some more pics..

Ok, its almost been a 6 month hiatus for me..but what a better time to revive my blog than its 1st anniversary..so this time i leave you with some more pics of mumbai..will be coming up with a post soon..




This one's from Navy nagar, across the sea from marine drive..



Haji Ali seaface on a calm monsoon evening




Nehru Science Centre



Juhu beach



University clock tower near Flora Fountain

Pics..

Well i really don't feel like writing rite now so this time i decided to share some of the pics that i have taken of our beautiful city, Mumbai in its various hues and moods..

Do let me know what u think of them.....



Marine drive on a rainy day..



The magnificent bandra worli sealink



This one's been taken from the Carter Road Promenade



Symbols of mumbai.VT station and the ubiquitous black and yellow fiat.

Ah.. Monsoon

Well, it’s that time of the year again, when the sun plays hide and seek with the clouds and sometimes hides in such a place that it cannot be found for days together, and the wind blows with a manic zeal, refreshing everyone in its path and the rain … the rain gushes down in such torrents that it washes away all the heat and dust of the summer.

The monsoon is my favourite season. No matter where I am, it never ceases to thrill, amaze and take my breath away. Although Mumbai’s monsoon can be quite chaotic with its dirt and water logging and slush.( Who can forget the horror of 26th July, 2005, where thousands of people, including me became refugees in their own city), it’s still a welcome respite from the heat and humidity of the summer. It’s like taking a breath of fresh air after spending several months in an underground, sweaty furnace.

Some of the sights and sounds of the monsoon that enthrall me…

The pitter patter of the rain falling on the roof

The sweet smell of wet mud,

The bolt of lightning that suddenly and brilliantly lights up an eerily dark night,


The gusts of cool wind that hit you in the face while on the move,

The (very rare occurrence in Mumbai) rainbow that brightens up the overcast sky,

The transparent droplets of rain on the leaves,

Waterfalls,

Umbrellas In all hues and colours,

Tiny droplets of water clouding my spectacles when I walk in the rain,

Clouds streaking across the sky in their myriad shapes and textures,

The veil of mist that shrouds the sea and the hills,


Vehicles speeding down the Highway, leaving behind a plume of water and mist in their wake,

A sudden downpour that typically occurs after a sunny patch and catches everyone unawares and umbrella less..


There must be many more, these are the only ones i can think of right now.

Do tell me what you guys think about the rainy season, do u love it as much as i do or completely detest it??

Book Review : The White Tiger by Arvind Adiga

After Slumdog Millionaire, here’s another story on the life of the marginalized sections of society, Arvind Adiga’s The White Tiger. Like Slumdog which traces the life of a young kid from the slums of Mumbai, this one tracks the life of a migrant from a small town to the big city. That’s where the similarities end though; The White Tiger is much darker and intense. Unlike Slumdog which has a happy ending and is interwoven with an interesting tale of romance, this one is based on betrayal, corruption, murder and lies.

I wouldn’t say that I liked the book much, but as they say REALITY BITES, it’s truly an eye opener!! A stinging critique of all aspects of our country, including religion, written in a blunt and mocking manner that does make you smile sometimes, but at other occasions slaps you across the face. The author has to be given credit for his free flowing writing and treatment of issues that are generally considered taboo in Indian society, which we knew always existed, but were swept under the carpet.

The beginning is quite innovative and different. It is in the form of an open letter to the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao. The author seems to mock the Chinese, saying that entrepreneurs are the only thing China lacks, and offers Jiabao tips to churn out an entrepreneur in seven days.

The White tiger is a story of Balram Halwai, a villager from Laxmangarh, Bihar and narrates his life from a chaiwalla in Dhanbad to a driver in Delhi who robs and murders his employer and finally as a successful entrepreneur in Bangalore. The author seems to suggest that the only way for a villager to succeed in India is through corruption and manipulating the system. Through interesting anecdotes, he lays bare our country’s corruption, bureaucracy, inefficient police force, utter absence of law, caste system etc.

He also trashes our supposed trump card “DEMOCRACY” showing how votes are bought and people forced to vote for a particular party.

And to think that India will become a superpower after all this,
WHAT A F*****G JOKE!!

P.S.

