Vantage point




Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Has the Quit India Movement Been Relaunched?

1942 saw the launch of the Quit India movement, in which Indians said to the Englishmen "Angrez, Bharat Chhodo". No one told me that the movement has been relaunched, because nothing else can explain the mass exodus of Englishmen. Those who aren't going back are becoming casualties in India.

Or maybe the English cricket team is enacting the Agatha Christie play And There Were None. Maybe tomorrow Mohinder Amarnath will appear on TV singing 'Gumnaam hai koiiiiiii'.




Welcome, G!

G, I am sure you are as surprised as I was(as were a couple of others) to find yourself in the Twilight Zone. :-)

As Neil Peart wrote -

A pleasant faced man steps up to greet you
He smiles and says he’s pleased to meet you
Beneath his hat the strangeness lies
Take it off, he’s got three eyes
Truth is false and logic lost
Now the fourth dimension is crossed
You have entered the twilight zone




Monday, February 27, 2006

Why is Maharashtra the Biggest Corny Joke Economy?

Pushkar began the day by cracking this extremely corny joke

Q - Why doesn't Jassi want to have children?
A - Because Manu Sharma killed Jassi ka Laal (Jessica Lal)

I of course, governed by the same benevolent spirit that guides victims-and-perpetrators of pyramid schemes, said to myself "Why must I remain the victim when I can be the perpetrator?". I proceeded to email it to anyone and everyone, and have of course, tricked you into becoming a victim through this blog.

A few days back, Tony and I were having a profoundly meaningful and insightful discussion about the "rich" corny joke tradition in Maharashtra. He has observed several communities at close quarters and has concluded that the percentage of people who crack such corny joke and take vicarious pleasure in the same, out of the general population is exceptionally high amongst Maharashtrians compared to North Indians. The "guy who cracks horrible jokes" is as much a regular component of a group of Maharashtrian friends as a Communist in WB/Kerala.

After having noted this empirical evidence, we proceeded to analyse the reasons behind it. And the answer was obtained by combining economic principles with Darwinian ones.

The reason Maharashtrians are more prone to corny jokes than North Indians is simple. The dominance of friendly violence in North India as compared to the more non-violent laidback culture of Maharashtra. In North India, just playfully beating up a friend is no big deal. So while a Maharashtrian, after hearing a very very bad joke, will just take a deep breath and slap his forehead, a North Indian is more prone to say "abeyyyy yaaaar....itna ganda joke...utha lo saaley ko" and place a few kicks on the perpetrator's backside. In fact several unsuspecting Maharashtrian corny jokesters such as Pushkar and myself, on occasion when surrounded by Northies, found ourselves being picked up and kicked around for cracking a horrible joke.

The "violence" is not very damaging of course. Just playful kicking among friends. But it is enough to act as a disincentive. So mindful of this disincentive, and following survival instincts, we would tend not to crack such jokes when surrounded only by kick-happy Northies.

So imagine if you are a promising(!!) little corny jokester as a kid. In Maharashtra, whern you start cracking jokes, people just react with disgust, slapping their own foreheads(instead of the jokester's cheeks), thus providing encouragement. But in the North, since the little jokester would most probably get beaten up, his corniness is stamped out at a very young age.

And as a result, Maharashtra has a thriving corny joke trade, while North India does not.

I am sure Adam Smith and Charles Darwin will rest easier, knowing they have contributed towards cracking this conundrum.




Ghar Ka Bedi, Lanka Dhaay

I can't think of a name more appropriate for the man than "BS Bedi". BS because that's what he sputters out. Bedi because it is a nice play on the word 'bhedi', which is hindi for traitor. How exasperating the man's inanities are can be judged by the fact that even the normally polite and unflappable JR was driven to call him stupid.

Whether it is the bizarre habit of just picking on Indian players or claiming that only someone who knows of a record's existence has a right to break it or making the most illogical arguments, the man keeps plummeting to newer depths redfining the concept of rock-bottom with every word he utters.




Ja Like Daegs?

Let me ask you, to borrow a phrase from Brad Pitt, Ja like daegs?

My own sentiments about daegs....I mean dogs... are somewhat similar to Kapish's.

The only dogs I find cute are those of the smaller breed - daschunds, pugs, beagles etc. And I realise that this preference for smaller dogs has less to do with aesthetics and more to do with the fact that I don't feel scared of the tiny ones.




Thursday, February 23, 2006

Chawla in, Kartik out

The most interesting decision by the selection committee which announced the team for the first test against England is not dropping Ganguly or dropping Zaheer Khan. It is dropping Murali Kartik and picking Piyush Chawla instead.

Now ever since I saw Chawla bowling on TV a few months back, I was immediately intrigued. Here was a rare creature, a genuine genuine leg spinner, the kind that rips the ball, and gives it many revs. Prima facie he didn't look like a run-of-the-mill-quasi-leggie of the Hirwani or Bahutule variety. He seemed to have a lot of promise. Of course, this was at a time when UP was probably doomed for relegation. Then the UP fightback started, with Chawla picking up wickets regularly. Come Challenger, and the famous Tendulkar endorsement came. Then the Ranji knock out stage and the U-19.

A leggie like Chawla is surely a rarity, and it is precisely for this reason that the selectors need to plot his career wisely. All said and done, the guy is just one season old. This elevation may see him flourish, but again, it may also see his career end prematurely. I hope the selectors and Chappell have thought carefully about him.

As far as Kartik is concerned, one can't help but feel sorry for him. In test matches, he isn't a patch on Kumble when it comes to wicket-taking ability. He also lacks the variety of Kumble. And at best he is as good as Harbhajan. Early in his career, Ganguly's captaincy and blatant preference for Harbhajan gave Kartik grief. But even under Dravid, his performance, though largely improved, is not good enough to make him an automatic selection. In one-dayers even though he had decent outings against the Lankans and the South Africans, he was pathetic in Pakistan, and if you watched it live like I did, you will agree he was largely responsible for the only defeat we had, with his confused brainless bowling.

Plus the fact that pushing him for a spot in the side was a member of that romanticised species - the genuine leg spinner. It's as if the elements conspired to keep him out and he didn't fight back. The Indian cricket scene is too crowded to give you too many chances to prove yourself. You grab on to what you get and make the most of them.

Another cruel fact about Indian cricket is that you need to grab headlines to cement your place in the side. Once those headlines assure you of a place in the side, you get many chances. Look at Harbhajan or Yuvraj or Agarkar. But if that initial cementing-with-headlines is not done, there's always a sword hanging over your head. Murali Kartik, despite being around for a couple of seasons, never really made the headlines. Half the times, it was due to a captain who did not believe in him. But the other half of the time, he was just competent and not sensational.




Some Good News!

ADC slashed, calls to get cheaper




Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Manjunath Shanmugam Trust

I have been getting a lot of mails from people about Manjunath's case, wanting to know how they can help. Several IIML alumni have been working for the past couple of months to put in place a structured process for the same. Below is an email notice that has been released by the trust. Please go through it and help in any way possible. I would also request all bloggers to link to it, forward it to all the people they know.

As we have seen from the judgement in the Jessica Lal case, even the most open and shut case can be manipulated to ensure an acquittal. Help us ensure that Manju's killers do not go scot free.


______________

All,

Feb 23rd is the birthday of Manjunath Shanmugam - an IIM L (2003) alumnus who lost his life for his fight against corruption. He died on November 19th, 2005.

As a Sales Manager with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL), Manju turned down bribes and ignored threats, to do his job – check rampant adulteration of petrol. He was shot dead in Lakhimpur Kheri by a petrol pump owner and his gang.

To most of us, though we never met him, Manju is extremely familiar and is, in part, within every one of us. This is one cause we CANNOT turn away from. We have no excuse. We must ensure that his death does not go in vain.

The Manjunath Shanmugam Trust is now a legal entity with 2 trustees - Anjali Mullatti (IIML ’93) and H. Jaishankar (IIMB ’91).

The immediate and urgent focus of the trust is to take up the legal battle and ensure quick justice for the murder case. The murderers must not go free.

The broader objectives of the trust are

a. To establish and maintain an award for individuals/institutions working to uphold the values of truth and honesty in the face of danger to themselves.

b. To provide aid to individuals fighting a legal battle to uphold the values of truth, honesty or justice in the Indian corporate, government or public matters.

For updates on what we have done to date and our next steps, please visit the trust website:
www.manjunathshanmugamtrust.org

How can you help?

Firstly – funds are needed to pay lawyers’ fees, case costs, build an award corpus.. this will be a long and tedious battle. Please donate just one day’s salary for the cause.

Our first donors: Rs. 44,500 ($ 1000) from Sanjay Khanduri, Wharton Class of 2006, and Rs. 30,000 from Akhil Krishna, IIML 2003.

Secondly, if you can commit time and effort, please write in and be part of the team.

Thirdly, if you have close contacts in media, police, legal, judiciary who can help, please let us know.

It is heartwarming that so many people have already reacted immediately and generously – across the spectrum of media, legal, police and the IIM fraternity. Be part of that group.

How do you donate?

Write a cheque favouring ‘The Manjunath Shanmugam Trust’ , and courier it to:
2909/1, Raghavapriya, 3rd Main, V.V. Mohalla, Mysore 570 002, India

Write a cheque favouring ‘The Manjunath Shanmugam Trust’ , and deposit it in any HDFC bank drop box, with a deposit slip, account number 0651000091870.
Do an online money transfer , to the HDFC Bank a/c , from your ICICI /HDFC/Citibank a/c. Account number 0651000091870. 'Select MG Road, Bangalore' in the branch details.

