Dada almost does it like Kambli

Finally on a national television, Ganguly’s outburst on Dravid’s captaincy skills found its way. This certainly ends up the speculation that ‘All was well’ between two of the best cricketing minds of recent times. It seems, the great urge for not leaving a single opportunity in bashing his long time good friend & mentor Greg Chappel has just over did it this time! Perhaps, Chappel being a consultant to save the aura less Australian side against strong Indian batting line up and remarks over Ganguly’s captaincy style in his biography played as  provocative factors, and he carried away in the tsunami of words and ended up saying something, which he should not have uttered at least at this juncture. 

While Kambli who blamed former Indian skipper Azhar for finishing his career over his knowhow of match fixing mole, Ganguly’s recent statement alleges Dravid for not having guts to go against Chappel and supporting his teammates. Further, Kambli’s allegations are on more than a decade old story and thus are least bothering for current players, whereas, Ganguly’s revelations are against someone who is in excellent form, on a very important tour and most importantly against Rahul Dravid, who is known for giving 110% while on field. Therefore, despite of little or more fact it may have, Ganguly’s comments are bound to draw negative attention for him for perfectly wrong timing. In a rare case and fortunately for him, media has acted responsibly this time and hasn’t gone haywire sensationalizing his remarks.

It appears, ever since this former skipper has recommended Chappel as a coach for the national side, his life has become nightmarish. The famous spat with Chappel not only took away the captaincy from Dada but also kept him out of business for considerable time. That has left the Ganguly furious and the volcano of his anger still erupting lava. As written by Chappel himself in his biography, Ganguly wanted to manage the team on his terms and that created rift between the good relations of two. Indeed, favoritism and groupism were also prevalent in an Indian team as the players like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan were enjoying benefits of being favourite to aggressive and successful skipper. Perhaps in a harsh way, but the Aussie mentor insisted for much better disciplinary standards which required players to live their comfort zone. As known to all of us that dominating nature was the reason for Chappel’s cut short stint with Indian team. 

However, Ganguly himself cannot claim to have clean hands as a captain under Chappel. If he blames Dravid for being not supportive to his team mates, what was he doing when the careers of two extremely talented players were being spoiled under his captaincy?  Perhaps, it was difficult and altogether too much to expect from an individual like Dravid to deal with the likes of Greg, but, flamboyant Ganguly, who is known for swimming against the tide and minces no words could certainly have saved careers by opposing the strategy of coach Greg. Therefore, he himself needs to do the soul’s search and give out the honest answers of few questions. 1) Was not he supposed to intervene when Irfan Pathan was forced to be a batsman, which resulted in to losing his bowling form, skills and place in the team? 2) Why did not he support Md. Kaif who rarely got to bat at the positions he fits the best? We all know classical batter like Kaif was forced to bat during the slog phase, which is completely contradictory to his batting style.    

The presence and approach of coach Greg not only haunted Ganguly, but it also affected Dravid, as he not only lost captaincy post infamous 2007 world cup but also lost his place in ODIs and most importantly form. Thus, Ganguly’s recent outburst against Greg Chappel is just a reflection of past Indian team lived. Further, his intentional/ unintentional comments over other’s role during Chappel’s time are unwanted and meaningless. Wouldn’t we all want to see our beloved ‘Kolkata Tiger’ to live a life beyond ‘Chapter – Greg Chappel’ and maintain the dignity and stature he has gained?                                 

A Profession That Isn’t Noble Anymore

Not so long ago, medicos were considered demigods and people used to put utmost faith in them while they treated their loved ones. Contrarily, the successors of those are not trusted the same way and the popular tag for the profession is left just for namesake, as the fraternity itself will accept this bitter truth. 

A news show on latest Kolkata -AMRI tragedy taught me a new word- ‘Hospital Entrepreneurs’. Till now, I thought that, even though corporate hospitals are known as money making regimes, the healthcare facilities are not yet looked entirely as a business model. And as I was wrong, that unfortunate incident of a ‘Five Star’ hospital claiming many lives not only revealed that the patients are treated as goods to be repaired, but also broke a myth that such hospitals also take complete care about other aspects of our safety. Certainly, hospitals are lacking the old human touch they carried as the words ‘Patient’ & ‘Customer’ seems to be synonymous in their dictionary.   

