the den

Does the lifepod mean anything to India-a country with 300 sunny days a year

2008-03-01T05:55:00.000-08:00

Renewable energy has never been so relevant in this age of rising energy costs and increasing environmental damage. More so in a country like India with 80000 villages still unconnected to the power grid and with millions of people still depending on kerosene lamps for lighting and firewood for cooking. While successive governments at the centre have been crying hoarse and praising themselves over the number of villages that have been electrified during their tenure, solar energy has been slowly relegated to the background. While electricity does not generate harmful emissions in its final form as power, the means to produce it,majorly by coal devouring thermal powerplants does generate a lot of pollution. So, why not Solar energy in a country with 300 days of bright sunshine. Though the ministry of new and renewable energy has tried to make the solar cooker available to villages, the slow cooking time and the lack of awareness among villagers has resulted in the solar cooker not being widely accepted, though it comes with a hefty subsidy in excess of 50%. Since then, Solar energy in Rural India has not been given the required push. Considering the huge amount of capital the government can save by adopting solar energy in rural India, it is time for the government to take another shot at popularising and subsidising solar energy.
Enter the Lifepod? Well almost.what does a structure which has 15 preassembled steel pieces with each weighing less than 75 pounds and an array of solar panels which serve as the roof of the structure got to do with India.
This solar structure manufactured by the american environment technology company envision technology has the relevance to change the Indian ruralscape with it’s not so innovative although versatile but pricey solar structure which can be used for a plethora of purposes ranging from a car shed to a store room. Lifepod’s high estimated price of $20000 for a 120 sq ft structure is, in my opinion the only and biggest deterrant in the context of the Indian ruralscape. Now, what exactly is the lifepod.Old wine in a new bottle.The lifepod is a light,chic steel,hollywood celebrities endorsing structure with solar panels for roofing with a 1.7kwh rating which has a capacity of generating 7kwh per day and this power can be stored in a battery for use as and when required. Thus solar energy can be used to generate electricity, albeit a clean one at that.
But India, still a land with millions below the poverty line with many among the rural poor having access to less than $1 a day surely cannot afford the lifepod with it’s massive,atleast for the rural poor, $20000 estimated price tag. The people of the villages will be more content to make do with their kerosene lamps and firewood Chulla’s than this flashy,costly lifepod. Now, does this make the lifepod completely irrelevant for India’s ruralfolk?...Well almost...But not if this concept, though not entirely new but which will in all probablity get popular with hollywood stars endorsing it at the oscars 2008, filters through to India. To India’s hinterland,where there is a huge opportunity for the Indian government to revitalise solar power in the process saving huge energy capital outlays and for the now rising India inc’s innovative business tycoon’s who can electrify India’s hinterland with clean renewable solar power at the same time make some money. But,the existing design will have to undergo a sea change, a la tata nano, retaining the concept while tailoring this idea to suit the dusty rugged Indian villages.
More than a new steel structure with solar panelled roofing,the rural folks of India, most of them who already have a roof over heads need only the solar panels and the resulting power harnessed from them.
For this some company, tata bpsolar, for example can devise a way to mount these panels onto the houses of the village’s and link these panels to rugged batteries that can store this energy for use as electricity. This calls for ingenuity, innovation and an understanding of rural India and it’s people which places indian solar energy companies like tata-bpsolar at a distinct advantage as compared to their foreign counterparts. But a la tata nano, the cost of solar panels, which is still prohibitively high has to be sufficiently reduced to enable high acceptance. But as Ratan Tata and his engineers demonstrated with the tata nano, India inc can do a tata nano with solar energy as well.The Indian government too can do it’s bit,it is doing some stuff already in this regard-cheers to it,but it has to popularise solar energy on a war footing this time and make sure India is fully electrified,electrified the solar way.The opportunities are endless.Going Green is the best way of going anywhere.Photo courtesy:autobloggreen,climateactionprograme,renewing india

VOLVO BUSES_OVERHYPED POLLUTING BADLY DRIVEN RASH NOISY GIANTS

2008-03-01T05:48:00.000-08:00

YEAH you heard it right.Though it sounds a little harsh,thats the way volvo buses,especially the older ones -the Volvo B7R’s are on bangalore’s traffic jam infested roads.Being a biker,i have had the hellish nauseating experience of riding behind these buses on my everyday 20km commute to engineering school only to have thick black smoke being emanated from the tail pipes of these so called “VERY ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY and EFFICIENT”
buses,straight into my helmet.

This black carcinogenic diesel smoke is more apparent and very distinctly noticeable,especially when the Volvo’s accelerate in the lower gears,which is what they do all day in the city as they stop frequently at the various bus stops and also due to the fact of them being stuck in crawling bangalore traffic whose average speed is 20-30 KMPH.I do admit that their tail pipe emissions are much cleaner,atleast that’s what they appear to be at higher speeds when they get into the cruise mode .But this cruise mode is rarely encountered in a traffic prone city like bangalore which again brings us back to square one.VOLVO BUSES DO POLLUTE AND THEY DO IT WITH ALARMING LEVELS OF CARCINOGENIC BLACK DIESEL SMOKE ESPECIALLY AT LOW SPEEDS.

Now I do think this has to do with the KSRTC/BMTC’s lack of good maintainance as the buses get older and rake in the miles,and along with it profits for the bus corporation than volvo’s emission control technology.Although i have seen Volvo’s newer buses to have cleaner emissions at low speeds while accelerating,i have a strong feeling that this will soon lapse into the ways of the polluting older volvo’s as the new volvo buses age.What baffles me is the lack of public protest or awareness about this serious issue of pollution.I believe the BMTC/KSRTC’s maintainance department has to take most of the blame since Volvo need to adhere to the indian emission norms which are second only to Japan’s.*we have beaten everybody in the world hollow including the american’s except the japanese on that*a reason to cheer about*
But in India,since rules are just rules and because of lacksadasial enforcement the resultant grim situation.
So,since Volvo can release their buses into the Indian market after confirming to the tough BHARAT STAGE emission norms,it is upto the bus fleet operators like the BMTC-KSRTC not to mention various private bus operators to maintain their Volvos well and reduce carcinogenic emissions.Also the pollution department must get it’s act together and fine the erring buses very heavily to deter them from polluting our already polluted and fragile atmosphere.It would do our cities a lot of good if the volvo and the other buses have quarterly emission testing.

