Guru Team India!!!

Happy Ugadi to my blog readers!! Ugadi symbolizes the start of a new year in Telugu calender and will be celebrated grandly by every Telugu family all over the globe. But this time the celebrations started precociously on 2nd of April when Men in Blue crushed Lankans to grab the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. April 2nd marked the beginning of new era in Indian cricket.

Again, whole India was united in celebrations. 12.1 billion people forgot all their worries, insecurities, differences and shared the joy with each other. The sense of Indian was all over and national integrity was at its peak.

Enough of celebrations!! Every story has a moral. This victory song of the Indian cricket team has many morals. Many of my blog readers are engineering students gearing up for careers in software industry. Corporate culture has a lot to do with team management. We can learn a lot about team leading and working skills from this Indian team. Lets make an attempt to do the same.

Moral 1. Every Team Member will have a responsibility. Don't try too hard. Just fulfil your responsibility. Look at our team, Sehwag's responsibility was to give team a flying start and Tendulkar's role was to anchor the innings. Zak was asked to pick up a wicket when ever a partnership is building. Munaf is just his supporter. Yuvi was asked to step up as all-rounder. Raina is the man who has to stand the death over pressure and score valuable 20s and 30s. Ghambhir is asked to build up a partnership with Tendulkar after Sehwag gets dismissed. Kohli was asked to strengthen the middle order. Everyone did their job and that's crucial.

Moral 2. When someone in team fails, stop abusing him and try to make up the loss. Everyone fails some or the other day. If we consider our team, there are many failure stories. Yusuf, Piyush and Sreesanth never performed in this world cup. Munaf and Nehra also struggled initially. Dhoni found it difficult to score a double digit score. Harbhajan never played to his full potential. But we always had a backup. Zak, Yuvi and Ashwin masked bowling weaknesses. Raina covered up lower order failures. Viru, Tendya, Gauti and Kohli made our batting look invincible. On the big day their most powerful weapons, Viru and Tendya, failed to fire and we saw Captain Dhoni and Gauti stepping up to the cause and playing match winning innings.

Moral 3. Believe your team-mates. They are worth it. Don't doubt their potentials. Our players believed each other and gelled up quite well. Consider Yuvi. Everyone criticised his selection. Even Yuvi was in a very poor form and was not 100% fit. But the captain and his team believed Yuvi. Sachin inspired him to the core and brought out the match-winner in him. He was judged as man of the series. When many players like Munaf, Bhajji, Raina, Nehra, Yusuf etc were struggling in form, the team backed them up. Our team believed each other very well and played as a unit.

Moral 4. Don't yield to pressure. Do trust your team and its performance. Contribute individually to team's success. When our team tied its game with the English and lost to proteas very few had confidence on this team's winning chances. But the team never lost confidence on itself. All players understood that the team itself is important than individuals and contributed to the team glory. The players believed all the time that they as a team can win this cup. That's the spirit of a team.

Moral 5. Strategical mistakes do happen. Few wrong decisions might have been taken. We cant change it. But we can always try to minimise the damage. In semis against Pak, MS Dhoni wrongly read the pitch and took Nehra in place of Ashwin. They didn't curse themselves for doing it. Its a part and parcel of game. Mistakes do happen. Nehra stood up to the occasion and bowled brilliantly to be the best bowler of Indian side in that match. Chawla inclusion in squad was also a mistake but Yuvi covered it up. When your team has taken a wrong decision, step up and play hero to mitigate the loss. Its easy to curse but difficult to perform.

Moral 6. Learn from your team-mates. Its a very good habit. Teach your strengths to your teamster and correct your mistakes from them. Indian fielding was very poor during the initial games. But once Raina made it into the squad the whole fielding standards rose. Kohli brought out his best and Yuvi went back to his original backward point. Yuvi, Raina and Kohli formed an impregnable covers. Looking at them even less athletic men started to dive on the field. Observe how a 38 year old Tendulkar dived at the boundaries to stop runs.

Moral 7. Appreciate your teamster performances. Celebrate individual milestones as team milestones. This team is best at this. They all applauded each other contributions. They all celebrated each other milestones. Importantly they all played for each other and celebrated with each other. If any player performed well, Tendulkar never hesitated to praise him even though he is his utmost junior.

These are few morals I could learn from our team on their campaign for glory. If you found anything more please do share them with our blog readers by commenting this post with it.

Good luck....

Its time we bleed blue!!!

Is cricket a sport? May be 'yes' for the English or the Aussies or the Dutch but for the Indians its always a 'no'. Cricket is something more than a mere sport. I dare call it a religion or may be more than a religion. In this country with many diversities, there are very few things that bind us together and Cricket is one of the most prominent of them. The euphoria spread around this cricket maniac nation is of nobody's surprise as its team prepares itself to take on Srilanka in ICC World Cup final to be held at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium on April 2.

In less than 24 hours, India will start its battle with the Lankans to claim the World cricket championship. So what will be a better time than this to Bleed Blue? As I bleed blue, I have made an attempt to analyse the strengths of Indian team for tomorrow's match. Why don't you bleed blue by reading it?

As always, India's prime strength for tomorrow is its strong batting line-up. Its top order, studded with stars like Sachin, Viru and Ghambhir, never failed to make a strong beginning. Since Knock-outs, its middle order is well capitalising on the starts they have got. The biggest plus for India throughout this campaign is that situations are throwing up heroes for them. When middle order was looking very weak during the initial games, Yuvraj came up with good knocks in the middle order and even filled the slot of fifth bowler. During a very crucial game against WI, Kohli played a good innings and improved the team batting unit's confidence. During the vital quarters and semis matches, Raina stood up for his team. Against Pak in semis, Munaf and Nehra came up with extra-ordinary performances just when they are deadly needed. Bhajji found back his rhythm just before the crucial grand finale. When India had bowling worries, Ashwin stood up for his captain and this off spinner even opened the bowling attack. This Indian pack is a lot different from its previous teams. This team comes up with its ultimate under pressure unlike its predecessors that used to crumble under pressure.

