Year: 2007

NED has struck blogging

have got some 20 ideas for blogging in the last one week but have hardly been able to write

need to get out of this fast

If a girl is traveling pillion on a bike with a boy who is not her husband/boyfriend she should sit sideways – like you are forced to when you wear an undivided garment such as a sari or dhoti. Sitting straight (with one leg on either side) behind a guy who is not your guy is not part of our culture.

Profound?

I have a feeling that Bengal have thrown their match against Andhra. This ensures their relegation, and given the new format of next year’s ranji trophy, gives them the best chance of making the quarters.

They have way too much quality in their bowling (RR Bose, SS Paul, Dinda, etc.) and if, by way of imports or some softening of the BCCI’s stand on ICL or by improvement in Tiwary’s form, they can shore up their batting they are sure to top their plate group and thus make it to the quarters.

If the BCCI continues with the next year’s format, then I’m sure that once quality teams figure out they can’t make it to the quarters, they’ll get relegated so as to give themselves a better chance of winning!
???

Lord’s has been avenged.

In two phases.

First at Bangalore last week.

And now at Galle.

The only difference being that neither Bangalore nor Galle would have changed the ultimate result of the series.

The second-last prediction I made (about Punjab getting relegated), in hindsight, looks fundamentally flawed. After Orissa made 300 in their first innings, I assumed that Punjab wouldn’t be able to face Mohanty in Mohali. Instead it was VRV who cracked in Orissa’s second innings, taking four wickets with five balls as they folded up for 76, with the only decent resistance coming from SS Das.

If you look at day cricket at Mohali, it has always been supportive of the hit the deck types, rather than the swingers. If you recall the first ever test there,? Walsh broke Prabhakar’s nose, and along with Kenny Benjamin, finished off the Indians for a little over a 100. Munaf, on his debut here in 2006, had destroyed England, with help from Anil Kumble (and back then, Munaf was fast). If you discount bowling under lights (when dew makes the ball play tricks, and thus assists the swingers), Mohali doesn’t have much swing. It’s more about the hard deck, and the bounce, and ideally suited for the hit the deck types.

It’s the kind of pitch which is best exploited by a tall and fast bowler with a high arm action who can pitch it at a back of a length, and in that department VRV is one of the best we have in India. Face it, but that’s the truth. Ishant has the height and bounce but lacks pace, and I don’t really know about Pankaj Singh. Another exponent of this kind of bowling is Agarkar, who, despite his lack of height, gets excellent bounce when in form. And there is Munaf. The left armers are all swingers, as is Sreesanth.

Anyways, the point is that Mohali would always be more conducive to someone like VRV rather than a swinger like Mohanty. Hence the bet was flawed.

Two days to go for counting and declaration of results. I hereby stick my neck out and make my prediction. Modi will win. And I don’t think ideology has much to do with it.

After Krishna and Chandrababu lost in 2004, and PVN got mauled in 1996, it has fashionable to say that development won’t win elections. I think it has more to do with impact of development. The reforms ushered in by PVN didn’t touch the common man immediately. The change in economic ideology had no impact on them. He wasn’t “seen” by the common man (and the common man doesn’t watch budget speeches on TV) to be doing much good. And got trounced.

Krishna and Naidu fared worse. They actually made a meaningful impact, but went out. They were seen as do-gooders. Unfortunately, they did significantly more good for a certain section of society as against other the rest of society. And unfortunately for them, the section that? got left out was significantly larger. And they bit the dust.

From what people tell me, and what I read in the paper, Modi seems to have done better. Two things catch my eye – the rural electrification program and some scheme for education for girls. The latter is supposed to have increased school enrolment among girls to a whopping 97% (Source: Today’s business standard. Can’t find the link). The former is supposed to have electrified an even larger proportion of villages. Barring a couple of hundred villages, the rest are supposed to receive 24 x 7 3 phase power supply.

If the above is true, there is no way Modi can lose. Two things he has done that both PVN and the southern CMs missed out. Firstly, the reforms have made an impact during his tenure. It’s there for people to see before they vote again. Secondly, and more importantly, they have been broad-based. In his biggest achievements, I don’t see that he has favored any group over another, so the reforms haven’t alienated anyone, as they did to rural Karnataka when Krishna was CM.

While we are at it, another point to mention here is Chidambaram’s statement regarding the massive increase in Gujarat’s debt burden during Modi’s tenure. Coming from the national Finance Minister, this statement ought to be taken seriously. If it is indeed right, it’s hard to see why the Congress didn’t make a bigger issue of it. If the figures are wrong, the BJP can disrupt the budget session of parliament demanding the FM’s resignation.

Footnote: The last time I made a prediction on my blog, I went wrong. I had predicted that Punjab would get relegated in the Ranji Trophy. And riding on the back of a VRV hat-trick, they made a superb second innings comeback to beat Orissa and thus avoid relegation. Hopefully my forecasts are better this time.

some colleague in my office asked “so how is the new project? liking it?”

I replied, “Do you follow cricket? Test cricket? When a batsman comes in with five overs to go in the day, he doesn’t aim to score runs. All he looks for is to play out the overs without any damage so that he can return the next morning and score. I started this project on the 10th of December”