shift out the elders and bring fresh blood. The politics of Shard Pawar came at this point when he and the rest of BCCI started treating this judgement of Greg only against Saurav. So thanks to BCCI Sachin,Rahul were treated on a different level compared to Saurav.

The exclusion of Saurav from the rest of India side is the final signal in his career. As a player I am sure he is not at all perturbed with the development. At 35 he has become an elder statement of this game and an inspiration for many from all walks of life. Dada fought back once before to prove it to the world that he still had the zeal to play cricket at the highest level. That comeback was completed when he got the award of Ceat Asian Cricketer of the year award.

Saurav Ganguly gave the Australians a run for their money,gave them back their own chin music. He changed the way Indian cricketers think and brought on this amazing believe that we can compete and beat teams like Australia at their own backyard. As an avid viewer of numerous India’s matches over the years I am delighted to see one of the great sons of Indian cricket.

Good luck Dada!

Mumbai Meri Jaan – A Learning Experience

Time and again Bollywood has come up with many movies which have created a lasting impression among movies viewers. Mumbai Meri Jaan is the most recent addition in that category. Hats off to PareshRawal,Madhavan,Irfan and Soha Ali Khan for giving power packed performances.

I would not like to go into the storyline as I am sure many have already seen it and a lot of other people are planning to see it. What I would like to stress instead is the powerful message which is carried along with the movie.

We often wonder as common people that is our country the number one target among these terrorist? Why is it that India is the most frequent victim of these crimes? A lot of the young educated people want to leave this country and live peacefully in countries like US,UK etc which are ‘Paradises’ in this world. The first message in this movie goes to them and makes it clear that Terrorism in the form of blasts, sucide attacks have become normal practices in almost many corners of the world and it is high time we understand that the threat looms large wherever we go. Characters like those played by Madhavan in the movie are hard to find nowadays but yes they do exists and it is a matter of time when our conscience will rise above our other senses and we shall find many more such Nikhil’s(Madhavan’s Character) who will be willing to fight the odds and will try to clean the system where he lives.

The second message comes with the Character of Suresh(Irrfan Khan) who has grown frustrated with these attacks and holds the Muslim community responsible for every heinous act so much so that as a businessman he is not willing to deal with them even in a situation where he needs money. We must remember that it is never the right thing to hold a community responsible for the act of some people. Yes most of the terrorist are muslims but we got to stop retaliating at them or look at them in a negative sense and instead try to find out whats the reason which prompts them to join such work. Economic upliftment of Muslims is a necessity. A lot of discrimination which are not visible from outside exists which we got to remove. You develop the state of Jammu& Kashmir,generate jobs for the youth,set up more and more industries and I am sure the number of Kashmiri youth turning militants will reduce drastically. Same is the case of the under developed areas of our country like North Eastern States. This group which are recruiting young people are promising them more money than what they are earning otherwise and preaching them hatred against the ruling state as well as the western powers. So stop wasting time fighting and instead focus on the root cause.

The third message is the face of the media and how it makes the story of everything and only cares about TRP and NOTHING ELSE. We all are aware of this and I think there should be a regulatory body which sets a mark or standard which needs to be followed.
The movie beautifully exposes the ruthless,story hungry media with the character of Rupali Joshi(Potrayed by Soha A Khan) who in the process of designing her TV channels TRP formula looses her fiancée.

The fourth message is to those who wants to change or who have not done the right thing but at least realized the importance of showing the right way to those following them. Paresh Rawal is a laid back police man happy to sit and watch the movie which goes on around him everyday during his duty but when he starts working with a junior officer and understands the frustration caused, he urges others to follow the right path.

Movies such as this should do more than a weekend entertainment to us. They should be able to ignite that human within all of us which is badly missing in today’ world. India needs it even more as she is desperate to break the taboos and march towards a brighter future. As human beings we should all know and understand that our deeds will create a lasting impression amongst the future generations.

I would give Mumbai Meri Jaan a 5 star for the message it carries.

The Singur Impasse

When Ratan Tata announced his ambitious plan to launch the World’s cheapest car little did he know that the site of Nano’s production will prove to be his nemesis. Call it a dangerous trend or a blind struggle against Industrialization the loss is imminent both ways.
Of late it has been observed that political parties have taken their rivalry to an unprecedented level which is threatening the growth story of India Inc. Land acquisitions have become a problem for many state governments in our country. Making it issue political parties are playing their cards and hammering blows at each other.