There were many consistent performers from this team like Sachin, Viru, Yuvraj, Ghambhir, Dhoni and Zaheer. Sachin and Sehwag are giving India a flying start in every match. They intimidate every bowling attack they face and put up their team in a psychologically strong position. When ever Dhoni needs a wicket, Zak delivers it for him. He is one of the tournament's leading wicket taker and most of those wickets came under immense pressure. Yuvraj has turned to be India's genuine all rounder. He scores runs and picks up wickets. He has given his captain a flexibility to experiment on bowling attack and has been a consistent match winner. Dhoni is also consistent. Surprised? Folks, Dhoni has failed with the bat throughout the tournament although he is doing a satisfactory job with gloves. But as a captain, Dhoni is at his best. He is a tough cool captain who never looses his nerve or allows his team to panic.
Two players caught my attention in epic Indo-Pak semifinal clash. Munaf and Harbhajan. Yeah, even Nehra was good but he wont be available for finals. Munaf varied his length well on that day. In previous matches Munaf was pity predictable, he used to bowl at a bit back of the length and at a 120-125 kph case. But on that day he was a quite different bowler. He bowled at a pace near 137 kph and even crossed 140s few times. He mixed up his lengths very good and his line was precise. Harbhajan allowed the ball to turn and come up by bowling slower deliveries. Crucially, Bhajji looked like an intelligent bowler that he generally is.

One more important issue is India's fielding. They were electric on field. Kohli, Raina and Yuvraj are live wires on field. Looking at them, even the less athletic players are also putting up some extra effort to stop runs.

Confident top order, strong middle order, decent bowling attack and up-to mark fielding efforts. A great mix that has everything to win the championship. I dont find any reason to doubt India's victory chances. Do you?

So now cross your fingers and wait for the match to begin. And remember, please stand up in attention when the national anthem plays before the match.

So you think you haven't bled enough blue? Then bleed more blue by commenting :)

Its OK to loose!!!

A wise man once said, "Success and Failure are two biggest traitors in life. Success masks your weaknesses while failure masks your strengths. Never judge yourself with success and failure as yardsticks."

Folks, when we loose or when we are in downbeat we start to curse ourselves or punish ourselves. We start thinking low on ourselves. But we should always remember that 'Its OK to loose. Its OK to fail. Its OK to make mistakes. Its OK to disappoint your kins.' To err is human but to forgive is divine. If we don't forgive ourselves, how can we expect someone to forgive us for our mistakes? Always forgive yourself for all what you have done.

So, what is not OK? Its NOT OK to be reluctant to fight. Its NOT OK to fear for failure. Its NOT OK to put no effort and curse fate for failure. In a battle, you either win or loose. But the result never matters, its the effort you put and how fearless you are in that battle that counts. Success and failure are temporary states of life, but the effort is permanent.

Consider the example of Sachin Tendulkar. On the eve of his hundredth international century and crucial match for his team, he did a lot of practice under hot sun of Chennai. Even though his team mates left the nets, he still hung on practicing. He took on blind training. He asked two youngsters to field on close cover points and his bowling coach to bowl at a speed of 140 Kmph and a bit short on length. He closed his eyes at the time of impact of bat to ball and found gap between those two fielders almost every time. Its very difficult to place the ball with eyes wide open but he did that with eyes closed. Do you know why he did it? Because he wanted to control his instincts. Even by reflex, he doesn't want to play a poor shot. But what happened? He went out in very first over of Ram Paul for a short delivery of 140 case. He trained hard for the match and he failed. That never matters because he is confident that he can hammer any bowler bowling a short pitch delivery. Its his effort that gave him confidence. As his fate was ill yesterday, he got out to a good delivery. But he didn't leave all to fate, he had put up his 100% efforts.

Folks, we can't control everything in life. But we should try to make maximum of what we can. For what we can't control, we should always hope that it will work in favor of you. Call it fate, destiny, god or whatever. You can't control it and so you don't bother it. But you can control and model your attitude, will-power, confidence and effort. So you should be worried of it. How much effort am I putting? How much confident am I? Is my attitude good? Ask yourselves these questions. Be honest and answer. If the answers are positive, then never mind the results. You succeed or not, you are a champion. Its just a matter of time.

For those who won't struggle and curse fate for failure, GO TO HELL. None can help you. Not even the god.

Comments are welcome!!!!

Friends for a life time!!!!

Engineering life has gifted me many friends. Now I am almost at the end of this four years journey. I take this blog as a platform to thank all my friends who have made my engineering days memorable. In this post I would like to recollect the relations I shared with my friends.

All friends in order of their roll call:

Aditya: My best friend. We have many similarities both in physical appearances and tastes. We share our secrets and fantasies. I count a lot on him and so does he. He is a guy who always stays happy and keeps you happy. His friendship is a rare gift one can have.

Avinash (Zim): The opener of our cricket team.. Known for his 'excellent' fielding.. I doubt if there is any boy's carriage left without him tasting it :).. He loves films.. A very friendly being with whom one can hangout..

Chaitanya (Malik): Hmmm... Funny guy with cool attitude. Our class cricket team all-rounder who always aspires to hit a six but... ooops... everytime its a ''swing and miss'' :) .. I can never forget his seminars and the laugh we had seeing his 'performance' on the board and dais. Hard-worker, innocent and sweet thats Malik(Tiger) for u..

John David: Sleepy boy.. I always see him lying on the desk, I bet he didn't even listen to a single class of WT.. Our class official photographer :) Vibrant and friendly guy...

