Emblem for Indian Premiur League (IPL)

Emblem for Indian Premiur League (IPL):

For a nation, where Sachin is loved like a Greek God, Cricket brings all religions together, 
and where a billion wishes come true when India wins, this small poem is dedicated to all IPL fans:


"Yeh Khel nahi yeh jung hai, Veeron par khilta rang hai,

Yodhaon ki bhumi par, dekh rahe sab dang hai, sab dang hai, sab dang hai!!!

Bin sarhadon ki ladai mein, pradeshon ka prakop hai,

Do dalon ki yeh mahabharat nai,Shoorviron ki yeh jung hai, jung hai, jung hai!!!

Bin bhalon aur talwaron ke, tu marne ko tyaar hai,
Tu Dekh har phoonkar ko, apni chonti par buland hai, buland hai, buland hai!!!
Kuch palon mein hai haar-jeet, lambi mehnat aur sangarsh hai,
Ekkathe hue shoor-viron mein, shatruaon jaisa pratibhimb hai, pratibhimb hai, pratibhimb hai!!!"

-Raghav

Strong earthquake shakes Delhi/NCR on 5th March 2012

Today, 5th March 2012, earthqiake with strong intenstity shoook Delhi and NCR Region at around 1:08p.m. Strong ripples were felt in KG Marg, Barakhamba road and my buidling, Hindustan Times started shaking intensily (could figure it out from the lock hanging hitting the latch here).
The earthquake alomost lasted for 10-15seconds.

Luck by chance - Pratibha menon

The kid around the block, or infact the student who has not missed even a single class throughout out her innings at school, Pratibha Menon, was accorded a distinction/ award for having 100% attendance, a feat almost 100% of students find impossible and naturally unachievable.

Coming across this incident, one gets easily reminded of Dettol advertisement where in a student is awarded for not missing even a single class in school for entire year. The bottom line being the hygiene through Dettol Soap/ hand wash protects the kid from all fatal diseases. Quite symbolic, isn’t so???

This feat by Delhi student Pratibha certainly makes her the brand ambassador for Dettol (RB Group) advertisements. Is the company ready to fill in the empty seat (as shown in the advertisement) and Pratibha ready to mark her attendance now in realm of media industry? Only time would tell….

Read news story here

The Australian Syndrome

A mother of two, based out of a small town in Punjab, is in a dilemma over sending one of her kids to Australia for the want of better education, healthy lifestyle and bright future for entire family, but realizes the ill events occurring down-under. Now that is what one would call an Australian Syndrome, where on one end of the spectrum, you’ll find triumph waiting in a land of opportunities, but on the other end are opportunistic individuals, ready to cause wrath on influx the way they see moral or rather immoral.

What has been happening in Australia is unfriendly to say the least. From the sledging on cricket grounds to beatings on road-lanes, the journey has been tough for Indian counterparts. One needs to look into the gravity of the situation in an inclusive manner, than exclusive. True, not every Australian can be tagged as inhospitable, but then not every Indian is stealing someone’s job or living a life in non-conformance to Australian values.

What makes Indians so vulnerable? Why has there been a spate of incidents in recent past? Well, if we introspect rationally, we’ll realize it is the cultural difference that makes so. Australia, to my understanding can be symbolic to a bowl full with rich ingredients mixed together, but does that mean that this bowl will necessarily serve a delicious meal? Well, you know the answer. Australians have always been very accommodating, but just one characteristic doesn’t define the entire personality, even of a human. In this highly complex world, we should rather understand the role of every variable than focus on one particular parameter in order to survive as one amongst the fittest. But the subtle quandary that exists within us either living in a kangaroo land, or as a matter of fact, in any place in world except India. How would existing members of a home feel if a new entrant, though physically living with them, is recluse in every other sense? Would you still call it a ‘home’? Same analogy gets applied to Australia, who as accepting as they are, may want to break the ice and want Indians to live the way they live, be friendly, learn the social lingo, and adapt to the locale customary schemes. But it’s us who remain oblivion to the insistence!!! Now, is that so hard? If it is, next time stop staring at a foreign couple lip-locking in the middle of an Indian bazaar, calling it highly ‘disgusting’ and ‘unacceptable’!!!

