Brazil at the top of the world - once again, India collapse to quality short pitched bowling - once again, Lalgarh falls - once again

Yesterday was an eventful day.

Brazil were at it again:
The magicians worked their magic around the upstarts and got back from a 2-0 deficit to triumph in the confed cup finals.
I said once again the samba boys play their music. Besides the match what did I notice. The Brazilians (several of them) took off their yellow jerseys after the match and showed off their faith in Jesus. The vests they wore carried messages like "I love Jesus" and "I belong to Jesus".

India succumbed to genuine short stuff
Teams have been working on the drawing boards and in the nets. The Calypso kids make the Indian batters dance to their chin music and the much talked about replacements of Sehwag, Sachin, Dravid and Lakshman fall like nine pins.
Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Michael Holding and Malcolm Marshall once again I say. Funny for an attack that did not even have a Fidel Edwards.
Do the Indians have a plan? Not that it is visible. The batters come and go as if it is normal to be out for a duck and bowlers have no set plan. The captain played a good knock with the bat (saving grace) for some insipid captaincy since the last few months. Time he took a break I feel.

Lalgarh has fallen - Naxals beware there is no future for your kind of politics
The days of glamour associated with organized crime is slowly getting over. Sri Lanka has shown us the way and it is really heartening to note that instead of playing politics over the issue the cetral government has really worked hand in hand with the state government. If dirty politics had dictated this was a good opportunity for them to add fuel to fire. The fact that they decided to use the fire brigade instead speaks volumes about the maturity of the present leadership. (handng over the ID card project to Nandan Nilekani is another sign of mature politics). Now that the maoist are on the run we can say that Naxals are on the backfoot.
Kanu Sanyal never again.

India's top 50 powerful people

The list of 50 most powerful people of our times is recently published by India Today.

Not a single philosopher, thinker or writer has made it. Luckily we have AR Rahman, a composer, listed.

This in a country which gave birth to philosophers and thinkers of the caliber of Vivekananda, Adi Shankaracharya, Radhakrishnan, Chanakya and writers of epics like the Ramayana, Mahabharatha, Geeta, The vedas & the upanishads, Artha Shastra, Geetanjali and the Kama Sutra, which still mean so much not only to Indians but people all across the world.

The country which has such a vast reservoir of writing talent does not consider anyone to be influential.

It would mean two things -

The choice is governed by commercial considerations. The list includes everyone who can be connected with the ability of making money and are head turners. Starts with Ratan Tata, the Ambanis, Mittals, Godrej, Birlas, Ruias and also includes Sharukh, Amitabh and Swami Ramdev. Even Amar Singh and Parmeshwar Godrej find mention in the list.

Indian writers are no longer appealing to their readers. They have not been able to come up with ideas that influence the thinking of the readers.

The pen may be mightier than the sword but it has been bulldozed into silence by the creators of wealth. Sound bites are more important and visible.

Our Trip to Malaysia - Batu Caves

After Genting Highlands which had left everyone in the group complaining about the food, we started for KL, the capital of Malaysia.
Mr. Tanwar, my fellow Rajasthani from Jodhpur, delayed the departure by 30 minutes as he attended to some last minute requirements (not sure what it was - maybe his kids had to go to the toilet)
Amarjeet, our local guide informed us that we would stopping at Batu caves. These caves are situated about 15 -20 kms away from KL and houses the temple of Muruga, a Hindu Deity.
The temple is more than 100 years old. The limestone caves they say are more than 400 million years old and the temple attracts 1.5 million pilgrims annually.
Once again when we compare it with the cave temples in India and if any one has been to the Elephanta Caves outside Mumbai, the attraction is nothing much to talk about. I am not even talking about the Ajanta and Ellora attractions.
The pic alongside is the tallest Muraga statues in the world that stands on the foot of the caves. 272 steps alongside lead to the cave. Mayank and I made it in one go and at a fast pace.

Two special things about the place:

• We had coconut water. The coconuts are full of water and one coconut provides a belly full. Needless to add it was costly. At RM 3 for a coconut it came to Rs. 42/=. But it was worth it.
  
