Wednesday, March 19, 2008

It aint flat anymore, it’s punctured!!!

Most writing’s do not begin with a disclaimer, but this one should!!!

Cause, the domain of the conversation is high on cerebellum and intellect and it’s an area where great minds, with unmatched credibility, expertise, qualification and persona have commented upon, researched, advocated and agreed!!

I am no-one, I do not carry any profound qualifications, nor do I speak on the evidence of specimens gathered by doing any kind of a research or investigation. I lack SHAME, but let me be BRAVE, and speak purely on the grounds of my AUDACITY.

Ladies and gentlemen, please reverse your thoughts!! Men with big stature and esoteric greatness are not always right!!

THOMAS FRIEDMAN, got it all wrong, “This world aint what he believes it is”. Even if he d make some sense, it lacked in vision and longevity and ALAS, let me declare that his conclusions have served their momentary periods of existence.

The world isn’t flat today, in fact it is punctured!!

Albeit that trade is happening on the global front, the rich, prosperous and wealthy are secreting the pulp out of the less fortunate ones. And agreeably all this is possible today because we are all well connected; we needn’t be there in person and we v invented gadgets that almost substitute us!!

Friedman got the virtual connection all right but forgot to prolong the notion, foresee and visualize over it.

As things arguably stand today (or seem to at least stand in near future), there isn’t any country that is greater; there isn’t any economy stronger. The scales are almost even and only look to further balance out in the coming future. Yes, it’s a globalized market but over a period of time, it would reach stagnation. Trading beyond borders for profits would soon become a fallacy; indulging in Outsourcing would be termed as an executional sin, and leaders would have to go on expeditions & treasure hunts to work out a cost advantage business model.

The world and its dynamics are fast changing; hence you got to be ‘LUCKY’ than be ‘PRAGMATIC’ to make correct ‘PREDICTIONS’, you must be a believer in ‘FATE’ and ‘FORTUNE’ than to trust ‘INTELLECTUALS’ and their ‘analytical OPINIONS’ (Friedman was influenced by Nilekhani, blame him as well!!)

I work for an industry which operates in the world of virtuosity, driven by the Global Delivery Model across geographically spread markets in this supposedly flat world!! We have had our momentary pleasures and have savored the buoyant instances of our prosperity.
We have hailed the nilekhani’s and the friedman’s to have thought of something so marvelous and profitable, but now we have begun to feel the jitters, the floor slowly tearing apart and the roofs seem to be caving in. We see the graph’s sliding down, the utilization percentages drooping down and the resources being chopped out.

We sense the decline, the downfall, if not understand the magnitude of the annihilation!! We aren educated enough, aren overtly astute to discover a means to recover. We are helpless and in the process slowly begin to believe – Where we wrong – to have believed these men? Have their visions proven to be myopic? Isn’t it flat anymore?

How we wish we could have been born in the Columbus’s era!! Though his discovery was more of an accident, it at least had a sense of immortality associated to it. We couldn become leaders, we at least would have become prudent followers!!

We would have lived under the belief, that the world aint flat – it’s a globe and that one wouldn plummet down if at all you d reach the end (you wouldn’t in any case!!)

Someone please explain it to them (Thomas and Nandan), let sense prevail in their head –cause theirs are the one’s that matter!!!!

Christopher wasn from the Oxford, but for God’s sake he was right!!

The world shall remain a globe forever, your gadgets and intellect made it flat – albeit momentarily – Please move on, do not bask under the shadows of your short-lived glory.

It s not flat anymore now, It’s punctured!!

Monday, March 3, 2008

'Weed' out the Aussies- Obnoxiously!!

I hope that the inspiration behind me selecting the title for this blog shall stay a secret; I however pray that I am proved wrong!!

Over the days, a game that I have followed as passionately as a devout pilgrim would preach his favorite god has fallen in repute and grace only to have been reduced to a sport of outrageous jesting, grave ridicule and ugly banter.

The gentlemen are fast getting replaced by wild hounded dogs (ala peter roebuck) and the malice and sportsman spirit has been substituted with the spit of venom and abuse. The lush green seems to be a battlefield where players aren’t stroking shots or crafting deliveries; instead they are indulging in obscene verbal volleys and hurling censured taunts!!

This isn’t the same game which I bunked my school to watch and this isn’t the game which I would want my son to watch either from now on!!

I have been quite fortunate to observe this evolution of cricket on field ‘Chatter’. What began as an occasional mock was taken to a strategic level by the Aussies to be called as ‘Mental disintegration’ and later termed as ‘Gamesmanship’. Today since it has grown ugly and unparliamentarily, people have derogated the terminology to give it a negative connotation by calling it ‘Sledging’.

It truly deserves the demotion cause its an ‘Obnoxious’ (No, I am not related to Mathew Hayden!) thing unfortunately started and mastered by the ‘Best in the Game’, let me not name them, but to give u enough clues they wear only ‘Baggy Green’, are indifferent to the animal breed of ‘Monkeys’ and I am sure would one day ‘Murder’ their opposition players to avenge their defeat.

This summer has seen more exchange of words than matches being played and of course all this has meant that cricket has lost its focus somewhere. Ponting, Symonds, Hayden, Clarke and Harbhajan have all behaved like eloquent hooligans, showcasing neither the virtues of being ambassadors of their country nor the dignity of being custodians of the legacy of the game.

The Aussies sure may play their game tough, hard and aggressive. We connoisseurs know that, recognize and appreciate that!! However, this time around they have been arrogant, reckless and butchery!!

To the credit of the Indians, they have played the game as no other team has played ever in Australia. If not matches they did win everyone’s hearts (With umpires around, winning matches these days isnt easy anymore!!) and in the process also massaged and punctured the great Australian Ego.

The Aussies have found no answers with the bat and ball and hence have resorted to seek the mercy of the ‘Biased’ and ‘Foolish’ match referees and the seemingly ‘Blind’, ‘Overtly Patriotic’ and ‘Selfish’ Australian media.

Barbarians like Hayden, Ponting and Symonds - pampered by victory’s all through their life - have failed to showcase any kind of diplomacy and decorum that a player representing his country, its culture and its people must do. It won’t be a surprise if people associate these snobbish traits showcased by the Australian cricketers with each and every Australian and in turn tarnish the reputation of the country, its citizens and every aspect associated with it.

It’s a shame that such a great cricket team heralded for its victories must hear such accusations, but it’s a “Scar” that shall stick on to the ‘Baggy Green”. Cricket Australia shall be recognized for breeding competent cricketers fit to win a lot of cricket matches but shall always be denounced for showcasing inability to rein them to behave like well mannered sportsperson playing within the spirit of game.

I am confident that nothing would change and it cannot, cause people like Ponting, Hayden and Symonds cannot be subdued. They carry big ego’s which obliterates their conscience, restricts their vision to themselves and prevents from accepting their fallacy.

And consequently, calling 'ON-AIR' a fellow cricketer as an obnoxious weed or challenging a 19 year old debutant for a fight in the ring shall be deemed polite, right and perfectly legal to them, while hearing someone call them a ‘Monkey’ would send them into ruptures like cry babies howling in front of refrees, authorites and who knows even their 'Grand Mommies'!!

They are victims of a disease, a cure for which would require them to crash down from the pile of victories on top of which they currently are sitting and I shall only pray that more countries like India tour this country and get under the skin and character of these savagic Aussies.

Amen!!

Signing Off.