Apart from this,most of the volvo bus driver’s consider themselves to be a cut above the rest as they drive these powerful buses which produce about 260 bhp and 1200nm torque which puts the buses of the indian makers look humble with their power outputs of 120-160bhp.This combined with the Superior Braking and handling abilities of the volvo’s,the drivers tend to drive very rash and a hurtling volvo behemoth at insane speeds in the city is a very very dangerous proposition as the chances of things going haywire are very real.More than just using speed governors,a proper restraint and adherence to road rules on the part of the volvo drivers is the underlying need as the volvo’s with their enormous weight carry a huge amount of inertia which can be fatal at speeds as less as 10KMPH.

I have experienced travel in volvo buses on many interstate routes and on intra city travel in bangalore and i indeed admire the volvo’s for the good comfort levels and insulation from the irregularities of Indian roads.But the Volvo’s which have set benchmarks in Passenger safety and comfort levels fare very poorly in the exterior engine noise which is a real pain for the fellow road users and the engine with the AC’s compressor running at full chat creates quite a ruckus and recently volvo buses have been in the dock in london’s suburbs for the high engine noise levels.Also the seatbelts are the least used fixtures in the volvo buses.Also,in a particular incident when i rode in a volvo from coimbatore to bangalore,i was sitting in the first seat diagonal to the driver and i had many a hairy experience as the driver merrily drove with gay abandon at breakneck speeds missing many other buses and lorries by inches leving me and the other passengers clutching the armrest’s with a few of us saying a prayer or two to reach bangalore in a single piece.Not that other buses are driven sedately but the higher power and speeds achieved by the volvo needs more restraint and safer driving.Though the volvo’s in the cities haven’t causes too many accidents yet,there have been many whispers about many accidents on the highways involving Volvo’s.And before these whispers turn into a full throated scream,the errant drivers need to be curbed before many more innocent lives are lost.

It is high time we look at volvo’s shortcomings than just singing paens about it’s comfort and safety and quicker journey times.Why volvo is the butt of this critical artical-Because it is the priciest bus brand in india currently and we as indian consumers deserve a better deal from a brand which other Indian brands seek to emulate.Also we Indians used to rattly tata’s and leyland’s,new to these kind of high end buses should not be carried away by big names and we should expect the best and the most stringent regulations..Tata,Ashok leyland,MAN,Mercedes Benz,etc are about to enter the indian high end bus market and problems like should not become a regular feature or in a lighter vein “original equipment” with the high end buses.Volvo has a reputation to protect and a precedent to set.Hopefully good ones.

So what if it a Volvo?
Cheers

BIOFUELS_BOON OR BANE

2008-03-01T05:34:00.000-08:00

CARBON EMISSIONS have been the talking point of most of the so called developed worlds’ leaders at innumerable environment conferences.
BIOFUEL-The so called MIRACLE SOLUTION that is expected to solve most of the carbon emission problems from the developed countries since they hope to use it to run their automobiles,which is a major emitter of carbon.Thus biofuels are being made out to be the miracle solution to our Earth’s environmental issues which might not be the case afterall.
But a hard look at the ground reality does present a not so rosy picture of the very BLING BIOFUELS.The primary concern is that of the poorest of the poor subsidising the grave environmental mistakes of the world’s rich.Ofcourse RICH is a relative term.
Consider the people of Ethiopia,one of Africa’s poorest country, grappling with various issues of which poverty and malnutrition are at the forefront.
The impoverished Ethiopian people cultivate CASSAVA,their chief food crop to fill their stomach’s.Their current Dictator Meles Zenawi has conveniently exported the Ethiopian people’s food crop,millions of tonnes of cassava,to developed nations like the United kingdom to name one,enriching his coffers while leaving millions of very hungry ethiopian people starving and in worse cases causing hunger death’s.The United Kingdom for it’s part has imposed tougher legislation to prevent such imports.But what happens to the million’s of hungry ethiopian’s?. Nobody Knows.
Now the impact on the U.S economy.
Another case worth examining is the Plan of the United States to replace 15% of gasoline consumption with biofuels.Corn,being a major crop used to make ethanol,one of the constituents of biofuel is being sold to biofuel manufacturing companies instead of ending up as food for people or even as food for farm animals.This has led to food companies like tyson foods,Kraft foods,etc downsize their workforce leaving thousands unemployed.The price of corn also has rapidly shot up leading to higher inflation since food comprises about 20% to the US inflation costs.Thus the already reeling U.S economy is being pushed closer to a possible recession.
Now a few startling facts exposed by Princeton university’s researchers led by Timothy Searchinger reveal that greenhouse gases will actually rise with ethanol demand.The study has predicted that the U.S farmers will use more land for ethanol production thus forcing poorer countries to cut down on rainforests to produce food crops for the U.S market thus increasing the Greenhouse emissions rather than reducing it which defeats the very purpose of biofuels.Although,a few have said that the study has used a flawed model and overestimated how much landis needed.
Critics apart, the time has come to seriously reconsider the Benefits of BioFuels vis-a-vis it’s serious drawbacks and a stricter legislation for cultivation and export of biofuel before any major damage is done to our already very fragile Earth.

BANGALORE AND TERRORISM_A PERSPECTIVE

2008-03-01T05:19:00.000-08:00

All along,the word terrorist connoted burly bearded men somewhere in the afghan-pakistan border and closer home in the kashmir valley.Now the word has taken an all new meaning with youth from Indian metro’s and small cities being lured into terrorism,some lured by the money,others by misleading ideology and religion.Though cities like India’s capital Delhi and Economic capital Mumbai have borne the brunt of terror attacks,the relatively “SAFE” Bangalore,India’s IT capital has found itself dragged deeper and deeper into the vicious terror web.
Once known as the pensioners paradise with salubrious weather,lush greenery and a peaceful life,the 90’s brought the IT boom into the city which catapulted bangalore into INDIA’s IT Capital which brought along prosperity and development at a frenetic pace.Old timers began to complain about the growing traffic and pollution levels and Bangalore’s Infrastructure was crumbling,unable to keep pace with the rapid expansive development the city was undergoing.Amidst all this,on 28th december,2005,1900hrs,Bangalore’s calm was shattered by a terrorist attack on Indian institute of science,bangalore.The institute,one of India’s Premier Research institute was hosting an international conference on operations research whwn two gunmen entered the campus and started firing indiscriminately from a chinese made ak56 rifle.Prof Munish Chandra Puri of IIT,Delhi succumbed to bullet injuries enroute to hospital and many others were injured seriously.The gunmen fled before anybody could bat an eyelid.Incidentally the shooting took place less than 200m from the sadashivanagar police station which is located very close to the Sprawling IISc campus.