Prem: The retired opener of our team :) .. He times the ball perfectly, but his timing of satires is optimum. A cool guy with tough attitude, Prem is a prominent member of our back bench crew. I have always treasured his friendship.

Ratna (KRK): Our class 'Rowdi Rani' :).. Noise levels are always at the peak.. A big smile on the face is her characteristic.. I never saw her being dull..

Rajeswari: Talented girl who always aspires to excel.. She has great potential in her.. She is my sister and I always treasure that relation.. Its always good to have such an knowledgeable and energetic friend..

Sai: Bhimili ka Bhadusha :).. Our team all rounder who finds it very difficult to complete his over in 12-13 balls :).. I shared lots of laughs with him.. Talented and hard working are his attributes..

Yamini: My trusted lieutenant in many of my projects.. Its great to work with her.. Her dedication towards work is great.. Like Raji, she is also highly talented and aspires to excel at her work.. That made her our class topper..

Aparna: Calm going sweet girl.. She is also my sister and I will always treasure that relation..

Lavanya: Polo.. Hyper active girl who always laughs.. I cant thank her enough for drawing all my lab diagrams :).. She is one of my very good friends..

Ravi: Master Mind.. His coding skills are great.. Highly knowledgeable person.. I always had a great respect towards him.. Great to have him as my friend..

Sundeep: Pichu :).. Our team opener who always plays 'cheepuru katta' shots.. Friendly being.. Has loads of fun with him..

Satwik: He has many nick-names.. The most energetic boy of the class.. Excellent organizer.. Good human being.. Friendly guy with a cool smile, thats Satwik for you..

Divya: My sweet sister.. Undoubtedly my best friend.. We both understand each other very well.. I never see her silent in class, always whispers something or the other to KRK or Aparna.. She has a cool attitude and I always felt comfortable in her presence.. If i have got any happy moment or a sad one, Divya is always there for me to share.. Cool girl with good attitude..

Santhoshi: Hardworker.. Dedicated student.. Good friend of mine.. Friendly and humorous girl..

Navin: The energy source of the class.. His presence will always electrify the class.. A very prominent member of our back bench crew, Navin is the most friendly guy you can ever meet :)

Sundeep (46): One of my good friends, Sundeep has got loads of talent.. Again a member of back bench crew, he loves to have fun.. He can do a lot more, if he uses his talent in right direction..

Swetha: Swetha is one of the most silent girls in the class.. She minds her own business and mingles less with the class.. She calls me her brother and I always treasure that relation..

Pranay (PhD in Kammalogy): Popularly known as 'Kamma Guru', Pranay is sweet heart of class.. There is none who doesnt like him.. "We like Pranay" :) If you want your life to be happy and laugh heart out everyday, U need Pranay to be your friend.. Highly energetic and vibrant.. His friendship is a gift and we all relish it..

Tarak(Raju Garu): The laziest being I have ever met.. He is one of my very good friends and currently he is working with me on CSE website project.. Cool guy to hangout with.. I have always treasured his friendship..

Bharadwaj: Our class CR.. One of the most talented students of the class.. I have never seen anyone disposing duties as CR as seriously as he does.. As Navin says, "Class ki dipam CR" :)..

Harsha: Collector gari abbay :).. A talented student with less percent.. He takes things light and keeps moving forward.. A very friendly being..

Indra Sena(IPS): Indian Postal Service :) .. 'Pottodu gattodu'.. The entertainer of first bench.. Again a cool guy with whom one can be very friendly.. He always smiles and makes you smile.. A very good friend of mine..

Dinesh: He has innocent looks, but don't get deceived, 'lopala matter veru :)' .. A friendly guy with cool attitude.. One of the most prominent member of back bench crew, he knows how to have fun and how to share fun..

Madhuri: I knew her even before engineering, when we learnt C together from Proff. NBV sir.. So in engineering we became friends.. She has good tone and presentation skills.. We always had silly fights and even now we wont speak, we always fight :)..

Although I mentioned only 25 friends due to typo constraints, each and every student of CSE-A is my very good friend.. I always treasure their friendship.. Its great to have been with you for four years..

Thank you again one and all for making my engineering journey very memorable!!!

Aala re Mumbai!!!

IPL-4 auction went on for two days. Now, the auction is over and the teams have bought their players. Of course, teams will now be very busy finding uncapped talented players. Guys like Ambati Rayadu will be on hot seat now.

I have been a greatest supporter of Mumbai Indians since the first edition of IPL. Led by legend Tendulkar, Mumbai Indians stood as runner ups of IPL-3. This time Mumbai is going to field a different team.

Here I will try to analyse the mettle of this team players.

Aiden Blizzard: This 26-year old Australian has terrific strike rate of 156.23 in T20s. This left hander plays for Victoria and in his T20 début he scored 89 of 38 balls with 8 sixes. He can be the most destructive player on his day and can score runs consistently. Fielding is a bonus.

James Franklin: This 30-year old Kiwi left arm seamer needs no introduction. He represented New Zealand in international cricketing arena. He has good cricketing experience and has a terrific bowling strike rate of 20.0 in T20s. His batting skills will be helpful down the order.

Moises Henriques: This 23-year old Aussie all-rounder has an impressive bowling strike rate of 19.5 and batting strike rate of 120.46. He is the former captain of Australian under-19 team and has impressive domestic record. He played for Australia but failed to retain his place.

Davy Jacobs: Skipper of Warriors, Davy Jacobs is the kind of cricketer any captain would welcome into his team. This wicket Keeper-batsmen, has an impressive average of 32.37 and a strike rate of 125. He is going to play a very key role for Mumbai this season.

Clint McKay: This 27 year old Aussie right arm seamer plays for Australia regularly in ODIs. He has terrific bowling strike rate of 15.9 in T20s. Although, he goes for runs, he has the ability to pick crucial wickets at crucial situations.

