Sunday, June 22, 2008
Russia squashes Oranje
Fantastic encounter last night, between favorites Netherlands, who were in scintillating form having destroyed both the world cup finalists in their group games, and Russia, under the stewardship of star manager Guus Hiddink. And with the result, Hiddink has just confirmed a reservation for a gilt framed life size portrait of his on the walls of the manager hall of fame. Korea, Australia, Russia, the fairy tale continues.
Midfielder Arshavin was nothing short of spectacular. He time and again burst into the Dutch box, beating the not un- formidable Dutch defense. And even when hemmed in and hustled by the defenders, maneuvered superbly to squeeze a shot in. His cross which set up the second goal was marvelous, squeezed over the keeper from a tight angle. Deservedly, he wrapped up things for Russia with an excellent goal towards the end.
And well, heart warming given the fact that the rumour mill is buzzing with Arshavin's impending move to Arsenal.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/06/20/sfnars120.xml
Well, when the Russian resembles the author in his name and his game, who can stop his meteoric rise to fame!
Midfielder Arshavin was nothing short of spectacular. He time and again burst into the Dutch box, beating the not un- formidable Dutch defense. And even when hemmed in and hustled by the defenders, maneuvered superbly to squeeze a shot in. His cross which set up the second goal was marvelous, squeezed over the keeper from a tight angle. Deservedly, he wrapped up things for Russia with an excellent goal towards the end.
And well, heart warming given the fact that the rumour mill is buzzing with Arshavin's impending move to Arsenal.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/06/20/sfnars120.xml
Well, when the Russian resembles the author in his name and his game, who can stop his meteoric rise to fame!
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Get Dravid back !
Meek capitulation by India at Adelaide. Chasing a non too imposing 203, India crumbled with a mere 153 on the board. With close to 10 overs to spare. Lackluster performance indeed. This was seen in the previous game against Australia too- making a hash of a 150 odd chase.
What was missing was . Someone who can hold one end up and make a dour 50 of 80 balls. Somebody who can cut out the adventure, put his head down and fight. And is there a better someone than Rahul Dravid in the Indian cricketing landscape who fits the bill here ?
Ware the arguments against Dravid's inclusion in the ODI team ? Fielding ? Dravid has been excellent on the field and he's arguably the best contemporary Indian slip fielder. He has taken the highest number of catches by an Indian non-wicketkeeper in test cricket. Lately, there have been numerous instances of him turning on the pace when required, so the argument of him being a slow scorer has also been rendered null and void.
Look at his ODI record - stellar. Excess of 10000 runs at a wonderful average of 39.49, a very reasonable strike rate of 72. Third highest ODI run getter in Indian cricket. We have a winner here !
And surprisingly, he was dumped very quitely- no big hue and cry. A player of his class..left in the lurch in such a manner...very sad indeed. It would be great for the team and for David the person if he's recalled.
However, one argument I accede to - the team wants to start afresh. Dravid might automatically imply Ganguly, and Ganguly is miserable on he field. But whatever man, I have a midsem tomorrow, I can't beat this argument to death like I have done with the others. I stick to my guns, get Dravid back !
What was missing was . Someone who can hold one end up and make a dour 50 of 80 balls. Somebody who can cut out the adventure, put his head down and fight. And is there a better someone than Rahul Dravid in the Indian cricketing landscape who fits the bill here ?
Ware the arguments against Dravid's inclusion in the ODI team ? Fielding ? Dravid has been excellent on the field and he's arguably the best contemporary Indian slip fielder. He has taken the highest number of catches by an Indian non-wicketkeeper in test cricket. Lately, there have been numerous instances of him turning on the pace when required, so the argument of him being a slow scorer has also been rendered null and void.
Look at his ODI record - stellar. Excess of 10000 runs at a wonderful average of 39.49, a very reasonable strike rate of 72. Third highest ODI run getter in Indian cricket. We have a winner here !
And surprisingly, he was dumped very quitely- no big hue and cry. A player of his class..left in the lurch in such a manner...very sad indeed. It would be great for the team and for David the person if he's recalled.
However, one argument I accede to - the team wants to start afresh. Dravid might automatically imply Ganguly, and Ganguly is miserable on he field. But whatever man, I have a midsem tomorrow, I can't beat this argument to death like I have done with the others. I stick to my guns, get Dravid back !
Monday, February 11, 2008
Idol Worship and Idol Sculpting
I will begin with an amusing digression
q- What do you say when a party, which caters to the communist, religious hardliner and the liberal voters, gets whipped in the elections ?
Answer at the end of the post. However, if you directly scroll down to the answer, without attending to the main body...umm...you will lead an unhappy afterlife. And right now you will develop respiratory problems. Yeah..NOW...when you reach this full stop.