Currently FCRA regulations prohibit us from accepting foreign remittances - we're working on getting special permission. For now, please route all overseas donations via your regular Indian rupee accounts.

We have also applied for income tax exemption for donors under Section 80 (G).

Please contact me for any further clarifications - anjali@corporateacademy.com.

Regards,

Anjali Mullatti - IIML class of '93
Catalyst Consulting




More on ADC

A few weeks back I wrote about how the ADC which exists ostensibly to fund rural telephony is nothing but a sham.

Today's TOI has more.

Consumers have had to bear inflated tariffs of up to 18% to tot up this Rs 30,000 crore bounty which could easily fund the rollout of two nation-wide mobile networks at current costs. In comparison, actual results are gloomy: 98 of every 100 rural inhabitants still do not own phones and 66,000 villages in India are still to get their first phone.


Where is this money going then? Towards making BSNL and MTNL profitable of course, so that the non sequitir argument "we are profitable so don't privatise us" can be extended.

Rural connectivity remains abysmal. Babus keep running two companies which have conditions skewed in their favour. And who pays for all this?

While telecom companies now want the extra money collected through these levies to be returned to them with interest charges, the consumer, who has actually paid this amount,is unlikely to receive any compensation.


You and I pay for it. Now some of us may be OK with the idea of our money being used for welfare of sections of our country which are underprivileged. Even if I make my peace with this concept of being coerced to pay for someone else's welfare, how ridiculous is it that the supposed someone isn't benefiting at all.

Yet somehow a lot of people seem to think that just throwing more taxpayer's money into this whirlpool is the answer.

I am currently reading Sainath's 'Everybody Loves a Good Drought'. Will write a detailed review once I am through. But I am amazed at how despite traveling to the right places and making accurate observations, when it comes to proposing solutions, he almost always seems to be advocating throwing more money into the system.

For example, about the halthcare system, Sainath himself writes

We have built a health system for doctors, not patients. For contractors and pharmacists, not for the public.


In these two lines, he has summed up what is wrong with the entire state-run system in India. Our schools have been built for teachers and principals, not students. Our airlines were built for the AAI workers and not travelers. And our telecom sector too is built for the BSNL employees and not for the customers.

And yet, Sainath keeps talking about how under Manmohanomics, funding has been cut for the social sector. As if that is the main problem.

Another mistake that Sainath keeps making is he keeps talking of what I will call the "vultures". The quacks who benefit from the ramshackle health system. The teachers who benefit from the education system. All the opportunists who are feasting on the spoils. Sainath's rage seems directed towards these vultures.

And yet he seems to forget that vultures come to feast only after the death happens. A person's death can not be blamed on vultures. To save people from death, it is not the vultures who should be attacked. It is whatever caused the death in the first place.

In India, quacks, touts, and corrupt inefficient rentiers are all vultures. The disease is the statist setup which pays no heed to the customer or the beneficiary. Not because Indians are "inherently dishonest" as one blogger proclaimed. But because there are no incentives and disincentives for paying attention to the customer.

Where will you find customer being paid attention to the most? In a market!




Answers to the Year-Ender

Thanks for the terrific response. Here are the answers.

1. He made his directorial debut with Gawahi(1989), starring Zeenat Amaan and Shekhar Kapoor. He later also made Pathar Ke Phool, the debut venture of Raveena Tandon. Following this, he hit bad times with none of his films making past the announcement stage for almost a decade. His only major project then, was directing some episodes of the English soap "A mouthful of sky". The lean period ended in a flourish 10 years later with 3 movies released within a year, all of them multiplex-type movies, one of them a much publicised one for Mukta Arts, one starring Nandita Das and Rahul Bose, and another one starring Rahul Bose. He seemed to have hit a purple patch as he announced a big-budget movie starring Kareena Kapoor, but died within a few days of its announcement. Who?

Ans - Anant Balani, who made Jogger's Park, Mumbai Matinee and Ek Din 24 Ghante. He announced Chameli, but then died a few days later.

2. These lines are from the bible. Who famously quoted them?
I know a little thing
A myriad men will save
O death where is thy sting
And victory, O grave


Ans - Ronald Ross of Malaria fame.

3. An anti-connect. What connects the people in these visuals is Law. Give each person's last name and give the connect. Second and third pics are part of the same connect.

Image 1 - Ernesto ___________

Image 2 - Norma __________ a.k.a Jane _______

Image 3 - Henry ____________

Ans - First picture is that of Ernesto Miranda after whom the Miranda Rights are named. You know, the whole "you have the right to remain silent..." thing. Second picture is Jane Roe, and third picture is Henry wade of the famous Roe vs Wade case which legalised abortion in the US.

4. Though practically speaking, there were only two countries that opposed the CTBT resolution in 1996 - India and Libya, technically speaking there was also a third country. This country also was one of the first countries to recognise Bangladesh as a sovereign nation. It is no surprise though that the country recognised Bangladesh so readily, or opposed the CTBT. Name the country and explain.

Ans - Bhutan. India is in charge of Bhutan's foreign policy and defense.

5. Connect the fifth Star Trek movie, the sitcom 'Mad About You' and Steve Waugh. Jog your brain a bit for this one.

Ans - 'Final Frontier'. Name of the fifth Star Trek movie, name of the title song of Mad About You. And of course, Steve Waugh is known to have thought of India as the final frontier.

6. "In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones" is a 1988 film directed by Pradeep Krishen. Technically, the movie can be considered Shahrukh Khan's film debut, and also stars Arjun Raina, Roshan Seth, Divya Seth, Himani Shivpuri etc. X has written the partly-autobiographical script and screenplay about the life of architecture students in the final year of college, and also plays a key role in the film. Identify X.

Ans - Arundhati Roy

7. Cryptic – Woody the Cowboy and Amelie try to make sense of her Grandpa's death. Gandalf is helping them....or is he? Dr. Octopus wants to stop them for sure. Richie C will direct them. What am I talking about?

Ans - The Da Vinci Code movie. Tom Hanks who played Woody in Toy Story plays Langdon. Audrey Tautou who played Amelie plays Sophie. Ian 'Gandalf' McKellan plays Teabing and Alfred 'Doc Ock' Molina plays Aringarossa. The director is Ron 'Richie C' Howard.

8. Which book ends thus -
“Everything’s going according to the plan”
Whispers
“We’re going to break up civilization so we can make something better out of the world”
Whispers
“We look forward to getting you back”

Ans - The Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

9. Kesarbai Kerkar, a Hindustani vocalist honoured with the title Surashri was a Padma Bhushan recipient and Tagore was one of her fans. The most long lasting appreciation of her music, however, was the result of the recommendation of ethnomusicologist Robert E. Brown in the year 1977 when she passed away. This eternal appreciation put her in august company like Mozart, Beethovan, Bach among many other world musicians. What was the recognition?

Ans - Her voice was part of the musical disc on Voyager.

10. The poster of which Hindi movie would fit with this other poster and book cover?



Ans - Gulzar's Achanak. All based on the famous Nanavati trial.

11. Magdaleena Maleeva was trailing 4-6 3-4 in a match she was playing in the early 1990’s. She did not lose the match because it had to be abandoned. Why was it abandoned?

Ans - At that point her opponent Monica Seles was stabbed.

12. Designed by a Greek firm named Doxiadis Associates, it is triangular in shape with its apex towards the Margala Hills. Work on it was started in 1961 and it became fully functional in 1966. What?

Ans - Islamabad

13. X, the director announced, starring his wife Y, the movie Z. Shooting was completed halfway when X and Y started encountering problems and were separated. The movie was thus stalled midway. 15 years later, X and Y patched up and completed Z. It was released amidst a lot of fanfare. However Y died a month after its release and could not live to see it become a superhit. Identify X, Y and Z.

Ans - Kamal Amrohi, Meena Kumari, Pakeezah

14. Fill in the blanks. The Wikkit Gate is a universal symbol among the diverse cultures of the Galaxy of the basic ideals of civilization. It is made up of the following -
A Steel Pillar of Strength and Power - Marvin's leg
A Wooden Pillar of Nature and Spirituality - the reconstituted ______________________
A Perspex Pillar of Science and Reason - Argabuthon Septre of Authority
A Golden Bail of Prosperity - The Heart of Gold's heart of gold
A Silver Bail of Peace - the Rory Award For The Most Gratuitous Use Of The F Word(or Belgium) In A Serious Screenplay

Ans - Ashes of a cricket stump. From H2G2.

15. Fill in the blanks - For me it crawled towards Kurtz -- exclusively; but when the steam-pipes started leaking we crawled very slow. The reaches opened before us and closed behind, as if the forest had stepped leisurely across the water to bar the way for our return. We penetrated deeper and deeper into the ____________________________________. It was very quiet there.

Ans - Heart of Darkness. Excerpt is from a book of the same name by Joseph Conrad. Coppolla later made 'Apocalypse Now' based on it.

16. This is an excerpt from a book. Just identify X and Y, or name the book. No need to fill the blanks.

"You still wake up sometimes, don't you? Wake up in the iron dark with the _______ screaming?"
"Sometimes."
"Do you think if you caught ________ yourself and if you made Catherine all right, you could make the _______ stop screaming, do you think they'd be all right too and you wouldn't wake up again in the dark and hear the _________ screaming?"
"Yes. I don't know. Maybe."
"Thank you, Y." X seemed oddly at peace.