Investigative agencies were quick to name Lashkar e taiba among other mujahideen groups among prime suspects.Bangalore went on high alert with IT companies,Government offices and the now mushrooming shopping malls adopting security measures and tightening the security.Bangalore’s tryst with terror had just begun.9th july,glasgow.Two men in a blazing jeep cherokee laden with explosives drove into the glasgow airport and crashed into a doorway.Fortunately,the jeep didn’t explode.But the men were badly burnt,one man was critical and was batting for life and the other was arrested for questioning.Bangalore was shocked yet again to learn that the two men involved in the glasgow bombing’s were Bangaloreans.Both the men,Kafeel and Sabeel Ahmed,were highly qualified post graduates from educated upper middle class backgrounds from respectable families.Yet,they chose to give up their promising careers for the Barbaric world of internatonal terrorism.What would have motivated these young qualified people to take life of Innocent people.Not money ofcourse.It is here where the international terror web comes in to misinterpret Islam.To sow seeds of violence and hatred among young people and to brainwash them into joining the terror ring “to protect” ISLAM not to mention “avenge the west”.Hard disks recovered from kafeel ahmed’s computer pointed out to a long correspondence with the terror groups and a carefully co ordinated attack over a fairly long period of time.Bangalore was stunned.India too.
And now the Triple whammy.Enter terror camps in Karnataka.The South of India which though was more than a little perturbed at the previous incidents in Karnataka was never prepared for something of this magnitude.FEb 2nd,2008.The karnataka anti terrorist wing unearthed a terror camp deep into the jungle off the university town,Dharwad,North karnataka.This chilling evidence came to light during the interrogation of three Islamist radicals arrested recently - Riyazuddin Nasir alias Mohammed Ghouse, Asadullah Abu Bakar and Mohammed Asif,the SIMI activists arrested earlier.Just two days later another terrorist camp in the same jungle was arrested.Terror camps right here at home.Days later,on feb 22nd,2008,Mohammed yahya Kammakutty,

a computer engineer and a SIMI activist from the prestigious regional engineering college of calicut,kerala and a former employee of GE software was arrested from his house in gurrappanapalya,a bangalore suburb bear the IT belt.The terror web is getting deeper and deeper.
But what is worrying most,is the growing trend of young qualified professionals joining the terror network.This trend hasn’t been new to other islamist countries,but is indeed new unknown territory for India and the Indian investigative agencies.More than money,the misguiding,hatred inducing Ideologues of banned organizations like SIMI,JAMAAT E ULEMA,etc are inducting more young people into the terror web.This spells a huge problem,for,india is a country with the most number of youth in the world.The location of the terror camps off dharwad,a university town,also points out to students being regularly recruited.We,indians are a secular bunch of people encouraging and tolerating a diverse range of religions to co-exist with India’s primary religion,Hinduism.Now,this religious tolerance has been misused by terrorist element to start organisations like the now thankfully banned students islamic movement of india(SIMI).Terrorism,being funded by the rampant piracy industry,if unchecked has the potential to be an industry in itself since money is available in plenty to the terrorist orgaisations.A stronger government at the centre which comes down heavily on any kind of religious extremism is the need of the day.Also,The exponential growth of technology has forced the terror groups to hire highly skilled technology professionals to help grow their killing networks.Law enforcement agencies,though are doing their best to curb terrorism are more often than not,years behind the new generation terrorist who now operate with various new technologies and the world wide web which is very difficult to track and the new gen terrorist is not a rifle-toting bearded male somewhere in the kashmir valley but is a smart,sauve professional sitting somewhere in a BPO or a Technology company.Bangalore’s growing disparity between the have’s and havenot’s is prime hunting ground for new recruits or foot soldiers as they are commonly called,for the terrorist groups.Bangalore,being a cosmopolitan city,with horde’s coming in from all over India to make thier living riding on the economic boom is creating huge problems for the investigative agencies as it is getting tougher to monitor the newer younger population who are more mobile.Identification cards and screening of all new settlers in Bangalore might be a viable solution if handled sensitively and enforced stringently.Also,while Bangalore is growing each day,the smaller towns are not.Lesser opportunities and more unemployed or underemployed dissatisfied youth means more time for them to kill.This time can be harnessed by the sleeper cells of terror groups to use these youth to collect intelligence information and prepare plans for future terror strike’s.IT is moving to smaller cities like mysore,mangalore,etc.More cities of karnataka need to prosper to tackle terrorism.At the same time Bangalore’s premier status of being internationally recognised and respected as an IT capital puts it under tremendous risk as the terrorist’s want for a high visibility can be easily achieved by attacking Bangalore.The future ofcourse will depend upon improving various factors ranging from economic prosperity to better intelligence and investigating by the anti terrorist squad.
IT IS UPTO US TO SAY NO TO ANY KIND OF RELIGIOUS EXTREMISMTHAT IS THE EASIEST WAY TO FIGHT TERRORISM
HINDU,MUSLIM,SIKH,ESAHI,SAB AAPAS KE BHAI BHAI.

INDIAN MECHANICAL WATCHES

2008-02-07T05:47:00.000-08:00

Watches,the mere mention of the word brings to our minds TIME, individualism and style.Now with the mobile phones making their niche's into our pockets,the youth have relegated the Watch's primary function,that of keeping time to the background and now watches are sybols of style,affluence and individualism.Globalisation has brought in a plethora of Global watch brands like OMEGA,TAG HAUER,HUBLOT,BAUME MERCIER,LONGINES in the high end segment and FOSSIL,DKNY,,TOMMY HILFIGER,SWATCH, in the mid range segment,.,.,.,,.,and the list goes on.Our homegrown TITAN from the TATA's have captured a lion's share in the low end and mid range segment with their reliable quartz watches having a huge range of watches catering to a wide predominantly urban audience.

But digging deeper,and finding whom, rural INDIA trusts to keep its time,i came across brands like HMT,the now defunct ALLWYN and RICOH,..,.,.which dominated the indian watch market,both urban and rural,much before the quartz revolution in the 1970's.The oil crisis of the 70's further sounded the Death knell for mechanical movements which were more difficult to manufacture than the cheap quartz movements.Almost the entire swiss watch industry which failed to switch over to quartz technology was wiped out and our indian manufacturers like the HMT,ALLWYN,RICOH INDIA soon felt the pinch as they were caught napping as well.But quickly the BIG THREE caught on and started to manufacture the quartz movements.After a while,In the Late eighties TITAN entered the scene and ushered in the"many watches for different occasions" and with the backing of the TATA group and their marketing blitz almost drove the big three out of business.ALLWYN and RICOH INDIA perished but the govenrnment run HMT managed to survive simply because it had deeply penetrated the Indian rural watch market with its high affordability and bulletproof reliability of mechanical watches.Mechanical watches comprising of hand wound and automatic watches needed very little maintainance and since they never ran on batteries,talk about eco friendly watches,the rural folk respected these watcheds immensely.