Coming to West Bengal, it can easily be understood that the Communist Government is trying to shade its traditional anti Industrialization image and pushing for industry oriented reforms. Firstly to make such a shift in policy without taking the farmers into confidence is the biggest mistake they have done. The same government, which was prepared to do anything for poor farmers, is trying to take their lands today. Yes these farmers are offered compensation but who is going to make them understand this shift in policy? For the poor farmer it is suddenly becoming gloomy and they are almost shocked to see their old friend leaving them. At this juncture Mamata Banerjee enters as the messiah and she is trying to bank upon these sentiments. Had the government taken these farmers into confidence and made them understand the reason behind acquiring the land and shown them the larger picture in future, this situation would have never taken place.

The role of Mamata Banerjee is nothing less than an opportunist politician who took this situation as her springboard to political success. Victory at Panchayat Election made her even more sure and now she is not looking back. Like every other time the problem with her is this over enthusiasm for an issue and this time she has not understood the balance between protest and unpopularity. She has extended her ‘DHARNA MANCHA’ beyond the tolerance of the masses and now she is turning rapidly into public enemy number No 1. Elections are not won by votes in one pocket; they are won by winning across the voting polity. Mamata has failed to understand that. Her stand is increasingly looking like Anti-Industrialization even though she is making a genuine effort for the poorest of the poor.
Amidst all this the Centre has played yet another dismal role in not mediating in this issue. Nano after all is a project of national importance. At this moment it should not have thought about the issue as an internal one of a Communist Ruled state.

As a common person and a native of West Bengal I would like to see a speedy solution to this problem and for once I would request the political parties to come out with a solution.

Rain Drops-Can we Learn something from them?

The amazing spectacle of innumerous rain drops on the surface of leaves after a spell of rain is breathtaking to say the least. The ambience is refreshing,the air purer and the soul of every single living being ecstatic. Amazing really how rain drops brings about so many changes isn't it ?

The important thing to note is how a small drop is bringing about so many changes. Definitely there exists photographs of rain drops kissing the surface of the leaf which have been acclaimed at different art exhibitions around the world.That's the power of these tiny drops.
I would like to draw a comparison of these drops with we the Human Beings. Imagine each of us as these tiny drops coming to the aid of our ambience. This ambience will be our society, our value system,our conscience. If we all take the role of a Rain drop we can certainly make an impact.
The recent killing of a 15 year old girl in Goa is a startling example that had each individual been clean this sad incident would not have happened. We blame the police,the goons,the mafia...but who made them what they are today? It is we the people. We bribe the police to make things happen our way, we have played a big hand in making this goons and mafias. A lot of introspection is needed as to why the society(Our Ambience) has become so much corrupt.
Let us rise above ourselves and our own vested interests and realize that if we all can improve on an individual level the net result will reflect on the way we run the show.
How true it is that with everything nature created there is something left for us to learn. These simple drops combining to beautify nature should become more than an inspiration for us.
Come lets turn into these innumerous drops and make our society a better place to live in. The nation shares the pain with Scarlett Keeling's mother and promises to standby her during this difficult period.

The English Soccer Power!

The UEFA Champions league Quarter Final draw is scheduled to take place on friday,14th March.Four of the Eight knock out places has been reserved by the English powerhouses like Liverpool,Chelsea,Manchester United,Arsenal. The most important point to note here is we can easily see the dominance of English Premier League at the european level. The top four teams from this league are increasingly proving to be the top four of Europe.
Ever since the Roman Abramovich era started at Stamford Bridge(Chelsea Home), we have seen a plethora of football stars coming to English shores and entertaining the passionate crowds. Special credit goes the Merseyside team Liverpool FC who reached the final of this competetion 2 times in last 3 years. Rafa Benitez's(Liverpool Coach) men have done a wondeful job and proved their supremacy at this stage which ofcourse they have won for 5 times !( Milan & Real Madrid have won it on 6 & 9 times respectively)
It is clear from the present showing and the standard of football played that English Premier League is the best in the business and it has started to gather a huge momentum in terms of capturing the markets of Asia.

It is interesting to see how the Quarter Final draw pans out as most of us dont want the English teams end up playing against each other at this stage. Perhaps a face off during the Semis will be more suited. UEFA champions league matchdays are spectacular to watch and the level of football played is amazing to say the least. This is most important football event after the World Cup and the Euro.