• Mayank took a picture with a python around his neck. I will upload the pic once I have scanned it. But this will always remind us of Batu caves and Mayank looks cool. He had wanted to take the pic at Genting Highlands but had backed off. Although Amarjeet had managed to let him get the snake around his neck there as well (without paying a penny). We paid RM 15 for the pic at Batu Caves.
  

Till then we had thought that the tour was highly professional. There was no commercial strings attached. But just before we reached Batu Caves we had the first taste of commercialization. We had a stop outside a watch shop. Just like in India the tour guide told us that the shop prices are attractive. I wonder why only tour operators find such shops attractive? Why don't the locals shop there?

Anyway this was a small irritant and as I did not buy anything I have nothing to complain about.

By six in the evening we had reached our hotel in Malaysia.

The rooms were good and the location was central.

We meet Homi, our Cox & Kings guide from India. The guide who was supposed to part of the tour had failed to report and Homi was sent as a replacement. He was a couple of days late but he made his presence felt immediately.

If Amarjeet's spoke in a modulated tone, Homi was an out of tune African drum. If Amarjeet brought humor in every sentence, Homi killed it with his long drawn narration. If Amarjeet was relaxed, Homi was time bound. We now had a guide who took his job as the tour leader seriously.

To be continued....

MJ - The King of Pop is no more

Michael Jackson will forever be remembered for the joy he brought to music and dance lovers.

The Moonwalker has walked into the outer space.

This brings an end to his agony.

He was different and suffered a lot because he lived life the way he wanted to.
Changing his nose and skin color was just part of his eccentricity.

He tried to make people believe that he was normal by marrying Elvis Presley' daughter and then by having three children but there are so many secrets about everything he did that everything he did was a bi drama.

The child molestation charges that refused to die and the shift to Bahrain indicated a troubled soul and strangulated the talent that he was born with.

But for a short period when his genius was at it's peak he gave us the best of Pop. Nobody can ever forget the beats of "Beat it" or the melodies of "Billie Jean" and how can anyone ever forget the moon walk.

Even in death he has created a drama.

Long live the King of Pop.

Manoj

ALL GOOD THINGS COME TO AN END - SPAIN LOSE WHEN LEAST EXPECTED = CONFEDERATION CUP FOOTBALL

Hello,
Yesterday i saw a game that had Spain written all over it except for brief moments in between when USA squeezed some minutes for themselves and scored two fabulous goals.

Several things happened:

• Spain's unbeaten record of 35 games came to an end. Seems apt as they share this record with the best team in world football i.e.Brazil.

• Spain's record of consecutive wins was halted at 15.

• The last appearance by a USA team in a major final was the Regional CONCACAF cup in 2007 which they won. In international competitions they seems to do well in the confederation cup as they have third place finishes in 1992 and 1999. This is their first appearance in the finals.

All good things come to an end.

Spain played fabulous free flowing attacking football but failed to penetrate the strong and dogged defense put up by USA.

Bad luck Spain. Thank you for the entertainment.