You need two hands to clap, but one to slap. Slapping, so far, we’ve been on the receiving side, what is needed now is to reverberate the noise from here back to them, if the series of events is to continue. If they are shameless, we need to give up the shackles of quietness, and reciprocate our esteemed partners in full favor. In fact, since immemorial times, when has any Indian not given his partner his worth due!!!For every unaided Indian killed down-under, we should kill a couple of innocent Aussies domestically, and promise Australia about thorough investigation underway, as they do!!! Only then they would realize what it feels to lose a family member thousands of miles away. An injury on other’s body may cause remorse to the guilty, but only a wound on his own body can cause him the real pain.

Through this article, I would say no one individual is responsible for suffering, but it requires just one individual’s courage to dictate terms to rectify thing in order out of chaos. So Indian government, its emigrant citizens, the Australian government and its citizens, should act as an Individual ready to put the things in right perspective!!!

REST IN PEACE – HOW ‘NOBEL’ WAS THIS IDEA??

An elated Obama heaved a sigh of relieve & muttered the words, “REST IN PEACE!!!” Hold on, did he mean those words to those innumerable victims who were siphoned off from earth by America in America’s International War against terrorism, or did he laugh from inside for the individuals who kept their fingers crossed very long, of course not for Nobel Prize but for social causes?? Well, only the President could tell. But having encountered a grand yet so myopic decision, I wonder if Obama cross-examined self on this saying, “What a nobel idea it was of distributing hope to millions of Americans, down-n-out, but where do I go from here??”

The Nobel Peace Prize committee wanted to give the Alfred Nobel Award (Alfred is watching from heavens) to an individual who could form a yardstick for the world to follow for peace & harmony, to a personality who could muster strength in people by words translated to action. And so Obama was the chosen one. Analysts are of the opinion that this was the way to welcome Obama regime after the tiring, and miscalculated innings played by Bush Administration. Bush’s search for weapons of Mass destruction in Iraq & Afghanistan did create uproar in international community, but does the end justify the means here?

If America was indeed undergoing a serious trouble coupled with recession, & Nobel Peace Prize belongs to global community, then shouldn’t the award really go to people fighting for eternity in Congo, or to Africans who had led the superlative form of malnourished life with all their complaints going unregistered in Doha Rounds? Or in fact to people whose work is best known when they are no longer alive?

I don’t exactly recall how long Nelson Mandela had to wait for the same Peace Award, or for how long Mahatma Gandhi’s recognition was delayed for not giving to an Asian who was dhoti clad for majority of his life, but one thing’s for sure here, Obama’s short and prolific stint did win him the laurels that no other individual dared to achieve laboring for most of his/her life!!!

Mr. Obama’s financial aid to Pakistan to fight Taliban, or against terrorism, or his proliferation of army personnel in Iraq, or his expedition to explore the north reaches of Arctic to tap future potential, if they all sum up for a Nobel Peace Prize, then no wonder every individual on this earth should be given one for doing something or the other wrong in life!!! And the best ones would be the individuals not given this materialistic prize but the recognition by the observant citizens of World.

I really don’t know if President Obama would start his stint now as the President of the masses by action & not just by words, but having put onus on his back, Nobel Committee did accidentally implant the seeds for President to act in future. Only time will tell, whether Obama takes a cue from here or continue to bath in the glory of a Peaceful existence in White House with Nobel Award at the desk and Gandhi Ji’s photo at back looking up to him with the same HOPE he delivered in his speeches!!!

God Bless,

Raghav

Sach Ka Samna - let's Face It....

