AAL is WELL - with test cricket

This winter (summer in the southern hemisphere) was great for test cricket. We had two captivating test series, one in South Africa and the other in Australia. It was heartening to see the Indian cricket team play the way they did after the humiliation of the 1^st test which I am sure would have been a closer contest had India played a practice game before. None the less it was a great series and although the series was tied 1-1, India managed to hold on to the number one spot. This might just be the beginning of a new rivalry like the Border – Gavasker trophy. Dare I suggest the name for it, Azhar – Cronje trophy!

The Ashes on the other hand was a one sided affair, still for an Indian cricket fan, seeing Australia loose is probably as satisfactory as witnessing an Indian win. Australian greats like Ponting, Clarke looked nothing more than club cricketers and had no answers to the swing and pace of 6 foot something Englishmen. After years of havoc caused by Glen Mcgrath and Shane Warne, the Australians tasted their own bitter medicine. England were in immaculate form throughout the series and were wonderful to watch even while celebrating. England’s footballers should probably learn some humility from their county’s cricketers.

The next 12 months promises some exhilarating test cricket with India, South Africa and England wrestling for the top spot.

The future of One Day cricket on the other hand might be in danger. T20 has proved to be more entertaining. It also has a world cup which has been a success and gets over in 3 to 4 weeks. Compare that to the one day world cup which starts on the 19^th of February and does not finish until the 2^nd of April. If India does not make it to at least the semifinals, the WC might feel like riding a luna on a highway. One day cricket is becoming pointless as is being proved in Australia now. England are just going through the motions and seem desperate to return home. However, the circus has to go round the cricketing centres of Australia one last time until their next trip in 4 years time. In the India – South Africa series, the difference between the players who had stayed on after tests and the ones who had arrived for the one - dayers was quite apparent.

This world cup will be a success because it is being held in the Sub continent and India seems to be one of the favorites to win it. How relevant the subsequent World Cups will be, remains to be seen. I will not be surprised if the 50 over game is ousted by T20 in the near future. Test cricket on the other hand is going nowhere.

A few Seditious Remarks

Fortunately for me, unlike Arundhati Roy, my fame extends only to the main door of my house. So, if I said that Kashmir was never an integral part of India, I need not be worried about a backlash against me for my “seditious” remarks. However, I do not share the view of Ms. Roy. Kashmir is as much a part of India (which was nothing more than an Idea before 15^th August 1947) as Uttar Pradesh, however morally dubious the process of acquiring it might have been. But when raison d’état is at stake, morality takes a back seat. There is no doubt in my mind that both Machiavelli and Kautilya would have given India’s annexation of Kashmir a Thumbs - Up.

Kashmir was not like any other state, it had to be treated differently for it would always be a battleground not only for territory but, as Jodef Korbel put it, “uncompromising struggle of two ways of life, two concepts of political organization, two scales of values, two spiritual attitudes”. The makers of the constitution were aware of this reality and granted Kashmir a special autonomy according to which all laws passed by the Indian constitution have to be ratified by the state legislature of J&K, only exceptions being laws pertaining to defense and foreign policy.

The problem for me however is not about the legality of India’s control of Kashmir but what we have done or not done in that part of “our country”. We squandered the opportunity to win the hearts and minds of the Kashmiris through poor governance and economic mismanagement and most importantly through failure of justice. Instead, when the insurgency started, the government responded with the enforcement of the Armed Forces act. The wisdom to enforce the act in a state like Jammu and Kashmir is questionable to say the least. You only have to go to you tube to get an account of how the Armed Forces Act is being misused by our security forces. According to some sources, there might be as many as 8,000 disappearances in the valley, majority of which are blamed on the Security forces. Allegations of fake encounters, rape and general heavy handedness by the security forces in the area are all too common and have been corroborated by the UN and Human Rights Watch along with other independent observers.

Human Rights Watch, in letter in 2009, has appealed to the J&K government to hold transparent and independent investigation into allegations of disappearances and punish those security personnel who are found guilty. I don’t believe that the state government has replied yet. The abolition of Armed Forces Act will probably be one of the first steps to correct the wrongs of our security forces on our own people. Last summer’s protests involved mostly teenagers which should prompt the Indian government to ask itself some tough questions – Why are the teenagers of Kashmir pelting stones while the teenagers in the rest of the country are planning their careers in IT or as engineers, doctors, media persons etc.

The territory of Kashmir might be an integral part of India but we have been unsuccessful so far in making Kashmiris integral to the Idea of India.

Today I am recovering........... After 7 days of duty management....
Its like having played 5 grueling days of a cricket test match and being on the loosing side ...... you get one solitary day to mentally prepare yourself for the next grind.......

For the benefit of those who do not know what a duty manager does in a hotel .... try and remember a hindi movie when a heroine (who is probably playing a rich daddy's spoilt girl) or her aunt walks into a restaurant/hotel and finds that the place is not to her taste and shouts MANAGAAAARRR!!!!!..... There appears a lallu looking guy in a suit and all the anger is directed towards the poor guy....... Well thats a bit over the top but its not far off from the truth.....

When you have a guest hurling abuses and insults at you ...... its a lot like (or atleast I would like to think it is) Harold Larwood bowling 90 mile bouncers and you have to make the split second decision to duck or to hook ...... in my case to give the guest a compensation (which in 99 % cases is what he/she is looking for) or ask him to p**s off using the politest words and phrases I could get my hands on....

But there are happier moments as well ...... about that some other time.....

I cannot publish my second post without mentioning about the dahi wada a la sasha (my little sis) which I did not get a chance to eat last time, ..... I am worried that she might not make it again for me ....... D' OH!

Testing 1 2 3

My first blog .......

Oops..... I might be a pseudo intellectual..... For 15 minutes I sat and tried to come up with a fancy title and spectacular content which might not be mine..... all just to make an impression.

I have been thinking about having my own blog space (unsure of the terminology) for a while now..... I know a few people who regularly post and thought that I should do the same.... My friend Indro (dada/Inderjeetey/paapey) says its a good stress buster.....

He asked me what I was going to write about and again the first thing that crossed my mind was to steal a paragraph from perhaps Krishnamurthi or Freud or perhaps even Machiavilli given my supposed indulgence in political theory.....

But I will start with a mention about the lamb biryani I made last night..... It was the first time I made biryani ..... the lamb was not as tender as I would have liked it to be .... but my house mates enjoyed it....... Next time I am at Hounslow ...... will try to get my hands on Gopu's secret...... (Gopu is my langotiya who probably makes the best biryani in the world)