Today, doctors don’t think twice or hesitate to charge you with fat figures when you are at their mercy, left without any option but to accept & bear. When your keen or loved ones require immediate medical treatment, the first question one will face from the medicos will be regarding the insurance cover of the patient, as the approach and cost of treatment are determined on the basis of that! The competition between the Doctors is so fierce that I have heard a Doctor whimpering someone on a phone, as his neighboring clinic staff was snatching away his patients in perhaps the most tarnishing fact of this ‘Not Anymore Noble’ profession. That’s why, if the circumstances permit, people insist to go for 3-4 opinions for not only going under the scissors but even for diagnosis.        

It’s not just the doctors; all areas of health care industry are turning purely into money making business. One of such nexus between doctors & insurance providers was very well known. However, as the later started making losses due to hefty charges by the doctors, the mutual understanding broke down. This resulted into banning few hospitals from insurance cover & cashless treatment facility. In this famous standoff, it’s only the common people who are at the receiving end, as despite of having insurance cover, they need to arrange money for the treatment on urgent basis. Another infamous nexus is between the doctors and pharmaceutical companies, where, doctors not only get the commission but also get other perks for prescribing medicines. In this mutually benefiting relationship, doctors are also reported to provide under test medicines to poor patients and check the results of same.

Incidents when patients were operated at a stage when surgery could have been completely averted or delayed, and the ailment could have been cured by medicines frequently come into light. The cases of medical negligence, causing either death or leading to untreatable damage to the patients are also not new in either Govt. or private hospitals. In addition, doctors today lack the skills to diagnose diseases without doing numbers of tests compared to their predecessors, who mastered the art of diagnosis by knowing the symptoms & feeling the pulse. That also in an era when diagnostic tests were rarely practiced if existed. Apart from fierce competition, the other reason behind such negligence could be the reformed education system in many states, which allows financially capable parents to educate their kids in medical science irrespective of their academic performance and caliber. Such pass outs will surely have urge to recover & earn the money spend behind their education. Therefore, despite of advances in medical sciences and resultant healthcare facilities, such mindset may be partially responsible for the deteriorating healthcare standards through negligence or hasty calls for treatment. 

Ironically in India, while urban areas are literally flooded with health care providers, majority of rural areas are still awaiting for primary health care facilities, as very few doctors opt to go rural. 

On a positive note, there are still ‘Noble’ professionals who have kept the tradition going through their honest practice, while maintaining the dignity of their profession. They still reach out to needy people and extend their selfless service to the society. And these are the same ones who act not only as representatives but also reinstate respect and trust of this noble profession among the people.    

15,000 Not Out & 13,000 Unbeaten

Figures above have brought joyous occasions for Indian cricket fans, as they represent two of the most prolific run scorers and all time great batsmen the game has seen. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid are undoubtedly two of the best cricket players of our generation & we are nothing less than privileged to watch them playing. Known as ‘Little Master’ & ‘The Wall’ respectively, both are 38+ and yet going strong. The fans of Sachin Tendulkar have gone even beyond that declaring him the ‘God of Cricket’. While Tendulkar has always been in the limelight of media due to his sky touching feats, Dravid has been found to follow him closely like a silent stallion more often than not. Much has been talked & written about their impeccable batting styles, trademark shots and cricketing ethics. Thus, here is just a view on the journey of both cricketing legends from an eye of a cricket fan (not an analyst) and let us find out that how they have still remained unconquered amidst of all odds.  

Sachin Tendulkar

Rahul Dravid

His journey towards becoming the iconic cricketer began at the tender age of 14 soon after scoring 326 not out in a partnership worth of 664 runs with his schoolmate Vinod Kambli. In the following year, he was representing India while playing against Pakistan at their home turf in a test where he made a blood spilled debut and yet scored a half century. His first international century came very soon and he scored that against England at Old Trafford. The rest is a well known epic as he is about to be the first centurion of International centuries along with having highest runs in both the formats of game. He dominated the world cricket through his gifted and thoughtfully improved batting for the following one and half decade without much trouble. It is important to remember that this was also an era of lethal pace attack from South Africa, Australia, Wes Indies and Pakistan. In the mean time the only factor that had affected his batting performance seemed to be the burden of captaincy during 1996 - 1998 & 1999 respectively. Perhaps the first real criticism he received for his batting was the changed approach and rate to score runs after the back injury that threatened to put full stop on his career. Though, he rightly defended himself from our unreasonable expectations by reminding us that he was not 20 anymore and changed approach was required to maintain his body cricket worthy as long as possible & we know the result now. However, this was not the end of troubles for him as the injury in the form of tennis elbow haunted him again and kept him out of cricket during significantly important tournaments. It was after that phase when all started to speculate about his retirement. Although, destiny had other plans and he entered another golden phase of his career in 2007-08 season which is still continuing majorly making new records and peaks which younger generations will have to climb to achieve the stature Tendulkar has gained for himself. In an honest opinion, not even a single bowler who has bowled against him would say ‘it just felt like bowling to others’. Thus, it would not be an exaggeration to say that ‘it will be impossible to fill in the shoes of Sachin Tendulkar’.