Manoj

GENTING HIGHLANDS - TRIP TO MALAYSIA

• "The journey to Genting Highlands is going to take 2 hours" the sweet sonorus voice of Amarjeet informed us. Don't get me wrong but he was a cute looking Punjabi Munda with a modulated voice and a sense of humour.
• We had the near to the front seats and while a few of us napped, I was fully alert taking pictures and videos of the trip.
• Amarjeet, our friendly guide, told us about Genting Highlands but he was most impressed by Uncle Lim.
• Uncle Lim, the founder of Genting Highlands, was a small carpenter who rose to become the most powerful private contractor of Malaya to the 12th richest man in the world.
• He started work on Genting Highlands in 1965 and the first hotel at the hilltop was opened in 1971. Developing from an isolated hill top today the place is a must visit for tourist to Malaysia.
• Well getting back to my trip - The bus journey was smoother than a flight. Not a single pot hole in sight, we travelled over 125 kms at almost even speed and the broad roads and disciplined traffic was another special feature of Malaysia.
• Enroute we crossed KL and had our first glimpse of the Petronas tower, another must visit site of Malaysia.
• The roads started going up an incline and the greenery and flowers were in abundance. Palm trees, infact entire plantations lined the highway and hibiscus of all colours, planted in the road dividers, danced in the light breeze.
• Our luggage had already reached the hotel we were informed. By the way, Amarjeet had made a midway stop at a highway dhabha which was as well equipped as the best food courts.
• One irritant which dogged us through out the tour was first sensed at this stop. The smell of raw non vegetarian food (especially beef) can kill the appetite of most vegetarians and non beef eating Hindus.
• The trip to Genting Highland from the base of the hilltop was done on the Genting skyway, a cable car that runs 3.4 kms in only 18 minutes. The beauty of the cable car ride is that we take the ride over a tropical rain forest which is more than 70 million years old. If green is your favourite colour you will have nothing to complain about.
• "Genting Highland is only the third entertainment city in the world" Amarjeet informed us adding that it was at par with Las Vegas and Sun city.
• By the time we had checked into our Hotel, The first World Hotel, the biggest hotel in the world with 6,118 rooms (It is said that the hotel has this odd number of rooms as the place is 6,118 feet above sea level), we were dead tired. The world biggest hotel has very small rooms and no room service is provided.
• We had some expensive sour tasting coffee and got ready for dinner. The spread was huge but the food taste did not suit us so a hard core non veg like me had to suppliment my meal with fruits.
• The next day we had breakfast at a new place and spend some time at the theme park. Nothing special here.
• The casinos were crowded and noisy. I did not play. I believe the ambience was as good as the casinos in vegas.
• The lunch was again at the place where we had dinner and then we started for KL.

The highlight of the visit to Genting was the cable car ride over the tropical rain forests and the variety of hibiscus all along the road. The palm plantations and terrace agri plots along the way was what impressed me the most.

I was not impressed by the casinos as I did not win (I believe I would have liked it if I had played and won) and the theme park was nothing out of usual.

By the way the place was damn crowded and expensive by Indian standards. Chinese youngsters were the dominant group with Indians coming a close second.

To be continued....

OUR TRIP TO MALAYSIA

Hi,

The trip to Malaysia and Singapore was good.

I think this sentence actually sums up my impression about the two countries. Nothing exceptional but no one is disappointed. In this post I talk about Malaysia.

• Cox & Kings our tour operator had booked us on Sri Lankan Airlines (I had protested and asked them to book us on a direct flight but they said that it would cost Rs.10,000/- more for the four of us) which meant that we took a flight first to Colombo (3.30 hrs) stayed there for a few hours (In fact we reached there at 10 PM and shifted to a reasonably good resort called Tamarind Tree and started back for the airport at 5.20AM) and then boarded the flight to Malaysia. (3 hours)
• The KL airport is reasonably big and we had to take the mono rail from our terminal to the exit and immigration terminal. This was the first time we took the mono rail at an airport and the uniqueness of the rail trip impressed me. I embarrased my daughter by taking pictures. The mono rail at the airport is the slow version of the metros. Another unique feature of the airport was the effort to create an ambience of closeness to nature within the concrete. We had sunlight streaming in through atriums and green foilage along the travelator. I embarrased the family once again by insisting on taking pictures. I will no longer mention this embarrasment part as this continued to happen at regular frequency till they gave up protesting.
• OK, Need to add this - we had to fill in the health form for Swine Flu. I believe they had a thermal detector in place as well. The form was also needed at Sri Lanka. Indians are given 72 hours Visa on arrival at Sri Lanka.
• Our Guide Amarjeet was waiting for us at the exit and by the time we gathered together it was almost 2 in the afternoon. (3 and half hours ahead of India and Sri Lanka). 42 of us had collected from Delhi and Mumbai.
• Amarjeet is an Indian Malaysian (second generation) and can speak Hindi. It is understood that he is the only Malaysian guide who can speak Hindi.
• We put our luggage in a mini truck and boarded our Bus for Genting Highlands.

To be continued...

THINGS I DID LIKE ABOUT DARBHANGA

Hello,
After having put in a lot of words about my disappointment with the trip to Darbhanga I started to think and ponder on the positives of the trip. Was it so bad that I did not see any thing I liked? I wondered and concluded that no it was not that bad.