The Indian youth of the 1970's like their elders had only the big three brands to keep their time with the occasionally smuggled foreign watches which most of the indian populace could ill afford apart from the Rich.They Predominantly wore mechanical watches,which even today can been seen on many wrists of the 60's and 70's Indian's.This is testimonial to the incredible longevity and quality of Indian mechanical watches,which unfortunately,the youth of 21'st century India have very little access to.This is courtesy HMT's mismanaged watch division which has pathetic marketing and poor access.A combination of these factors ensured that HMT was driven to obscurity in the indian watch market.But all this is set to change.In january,At the SAMAYABHARATI watch fair held at sri kanteerava stadium,Bangalore,HMT stunned many with its contemporary watches which looked very dressy like the international brands and priced at a fraction of their prices.Finally HMT might just be revived and see glory days which their high quality watches should always have seen.Here are a few shots of the watches.Please excuse the poor quality of the pics since i used a 2mp mobile phone cam for this at the fair.

The watches are 21 jewelled,HMT signed in house,Automatic movements.The movements have been tried and tested for years after being in action since the 1970's and are bulletproof reliable with very good accuracy.A surprise package from HMT was a multifunction watch in blue and white dial versions with HMT's own indigenously developed movement.Thats quite a remarkable achievement since very few watch makers make their own movements in this age of outsourcing,Even more so for HMT since it is still a loss making Psu run by the Government.KUDOS to the watch designers and engineers at HMT.

The PIC's above are of an HMT PILOT HANDWIND WHICH RUNS WITH 17JEWELLED MOVEMENT.

I have examples which are 30+ years old and still running very accurately,upto +/- 5 secs a day which is excellent since it costs just 515 INR here in INDIA.A fraction of what any handwind watch will cost anywhere,A tribute to HMT's great cost competency and engineering.Being a Watch collector myself,i Really hope that HMT gets it's marketing act together and makes these gems of watches available to my generation.Otherwise,INDIAN MECHANICAL WATCHES will soon be a thing of the past and we,the youth would lose a great opportunity of wearing such wonderful watches.

HERE ARE THE BASIC SPECS OF THE HMT HANDWIND WATCH'S MOVEMENT

17 jewelled HMT signed HAND WIND MOVEMENT

SHOCK PROOF UPTO 3KGM

WATER RESIST UPTO 30m

MOVEMENT NAME-0231

BPH-18600

ACCURACY- +/-10s/day

Cost<$10

HMT also makes automatic watches and at the top is a sneak very very exclusive preview of their TO BE LAUNCHED ,RAD SERIES AUTOMATIC MULTIFUNCTION WATCH RANGE which will be available in a month at their bangalore showroom for about 2500 to 3000 inr.please excuse for the poor quality pics.

moto yuva w230_2gigs of memory.,3000 indian gandhibacks.,now that could just revolutionise the mobile phone market

2008-02-04T05:46:00.000-08:00

hi all,

i was watchin the moto yuva tvc recently,and i was pretty pissed off.You know why?

Because the tvc was a complete sham.,a tvc which proudly proclaims "moto yuva aaya,aur aapka beta gaya".,omg.,who the hell will ever want to buy his/her child a mobile phone which according to motorola will absolutely make its user oblivious to life around it.,.,so much so that the tvc features a dad who has to use a replica of his head rolling on the floor to get his teenage son's attention.,.,hell no.,.,parents,still being the decision makers in our BHARAT now will most probably be aghast at what a mobile phone could do and would be very happy to jettison their plans of buying their kids a mobile phone.,.if they weren't against them in the first place..and the moto yuva being a phone targeted at the young teeny weeny crowd,,motorola had just got their marketing strategy all screwed up.,And Here is a mobile phone maker on the verge of a sell out or a closedown due to their ever declining mobile phone sales and they have the audacity to launch such audacious pissing off ads.,.,.but what the hell,INDIA being a democracy,the ad director has his creative freedom to create such crappy ads not to mention our misfortune of having to bear with his ads in prime time tv coming as a total piss off interrupting our beloved cricket,india_australia battling it out on the cricket field.

Yesterday,suddenly Motorola pulled a fast one off with another tvc in which the moto yuva w230 was now being offered at a tad above the Rs 3k mark, with surprise surprise a built in mp3 player and to top it off a 2gb expandable memory slot.,.,.

Now thats news.,.,.thats real news which could just change motorola's sagging fortunes.,.,.

The moto yuva w230 in its earlier garb featured a colour phone with a candybar design with FM radio and a loudspeaker and the very hyped HINGLISH dictionary,(dunno who uses it anyway) and sold for a coupla thousand indian rupees.

Now this very phone,on steroids if i may call it so has a sweet 2gigs of expandable memory and FM stereo recording thrown in as well.This suddenly places the moto yuva w180 bang in the mp3 player territory and has virtually no competition at its price point from other mobile phone makers,especially Nokia.This launch just promises to revolutionise the entry level colour phone segment by offering features unheard for at this price and segment.

To get things into perspective,you could buy a phone which offers 2gb of mp3 music and a fm radio at just Rs3000,along with all its basic phone functions.Now who would want to buy an mp3 player with/without a radio for Rs 2000 when they get it bundled in a phone that is stylish as well.This will surely get the industry leader NOKIA thinking and other mobile manufacturers too will ready up their launches to counter the MOTO YUVA.And this also means that the Mp3 player prices,especially the ones like Philips go-gear and and the ipod shuffle and the creative zen series,to drastically drop prices to counter motorola's ultra aggressive pricing.The near future promises to be very very exciting as consumers would be able to access MP3 songs and radio on their very affordable mobile phones and everyone from the autorickshaw driver to the vegetable seller would have music on the go.,.,MP3 for everyone..,.,

Now that motorola have got their pricing bang on and a very usable user interface in the moto yuva,they will have to improve their battery life because the Mp3 player.,.,.er.,.,the moto yuva w230 is going to have to belt out a lot of tunes for it's owners..,.,.and lest i forget,motorola would do well to stop their distasteful ads and usher in some slick marketing emphasising on the killer price and music on the go feature of their new moto yuva w230.,This product of theirs has the potential to turn around their entire mobile phone division.,.I just can't wait to see the competition will react and how the indian consumer embraces music on the go,.,.,cheers to affordable technology that brings a smile to the common man's face.,.,.way to go moto.,,.

