2012..the Olympics year

This is the year of the next edition of the Summer Olympics which return to London after 1948..
Its another great sporting event that pits the world's best against each other. One wonders how India would fare at this edition of the games. In Beijing we won 1 gold and 2 bronze medals largely due to the individual brilliance of Abhinav Bindra, Sushil Kumar and Vijender Singh. Who will be our saviours this time? As a country we have failed at the Summer Olympic Games. It is indeed surprising that a country of a billion struggles to win a few medals. Given our economic progress it is strange that we are yet to achieve significance as a sporting power. China on the other hand has made rapid strides in the sporting arena along with economic success. Different authors have penned diverse reasons for this suprising failure to win medals. I believe there are three main reasons for our failure - One we dont take sports seriously enough in our culture, two our economic progress is skewed and the benefits are yet to reach a larger section of the society where issues like nutrition and opportunities impact the growth of our sportsmen and women, three lack of international training facilities and modern sports medicine and coaching methods. We have not given sports its due for instance in our yearly Budgets or even in State Budgets. Sports is a great reflection of national pride and it is indeed suprising and sad that we choose to ignore such a wonderful opportunity to annouce our arrival as a nation. It is not only the government's responsibility to promote sports but also private enterprises should build state of the art sporting infrastructure to promote different sports.
Hopefully we would have new champions in this edition of the Olympics..after all the controversy regarding sponsorship of the Games by Dow Chemicals its time to look forward to the greatest sporting event of the year..let the Games being..let the best win..

SMG - An Era of Indian Cricket

Comparisons are often biased..we all tend to have our heroes. In today's cricket Sachin Tendulkar is the god of cricket. There is no doubt Sachin has left his stamp on every type of cricket played. But one question remains on my mind. is Sachin the best Indian batsmen ever? Is he the best Test batsman India has produced? While Sachin holds the records for highest test runs and centuries my personal vote for best Test batsman goes to Sunil Manohar Gavaskar. I know i am openings a can of worms here..but let's look at it a bit objectively..Gavaskar played in an era where India was an average team. He played in an era that had the best fast bowlers be it the fearsome four from West Indies (Marshall, Holding, Roberts and Garner) or the hunting pairs from Australia (Lillee and Thompson) and England (Willis and Botham) and guile of Imran and Hadlee. The best part was Gavaskar took them on even when the rules of the game were fair (no limit on number of bouncers per over) and no helmets to save your head or face. Yet Gavaskar played them with ease and never looked in trouble against quality fast bowling. He exemplified all the attributes of a great opening batsman - super technique, footwork, very steady balance, great powers of concentration and never say die spirit. And the best part of Gavaskar was adversity brought out the best in him. He was one batsman who put a price on his wicket. Not surprising his knocks have become a part of Cricket folk lore evoking the passion of cricket fans all over the world. His knock of 96 in his last Test innings against Pakistan on a mine field of a pitch was a master class in batting. One could always bet on Gavaskar producing his best where the other batsman failed. His knock of 101 on a seaming pitch at Old Trafford in 1974 was another example of how to play fast bowling. His batting skills earned him the respect of all time greats and his ability to deliver the goods when needed made him a fearsome adversary. His feats brought not only records for Indian cricket but also changed the belief that Indian cricketers had about the game. Gavaskar truly was an era of Indian cricket..we can classify the history of Indian cricket as before Gavaskar and after Gavaskar. His deep knowledge of the game and his keen observations make him a wonderful commentator and student of the game. Gavaskar has also never shunned from sharing his batting tips to greats like Sachin and Dravid during his stint as a batting consultant to the Indian team. Added to his knowledge of the game, Gavaskar has a mighty pen as well and has been sharing his insights of the game and its evolution through his PMG columns. He is also a pioneer in Sports Management and was the first sportsman to set up a Sports Management company, Professional Management Group in the mid 1980's. He is truly an icon of the game and we were lucky to have witnessed his era.