Dravid had the hard way to gain his place into national side as he paved his way into Indian team only after 5 years of playing first class cricket. His first outing in ODI against Sri Lanka had gone unnoticed as he managed just 3 runs in that Indian win. However, he made his test debut at the ‘Mecca of Cricket’ Lord’s and went on to make 95 runs which were sidelined by the century of another debutant Sourav Ganguly. Even though his suitability for the ODIs remained under the scanner for number of initial years, his place in the test side was cemented by his excellent temperament and classic batting style. He along with Tendulkar, Ganguly & Laxman formed the ‘Fantastic Four’ of Indian middle order in the test arena for more than a decade. In addition, surprising for an Indian batsman, he averages more while playing overseas than at home. With the passage of time he not only molded his batting style to suit the shorter format of the game but also excelled by becoming the third highest scorer for India. His flexibility to bat at any number along with ability to keep wickets proved very handy for team India until Dhoni was handed over the wicket keeping responsibility on permanent basis. More importantly, carrying the baton when others are already puffed and clueless has remained the highlight of his career, earning him his famous nick name. Even though he retired from ODIs just couple of months back with a positive note, his career in the format was virtually ended in 2007. It was then when everyone thought the sun of Dravid’s career is about set as the element of old Dravid seemed to be missing which took the toll on his batting by deteriorating performances. But that’s when he exhibited the phoenix trait and scored back to back centuries against Sri Lanka followed by another one versus Bangladesh in 2009-10. He was the lone warrior & centurion for Indian team when other batsmen failed make any impact on English bowlers in the nightmarish tour of England earlier this year.  Certainly, he is the perfect role model for budding cricketers by showing true virtues of sportsman and serves as the best example for the sport called ‘Gentleman’s game’.

Despite of such great skills, achievements and status neither of two have been indulged in controversies that may put their prestige and dignity at stake. Most importantly, both of them have successfully managed to keep their personal and professional life separate through strong work ethics. From my personal experience, I can surely say that even though having such a huge fan following, Tendulkar is the most modest and polite to all his fans compared to his colleagues. On the other hand, Dravid seems to be afraid of crowds and tries to keep himself away from all the hype and attention.

However, as a fan of both these cricketing legends, at times I feel that the career parallel to Tendulkar’s along with his glittering stature & media galore around him have done injustice in appreciating Dravid’s services to Indian cricket. At number of occasions, his achievements had either overshadowed by other teammate’s performance in the same game or had been recognized few days after the game. Though the contributions of Dravid are praised by them, even the commentators don’t go ecstatic on his achievements. Although, the humble Rahul Dravid has seems to be absorbed the famous lesson from ‘Bhagvad Gita’ very well and thus never bothered about it and always kept himself focused on just what he is meant to do, as this has been a part and parcel of his cricketing career from his first international test match appearance at Lord’s. It may be my over expectation, but as a fan, the only thing that bothers me Tendulkar’s batting is- I am always more afraid than reluctant to leave my seat while he is at the crease thinking what if he gets out while I am not watching. Oppositely, I could prepare my own snacks in the kitchen while Dravid is batting as I know he would surely be there when I go back!