india vs australia,sydney '07-is this cricket

2008-01-06T00:47:00.000-08:00

Shock-outrage-anger.,.,.,.,
These are the reactions and the mood of INDIA over a black sunday if i might take the pleasure,pain rather,of calling the shocking images from the india-australia test.Indians world over are reacting in anguish over very poor umpiring,shoddy is what i would call it,and ofcourse the "CHAMPION" side australia's farcical exhibition of the most unsporting behaviour that we have witnessed over the last decade or so.The umpires have played a major part in thwarting india's hope of keeping the series alive and have reduced the test and to a certain extent the entire tour-down under to an uneven contest with the odds stacked heavily against the indians,not that they were earlier.It's just that the umpires have maybe delivered the knock out punch.Leave alone the umpires,the "MIGHTY" australian side have been very unsporting and have indeed as a few 24/7 news channels put it "cheated" india out of the sydney test.It was shocking indeed to see adam gilchrist,till now regarded as a gentleman of the game,very ungentlemanly appealed for rahul dravids wicket when he clearly wasn't out.What this conveys is that the australian team do not have an iota of fair play in their cricket and it is indeed shameful of them to play cricket the way they do.
The indians long regarded as wonderful sportspersons lived upto their name and made all of us proud.,.,even though we were treated unfairly,we won it.FAIR AND SQUARE.TO HELL WITH THE TEST.WE ARE WINNERS FOR LIFE AND WE WILL FOREVER.and the australians know for sure that they might be the champions,albeit unfair ones at that,but they will never be loved for their cricket and never be regarded as heroes.Ricky ponting,what you have done is snatched hope from millions of indians and have shamelessly displayed your dirty cricket,dirty attitude and you and your dirty side's dirty character to the world and as a consequence belittled yourself and your country.,.,. INDIA WILL FIGHT BACK><>FIGHTBACK FAIRLY<><. and talking about racism, an aggrieved indian fan on the street remarked,YOU CANNOT EXPECT CONVICTS TO PLAY FAIR CRICKET><><><>CHEERS TO THE INDIAN CRICKET TEAM<>FOR THIER FAIRPLAY AND FIGHTING BRAND OF CRICKET><><>,

2007-09-14T23:59:00.000-07:00

INDIA VS PAKISTAN T20

2007-09-14T21:12:00.000-07:00

Well well well,India Pakistan 20-20.Huge expat crowd at the venue,Durban, which has a great relevance with our history,remember the great Mahatma practised his legal profession here.And once again,the archrivals,the cricketing giants of the asian subcontinent,India and Pakistan clashed in cricket's newest and sharpest format,the 20-20 league.Even as purists complain about how the new format is too compressed and biased towards the batsmen and some even going to the extent predicting doomsday for the new format and a very venerable respected sports columnist likening the new format to a golfer continously teeing off. They would be eating their own words after watching the gripping,exciting and edge-of-the-seat thrills and spills,the encounter between India and Pakistan provided.After winning a not so decisive toss,the pakistani captain shoaib malik put the indians in to bat.After some splendid fast bowling from the pakistani quicks,especially mohammad asif,india found itself teetering at a precarious 36/4 when the skipper mahendra singh dhoni walked in.he,along with swashbuckling robin uthappa managed to steady the indian ship.uthappa played to his strengths-dominating the bowling and was looking very dangerous,A quickfire 50 before he edged one from the new face tanvir(with an unusual action) to akmal.Pathan in his comeback match made a quick 20.Dhoni played sensibly and finally succumbed while trying to up the scoring rate.The indian tail folded for 141.the pakistan reply was strong till some inspired bowling and fielding reduced them to 53/4.shoaib malik tried and failed to take on the indian attack.Afridi coming in low at #7 failed to make a mark,.,.,it was left to misbah ul haq who almost pulled it off in a classic cliffhanger of a match,..,.twelve required of the last over,.,sreesanth steams in.,.,.arafat slogs it over cover for a single.next ball misbah swings it for a couple.sreesanth bowls a tad short.,.,.misbah swings and connects.,.the ball flies across the point for four more,a section of a crowd goes silent and one more section erupts.this is india vs pakistan.five required of three.the indian think tank crowds around sreesanth.,.,the crowds tense,wait with bated breadth,.,.some praying fervently,.,.mid off comes in,.,.a full toss,.,.,misbah drives,.,.beats mid off for another boundary.,scores level.,.pakistan cannot lose from here.one required off three.sreesanth braces up and bowls two amazing dot balls under severe pressure.an eerie silence shrouds the arena.one required of one,.,.a short ball,.,.misbah makes contact,.,.scampers for a single.,.,but he is run out brilliantly.,.,.,the match is tied.,.,.the crowd is shocked.,.,India pull it off from the brink.,.,.,now to the new football style bowl out,.,.,india line up sehwag,harbhajan,uthappa,pathan and sreesanth,.,.india start.,.,sehwag hits the wicket.,.,.arafat bowls and misses.,.,harbhajan hits,gul misses,.,.uthappa hits,.,.,india are safe,.,.atleast for the moment,.,.,afridi bowls and misses,.,.,the stadium erupts,.,.,.india win,.,.,.the indian players go wild celebrating,.,.,this is a real sample of the thrill that the 20-20 matches are providing,.and to write this new format off,.,.,.well.,.,.i don't know.,.,but as the venerable columnnist puts it,its not wise to judge a day until the night has fallen,.,..so lets hang around till the last ball of this 20-20 world cup is bowled.,.,till then the debate will rage,.,.,and about my views about the new format,.,..i'm savin it for another day.,.,.another time.,.,.,.watch this space

max throttle_biker sound off

2007-09-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

There are basically two bikes which can be called sporty in INDIA.,.,.,.,one from the honda hero combine,the hh karizma,(bikers prefer calling it the zma),the other ofcourse is from the bajaj stables,no prizes for guessing,the pulsar series or the pulsar platform or whatever.,.,.,.,.,.,.

now one avid biker from bangalore,ARVIND,whose ride is a honda unicorn,wants to piss all over the bajaj pulsar,and berate about the state of indian roads,et all.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BELOW ARE ARVIND'S VIEWS AND THIS LOG IS MERELY A PLATFORM FOR HIM TO EXPRESS HIS THOUGHTS AND THE BLOGGER JAYPRASHANTH IS MERELY OFFERING SPACE TO ARVIND TO PUT HIS THOUGHTS DOWN.
So here we go.

