aditya kumar's weblog

Chandan Mitra, editor of The Pioneer, member of the Rajya Sabha and a BJP supporter, in an interview to rediff.com here, says, among many other things, “We failed to really reach out to the blogging community and the social networking groups”.

Of course, there is nothing to suggest that BJP thinks that this is THE reason for losing the LS elections but what surprises me that this is even mentioned as a reason. I mean, is this guy serious? Does he actually think that influencing bloggers will help his party to an extent that he even mentions this at this stage? You don’t talk about influencing bloggers and networking groups when you end up at 120 seats. If this is the rethinking and post-poll thought process in the BJP camp, well, the less said the better.

Oh and by the way, it was BJP that had sent their “young workers” dressed in suits to various management schools across India. The idea was to, well, “reach out” to these young lads. This whole exercise was called “Advani @ Campus”.

Varun Gandhi may have won at Pilbhit but actually BJP paid a very heavy price for it. They never condemned what he said and never fully disowned it. Instead they asked for a forensic check on the CD. All in all, what was the party’s stand on it? None. They did not know how to handle the situation. That is where they lost more votes than they gained. Now compare it to what Congress did with Sajjan Kumar and Tytler.

And does someone actually care what Advani’s personal ambitions are? By saying it repeatedly that it was his heart’s desire to become the PM, he gave an impression that he is bigger than the party. I think this is a problem with BJP — they have always portrayed individuals bigger than the party or the ideologies they stand for. And while we are talking about ideologies, one should remember that BJP has been facing a never ending dilemma of how much degree of Hindutva they should toy with.

Meanwhile, I wait for the day when our politics rises above all this. For all its worth, it’s really disappointing.

In the overall constructive years of my adolescence, my cricketing conscience was taking shape. So in 1996, when Michael Atherton played the shot and at ESPN they said that it’s the best cover drive you can ever get to see, true to copy book style, I took it to heart.

It was also the year when I formed one of my earliest opinions of the Indian Cricket team of the pre-John Wright/Ganguly era. I noticed that India always lost its first test match when they toured. And then they trailed. If they were lucky, they’d come back with a 1-1 result but that was a rarity. Generally it was 0-2, 1-2, or worse, 0-3.

Indeed, it was ironical that when this particular opinion was formed, the same very series, two boys debuted in the second game of a series that India was trailing and one of them went on to bring a whole new dawn to Indian Cricket; the one on which I have named an “era” in itself. The second cricketer, of course, will be seen as the one who always lived under the shadows but rose to be called the greatest test cricketer India has ever seen.

So the 1996 India tour of England, has been on my mind this evening. Why, you ask? None of the reasons above, I can tell you that.

Well, the India tour of England, 1996 was India’s first test tour after the 1996 World Cup debacle. It was also the tour when Ganguly and Dravid debuted in the second test match, in Lords and Dravid fell short of a well deserved century by all but 5 runs. But why I remember this tour the most is because of one Chris Lewis. A well-toned, dark body, running at full throttle and single-handedly destroying the Indian batting in the first test match at Birmingham, England.

It was horror. A 15 year old test cricket loving boy’s, and I tell you – you won’t find many, expectations lay shattered.

And it is indeed an irony again, that the same Chris Lewis is in prison. Well, maybe not the same Chris Lewis.

It formed some opinions, that series. It still does.

Coming back from an unintended hibernation, I am surprised how non-reactive I have been to issues like (among other things) recession, Varun Gandhi (well not really), 80 year old chaps contesting elections, the heat waves across the country, the annual cricket tournament which lets you turn on the tv and put it on mute because you just cant afford cricket every single day for a month.

So here I am, making a very silent comeback while I also try to know how much of you missed me. Name the two movies these quotes come from. Even cheating would do, I am just interested to know who makes it reading here and cares enough to comment.

Also, I keep the right to post anonymous comments here to save embarrassment.

Quote #1 –

“There has to be a mathematical explanation for how bad that tie is. ”

Quote #2 –

Character 1: It’s finding the center of your story, the beating heart of it, that’s what makes a reporter. You have to start by making up some headlines. You know: short, punchy, dramatic headlines. Now, have a look, what do you see?
[Points at dark clouds at the horizon]… Tell me the headline.
Character 2: Horizon Fills With Dark Clouds?
Character 1: Imminent Storm Threatens Village.
Character 2: But what if no storm comes?
Character 1: Village Spared From Deadly Storm.