Its been quite a long time, and I am back after a pretty long and busy month!(Theoretically, this is one of the shorter months, but life had so much for me in this month that made it seem long!!)
Well I really dont know what to write about, but my thoughts have been pondering over the recent victory by the Indian cricket team in the Twenty20 world cup and its aftereffects!! When I think about it, lot of things come into my minds. First and foremost is the fanaticism of the Indian public. The same Indian public had literally screwed the happiness of almost the same Indian team not too long back. Hardly 6 months back, when Indians had been eliminated from the World Cup, the furore and the outrage of the Indian public was unimaginable. The house of M S Dhoni which was under construction, was badly damaged. Similar things had happened with other cricketers too. Hoardings and advertisements bearing these cricketers's photographs were damaged. Even corporates backed out of multi million deals with these players. The frequency of TV commercials starring these players went down drastically. I started wondering, what happened to the Indian public?? I always pitied those people to have been cricketers, more so Indian cricketers!! Indian cricket is a great leveller! And people take it too much emotionally. At times they tend to think from their heart.
And now, barely 6 months away, they are world champions, though in a different format. And back they return to a totally different sort of welcome from the public!! I had heard the saying "Every dog has its day". But I had never expected that day to have come so early! A victory procession almost 20 odd kilometers on the busy roads of Mumbai, paralysing normal life; cash rewards showered on all players by the board as well as state Governments; apartments by main sponsors in any of the cities of the players's choice and what not?? The same BCCI which had opposed the T20 concept in its formative days has come forward to organise the Victory march! In fact it even has started the Indian Premier League, which is the domestic version of the T20!! Coming to the point, the victory is definitely commendable. For one, nobody really imagined India to , forget winning, even qualify for the semi finals. But this young team has definitely done really well. And secondly, this was Dhoni's first tryst with captaincy, and no senior player was around whenever he needed any assistance or suggestions. He has done a phenomenal job and has shown traits of a great captain. But then, time only will tell. Its too early to comment on his captaincy.
That brings me to one more point!! Whenever there is a cricket series of this magnitude happening anywhere in the world, people start popping up everywhere as "Cricket Analysts" and every Tom, Dick and Harry is an expert. Especially in those review sessions on the news channels and other major discussions on other channels. Anyone who can speak a fair deal of English with a few words which common man cannot understand here and there, will be labelled as an expert. It doesn't matter whether whatever he speaks makes any sense or not! The other day, I saw two of the renowned Indian cricketers arguing on a news show about which World Cup victory was better, the 1983 one or the current one!! I fail to understand, how can one even compare the two!! Both are great victories in their own way. But you cannot compare the two victories, as such!!! Its like comparing price of gold with apples!! In fact, most of the players in this squad, were probably not even born the last time we had won a cricketing event of that magnitude!! So its highly immature to compare the two victories!!
And coming to the last point, when Governments can reward cricketers like what they have done, what injustice have other sportsmen done?? Only that they chose to play a sport that was not popular among the public?? The other day, I saw a dejected Pankaj Advani complaining, "If 5 World championships, an Asiad Gold, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and Arjuna award is not enough, then whats enough??" In fact, as I sit to write this, Vishwanathan Anand is all set to win the World Championship in Chess!! P Gopichand won the All England Badminton Championship which is equivalent to Wimbledon. Paes and Bhupathi have won lots of titles in the tennis circuit. Narain Karthikeyan had opportunity in the F1 scene too. But people hardly bother about it. Just a couple of weeks back, the Indian Hockey team won the Asia Cup Hockey. What did the players get?? In fact how many of us are even aware of that?? As we talk about all these, one unanswered questioned has remained so for decades together "There are lot of talented sportsmen in other disciplines also. Why doesn't the Govt support them??"
Friday, September 28, 2007
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Hyderabad!!!
Its been almost 9 months since I came to Hyderabad and I have had quite a few experiences which I think are worth mentioning. When I first landed here, way back in November last year, I was very sceptical! I had heard a lot of things about Hyderabad, especially about the climate being extreme. On my way to my hotel room from the airport, I was taken on a road which consisted only of flyovers. That reminded me of the Western Express Highway in Mumbai and I began comparing it with the financial capital of India. Slowly I began to move around only to realise that its not all that close to Mumbai!!
Anyways, when I landed here, winter had just set in. Having experienced the winter in Bangalore, it was not all that extreme either. People say that temperatures drop to single digits during winter here. Well to be frank, I have never experienced that, but I am eagerly awaiting for this winter. But summers are the most horrible part of Hyderabad climate. Temperatures cross 45 at times. And more importantly, its a very dry climate. Hot wind will be blowing throughout the day, and lots of people die of sun strokes.
My first major observation here was about the traffic sense of the people. Its one of the worst in big cities I have seen. Initially I was under the impression that Bangalore is the worst when it comes to traffic. But one week in Hyderabad was sufficient for me to change my thoughts. People here are in such a hurry that, at a signal, they move only when it is red. Seldom do you get to move when its green. Police is also located at all major junctions but they too are mute spectators. They can't do a bit about it. Many a times I have seen policemen writing down numbers of defaulters who break signals or any other traffic rules for that matter, on a small chit of paper. God knows what happens to that after that. At a crossroad, an auto who wants to turn left will often be found immediately nest to the divider!! What shit?? But that's a way of life in Hyderabad. My uncle used to tell me, If you can drive a vehicle in Mumbai, you can drive anywhere in the country. But now I beg to differ. If you can drive a vehicle, especially a two wheeler in Hyderabad, you can drive anywhere in the world!!