I'm riding on the bangalore mysore expressway,on a steed that most riders would/can only dream of.talk about doing 167kph at 14600 rpm on first gear,talk about taking a bike that can't be improved upon and talk about making it better.well, thats what yamaha has done to the latest '07 R1.talk about 193 pure bred race horses being housed,all together in four inline cylinders and imagine unleashing them all at an rpm as low as 5500.oh yeah baby,i'm on the r1,the best thing that ever happened on two wheels.The bike that could raise your hair better than the strongest of hair gels.the engine whose bassy note could shame even a high end woofer.But damn,this crazy bleary eyed trucker doesn't seem to have an iota of respect for a damn nice piece of automotive engineering when he sees one.Still in first gear,i find a gap and rev up.,.,.,finally an empty road beckons me,i gun the throttle like i was choking one mr himesh reshammiya to death.,.,.,.fuck him.,.,.,fuck the world.,.,.,.all that matters to me is hitting a good 250k's.BEEP.an indication that i'v hit a ton,still on the furious first gear,revving all the way till the rev limiter stalls acceleration,then a quick stab of my left toe to hit second,223 comes up no time,another BEEP,the damn limiter again,a stab for third,and fuck again,a bloody milkman grazing his cows on the grass growing on the divider,.,.can't these animals stay where they belong???I would have mowed down this bloody cow if i had a hummer,but i'm not that lucky enough,not lucky enough to hit a 300 on the autobahn or drift around monza or valencia or even exercise my riding prowess-not this country.,.,atleast not yet,..,.,and definitely not this bike with these kinda moronic co-inhabitants around,.,okie,.,now time to stop revving the pants off the r1,time to ride back to bangalore.,.to be one more power-road hungry denizen.,.,"i told you that riding this beast of a machine is far from pleasurable in this country of ours"the owner remarks,it wasn't all that bad after all,i chuckle to myself.
now im on my very own honda unicorn,no rev limiter-no liquid cooling-made for India-which at last brings me to my point-if you have been reading this far-that when honda make bikes,they do with a purpose.They make bikes that can go from a to b,and then again make bikes that run circles around other bikes in a monza or a suzuka.As long i'm in India,i would most probably never get to ride on that kinda blacktop.More importantly,i would never get to own any of the SBK's,atleast till i'm a student.So,i go for their first category of bikes-and the cbf150,unicorn in india which is quintessentially a great commuter machine.
But not all indians seem to have a perspective as simple as the makers of the unicorns.I wouldn't exactly blame them for it,and they are not wrong.Many riders, in fact most riders fancy themselves to be the tino' rossi's and micky doohan's.They don't let the mindfucked bus drivers or the killing deep pot(death)holes mellow them down.To them,every 10m straight stretch of road becomes the back straight of monza,every bike they ride is a cbr,only if they ever felt the joy of a real sportbike.So these wannabe racers customize,ripping off the sensible commuter handlebars to back breaking clip-ons.Enough trouble to give orthopaedic surgeons more bad backs to work on.They rip off standard exhausts for ear splitting fart like sounds.then they rearset the footpegs to make sure they screw up the handling.and then spend a few grand for some plastic surgery for their puny commuter machines and some more currency for keeping the small lathe owners in business while trying to wring out the max outta their tiny engines.They don't give a shit for overall bike integrity,they don't give a damn to their top ends which would be taken by a scooter-but they want the feel of a superbike,.,..only if they knew what that was,.,.bloody wannabe's..,
These wannabe's,so used to going GA-GA on some piece of shit that ran on 100/17 radials or which made a hell of a noise like the fart from the ass of a constipated horse.If only i had a bike which made me feel i'm a pro,said one wannabe..,.,and Hamara BAJAJ heard his cry_they started researching(still searching) with a bunch of mindless nuts,then went on to make the perfect wannabe Bike.they bragged about features that would only be laughed at except maybe in Untamed Africa.They advertised.They sold.They conquered.and with all this,the blasphemous campaign definitely male bike.Yeah welcome the BAJAJ FUCKIN PULSAR.
Firstly,its pretty ironic that the pulsars should be labelled male-after all,their tanks look pregnant and have been the bane of the manhoods of many men,or maybe its pretty,and very appropriately,the 220's in the ads keep reproducing-oh yes i forgot,its natural,they are pregnant.alright alright,now you owners of the pregnant male-if you feel you have suffered enough insults,here we go!!!
There are many features about your bike that are pretty futile in their purpose for existence,just like the lives of the people who ride it.
To begin with the much hyped "dtsi" tech.throw a match box into a can of fuel,you'll know what i'm talkin about.two spark plugs?you think thats innovation.you think your ideas are original.bmw bikes had em in the 70's.People come up with super refined creamy engines with 4 cylinders inline and you think they wouldn't have thought about 2 plugs.get real man,burning residual fuel with 2 plugs is nowhere putting you guys in honda yamaha territory.And your 200-220 models are a farce.You have radials that aeem to be chopped off a truck and you still have issues with high speed cornering and stability that the more down to earth zma or even the uniocorn possess.Talk about pre lubrication in your chain sprocket system,i think you can go a extra mile with a chain guard in place than a exposed chain prone to malfunction not to mention the indian dusty conditions' wear and tear.You really shouldn't be bothering about weight,cos get the bloody point,its not a sport bike you're making.
Oh and how can i forget your gearbox.You have one neutral and five gears and 4 neutrals between each gear.so technically CONGRATS MAN-you come up with the first bike that has 10 gears.
And talk about your riding positions.I think the union of orthopaedicians&quacks rather bribed BAJAJ into helping them have more customers.So they designed rear set footpegs and clip-ons that would send the spinal cord on a self wrecking mission.and whats with that rubber piece on the tank.guess you learnt lessons after your customers splattered their balls on them.But the rubber piece is no solution.Methinks a pillow will provide just the right amount of cushining..,..,hehehe.Brag about split handle bars,split seats and split grab rails.Hey i have an original idea-I'm thinking- split fuel tank-split engine-maybe i should become an r&d specialist at BAJAJ AUTO.and the backlit switchgear.oh how many self respecting bikers even look at the switchgear to use them.oh yes bajaj rides fumble even with switchgear.,.,so maybe they need it after all cos bajaj auto doesn't know where to package what switch.
Oh and i don't wish to get started about your engine cos i'm not sure if readers would have even come this far.so i don't think its worth all the effort.But in a nutshell,you need to learn what a real sport bike is dude...a real sport bike has something called power to weight ratio-something that wasn't taught to the wise men at bajaj.You make the engine with a heavy balancing shaft and a light crank/.,.,.what an idea to torque up,.,.,.and you didn't paint the 220's engine black because you had heating issues-well if you fancy yourself to be better than any other bike co in innovation-well here's some news.There are bikes around belting out 3digit horses with black paint finished engines.So get back to the 8th grade and don't pay through your way to pass.
And control units,most often used to control engines are most often used by the bajaj boffins to control headlamps.So stop investing in r&d.you know deep down,its just a waste of money & resource.please invest in your damn marketing.
And a big fuck you for bringing in mag wheels and making that a trend.Stop pretending like you're manufacturing a sport bike that requires oil cooling.Single cylinder Engines below 250cc don't really require liquid cooling(except race engines).and for fucks sake don't brag about the shitty exhaustec.
instead of all these shitty features,they could do well to refine their bikes and improve quality.
So you have time and time is money.time till honda and yamaha bring in their big mutha's and satiate the real bikers' thirst for true biking.So make hay while the sun shines cos a long dark night is coming your way soon.
PS:the authors views are his very and this blog is proud to give him some space for his sound off,.,.,.,pulsar lovers are welcome to refute and post counter arguements,.,.,.live life full throttle