Andrew Symonds: This 35 year Aussie all-rounder needs no introduction. He is the most destructive player on his day and can win matches for his team single handedly. He can be very lethal with the ball too. His fielding standards are supreme. Symonds is going to play a very very crucial role for Mumbai this season.

Kieron Pollard: The most sought after player in T20 arena, Pollard is definitely a match winner. Mumbai managed to retain this big man and his presence in the squad itself will increase the morale of the team. His strike rate is whopping 170 in T20s. He can be very useful with the ball. His fielding is a bonus. Mumbai bets a lot on him for this season's title.

Lasith Malinga: Undoubtedly one of the most successful T20 bowlers, Malinga will lead Mumbai bowling attack this season. This time he will miss his partner, Zaheer, but Mumbai will count on him to destroy the oppositions batting line up. His yorkers are deadly to play and mostly none will look to attack him. Malinga has got to do a lot to make his team win the title.

Rohit Sharma: This 24 year old Indian batsmen is regarded as one of the best T2o batsmen in the world. He has a good average of 34 and strike rate of 125 in T20s. Rohit can be dangerous with ball too. He has got to play a crucial role in Mumbai's middle order.

Munaf Patel: This 27 year old right arm seamer played for Rajasthan Royals in first three editions of IPL. He has a terrific strike rate of 19.0 and has a healthy economy of 7.5 in T20s. He has to share the new ball with Malinga and provide good openings for Mumbai. Mumbai expects Munaf to fit into the shoes of Zaheer Khan, who now plays for Banglore.

Harbhajan Singh: Needs no introduction. He has been playing crucial role for Mumbai Indians since the first edition of IPL. Mumbai needs him to strike regularly during the middle overs of the innings. He has to contain the runs flow of the opposition and strike them with wickets at crucial moments. His batting skills are a big bonus.

Sachin Tendulkar: Whole world knows him. Mumbai bets everything on him. Skipper Tendulkar will not hesitate to lead the team from front. He is in his prime form and will look forward to top the batting table again. Tendulkar is the most dangerous man in world cricket and his presence itself will boost any teams morale, opposition captains dread his presence on the field. Tendulkar, as always, is going to be the key of Mumbai's success this season.

Good luck, Mumbai Indians.. Make us proud...

What could be running in their minds?

Finally, here comes the day. Today All-Party leaders will be apprised of Justice Sri Krishna Committee's report by Union Home Ministry.

Now its very interesting to know how these three leaders react. K.C.R's stance is very clear, he wants the report in favour of Telangana (at least he says so). Congress Party Legislators will some how be convinced (?) by party high command.

Here, I will try to predict how these three leaders may react to the issue.

Chandra Babu Naidu: As he is the opposition leader of the state, his response carries huge weight. He has to act in a way that best suites vast majority of people. Unfortunately, Mr. Naidu remained silent on this issue as there is a divided opinion in his party. But now the time is ripe, he has to stop this circus and come up with a single opinion that would be regarded as party's opinion. Seeing Mr. Naidu all these days, I doubt him coming up with an opinion as he is no where interested to loose any political chance that would steer him to the CM seat. His decision to not to send any of his party representatives to today's meet shows his eagerness to corner congress through this issue. By not sending his representatives, he is also trying to buy time so that he could react after watching people's response to the report and there by creating a chance to gain political mileage. So my guess is that, after the report is known Mr. Naidu cannot afford to continue in silence, he will wait for people's response and will react accordingly to fuel the emotions of the agitating regions.

K.Chiranjeevi: Praja Rajyam Chief, Chiranjeevi has millions of fans who will be very eager to hear to his reaction. He once singled United Andhra as his goal, but looking at the loss he incurred in Telangana region he backtracked to the opinion that the party will adhere to Justice Sri Krishna Committee's report. But it wont be very easy for him if the committee's report comes against United A.P. as he once took charge of this camp. Now heavy criticism will pour on him if he wont lift the bow in favour of united state. At the same time he has huge lot of fans in Telangana region, he cant afford to loose them as his son is gearing up to be next Mega Star. Mr. Chiranjeevi must be applauded for declaring his stance in contrast to Mr. Naidu who preferred to remain silent and confuse people, but now he is in a jinx. My guess is that, if committee reports for United state he will welcome the report and will try to convince the people that Committee did a lot of research and came up with a genuine report. But if committee report is against United state, then he is in trouble. He cant agitate as he promised to adhere to Committee's report and at the same time he cant welcome it as he will be under severe criticism ( both in and out of his party) if he does so.

Y.S.Jagan: Son of Late CM Y.S.R, Mr. Jagan has huge support among the masses. Recently he walked out of Congress party and is planning to launch a new party. He once clearly showed his stance by exhibiting United State supportive placards in the parliament. His tour of Telangana was a bitter failure. So Mr. Jagan might be in favour of United State. But its not all, as he dreams to be Chief Minister of this state he cant afford to loose support of Telangana. So even he is jinx now. My guess is that, irrespective of Committee's report Mr. Jagan will use all his might to politicize the issue and hit death blows to congress. Mr. Jagan wants Congress to kneel before him and he wont miss this opportunity.

Let us see what happens in next 24 hours. I sincerely hope that committee report will show an effective solution to this problem.

Comments are welcome!!!

Accolade to a Great Man...

VVS Laxman... There were many occasions when Laxman played well and brought victory single handed. If it was Tendulkar entire cricket world would have gone crazy lifting him to the skies. But many a times, Laxman's brave efforts go away with a slight notice of appreciation. This never disappointed the batting giant, he bats for the country and he will always, irrespective of anyone's notice or applaud.

