Rahul Dravid - Take a bow

Sometimes, few events stay fresh in your memory. Only to be surprised by the fact that 16 years have gone by. This one dates back to 1996, when I was fully engrossed in Cricket like any other Indian Kid of my age was. World Cup had just finished but the cricket fever still persisted. Surrounded by a group of friends, who were fanatic about cricket, (who still are) the discussion was about the mammoth score that Karnataka had put on the board against Tamil Nadu in Ranji Trophy Finals. No prizes for guessing. It was the emergence of Rahul Sharad Dravid.

After a brilliant domestic performance, he managed to secure a berth in the Indian team for its tour to England, which at that time, was going through a transition phase after the World Cup Semi Final exit. Tour began with a disastrous start at Edbagston. With little expectations from Indian cricket team in Foreign Soil, couple of young Indian cricketers took up the responsibility in their shoulders in Lords.

With a brilliant start to his career in England, this man continued to amaze me at every country where ball seamed and bounced. As a copy book cricketer, his batting has always been a treat to watch. The sound of ball hitting the middle of the willow was as melodious as a Mozart’s tune. An innings of 148 against South Africa in Wanders, Johannesburg was an epic. When the world was criticizing the ability of Indians to play in bouncy wickets, Rahul Dravid stood up tall to pull Alan Donald in a bouncy wicket. Even today, I can visualize that particular innings. Rest, as they say, is history.

If you start looking back, he had his own highs and lows. Lows helped him to elevate to the next level. After being dropped from ODI squad, he came back as a much more versatile cricketer. If records were to support, he was the highest run scorer in 1999 world cup. And at every possible high, he looked to improvise his skills and move forward. Sticking to the definition of “gentleman’s game”, there was hardly an incident or controversy surrounding his cricketing career. With limelight falling focusing on Sachin or Saurav, he was meticulously performing his duties. When the team required a 7^th batsman, he was ready to keep and still contribute meaningfully with the bat. Not to forget the mammoth partnership with VVS Laxman against Australia in Eden Gardens, that helped in re-defining Indian Cricket for the next decade.

If you have to speak about his contribution to test cricket, a four paragraph wouldn’t do enough justification. Be at as opener against England in lords in one of the worst seaming conditions or various crafty innings that he has etched at number 3 spot, his contribution to this form of the game is an epic. To finish it off, he called off at the right time from ODI’s, when he got an opportunity to play again in that format. Outside the 22 yards, he had an outstanding work ethic in attending the nets and practice session. His speech in Bradman’s Oration summarized the cricket acumen he had. Finally, when he realized the fact that he should introspect about his cricketing future, he probably picked the right time to call it the day. As everyone fondly called him the “Wall”, his contributions to our cricket are well written for the future generations to see.

Educational Revamp

Picture speaks more than words. The above picture is a snapshot of holiday homework of a 4 year old kid in India. I’m seriously not kidding. This raises a very important question. Have we become so competitive that our children should start facing these tortures from kindergarten? Hell No. Though the word is of German origin, I have a very strong feeling that even the Nazi’s wouldn’t have tortured the Jewish kids like this.

Jokes apart, if competition is not driving to the above scenario of holiday homework (4 year old kid), then it has got to do with working parents, who would prefer their children being occupied with work. If the ulterior motive of working parents is to safeguard their child’s future, they are doing it by butchering their kid’s happiness. Apart from the turmoil of educational system, these kids end up attending extracurricular classes like singing, sports, martial arts and long list of classes. It’s high time the parents realize that their childhood aspirations of joining an extracurricular activity cannot be satiated by sending their kid’s to multiple such classes. Will Jack ever get to play what he wants?

A quick recap of my education revealed that I had an awesome time in primary and middle school. I used to be that average kid, whose rank in various examinations were nearly twice his age :-D Apart from a little advice that I used to get from my parents on a really bad progress report, I had a life outside school. I played the sport I liked. I started roaming outside with my friends from my 5^th grade. I bunked 15 days of school with cricket fever. It’s that sort of an independence that helped me to fall and correct my mistakes. That’s the beauty of life. I would really thank my dad for being such a wonderful sport in not questioning my academic life. All the decisions that I have taken till today are completely mine.

However, I doubt if the present generation of kids get that sort of independence. Their parents are way too obsessed with their kid’s education. They really don’t want their kid to fall. They constantly act as a safety cushion and ensure that their kids are always on track. This has impacted the education system, in which, parents play an equal role in shaping the education policy. Though you shift from ranks to grade, the pressure to get an A+ still exists on their kid’s mind. The focus is towards better education for kids, which unfortunately, is competitive pressure. This is applicable without any geographic restrictions. In India, it’s getting admission in the best school. In US, it’s about living in the neighborhood having the best school district. By this constant monitoring, they really snatch their kid’s ability to think and act independently.