Ans - Silence of the Lambs.

17. After getting a BTech from IITB, he became a journalist and wrote for Daily and Glitz. He was a Marxist in those days, and a member of the CPI(M). Advani first noticed him, strangely enough, after reading a piece written by him in 1990 which attacked the BJP. Advani found the piece well-written, and got in touch with him. He made a shift to the BJP, joined the RSS, and was very close to Advani. He is said to have been the brain behind the moderate-isation of BJP during which it abandoned the Ram Janmabhoomi issue. However he had to quit the BJP after perhaps pushing the moderation line too far, because it was he who wrote the Jinnah speech that Advani delivered in Pakistan, and got into the controversy. Name him.

Ans - Sudheendra Kulkarni

18. Fill in the blank. The Road to Welville was a 1994 comedy about the eccentric Dr. John Harvey ________ (played by Anthony Hopkins) who lived in Michigan about 100 years back and ran the Battle Creek Sanitarium. He was a strong proponent of vegetarianism, and abstension from sex, and used these methods on his patients. He and his brother experimented with ways to do away with meat products in meals without affecting their nutritional value.

Ans - Kellogg

19. Who wrote this -
It is a proof of having learned nothing from the world war and of thoroughly misunderstanding or knowing nothing about Anglo-Saxon determination, when they imagine that England could lose India without first having put forth the last ounce of her strength in the struggle to hold it. Moreover, it shows how complete is the ignorance prevailing in our country as to the manner in which the spirit of England permeates and administers her Empire. England will never lose India unless she admits racial disruption in the machinery of her administration (which at present is entirely out of the question in India) or unless she is overcome by the sword of some powerful enemy. But Indian risings will never bring this about. We have had sufficient experience to know how hard it is to coerce England. And, apart from all this, I would far rather see India under British domination than under that of any other nation.

Ans - Hitler. An excerpt from Mein Kampf.

20. Connect and give the latest name in the series: Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, Amon Goeth from Schindler's list, Count Laszlo de Almasy from the English Patient, Francis "Red Dragon" Dolarhyde from Red Dragon.

Ans - Lord Voldemort. All played by Ralph Fiennes.

21. Al Yeganeh runs _______ Kitchen International in Manhattan. Since unwittingly achieving fame in the 90s, Yeganeh invites the media to contact him for interviews, but states that they must not mention the "N" word, not talk about his personal life, not have follow-up questions, and interviews will only be completed via e-mail, at his time preferences. What is Yeganeh better known as?

Ans - The Soup Nazi from whom the famous Seinfeld episode was inspired.

22. Excerpt from a speech. Fill in the blanks - "We can legitimately ask for hundreds, or even thousands. But as a gesture of understanding, we are asking for only three - the ___________, the Shahi and the Gyanvapi"

Ans - Babri. The other two are the names of the mosques at Kashi and Mathura. The speech is by Ashok Singhal of the VHP.

23. Fill in the blanks -"You got a knack," Hallorann said, turning to him. "Me, I've always called it ___________. That's what my grandmother called it, too. She had it. We used to sit in the kitchen when I was a boy no older than you and have long talks without even openin our mouths."

Ans - The shining. From Stephen King's book by the same name.

24. The central character of Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' and Beaumarchais's 'The Guilty Mother' is also the central character in a famous opera by Mozart. The name has also been given to Minnie Mouse's cat. Which name?

Ans - Figaro

25. Most of this writer's books referred to mythology or Christian symbolism. The name of his most famous book is the English translation of a Hebrew synonym for the devil. In that book, the devil is represented by the deadbody of an airman.

Ans - William Golding, who wrote Lord of the Flies, referred to as Beelzebub in Hebrew.

26. The publication of Siderius Nuncius contradicted Psalms 93 and 104, and Ecclesiastes 1:5. Who wrote it?

Ans - Galileo.

27. ______________ is a historical novel by Rafael Sabatini, originally published in 1921 and subsequently adapted into a play by Barbara Field and into feature films in 1923 and 1952. It is a romantic adventure and tells the story of a young aristocrat during the French Revolution. His successive endeavors as a lawyer, politician, actor, lover, and buffoon lead his enemies to call him ___________, which means a “clown”, but he impresses many with his elegant orations and precision swordsmanship.

Ans - Scaramouche

28. Connect these visuals -




Ans - The answer is Bismillah. The phrase is the bismillah phrase which Inzy utters at every interview. The visual is from Deewar where Amitabh was billa no. 786. 786 is also derived from the bismillah phrase.

29. She was reportedly born in New Jersey in 1858. She followed a career in opera as a contralto, performing in La Scala, Milan, Italy, and a term as Prima donna in the Imperial Opera of Warsaw, Poland. She retired in her late 20s from the operatic stage and moved to London. She became world famous due to her affair with someone from a royal family and eventually married Gordon Norton. Name her.

Ans - Irene Adler who appeared in the Holmes story 'A scandal in Bohemia'

30. Connect the answers to 24,25,26,27,28 and 29.

Ans - Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. The words appear in the lyrics for 24-28 and 29 of course mentions Bohemia.

The scores -

Shashikant - 2 http://bechalis.blogspot.com/
Deepak - 3.5 http://deepakm.blogspot.com/
Zero - 3 http://infinite-circle.blogspot.com/
Krishna Kumar - 4 http://krishna-kumar.blogspot.com/
Shrikanth - 3 http://skuvce.blogspot.com/
Raj - 4 http://www.blogger.com/r?http://yettonameit.blogspot.com
NANMTK - 15 http://notanicemantoknow.blogspot.com/
Nishit - 23 http://nishitd.blogspot.com/
Shom - 20 http://ginsoakedgentleman.blogspot.com/
Devilish - 16 http://cap10sblog.blogspot.com/
Rajagopal - 11 http://navelarch.blogspot.com/
Neil - 7
Rahul - 14.5
PGK - 21
Amit - 7
Shami - 21
Siddharth Puri - 15.5
Sreekanth - 22
Anand K - 24
Gopal - 27
Rathin - 12
Flaash - 4
Rohan - 10
Nrupal - 6
Prachi - 7
Pushkar - 6 http://zastereo.blogspot.com
Abhishek - 11 http://navelarch.blogspot.com/
Dhananjay - 13 http://sanityunstuck.blogspot.com
Icarus Prakash - 20 http://icarus1972us.blogspot.com/
Manish - 8 http://manishchauhan.blogspot.com/
Michael - 7 http://chocolateandgoldcoins.blogspot.com/
Dhammo - 24 http://dhammo.blogspot.com
Deepak - 6
Ajay - 5 http://ajayvb.blogspot.com/
Red - 20.5 http://eastwords.blogspot.com/
Venkatesh - 28 http://amanthan.blogspot.com/
George - 23 http://georgethomas.blogspot.com
Rahul G - 14 http://asterix2k.blogspot.com/
Vikram - 5 http://vikram18.blogspot.com/
BB - 28
Mitesh - 25 http://miteshvasa.blogspot.com/
Siddharth Nair - 23
Ayyappa - 11 http://ayyappakumar.blogspot.com/
Abhishek - 28 http://baghorchhagi.blogspot.com/
thambi - 17 http://random-walks.blogspot.com/
HP - 4 http://lifeliveblog.blogspot.com/
Dhoomketu - 24 http://dhoomk2.blogspot.com/
Praveen - 9
Bongopondit - 24
Sandeep - 4 http://sandeepkumar123.blogspot.com/
Jyotirmoy - 15




Saturday, February 18, 2006

Bhagat Singh's Satyagraha

Have been meaning to write this blog post since many days.

All of us admire the bravery and patriotism that Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru displayed. Then there are some of us who get so carried away in their Bhagat-bhakti(pardon the pun) that they then start attacking Gandhiji. Gandhiji is of course, the most attacked Indian in history. It doesn't take much to attack Gandhiji. Knowing a couple of incestuous expletives is usually considered enough ammunition in this country for that purpose.

I am just writing this post to wonder if anyone else is struck by the sheer irony of the fact that Bhagat Singh and co, when they did not get the facilities in prison they had a right to, went on a hunger strike. They did not attack the prison guards. They did not hatch a conspiracy to murder the jailor. They did not even plot a takeover of the prison. They went on a hunger strike.

Ask yourself why. Once you get the answer, you will realise it is not necessary to hate* Gandhiji to admire Bhagat Singh and vice versa.

*To hate Gandhiji is not the same as disagreeing with some or most of his ideals. In other words, when I say I do not hate Gandhiji does not mean I agree with all or even most of his ideas.




Friday, February 17, 2006

Will Thackeray Make Peace?

A couple of news channel report that Bal Thackeray has said this about the Nallasopara attack - "If the people who carried out the attack were indeed Shiv Sainiks, then I apologise."

An apology, even a conditional one, coming from Thackeray is unprecedented. As I wrote earlier, something is rather fishy about the whole incident.




ROFL!

Here's a scene from a Seinfeld episode 'The Jimmy' which was aired on Star World this week.

ELAINE: "Well, what am I gonna do for a date.?...Oh! do you know that ..hmmm! blond guy who's always at the exercycle at the health club?"

JERRY: "I don't think so."

ELAINE: "Yeah yeah! He's really handsome with those..."

JERRY: (interrupting) "Elaine , I really don't...............pay much attention to men`s faces."

ELAINE: "You can't find beauty in a man?"

JERRY: "No... I find them repugnant and unappealing."

(Kramer bursts in)

KRAMER: "Hey!"

JERRY: (pointing Kramer) "To wit"

KRAMER: "What?"