ibp fuel station or playboy magazine

2007-09-09T00:30:00.000-07:00

Late On a sunny bangalore sunday morning i set out to meet up with friends.,.,.,.to have a lazy brunch and to meet up ol' buddies.,.,.on my way i happened to see a ibp fuel station.,.,.,.what struck me was its symbol which bore an uncanny resemblance to the playboy bunny symbol.,.,.,.the ibp symbol which actually is a hand with the index and the middle finger depicting quality and quantity in a v shape is very similar to the playboy bunny,.here the fingers look like the bunny's ears,.,so in case you happen to drive across an ibp fuel station just glance over and see for yourself the playboy.,.,er ibp symbol,.,

Should Sachin Tendulkar retire???

2007-09-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

A "TOP" tv news channel starts this debate.... Should Sachin ramesh tendulkar retire from one day cricket???
And like the trend these days
what does mr doshi_an insurance salesman,from ajmer think?
what does mr selvaraghavan_a banker from Chennai have to say about this?
what is an IT student ankur's opinion from bangalore?
And a dabbawalla in Mumbai, scurrying frantically to deliver his dabbas is stopped by an intrepid correspondent and is asked to air his view about Sachin's future....and even the cabbies trying to hustle their way past rush hour traffic are made to "MAKE THEIR VOICE HEARD",.,.,.,.,
True, this is the land of the Gandhi........the largest democracy in the world.,.,.,.sure,everyone have a right to their opinion,.,.,.,and lest i forget ,the land where cricket is not merely a sport,but a religion for the legions of fans all across this great nation and where cricketers are demigods.
So people are naturally interested to know more about the cricketers and the lives they lead..,so, in comes the great indian media.,to specifically cater to these needs.,.tv to be specific,to bring all the latest news,views,"ACTIONS" and "REACTIONS",.,,.,.So in comes unconfirmed reports,from "RELIABLE HIGHLY PLACED SOURCES" that one Mr Sachin Tendulkar is contemplating hanging his boots in the near future fom one day cricket.I really wonder who these reliable and highly placed sources are,who at the drop of a hat seem to be knowing more about Sachin's plans than his wife and family,or even Sachin himself.and the media,quite despicably air this a countless times at primetime slots till even the hard core tv junkies get freaked out,.,.,this is a classic example of the media's irresponsible reporting giving undue importance to unreliable reports which have not been authenticated and stoking unrest and sometimes even panic among the people.
The other question is who are we to decide on Sachin Tendulkar's career plans.The cricketer billed to be the all time greatest batsman.This great champion playing with what many enthusiasts see at the peak of his ability,with the flair,aggression and sublime skill which endeared him to cricket lovers world over.Sachin has been shouldering huge expectations from the indian public every time he walks out to bat and is praised highly for a good performance and vehemently criticised for every small failure.Doesn't this man who has served Indian cricket tirelessly for the past eighteen odd years performing exceptionally well consistently barring a few bad patches have the right to decide his cricketing future.Though Sachin is not new to these intense speculation and constant scrutiny,the media,with its irresponsible debates is putting undue pressure on this great cricketer instead of trying to keep him out of the intense,often foolish scrutiny,comparisions and unnecessary attention to enable him focus on what he does best,play cricket.The problem i think is mainly because the tv news channels have nothing to show,or they don't want to show the real important issues which do not garner as many eye balls or trp's(another bloody fancy term) as these "SENSATIONAL BREAKING NEWS" do .There are scores of issues which cry for media attention to highlight people's sufferings and many positive things to show to people,to make them smile and give them hope that is so missing in todays world filled with despair for many.The tv news channels may argue that they cover issues like the Jessica lall murder case,the iim grad manjunath murder case and various scams.etc.But why do they do it.Not really to bring any justice,but to capture more eyeballs per show.But along with this they could be more socially responsible and highlight the real problems,social and economic issues plaguing our country.With this they will definitely win hearts than just eyeballs of our very warm hearted nation.
P.S:kudos to dd or doordarshan for being socially responsible and finding airspace to air important socio-economic issues even while other channels are busy playing ball to irrelevant assorted bullshit.

tech trends india

2007-08-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

hullo there

Talking about trends in technology,its more often the case of here today,gone tomorrow.Delving deeper into the countless tech review sites scattered all over the cyberscape,most of us find the tech gibberish on most sites talking about new tech products or technology changes that are very high end and which may take years or sometimes never see the light of the day.

But a few tech trends are pretty low tech and very usable by both the tech junkie as well as the man on the street.A couple of these are the mobile ebooks and wireless music devices.Right now mobibooks are pretty big in japan and the americas and wireless music is one very hot trend becoming huge fast.

First of all,the mobile ebooks are basically full length or sometimes condensed versions of novels,magazines,etc.They come in a number of mobile formats like pdb,rdb,etc and can be read on the ubiquitous java enabled colour mobile handsets.The convenience of carrying these ebooks occupying very less mobile phone memory space is further amplified as most of the urban population can read while commuting(which takes a large chunk of most people's time).

This trend is fast catching up in our very own bharat thanks to the advent of inexpensive colour java enabled mobile phones .There are a number of freely downloadable softwares on the net like the tequilacatreader,mobipocket reader,etc which are available on sites like esnips.com,ipmart-forum.com,etc.

The books themselves as recent as the latest potter book can be downloaded free(encourage piracy,the authors are rich enough)from esnips.com and ipmart-forum.com.

