Unmuddlings!!

I was searching for Untamed Heart in Amazon and instead bumped into Dawn Drops. Was happily surprised to see that Mona had published a anthology of poems way back in 2001 (A Writers Workshop Redbird Book). Belated Congratulations. Many of us write articles / poems - which are hidden in almost forgotten diaries, odd newspaper clippings, college magazines and folders/hard-drives. Mona has nice expression for such people - 'closet writers'. But she has broken out of that mould and has started putting her work 'out there' (to borrow another of her expressions). Untamed Heart is a full length fiction published by Tara in 2016, her work is also a part of a collection of short stories Love Across a Broken Map ( http://theasianwriter.co.uk/2016/05/love-across-a-broken-map/ ) recently launched in London. To know more about her and her views, go to  http://www.monadash.net  or just google her up. Good work Mona, keep it up. Coming back to Dawn Drops. It has about 50 refreshi...

The facts first.. 1. Narsingh Yadav earned a quote for India  by winning bronze in the Rome world cup in the 74 KG category. 2. Sushil Kumar, the two time Olympic medallist, was injured so he could not participate in the Rome World cup and could not get a quota for India 3. Sushil Kumar says, the quota is for India so there should be trials for Rio games and the person with the best chance for getting a medal for the country should go. He was gunning for gold in Rio and is desperate to participate 4. Wrestling Federation of India feels - there should be an incentive to get a quota by being automatically selected for the Olympics. This has normally happened in India and is also happening to the other wrestlers in other categories. WFI feels it will an unwise and unhealthy decision to break from the precedence. 5. Narsingh feels that it is his right to go to Rio, going by precedence What does this mean... 1. Good: There is competition in 74 category. Which is a great s...

Virat is the best batsman ever in Indian cricket. Even if this means I need to give him higher marks than Tendulkar, Gavaskar and Dravid (well those are the only three there is any doubt, if at all). Virat has played out barely half his career and he needs to play at this level for a few more years to have comparable stats. But what has made make this bold statement, is his ability to constantly improve and adapt. His focus on goals.  Two stats of IPL 2016 - 36 sixes, 4 centuries in IPL 2016 (at the end of the 13 league matches for RCB) are enough. For someone who publicly stated more than once a month or two earlier (during Asia Cup and World Cup) that his game is not suited for hitting sixes and he depends one fours to achieve the desired to strike rates; his transformation as six hitter is mind blowing. As I am writing this blog he has the maximum numbers of sixes to his credit - ahead to McCullum, Gayle, Raina, ABD at the likes.  The other transformation is sco...

BJP's response to the Mr Modi's certificate ruckus raised by Mr Kejriwal betrays its tendency to overreact on non-issues. At one end, in the past the PM has more than once maintained a stoic silence on hate speech by his colleagues. At the other end - we find M/s Shah and Jaitley making a public appearance to defend Mr Modi's certificate. To an impartial observer, like your truly, this is at best poor judgement (read obsequiousness) and at worst nervousness. Such public statements should have at best been made by PMO's spokesperson or his personal secretariat. Maybe the BJP could have advised Mr Kejriwal to seek info vide RTI and just kept quiet. There was no need to raise the ante on this issue by involving senior minister (every minute of whose time is accountable to the people of the country) and the party president to give a rebuttal. Grow up BJP.

Copy of a note, written in a different social media forum: Rabindranath Tagore wrote in one of his essays that Patriotism is narrow-mindedness. Indian media and 'intellectuals' have many times said Patriotism is one notch better than Nationalism. Looking at both the points together - does it mean that nationalism and the concept of nation state (with ear-marked boundaries) is ultra narrow-mindedness. Despite the power of the capital and the internet, land is still wired into psyche of mankind - it will remain so for another few generations. Keeping this is mind - protecting one's national identify (i.e. the physical boundary to start with) will remain critical for good many more decades to come. Lets try to think what would have happened to each one of us - if India would have lost one its wars with Pakistan or if China had occupied more land. The dynamics would have been quite different. Similar to Lt Gen Madan is talking about. As an Indian, I would love my country, cou...

The write up is based on a talk given to students of KMBB College of Engg and Technology in the last week of Jan 2016 on the occasion of the inauguration of Apogee their Tech Fest.    A translation of the same has been published in the Odia newspaper The Samaja on Feb 07, 2016. Sharing it on my blog because of the requests that have come in from English readers.      A few minutes earlier when I got to know that I had to give a speech today, my thoughts went back to my college days – when I was an engineering college student like you. Aspiring for success in my life after engineering college – like the way, I am sure, you are doing now. I asked myself what are a few messages can leave with you in 10 minutes, which I have internalized over the years and which may add value for you for a lifetime. I would expect that you have heard of some or all of points or read about them somewhere before. However I feel like sha...

Aamir's views - what he said or what he did not say - are a non-issue. At least relative to the decibel levels of social media, his voice is at best a mild squeak. What stuck in my psyche in the whole shouting match is the title of a book by another Indian icon 'The Argumentative Indian'. When Dr Amartya Sen gave this title - he loosely meant the habit to weigh ones arguments in a group, thus leading to a higher level collective wisdom (or thats the impression I got when I read the book). However 'argumentative' that I am talking about is of arguing for the heck of it - i.e. the 'quarrelsome types' - without listening and without heeding to facts. Firstly, Aamir did not say he wanted to leave. Only his wife was making a suggestion. The only sane argument against Aamir (even if the idea leaving India crossing the mind can be considered to be a blasphemous idea) would have been to sell out his wife :), by making an innocuous private conversation public. E...