JERRY: "No ,Elaine and I we're just discussing whether I could admit a man is attractive."

KRAMER: " Hmm! Oh! Yeah. I'll tell you who is an attractive man; George Will."

JERRY: "Really!"

KRAMER: "Yeah! He has clean looks, scrubbed and shampooed and...."

ELAINE: "He's smart...."

KRAMER: "No, no I don't find him all that bright."


LOL!!




Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Something Fishy

This blog has always been a vocal Shivsena critic. But something in the Nallasopara incident is just too fishy, and doesn't add up.

My first reaction when I read about this attack was obviously one of anger and revulsion. But thinking about it a bit more, there are several points that stick out like sore thumbs.

Firstly, why Nallasopara? If Sena wanted a for-camera-demo of jingosim, they could so easily do something at Bandra or Worli or South Mumbai. Secondly, why attack a party which is not a Valentine's Day party? And why attack just one party?

The Shivsena has usually followed a pretty set pattern. They rough up men, vandalise furniture etc. But very rarely have they been known to attack women, strip them, attack children, and steal stuff. These are acts which will discredit the Sena in the eyes of everyone, even their own supporters.

Uddhav said to the Indian Express - I am not aware of it. I am very busy with the elections. I am going to Dadar. If I come to know of it, I will comment

At this stage I think some sainiks may have just used the convenient V-Day excuse to settle some personal score. Or an unlikelier possibility, this could be the work of an agent of Raj or Rane on the inside, to create a new headache for Uddhav.

I may be off the mark of course, and for all I know the Shivsena may release a glowing endorsement of the attack within a few hours. And this incident may usher in a bloodier-than-before Sena amplifying its violent tactics to chilling levels.




All Those Planning Protests Against Bush

All those Indians who are planning to protest during Bush's visit to India, here is a piece of news that I came across recently thanks to Rashmi's blog -

Saudi Arabia police razes makeshift Hindu temple

RIYADH: Saudi religious police have destroyed a clandestine makeshift Hindu temple in an old district of Riyadh and deported three worshippers found there, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or the religious police, Thursday stumbled across a room converted into a temple while raiding a number of flats suspected of being used to manufacture alcohol and distribute pornographic videos, pan-Arab Al-Hayat said.

A caretaker who was found in the worshipping area ignored the religious police orders to stop performing his religious rituals, the paper added. He was deported along with two other men who arrived on the scene to worship.


It will interest people to know that the Saudi King was the guest of honour at our Republic Day function, the day we celebrate our supposedly venerated constitution. The head of a country that treats non-muslims as secondary citizens, that treats women as lesser humans, and that too legally, was the guest of honour.

I am sure that the organisations and parties which are outraged at Bush's policies and plan to protest during his India visit will also be outraged at this news. I am sure that even though they forgot to protest when the King was in India, they are planning to take out a march to the Saudi Embassy.

Right?




Planning a Radical Career Shift?

Here are a few tips from Madhu Menon - the man who went from being a software pro to running a top class restaurant.




Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Daily SomeAchaar - BMC Measures for Preventing Recession

by our general correspondent

Mumbai: The next time you complain about Mumbai roads being dug up and relaid all round the year under different pretexts, remember that it is this very roadwork that is behind the booming economy that you are so happy about.

This correspondent has learnt from reliable sources that the never-ending, perpetual, all-encompassing, and seemingly ill-planned roadworks all over the city are actually part of the BMC's plan to keep the economy healthy. The reason that India, led by Mumbai, was able to kick off the recession of the late nineties is these very roadworks.

Apparently the then BMC Chief was clearing out some old books from his house, and came across his old Economics class notes. Thumbing through the notes, he came across a solution by John Maynard Keynes, the noted economist, to fight recession. Keynes had suggested fighting recession by pumping money into consumption. He suggested doing so by hiring people to do seemingly meaningless jobs like digging holes, and then filling them up. By paying people for these jobs, the government would be giving them money which they would spend in the marketplace, and give the economy a boost.

The BMC decided to lead the country out of recession by following Keynes' advice. They started hiring people to dig up the roads, and others to fill up the holes and relay the roads. To deflect public anger, excuses such as "water pipes need to be fixed" or "electric lines need to be fixed" or "storm water drains" were given. In reality though, the BMC through its incessant roadworks is pumping money into the economy and fuelling consumption.

The next time you read an article praising the booming Indian economy, remember, it is the dug up road outside your house that is responsible for it.




Do Not Open This Link In Office

No, no, it's not a porn link. It is a link to the funniest post Sidin has written since his "travails of a southie" sent many electrons into a frenzied tizzy -

Sidin's guide to the greatest Indian cricketers of all time especially that period between 4 and 6 pm last week

If you start reading this in office, you will literally be clutching your stomach and slapping somebody's back, doubled up in laughter. So for the sake of your career, read this only within the confines of your home.




Monday, February 13, 2006

God is after all God

This one is for all those people who keep saying Dravid is as good as, if not better than Tendulkar, especially in terms of technique. Hope you were watching closely the partnership between the two at Lahore today. Against a brilliant and challenging spell of quality seam bowling, Dravid looked absolutely lost during his 42-ball-22. Tendulkar on the other hand was supremely in command, displaying ample evidence of the magical touch which I surmised him as having regained a few days back.

Even Dravid, at the post-match conference, proclaimed God's innings as one of the best ever.

Remember, God is after all God.

P.S - I hope His Noodly Appendage will pardon this blasphemy.

Update 1 When the topic is Tendulkar vs Dravid, feedback is boudn to flow in. In a few hours after making the post I have received some great mails about the topic. Posting them here.

Gaurav Kanade writes - Btw why is everyone jumping on the bandwagon to show Dravid in a poor light ?? Cant we just appreciate a very good innings by SRT and leave it at that ?? OK, today SRT exhibited great technique while Dravid struggled but it is just 1 day out of so many. There have been any days in the past where it has been the same way or the other way round. The fact that SRTs die hard fans (and I assume you are one) feel the need to attack Dravid immediately after one innings in which SRT outshone Dravid is indeed a cause for concern and probably betrays a sense of ... what can I say ... envy, insecurity about a fact that someone other than your God had been the better player in recent times.

Jai Arjun writes - ref. your "God is after all God" post - some interesting thoughts there. I'm one of Tendulkar's biggest loyalists and defending him against all the criticism has become an increasingly difficult and painful task in the past 2-3 years. One part of me believes that there's a good chance he really is past his best - that the sheer physical and mental burden of carrying the team on his shoulders right from the time he was a teenager has taken a toll and aged him before his time (given that older players like Hayden, Lara, Inzamam etc have been going strong and are less injury-hit). But the best part of me wants to believe that even if he has only 2-3 years left in the game, he'll do a few spectacular things in that period. Let's hope, I guess.

That point you make about technique is a very valid one. I don't know whether it holds good today but I strongly believe that Sachin at his best was a more complete player in all kinds of conditions than Dravid at his best (with due respect to the latter). Dravid has grown enormously in stature post-2001 but if you look at his record before then you'll find he was averaging only 30 or so against the top bowling attacks (Aus/SA/Pakistan) and over 55 against the weaker ones.
In fact, in those dark old days Tendulkar was the only one in the Indian batting lineup who would perform consistently against the top teams. It's sad that his decline has coincided with the Indian team doing so well and all these youngsters (Yuvraj, Sehwag, Dhoni) performing so confidently. It makes it that much easier for people to scoff at his past achievements.

Chetan Deo writes - Completely agree with your views on ‘The God’ or ‘The One’, I must say, because there is no second ‘Sachin’. There is one thing I always say to my friends “I used to be an atheist until I saw Sachin Tendulkar”. Every now and then you come across the question “But why only Sachin” and the answer is ‘class’. Nobody puts more ‘music and rhythm’ into stroke making than the ‘master’. My second favorite, I think, is Mark Waugh. Just the ease of doing things. When he bowled he made breakthroughs, he took some of the most stunning slip catches ever and his batting was just sublime. As if he was born to do this and nothing else, like ‘Sachin’. Some people have a taste for remixes, the others for original classical singing. Time will tell, what will stay.
Congratulations for coming through all the heavy opposition coming from people who have no opinions of themselves but allow Moin Khan and Aaqib Javed to think for them. Class prevails, form dies and once again. You are absolutely correct in saying that ‘those test 20s’ had symptoms of a ‘comeback’. I am surprised actually how some of the experienced and senior cricketers couldn’t read the manner in which those runs were scored. Some anger arousing comments on ‘age taking Sachin’s reflexes’ were also made. I hope they do not repeat the mistake the next time they see Sachin bat this way. There is only one person who has a right to decide if ‘Sachin is finished’, the man himself.




Now Only the Postman Can Ring

Another Kick in the shin for small enterprises and the people they employ.


Gautam Bastian ponders over the news that the Post Office is going to expand its ugly monopoly even more.




Sunday, February 12, 2006

Overheard Outside The Domestic Airport

Two firang men are standing in a queue outside the domestic terminal, waiting for the AAI bus to take them to the international terminal. As usual, there is confusion, chaos, and a bit of inaction. The two men, one of them an American, and the other one a German, are talking. They are cribbing about the state of affairs in India. There is nothing unusual except this one line by the German -

"After experiencing the roads, the trains, the airports in India, I wish I could go back in time and vote Merkel"

Indian Socialism - Strengthening the cause of a German free-market advocate! :)




Saturday, February 11, 2006

Do You Wanna Be Bhanwari Devi?

