Check this link!
Man gambles wife in Bihar village
As if this was not disgusting enough, check the last para in the above story:
"In another incident, a married woman gambled herself in a game of dice during Durga Puja festivities in a village in Banka district. The victor took her home. Two days later fellow villagers intervened and took the woman back to her husband's house."
Banka district seems to have liberated women. I mean, isn't this is a classic case of "liberated" women who gamble themselves. And that too, during the Durga Puja, when we celebrate and worship goddesses.
Link via Amit Gupta
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
Anil Kumble get recognition at last
This post has taken its own sweet time in coming. In the interim, we lost an ODI series against Australia and won an ODI series against Pakistan. We managed to drop Dravid through an entire ODI series. Unthinkable, even a couple of months back.
In quick succession, two stalwarts of the Indian cricket team, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar have refused captaincy. Surely, there is more to this than what meets the eye. Though we are all aware of numerous manipulations and machinations that go behind closed doors in the corridors of BCCI, the news that two of the greatest Indian batsmen of the past two decades have refused captaincy merits more attention. Add to the fact that Ford and Emburey both were not interested in the offer of the coach of the Indian team, and you know there is something rotten there. And its stinking. Remarkably, no one has chose to comment about the same.
Anil Kumble - one of the greatest cricketers India has ever produced and the architect of most Indian wins - gets the captaincy be default. And like he has always done, he has taken this responsibility also without a murmur. No celebrations, no interviews, no fireworks. Just "Thank you". That it has taken 17 years for him to get this recognition (he was already being described as the best captain India never had) and that it has come in the fag end of his career doesn't take anything away.
Personally, I'm more worried about his past few performances. He hasn't been the force that he was. He was largely ineffective in the series in England, he wasn't among the wickets during the WI and SA tour earlier and he failed to get wickets by the buckets in the 2 Ranji trophy matches played so far. Maybe, the captaincy has come to him at a wrong time. But it would be foolish to write him off. 6th and 7th standard text books have a chapter on him called "True Grit" Grit could well be his middle name.
While there have been many calls to include Yuvraj in the Test team in place of Saurav or Laxman, Kumble believes that Yuvraj will have to wait for his turn. So effectively, he has already announced his batsmen for the 1st Test. With Sreesanth and RP Singh getting injured, the trick now is to get some fit bowlers on the park. Kumble's innings as Test captain begins tomorrow. We already know his mettle and grit. Tomorrow, he will be readying himself for another challenge. A challenge that eminent players like Dravid and Tendulkar declined. And if the past is any indication, Kumble will give it his best shot.
All the best!
In quick succession, two stalwarts of the Indian cricket team, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar have refused captaincy. Surely, there is more to this than what meets the eye. Though we are all aware of numerous manipulations and machinations that go behind closed doors in the corridors of BCCI, the news that two of the greatest Indian batsmen of the past two decades have refused captaincy merits more attention. Add to the fact that Ford and Emburey both were not interested in the offer of the coach of the Indian team, and you know there is something rotten there. And its stinking. Remarkably, no one has chose to comment about the same.
Anil Kumble - one of the greatest cricketers India has ever produced and the architect of most Indian wins - gets the captaincy be default. And like he has always done, he has taken this responsibility also without a murmur. No celebrations, no interviews, no fireworks. Just "Thank you". That it has taken 17 years for him to get this recognition (he was already being described as the best captain India never had) and that it has come in the fag end of his career doesn't take anything away.
Personally, I'm more worried about his past few performances. He hasn't been the force that he was. He was largely ineffective in the series in England, he wasn't among the wickets during the WI and SA tour earlier and he failed to get wickets by the buckets in the 2 Ranji trophy matches played so far. Maybe, the captaincy has come to him at a wrong time. But it would be foolish to write him off. 6th and 7th standard text books have a chapter on him called "True Grit" Grit could well be his middle name.
While there have been many calls to include Yuvraj in the Test team in place of Saurav or Laxman, Kumble believes that Yuvraj will have to wait for his turn. So effectively, he has already announced his batsmen for the 1st Test. With Sreesanth and RP Singh getting injured, the trick now is to get some fit bowlers on the park. Kumble's innings as Test captain begins tomorrow. We already know his mettle and grit. Tomorrow, he will be readying himself for another challenge. A challenge that eminent players like Dravid and Tendulkar declined. And if the past is any indication, Kumble will give it his best shot.