Getting to the point, I am faced with a task- I have to choose an idol for myself. You see, at the IIM- interview (yipee!) , a favorite question of theirs is - 'Who is your idol ? ' Now this question is befuddling indeed. For there has never been this one person who can stake the claim to being my idol. Coming to think of it, the people who have come closest to being my idols are all fictitious. Starting from Ace Mc Cloud of 'Centurions' fame, moving on to the happy-go-lucky and smart-ass kid Joe Hardy, then the brilliant and egocentric Hercule Poirot, interspersed with periods of idolatry towards Arnold Schwaznegger and James Bond....he-who-must-be-named..who shall it be ?
Two likely candidates are Salman Rushdie and Lance Armstrong. But I also face the onerous task of justifying for my idol worship. Salman Rushdie- plenty of reasons other than his literary genius- his numerous liaisons including the likes of Kylie and Dani Minogue, Padma Lakshmi..now Riya Sen. That's five reasons (including literary genius). Lance Armstrong, too, obvious reasons- anyone who has read 'It's not about the Bike' would never say 'Why?'
Also, one more idol is being sculpted - Lee Iacocca- Ford and Chrysler's trend setting iconoclast boss. I'm reading his autobiography (pun intended, it really is an AUTObiography). Hopefully, it will go off well and will turn out to be the best among the rest- one idol I can proudly unveil to the world.
However, it seems to be an arduous journey- choosing the person who shall be my guiding angel, the luminary whose luminescent figure will be a beacon during dark times...here's hoping for a successful quest !
a- They got thrashed left, right and center.
q- What do you say when a party, which caters to the communist, religious hardliner and the liberal voters, gets whipped in the elections ?
Answer at the end of the post. However, if you directly scroll down to the answer, without attending to the main body...umm...you will lead an unhappy afterlife. And right now you will develop respiratory problems. Yeah..NOW...when you reach this full stop.
Getting to the point, I am faced with a task- I have to choose an idol for myself. You see, at the IIM- interview (yipee!) , a favorite question of theirs is - 'Who is your idol ? ' Now this question is befuddling indeed. For there has never been this one person who can stake the claim to being my idol. Coming to think of it, the people who have come closest to being my idols are all fictitious. Starting from Ace Mc Cloud of 'Centurions' fame, moving on to the happy-go-lucky and smart-ass kid Joe Hardy, then the brilliant and egocentric Hercule Poirot, interspersed with periods of idolatry towards Arnold Schwaznegger and James Bond....he-who-must-be-named..who shall it be ?
Two likely candidates are Salman Rushdie and Lance Armstrong. But I also face the onerous task of justifying for my idol worship. Salman Rushdie- plenty of reasons other than his literary genius- his numerous liaisons including the likes of Kylie and Dani Minogue, Padma Lakshmi..now Riya Sen. That's five reasons (including literary genius). Lance Armstrong, too, obvious reasons- anyone who has read 'It's not about the Bike' would never say 'Why?'
Also, one more idol is being sculpted - Lee Iacocca- Ford and Chrysler's trend setting iconoclast boss. I'm reading his autobiography (pun intended, it really is an AUTObiography). Hopefully, it will go off well and will turn out to be the best among the rest- one idol I can proudly unveil to the world.
However, it seems to be an arduous journey- choosing the person who shall be my guiding angel, the luminary whose luminescent figure will be a beacon during dark times...here's hoping for a successful quest !
a- They got thrashed left, right and center.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Syncope- a language quirk
I have came across the word 'syncopation' previously, but post some googling I had a good understanding of this less-known (and intriguing) quirk of the language, a non-too-famous figure of speech.
A Syncope is the loss of a syllable, the syllable being an unstressed vowel, and is exaggerated by strong stress accents. A common example is every. Other such every day examples being average, boundary, temperate...try cooking up some of your own- 'several' instance exist. I can think of conglomerate for one. Conglomerate is an obscure example, but you see I had to come up with words outside of the long and seemingly comprehensive list which a jstor online article presented me with. Fine, I make amends- general- now that is an adequate example.
I have a feeling syncopation must be especially accentuated in Indian English. Let me look around, hear around, rather, and see if I can bring out some solid evidence to establish my hypothesis.
A Syncope is the loss of a syllable, the syllable being an unstressed vowel, and is exaggerated by strong stress accents. A common example is every. Other such every day examples being average, boundary, temperate...try cooking up some of your own- 'several' instance exist. I can think of conglomerate for one. Conglomerate is an obscure example, but you see I had to come up with words outside of the long and seemingly comprehensive list which a jstor online article presented me with. Fine, I make amends- general- now that is an adequate example.