• The four lane highway from Patna to Darbhanga is almost done. Once it is done the traffic flow will improve and the journey will be comfortable. The stretches where the road was completed was good.
• The Raj Dharbhanga fort stands tall. A majestic structure it reminds you of the forts in Delhi and Rajasthan.
• Alongside the old untouched cinemas we see several new structures. The buildings around our dilapidated lal kothi states that money is flowing in. It is understood that children from Darbhanga are moving out and doing well for themselves. It is interesting to note that they are ploughing back the gains into Darbhanga. With land at a premium it is understood that land costs are pretty high.
• Our plot of land continues to remain the largest in the town. The plot of Gopalji Chacha comes a close second and his son Arvind told me that there were only two landlord families left in Darbhanga i.e. after Darbhanga Maharaj, of course.
• Gujju Chacha, my uncle who has stayed back has continued to retain the goodwill built for the family by my grandfather and his predecessors. We had several visitors and all appeared keen to retain contacts with the family.
• Nitesh, Neha and Dolly, Gujju chacha's children and my younger cousins have done well for themselves. Nitesh seems to be doing well in his business venture in Chennai, Neha is already recruited by Ranbaxy through her campus and Dolly, who is still in school appears to be on the right track.
• The hotel we stayed in was Airconditioned, we had electricity for the major part of the day and the comforts were at least three star. Did not expect this in Darbhanga.
• My childhood friends, Arvind and Mani came down to meet me and we effortlessly slipped back into those days when sitting in our verandah and playing cards was a full time activity. They did not have the paunch that most people in mid age acquire and looked as good.
• Sanju and Nitesh are good cousins to have. Sanju has matured.
• Although the Lal Kothi is beyond repair and rennovation we can still think of something for the place.
• Our entire family got together at short notice. This shows that there is a chance of doing things together.
• Cleanliness remains an issue but you cannot have everything can you?

Hope seems to come back when I think of the positives. I only pray that matters get sorted out legally. I cannot afford to get into any legal tangle.

SAINA NEHWAL - INDIAN CHAMPION

Hello,
With the Indian cricket team going out of the world cup without a fight and Jeev Milkha Singh struggling for form I had thought it would take a long while before I wrote about an Indian Champion.
It is my mistake that I missed writing on Suranjoy Singh who gave India its first Asian championship gold in 15 years. Thokchom Nanao Singh and Jai Bhagwan who got silver medals and Jitender Kumar (54kg) Vijender Singh (75kg), Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Paramjit Samota (+91kg) who won bronze are the unsung heroes in the Indian Sporting arena.
The country’s boxers rounded off a 27-year best performance in the elite event in Zhuhai, China ending the campaign with a gold, two silver and four bronze medals. The team was placed third in the overall standings behind host China and Uzbekistan.
Coming back to my search for an Indian Champion. Saina Nehwal has finally delivered. She was always at the rim of the steep incline to being called the best and she has shown tremendous character in working hard to finally reach there. Victory in Indonesia Super Series badminton tournament is the first ever Super Series win by an Indian and she can now proudly step on the pedestal that was till now reserved for our All England heroes Prakash Padukone and Gopichand.
The BAI, a very poor cousin of the BCCI, has announced an award of Rs. 2,00,000/= peanuts when compared to what BCCI distributed to schools in South Africa (Rs. 5,30,00,000/=) during the IPL. Does this raise a question about loyalty to the nation?
But it has always been like this in India. A politician can donate a gold crown with diamond studs worth Rs. 4,00,00,000/= at Tirupati Balaji when he just has to step out of his house and see people who do not get a single meal every day.
The focus is wrong and till we get it right we shall continue to be a nation without many heroes.
Regards,
Manoj

TRIP TO DARBHANGA

I was wondering if it would be right to jot down the disappointments of the trip. I had such high hopes and so many wonderful memories of the place that I feel I betray the place of my birth when I say i was disappointed by what I saw.
The trip started on a wrong footing -