All the best!
Analysis of the various logos used in the 2008 presidential elections in the US
Came across this link. Have fun!
I'm also using this as a test to post directly thtough e-mail. Will check the results later in the day.
Saturday, 29 September 2007
clash in Siliguri
Mobs in Siliguri went on rampage damaging shops and buses protesting against a remark a RJ made in New Delhi against the current Indian Idol.
Wow! A remark made by a RJ (I don't know what the remark was, but going by the way RJs speak in Mumbai, must have been some take on Gorkhas) in Delhi has potential to disrupt life and stop an ambulance carrying a patient in Siliguri.
Talk about global village.
Here's the link:
http://inhome.rediff.com/movies/2007/sep/28idol.htm
The Indian Idol, Prashant has come out with a statement urging restraint from his fans. Hope better sense prevails.
Mercifully, none of the news portals and news papers have carried the actual remark. Looks like the media does have some good sense, after all.
Wow! A remark made by a RJ (I don't know what the remark was, but going by the way RJs speak in Mumbai, must have been some take on Gorkhas) in Delhi has potential to disrupt life and stop an ambulance carrying a patient in Siliguri.
Talk about global village.
Here's the link:
http://inhome.rediff.com/movies/2007/sep/28idol.htm
The Indian Idol, Prashant has come out with a statement urging restraint from his fans. Hope better sense prevails.
Mercifully, none of the news portals and news papers have carried the actual remark. Looks like the media does have some good sense, after all.
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Twenty/20 World Cup
There have only been 16 T/20 international matches played so far and we already have a World Cup! I feel its a bit premature to have a World Cup for T/20 matches so soon. There needs to be more domestic tournaments and international matches before organising a World Cup.
The Indian team (the BCCI one) comes to this World Cup with only 1 international match so far and it would be foolish for anyone to expect a good performance from them, especially after the disastrous World Cup. There are some fresh faces out there, the seniors are not playing and I would like to see if this improves our fielding and catching.
Going by the Chris Gayle innings yesterday (and the SA response), its all about big hitting and athletic fielding. No one was keen on running between the wickets. And with all the big hits clearing the boundaries easily, I really don't know what the fitter, leaner and more athletic fielders can also do. Every batsman was going for broke and the single or a double as a means of contributing to the score was not even thought of. Looks like leaving out SRT and SG might be a big mistake, for they can clear the ropes consistently and with ease. And with bowlers being there just for slaughter and flat tracks, SRT and SG would - probably - have hit their groove which would have meant good news for the ODI series later.
However, this might just be the opportunity for Sehwag, Yuvraj, Uthappa and Dhoni to go bang-bang. I would like Sehwag-Uthappa to open, followed by Yuvraj, Dhoni, Karthik and Gambhir. I'm not sure about the big hitting capabilities of players like Rohit Sharma and Joginder, if they can hit them hard and long, I would prefer them over Gambhir and Karthik. Pollock's and Ntini's mauling yesterday (Ntini bowled only 2 overs) proved that we really do not need specialist bowlers. Batsmen who can bowl are good enough at this level.
Irfan, Joginder, Sehwag, Yuvraj (not withstanding the 5 sixes in an over), Yusuf Pathan can be our bowlers. Sreesanth is too much of a lottery; so is Agarkar. I would play RP because a decent 2 over initial spell can be worth its weight in gold. My team would probably be
Sehwag
Uthappa
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Yusuf Pathan
Gautam Gambhir
Irfan Pathan
Karthik
Rohit Sharma (can he bowl?)
Joginder Sharma
R P Singh
Harbhajan can get us a few quick runs, he can be drafted as a specialist slow bowler in place of Rohit Sharma. I would be tempted to play Chawla in that position, but whatever little batting opportunities he has got has not convinced me of his batting skills. If one of the Pathans is having a bad tournament with the ball, then I would look at getting Chawla/Bhajji in.
Agarkar, Chawla, Sreesanth either need to be consistently good bowlers or need to be better batsmen to fit into the T/20 scheme of things.