I have a feeling syncopation must be especially accentuated in Indian English. Let me look around, hear around, rather, and see if I can bring out some solid evidence to establish my hypothesis.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
The Desi 'Umbrella' Business Model
An extremely surprising and novel facet of the bigwigs of India Inc. - the business model they follow. For starters, consider the Fortune 10:
- Wal Mart - United States (retail)
- ExxonMobil Corporation - United States (oil/retail)
- Royal Dutch Shell - Netherlands/United Kingdom (oil)
- BP - United Kingdom (oil)
- General Motors - United States (automobiles)
- Toyota Motor - Japan (automobiles)
- Chevron - United States (oil)
- DaimlerChrysler - Germany/United States (automobiles)
- ConocoPhillips - United States (oil)
- Total - France (oil)
Each of these behemoths is sector specific- oil, retail, automobiles...then moving on to others that populate the top 50, we have Banking (BOA, JPP Morgan, Morgan, ML), FMCG (P&G, Unilever) , Communication (AT&T, Verizon)- all sectors represented by their world leaders. Specialization is indeed a common thread running through global giants.
However, coming to the Indian market, we see a totally different ball game. The idea for every big desi company is to dabble in every possible sector- offer an umbrella- a wide range of products and services.
Take the Tata group- India's largest business entity with 96 companies under their fold- they have a mind boggling array of products and services. Many of the Tata group companies are household names by themselves, and frequently star in the headlines. Consider,
1. Steel (Tata Steel, Corus, the hue and cry surrounding Corus)
2. Power (Tata Power)
3. Retail (Westside, Trent)
3. Automobiles (Tata Motors, the world automobile market watches with bated breath as the 1 lac car story unfolds in India, as there is atalk of the Rover acquisition)
4. Telecom (Tata Indicom, the big spectrum battle raging in the telecom industry)
5. FMCG (Tata Salt, Tetley, second largest tea maker of the world)
6. Consulting (TCS, TSMG)
7. Insurance (Tata-AIG life insurance)
8. Software (Tata Elxsi)
9. Communication (Tata Sky)
10. Consumer Appliances (Voltas, Titan)
11. Hospitality (Taj group of Hotels, the Orient Express turning down Tata's bids)
12. Publishing (Tata McGraw Hill)
12. Tata Chemicals (Acquired British company Brunner Mond in '06)
10. Fundamental Research (Tata Institute of Fundamanetal Resesarch, CSR: Computational Research Lab)
All put together, the 28 publicly listed companies generate revenue of $22 billion (05-06). This would comfortably place the Tata Group in the Fortune 100 list. The variety is simply mind numbing. In each of the aforementioned sectors, Tata products are not just around to mark their presence but are thriving and are market leaders in many cases.
There is Wipro( FMCG- soap, talcum powders, IT) and there is ITC (cigarettes, packaged food, chips, Paper- Classmate range of notebooks, Hospitality, Clothing) and there is the comparatively low profile $ 2 Billion Murugappa group (Sanitaryware- Parryware, Cycles-TI cycles whose marquees include BSA and Hercules, Mutual Finds and Financial Services, Confectionary - Parry's) .
Is this 'umbrella' philosophy sustainable ? Will it lead to unsurmountable internal rifts and strains ? The Reliance split seems to suggest so, but as the India Inc. juggernaut rolls on seemingly inevitably, the umbrella model stands ratified. As a bystander, one is compelled to stop, stare and wonder.
However, coming to the Indian market, we see a totally different ball game. The idea for every big desi company is to dabble in every possible sector- offer an umbrella- a wide range of products and services.
Take the Tata group- India's largest business entity with 96 companies under their fold- they have a mind boggling array of products and services. Many of the Tata group companies are household names by themselves, and frequently star in the headlines. Consider,
1. Steel (Tata Steel, Corus, the hue and cry surrounding Corus)
2. Power (Tata Power)
3. Retail (Westside, Trent)
3. Automobiles (Tata Motors, the world automobile market watches with bated breath as the 1 lac car story unfolds in India, as there is atalk of the Rover acquisition)
4. Telecom (Tata Indicom, the big spectrum battle raging in the telecom industry)
5. FMCG (Tata Salt, Tetley, second largest tea maker of the world)
6. Consulting (TCS, TSMG)
7. Insurance (Tata-AIG life insurance)
8. Software (Tata Elxsi)
9. Communication (Tata Sky)
10. Consumer Appliances (Voltas, Titan)
11. Hospitality (Taj group of Hotels, the Orient Express turning down Tata's bids)
12. Publishing (Tata McGraw Hill)
12. Tata Chemicals (Acquired British company Brunner Mond in '06)
10. Fundamental Research (Tata Institute of Fundamanetal Resesarch, CSR: Computational Research Lab)
All put together, the 28 publicly listed companies generate revenue of $22 billion (05-06). This would comfortably place the Tata Group in the Fortune 100 list. The variety is simply mind numbing. In each of the aforementioned sectors, Tata products are not just around to mark their presence but are thriving and are market leaders in many cases.