This year has been fabulous for him. Although Tendya is on dream run this year, its Laxman who was scoring consistently in fourth innings, that too knitting the innings with lower order. The story repeated at Durban. Although Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag found their way to pavilion early, Laxman established partnerships with Pujara, Dhoni and Zak. His 96 of 280 deliveries is what that made the difference.

I am not trying to diminish the bold performance of Indian bowlers lead by Zak and Bhajji, but it was Laxman who was the main cause of Indian victory. Bowlers from both the teams bowled well on a pitch that cooperated them. But to face such a ferocious bowling attack on such a grassy pitch for 280 deliveries and scoring 96 of it is not at all easy. Pressure is a bonus there. But Laxman had the commitment and perseverance that takes to play a winning innings.

This was not the first time and this won't be the last. India need not worry of pitch conditions or pressure in fourth innings, as long as Laxman is on the side. After him? Well this a question to which I hope we can find a solution soon.

Jai Ho Laxman!!!!

Comments are welcome.....

Gearing up for SCWCD!!!

Sun Certified Web Component Developer - An esteemed community of web Application developers.

It has always been my goal to join that group of elite, skilled web programmers pool. As I am a Sun Certified Java Programmer(SCJP), I have eligibility to appear for this certification exam. Three weeks ago, I bought Head First Servlets and JSP book and started preparing for the exam. My preparation has been moving stead fast but I didn't expect exam to be this complex.

Few concepts make me scared but overall its an awesome experience preparing for this exam. I now understand various concepts that were vague to me few months back. I really thank authors Kathy and Bert for writing such a terrific book like Head First. That book has taught me a lot more than my lecturer.

I am planning to take my exam next week. Guys, I need your best wishes :) Once I qualify this exam we will make merry here :)

Sachin on being Sachin!!!

Do you want to grow great as Tendulkar? Well then, who could help you more than Tendulkar himself? In this video maestro speaks on being confident, fearless, positive, keeping mind empty and ..... Hey why don't you yourself listen?

Comments are welcome.....

MSN Indian Of The Year: Nitish Kumar

The most awaited poll results are out!!! Every year many news agencies conduct polls for Indian of the Year title and in e-polls MSN Indian of The Year is the leading. Recently the polls were closed and the results were announced.

Most expected Maestro Tendulkar to lead the polls, but he was seconded by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Out of 30,303 votes Mr. Nitish Kumar got 8486 votes as Tendulkar got 8224 votes. Wipro Premji stood third followed by Ratan Tata. Minister Jairam and actor Salman stood last on the table.

Mr. Nitish is definitely the saviour of Bihar. The most under developed state is now leading the table of quickly developing states of India. All didn't happen overnight as floods grieved Bihar like anything, but Nitish acted very hard and provided relief to his state. Nitish concentrated on developing infrastructure in the state. Law and order increased considerably as he took up the ruins. His work includes increasing literacy and social awareness in the state. Mr. Nitish always maintains low profile and is very open for feedback.

Leaders like Mr. Nitish are very rare to find and he is very eligible to be claimed to be as Indian of year. God bless Mr. Nitish. Hope our power-thirst AP leaders learn a lesson from him.

Comments are welcome.........

New Year Resolutions..

Hope is what that drives a man throughout his life. No hope, no life!! There is no better occasion than a new year which pumps up our hopes. New year, new hopes, new life!!!

'Resolution' is probably the most frequently heard word in the month of December. We take resolutions for the new year. A resolution is a promise we make to ourselves that we will do something in the new year. Resolutions can be taken any time, but generally we take resolutions for new year because it represents something 'new'. New Year is a wonderful occasion to give up our old habits and cultivate new habits.

Few say that they won't take up any resolutions because they are sure that they won't follow them. For them I suggest to take a resolution that they will start thinking positively from next year. Come on yaar, be positive. Look, its a very simple probability question. You have only two events to occur, either you follow your resolutions or you don't follow your resolutions. It means that you following your resolutions have 50% probability and same is the case with you not following them. See the brighter side friend, there is a good probability that you will stick onto your resolutions.

Resolutions can be anything. Absolutely anything. They may be like quitting smoking, studying well, stop telling lies, cultivating a good habit, so on so forth. Think of something that is dragging you back in life, try to give it up. Or think of something that you don't posses to be successful, try to cultivate it.

Last year I took up a resolution that I will quit eating non-vegetarian and I stuck to it. One year rolled on and now its time to take a new resolution. This time my resolution is that I will meditate at least for an half-an-hour everyday. Hope that I will stick onto it.

Folks, have some meaningful resolutions and stick up to them. Do you want to share your new year resolutions? Well share them here. Comment on this article with your resolution. Good luck!! And yeah, Happy new year in advance!!!

Comments are welcome...

Love you.. Sach!!!

This is once in a life time moment. We should consider ourselves fortune enough to watch these great moments of test cricket.

This is a record that can't be achieved by a mere mortal. We should be proud as an Indian achieved this feat.

None has given his motherland these many occasions to cherish. Thank you god, you made Sachin an Indian.

Jai ho Sachin!!!

Its upto the Indian Giants now....

This pitch doesn't seems to be the same pitch on which the Indians batted on day 1. The ball bounced deviantly and batsmen had no mercy. But from day 2 the pitch looks lot more different. Batsmen could easily play strokes on it. Indians were really unfortunate to loose toss on pitches like this.

Saying that, the bowling performance of Indian quickies is very poor. They should have taken all the 10 wickets at least before the proteas reached 500 mark. But they went on to score 600+ runs with a loss of 4 wickets. Out of 130 overs India has bowled, not even a single over could trouble the hosts.

Luckily for India the pitch eased up a bit. Now its not difficult to play strokes but I think that India would try to defend the ball rather than scoring the runs at a quicker rate.