But knowing the BCCI's way of selecting teams, I would not surprised if Agarkar, Chawla and Harbhan play a lot of the matches. Let's see how the BCCI's team fares!
The Indian team (the BCCI one) comes to this World Cup with only 1 international match so far and it would be foolish for anyone to expect a good performance from them, especially after the disastrous World Cup. There are some fresh faces out there, the seniors are not playing and I would like to see if this improves our fielding and catching.
Going by the Chris Gayle innings yesterday (and the SA response), its all about big hitting and athletic fielding. No one was keen on running between the wickets. And with all the big hits clearing the boundaries easily, I really don't know what the fitter, leaner and more athletic fielders can also do. Every batsman was going for broke and the single or a double as a means of contributing to the score was not even thought of. Looks like leaving out SRT and SG might be a big mistake, for they can clear the ropes consistently and with ease. And with bowlers being there just for slaughter and flat tracks, SRT and SG would - probably - have hit their groove which would have meant good news for the ODI series later.
However, this might just be the opportunity for Sehwag, Yuvraj, Uthappa and Dhoni to go bang-bang. I would like Sehwag-Uthappa to open, followed by Yuvraj, Dhoni, Karthik and Gambhir. I'm not sure about the big hitting capabilities of players like Rohit Sharma and Joginder, if they can hit them hard and long, I would prefer them over Gambhir and Karthik. Pollock's and Ntini's mauling yesterday (Ntini bowled only 2 overs) proved that we really do not need specialist bowlers. Batsmen who can bowl are good enough at this level.
Irfan, Joginder, Sehwag, Yuvraj (not withstanding the 5 sixes in an over), Yusuf Pathan can be our bowlers. Sreesanth is too much of a lottery; so is Agarkar. I would play RP because a decent 2 over initial spell can be worth its weight in gold. My team would probably be
Sehwag
Uthappa
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Yusuf Pathan
Gautam Gambhir
Irfan Pathan
Karthik
Rohit Sharma (can he bowl?)
Joginder Sharma
R P Singh
Harbhajan can get us a few quick runs, he can be drafted as a specialist slow bowler in place of Rohit Sharma. I would be tempted to play Chawla in that position, but whatever little batting opportunities he has got has not convinced me of his batting skills. If one of the Pathans is having a bad tournament with the ball, then I would look at getting Chawla/Bhajji in.
Agarkar, Chawla, Sreesanth either need to be consistently good bowlers or need to be better batsmen to fit into the T/20 scheme of things.
But knowing the BCCI's way of selecting teams, I would not surprised if Agarkar, Chawla and Harbhan play a lot of the matches. Let's see how the BCCI's team fares!
Tuesday, 11 September 2007
So much happening around
Hi!
Its been some time since I logged on to this blog and so many things happened around us. Hyderabad blasts, a bridge (or flyover) collapsed in Hyderabad and a IAF trainer aircraft crashed killing both its pilots (again in Hyderabad). Wonder, if Hyderabad has some planetary configuration gone astray.
India wins the Asia cup and what scores they ran up. 16 goals, 20 goals, etc. Hats off to Joaquim Carvalho and his team for pulling this off. The IHF also announced prizes of Rs. 1,000 for every goal scored and a penalty of Rs. 2,000 for every goal conceded. While I need not even go into the stupidity and silliness of this announcement, it serves a good point to talk about the remuneration provided to the players. In an interview to DNA after the Asia Cup victory (http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1120724), Dhanraj Pillay talks about "paying some match fee" to the players. He also states that the coach "should also be paid". What The ****? IHF doesn't pay match fees to its players and the coach? No wonder our guys prefer to pick up cricket bats instead of hockey sticks!!!
Elsewhere, the T/20 World Cup is about to start and the Pakistan team is already in the news for the wrong reason. Shoaib has been sent back to Pakistan for hitting Asif with a bat and this time his threat of joining ICL may not work. Asif Iqbal (http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1120625) feels that PCB is waiting till Shoaib commits mass murder before it starts taking action.