Tiger - the dying embers of a wonderful being

The Tiger is a majestic animal..The mention of our National animal evokes mixed responses of fear, awe, respect and appreciation as William Blake immortalized the tiger with his poem 'Tiger Tiger Burning Bright in the Forests of the night'. Legendary hunter turned conservationist Jim Corbett referred to the Tiger as a 'gentleman with boundless courage'. The sad state of the Tiger today makes one wonder if these lines hold good in today's commercialized world where every natural resource is being expended without a thought for conservation and sustainable development. Let's look at a few glaring realities -
India had over 30,000 tigers at the start of the 20th century
Tiger shooting was banned in India in 1970
Project Tiger was started in 1973 when the tiger count had gone below 2000.
In mid 1990s the tiger count was around 3500.
The current tiger counts stands at 1411
The reason for the tiger's sad decline has been incessant shooting during the British Raj by both British civil servants and maharajahs of princely states. Post independence there was the rise of jeep and spotlight aided shooters and poachers. Now poaching still continues with tiger bones and other body parts fetching a fortune in the Chinese markets.
Recently the rise in conflicts between humans and tigers are on the rise as boundaries of civilization keep expanding on to tiger habitats. Frequent news of human kills in Sunderbans and the recent man-eating menace in Corbett National Park are grave reminders of how serious the problem of human encroachment is. For the tiger to have any chance to survive and thrill future generations human encroachment into park buffer and core areas must stop. The state governments must do their bit in providing the required funds, decision making agility to make things happen on the ground. Its a now or never effort that must involve corporate houses, governments and people participation. For those who have frequented reserved forests and heard or seen a tiger in its natural habitat would know what a magnificent animal it is.
I sincerely hope that with the Aircel initiative the tiger would get a fresh lease of life and the master of the jungle would get many more years to survey the jungle in the characteristic nonchalant manner. Nothing like the forest reverberate with the call of a tiger on a moonless night. The long guttural call warning all inhabitants of the jungle that the king was on the move.
Hope the future generations have a chance to see the tiger in all its majesty in its natural habitat.

A Blogger's Dilemma

After months of perceived inactivity (though my mind was busy analyzing the world around me ;)) aka no blogs i finally decided to break my silence. The last few months have been marred by stories of rampant corruption be it the CWG fiasco or the dubious land deals or stories of sporting success. As a citizen of this country my mind has wavered from the depths of despair to the joy's of India's sporting victories..but when i look back at the year that is almost over what strikes me is how the nation's mood has changed from the postive energy of an re-elected government to negativity stemming from the incidents that cast a doubt again on the quality of governance in India.
And its not just the Central Government or the State Governments but right down to the smallest units of governance be it schools, panchayats or colleges that stem from lack of quality governance. We see a common thread lack of discipline and governance continues to hurt India. We may hide behind self-congratulatory statistics like the 2nd fastest growing economy and the tag of 'Growth Markets' but the fact remains that the growth story would be more sustainable and noteworthy with better governance. Yet as a nation we keep hiding our problems under the carpet..case in point the mess during the CWG was clearly hidden to ensure a trouble free games though the people of Delhi were to face the brunt once the games were over..hence the question of India has arrived is largely theoritical as we have a lot of mess to clear up before we can claim our arrival on the world stage..the mess that i refer to is multi-dimensional - education, health, quality of governance, power of judiciary and executive, state of environment to highlight the key points.
Our media (electronic and print) need to highlight the true picture of India to the common man and not sensationalize issues for TRP ratings..while there were numerous reports on CWG financial scandals and the Mumbai Oil Spill.little is being spoken about these issues now. There must be a consistency on part of media while reporting on issues. While the Obama visit got significant coverage (almost like Reality TV) a lot of issues did not find mention. For instance when we talk of promises made by the endless government schemes but little is spoken about the effectivess of these schemes on rural employment and electrification.
We continue the to be a country of misplaced priorities. It is time for the rising tiger to wake from its slumber and shake off the cobwebs of sleep and deprivation. Let's make it happen. Its now or never.