One more emerging trend is that of wireless music.This basically is music played from a stereo bluetooth enabled mobile phone or an ipod or any other mp3 player

to a pair of stereo bluetooth wireless head/earphones.The usp of this trend is the complete absence of wires which eliminates the hassles of irritating wires coming in the way of a pleasurable music experience.Now for all of you wondering about the devices which actually can do the above functions,motorola and nokia have many phones in their line up supporting a2dp which stands for advanced audio distribution profile through bluetooth.Many of you might recall the actor abhishek bachhan swaying to wireless music in the motorokr ad doing the rounds on most tv channels.The most inexpensive nokia phone which supports a2dp is the nokia 3110 which retails for about 6000 indian-rupees.Motorola has the moto rizr selling for about 7000 rupees.Other mobile brands like sony ericsson,samsung,lg,etc have this a2dp technology only in their high end phones.Importantly this feature of all these phones can be made use of only with a stereo bluetooth headset like the motorola s9 bluetooth headphones which retails for around 4500 rupees in the white market.As for the ipods,a bluetooth adapter like the jabra a125 0r the motorola naviplay adapters(available in india,cost around 3k) can be used to make it stereo bt compliant.This along with a bluetooth headphone like the s9 would make working out or jogging with music very neat.Keep watchin this space for more tech to make life better.

just read these lyrics_rockstar;nickelback and try to find and listen to this song

2007-08-29T10:55:00.000-07:00

I'm through with standing in line to clubs
we'll never get in
It's like the bottom of the ninth
and I'm never gonna win
This life hasn't turned outquite the way I want it to be
I want a brand new houseon an episode of Cribs
And a bathroom I can play baseball in
And a king size tub big enoughfor ten plus me
I'll need a credit card that's got no limit
And a big black jet with a bedroom in it
Gonna join the mile high clubAt thirty-seven thousand feet
I want a new tour bus full of old guitars
My own star on Hollywood Boulevard
Somewhere between Cher andJames Dean is fine for me
I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair and change my name
'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger'sGonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunnyWith her bleach blond hair
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
I wanna be great like Elvis without the tassels
Hire eight body guards that love to beat up assholes
Sign a couple autographs
So I can eat my meals for free
I think I'm gonna dress my asswith the latest fashion
Get a front door key to the Playboy mansion
Gonna date a centerfold that loves toblow my money for me
I'm gonna trade this lifeFor fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hairAnd change my name
'Cause we all justwanna be big rockstars
And live in hilltop housesdriving fifteen cars
The girls come easy andthe drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny'cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger'sgonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunnywith her bleach blond hair
And we'll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary andtoday's who's who
They'll get you anythingwith that evil smile
Everybody's got adrug dealer on speed dial
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
I'm gonna sing those songs that offend the censors
Gonna pop my pillsfrom a pez dispenser
I'll get washed-up singers writing all my songs
Lip sync em every night so I don't get 'em wrong
Then listen to the fans tell me how damn good I am
I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair and change my name
Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in hillltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's gonna wind up there
Every playboy bunny with her bleach blond hair
And we'll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary and today's who's who
They'll get you anything with that evil smile
Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar

WHY INDIA IS A PERENNIAL UNDERPERFORMER AT THE OLYMPICS

2007-08-29T04:04:00.000-07:00

osaka,japan..the long jump event...the athletics world championship,

Anju bobby george,our olympic medal hopeful,well she has been a hopeful with all of us,fellow indians hoping, for quite a few years now has failed yet again.
Miss.,.,.nope make it missus anju finished an absymal ninth with a jump 0f 6.53m.
Winning and losing is a part of every sport,why sports,even life is a win-loss story.
ALright then,Miss anju fails yet again,so what the F<>"?
What piques me is the reason miss anju gives after losing,whereas maintaining a stoic silence would have done her and everyone else more good.
Miss anju goes on to face the now omnipresent indian media's camera to give an obnoxious reason for not jumping long enough.
She says"i wasn't prepared for this competition and i had very little time before coming into the wc's".
My goddamn question is,then why the hell did she have to participate just for the heck of it.
Most of the athelete's in the land of the gandhi complain about the indian junta's lack of interest in sports other than cricket and tennis(due to a certain miss mirza).
Now why do Indians prefer cricket and to a lesser extent tennis over other sports?
The reason is loud and clear.There are very few icons or demigods or role model, as the media may brand our cricketers,for the indian sport watching public to root for or iconize or even worship.
This is not because cricket or tennis as a game is more interesting or has a better format as maybe football,hockey or even formula1.
The reason fair and square is due to the fact that the indian masses do not have heroes in other sports like they do in cricket or tennis to idolize.
Now the atheletes of the other sports start moaning that they don't get infrastructure to become eminent in their areas of sport thus not attracting big sponsors.But it may be very well to remind them that cricket and tennis also didn't receive special treatment and sponsors during its fledgling years.
Another frequently aired grouse is that there is not enough money involved in other sports or that it is not a viable career option.What beats me is whether a sportsperson plays a game for the love of it or for the sake of making money out of it or even for the glamour attached a particular sport.Take for example,An olympic silver medallist Rajyavardhan Rathore.Major Rathore,employed by the indian army went on to win an olympic silver at the greece olympics.Similarly many atheletes of various sports are employed by various PSU's and even a few corporates mainly due to their sporting prowess.So what is the big hue and cry about not being able to make a livelihood playing a particular sport when getting employed because of their sporting background is a good feasible option.

True that the basic sporting infrastructure in our country has to be revamped at the earliest.But,at the same time it is very imperative for the atheletes of some of the lesser popular sports of our country to buck up,get their acts together and deliver.A flash here and a dash there will not do.Consistent superlative performances are key.Only this and nothing else will get them to be real heroes and icons in the land of a billion plus and also signal an end to their woes of not attracting
enough cash,support or even glamour.The recent HINDI(balls to bollywood)movie chak de was refreshingly nice and crisp and a few media reports(god knows the veracity of these claims)that the sale of hockey sticks have actually increased post chak de are heartening.And comments like anju bobby george's are a definite no-no.They are discouraging and pathetic and do more damage to the sport and the morale of the armchair enthusiasts.So lets hope we have a few more medals than the last olympics.and hopefully anju bobby george is not named anju booby george.nevermind.
P.S:Though Chak-de might have increased the sale of hockey sticks,the formation of a competitive hockey league at mumbai had virtually zero response.
As someone rightly remarked-the more things change,the more they remain the same.lol