‘Sach ka Samna’, the show inspired from the English program ‘The moment of Truth’, is finding itself quite literally in a debutant confrontation with the bitter-truth of the society. And that is, “We Indians as viewers cannot really tolerate the mockery of social ethos and culture on television, but as hypocrite citizens are ready to commit all sorts of not-to-be-told, selfish & naughty acts in secret!!!” Isn’t so??
Rajeev Khandelwal, hosting one of those biggies, after landmarks like Kaun Banega Crorepati (Host:Amitabh Bachchan) & Kya aap Panchi paas hain?(Host: ShahRukh Khan) on Star Plus, seems to be taken for a ride for being a part of it. The question arises, Aren’t we really ready for such a show which exposes individuals’ inner evils to this swindler world, when we are ready for obscene programs like Splits-Villa shown on MTV & daring, in-your-face programs shown on Real? Is a late night format like ‘Sach ka Samna’ that bad that it gets ridiculed & looked down upon by news media and social frenzy when programs like Splits-Villa, Roadies etc. are shown at that time of the day when television attracts maximum viewers (that too teenagers, kids & girls)?
As literally put by one of the advertisements, ‘Jaago India, Jaago!!!”. Stop beating around the bush for deciding what’s wrong and what’s not, when each one of us knows internally & eternally, who we really are from the gut, & how clean we are at the bottom (pun intended)!!!
I happened to watch few exclusive shows on different news channels showing Rajeev Khandelwal, the most apt actor for Sach ka Samna(of course after a real & worldly performance in Armaan), clarifying his position (on behalf of this show) and persuading public at large. He was being bombarded by those vicious questions thrown mercilessly by experts from fields like psychology, hospitals, retd. Chartered accountants, news reporters, channel hosts, and audience. Woah, did I go about listing quite a number of people, just proves how shallow this society is, and how full it is with such shallow people??? Quite an oxymoron, isn’t so?
Before you pounce anymore questions to Mr. Khandelwal, I would like you to re-think and try answering the same question from within, for I believe the following point gives a good argument for the defense of Mr. Khandelwal & his show:-
•This show isn’t Rajeev Khandelwal’s brain-child. It’s a format picked from English show with honors (with all criticisms) going to Harold Schultz. So will the proclaiming righteous Indians stop misjudging and start pointing (if they still want to) in the right direction?
•As said by famous Danzel Wanshington (in ‘Men on Fire’), ‘I’m just the medium to send people to God, it is He who decides who has to be called’. So, people, Mr. Khandelwal is just a host, I’m sure he’s got other professional commitments and tasks to do, rather than getting indulged in somebody’s personal life. Also, he is there to just ask you the questions, with sole contention being yours in participating, and for carrying the lust to lose integrity and gain monies.
•There have been cases in past proving fatal to participants in foreign countries and hence receiving their ire, but do realize, people have also seen earning in a filthy manner here in a matter of few hours and start their lives when it has come to a stand-still.
•This show is for TRP’s and hence all the advertisements earnings so don’t worry you hypocrite Indian, nobody in this world can force you to sit back and watch this show. You can very well go to bed & pay your night taxes the way you define them with a mirror of truth designed by this ugly society.

I surely know that with the land of “me-too”’s, one can expect advice for free from a billion, but I ask you, in a land of billion, do you have the guts to come & participate in this show and embrace your grace with truth & wisdom? Think over it….
Take care,
Raghav

FedEx crashes Del Potro in Semis – French Open 2009

Exhilarating! Adrenalin rushing high!! Testing and nerve-racking!!! The more synonyms one attach to the match played between World No. 2 Roger Federer & 5^th seeded Del Potro, the less credit one would accrue to the scintillating performances. Yes, I’m talking about the semi-finals played between the two for Roland Garros’ French Open 2009. There was no doubt that Roger was tested all over the court for his skills and acrobatic moves by the young lad from Argentine. Won by Federer, but the contest was a battle of the war-lords fought furiously by the Argentinean. The convincing throttle unleashed by Potro must have sent shocking waves to the Swiss. With scores like 6/3, 6/7, 6/2, 1/6, 4/6 the match was equally combated by the two opponents. Clay not being the winning grounds for Swiss, one could really see him mustering all the strength required to fight it out, and convert his streak of 4 times entering into clay-court finals into a resounding Grand Slam victory this time. Match could have been compared to the wrestling match between Steve Austin & The Rock, with Rock (Roger) showing the greatest tenacity to fight till the last moment and Austin (Potro) knocking him with heavy punches and aces throughout the match.