Is India an Emerging World Power

Is India an Emerging World Power? A question we often come across in different media channels be it Television, Radio, Internet, Books etc. While there is no doubt that the Indian Economy has shown impressive growth numbers since 1991 questions remain over whether we are going to be a 'world' power in the 21st Century. Lets do a reality check - we are now into the 2nd decade of the 21st Century (which is supposed to belong to China & India) and still have a high population growth rate of 1.9%., literacy rates of around 65% and we still rank poorly on all UN surveys on quality of life and health. Lets look at some of our success stories - we are pretty much the 'back office' capital of the world..with IT Services and BPO bring us much need export earnings..but lets dwelve a bit deeper..what about R&D and Products...we cut a sorry figure there..barring Infosys's Finnacle and IFlex's Flexcube (now OFS thanks to Larry Ellison) we hardly have any products that are making waves worldwide. If we go by recent survey findings of World Intellectual Property Organization where we don't make it to the top 20 countries in Patents worldwide while our neighbour China features 5th with over 7000 patents filed in 2009. It tells us we are obviously not doing things right. Lets look at our education system which we claim produces top class students - none of our IITs, IIMs, NITs or INIs feature in the worlds best technology/B-school rankings. We still believe in reservations and government control of top institutes..clearly we are moving against conventional wisdom..
Look at the state of higher education in India..hows many quality PHD's are we churning out..not sup rising why we score low on patents..or quality research..our media highlights the success of Indians abroad but we conveniently forget that they are being rewarded for work in their adopted countries..So that brings us back to the old question of brain drain..have we stopped it by being the back office capital..to some extent yes..but the brain drain continues as we don't have the right people in core areas of scientific research, economics as well as academics. We have a huge shortfall of quality professors in all our premier institutes..
We need to wake up as a nation and realize where our true priorities are..blame games don't help..what is needed is some serious introspection and proactive action to stem the rot before its too late. We need an overhaul of our education system as well our approach to doing business. Corporate houses must invest in research and in building quality products..We need to create world class facilities in Indian companies and institutes to attract PHD's and SMEs. There is a lot of scope to work in the areas of energy efficiency, green energy, defence research, bio technology etc. Government must be a policy maker and enabler but not implementer..lets create models that work. Media must be responsible in portraying stories in terms of national relevance..TRP ratings are important but at what cost !
Lets learn from successful models and customize them for our needs..as long as we are ready to learn and innovate and appreciate the importance of national goals there is no reason why we can't be a 'world power'. But it would need some fundamental changes in our mindset and in the way we run organizations be it government, educational, defence or corporate. Time will tell whether we make it or not..i hope we do..

Hindi Cinema - Cinema Paradiso?

There was a time in the 80's during my school days that i used to shun Hindi movies. And if you look at most of the films of that generation you would probably excuse me for my biased attitude. However with the advent of a new century emerged a new genre to Hindi Cinema..i wouldn't call it parallel cinema or art movies as that existed way back in the 80s. With movies like 'Bombay Boys' (99) , Dil Chahta Hain (2001), Jhankaar Beats (2002) the new age cinema had arrived where story lines and scripts with apt direction made for a cinematic treat for the Indian cinema viewer. It was a brave new world where old concepts and formulas were disregarded and the power of scripts and direction ruled the roost. There was another paradigm shift - the importance of a hero or heroine diminished and actors played roles that were in line with the scripts. This led to actors studying their roles in detail in an attempt to make their performances more realistic and convincing. The master of method acting Aamir Khan sets the standard here with his powerful yet subtle performances. There was also a marked change in the story lines and themes that new age Hindi cinema dealt with. There were new topics such as burning social issues, political activism, terrorism, dynamics of a changing social fabric that got conveyed through the scripts backed by directors who knew their craft. The results are there for all to see.
While the International recognition of Hindi cinema may still be limited to largely Indian audiences once cannot deny that the quality of Indian mainstream film entries at the Oscar and other leading film festivals has shown significant improvement. Gone are the days where a Hindi film meant at least 6 songs and numerous dress changes for the entire dancing unit !! Now you have movies like Rocket Singh where you struggle to remember if there was a single song. Times have indeed changed and this has enhanced the cinematic hunger of film viewers. Rarely do we see good films fail at the box office. What has happened as a parallel development is the rise of Indian fiction which has made a place for itself in the world of fiction. So there are no dearth of talented writers who would not mind penning a script for a movie given that it makes good business sense as well as addressing the rising need for quality scripts that the new age directors demand. That brings us to the next question - is this the pinnacle of Hindi cinema..my guess is there is a long way to go before we get there..what we have seen is a new beginning but given the momentum that we see in bringing quality cinema to the audiences and greater awareness in the cinema viewer and the plethora of entertainment choices that a consumer has, innovation will be the key to the continuing success of Hindi cinema as a medium of mass entertainment.
I am excited about the future of Hindi films..now that is what you call a volte-face..;)