That is what Farah from AMU was asked when she insisted on continuing to wear jeans.




Friday, February 10, 2006

Daily SomeAchaar

Reactions to Cartoons Intensify

Reactions against the by now well-known Danish cartoons have escalated to alarming levels. Burning flags of Denmark is set to become passe.

In LieLapur, a staging of Shakespeare's Hamlet was disrupted. A group of men lead by a Qazi climbed on the stage, and beat up the actor playing Prince Hamlet. Later the Qazi explained that it was rage against the Danish cartoons that made him do so, since Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark in the play.

In Jhootabad, enraged men went from house to house rounding up dogs of the Great Dane breed, gathered them in the city centre and shot them all dead, in protest against the Jyllands Posten cartoons.

Meanwhile a youngster named Salman in the city of Boolshet was almost beaten to death when he suggested to his friends that the dinner they were planning to have at a restaurant be a 'dutch treat'. His friends later explained that they were under the mistaken impression that 'Dutch' refers to people from Denmark and not Netherlands.

An enraged group of activists also hunted down CDs and DVDs of the Disney movie 'Little Mermaid' and burnt them in a middle-sized bonfire in the city of Tingi.

Protests world over show no signs of abating.

Kaneria banned for life by PCB

The Pakistan Cricket Board, bowing down to intense public pressure, has announced that leg-spinner Danish Kaneria has been banned from playing cricket for Pakistan. The ban will stay in place unless he changes his first name.

Hussain Apologises

In a development completely unrelated to the Danish cartoon issue, noted painter M F Hussain recently announced that he had concluded his 10-year long musing on the issue of his nude paintings of Hindu gods and goddesses.

Chatting with our correspondent over MIRC, he said that ever since objections were raised against his nude portrayal of Sita, Saraswati, Hanuman etc, around a decade back, he had been thinking whether the paintings really contained anything which could offend Hindus. The thinking process had now concluded and he realised that Hindus were justified in being offended. He has thus decided to apologise to Hindus and withdraw the paintings from exhibitions and auctions.

We at the Daily SomeAchaar would again wish to stress that there is absolutely no link between the Danish cartoon issue and Hussain's apology.

Update: Didn't think I'd need to add this as a disclaimer, but oh well. The "Someachaar" reports are all spoofs. Any post that appears with that title is a spoof/satire, and the concept is shamelessly inspired by The Onion.




Wednesday, February 08, 2006

The Year-Ender Quiz

On 31st December 2005, Sarika and I conducted a Solo Quiz at the Boat Club Quiz Club (Check the BCQC's new website). Some selected questions are given below. Leave the answers in the comments section.

By the way, if you like this quiz, and liked the earlier quiz as well, and if you have an event coming up in your college/company for which you need a quizmaster, do get in touch with me.

1. He made his directorial debut with Gawahi(1989), starring Zeenat Amaan and Shekhar Kapoor. He later also made Pathar Ke Phool, the debut venture of Raveena Tandon. Following this, he hit bad times with none of his films making past the announcement stage for almost a decade. His only major project then, was directing some episodes of the English soap "A mouthful of sky". The lean period ended in a flourish 10 years later with 3 movies released within a year, all of them multiplex-type movies, one of them a much publicised one for Mukta Arts, one starring Nandita Das and Rahul Bose, and another one starring Rahul Bose. He seemed to have hit a purple patch as he announced a big-budget movie starring Kareena Kapoor, but died within a few days of its announcement. Who?

2. These lines are from the bible. Who famously quoted them?
I know a little thing
A myriad men will save
O death where is thy sting
And victory, O grave


3. An anti-connect. What connects the people in these visuals is Law. Give each person's last name and give the connect. Second and third pics are part of the same connect.

Image 1 - Ernesto ___________

Image 2 - Norma __________ a.k.a Jane _______

Image 3 - Henry ____________

4. Though practically speaking, there were only two countries that opposed the CTBT resolution in 1996 - India and Libya, technically speaking there was also a third country. This country also was one of the first countries to recognise Bangladesh as a sovereign nation. It is no surprise though that the country recognised Bangladesh so readily, or opposed the CTBT. Name the country and explain.

5. Connect the fifth Star Trek movie, the sitcom 'Mad About You' and Steve Waugh. Jog your brain a bit for this one.

6. "In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones" is a 1988 film directed by Pradeep Krishen. Technically, the movie can be considered Shahrukh Khan's film debut, and also stars Arjun Raina, Roshan Seth, Divya Seth, Himani Shivpuri etc. X has written the partly-autobiographical script and screenplay about the life of architecture students in the final year of college, and also plays a key role in the film. Identify X.

7. Cryptic – Woody the Cowboy and Amelie try to make sense of her Grandpa's death. Gandalf is helping them....or is he? Dr. Octopus wants to stop them for sure. Richie C will direct them. What am I talking about?

8. Which book ends thus -
“Everything’s going according to the plan”
Whispers
“We’re going to break up civilization so we can make something better out of the world”
Whispers
“We look forward to getting you back”

9. Kesarbai Kerkar, a Hindustani vocalist honoured with the title Surashri was a Padma Bhushan recipient and Tagore was one of her fans. The most long lasting appreciation of her music, however, was the result of the recommendation of ethnomusicologist Robert E. Brown in the year 1977 when she passed away. This eternal appreciation put her in august company like Mozart, Beethovan, Bach among many other world musicians. What was the recognition?

10. The poster of which Hindi movie would fit with this other poster and book cover?



11. Magdaleena Maleeva was trailing 4-6 3-4 in a match she was playing in the early 1990’s. She did not lose the match because it had to be abandoned. Why was it abandoned?

12. Designed by a Greek firm named Doxiadis Associates, it is triangular in shape with its apex towards the Margala Hills. Work on it was started in 1961 and it became fully functional in 1966. What?

13. X, the director announced, starring his wife Y, the movie Z. Shooting was completed halfway when X and Y started encountering problems and were separated. The movie was thus stalled midway. 15 years later, X and Y patched up and completed Z. It was released amidst a lot of fanfare. However Y died a month after its release and could not live to see it become a superhit. Identify X, Y and Z.

14. Fill in the blanks. The Wikkit Gate is a universal symbol among the diverse cultures of the Galaxy of the basic ideals of civilization. It is made up of the following -
A Steel Pillar of Strength and Power - Marvin's leg
A Wooden Pillar of Nature and Spirituality - the reconstituted ______________________
A Perspex Pillar of Science and Reason - Argabuthon Septre of Authority
A Golden Bail of Prosperity - The Heart of Gold's heart of gold
A Silver Bail of Peace - the Rory Award For The Most Gratuitous Use Of The F Word(or Belgium) In A Serious Screenplay

15. Fill in the blanks - For me it crawled towards Kurtz -- exclusively; but when the steam-pipes started leaking we crawled very slow. The reaches opened before us and closed behind, as if the forest had stepped leisurely across the water to bar the way for our return. We penetrated deeper and deeper into the ____________________________________. It was very quiet there.

16. This is an excerpt from a book. Just identify X and Y, or name the book. No need to fill the blanks.

"You still wake up sometimes, don't you? Wake up in the iron dark with the _______ screaming?"
"Sometimes."
"Do you think if you caught ________ yourself and if you made Catherine all right, you could make the _______ stop screaming, do you think they'd be all right too and you wouldn't wake up again in the dark and hear the _________ screaming?"
"Yes. I don't know. Maybe."
"Thank you, Y." X seemed oddly at peace.

17. After getting a BTech from IITB, he became a journalist and wrote for Daily and Glitz. He was a Marxist in those days, and a member of the CPI(M). Advani first noticed him, strangely enough, after reading a piece written by him in 1990 which attacked the BJP. Advani found the piece well-written, and got in touch with him. He made a shift to the BJP, joined the RSS, and was very close to Advani. He is said to have been the brain behind the moderate-isation of BJP during which it abandoned the Ram Janmabhoomi issue. However he had to quit the BJP after perhaps pushing the moderation line too far, because it was he who wrote the Jinnah speech that Advani delivered in Pakistan, and got into the controversy. Name him.

18. Fill in the blank. The Road to Welville was a 1994 comedy about the eccentric Dr. John Harvey ________ (played by Anthony Hopkins) who lived in Michigan about 100 years back and ran the Battle Creek Sanitarium. He was a strong proponent of vegetarianism, and abstension from sex, and used these methods on his patients. He and his brother experimented with ways to do away with meat products in meals without affecting their nutritional value.

19. Who wrote this -
It is a proof of having learned nothing from the world war and of thoroughly misunderstanding or knowing nothing about Anglo-Saxon determination, when they imagine that England could lose India without first having put forth the last ounce of her strength in the struggle to hold it. Moreover, it shows how complete is the ignorance prevailing in our country as to the manner in which the spirit of England permeates and administers her Empire. England will never lose India unless she admits racial disruption in the machinery of her administration (which at present is entirely out of the question in India) or unless she is overcome by the sword of some powerful enemy. But Indian risings will never bring this about. We have had sufficient experience to know how hard it is to coerce England. And, apart from all this, I would far rather see India under British domination than under that of any other nation.

20. Connect and give the latest name in the series: Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, Amon Goeth from Schindler's list, Count Laszlo de Almasy from the English Patient, Francis "Red Dragon" Dolarhyde from Red Dragon.

21. Al Yeganeh runs _______ Kitchen International in Manhattan. Since unwittingly achieving fame in the 90s, Yeganeh invites the media to contact him for interviews, but states that they must not mention the "N" word, not talk about his personal life, not have follow-up questions, and interviews will only be completed via e-mail, at his time preferences. What is Yeganeh better known as?