Lets hope that the likes of Ronaldo,Gerrard,Ronaldinho,Messi,Henry,Fabregas,Ballack continues to entertain us and make this beautiful game even better! I am looking forward to the draw and i am hopeful for the following fixtures to emerge:



Barcelona vs Fenerbache



Liverpool vs Roma



Arsenal vs Schalke



Manchester United vs Chelsea



Semis:

Barcelona vs Manchester United

Liverpool vs Arsenal



Final:

Liverpool vs Barcelona



Winner:



Liverpool !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( On Penalties)

The New Aggressive Woman

8th March,International Women's Day. As we all celebrated yet another special day for Women it is very hard to overlook the stupendous progress which the fairer sex has made over the decades. From being a subjugated,shy to a supremely independent,confident,having a lot of ambitions, the transitions has been astounding to say the least.
The modern woman is no longer dependent on social taboos,she is not bothered about what others have to say related to career goals. It is a fact though that the rise of Woman has come largely because of the supportive families they are getting. A modern husband no longer raises his objection when he finds his wife working and fulfil her own career ambitions. Similarly the new age kid understands that his/her mom is having to do a lot of work both household as well as office. A lot of mutual understanding has developed which has led to Women being able to perfectly balance their work.
It is must for a modern society to have both the sexes working in tandem and strive together for a common goal. Also its time that we stop pitting a woman against a man and realize that behind every successful woman there is a man and vice verse.
Let us all celebrate this phenomenal growth and hail the WOMAN who brings along with her the power of Saraswati,Kali and Durga.

Bangalore- The Sinking Ship!

It was 8 45 am. My office shuttle was negotiating the traffic at Mysore road. It has been a 50 minute journey so far and we are yet to reach office. The distance is not even 20 km and in any other major city which is globally known it should take a commuter much less time to traverse that distance. Is this an isolated incident? Does it happen once in a blue moon? No, Bangalore's traffic woes is persisting for quite a long time now. This is something which affects me directly but the interesting thing is Traffic problem is like a small droplet in an ocean of adversities facing the Silicon Valley of India. It makes me a bit jittery to term Bangalore as 'Silicon Valley'.

Looking at our own Silicon Valley in its present state i am caught among many misconceptions. First is what is the original Silicon Valley like?Is it a place where the population has exploded, the infrastructure has come down to its knees?

Second thing which keeps on coming to my mind is if we really look at Silicon Valley,California and than turn to Bangalore I find it hard to believe the disparity of standards. Are our standards such that we compare the largest industry hub in the world with a city which is crumbling under the pressure of overgrowing population?

Bangalore city is in the middle of a mass crisis from all fronts. Infrastructure be it Civic or transport is facing huge crisis. In the midst of this the booming economy is demanding more out of this city. People from different parts of India are coming for jobs and in that process exposing the cities shortcomings.

Call it the political gimmick or lack of vision but the fact is Bangalore is going down the drain. The political establishment has wooed the industry to this state successfully but it has not taken care of the essential needs which was bound to arise as the city grew. Today we see BMTC buses overcrowded..traffic snarls...pathetic civic supplies.

This is an alarming situation and its time we realize that this city is like a ship and the people living here are on board and unless we take care of this ship we all are going to sink very soon.

Maharashtra for Marathis or Indians

Bhaiya - it's a term commonly used to describe an inhabitant of eastern UP and Bihar. In Mumbai it is a term of abuse, call a Maharashtrian a Bhaiya and you could get into trouble. First it was the Gujarati then the South Indian then in the 90's it was the Muslim ...Raj Thackeray, they said was just following in his uncle's footsteps ..its the north Indians now ...ignore him and it will blow away. Bombay's North Indians were being targeted for individual gains by a politician on the make. Grim faced news anchors nodded their heads .

Let's for a moment look at the entire incident ...the first inaccuracy is that this is a campaign against North Indians, it isn't, this Marathi angst is specifically against the migrants from UP and Bihar. So to term this as an anti North Indian drive is misleading, more so because no one in North India, and here I am talking of the states of Punjab, Himachal, Uttrakhand, Haryana and Rajasthan, considers people from eastern UP and Bihar as North Indians!!! The term used to describe them in these states? But then, many would argue that even if it is against a specific group, it is just bad, they are just poor folk who have as much a right to stay in Bombay as anyone else. This after all is a part of India and as citizens of India they have a right over Bombay that no one can take away. This, incidentally, was the view of one of a very eminent Bombay wala, a parsee gentleman who referred to how the Parsees had found refuge in India ...how at the turn of the last century they controlled the island city ..how no one calls them outsiders. This again is an argument that is hard to refute-- it has fact history and reason behind it. Except for one small detail, even at the height of their power the Parsees never outnumbered or threatened to swamp the local Maharashtrian.And this is the core fear that is propelling this resentment against the Bhaiya.

Think of the middle class Maharashtrian, he gets up in the morning and the man who gets him milk from the shop is a Bhaiya, he goes to work and stops to buy a smoke and is sold a pack by a Bhaiya, he gets into a taxi and there again a native of Bihar drives him to work, in his office the guard who opens the door for him again is a Bhaiya ..as is the boy who serves him tea, on his way back he stops to buy vegetables and is sold some by a man from Azamgarh , next to his house is a clutch of boys listening to a Bhojpuri song at full blast. The maid in his house is from Balia and the boy who comes back to repair his cable connection is from Mirzapur .