Jokes apart, I think this will really make a fabulous Hindi movie because it has all the masala for success. Though, like Vikas Swarup’s Q&A on which Slumdog Millionaire was based, the rights for The White Tiger have been bought by a Hollywood production house so it looks like we’ll have to endure foreign stars again. I often wonder why our filmmakers don’t purchase rights to books. Doesn’t any of them read, for God’s sake???

End of an era??

I haven’t touched upon sports since I have begun, so this post is dedicated to all sports lovers.

Well, unlike the LS elections where an incumbent government romped to victory, it is exactly the reverse in sports where champions from the past era are slowly but surely biting the dust. I will quantify this statement using examples from three sports close to my heart, cricket, tennis and Formula one.
All these sports have seen the same trend, champion players and teams losing their way to more fleet footed and smart competitors. In some cases like F1, the decline is sharp and very evident whereas in others like cricket, it is a slow and winding downward march.


Let’s look at my favourite sport first, cricket. The once invincible Aussies have seen their grip slowly slacken. It all began from the time India beat them 2-0 in the Commonwealth ODI series in 2008. Since then, the Aussies have lost to New Zealand and South Africa in the ODI’s and to India and South Africa in tests. True, they have won a number of matches too, but the aura of invincibility that surrounded them is gone. No longer are teams scared of the never say die Australian cricket team. The most prominent reason for their decline is the exit of ageing players.


Their batting has been hit the hardest. Sure they do have a great domestic structure but even then you can’t replace men like Mathew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist in a hurry, a fact that has been reinforced by the IPL, with Hayden and Gilchrist being the top scorers. One wonders why they left international cricket, being in such sublime touch, but then they must have had their reasons. Their bowling has not suffered so much with Lee and Johnson taking over the baton from McGrath and Warne.

A similar fate has fallen on Roger Federer, who, it seemed (and he still can be) would be the greatest player of all time. Federer’s dominance over world tennis was unprecedented, a record consecutive 237 weeks as no. 1 and winning almost all titles in 2006, 07 and 08, excluding the French open. He somehow lost the plot from the 2008 season onwards, losing to Novak Djojovic in the Australian open and to his long time nemesis, Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon. After that his career has gone on a downward trajectory, winning only one title, the US open last year, a far cry from his heyday in 2004 when he had a 74-6 win loss record.



The reasons why this has happened? Well, I’m not really an expert in tennis but it seems that being diagnosed with mononucleosis in 2008 definitely had an effect on his morale. And continuous losses to Nadal, not just in the French open last year but also on Federer’s turf, at Wimbledon and the US open this year also had a bearing on his performance.

Let’s move on to the scenario in Formula One now. F1 since the late nineties has seen Ferrari completely dominate it,(Renault in 2007 was the exception with Alonso winning the title). But look at the results this year, McLaren and Ferrari are not even in the top 3 constructors and as for their drivers, it seems as if they have developed cold feet.



Kimi Raikkonen at Monaco has been the only top 3 finish for a Ferrari this year. I mean, it’s been a total turnaround, from being the hunters to being hunted. Brawn F1 has really swept the season this year, winning five out of six races. Well I don’t think the big guns are sitting still, but they have to make a turnaround fast if they are to mount a challenge this season.

I’m sure there are some other sports as well where such a story is being played out, but my limited knowledge in sports restricts me to these three. Nothing dramatic in all these happenings though, because it is very difficult to sustain competitive advantage for a long time in today’s world and all credit to these individuals or teams who have managed to stay at the pinnacle of sport for such a long time.


Well, don't write off these champions yet, they could still reclaim their past glory and get back to where they belong.

"Poll"it(r)ics II : UPA all the way

Well, it’s really been a long time since my last post. All thanks to our wretched exams and last minute preparations!!! . Well the exams are behind me now and I’ve got 6 exam free months so hopefully I’ll keep posting regularly.

Continuing from where I left off in my last post, the Lok Sabha results are out today and I’ll be the first one to acknowledge that my predictions were way off the mark. The 3^rd front threat has been neutralized to a great extent, with the grouping winning just 70 odd seats, much lesser than my expectations. The NDA is somewhere close to what I predicted, at 159 seats. The UPA numbers are really a pleasant surprise because it will finally ensure some stability for our country.