India lost the Natwest trophy 4-3 and though its not a bad scoreline considering that we were 1-3 down, I feel the time has now come to start replacing the seniors. With Gambhir & Uthappa showing promise and temperament, maybe we need to give both of them a longer reign at the top of the order. Gambhir has this tendency to play with Fevicol applied on his feet, while Uthappa's batting may be better suited to T/20 game, but both of them have shown enough grit. With captain and selectors showing confidence in them, maybe they'll probably come out with flying colours!!! Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj, Karthik, Dhoni can make the rest of the lineup, with someone like Kaif or Raina or Sehwag or even a Ambatti Rayudu challenging these positions. Sachin, of course, still has some cricket left in him. I would like him to concentrate in the ODIs and concede his Test position to some other youngster though many would say that it has to be the other way round. Among the bowlers, Zaheer, Sreesanth, Munaf (if and only if completely fit), Chawla, Powar, R P Singh, Harbhajan and Irfan Pathan (assuming he regains his form) complete the head count. Choose 11 from these, depending on opposition, surface, playing conditions, etc.
For the Tests, Gambhir/Uthappa/Karthik would be the openers. Laxman coming in for Sachin or Sehwag and Anil Kumble coming in for Powar or Harbhajan completes the list of probables. Of course, there may be better talent in domestic cricket, and some new names may crop up in the T/20 tournament; some names like Manoj Tiwary and Rohit Sharma are still untried. But I believe the nucleus of the team would be from the above names.
Amul has been voted as Asia's leading brand. And if you are among those who have always looked forward to the Amul hoardings (related to the current hot topic) like myself, then do join in the celebrations.
Its been some time since I logged on to this blog and so many things happened around us. Hyderabad blasts, a bridge (or flyover) collapsed in Hyderabad and a IAF trainer aircraft crashed killing both its pilots (again in Hyderabad). Wonder, if Hyderabad has some planetary configuration gone astray.
India wins the Asia cup and what scores they ran up. 16 goals, 20 goals, etc. Hats off to Joaquim Carvalho and his team for pulling this off. The IHF also announced prizes of Rs. 1,000 for every goal scored and a penalty of Rs. 2,000 for every goal conceded. While I need not even go into the stupidity and silliness of this announcement, it serves a good point to talk about the remuneration provided to the players. In an interview to DNA after the Asia Cup victory (http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1120724), Dhanraj Pillay talks about "paying some match fee" to the players. He also states that the coach "should also be paid". What The ****? IHF doesn't pay match fees to its players and the coach? No wonder our guys prefer to pick up cricket bats instead of hockey sticks!!!
Elsewhere, the T/20 World Cup is about to start and the Pakistan team is already in the news for the wrong reason. Shoaib has been sent back to Pakistan for hitting Asif with a bat and this time his threat of joining ICL may not work. Asif Iqbal (http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1120625) feels that PCB is waiting till Shoaib commits mass murder before it starts taking action.
India lost the Natwest trophy 4-3 and though its not a bad scoreline considering that we were 1-3 down, I feel the time has now come to start replacing the seniors. With Gambhir & Uthappa showing promise and temperament, maybe we need to give both of them a longer reign at the top of the order. Gambhir has this tendency to play with Fevicol applied on his feet, while Uthappa's batting may be better suited to T/20 game, but both of them have shown enough grit. With captain and selectors showing confidence in them, maybe they'll probably come out with flying colours!!! Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj, Karthik, Dhoni can make the rest of the lineup, with someone like Kaif or Raina or Sehwag or even a Ambatti Rayudu challenging these positions. Sachin, of course, still has some cricket left in him. I would like him to concentrate in the ODIs and concede his Test position to some other youngster though many would say that it has to be the other way round. Among the bowlers, Zaheer, Sreesanth, Munaf (if and only if completely fit), Chawla, Powar, R P Singh, Harbhajan and Irfan Pathan (assuming he regains his form) complete the head count. Choose 11 from these, depending on opposition, surface, playing conditions, etc.
For the Tests, Gambhir/Uthappa/Karthik would be the openers. Laxman coming in for Sachin or Sehwag and Anil Kumble coming in for Powar or Harbhajan completes the list of probables. Of course, there may be better talent in domestic cricket, and some new names may crop up in the T/20 tournament; some names like Manoj Tiwary and Rohit Sharma are still untried. But I believe the nucleus of the team would be from the above names.
Amul has been voted as Asia's leading brand. And if you are among those who have always looked forward to the Amul hoardings (related to the current hot topic) like myself, then do join in the celebrations.
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