Another thing that I was to observe is the people here. Lazy to the core. Quite evident from the fact that no shops or business establishments open before 10 or 10:30 in the morning. And not that they stay awake till late in the night or so. By 10 in the nights, even major streets are empty. But people here are very friendly (except the auto drivers. They are the most ungrateful ones. They never come to the place where you want to go) and helpful. You can find people from all socio economic background here. The fact that the number of Honda City's and Civic's or Toyota Corolla's and Camry's here is more than any other city is a testimony of the per capita income of the city!! But going towards the outskirts and old city you can find people from the other end of the society also. But then, its a way of life!! Having experienced the internal terror groups or external terror groups, the people here have become used to it. Life comes back to normal. Two bomb blasts have occured here ever since I came here. And I have to salute the spirit of the people and the way they react to such incidents!!
One of the worst things about Hyderabad I have observed is that its a poorly planned city. There are flyovers, but they have only one or two lanes at most, often leading to bottlenecks at the entry and exits. So if things had been planned properly, the traffic problems would not have been there!! Another major blunder is the non availability of dividers on flyovers and main roads. This makes life miserable for two wheelers. And the worst thing about it is the condition of roads. Pathetic. Its an insult to call Hyderabad a Metro with the quality of roads that it boasts. And all these become very evident during the rains. One heavy rain is all that is required to make life miserable for people. A heavy rain will leave all major road intersections water clogged. You cannot walk on the roads without wetting a foot of your pants!! And Hyderabad rains have a typical habit. They pour heavily for an hour only in the evenings. The whole day will be very sunny and even after the rains, skies clear of. Now that's the way nature has chose to play with Hyderabad, and Hyderabad is not to be blamed for!!
Anyways, when I landed here, winter had just set in. Having experienced the winter in Bangalore, it was not all that extreme either. People say that temperatures drop to single digits during winter here. Well to be frank, I have never experienced that, but I am eagerly awaiting for this winter. But summers are the most horrible part of Hyderabad climate. Temperatures cross 45 at times. And more importantly, its a very dry climate. Hot wind will be blowing throughout the day, and lots of people die of sun strokes.
My first major observation here was about the traffic sense of the people. Its one of the worst in big cities I have seen. Initially I was under the impression that Bangalore is the worst when it comes to traffic. But one week in Hyderabad was sufficient for me to change my thoughts. People here are in such a hurry that, at a signal, they move only when it is red. Seldom do you get to move when its green. Police is also located at all major junctions but they too are mute spectators. They can't do a bit about it. Many a times I have seen policemen writing down numbers of defaulters who break signals or any other traffic rules for that matter, on a small chit of paper. God knows what happens to that after that. At a crossroad, an auto who wants to turn left will often be found immediately nest to the divider!! What shit?? But that's a way of life in Hyderabad. My uncle used to tell me, If you can drive a vehicle in Mumbai, you can drive anywhere in the country. But now I beg to differ. If you can drive a vehicle, especially a two wheeler in Hyderabad, you can drive anywhere in the world!!
Another thing that I was to observe is the people here. Lazy to the core. Quite evident from the fact that no shops or business establishments open before 10 or 10:30 in the morning. And not that they stay awake till late in the night or so. By 10 in the nights, even major streets are empty. But people here are very friendly (except the auto drivers. They are the most ungrateful ones. They never come to the place where you want to go) and helpful. You can find people from all socio economic background here. The fact that the number of Honda City's and Civic's or Toyota Corolla's and Camry's here is more than any other city is a testimony of the per capita income of the city!! But going towards the outskirts and old city you can find people from the other end of the society also. But then, its a way of life!! Having experienced the internal terror groups or external terror groups, the people here have become used to it. Life comes back to normal. Two bomb blasts have occured here ever since I came here. And I have to salute the spirit of the people and the way they react to such incidents!!
One of the worst things about Hyderabad I have observed is that its a poorly planned city. There are flyovers, but they have only one or two lanes at most, often leading to bottlenecks at the entry and exits. So if things had been planned properly, the traffic problems would not have been there!! Another major blunder is the non availability of dividers on flyovers and main roads. This makes life miserable for two wheelers. And the worst thing about it is the condition of roads. Pathetic. Its an insult to call Hyderabad a Metro with the quality of roads that it boasts. And all these become very evident during the rains. One heavy rain is all that is required to make life miserable for people. A heavy rain will leave all major road intersections water clogged. You cannot walk on the roads without wetting a foot of your pants!! And Hyderabad rains have a typical habit. They pour heavily for an hour only in the evenings. The whole day will be very sunny and even after the rains, skies clear of. Now that's the way nature has chose to play with Hyderabad, and Hyderabad is not to be blamed for!!
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