22. Excerpt from a speech. Fill in the blanks - "We can legitimately ask for hundreds, or even thousands. But as a gesture of understanding, we are asking for only three - the ___________, the Shahi and the Gyanvapi"

23. Fill in the blanks -"You got a knack," Hallorann said, turning to him. "Me, I've always called it ___________. That's what my grandmother called it, too. She had it. We used to sit in the kitchen when I was a boy no older than you and have long talks without even openin our mouths."

24. The central character of Rossini's 'The Barber of Seville' and Beaumarchais's 'The Guilty Mother' is also the central character in a famous opera by Mozart. The name has also been given to Minnie Mouse's cat. Which name?

25. Most of this writer's books referred to mythology or Christian symbolism. The name of his most famous book is the English translation of a Hebrew synonym for the devil. In that book, the devil is represented by the deadbody of an airman.

26. The publication of Siderius Nuncius contradicted Psalms 93 and 104, and Ecclesiastes 1:5. Who wrote it?

27. ______________ is a historical novel by Rafael Sabatini, originally published in 1921 and subsequently adapted into a play by Barbara Field and into feature films in 1923 and 1952. It is a romantic adventure and tells the story of a young aristocrat during the French Revolution. His successive endeavors as a lawyer, politician, actor, lover, and buffoon lead his enemies to call him ___________, which means a “clown”, but he impresses many with his elegant orations and precision swordsmanship.

28. Connect these visuals -




29. She was reportedly born in New Jersey in 1858. She followed a career in opera as a contralto, performing in La Scala, Milan, Italy, and a term as Prima donna in the Imperial Opera of Warsaw, Poland. She retired in her late 20s from the operatic stage and moved to London. She became world famous due to her affair with someone from a royal family and eventually married Gordon Norton. Name her.

30. Connect the answers to 24,25,26,27,28 and 29.

Leave your answers in the comments section.




Tuesday, February 07, 2006

That Epiphanic Lynch Moment

SPOILER ALERT: If you have never seen a David Lynch movie in your life, skip this post. If you read it, you will be robbing yourself of something mind-boggling. So if you have never seen a Lynch movie, go rent one, and then come back to read this post.

It is always a pleasure to watch Lynch movies. I mean the "true" Lynch movies, not stuff like Elephant Man. It is wonderful to lose yourself in them, and swirl them around, discovering new flavours.

But what I really hate is that THE moment, the epiphany, occurs only once, and just can not be repeated in your lifetime unless you suffer from amnesia. THE moment when you discover what a Lynch movie really is and how it is different from other movies. The first Lynch movie I ever saw was Mulholland Dr a few years ago. And when the 'changeover' or 'waking up' happened, I was absolutely blown away. I instantly became a Lynch fan for life. About half an hour later, the movie had ended, it was 3 a.m. in the morning, and I was astounded by this approach of story-telling. I was torn between whether I should watch the movie again, or go wake up some friends and rave about the movie. Needless to say, I promptly restarted the movie, and watched it again, trying to "interpret" it.

That exhilaration was never repeated, because right from the initial moments of the opening scene (which always contain a very key element) of the next Lynch movie I saw (which happened to be Lost Highway) I was in the 'interpretation' mode. I was trying to examine each and every thing about each and every frame, and guess what would happen at the "Waking up". Which is fun too. But still, the fact that THE moment will never be repeated seems unfair. And that happened with the other Lynch movies I watched as well.

So your first Lynch movie will always be your most special. You will, of course, enjoy the subsequent ones. But like most other "firsts" in life, this one too will be unparalleled.

By the way, I have been trying to get hold of the longer version of Lynch's Dune, based on Frank Herbert's cult sci-fi novel. The movie bombed at the box office, and was also panned by critics when it was first released. The producer had chopped it down from Lynch's original 3 hr 10 minute to 2 hr 17 mins. I want to see if he really made a bad movie out of the book (which would take some doing!) or if it was the hack-and-chop-job that spoilt the movie. Movietime in Lokhandwala doesn't have it. If you know any place in Mumbai which has it, please email me.




Manfest Quiz

Last weekend, I conducted the General Quiz at IIM Lucknow. Am posting here some of my favourites questions from it. Leave your answers in the comments section, which has been enabled for this one post. The comments will be moderated, and then displayed along with the answers.

The questions are not necessarily non-google-able, since firstly this was a real-time quiz, and secondly there are no prizes for the online version of this quiz. So if you want, use google. But it will be much more fun without it.

There is no deadline as such. Will post the answers once the responses(if any) stop trickling in.

Update: OK, the inflow of answers has reduced to a trickle and has been overshadowed by demands for answers. Answers inline, followed by the scores.


1. Tony Greig once quipped - "Luckily for her, he didn't get his first test hundred at Faislabad." Explain.

Ans - Brian Lara named his first daughter Sydney, since he scored his first test hundred, a breath-taking 277, at Sydney. As Tony Greig said, she should thank her stars that she isn't called Faislabad. By the way, this is probably the only witty comment Greig has managed in a long career in the media.

2. E.R. Brathwaite grew up in Georgetown Guyana and was brilliant at Science and Electronics and flew with the RAF in WW2. After the war, he stayed in London and tried to get a job as a technician or engineer, but did not get one because of colour bias. He took another job, and wrote a book about his experiences in that job. This book was made into a movie that made history. Name the book.

Ans - Cracked universally. 'To Sir With Love'

3. Fill in the blanks for this line from Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” - To found a great empire for raising up a people of customers may at first sight appear a project fit only for a ______________ of ___________________

Ans - Nation of Shopkeepers, as Britain is often 'endearingly' referred to.

4. The 1984-85 season. 2nd ODI between India and Pakistan at Sialkot- India 210/3 with Vengsarkar 94*. Match abandoned. Why?

Ans - Again, universally cracked. Indira Gandhi was assassinated in Delhi.

5. Its original name, i.e in German, is Walkürenritt. In its original context, it features Brunhilde in breastplate and horned helmet, clutching a spear and shield, and crying out "HO JO TO HO!". Give its English name, made famous by a cult classic.

Ans - The exact answer was not given by many. What I was looking for was 'Ride of the Valkyries', which is the name of a composition from Wagner's opera 'Die Walkure'. The composition was made famous by Francis Ford Coppola's 'Apocalypse Now' in which the helicopters are shown attacking villages as they play this piece on loudspeakers. It is said that this piece was played in Nazi concentration camps.

6. This is a flag of?


Ans - The British East India Company. It is said that the design of the American flag was somewhat inspired from it.

7. Name these two men who were in news recently





Ans - Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad. Their record came very close to being eclipsed by Sehwag and Dravid in the first test at Lahore.

8. When the Michael Vaughan’s team won the Ashes last year, a parade was taken out in Trafalgar Square, with all the team members riding on top of an open double-decker bus, toasting champagne and waving at crowds. Behind them was another open double-decker bus. Who was riding on it?

Ans - The England women's team which itself had won the women's ashes a few days before. They won it after a gap of over 30 years.

9. Fill in the blanks –
“He came naked, by night, alone and very hungry; yet he was not afraid! Look, he has pushed one of my babes to one side already. And that lame butcher would have killed him and would have run off to the Waingunga while the villagers here hunted through all our lairs in revenge! Keep him? Assuredly I will keep him. Lie still, little frog. O thou ______- for _______ the Frog I will call thee.”

Ans - Majorly cracked. Mowgli. This is from Jungle Book.

10. Connect these three visuals




Ans - Slightly arbit connect, though one or two guys got it. Technologies used in cricket broadcasts. The fish is a 'dartfish', name of the technology being used in the India-Pak series. The second picture of course has Alan Alda as 'Hawkeye' from M*A*S*H. The third picture is of a wagon wheel.

11. “My villa is situated upon the southern slope of the downs, commanding a great view of the Channel. At this point the coast-line is entirely of chalk cliffs, which can only be descended by a single, long, tortuous path, which is steep and slippery. At the bottom of the path lie a hundred yards of pebbles and shingle, even when the tide is at full. Here and there, however, there are curves and hollows which make splendid swimming-pools filled afresh with each flow. This admirable beach extends for some miles in each direction, save only at one point where the little cove and village of Fulworth
break the line.

My house is lonely. I, my old housekeeper, and my bees have the estate all to ourselves.” Who is talking about his house?

Ans - The bees gave it away I guess. Sherlock Holmes.

12. According to the rules of the British Parliament, no alcohol is allowed in the House of Commons. This rule is however, relaxed for just one day and for just one person. When and for whom?

Ans - The Chancellor of the Exchequer. While he is presenting the budget.

13. What do the blanks stand for, and what is the significance of this verse?


Ans - The 4 words are brahman, rajanya(kshatriya), vaishya, shudra. This is a verse from the Purusha Sukta(Rigveda 10:90) which means "What became of His body? The Brâhmana was his mouth, of both his arms was the Râjanya made. His thighs became the Vaishya, from his feet the Sûdra was produced." The oldest reference to the caste system.

14. When Pope John Paul II arrived in Los Angeles in 1987, a local chamber of commerce, in the honour of his visit, made a temporary alteration to a famous landmark which it maintains. What alteration?

Ans - The HOLLYWOOD sign was changed to HOLYWOOD. Nice one, na?