Starting with the lead over Roger with 6/3 in the first set, one could clearly see the spirits with which Potro was there to fight it out. Having Roger thrown all around the court, Potro literally dictated the terms of tennis on the court. The second set was an equivocal combat between the two with each of them winning their respective points to fight for the final point in the form of a tie-breaker. This was when Federer showed his prowess to take the control of the situation. He led the tie-breaker deciding points with a lead of 5-1. And went on to winning the second set. In the third set, Potro was back again with full energy and enthusiasm and took the lead right from the beginning, leaving Federer trailing behind miserably. This was when it became for sure that tonight Potro was the one who dictated all terms on the ground, with throwing nearly three times aces on average in every set when compared to Federer. The average speed with which the Argentinean served fell in the bracket of 195 to 210 Km/hr which was much thumping and powerful when compared to Roger at 185 to 194 Km/hr. This made Potro clinch the third set with a score of 6/2, blowing Federer all over the court.

Moving towards the fourth set was when Federer was seen to come back in original form with 5^th seeded clearly showing signs of subtle tiredness setting in. but least he was about to give up. But fourth set saw, Roger competing against Potro in long rallies and coming out as clear winner. He made Potro move and fight hard for ball all around the court. With a number of double-faults on service committed by Potro, Federer was able to break his serve a number of times, thereby leading the set with an easy 1/6 win.

With match moving towards the final set, the deciding one, Roger decided to take the lead right from the beginning. In spite of a huge built and good height, Potro just could not perform to his highest levels to make Federer play at back foot from the court line. Roger begin the set with a clean sweep of 2/0 lead, and things started to become clear that Roger was hitting the bulls’ eye now when Argentinean shot back and moved the set towards 3/3 with serving for next game point. With the status-quo between the two at this point of time, it was a do or die situation between both the world-class players. Roger broke the serve of Potro and went on to lead the game with 3/4 score in the final set. Now, roger served and went on to win the point, leading the scores with 3/5. On Potro’s serve, Roger made all his efforts to break his serve and win the match, but the success was not bound to come easy when he had a fighting soldier at the other end of the battleground. The scores were 4/5 with Roger now serving for the match. This was made as easy as possible by Federer who went on to win this point and match with 40/15 intermediate scores and double match winning points.

At the end, a match played for over 3 hours could be a decider between the two, but it was a winning and quite convincing show for the audience, spectators in the court and for the spirit of the came.

Hope this streak of Federer continues and go on to win the French Open 2009 and create a new world record by beating Robin Soderling (the past occasions being Roger beating him 9 on 9 times). ALL THE BEST FEDEx!!!!

Education – The definitive road to success

There is no denying the fact that today, for any country to prosper, the most formidable pillars embodies in education & research foundations of a country. With a technology driven no-border world, every country relies most heavily on the most abundant & developed resources - humans. Higher education supplemented with research certainly earmarks the renaissance to heal the world of atrocities, ignorance, hatred and march towards a robotic productivity and efficiency in every walk of life.

After taking the charge of HRD Ministry, Dr.Kapil Sibal has a lot to do when it comes to bring the higher education at par with top-notch foreign universities’ and provide enough impetus for conducting world-class research in diversified facets of universe. Rather than opening up the avenues for foreign sub-standard and mediocre institutions in Indian contingent, there is a gamut of measures one need to ponder on for higher literacy and improving education.

The point where we need to begin is at primary and secondary education level. The scenario present today gives an image of a pyramid having three layers with maximum students waiting to get elementary education present at the bottom most level and still deprived of the resources and opportunities, the middle level comprising of students at senior secondary level not able to complete their studies due to lack of right enthusiasm and orientation, and the top triangular region comprising of very few students undertaking research with futile facilities accrued to them. The solution lies in re-orienting the pyramid to work out a win-win-win situation for all the three categories of future potentials. This can be explained with the help of the following diagram:

The first diagram shows the number of students in India at three levels and the second diagram shows the extent of facilities & resources made available to them at the respective levels (merging the two would bring in clarity). Mr. Sibal, what is required is not more meaningless facilities at the top but the greatest dedication towards the bottom i.e. the youngest lot. If problems at this level are rooted out, one would not wonder the closing in of the day when reservations in all forms can get siphoned off from the Indian contingent from every sphere of life & work, and convert s small fraction of research students into a vast pool (as shown in diagrams above). What we need to accomplish is the grooming of the bud in form of adequate provision of mid-day meals, Sarva Shiskha Abhiyan, Women & Child protection and empowerment and many more multitude of operations. Girl child needs to get educated and at par with boys with every right accrued to them. Subjects of morality, society and discipline needs to be incorporated in every class of school curriculum till the senior secondary education levels.

At the elementary level, more efforts need to be called for from non-working mothers to help in preparing meals for kids in schools where their wards study. This can be complimented with NREGA in villages and grams. Teachers’ attendance need to be properly supervised by the school authorities and submitted to the board for scrutinizing, sudden checks, and promotions. Awareness campaigns need to be launched on regular intervals at every village and small towns to educate ignorant masses towards keeping a tab on school authorities and their kid’s progress at school. Monetary incentives need to be proliferated on a wider scale to promote girl education.

At the senior secondary level, students need to be shown a more grown-up like attitude and give them the freedom to try out different diversified things. Students should be given real life trainings on different aspects like a day in the life of a traffic cop, drills, tutoring the down-trodden and needy, and certified for the same. Incentives in form of certificates pave a successful mechanism for making the maximum students try out their hand at different activities. To bring in transparency in the work carried out by government officials in different state and central governments’ initiatives, students from this level need to be given the authority to understand and inspect the work in progress and prepare reports. This would not only remove corruption, but also help them work towards the government’s cause which gets declared in form of government certificates.

At the highest level of education, students need to be given the right opportunities in form of monetary aids and all the help from prolific researchers, academicians and scholars in form of recurring events, tours & trips etc. They need to be given international exposure by initiatives to be taken by government in form of research conducting countries’ cruises and see the way researches are carried there. I was once asked by R.B.I(Delhi) Director & Team, what is the reason for such a low no. of hardware engineers in India? Well, I certainly do not agree with the statement, but there’s an underlying truth if we compare hardware professionals with other professions. The low numbers primarily point towards the fallacies in the system beginning at the root levels coupled with inadequate facilities/ opportunities given at the highest levels of education. It is this stage which can pave the success of India from being a service dominant industry to the biggest manufacturing hub of tomorrow.

Living it down-under

Apropos to the events unfolding in Australia, one wonders with awe the atrocities meted out to foreign students. In times when globalization speak for unification of different people, cultures and countries all over, these events come as a serious surprise to every rational being. What happened to Sharvan Kumar, or Sourabh Sharma and couple of other students evident the loop holes still widely prevalent in the so called multi-cultural, multi-ethnic world? But isn’t the hypothesis of calling these events racist too early a conclusion? Or is it pure stupor that India attaches to such events on foreign soil? Well, the answer lays in the future course of action and framework definition to protect the interests of foreign students and workers.

Before one can jump on to any conclusion that could be highly detrimental, one needs to weigh in all the reasons that caused all this to happen. Looking tangentially, I wonder if international cricket and specifically the rivalry between Indian and Australian cricket time resulted into this foray. With high decibel sledging by Australian cricketers ‘down-under’, and an un-equivocal status of BCCI in world cricket, the game between two sides give an impression of battle on the turf. Harbhajan Singh episode with Andrew Symonds in recent past has only proliferated tensions between the two countries. The correlation between sports world, specifically cricket and the social life is derived from the sentiments the sport drive on crazy spectators and game lovers. And that too in both the counties. We might not get to see an Australian beaten-up in Indian subcontinent, but can we really be optimistic about the same happening down-under? Or can we really forget what Indians have also done to foreign tourists in the past, even when they were not remotely connected to the world of cricket? Well, both the answers are right in front of all of us. Infact, Harbhajan singh’s cousin’s son, Utpal Singh also lost his life in Australia in one of those similar attacks.