The Indian voter seems to have voted decisively in favour of the UPA, in fact the Congress has really come into its own in this elections, notching up 200+ seats, a whopping 55 more than the 2004 tally. Uttar Pradesh with 80 seats has been one of the success stories for the Congress as it has taken 21 seats, putting it at par with Mulayam Singh and Mayawati in a state which was considered to be its nemesis.

The best thing about such a decisive verdict is that the Congress does not have to go with a begging bowl to any party. A strong majority at the centre ensures that the UPA can now pursue its agenda, unhindered by millstones like the Left Front which created a lot of trouble in the 2004 elections. Talking about the left, it seems to have lost the plot completely, winning just 24 seats. In fact now a lot of parties (the SP and RJD for instance) could come to Congress to include them in the alliance. So the Congress is actually in a position to pick and choose the best allies according to its convenience. It may even dump Lalu and go with Nitish Kumar in Bihar, rubbing salt into the NDA's wounds and also shutting out the SP since Nitish’s JD(U) has won 21 seats, equivalent to SP’s 22.

So that’s it, lets hope that the UPA gives cabinet ministries to competent people and pursues a pro- reform agenda in the next 5 years.

"Poll"iT(r)icks : Election mania

Well, these general elections are a first of sorts for me since it is the first time that I am eligible to vote. Though I would have loved to vote in Mumbai, given the fact that I spend most of my time here, that doesn’t seem to be possible since my permanent address is in Delhi. My constituency is Delhi south; too bad I can’t go to Delhi and exercise my franchise since my exams are ending at 4p.m. right on the polling day in Delhi, 7th May.

Another first for these elections are that there won’t be any exit polls this time around. Exit polls were banned by the government in October, 2008 as they were found to demoralize parties and influence voters voting in the next phase of the elections. In fact, exit polls were notoriously inaccurate; they predicted an NDA victory in the 2004 elections. It seemed that people were deliberately giving a wrong answer after they exited the poll booth because exit polls always seemed to predict an opposite result to the actual result.

Well, that doesn’t prevent me from picking a winner though. I know that it’s an extremely dangerous business given the fact that politicians change sides at the drop of a hat, but I’m going to hazard a guess anyway.

My predictions for the polls are as follows:

State Seats UPA NDA 3rd front
1 UP 80 27 12 41
2 Maharashtra 48 26 22 0
3 Andhra Pradesh 42 24 0 17
4 West Bengal 42 12 0 28
5 Bihar 40 20 21 0
6 Tamil Nadu 39 17 0 22
7 Madhya Pradesh 29 11 18 0
8 Karnataka 28 7 14 6
9 Gujarat 26 8 18 0
10 Rajasthan 25 13 11 0
11 Kerela 20 10 0 10
12 Orissa 21 3 5 14
13 Jharkhand 14 6 8 0
14 Assam 14 9 5 0
15 Punjab 13 5 8 0
16 Chattisgarh 11 5 6 0
17 Haryana 10 4 6 0
18 Delhi 7 5 2 0
19 Others 34 13 10 5
TOTAL 543 225 166 143

So according to my calculations it will be a hung house with the UPA unable to clinch a simple majority capturing just 225 out of the 543 seats. This means that they will have to beg the 3rd front to support them or lose power. So there can be 3 possibilities:

1. UPA gets 3rd front support and form the govt.
2. Congress supports 3rd front from outside and the 3rd front forms the government.
3. BJP supports 3rd front from outside and the 3rd front forms the government.

The stage seems to be set for the 3rd front with its motley mix of parties to form the next government with support from either the BJP or the Congress. History says that this will be disastrous for the country as no 3rd front govt. has survived for more than 2 years. Our last experience with the 3rd front was with the Deve Gowda led United Front in1996 which lasted just 1.5 years.


So be prepared for a hung house and pray that the left agrees to support the UPA. And also be prepared for Mayawati becoming the Prime Minister if the 3rd front comes to power. I know that its not a comforting thought but thats the way politics in India is. That’s what happens when the people who really count, don’t vote. Consider our own Mumbai for instance. 50% of the registered voters are slumdwellers and atleast 80% of them are going to vote . With the city having an average turnout of 50% in 2004, it seems that only 10% of the rest, the educated people, have voted.
And this is the situation in the financial capital of India, imagine the rest of the country then. Is there any surprise then that we get the kind of leaders we have? Education is the only solution to all our problems. Once people start getting educated, they will be able to elect sincere, accountable and efficient leaders.