"Now our focus is on saving the game." - Rahul Dravid

India opened its third innings very positively. Openers played fantastically, they didn't let the pressure in. Although there is huge lead to deal with, the World No.1 team's openers didn't get nervous. They played freely and didn't allow proteas to choke the score card. This is a very good attitude being displayed by Indians. If you get too defensive the opposition will get upper hand and will try to dominate you. So the Indian openers exhibited controlled aggression. But the way Sehwag got out will play on the minds of Indian dressing room. When everything was going well, he just gave his wicket. Gambhir's wicket came in for a very good delivery from Steyn. Ghambhir has to call himself unfortunate for having to play that ball.

India is still trailing by 294 runs and there are two days of play to happen. Not at all an easy task. But India has every chance to achieve it. Indian middle order is studded with jewels like Dravid, Sachin and Laxman. Dravid has already begun his battle and is playing beautifully up there. He is looking cool and settled and hence he will be determine to guard the gates at one end. Night watchman Ishant has loads of temperament and he is a tough guy to deal with. He will try with all his might to build up a partnership with Dravid as long as possible. India will hope that these two batsmen will hold on innings for at least some 20-30 overs.

Tendulkar who is on verge of his 50th century will relish this occasion. He knows that if he can make a century in this innings, that 50th century will be a match saving century that everyone will remember for a life time. Laxman has the reputation of fourth innings expert and he will try to live upto it. He has the rare skill of tying up the innings with lower order batsmen.

Dhoni and Raina should raise up to the occasion and go out to perform their best. Harbhajan can be very useful with bat. Even Sree has good temperament that he had exhibited recently in Kiwis test series. He will look forward to repeat it.

So India has every chance of sailing to the shore safely. Its all upto the Indian batting giants to rescue the team. Good luck India.

Good bye friends. Will come again tomorrow with fourth day analysis. Until then good bye...

Comments are welcome...

The game isn't over!!

As an Indian supporter you might be in low spirits to see India faring too poorly in the first two days of the test match. During my college break yesterday, I was speaking to my friends about the score and India's position in the match. They were really disappointed with the way our batting giants collapsed. Pace bowlers' utter failure multiplied their sorrow. They were in opinion that its better to follow ashes now as India is sure to loose this match. Frankly speaking, looking at the position of the game at the end of day 2, SA has more than 90% chances to win.

India for sure has no probability to win this match. Expecting India to win this match is too much of optimism, but pragmatically speaking there is no chance of it. What I am trying to say is that India has still 10% probability to draw this match. The game isn't over. There are still three days of play. Look at the brighter side folks, Cricket is a game where there is every chance to turn the tables until the last moment of the game. All that is needed is a bit of fighting spirit and a tough mind.

What happened yesterday is not quite important (even if its important when you cant change it, why bother about it?). Today is a fresh day and Indian skipper knows it. Dhoni is one of the coolest captains India ever had and he knows how to hold the nerve in pressure and how to boost morale of the team. Indian dressing room has enough number of optimists and hence India will look forward to make a fresh start. Destabilizing settled batsmen like Kallis and Amla is not an easy job, but early in the day any batsmen will take some time to settle back and strike the cord. That's where the Indian quickies should capitalize.

Sree and Sharma should gather boost their morale and use their every skill to get rid of them. The pitch is getting better and better for batsmen and safaris are fortunate for it. So the quickies need to show some variations. Indians should use their prime weapon, swing, effectively as they are not getting enough bounce from the pitch. This is where we miss our Zaheer who can strike very effectively during the early overs. Rookie Unadkat is a disaster, he couldn't create any impact. There is nothing great to expect from this youngster, he doesn't even have the pace; he could barely cross 130 kph. Harbhajan needs to raise up to the cause, he needs to improvise more and should try to get some extra bounce; this did the trick for him, he got two wickets because of extra bounce. But this is not the pitch where we can expect ultimate from a spinner but bajji knows that he himself is the frontline bowler as Zaheer is absent.

If Indian bowlers can dislodge the safaris' innings before they could add 100 more runs on the board, the Indian batters need to protect the team from the lead around 300-350. Protecting the team from that lead is not impossible for the world's strongest batting order. Two batsmen showed up very positive signs during the first innings; Sachin and Dravid. They both started up very positively. They hit boundaries initially and didn't let themselves to get bogged up. They showed good aggression and excellent attitude, they sent a clear message to safaris that they are in no mood to provide the edge to their bowlers. But things quite didn't happen and they got out for good balls. Laxman's dismissal happened for a good delivery, but Sehwag, Raina and Ghambhir should do some introspection. They got out cheaply. India cant afford that again. Dhoni did his job to quite some extent but he needs to improvise being a skipper.


When time is tough, only the tough get going. Let us hope that India will sail to the shore safely. Catch you tomorrow with third day analysis. Till then good bye...


Comments are welcome.....

Zaheer out - Jaidev in!!!

Indian strike paceman Zaheer Khan is ruled out of first test match as he couldn't recover from a hamstring injury. Zaheer has been the most successful and promising bowler for India since three years; his exclusion from the squad will definitely lower the team's morale.

Jaidev Unadkat will make his début for India and will share the red cherry along with Sreesanth and Ishanth. Now its all on the hands of Sreesanth and Sharma to carry on the pace attack effectively. Although, there are no doubts on skills of Sree and Sharma, their consistency and accuracy cant be compared with Zaheer's. Zaheer is a lot more promising bowler, so his absence will have an impact for sure. We have to see how the above duo minimises the impact.

Good luck to rookie Jaidev.. I sincerely hope that he wont be a one more Abhimanya Mithun who bowled on a pacemen graveyard pitch in place of injured Sreesanth few months ago and never made it into the squad again.

Good luck India...