Continuing with my experience, I realized the importance of education and started gearing myself before my class 10 board exams. And the rest is history. The rat race in my life began and it continues till today. Though I could proudly flaunt my academic excellence of having studied in premier institutions in India and US, my life would have been totally different to me if I had dared to follow my passion – “Formula one pit mechanic” instead of being a “Technology analyst” at an investment bank.

Though it might look like I am diverging from the topic, I had to mention about the risk aversive approach our society wants a person to take. It has stereotyped the success parameters. Failure in academics might brand you as a social outcast .With the fear of being an outlier; the rat race pushed me to pursue my higher education in a premier institute. Having being this intrinsically average guy, I couldn’t bell the cat and had to look outside for top notch institutes. Thus, it is partially the competitiveness (yeah, rat race) that drove me to Carnegie Mellon. With exactly a week to go for my graduation ceremony, I type this blog with a constant yearning for that all illusive one way ticket back home.

Having seen that the rat race can drive people far from their destiny and comfort zone, it is time that we start revisiting these parameters of success. There is life beyond money and education. It’s time that a person is evaluated holistically rather than these menial brownie points for their education or job. I am not trying to undervalue the power of education.

Etymologically derived from the Latin word called educe, which brings out a potential, the true purpose is to bring out the talent or potential of an individual. On being asked about the purpose of college education, Einstein said – “I myself do not burden my memory with simple facts that can be looked up in text books. But the true purpose of education is to train the mind to think, and for that reason it is priceless”. You don’t need to cram a child with mathematics tables. Calculators exist and over a period of time with practice, the kids would get used to solving problems quickly.

If the system is not corrected at the right time, you might turn people into process and bound them by milestones. Kids would start hating the system and not leverage the true purpose of school or college education. It’s time that the system needs to revamped effectively. There is a greater need to nurture independent thinking. That’s how generations have evolved and improved with time. With creativity comes the solution for most complex problem. Be it in nurturing Entrepreneurial spirit and moving towards a sustainable world. It’s these ideas that empower you rather than currency. You are only as rich as you feel :-D

PPS: Kindly check the link below. It’s an innovative solution to tackle education hassles. Thanks to Manasi Arora for sharing a snapshot of her kiddo's HW in facebook.

http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html

Random Bakwas chapter 3

This one would be a random rambling of thought process going through my mind in last 24 hours. Guess it would be aggregate of few Facebook status messages or tweets.

1. Food lag: I am desperately suffering from this. Starting the day, I have a voracious appetite for breakfast, eating in half dozen’s. It slowly transitions to a reduced need of a moderately salubrious lunch. Finally, I am kind of struggling to finish just 2 servings of rice for dinner. Is appetite change included in jet lag or have i coined a new jargon :D? Haven’t wikied it yet. Waiting for feedback from readers, if any :P

2. Mobile internet in India: Using it for the first time, I am surprised with the connectivity in remote towns in Tamil Nadu. Though my dad's data plan is based on GPRS and not 3G, I feel that delay is tolerable for mails and not annoying slow. Though I was a reluctant adopter of smart phone, i am slowly changing my opinion. QWERTY keyboard and continuous access to mails during travel are the big positives.

3. Indian summer: Hot is an understatement, I was in Trichy for a day as i was visiting temples in my dad's native place. With 40 degrees and 40 percent humidity, my first day outing was miserable in dry heat. I had take two baths in 8 hours time. If I had to summarize it in one line, I was feeling like a chicken burnt alive in Tandoor.

Ps: I am in love with this series of writing. With a play list of AR Rahman, I am thinking of career in writing. I think I can give Chetan Bhagat some competition.CMU is a bigger brand to flaunt and writer/home maker would be a lovely career path :D. Any broad minded gals out here?

Dated: 12th may, 11 pm

Random Bakwas chapter 2

Today's topic is regarding Indian marriage and specially, the food associated with the ceremony. Ya, food play a major role in these functions, which attracts crowd, who are totally irrelevant in the context. Last weekend, i was lured into such a trap as i couldn't resist an offer of salubrious meal, which could placate the dead taste cells of mine.

