aditya kumar's weblog

The Indian Express, one of the leading newspapers of the country, has just ‘upgraded’ it’s website. The design is sleek and has an International feel to it.. Top Class, very Impressive and the Best Indian Newspaper site maybe!

In Mohali, the Englishmen overdo their defensive approach and pay the price. You just can’t play on the backfoot all the time in the Subcontinent!

More than Three decades of ODI cricket. Almost 35 years. Not one team, ever, crossed the 400 run barrier. Not even when they played 60 overs per innings.

So today, When playing for a series winning decider against South Africa in Johannesburg, the Australian team made a bulky sounding 434/4 in their allotted 50 overs, most people believed that the rest of the cricket about to follow, had nothing but an academic value. Another Aussie dominated day in the offing? Different opposition, same result?

But South Africa have a certain man in their team called Herschelle Gibbs and I have always felt he has often been underestimated in the arena of International Cricket usually dominated by Batsmen of the likes of Lara, Tendulkar, Gilchrist …the list goes on… Blame it on his average of 35.77 runs maybe, he has usually found it difficult to get his photo printed on glossy paper.

Tonight, when he was playing the innings of his life, most of the world was sleeping. Tomorrow, in fact, a few hours from now, everyone will be talking about it.

Belief, you know, does some incredible things to people. One 35 year old man, once discarded by his critics and the team selectors makes his way back to the team and becomes the first Indian bowler to take 500 test wickets, the second-fastest ever to achieve this record. At 35, when most cricketers nowadays “consider” retirement and start tuning their English speaking skills to allure the viewer from the commentary box, this man tells us that ‘600 wickets is a possibility’. Another cricketer, a few thousand miles away, goes on to bat with a target in front of him that no one ever in the history of cricket had to achieve and facing a bowling attack which is literally the world’s most potent under any conditions. And almost single-handedly, this man turns the tables.

If you watched the game live, I bet you must’ve had the feeling that these had to be the highlights, such was the frequency of the ball crossing the boundary. Afterall, it’s not everyday that you get to see an innings comprising of 7 sixes and 21 fours coming from one man’s willow in little more than 2 hours time. Such was the rush.

And what is with Gibbs and dropped catches? When he dropped Steve Waugh in the 1999 World Cup, it was (rightly) said he had dropped the World cup. Today, Bracken dropped a sitter from Gibbs when he was at 130. Ouch. No World Cup but still, that must’ve hurt.

As I mentioned, it took more than three decades for any team in International cricket to achieve 400 runs in a one day innings. The best part was, the record lasted merely four hours.

Match report here and here. Scorecard here.

A sense of security, of course.

Yesterday’s Sunday Magazine of The Hindu carries a very thought provoking, well-researched article by Kalpana Sharma. The article is titled “What Bush did not know” and contrary to the impression this title may give you, this is not an article focussing on Bush Jr’s recent visit to India.

Instead, the article throws open an issue that often has provoked debates but more often than not, has failed to find solid conclusions.

Consider this — Of the 14000 people interviewed in Delhi, 50% of women do not feel safe in the city. Nine out of ten women who used public transport felt unsafe about it. 45% of women felt unsafe at their workplace.

These are staggering figures. These are disturbing figures.

There is more. Delhi records the highest percentage of reported crime against women. Mind my words here, reported crime.

Keep in mind, a big part of these crimes go unreported. Obviously, there is more to it than what meets the eye.

So what can be done? A lot can be done if only the cities are planned keeping in mind the threats faced by the most vulnerable of the society. Poor people and women working late hours among them.

As the author rightly points out, three factors need to be considered — The Environment, The Poor and The most vulnerable. Roads could be well lit for example. We could do with more emergency services. Going to the Police and invoking the law should be encouraged.

But obviously, as evident, Malls and shopping centres are the money churners now and the Government, take any State Government, has half a dozen of these projects going on in the main cities.

There is nothing wrong and I don’t have anything against it, but I always have felt, the basic needs of the city should come first. What is the point of having glittery, seven floor shopping centres if a city doesn’t have well lit roads. Even in Bangalore, the city where I live, a lot of the colony roads, or whatever is left of them, are enveloped in darkness after sunset. Clearly, a lot can be done about it but in the past one year that I have been here, I have seen negligble development regarding the city’s infrastructure.

Then of course, is the factor of the mental attitude of people. In a hypothetical situation where we may have the same city conditions in both Delhi and Bombay, women in Bombay are bound to feel safer than their counterparts in Delhi. As the author rightly points out again, the difference here is in the ‘way women in public spaces are viewed in the north and the south’.

Meanwhile, please read the article here.

I had my own doubts about the recently concluded India-US Civil Nuclear Deal. The administration of both countries insist that this has nothing to do with the Bomb but the critics say otherwise. I am not a critic of the whole Nuclear deal per-se, but yes, I am concerned and I have my own doubts about the same. Since I am still reading all the material I can get on it, I am yet to arrive on a conclusion of my own. On the whole, I hope that the critics are wrong.

Yesterday night, rediff.com organized a chat with Dr. Sumit Ganguly. SG, as he prefers to calls himself, is an expert in the political affairs regarding the Indian Subcontinent. He is the “Rabindranath Tagore Professor of Indian Cultures and Civilizations”, and also Professor of Political Science, at the Indiana University. His articles have been published in publications like “The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists” and “The Washington Quarterly”.

I went to the chatroom with my questions, and to my pleasant surprise, Dr Sumit answered all of them. Understandably, his answers were precise and to the point. Here, I would like to post our conversation.

Truman asked, Dr.Ganguly, why does this deal matter so much? Nuclear Energy would amount to a maximum of 6-7% of India’s total need of energy.

Sumit Ganguly answers, No, the estimates are considerably higher especially if one can modernize existing plants and add new ones. Energy efficiency in India is extremely low.

Truman asked, Thanks for replying to my question, SG. Do you think a Nuclear Bomb equipped India is better for America?

Sumit Ganguly answers, Not really. India should have its nuclear arsenal for its own strategic reasons.

Truman asked, Dr.Sumit, then the theory of “powering India to counterbalance the ‘China’ threat” is flawed? Does it exist in the first place? Because if it does, then I am sure a Nuclear (read Bomb) powered India is what America needs.

Sumit Ganguly answers, Yes, it is. Because I doubt that very many Indians want to play that role even while they perceive a legitimate threat from China.

Truman asked, SG, then would it be safe to conclude that the Nuclear Deal has NOTHING to do with the bomb? And you also mentioned that you do not see China offering a similar deal to Pakistan. Why not?

Sumit Ganguly answers, It has to do with accepting the reality of India’s nuclear status, its role as a growing regional power and with an interest in India’s markets.

Truman asked, One last question sir. Why don’t you see a similar deal in offing for Pakistan from China?

Sumit Ganguly answers, Largely because the Chinese do not wish to provoke the United States and also they have their own misgivings about Pakistan.

So there. The full chat transcript can be found on rediff, here.

On a comeback trail from what seems to be my longest break from Blogosphere in the last 3 years, I present you Arundhati Roy’s Article in today’s Hindu.

I can’t help but say, this is typical Arundhati. Overly aggressive but yes, making a point.

Owing to some problems that have been hindering me for sometime, I may not be able to update the blog as I usually do. Just not in the frame of mind to spend time here and besides, things continue to get complicated, the hits just keep on coming.

So, I don’t know when I shall post next. It could be sometime this week, or the the next week, or the month after. Hopefully shouldn’t take much long but for now, I just don’t know. Sorry.