Wit Wisdom and Whoop

Those were the days when we had no TV, no close ups, no replays. Radio commentary was all that we had and we spent hours twiddling the old tubed radio trying to find that exact point where we could hear the commentary from some far off land. That half the days match would be lost in twiddling/tuning the radio is another story. Thanks to the time difference we woke up at unearthly times to listen to what was happening, who won the toss and so on. In the deathly silence of the night the loud HISSSSSSSS of the radio invariably woke someone or other who roundly cursed you before getting up to go to the toilet and then cursed you again for having woken them fully now. Depending upon how much they liked cricket, they asked "who won the toss?" after all the cursing. John Arlott, Suresh Saraiya, Tony Cozier, Narottam Puri, Jayasimha, Richie Benaud, Henry Blofeld,  are some names that readily come to the mind. Suresh Saraiya with his impeccable english always called players by their ...

Circa 1971, I was about 11 years old and my father commented to me - "Look Vishwanath has scored a century". I replied - "So what, who cares". I got belted for that comment since my father felt that being abreast of current affairs was crucial for success in life and my arrogance did not exactly meet his approval. Soon I was made to join Ramakrishna Ashram in Mysore where we were exposed to all games like Football, Hockey, Cricket, Basketball, Shuttle and we had to play all the games. Now cricket had advantages that the others did not have. In every other game I had to run, play, be on the move all the time but in cricket unless I was batting or bowling I could safely stand in deep third man or deep fine leg and could watch the game unless some idiot actually hit the ball towards me. Thus was born the love for cricket. By the time the Indian team returned from its victorious tour of England and West Indies in 1971, I was a semi expert and ready to follow every g...

My daughter who has been threatening to start a blog since long is yet to start one but does post on Facebook her thoughts. Her latest I share below. AUTO RANI :- As I travelled back home today in Singapore’s incredibly efficient metro, I felt a pang of homesickness as I watched everyone around me staring into their iPhones, oblivious to the sea of humanity surrounding them. At that moment I realized that what I really missed was the great amount of human interaction that travelling in Bangalore involves – especially my hour long auto rides back home from work every day. Though Bangalore’s auto drivers have often been portrayed as villains meandering Bangalore’s streets, I have a very different opinion and recall my encounters with them rather fondly. Every evening I hailed an auto in front of Forum in Koramangala, and residing in an obscure part of Bangalore meant that it wasn’t always easy to get a ride. One rainy, lovely day in Bangalore I was unsuccessful in getting an...

Having stayed in Gujarat initially as a student for 2 years and then worked for 3 years way back in the mid eighties I can claim some knowledge and understanding of the state and its people. The first thing that stuck me when I started working was not just the friendly demeanour or excellent relationships that people forged easily  or even the tasty food, but the remarkable work ethic from a business point of view. I have interacted with many other people across the country but I think I would  not be wrong if I say that the Gujarati citizen is unique. There is none like him when it comes to business acumen. So much so that even the government babu who elsewhere behaves differently is also unique. Just to share a few anecdotes. I needed a driving license and that too in 1 day since the next day by 730 AM I was boarding a train back home. Got hold of a agent to help me and within a few hours he literally carried me from table to table and got every formality completed...

True to my nature I jumped on the blog bandwagon way back in 2008 but somehow did not keep plugging in. Now 5 years later thanks to a dear friend Shankarnarayanan I was once again nudged into coming back here. So before I once again start writing, I felt a short introduction about myself is in order. So here it is.  An Engineer and an MBA, seasoned professional with about 30 years work experience. I am someone who likes to stay abreast of developments in various fields especially in what I call personal technology like mobiles, computers, internet, etc where tools & doors like Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Linkedin, other resources etc give you a window to the world. It helps me stay connected with a changing world and hopefully mentally agile and active. As an educated Indian while I have many interests, politics and current affairs, understanding global economics, strategic management are subjects that I especially connect with. In a changing world especially in a country like In...

The events in J&K over the past month and more are hurtling towards a situation wherein it looks like that the long pending problem may resolve itself, even though one cannot predict a time frame. The solution is creating itself. I foresee another partition wherein the Kashmir area is gobbled up by Pakistan and the Jammu area left behind for India. Pakistan after that can claim that the issue is resolved and the people have spoken. Sounds pessimistic but that is how it seems to be developing. The genesis of this situation is in events that happened more than a decade ago when the entire Pandit population was thrown out of the state to become refugees in their own country and a ethinic cleanising of the area happened. Not a single Kashmiri protested or held dharnas, no politicians screamed blue murder and if at all they did, it was to protest against those who criticised the ethnic cleansing. After all it was and is a matter of the vote bank politics that all parties follow...

Earlier this week I had this opportunity where I travelled on 4 different airlines in 4 sectors. I travelled Indigo, JetLite, Air India and Deccan/Kingfisher. When you do something like this the service levels do come to your attention. Indigo :- When I walked into Bangalore airport, I could not immediately see their counter but saw a line of gleaming self check in kiosks with Indigo displayed on the screen. Impressed I checked in even though the touch screen needed a rather hard tap to type in the details. Soon I had my boarding pass which was on top of the long page that was printed out. One could have printed out at least 4 boarding passes on that paper. So much for cost cutting and low cost flying !!!! At security I was stopped since apparently the airline should have stamped my boarding pass. Now if that is so, then why have self check in ??? After a short wait when the security searched high and low for a Indigo staff who were no where to be seen (lean and mean airline I guess)...

One of two patriarchal figures of the Indian communist movements has passed on and that leaves Jyoti Basu as the last surviving leader. While my knowledge of political history especially that pertaining to the sixties is limited I remember my late father used to keep showing his irritation whenever they showed this gentleman on TV. He kept saying - "what has this old fellow done in politics that he is given so much importance". Many have talked about how he supported the Chinese but then I think the Indian communist movement has never really cut its umblical cord with China. The support for China has been blatantly brazen at times and subdued at others but it has never ever gone away. The last 4 years saw Karat and his ilk oppose everything and today if the Congress finds itself in a sorry state, it only has the Communists to blame for this. Now a days viewing TV news or reading a newspaper is easier on the blood pressure. We dont see these hypocritical communists occupy ce...

I was in Mumbai waiting to board a flight to Bangalore when I heard the news about the blasts in Bangalore. I knew that my wife and daughter were out in the city having a day out and soon I received a message from my daughter that she was scared. The phone lines were jammed but I was so lucky that I managed to contact family and friends and infact even managed to pass messages between them. The tragedy in Ahmedabad made sad reading and viewing. The mystery however is that why was Bangalore spared ? After so many blasts in the past in various cities, I find the reasoning that it was a dry/test run for Ahmedabad rather amateurish. I hope that all politicians will at least now wake up and look at INDIA and not their own parties, idealogy, vote banks. But some things never cease to amaze me and bring a smile to my face. Some are as follows. One was the crowd of onlookers surrounding the policeman clad in bomb disposal suit as he tried to defuse the bomb in Bangalore. Aren't peopl...