15. These are the end credits of a Monty Python sketch. Name the sketch.
Monty Python's Flying Circus
was conceived, written and ____ performed by
____ Terry Jones
Michael ____ Palin
John ____ John ____
John ____ Cleese
Graham ____ ____
____ Chapman
Eric ____ egg and Chips Idle
Terry ____ Sausage ____
Egg ____ Gilliam
Also Appearing On Toast:
The Fred Tomlinson ____ Egg Chips and Singers

Ans - "Spam". It is this Monty Python sketch which led to the term spam being used for unwanted mail.

16. What “elusive” location is marked with the red balloon?


Ans - Slightly tough I suppose. The answer is '15 Park Avenue'. If you've seen the Aparna Sen movie, you will know that the character played by Konkona keeps looking for this address in Kolkata, but it doesn't exist. It actually exists, as Shefali Chhaya's character mentions, in New York.

17. Which film connects these songs -
Child in Time by Deep Purple
Last Christmas by WHAM
Speak Softly Love by Andy Williams
A Jim Reeves song released in 1959 (song name will be a giveaway)
The connect is very ironic, considering the story of the film.

Ans - Akele Hum Akele Tum. Anu Malik outdid himself by actually plagiarising four songs in one movie. The songs are Aya Hoon Yaaron, Dil Mera Churaya Kyun, Raja Ko Rani Se, and Oh I love you Daddy.
Speak Softly Love, incidentally is, the Godfather theme.
This brazen plagiarism is ironic, because in the movie, the lead character is shown to be a music composer whose tunes are stolen by other.

18. Connect


Ans - The CNN screenshot is of John Seigenthaler Sr. The bearded bloke is Jimmy Wales who founded Wikipedia (observe his laptop screen). The two others are of course the Kennedy brothers. A prankster had written on Seigenthaler's wikipedia page that he was involved in the assassination of the Kennedys. The page stayed that way for months. Seigenthaler threatened to sue Wikipedia. This led to Wikipedia changing its posting policies to allow only logged in users to edit pages.

19. Explain the funda and complete the series –
Allison Anders - Directed Grace of my Heart, Sugar Town, Things behind the sun
Alexandre Rockwell - Directed Louis and Frank, 13 Moons
Robert Rodriguez - Directed Spy Kids, Once upon a time in Mexico, Sin City

Ans - Quentin Tarantino of course. These four directed the 4 separate segments of the movie 'Four Rooms'

20. Fill in the blanks and explain this sequence. Masherbrum, _______________, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum 2, Gasherbrum 1.

Ans - What fills the blank is K2. I thought the fact that the blank is second in the series would be a clue. All these are major peaks in the Karakoram range. Initially, they were named K1, K2, K3, K4 and K5. Over the years, all others were renamed. K2, the second-tallest (and also the toughest) mountain in the world, retains the alpha-numeric name officially, though it is sometimes referred to as Mt. Godwin Austen.

21. Princess Ilia joined the 'Enterprise' as a navigator. She was a Deltan, a species who are empathic, and exude pheromones which arouse human males, and she had once been romantically involved with Commander Willard Decker. Ilia was killed by the sentient alien probe V'ger and replaced by a robotic duplicate which became V'ger's emissary. Why should we know all this?

Ans - Because Princess Ilia was played by an Indian - Persis Khambatta

22. Martin Balsam, John Fiedler, Lee J. Cobb, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Ed Binns, Jack Warden, Henry Fonda, Joseph Sweeney, Ed Begley, George Voskovec and Robert Webber, were the __________ ___________ ____________

Ans - Twelve Angry Men. The movie was also remade in hindi as 'Ek Ruka Hua Faisla'.

23. Groningen, Drenthe, Overjissel, Limburg are some of the lesser known ones. The most famous are North ___________ and South _____________ (same blank). Some would say a little too famous.

Ans - Holland is what fills the blank. The thing is, the official name of the country is Netherlands. But is is often used synonymously with 'Holland'. The reason being that Holland is the province which traded the most with other countries, and also has the major ports. However people from other provinces are not impressed when you refer to their country as 'Holland'. So refer to it, only as Netherlands.

24. This is an excerpt from a letter X wrote to Y. Identify both.

“I would abandon this idea of getting _______ in a second if I
could only win your heart and live out the rest of my life with
you, whether it be in total obscurity or whatever.

I will admit to you that the reason I'm going ahead with this
attempt now is because I just cannot wait any longer to impress
you. I've got to do something now to make you understand, in
no uncertain terms, that I am doing all of this for your sake! By
sacrificing my freedom and possibly my life, I hope to change
your mind about me. This letter is being written only an hour
before I leave for the Hilton Hotel. Y, I'm asking you to please
look into your heart and at least give me the chance, with this
historical deed, to gain your respect and love.”

Ans - John Hinckley Jr to Jodie Foster. Hinckley tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan just to prove his "love" to Foster.

25. Which Indian would fit in with this group?




Ans - Vishal Bharadwaj. All have directed movies based on Shakespeare's Macbeth. The men are Akira Kurosawa, Orson Welles and Roman Polanski.

26. It was conceived in 1995 by David Geyde at UC Berkeley, and began in May 1999 when the phenomenon of internet had spread wide enough. The software performs signal analysis on a downloaded 350 kb "work unit" of the Serendip IV survey data and then reports the results. What?

Ans - SETI@Home

27. In the movie ‘Adalat’ there is a scene where Amitabh, playing a villager, is leading a group of city folk through the jungle. How did this scene achieve significance in the late nineties?

Ans - He is singing Eir Bir Phattey as he leads them through the jungle. It is the same song, written by his father Harivanshrai, which he later sang in his first ever album Aby Baby.

28. Which book does this band take its name from?


Ans - the band is named Marillion, after Tolkien's book, Silmarillion

29. Which Oscar winning movie is this clip from?
Download Clip 29

Ans - The Godfather. This is the scene in the restaurant where Solozzo and Michael are talking in Italian.

30. Three names needed. Name the two people talking, and the person they are talking about.
Download Clip 30

Ans - Jason Alexander and Larry David talking about the character George Costanza. The clip is from an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Here are the scores -

There were 3 joint toppers. Sreekanth, aNti and Venkatesh all scoring 17.

Here are the other respondents' scores in chornological order -

Aadisht - 8
Pushkar - 2
Shashikant - 2
Rajgopal - 10
Ramanand - 14
Dhammo - 13
Dr. Bruno - 4
Sridhar - 11
Venu - 1
Bongop'o'ndit - 14
Sreekanth - 17
Debashish - 1
Siddharth Puri - 10
aNTi - 17
Abhishek - 15
Tarun - 3
Balaji - 13
Lahar - 11
Aaman - 5
HP - 2
Apurva - 7
Aranyi - 3
Sumeet - 6
Ambuj - 10
Shom - 10
Zutty - 15
Venkatesh - 17
Salil - 8
Chetan - 10
Ashwin Rao - 4
imhunt - 11
De-scribe - 1
NANMTK - 1
Gopal - 16

There were many anon responses, and also many named responses scoring blobs, which I am not mentioning here. In all there were 68 responses.

Thank you. Hope you enjoyed it.




Monday, February 06, 2006

What!

Learnt of a shocking piece of news yesterday.

Narendra Hirwani Retires


Shocking because I am shocked to learn that the dude was still playing!

Narendra Hirwani is most famous for featuring in the 'Mile Sur Mera Tumhara' song which played on Doordarshan in the late 80s. He also picked 16 wickets in his debut test.

Pushkar also has a post about this topic.




Sunday, February 05, 2006

Review of Rang De Basanti

So I watched Rang De Basanti. Big deal. Who hasn't? And I am going to review it. Well again, who hasn't? Everyone and their Uncle has reviewed it on their blog, and Ramanand has anti-reviewed it.

I did not LOVE the movie. And I did not HATE the movie. For me, it fell somewhere in between, with many negatives and many positives, and I am not sure what the result will be when the weighted average is calculated.

The fact that it was a Hindi movie I did not HATE, which means it is already one of the best Hindi movies of the year. The 'characterisation', if I can call it that, of James McKinley through his diary. very well written, and somehow reminiscent of The Green Mile. The portrayal of the Bhagat Singh story. This movie, through the sepia flashbacks, narrates the story of Bhagat Singh and his companions a lot better than the buy-1-take-2-free movies that came out a few years back. The editing in the second half is pretty decent. The story moves very rapidly after the plane crash, and does not waste too much time. Hindi movies, after a 'twist' tend to ramble and drag on, but this one moved pretty rapidly. The music is good, and has been placed beautifully. The songs do not seem like hurdles or "go for a smoke" breaks. The performances of Kunal Kapoor and Sharman Joshi are very real and fresh, and they get into the characters of Aslam and Sukhi with remarkable ease. And yes, the biggest positive is that the movie does a decentish job of narrating everything very realistically, so it gets a fraction of you quite involved in the movie.

The movie, however, suffers from confused positioning. Is this an 'aspirational' movie like Swades, or is it a semi-fantasy like Lagaan? As far as the basic story is concerned, each and every Indian must have thought about it a hundred times over. The usual 'all these bloody politicians must be shot like dogs' fantasy. In those terms, it is just slightly different than Sunny-Deol-Rajnikanth type movies, in that, the screenplay is a lot more polished. But look beyond the screenplay, and the movie doesn't have much to say. It is no different from what a couple of Kamal Hassans tried to tell us through Hindustaani(a movie remembered more for the sheer poetic brilliance of its lyrics - telephone dhun mein hasnewaali, melbourne macchli machalnewaali... but I digress).