• We chose to go by train to Patna when flights were available - my sister, Asha and I had decided on the train journey as we felt that the flight to Patna would be an unwanted expense for our younger sister, Rina. This seemed stupid when we saw how Rina's husband, Ashok pooh poohed the idea of expenses. I believe they are doing well financially and do not require their NRI relatives to look down on them financially. Good for them.
• Coming back to the beginning - the choice of going by train was wrong - Delhi station was very crowded, the weather was hot and humid, the waiting rooms were overflowing with people, the fans on the platforms were not working, the tracks next to the platform were full of human filth and bad odour, the wait for the train to arrive was too long. The sea of humanity, the filth, the bad odour and the delay was a big letdown after we had heard so much about what laloo Yadav was supposed to have done for the Indian Railways.
• The train was a dissappointment as well. The sheets, pillows provided were unclean, there were cockroaches is the coach and we were not allotted seats together and although we had thought it would be fun with all 10 of us travelling together it never materialized. I could not sleep well as I feared that my snoring would disturb the others and although the AC worked fine, I do not think I can say that the train trip was enjoyable.
• We reached Patna in the morning and were happy to see a less crowded station. The station also appeared cleaner than Delhi. We were joined by Shailesh, Asha's husband. This was a surprise as he had told us that he would be on a business trip in Dubai. He is a fun guy and I was happy to see him. We stopped over at his parents house in Patna. This place in Sri Krishna Nagar is supposed to be a posh area with the CM of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, having a house in the same colony, but the surroundings were a disappointment. There was a vacant plot nearby which was being used as a garbage dump by all residents in the vicinity. I fail to understand how people ignore the threat of disease that this kind of garbage disposal invites. The pothole in front of the house gate was as big as a inflatable kiddies swimming pool.

Do you think this is bad. Well this did not actually disappoint me enough as the memories of the house in Darbhanga was keeping me in good spirits.

• The journey to Darbhanga by road was torturous. The state highway was under construction and the lesser we talk about the better. But once we reached Darbhanga the spirits took a dip.
• We took a narrow path along the Raj Darbhanga fort. - A fabulous construction in red, ignored and unattended. It would have acted like an oasis in the middle of a desert if they had taken care of the beautiful structure created many many years ago. Unfortunately the surroundings are inhabited by a set of people who have ideas about cleanliness that is matchless. Used to broad roads in Kuwait and reasonable roads in Jaipur we felt it was a miracle that the path along the Raj fort could manage a two way traffic.
• Anyway, the tower chowk, Uma and Society cinema which have a special place in my memories were also a disappointment. They remained untouched by any caring hand for the last 25 years. And then finally I reached the Lal Kothi - my grandfather's abode, a place I have always associated with buccolic charm. Oh God! what a disappointment.
• The kothi has crumpled. Only 50% of the frontage in broken state is still standing. The lovely frontage is spoilt by several changes. The grond in front has been raised to reduce the steps to the verandah from 10 to four. The rose garden in front of the house is a weed infested open ground, the agricultural patch beyond is also weed infested and the small pond at the end remains just a pool of dirty water.
• I enter the house and go inside - the inner aangan looks beautiful except that the rooms around it have all collapsed. The Tulsi still stands but I do not think anyone prays there. The house with 36 rooms is now a modern structure with just three rooms at one corner. They say that my aunt was hit by a falling brick in the old room and they had to hastily build the new rooms to escape further calamity. I cried inside and I am sure my grandfather who was so proud of his house would be crying as well.
• Is there a chance to redo it. No none. None as it would be expensive. None as it would not be worth it. None as the will to do it is missing.
• I had plans of doing something for the house, but then I heard what my relatives had to say and I got scared.

I am giving it time though and if and only if things can be sorted out legally will I take the next step. Till then I have no option but to regret the tumbling of my childhood memories.

• Darbhanga is a disappointment. The population has multiplied, the land has remained the same.
• Darbhanga is a disappointment. People have moved out and have come back with the same narrow minds.
• Darbhanga is a disappointment. The village setting has been forsaken to create concrete structures without the supporting infrastructure.

Luckily, three trees, the jalebi tree at the far end of the agri plot, the coconut tree on the left and the lovely tree with flowers we used for prayers on the right still stand. Gives me hope, but is it hopeless I wonder.

I had hoped that with so many relatives gathering we would be in a position to think on some positive lines. No one talked about anything, group photgraphs were taken, hugs were exchanged but I feel that the under current of ill feeling towards each other is too strong to fight against.