Racism would set in when one enters into an elite territory, a superior state from a beleaguered or less prosperous one. But that case doesn’t fit for countries like Australia. Australia is first of all no one-culture nation, rather it has always been supportive of different people thronging from different countries all over the world. This country have had a tough past as migrants (Aborigines), one could not rebuke this country for few events which are unwanted. It has been for years that Indian students go for higher studies like hotel management hospitality industry to Australia in addition to a number of Bollywood movies being shot and screened there. So, in a nut shell, racism is uncalled for, but if indeed this evil is the grim reality, then one could only feel sorry for a foreign country like Australia who belied what they stood for.

At micro-level, an inspection would be highly full-filling. For we need to connect what was common amongst all the accidents no matter where they happened. Was it a clear demand of moolah (Australian dollars) by Australian students/ nationals which invigorated them to take such harsh steps? Or was it a personal vendetta or enmity of past? I strongly support the fact that culprits should be brought to book and framework needs to be defined which could help cultivate the on-going relationship between not just our two countries but also all over the world.

Wishing a speedy recovery to all the students/ nationals, and message from the heart of every Indian, ‘take care!!!’

Letter published in Hindu - Ragging

Here's the link to my letter (The hindu):-

http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/17/stories/2009031755560804.htm

Full Article

It is a matter of grave concerns that issues like ragging still find place in institutes of learning and education. Whether it is news catching cases of Aman kachroo in Himachal Pradesh or agricultural institute ragging incident in Andhra Pradesh, the so called ice-breaking practice seems to only corroborate in evil sense.  One shudders on the mere thought of innumerable ragging cases that must be plaguing in different colleges in different parts of the country.

What needs to be in place in times today is not beat the culprit policy based on punishments like restrictions, expulsions or suspensions, for they would serve a short term goal of reprimanding the guilty, but an holistic approach to end ragging in long run paving the ways to restore peace and harmony within every individual in more stressful times to come.

There have been many initiatives in form of Raghavan Committee Recommendations taken up in past with achievements in form of anti-ragging squads formation in colleges, but with today’s highly pressurized life-style, one need to go back to basics to overcome this menace.

There exists a thin line between being immoral and being amoral. To root out both, one needs to lay emphasis on Primary school education. For this, the core requirement is to make every student a morality-literate individual right from the primary school education till he/she passes senior secondary school education. This would call for incorporation of a subject covering morals, ethics, principles, society dynamics & individual behavior. A span of one subject at various levels over a period of 8 to 10 years will lay the creation of law abiding, moral and honest human beings. The evaluation of a student in this subject would be based on grading scales and in order to encourage students to take up this subject more seriously, reward in form of certificates can be given to individuals scoring highest grades.  This would help every student to be sound and rational in decision making process at the time of higher education studies. In a nutshell, a slow but a robust process having longest positive impact on the society.

Another improvisation needed in today is to make anti-ragging squads (ARS) more vigilant and action oriented in various institutes and colleges. This entails providing an SMS service to students to report any startling ‘ragging’ activity in college/hostel premises to ARS before becoming victim to the menace. The major step to be taken in this direction is to grow the size of ARS in every college to address concerns like availability and place an inspection team of faculty/professors to check regularly over the activities of ARS.

Third initiative would be in form of mentor-mentee program wherein ever senior would be allotted a couple of juniors who can have a highly interactive sessions that will help in confidence building measures during the stay in the college. A group of two to three mentees would deter any senior from exploiting one individual’s integrity and a diversified group would deter any unforeseen regional bias. Moreover, under the aegis of this program, by making the education more professional and research oriented, students (read seniors) at various levels can be encouraged to take activities or assigned tasks with juniors (as subordinates) to have those strong bullet points written on CV’s/resumes in a professional course and references in research proposals (in form of apprenticeship ).

Last but not the least, innovation would come in form of ice-breaking sessions to be held between seniors and juniors in form of a grand scale function organized yearly right in the beginning by college authorities’ who will address the concerns of a timid junior and assertive seniors.

I certainly feel measures like these would pave the success of having rational and healthy mindset amongst the student fraternity in ever walk of life.