There is Wipro( FMCG- soap, talcum powders, IT) and there is ITC (cigarettes, packaged food, chips, Paper- Classmate range of notebooks, Hospitality, Clothing) and there is the comparatively low profile $ 2 Billion Murugappa group (Sanitaryware- Parryware, Cycles-TI cycles whose marquees include BSA and Hercules, Mutual Finds and Financial Services, Confectionary - Parry's) .
Is this 'umbrella' philosophy sustainable ? Will it lead to unsurmountable internal rifts and strains ? The Reliance split seems to suggest so, but as the India Inc. juggernaut rolls on seemingly inevitably, the umbrella model stands ratified. As a bystander, one is compelled to stop, stare and wonder.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Rameez Raja's commentary
I will try not to be extremely vitriolic here, because I believe my sagacious comments on cricket do reach the highest echelons of the cricketing fraternity, and will be perused very soon by the subject of this post himself.
'The balls are not bouncing very much, and Kamran Akmal will have difficulty keeping them below his belt", remarked Mr. Ramiz Raja, former test cricketer and renowned commentator. Oh dear ! What a ridiculous blooper !
This is how Mr. Ramiz Raja proceeds to tear apart the respectable lexicon of the quirky and peppy cricket commentary. Mixing, with great zeal, high falutin words with the downright modest in one breath, corrupting ubiquitous English adages..this is one but one aspect of his commentary.
To add to his faults, his views are extremely partisan- looks at everything through green tinted Pakistani glasses ! Let's say Kumble's sends down a jaffa and rattles timber, shattering the defences of a bamboozled Younis Khan.
"Good Ball, but what was Younis thinking ! He ought to have stretched forward, and either taken it on his pads or tucked it away towards the vacant short leg region ! Poor batting ! "- Mr. Ramiz Raja's enlightening comments.
And take nit picking to further extremes, he needs a haricut badly. And he looks like that always.
The sonorous booming voice of Tony Greg, the endearing drawl of Boycott, the animated perkiness of Gavaskar, the grave authority of Shastri- now THAT is commentary, at it's very best.
'The balls are not bouncing very much, and Kamran Akmal will have difficulty keeping them below his belt", remarked Mr. Ramiz Raja, former test cricketer and renowned commentator. Oh dear ! What a ridiculous blooper !
This is how Mr. Ramiz Raja proceeds to tear apart the respectable lexicon of the quirky and peppy cricket commentary. Mixing, with great zeal, high falutin words with the downright modest in one breath, corrupting ubiquitous English adages..this is one but one aspect of his commentary.
To add to his faults, his views are extremely partisan- looks at everything through green tinted Pakistani glasses ! Let's say Kumble's sends down a jaffa and rattles timber, shattering the defences of a bamboozled Younis Khan.
"Good Ball, but what was Younis thinking ! He ought to have stretched forward, and either taken it on his pads or tucked it away towards the vacant short leg region ! Poor batting ! "- Mr. Ramiz Raja's enlightening comments.
And take nit picking to further extremes, he needs a haricut badly. And he looks like that always.
The sonorous booming voice of Tony Greg, the endearing drawl of Boycott, the animated perkiness of Gavaskar, the grave authority of Shastri- now THAT is commentary, at it's very best.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Clash of Civilizations
Well, here's to add to the short ( and sweet ? Naaa...I don't like 'em this way) posts that have been populating my blog of late (Eyebrows knitted in disapproval)
Anyway, there's this NGO website Awaz.org, launched by this Indian 'global citizen' - Mr. ___ Patel. Global citizen because he was born in Canada and later years saw him live the definition of the phrase globe trotter. So Awaz.org has within a year of its inception, turned into a hotbed of vocal public opinion.
They made this video which has skyrocketed to 2nd in Youtube's list of most watched videos of all time. It's called Clash of Civilizations. Here's the link, exclusively for the readers of the most popular, informative and entertaining blog in the world.
Anyway, there's this NGO website Awaz.org, launched by this Indian 'global citizen' - Mr. ___ Patel. Global citizen because he was born in Canada and later years saw him live the definition of the phrase globe trotter. So Awaz.org has within a year of its inception, turned into a hotbed of vocal public opinion.
They made this video which has skyrocketed to 2nd in Youtube's list of most watched videos of all time. It's called Clash of Civilizations. Here's the link, exclusively for the readers of the most popular, informative and entertaining blog in the world.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/52674/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWyJJQbFago
Caveat- the video doesn't quite uphold the high standards of quality set by this blog, but you see the bar here has been set very high. But I reiterate, 2nd on Youtube's list.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWyJJQbFago
Caveat- the video doesn't quite uphold the high standards of quality set by this blog, but you see the bar here has been set very high. But I reiterate, 2nd on Youtube's list.
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