Dear God prove me wrong. I am ready to be corrected.

Roger Federer - The new Rod Laver

Hi,
This post is slightly out of date as it should have come immediately after the guy who can cry when winning as well as when loosing made it to the apex at the french open.
Congratulation Roger on your 14th Grand Slam.
With Nadal out of Wimbledon, I am hoping that the Pete Sampras record is going for a tumble very soon.
Best of luck, Roger.
Roger Federer has shown to the world what it takes to be a champion. Many have said that he would not be able to match the genius of Laver but you need to remember that Tennis is now more global than it was in the 60's when Laver was playing. It also needs to be pointed out that Roger has shown that he is a true champion by hanging out there when people had already dipped their quills into his blood for his obituary after he lost to Nadal at the last Wimbledon.
Not that it belittles Laver, Pete or Nadal but the affable Roger is a true champ.
Well done and keep going.
Manoj

PAKISTAN - WORLD CHAMPIONS

Pakistan were crowned world champions for 20-twenty yesterday and they truely deserve the crown.
The fact that they were nearly there in the last edition when the Misbah Scoop did them in and the way they sorted out the mystery of Dilshan, Murali, Mendis and Malinga means that they do know how to do well in this format.
A difference that was noticeable - Imran and Younis - Both khans have lead them to their major triumphs, but while Imran was egoistic to the very end, Younis is humble.
Imran's team played for him, Younis's team plays for the country. He makes it clear that the win is for the country. He was a reluctant leader but the way he was able to extract the goods from Afridi speaks well of his skills.
Sri Lanka were undone by the failure of Dilshan and although the 3M's did try their best while bowling, the score was not good enough and Afridi did not loose his head.
I bet on Sri Lanka winning the next edition. This way the cup stays in the Indian sub continent.
Manoj

World Cup 20 Twenty

Hello,
Last time while writing about the IPL I had mentioned that Dhoni, as captain of Chennai, had his bad moments in the field and made decisions that went against his team.
Now with India out of the World Cup 20 Twenty a lot has already been spoken about the mistakes he made in and out of the playing arena. He has also turned defensive and his batting (pushes, nudges and defensive prods) indicate that he is no longer the aggressive captain he was when India won the World cup and put up strong performances against Australia, England and Sri Lanka in the recent past. His defensive attitude on the Sehwag issue also indicated that he is now burdened by thoughts that are in no way connected with winning. Finally when he started blaming the BCCI for selecting players with injuries he exhibited fraility. When the leader tries to camouflage poor performance he is not doing justice to his position. Not only is he being dishonest, he is also blocking the path of remedy.
India is a cricket crazy nation and it is normal that defeats affect us badly. When you are so passionate about the game it is normal that you wear your heart on your sleave and it is again stupid of people to put this outpouring of feelings as a sign of immaturity. (Artherton says Indian supporters are most immature)
The only way to get back the support of the fans is by getting back to the winner's podium. Belief in their own natural abilities will get them back there. Too much analysis spoils the broth, Dhoni should go by his insticts again, attack and trust the attacking players. Do not play the way the media wants you to, play for victory.
Good luck to Dhoni and his men when they tour West Indies.
Manoj

INDIA, MALAYSIA, SINGAPORE & SRI LANKA

Hello,
I have just completed a 15 days tour of the above mentioned countries and the first difference between the southeast and the Indian subcontinent is clearly the cleanliness and discipline.
When we land into India from Kuwait we see some greenery and are so happy but then when we reach Malaysia and Singapore, India looks like a desert. The rain forests of the southeast are green and pleasant.
Then when you get out of the aircraft the manner in which things are handled is also different Malaysia and Singapore are strict but efficient. India and Sri Lanka are lax and indifferent.
The only thing in favor of the sub continent is the prices.
Singapore doubles the prices of everything in Malaysia. So if a tee costs 10 ringets in Malaysia it is 10 Sing $ in Singapore. And the price of a similar looking tee in Sri Lanka is just 400 Sri Lanka rupees. That is rupees 200 (Indian).
Rest in my detailed post later.
Best regards,
Manoj