Analogous to grad school events, there is lot of similarities. High variability in incoming rate, dining time and appetite of people makes it one of the toughest service operations to be modeled. I am not kidding. Adding another dimension of forecasting the crowd increases the complexity in logarithmic scale. Ps: author is an engineer by heart :-p

Digging deeper into this issue, this is challenge from supply chain perspective. Integrating Indra nooyi's Aquafina, Nellore farmer's rice and Mumbai's chat walla's pani puri for a single reception meal, an averagely flamboyant marriage would cost you a million Indian rupees. Statistically, fifteen percent of entire marriages happening in India would fall under this category. Investing this money in a fully diversified high performing mutual fund for four years would yield you 2 million rupees.

From service provider’s perspective, it is a billion rupee industry spread across various sector. This is an economy on its own. So, if you are interested in reviving an economy from recession, get married soon :-p. Rest, invest your money and laugh at the former :-D

PS: Dated May 12, 9:45 am

Random Bakwas chapter 1

Yes. I am back to blogging. Now that i have literally nothing to do for next 18 days, I have decided to start this series.

Not with the most comfortable tool. Typing from my dad's Nokia N 81, i am trying to combat jet lag as i am travelling on my way to Trichy. Excuse me for grammar mistakes and typos.

Topic of today's bakwas is about suburban metro. Next to Mumbai, Chennai can proudly boast of second best suburban train connectivity in India.

Thanks to my cousin. I liked his idea to use public transport to reduce traffic and carbon emissions, despite having our own vehicles.

Being a champion of public transport after buying in his idea, i thought i would write a blog for the same. Starting from 04, I had great experience of using these electric trains. Today, at 0.1 dollar, i could travel comfortably a distance of 10 km or 6.25 miles in 12 minutes. Sounds amazing right? That’s the reality.

Be it the 18 minute travel for my 15 km commute to college or 65 minutes marathon journey for my 47 km journey to my workplace, i could predict my exact arrival time with 98 percent accuracy. For the executives, you have the option of hassle free travel in first class, which is five times the ordinary fare. That was one transition I made from college to corporate in my mode of commute.

For the luxurious folks, unfortunately, there is no air conditioned version of these locals. Volvo's are good alternate, in terms of comfort and travel time. If you aren't buying any of these options, then you aren't intended recipient.

Thanks for reading through Random Bakwas. In the name of climate, the auto Anna's of Chennai shall rightly exploit the consumer for extra carbon emissions and road congestion :-p

PS: Dated 11^th may, 11 pm. Apologies for re-editing and publishing delay :)

Masala Media :-(

You haven’t read the title wrong. I am not referring to Page 3 and music channels. The main target of my post is the electronic news media. You usually associate head aches after watching a third rated commercial movie. I am precisely in the same state after watching NDTV and IBN for half an hour.

I was so irritated that I had to vent out my feelings. I called up friend of mine

Me: You know what. I have been watching comedy time for past 30 minutes

My Friend: I was watching the same in IBN :-)

Me: I was also doing the same :-)

You no more need any intellect to be a journalist. Following would be the requirements for MAsala Desi JournalISt or shortly know as MAD JI’S :-)

(I know my creativity isn’t at its best when the system clock reads 11:52 pm)

1. You just need to speak fluent English. Even if your speech doesn’t make sense, you can cover it up with your fluency and pompous language, bombastic words :-) (I thought for couple of minutes to recollect my GRE words. A journalist in making )

2. You need to repeatedly remind the audience that Narendera Modi was involved in Godra Carnage and Advani orchestrated Babri Masjid Demolition.

I guess media kids should grow up. The Godra carnage is now a cliché. Modi invited Tata and generated employment in Gujarat which Mamta Ji couldn’t do in Bengal. PS: I am not a religious fundamentalist. I am person who supports development and I guess Modi has been successful in making Gujarat prosperous.

3. You should have a voice which could tame the other speaker. If the speaker participating in a debate expresses an opinion which is contradicting the journalist opinion, then his/her voice should be able to peak to decibel levels which would invalidate/subdue the speakers opinion. Dissent is never appreciated :-)

4. Defend your fellow journalist. A journalist is always right. Barkha Dutt made sure Jarnail Singh (or shoe journalist) apologized during the show and was trying to justify that it was an emotional outburst. To put this in Rajdeep’s style, Lakshman rekha was crossed but they were right in doing that :-) (If you can’t make sense from the previous statement, then that’s previously what a journalist wants. I guess I can make good money becoming MADJI rather than coding some software :P) Bottom line is simple. Journalists are flawless.