Chasing your Dreams

Well let me not confuse you with the title of my new blog..This has nothing to deal with day dreaming !! After writing on a diverse topics i felt like writing about something that has been bothering me off late. The key issue here is of self identity and a sense of purpose in life..Now you may start wondering what's wrong with this bloke. Nothing wrong really..it's an outcome of introspection and talking to my friends/peers. A lot of us in our mid 30s are suffering from what is often called 'MLC' (mid life crisis). A phase of our life when we start questioning our sense of purpose, aims and achievements. What we often forget is decisions are point in time and now that you are wiser (hope we are ;) ) one looks at ways to make your life more fulfilling. Well i am sure this last line could stir many a emotion but what i am trying to get at is looking at ways to make Ur existence more meaningful. A lot of us had hobbies we developed in school and college which just got lost once we entered the workforce and got stuck up in a silly 'rat race'. I have been reflecting on these thoughts and realized how much i used to enjoy writing before and how little i have written in the last 5 yrs. Now let me be honest here i never dreamt being a full time writer but i must confess after writing this blog i seem to be enjoying writing a lot more than anything i have done in these 5 yrs. Which brings me to a bigger question? Why don't we 'Chase our Dreams'? Some people find their nirvana in corporate success but i guess there a good number of such people who enjoy doing stuff they picked up as hobbies or alternate careers but never pursued beyond a certain point. We had our reasons to be rats but now that we have a chance to be human again why not give it a shot. It could just open the door to new possibilities and opportunities. And when we look at people around i am sure we would find quite a few examples of people who at a certain point of their lives changed course and did something very different. A friend from school (now a renowned writer of graphic novels) in one such example that comes to mind of someone who always wanted to chase his own dreams. It must have taken a lot of guts and conviction to do something so different and chart your own course in life which i am sure had a lot of challenges. Think of Chetan Bhagat as well who gave up a successful career in I-Banking to be a full time author. While i am sure it could be argued that he is a successful writer which is why he quit a career in banking. The key message i am trying to get across is why did he take up writing in the first place..he must have enjoyed it which made him write 3 books while being employed. Dreams have a great effect on human live's..it makes us energetic..it ignites a spark in us..we all had it as kids and teenagers..we lose it as we get involved in the nit tie grit ties of day to day living..and in the race to make a living..
What is the harm in dreaming a bit more..and doing something to chase those dreams..while it is easy to find excuses for not finding time what we often forget is the amount of joy a hobby or passion can provide us..it can bring in a sense of fulfillment and desire to do things we haven't done for long. So what stops us..we can find many reasons but the answer is simple..our biggest hurdle is ourselves..we need to start exploring and finding ways that make our existence more meaningful..so why shy away from a long forgotten dream..its never too late to start a hobby or passion..or maybe more who knows.
I want to keep writing..be it blogs be it in some other form..as long as i have a story to tell or an experience to share or a point to make..who knows one day it could lead to a book..i want to keep the 'spark' alive and dream a bit more..What about you?