The IPL Mania Charged winners....

A month long saga of 20-20 or slam bang cricket, an advertising bonanza and an organisational delight and an exceptional competitive environment in which the matches were played. There were countless number of matches which not only went till the last over but also till the last ball. For the players it was a chance to show that they were really worth the sums of money they were paid to perform.
One thing that I personally like about the IPL is that it has created a platform for youngsters to perform and show their skills to entire world.
Also the experience of playing with International stars at such a young stage surely augurs great for the Indian team. Manish Pandey, Kamran Khan, Ajinkya Rahane and many others showcased their skills to the world. I can bet that noone would have even wondered that Manish Pandey would be rewriting history books by becoming the first Indian to score a century in IPL. Also experienced and older generation stars like Hayden, Gilchrist,Warne,Kumble showed to the world that this not only a young man's game but also for experienced players.
I did not follow the IPL to seriously in the begining as I got bored from too much stuff and also the teams that I supported were loosing. Both Rajasthan Royals and KKR(Here I dont need too say too much as you all know a lot has already been spoken about.) didnt perform too well. But as the results of matches become enthralling I just could not afford myself to miss the spectacle.

Deccan Chargers the way they started looked like they would steam roll everyone in the competition by winning the first four matches. However they too suffered setbacks and just about hobbled and wobbled their way into semi finals. In semis Adam Gilchrist truly showed why he will be remembered as the greatest wicketkeeper batsman by playing an innings of such sublime nature that he single handedly won Chargers the match against Delhi Daredeils.
The finals was a close affair as everyone expexted and the over from Symonds when Taylor and Kohli were out of successive balls was the turnoing point in the match. For me the two outstanding performers for chargers were their two bowlers Singh and Ojha who performed throughout the tournament. It was a delight to see a left arm spinner from India performing so well on the international stage.
RBC Kumble and Dravid showed they are old warhorses and carried the team through. Its a pity that their can be only one winner because for me they both were considering where they finished last year.

The most dissapointing teams were Mumbai Indians and KKR. MI lost probably because their key players klike Jayasuriya and Sachin did not perform well and they lost Zaheer due to injury. Also they lost 3-4 matches in the last over when they should have won. That probably was the telling factor in their inability o qualify for the semis. The KKR would do well to buy some new young talent and Indian players as their team looked seriously out of depth and class in terms of the homegrown players are concerned. Apart from Dada and Ishant Sharma non e of the others lookd like capable of playing at such a level. Even Dada to his high standards had a dissapointing tournament. Probably all the controversies that surrounded the team has had an effect on the performance on the players. The best possible solution would be to change the coach and his staff bing in a new coaching team and add a couple of players while maintaining good team spirit and probably the team might do a CHARGERS!!!!.

Living in Vizag I am a rebel kind of person and was seen by peopla as anti Deccan supporters cause we never used to support them . We always used to support the opposing team. So I am excited abiut the bashing and the mock response i would get when i reach Vizag. I will have plenty on my plate from friends the loyal supporters of chargers whom i had dished out a lot in the first IPL. Its time for me to take some and probably more of the medicine back. But one thing is for sure as hard as they try I still will not be a charger supporter com IPL Next year and we will again start that friendly banter which probably has bought us closer as friends.

The Great politival drama and the comprehensive mandate

Life's 2 full of surprises and Indian democracy has a tendency to surprise even the most professional analysts and experts. Personally this election for me has been a small milestone because its the first time my finger got inked. Right from the days when Indira Gandhi lost her seat after the Emergency to the loss of NDA in 2004 to the resounding success of the UPA in 2009 the exit polls have always got the predictions wrong. These opinion and exit polls always kickstart the back room politics where people with 5-10 seats proclaim themselves to be the kingmaker even before the official counting begins. Fom Mayawati to Jayalalitha to Sharad Pawar to Nitish Kumar to Chandrababu Naidu to the Left parties all started projecting themselves as prime ministerial candidates even though they were hopeful of getting not even 10 percent of the total seats. All sorts of political dramam and bickering started on 13th when media reported all sorts of calls being made by UPA and NDA to potential allies. The calls for a Third Front and the possibility of them being able to form a govt. with 120-130 seats was seriously debated by emminent political experts. I still cannot understand their foolishness as to how they can say that a fragmented alliance as the Third Front that too with only 120-130 seats projected could seriously form a government. The media ssurely did spice up the political frenzy and the news channels must be congratulating themselves for the mind boggling TRP's they must have achieved & another way to fool the common man and make money by spreading and quashing rumours of calls and visits being made by political leaders to one another.