Can you fault Mr Thackrey from feeling that his city is being overrun by Bhaiyas?You may say as many do does this mean that all Gujaratis and South Indians, all the Punjabis and the Kashmiris should be chased out of Bombay, does Mr Thackrey support ethnic cleansing? No. he doesn't because of two very different reasons First, he realises that every other group has a sort of mean cap on the numbers who will stay here, a cap that does not apply to migrants from Bihar and UP, he has seen their numbers in the city explode in the past decade and knows that these numbers will keep swelling. The second point that makes the Maharashtrian uncomfortable and this is something that has been ignored by many of us is the one single aspect that scares the Marathi the most, with these increased numbers lies the very real spectre of increased political power. Here you have to realise that for all the money the Gujarati might make in Bombay, all the resentment the well to do Marwari arouses in Calcutta, both these communities are content with acquiring financial muscle, they never meddle in local politics. The migrant from UP and Bihar is different, part of it is his socio-economic makeup, the way he behaves in a small group and his behaviour when he has the numbers are completely different.

The eminent citizens who speak so eloquently of the cosmopolitan Bombay that cannot be held hostage by the lumpens of the MNS are right of course but we ignore the fact that this group of eminent citizens inhabit a different India a city within a city, the Bombay of theirs is very different from the Mumbai that a Marathi sees.Unlike your film stars and industrialists the Maharashtrian cares how many local corporaters or MLA's are from Bihar and UP. So when the Maharashtrian looks at this unceasing migration into his city and he does see it as his city, this sense of political power slipping away real or imagined is awakened. Each community has its own attachments to their language or culture, the Punjabi to his language his food, the Bengali can be in any part of the world but come Durga Puja and he will celebrate it and of course the Bihari will take with him his language and culture, the Chat Puja that so irritates Thackeray Junior is just one of those cultural imports that are inevitable.

The entire Idea of India is that there is space for everyone, this is the only country in the world where 10 men can sit down to dinner, and each could have completely different food habits, habits dictated by his religion or the region he belongs to, nobody minds and these adjustments are made by millions on a day to day basis, we Indians know this, our land belongs to all of us and to accomodate each others' quirks is the only way we can survive. There is a simple rule that governs this accomodation, do not offend your hosts, so if you go to a masjid, even if you are not a Muslim you cover your head, visiting a south Indian home you take off your shoes, in a Sikh home resist the urge to light up a smoke.

A Maharashtrian feels his hold on his state is under threat, his culture is being overwhelmed or disrespected, Raj Thackery tapped onto that discontent.

At this juncture it is very important for us to understand the importance of regional sentiments and at the same time look into the aspirations of the poor one. India as they say is our motherland and a mother is always there to help and support her child till her last breath.

This mother which we are talking about has a larger than life image and its our reponsibilty to let our mother fullfill her duties! Lets live in peace and let the Rak Thackrey's understand that such regional politics cut straight into our motherland's heart.

The Country Awaits the Heroes !

In Cricket a tour of Australia is regarded as the ultimate test for any cricketer. It becomes even more important for the Sub Continent teams(India,Pakistan,Srilanka,Bangladesh). The Indian cricket team has never beaten Australia Down under to win a series. The last time the Men in Blue tasted success was way back in 1986 when they won the World Series. Ravi Shastri was the man of the series. Under such circumstances a tour of Australia always brings a lot of hope along with it.

The tour this time was no different and as Saurav Ganguly said it was the best Indian team to tour Australia for a long time, a lot of Indian cricket supporters were looking forward to a Historic victory down under.

The Test series was evenly contested. Although we lost it 1-2 still there were clear signs that our cricket team has started to match the Kangaroos. The victory at Perth was a great success. The way Anil Kumble led from the front clearly indicated that the Australians were rattled. The end of test series and even the most pessimistic supporter would have agreed that India are truly on their way to overhaul the Aussies.

Dhoni and his men proved it that India has become the sole cricketing nation which can not only challenge the Aussies but also win against it on a regular manner.

Winning the CB series and beating Australia consecutively will do wonders for this team and it will be the right impetus they need to win the World Cup 2011.

With a lot of excitement and adulation the nation awaits these conquerors. Every aspiring cricketer wants to meet their heroes more than ever after this famous victory.

The future looks even better. We must not sit on this laurel and stop working at our grass root level. We need to keep up the good work and I am sure many such victories will follow and soon we will reach the top of the Cricketing hierarchy.

Chak De India!