As an aspirational movie, it falls well short of Swades, where the story was written after some thought. Even the sermons in Swades had some originality and depth, and in fact attempted to negate previous filmi sermons. While Gowarikar didn't give us a full fledged report about what to do, it was his honest attempt to give his inputs, and they were worth pondering over. Plus, the gradual transformation of Mohan Bhargav was portrayed well. In RDB, the transformation is too hurried. Bhagat Singh and co did not become revolutionaries overnight, driven by personal vendatta. They had read about several ideologies, and a lot of thinking over a long period of time, went into defining their beliefs and their actions. And since the "solutions" are too generic, the sort that any kid could have come up with, the movie doesn't really make you think(unless your intellectual capacity is like that of the couple sitting next to me during the movie, but they are topic for a separate post).

As a semi-fantasy movie, there are just too many bones of contention that stick out. In a semi-fantasy movie, if something unreal is being shown, it is the writer/director's job to portray it convincingly. I should not have to do the extra thinking of justifying the bones of contention. For instance in Lagaan, you don't agonise about how a British officer could possibly bet tax collection on a cricket match. Or why a British woman would help Indian villagers. But in this movie, three points stick out like Parthiv Patel in the Indian cricket team.

One, why does the Defence Minister criticise the pilot in such crass words and without any justification inspite of his great track record? Though MiG crashes have been blamed on pilots a couple of times, it has not been done in such a PR-disaster-ish manner.
Two, why does the police lathi charge a group of peaceful youngsters, women and children in full view of TV cameras? I am not saying the government is too nice-and-moral to do so. I am saying it would not be stupid enough to do so in front of TV cameras, with a Minister standing there. Clearly, it has been shown to draw a parallel with Jalianwala Baag. Quite a clumsy and unconvincing effort.
Three, when the guys are on radio, telling the world that they are just 5 youngsters and not terrorists, and they have not harmed anyone while taking over the radio station, why does the government eliminate them using commandoes, again in full view of the media.

It just seems too unconvincing, and the directors has not done a good job of writing these parallels.

As far as performances are concerned, Aamir just doesn't fit into the role properly. He seems very awkward and unconvincing. His carefreeness is not as natural as the carefreeness of Akash in Dil Chahata Hai and his transformation is not as convincing as Mohan in Swades(look at me, I am saying Shahrukh acted better than Aamir! :)). Atul Kulkarni too turns in a less-than-memorable performance, mainly because of a badly sketched role.

The biggest flaw of the movie for me is that in the end, I did not sympathize with anyone but Ajay Rathore and his mother. I think of the five friends as a bunch of idiots. They are not unrealistic. After all, reality throws up more 'unrealistic' killers, like the Joshi-Abhyankar case. If 5 well-to-do urban kids could commit cold blooded murders of innocent families for "thrill", then 5 rich urban kids killing a corrupt politician is not unrealistic. It is just not worthy of too much sympathy and respect. Which is what the movie tries to draw for them, and fails.




Saturday, February 04, 2006

About Kissers

Abhishek asks -

If Emran Hashmi is a serial kisser, then who is a parallel kisser ?

Check the answer out at his blog.




EDUCATION CHOICE CAMPAIGN

This is part of a comment I made here

EDUCATION CHOICE CAMPAIGN Fund Students Not Schools

My idea of an ideal set-up is very simple - that of a minimal state. Let the state take care of national defence, foreign policy, and ensure a rule of law that does not trample on anyone's freedom. As long as that is ensured, almost everyone, from the poorest to the richest, will continue their journeys towards a better life, MUCH MORE EFFECTIVELY than any other system. Will it be ideal? I think not. Ten years later, will there still be some naked and hungry children? You bet! But as I said, it will be much better than any other alternative that can be suggested.

However, even if I do make my peace with the premise that the government should, using taxpayers money, proactively do something to improve the lives of our most underprivileged, I still for the life of me, can't figure out why the government needs to be the delivery mechanism as well. Why can't it just foot the bill?

The biggest failure of the Indian state in my opinion has been primary education. The reason is not that the government decided to foot the bill. The reason is that the government monopolised the delivery mechanism for itself and a few of its cronies who would have the stamina/contacts to weave through the labyrinth of bureaucracy to set up a school. Even today, a teacher's job in a government school translates into a lot of free time for the person to pursue other activities except for teaching.

Of course, it will be easy to first visit the "Five Star" Dhirubhai Intl School and then visit a ramshackle teacherless municipality school, and feel bad about the children of the poor who have to make do with this while the children of rich sit in AC.

But tell me seriously, do we really need a comparison scale? Is the question of disparity that important to those at the poorest levels? Does a hungry person start feeling hungry only when he sees the rich pigging out? Does he feel more hungry if the rich are pigging out on a pizza instead of a wadapav? Does the cobbler's son become more illiterate because the children of the rich, instead of sitting on normal benches, are suddenly using mahogany benches?

This whole question of growing and decreasing disparity therefore seems like just an eyewash to me.

It would make sense if both services were being provided by the government. i.e the government was providing pizza-and-AC-classrooms-with-mahogany-tables even as it gives ramshackle schools to the poor.

But the schools of the rich are run by private money. So instead of looking at the higher end of the spectrum and feeling bad about it, let us concentrate on the lower end, and how to make their lives better. Instead of a comparitive scale, let us look at the poor in absolute terms.

There are some people who are actually doing concrete work proposing realistic solutions that can work. The Centre for Civil Society has been working on spreading awareness about solutions to the current primary education mess. The solution seeks to combine the responsibility of the government to ENSURE(NOT PROVIDE) primary education for all, with the efficiency and accountability of the private enterprise. the solution will ensure that the government pays for education, but unnecessary and ill-designed bureaucratic hassles don't choke the good intentions.

I request the contributors as well as readers of this blog to read about the solution and lend it support. Here is the link again -

EDUCATION CHOICE CAMPAIGN Fund Students Not Schools




Friday, February 03, 2006

AgonyAuntArchoCapLib

I bet you thought that Yazad Jal's blog was all about Anaro-Capitalist Libertarianism and economics, and politics and what not. Well, you thought wrong. The blog also runs an agony forum-cum(!)-support-group for American women who are troubled by their husbands watching porn. This forum has been live and kicking for over a year now, and every few days, a new soul-sister lands up at the blog to share her disappointment with the world.

You thought libertarians were all about cold logic and polemic? See, we have got a "human face" too!




Mostly Thoughtless

What happens when you start wasting too much of your online time "engaging in meaningful discussions with the compassionate other side"? You tend to miss out on some really quality blogs. One such blog I have been missing out on is Mostly Thoughtless. A million thanks to Sarika for guiding me to this hilarious and rollicking blog.

He shall be included in the blogroll forthwith!

Do visit his blog, for it is a place where good times are had by all!




Thursday, February 02, 2006

Those Two

People would have followed the India-Pakistan series in 2 ways. Either watched it on TV, or checked the score on the net or radio. It is very easy to tell the difference between the two.

Those who just checked the scores are the ones who are suddenly making a lot of hue and cry about the "decline" and "end" of sachin Tendulkar. Those who actually watched him bat for his 60-odd runs in this series know that his star is on the ascendancy.

He was self-assured and confident when at the crease, looked relaxed, and most importantly, his natural pace of scoring was back. He was neither grafting around for runs, nor was he just launching a blind counter-attack. Each of his short innings featured at least a couple of delectable vintage Sachin shots, including the cover drive which he had so much trouble with. So each and every ball he played, with the exception of the three that dismissed him, showed a master who's gotten his touch back.

Let's look at the three dismissals. At Faislabad, it was the rising delivery, and as i wrote earlier, he made a wrong call. Even Sachin's biggest critic won't say that he has a weakness against the short ball, so that dismissal can be thought of as just an unfortunate one-off incident. In the first innings at Karachi, it was an in-seaming delivery, and Sachin played down the wrong line, to be bowled. That was perhaps the only mistake he made in the whole innings, and as the infamous Tendulkar luck goes, he had to pay fo it. While it was a fault on his part, we can not write him off for that. The third dismissal was due to the ball staying low and could have happened to anyone. As the replays showed, he was playing down the right line, and he had covered the movement of the ball well. It just stayed too low!

The composure and the assured manner in which he batted when at the crease in fact indicates everything contrary to what the media is talking about. He has at least a couple of years left in him, and he seems to have regained complete fitness, since he is playing his full array of shots.

A few words about Ganguly. In the two innings that he played, Ganguly looked very compact. He handles Shoaib quite competently, and had a well-thought-out plan against the short delivery which he by and large adopted. It shows that there is still a lot of fight left in the man. It was also very encouraging to see those crisp drives through the offside that he is so famous for.

Having said that, one must note the situation in which he was playing. In both innings, India was in a crisis, and personally, his career was on the line. It was a lifeline fate had thrown him. Some very good deliveries got rid of the top order in both innings, while he was able to get off to a start and play himself in. The stage was set for a legendary fightback similar to Brisbane03. He just had to make a hundred, stave off the crisis, and he would have been difficult to dislodge from the team. But he let himself and the team down very badly in the first innings by holing out to a hook shot.

Ganguly has been in these kind of situations often enough to know that when the bar is set higher, true champions still cross it. Even though his two innings were "decent", they were not good for the situation he was in. His first innings dismissal was particularly suicidal and avoidable.

With Yuvraj Singh's fortuitous century, and Mohammad Kaif's Ranji triumphs, there is now no justifiable reason for Ganguly to be picked for the middle order any more.