Finally on the counting day as the whole nation and even me sat glued to television awaitng the people's mandate and hoping and praying for a conclusive and not a fragmented mandate the people gave their verdict for a stable and decisive allaince who projected an eminent economist as the leader. Noone and i mean noone can lead the economy back to revival than Manmohan Singh the man who as finance minister changed the course of business and industries with the Globalisation ,Liberalisation and Privitisation policy in 1991. The man who made vusiness and exports easier who probably will be remembered as the one who transformed India into a modern India. ALL THE KINGMAKERS GOT ROUTED AND PROBABLY THAT'S THE BEST THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO INDIAN POLITICS AS REGIONAL PARTIES WITH REGIONAL BIAS ,MADE INDIA FRAGMNENTED AND DIVIDED AS THEY DONOT HAVE THE CAPABILITIES TO TAKE DECISION ON A NATIONAL LEVEL. People of India must be lauded for the secular and stable mandate they delivered. One more thing which was observable to me was that people voted for good governance irrespective of their caste creed and religion. Nitish Kumar was lauded for his good work in Bihar with a comprehensive victory their and so were the governments of Chattisgarh, Karnataka,Andhra and Haryana. Also people didnot spare those parties who failed to live upto their pre poll promises in state elections and routed them badly in central elections as if warning them that if they donot give good governance and performance they will be routed when their states go next into poll. The governments of Uttarakhand, UP , Punjab and MP must realise that people nowadays only accept good work and divisive politics. the clear message to the parties were IF YOU PERFORM YOU WILL BE REWARDED BUT IF YOU FAIL YOU'LL BE THROWN OUT.

Parties must also realise that politics in the name of religion, caste have beome less in importance and people now only see performance of government as a yardstick to vote.
YOUTH also played a major role I believe and with a lot of new voters added this time they played a decisive part in shaping the verdict. Rahul Gandhi became a source of inspiration for the youth for his honesty, hard work and for understanding the pulse of youth people which is crying out for an opportunity to be given to them so that they can transform the lives of people. A number of younger leaders like Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia etc. won showing that people believe that youth of today have the capability and ability to transform India.

Personally back home their is a wind of change against the left and their communist politics. Bengal finally has given the mandate to the Left that they need to shelve their old communist ideas and try to be progressive in thinking. They donot have to look too far than China and change their economic and labour policies.
A mind boggling election has just happened and I am happy that I was part of the decision to change the governance.Jai Hind.

In the name of politics are we becoming another Pakistan???

I am not that experienced nor am I that much informed about the situation in Sri Lanka and the ethnic problems going on over there...Watching the news and reading the newspapers over the last couple of weeks has made me feel that in the name of politics we ourselves are committing the same mistakes for which we blame Pakistan in Kashmir. Reading the comments made by few of our great political leaders in Tamil Nadu they seem to be supporting the LTTE(a banned terrorist organisation which has claimed the lives of many people in Sri Lanka). By supporting the claims of an independent Tamil Eelam to be carved out in Sri Lanka isnt India doing the same thing as the seperatist leaders in Kashmir which have been calling for a seperate Kashmir. If we are party to such a thing then we should also not be hypocrate and accept the demand of a seperate Kashmir. I am in no ways saying that what the seperatist leaders in kashmir are doing is justified,then in the same way what these leaders in Tamil Nadu are doing can be acceptable. By giving out statements that you will carve out an Independent country from a sovereign country we are ourselves commiting this grevious mistake. What really is needed from my point of view is that LTTE should be finished while at the same time the innocent people out there be given shelter and protection. I do believe in the comments by their president where they assured the international community that they will take upmost care in providing the displaced refugees relief and give them shelter and better livelihood. An organisation which caused the murder of a prime minister of India can no ways be pardoned and be bpought to trial for the thousands of atrocities they have caused to people. I would like to end by saying that we should not in the name of politics and election undermine the sovereignity of another nation and bring disrepute to our nation ..