The much hyped day is here.. The war between the two best test cricketing nations is all set to begin today.. Now its time to enjoy the real taste of Test cricket.. Good luck Team India..




Can India make it this time? Records speak against us. In South Africa, India has a very poor record. In addition to it, Johannesburg has been happy ground for the hosts. No team, except England, ever defeated South Africa there. But this wont stop the mighty India. Instead the champions may be looking forward to even the odds there. So, this acts as a big motivation factor for the men in blue (at least they wear a blue cap, LOL).

India batting might will scare any bowling attack, but Safaris have enough mettle in them to probe the Indian batting giants. Steyn and Morkel are key for the hosts. Smith will keep his fingers crossed when this pace duo bowls to India's most successful openers Sehwag and Ghambir. If they let them to survive the early hours, then they will definitely repent. Once Sehwag cuts loose, you know what happens!! Hosts definitely want to get rid of Sehwag early and pressurize the middle order. So Sehwag holds the key.

But Indian middle order might be considered as world's most blessed, it contains likes of Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman. This triumphant trio has made India proud a number of times and will definitely look forward to repeat them. Wall Dravid will try to anchor the innings by digging at crease at one end, safaris have to bend their back a lot to get him out. He never gives any chance. Maestro Sachin will strive to complete his record century and gear India towards huge scores. Cricket God is always the most dreadful danger to any opposition and in his current form, Safaris are guaranteed to get enough nightmares. Steyn and co. will do everything possible to get him out, but Tendulkar will have reply for everything. Its interesting to watch what Steyn and Smith do to control Tendya. Very very special Laxman is an asset to any team. He can knit the innings with tail-enders, he is consistently performing all through his career and that is guaranteed to repeat again. Smith must be really bothered about him (not as much as Ricky although, LOL) as he can vaporize the opposition gains and morale. Even if the top order is down, India is not at all worried until Laxman is at crease, such is the impact of his presence. Dhoni and Raina will ably assist V.V.S either in rescue missions or in score-piling missions.

Although not much talked about, Safaris also posses good batting attack with likes of Smith, Amla, Kallis and AB.They all have enough talent and class to irk any bowling attack in the longest form of cricket. Kallis is nowhere less than the Indian batting giants but he might be in short of quality support on the other end. Indian bowling attack is also very good with Zaheer in prime form. He will be well supported by Sreesanth and Sharma. Harbajan, the Spin all-rounder, will definitely try to pitch the ball a little up and extract as much turn and bounce possible. His batting skills are a bonus to the team.

So we are now all ready to watch a battle between two equally strong teams with India betting on batting and Safaris on pace bowling.. Let us hope that rain god stays away..

(Let us hope to see Zaheer in action on the ground. He has not achieved the fitness yet and a decision on his outing will be taken just before the game)

Comments are welcome......

Tendulkar mania....

He is undoubtedly the most loved man of India. Battling up for the nation since 20 years, Tendulkar became iconic not only through his batting skills but also through his behaviour and morals. Tendulkar has long surpassed the image of Master Batsman, he is now youth icon of the world. His discipline and commitment on the field and his behaviour off the field has really set standards for youngsters.

Many incidents stood as testimonies to his character, and there yet one more incident that echoes the same. Tendulkar disagreed to sign on a 30 crore deal with Liquor Baron Malaya's U.B group, as his appearance in a liquor or tobacco ads could mislead the youth. If he had signed it, Tendulkar could have been the first ever world cricketer to sign off such a huge deal. So, Dhoni was offered and he signed the contract.

Tendya once promised his dad that he would never appear in tobacco and liquor ads no matter what ever they offer. Now by rejecting the contract Tendulkar stood on his word. Such is the man and his ethics.

There is one more moment to cherish!!! Tendulkar's devastating 200 in ODI against South Africa has found a place in Time magazine's top ten sports moment of the year. This marathon man's ODI double century can never be forgotten. It is a moment where every Indian felt proud and such moments are frequently achieved by the maestro.

"When he reached 199, the home crowd in Gwalior waved Indian flags, and roared, knowing they were about to witness history. The diminutive Tendulkar, dubbed ‘The Little Master,’ slapped a single past the South African fielders. The world’s 1.5 billion cricket fans had a moment they’d never forget" - Time Magazine

Now Tendulkar is on the safari's land seriously practising for the upcoming South Africa Test series. Although that series is going to test the mettle of Indian test squad, one man is definitely going to test the nerves of South Africa. And who else could it be, except our Little Master, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar!!! Hail the champion :)

Parliamentary system woes....

Folks you might be knowing that our parliament's both houses winter sessions closed without even a single discussion. Everyday, both houses got adjourned to the next day because the oppositions interrupted the houses in favour to their J.P.C demand. From three days, Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly is being obstructed by the oppositions in favour of their case withdrawal demand.

So I feel that its time we review our Parliamentary system and the current & future scenarios.

Gone are those days where representatives used to consider parliament as a temple. Now we hardly find a leader who tries to voice up for his constituency concerns. These days political parties and leaders are using it as a venue to hit the next day headlines. Oppositions bring out a hot controversy to corner the government and the government either retaliates or remains silent. This causes a turmoil in the house and it gets adjourned. Many other important problems of the people will remain unsolved.

"I am very worried over the future of parliamentary system" - Dr. Manmohan Singh

If the above words came out of a critic, we can ignore them. But the fact that World's largest Democracy's leader voiced out that opinion will irk the democracy supporters. Parliamentary system is key to democracy. If parliament sessions turn ineffective then the whole nation is at loss as key issues wont come on for discussion. Indian constitution has conceded Parliament and legislature assemblies many rights and at the same time entrusted them with various responsibilities.

