Showing posts with label india. Show all posts
Showing posts with label india. Show all posts

Friday, April 24, 2009

Weighty Issues

AB

 

 

 

 

 

The other day i stumbled upon an article in the Time magazine which aspired to guide one in the science of 'how not be hated by potential friends on Facebook'. (No, I'm not going to copy paste the article.)

One among the many of "Facebook etiquette rules" was->' Stop taking quizzes. Nobody cares what literary time period you are'. I personally log onto FB not to cuddle up to potential friends and flaunt my impeccable personality and leave an impression, but to see if any of my friends have taken any interesting quizzes.

Of course, there are the self-propagating all time favorite quizzes on ones favorites but who doesn't like to share their interests and favorites. When we do that, we don't give a damn to what the others might think !, it's just all about us. It's our way of feeding our ego (which BTW is being wrongly portrayed in a very narrow and negative way in most circles). We do take some really lame quizzes like "who's your celebrity GF" and "which rock song are you" but this behaviour is much better than, not taking them due of the fear of making a bad impression on possible suitors.

In short, it's better to "be yourself and act as a jerk" rather than "pretend to be a sensitive saint". [The phrase "be yourself" has been thrown around many times that I feel like it might have robbed the chastity of the declaration and turned it into a skanky filmy line.] (I do hope that you are smart enough to realise that taking those quizzes didn't make you a jerk, it was just an expression)

------------------------------>Change of  Topic

 

I watched the palm d'or winning movie of last year "The Class" recently and was astonished at the way the student-teacher interactions were depicted. The movie shows 13 year olds refusing to do what the teacher says proclaiming "rights of expression" and "rights of freedom" and all that. I can't even begin to imagine that kind of free expressionism in our country. The students do cross the limits at times but that's not the point.

I reckon we have been corrupted ever since childhood into believing the restrictions posed on us are for our own good and that our tradition is the best in the whole wide world. There are two ways, i guess, of looking at our culture, those in favour may say it breeds discipline but the others might say it curbs our natural development. 

A typical students' life in India (not related to the above discussion or anything):-

Thrown into school even before they know how to use the toilet. Parents then proudly exhibit their childrens' talent by forcing them to recite multiplication tables and English alphabet in front of the neighbours with the sole purpose of showing how smart their child is. Boys don't even get the remark of "you throw like a girl" from their fathers. All they get is "do your homework ". Then as they grow older, the coaching institutes come along and the parents are only too happy to find a place which provides for maximum jail time. Career defining exams come, unable to cope students go.

[ I've said all that as an adult watching today's school going children. Our generation was caught up amidst this towards the fag end but we might just have escaped.]    

As someone said and my friend on Gtalk statused*-> The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.

P.S:- No matter what you write or do, how can IPL be not on your mind. Looking at AB, the customary " whom do girls ogle at" list for IPL came out and this was what was said about AB :-

If you like the choirboy type, AB is your baby. Incidentally he does sing, and while his debut single, "Show Them Who You Are", may not be the love song you were hoping for, it will work well enough to annoy your boyfriend no end. He looks like a dream and bats like a dream, so what if he doesn't sing like one, eh, ladies? 

The others on the list were Vettori, Dravid, Mccullum, Gayle, Sangakkara, Duminy, Pujara, Lee, Steyn, Dhoni (http://content.cricinfo.com/iplpage2/content/story/398866.html)

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Ind Vs Aus - a neutral's viewpoint

This post has been due for quite some time but i had to hold it back fearing the backlash of some extremely irate Indian cricket fans. Before i begin, i would like to vent my ire on the nonsensical Indian media which does nothing save sensationalization. WTF were they thinking, going for head-lines like "India c Benson b Bucknor". The head-line could have been excused had it mentioned below "last wicket:- Editor c&b quick-buck (FOW -prior to publication) ". The electronic media wasn't far behind either. They were busy interviewing Harbhajan's mom and Ganguly's grandpa :( .

I do agree that India were hard done by umpiring decisions but the decision to react in the way that they have is even more flawed. The Indian media had no right whatsoever, to term the Aussies "cheats" for playing tough cricket. The Aussies aren't to be blamed for their good fortune! Clarke's catch might have been dubious but i remember an even more dubious occasion when Dhoni claimed (successfully) to have caught a catch, when replays showed that it was surely a bump ball. The batsman sadly, took Dhoni's word and silently walked away. Most of you must have forgotten the incident because the media took great care not to point out the obvious fact (that MSD and co had cheated).

I wonder about whom Kumble was speaking about when he said " only one team played with the spirit of the game". As far as i could see, one team was riding it's luck rather skillfully where as the other was sulking at it's misfortunes and whining about the umpiring. The law of nature states that better teams always get the benefit of the doubt no matter how just or unjust it might be. It is quite clearly evident in football where the underdog never gets a close decision in it's favor when it comes to penalties and offsides (which lead to goals).

"Team India" should not even think of returning, just because of the injustice meted out to them by the officials. They should be big enough to accept that it's just an unwanted part of the game which will not go away as long as you play as an underdog. In order to beat a champion, you need to beat the bad decisions as well.

p.s 1:- It's really unfortunate that people sway to the tunes of the media without any apprehension. It's high time they realized that the media is just a capitalistic whore which will stoop down to any level, just to get that extra hit.

p.s 2:- Ganguly's grandpa is a fictitious inclusion