Keep Going Saina

Hearty Congratulations to Saina Nehwal for clinching the Singapore open and Indonesian Open Badminton tournaments within a span of two weeks, improving her ranking to World No. 3 in the process. Her humble nature is definitely going to take her further, provided the media doesn't spoil her as was the case with Sania Mirza. Let Ads and Media maintain a distance from her and allow her to focus on and play her natural game, though I don't think she will be bogged down by both, looking at her nature. And in a country where cricket rules, making a mark with Badminton is by all means a great achievement. With commonwealth game so close, all wishes for her and prayers that she will be able to make India proud at Delhi and also in the many years to come.

Sri Lanka Test Series - Team Announced

The team for the upcoming test series against Lanka beginning on July 18 has been announced. With the regular "Test"ies, Dravid, Laxman back in the side, plus Sachin, the team looks formidable.

Yuvraj is also back in the team. I like this fellow a lot, especially when he gets going. The only question in my mind is "why did the selectors drop him from the Zimbabwe tour and the Asia Cup?" The possible answers are lack of form or lack of fitness, or his overall attitude, or maybe all three. But if these three were the reasons, why is he back now? Has he proved his form? He has not played even gully cricket after being dropped. So where did the selectors see him playing? I think the same hold true for Sreesanth. Maybe even Ishant!

So one thing is for sure. The selectors just had to find some scapegoats for the T20 debacle. The bar issue at the Windies was something that everybody wanted to avoid. By this step, BCCI managed to keep the media's mouth shut for sometime. Now everybody has sort of forgotton those episodes. And bang....Yuvi is back.

All in all the team really looks good, at least in paper. The rest will be proved over the next two months. Let's keep our fingures crossed!

The Squad:

MS Dhoni (Capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag (Vice Capt), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, M Vijay, Yuvaraj, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, and Wridhiman Saha.

Thank God! I am in your Country!

Dear Fellow State Citizens,

I don't know how proud I am to be in God's (don't know if I have to read that backwards) own Country. I am delighted to have a government which is so empathetic with its people that we today had a Hartal Utsav. Why? Well, what a question, do we really need a reason?

But this time we have a reason. The center increased prices of petroleum products from midnight yesterday and we all are very much affected here. What did I hear? That it has also affected you? But we are different my dear fellow state citizens. We are citizens of the most-literate state. So, we are not like you. We will react. We don't suffer silently. Pardon me? What did we gain? Lots dear, lots....

1. No government institutions worked today - so what's new? It’s just like any other day. Well, jokes apart, at least if they open, an hour's job will nevertheless be done in a day!! Today, we couldn't. Sad. Really Sad.

2. None of the educational institutions worked. We all lost a day's session.

3. None of the private firms worked - A real loss of crores of Rupees to the exchequer.

4. I know at least one marriage - that of one of my relative’s today. Forget that people might not have been able to reach for the same, but as a result at least 500 meals must have been wasted in a country where a large number of population hardly gets a times food in a day. This is just one, I don't know how many marriages took place today in Kerala. Just spare a thought.

5. People must have been stranded wherever they are, not able to proceed for urgent meetings etc. losing one man-day of their life.

6. The sick would have had a really tough time going to the hospitals, pregnant ladies et al.

All these are not gains? Sorry, sorry, I had tell you the gains...

The gain is Drunkard's own country (not sure that you know that our state has this record - of being the largest liquor selling state in India) may have made at least 50 crores today. People in my state enjoy this day. The moment they hear the news of a hartal, they thank the government (or the party), run to a bar, stock up liquor and chicken for the next day's party, and see how much the government made out of this, offsetting all the above loses!!!!

Ok ok so what's the ultimate result of the hartal?

Well, the latest I heard is that our PM (who is currently abroad) was shivering out of fear hearing the news of hartal in Kerala, and has called up his ministers to maybe propose doing away with the hike immediately at least only for Kerala.

Well jokes apart here is a fact:

Kerala has the highest ad valorem VAT (something in the hands of the state government) for diesel in India!!! and not too behind for petrol too (close to 29%)!! That is almost one-third (Rs. 15) that you pay for a liter goes to them.

What? Yeah I said they have great empathy for us. So what? What? So why are they not cutting down on that VAT to help you out?

Well who really wants?? They just want to show their care for us. I mean only Show, not care!!

Regards
Citizen of Kerala.

Petroleum Products - Price Hike

The Indian government has increased the prices of petrol by Rs. 3:50, kerosene by Rs. 3:00, diesel by Rs. 2:00, and cooking gas cylinder by Rs. 35.

Now, nobody likes prices going up and hitting their monthly budgets. But let me congratulate the team at the Center for this bold move. One, for the mere fact that this was a bold move, per se. How many parties can think beyond votes and take such a measure which is definitely not a populist one. There are parties who give cows, goats, hen to people and try to get votes. I really salute you for taking such a bold decision.

Now if you are asking, Ramesh, have you gone mad. Wait a minute. I did a little research and found out various details. Let me discuss those. Let me just break up this news further.

Before I begin, let me also tell you that I don't support any political party in particular. Will write about everybody - good if they’ve done good, bad if they’ve done bad. Of course, individually I do like a few politicians from all the parties. Okay, let me leave that for another day.