5. Come with new jargon's like "Lakshman Rekha", "Ram Barose Security" J
   
   
6. Remind every 15 seconds to the viewers that you are Hindu/Muslim/Christian. Keep telling the listeners that Caste is factor which will decide voting. Sagarikha (IBN) is the best in this business. She could come with creative topics for debates like “Is Mayavati being oppressed from becoming a PM since she is a lower caste Dalit women” I guess only a narrow minded religious fanatic male chauvinist can think in these lines :-) .I was shocked to see senior journalist using un parliamentary words such as “Achoot”, ”Harijan” just to sensationalize her debate/opinion.

7. Justify the 24*7 coverage given for serious security issue of national concern. I was shocked to see Rajdeep in a debate asking police people to take media training on what to speak to press. Grow up dude. As a responsible editor in chief, you should use your discretionary powers. The fact that 24 * 7 coverage of Mumbai attacks gave terrorist accurate information about the commandos entering the hotels and hostages being in a safe place in a coffee shop. Terrorist brutally murdered people who were hiding in that coffee shop L till date; anger in me has never subsided. I hold Rajdeep and Pranoy Roy responsible for the carnage that happened in that coffee shop. It’s the duty of Journalist or editor to censor sensitive information and prevent live telecast of events concerning national security. We don’t want Paparazzi kind of journalism here

Though this photo might have been humorous in some places, the message which I try shouldn’t lose its significance. When the youth of this country is looking for a change, it’s not only in politics. We expect change in all forms for the betterment and especially in media. We are not here to tolerate nonsense. Today’s Gen Next has power to voice their opinion. It’s high time our media stops this cliché rhetoric’s and present news as it.

PS: If you are planning to vote after analyzing the information based on Indian news channel, my sincere advice is that you can clever and independent decisions than to listen to these so called mockery journalist. My sincere thanks to Sagarikha and Barkha for making my blood boil after watching their Masala news . It was their nonsense which instigated me to blog :-)

Train-a-thalon

With common wealth games coming around the corner in 2010, I was wondering if there is any sport in which I specialize. It was then I realized the sport at which I have achieved mastery – Train-a-thalon. Having mastered this sport for the past six years, I thought I would share my Gyan on the same.

For the past six years, my daily commute to my College/workplace is dependent on Chennai Electric Train. The most challenging part is successfully catching the train which you intend to board. Shedding off my modesty, I would vaingloriously say that I have mastered this art.

For the amateurs, the sport consists of 3 rounds

1. Driving your bike or Sprinting to station
2. Parking your bike and 100 meters dash to railway platform
3. Finding an empty seat and successfully managing to sit in the same

First part of the sport sets the momentum for the day :-) . For a train scheduled to depart at 7 39 am from a station which is 2.7 Km from your place, the idle start time would be 7 30 am. Here, I would like to make a point that electric trains in Chennai manage 96% accuracy in sticking to time. So, the probability of missing the train is very high. Trick of the trade is that traffic pattern in a particular area is constant and if you are consistent with your timings, you can avoid following slow moving college buses/ obnoxious Onyx trucks :-)

My usual circuit looks like the one shown above

Starting with a high speed sector, followed by mid/low speed sectors, With this circuit, I am as comfortable as Sachin Tendulkar in Chepauk. 7 minutes drive is possible with the external support from creatures, which ply on this road (read it as humans/animals). Dogs/ Buffaloes are so much used to my engine noise that they give away without creating any trouble :-) you see, I am eco-friendly. My bike is in harmony with all the living creatures.

Second part is the most difficult. Despite not being horizontally challenged, it’s not easy to park a bike, climb stairs and reach the platform in 75 seconds, which is precisely the time I have to catch the train. This 75 seconds includes the time to strategically position yourself in front of less crowded coach of 9/12 car rakes. Revealing my trade secret, the last first class or coach next to last first class (3^rd rake) are coaches which are least crowded.

Third part of this sport, which is ultimately the most important section, is to find a seat. This is critical when your journey length is expected to be 44 km one way (1 hour 10 min) :-(.This would require

1. a lot of general knowledge of your co-passengers (where Mr/Mrs/Miss X would get down, so that you can jump to stand near them :-) )
2. Keen observation sense (People with old type Government Union bags would get down in Guindy/Mount. People with SRMU ID card in shirt packet, would get down in Tambaram).
3. Evade all your enemies from spotting your hot seat and ultimately managing to sit with highest level of decency. This would require highly agile legs, which can scamper through the coach, like Dhoni stealing a quick single :-)

If India was to host this sport in Common wealth games, I can assure our public that there is 99% probability of winning a medal (1 % attributed to my failure rate in not successfully completing this sport)

If you don’t manage to get a seat or manage the board, it’s not the end.

In sports, it’s not all about winning. It’s about participating and giving a fight :-)