Parliamentary time is very important and it shouldn't be wasted on creating sensations. If we analyse the time misuse by various parties, our heart skips a beat. We will find that all parties put together waste more than 50% of time, on average. The largest opposition takes the lead followed by various other smaller oppositions. An opposition is considered to be stronger if it blocks the house activities for most of the time. Both governments and oppositions are responsible for the current plight of the system.

Governments must try to address the opposition's concerns without brushing them away with their numeric strength. At the same time, Oppositions must stop creating sensations. Oppositions must realize that Parliament or assembly time is of more value to them than to government.

"Opposition are at loss if assembly gets adjourned. Government has many venues to take its view into the people, that's not the case with oppositions. Assembly is their only venue to express their views on current situations"- Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy, Chief Minister, Andhra Pradesh.

Hence opposition must realize that if it blocks the assembly, it is making itself to bleed. The opposition has every right to show its agitation in the Parliament or assembly and pressurize the Government to answer their queries. But if the government fails to address their questions, then instead of obstructing the houses for days together, oppositions can put that issue aside and bring on some other important topics to discussion. The opposition can later bash up the Government for not answering their questions in 'praja darbar'. In this communications era, that's not quite difficult.

Otherwise we will see it very often that houses get adjourned discussing nothing. This does no good to the nation. Let us hope that at least from next time, parliament sessions turn out to be fruitful.

Comments are welcome....

PM loosing confidence of people....

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has got a good image as one of the most effective Prime Ministers of India. But that seems to fade these days.....

Being a proficient Economist, he battled all the way to achieve 9%+ growth rate. His government fought an effective battle against inflation. Even in recession, Govt. could keep India at bay. His foreign policies helped us build strong allies. His govt. gave special focus on strengthening the internal security and encouraged our intelligence agencies to exchange information with ally nations secret services. Overall, he has got an image of Mr. Clean. All these won hearts of the people. He was gifted with one more term as PM.

But this wasn't the same story on his next election. Tides were against him. Controversies whirl pooled his government. N-Deal questioned his liability to the nation. Operation Green-hunt turned out to be a set back. Prices soaring onto the sky bought him more troubles. Separatist moments and calamities challenged his abilities.

Of all, corruption in the government took toll of him. Nation has never seen these many scams in a short period. Common wealth, IPL(Sasi Tharoor), Adarsh housing society, 2-G spectrum were the most publicized scams.

All of the above scams involved either his cabinet ministers or his party's state ministers. This is a shame on his part. Corruption pest is spreading all over and has infected his own cabinet, but all he does is to keep silent. 2-G spectrum had churned the whole nation but the PM still remains quiet. It was his duty to answer the nation,but the PM failed to keep up his responsibility.

Oppositions have demanded for Joint Parliamentary Committee(J.P.C) to investigate the issue. They were obstructing the both houses' activities in favor of their demand. All he did was to avoid the issue and as a result whole winter sessions got over without a single discussion. With his silence, what was he trying to do? Whom was he trying to protect?

PM could have proclaimed his stand by agreeing for J.P.C. This single act of his could have brought out many bitter truths. J.P.C. proved to be a very effective solution in bringing out truths about a scam; the only exception being Bofors scandal J.P.C. So, PM could have trusted it and ordered for a formation of J.P.C. In contrast, his party leaders ridiculed the idea of J.P.C. The PM didn't even effectively explain why J.P.C demand was rejected. This shows that he is purely avoiding it.

One reason might be to save his government. The minister alleged, is a party-man of one of the biggest allies of his govt. He might have been frightened by the threats of support withdrawal. This is always a problem with alliance governments. But the PM must realize that nation interests are more important than his govt. interests. He should not step back just for selfish ends.

With the PM batting for the interests of alleged ministers, people are gradually loosing confidence that he could safe guard the nation's interests vested on him. This flood of scams could only be stopped if there is a strict investigation and action. CBI investigation turned out be a big joke these days. Its high time for the PM to raise up to the cause and do what ever needed to root out the corruption. Else next time, we will find a new PM for sure.......

Comments are welcome......

Pak will never learn!!!

In our age old jungle tales, cunning fox never learnt its lesson. It always tried to be 'over' smart and landed into some trouble. Same is the case with Pakistan now.

Wikileaks is on the news for quite some time by disclosing various concealed documents. Pakistan is now using it to spread gossips that could taint Indo-American relations.

Pakistan's most popular daily, Jang(Urdu) published that Wikileaks cables revealed the following info:

1) American diplomats view Indian military leaders as egotistical and genocidal.

2) Those diplomats are in perception that Indian Government has close ties with Hindu activists.

3) The diplomats are unhappy with Indian spies as they are encouraging Islam terrorism in Baluchistan and other tribal areas.

Guardian newspaper reported that they couldn't find any such info in Wikileaks. Their extensive search of Wikileaks Database by date name and keywords failed to locate such allegations. Guardian considers it to be the first misuse of Wikileaks for propaganda purposes.

Pakistan always waited for a chance to spread its propaganda that India is instrumental in spreading Islamic terrorism in its land. Every time it got one, it tried to exploit it to the most. This attempt just confirms it.

Its not any secret that it is Pakistan that encouraged terrorism. Pak's army and ISI used it as an effective weapon against India. You fall into your own ditch and the same happened with Pakistan. Now Pakistan itself is the victim of terrorism.

Pakistan instead of committing itself to eradication of extremists from its territory, is trying to accuse India for its plight. Pakistan just wants to divert the world's attention from it. US is very worried about Pakistan's nuclear establishments, they fear that terrorists could get a hand on it. Pakistan's only concern is that if US fears continue, then it may stop giving Pak financial aids. So it wants India to be blamed for every wrong reason.

Pakistan should now understand that its every attempt for disguise will be thwarted. So it should stop digging at India and focus on the task at hand.. Let us hope that Pak will learn its lesson atleast now..

Comments are welcome....