Weren't we all very happy when recession did not hit India at least the way it did US, Europe and others? If we need to see that again in the future, we need to bear these small pains. India's fiscal deficit last year was around 8%. Right now one of the prime targets for the Center is to bring down this to their 2010-11 target of 6%. Yes, the government did win a lot to its kitty via the 3G and wireless broadband bids. Now this is another way for them. And this news has been doing rounds since long. But who will bell the cat was question. Just like nobody dare to touch the caste reservations (though all know it is high time to take them off - but votes!!!!), this also was something like who will do it. Finally, Team Pranab Mukherjee has done the so call inevitable.

Indian government has been subsidizing petroleum products spending to the tune of $16 billion a year. Something like a shopkeeper buying an item for Rs. 10 and selling at Rs. 7. How long will he be able to run is business is anybody's guess. Of course, petroleum companies were also bearing the brunt. OK, now something is subsidized to help the poor, not the rich. Let's scrutinize each of today’s news separately and see how it affects the poor.

1. Increase in cylinder price by Rs 35:

The Kirit Parikh Committee actually has recommended Rs. 100 increase per cylinder to the government. I guess the remainder is on the way. How many of us know that around Rs. 250 subsidy is given by the government for each cylinder? Does this subsidy help the poor? Less than half of India's population uses cooking gas. And that of course will be the middle class and upper class. So what logic in this subsidy?

2. Petrol Price increase by Rs. 3:50:

What point in giving subsidy to people who own cars and bikes and who get this subsidy? Where does the poor come into picture here???

3. Kerosene price increase by Rs. 3:00:

Here of course, poor comes into the picture, but again not much. Most of the kerosene is bought by middleman at subsidized rate and sold again at higher rates outside the government's control. Yeah but of course a small (very small) number of poor people will be affected by this move. The govt. should consider this fact. Though remember, the really poor still use firewood today.

4. Increase of diesel price by Rs. 2:00:

One of the issues that this Govt. is trying to tackle (and they have been failing miserably) is the issue of inflation. When food inflation maintains an upward trend, this move might further take it up. This is an area govt. needs to be really careful. It's all better if govt. takes this back for the time being, wait till the inflation drops, and then take an appropriate decision.

5. Deregulation of petrol prices:

Meaning companies will now have the say on the price of petrol and that will be directly related to the international crude price, a move intended to bring down heavy loses incurred by the petroleum companies, which of course is a good thing. But was just wondering if we will get to see some price tariff wars between the companies and consumers finally emerging the ultimate winners, just as what has happened in the telecom industry! Well we’ll have to wait and see.

So, all in all, not bad moves, though some, as I mentioned, needs a re-look at this time.

Kudos TEAM INDIA

Kudos to Team India for bringing back the Asia Cup after 15 years. Boy that was too long a wait. Anyhow India overcame the jinx of bombing in finals and also beating Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka is no joke. On the finals, they really played like champions, with contributions from every member, doing good in all departments of the game. Rarely we see India in a Final so dominating. Keep it up boyz....


Image Courtesy: IB Times

Colored Kites

Watch out for Kites on June 27, 2010 on Colors Channel at 8 p.m. After failing at the BO, this movie premiers on Colors within a month of its release. Gaurav Gandhi, Chief Commercial Officer & Head - International Business, Viacom18 says, "At COLORS we endeavor to bring the biggest Bollywood blockbusters to our viewers, right in the comfort of their homes. The next six to eight months are going to be a pure treat for the viewers as we plan to showcase a series of big and recent blockbuster films. With Kites, we begin a long and potentially fruitful association with Reliance BIG Pictures with whom we have signed a much larger deal and will be showcasing a whole range of popular movies from their library in the days to come."


Movie: KITES

Date of Release: May 21, 2010

Director: Anurag Basu

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Kangana Ranaut, and Kabir Bedi.

Producer: Rakesh Roshan

Characters:

Hrithik Roshan as J.
Barbara Mori as Natasha a.k.a. Linda
Kangana Ranaut as Gina
Nick Brown as Tony
Kabir Bedi as Bob, Gina and Tony's father
Yuri Suri as Jamaal, Bob's family chauffeur[1]

So stack your kitchen with pop corns & coke (which most of us already done, thanks FIFA World Cup Soccer) get ready for the next eight months!!

NAXALISM VS. TERRORISM

I am a common man. Not intelligent enough to go on to the root causes of various issues. One thing I don't understand is why the government is not going ahead with using our Air Force and Army against the Naxals? Why this soft corner? What is the difference between a terrorist and a naxal in common man's language? Both kill innocents. A lost life is an Innocent's. And a life is life. So our blood only boils if the crime is committed by a person from our neighboring country? We make a hue and cry even if that attack kills 2-3 people. And here our own guys if they can derail a train and kill 138 people, we feel they are our brothers? Well I can't differentiate a terrorist and a naxal. Sorry I am a common man. I don't know why the terminology is different at all for the two cases. I don't want to know the cause for why innocents are killed in either case. Being an Indian, I feel I am helpless in the hands of people whom we elect!!!!!