I can remember only couple of incidents when anxiety of fans had turned into anger for Tendulkar. The first one was the infamous ‘booing incident’ at Wankhede, his home ground and the other would be the laborious 35^th  test hundred to surpass Gavaskar’s record at Firozeshah Kotla. Apart from these incidents Tendulkar always had the support from his fans, teammates and importantly from the management during all the ups and downs he faced as a cricketer. Contrarily, Dravid had to fight and earn his place into the team, especially, during the early few years of his career as he was considered slow and thus unfit for the shorter version of the game. After debacle of 2007 Caribbean world cup under his captaincy, he resigned as a captain and subsequently also got axed from the ODI side. But the worst was yet to follow as he was called up to play again after 22 months in response to short pitch woes of strong Indian batting line up and surprisingly got disposed in less than a month. This happened to someone who has scored 10,000+ runs in the same format. It was just his disciplined approach and work ethics that he did not utter a single word out of anguish and took it all with wholeheartedness. And that’s why I believe he is rather unbeaten at 13,000…

Illegal lion safari- a loophole better be sealed

Sasan Gir, the famous ‘Last Home of Asiatic Lions’ is populated by budding 411 remnants of these apex predators in 1412 km² of protected forest area. Once, the roar of these Asiatic lions dominated the jungles from Western Europe to India. However, rampant trophy hunting brought them on the brink of extinction, until they received the ‘Protected’ status from then Nawab of Junagadh in the early 19^th century. The current population of Asiatic lions is a result of tremendous conservation efforts from forest department, wildlife activists & NGOs, as once the numbers of these big cats were reduced to merely 15.  

The increasing numbers of lions in the protected forest area has made it congested. Consequently, the paws of lions are searching for new places outside protected area. The reports of lions seen outside the protected forest are not new anymore. The Sasan Gir lions have been found to visit the shores of Somanth and voyaging in unprotected forest areas near to human population. Though, these lions have been preying on domestic cattle since decades, their attack on human is yet very rare in Sasan Gir.      

  

The only ‘Social cat’ lions live in group known as pride which may comprise up to 20-30 members. Simultaneously with the populations, the numbers of prides have also increased. Further, it may also be assumed that the numbers of prides will rise gradually as significant numbers of cubs were observed in 2010 census. This increasing numbers of prides in protected area and subsequent competition for food have forced aggressively territorial lions to explore new territories outside their safe haven. 

The forest department provides limited permits to tourists who wish to see lions in their natural habitat; however, not everyone opting for this permitted safari gets to see them. Thus, every now and then, reports of some locals making income through promising and showing lions inside and outside protected forest area also come into light. In the purview of what happened to tiger population in few national parks despite of ‘Project Tiger’ and their protected status, it would be important for authorities to nip any poaching attempt from the bud in Sasan Gir. Further, increasing numbers of illegal safaris outside protected areas may result in to lions having less or no fear from humans. As observed in Africa, this may turn out to be a provoking practice as lions can start considering humans as a prey because availability of their natural prey is limited to scarce outside protected area. This picture might seem dark but the starting population of Sasan Gir lions was very low, therefore genetically they may not be much diverse from each other. Thus, infection from a contagious disease and immunity not able to fight it, may still wipe out the current population.  

As they say ‘Prevention is better than cure’, it is essential to keep watch and curb any illegal activities for the benefit of both lions and humans. In addition, shifting and reintroducing lions dwelling outside protected areas, to the regions where they use to roam and roar once should also be considered. We have completed Phase – I successfully by saving Asiatic lions from certain extinction. Perhaps, now is the time to start thinking about Phase- II, which should secure and restore them in their old habitats.    

‘Sadda Haq Ethe Rakh’- Are we day dreaming?

These words from recently popular soundtrack may very well coincide with the voice of India’s common man. After 64 years of liberation from British rule, the independent Indian is still begging for his basic rights such as ‘Roti, Kapda aur Makan’.   

Mahatma Gandhi once said that heart of India lies in her villages. It is true even today as 2011 census revealed that, despite of massive urban migration observed in last few decades, rural population of India is still nearly threefold higher compared to urban population. Thus, one can never understand or feel the real India staying in metro cities.      

The condition of rural areas in major parts of India is not unknown to any of us. Basic amenities such as 24 hour electricity, potable water, quality healthcare facilities, good roads, and schools may sound day dream for those who are the vote bank for governments post independence. It’s not that the governments have completely neglected them. The steps have been taken in the direction to uplift the rural areas through various schemes and programmes. Although, the questions today are ‘what has been achieved from them and is that satisfactory?’, ‘does it take 64 years to not even reach midway providing rural India with basic needs?’ & ‘are we developing with keeping the population explosion of this country in mind?’

We all know the answers of above question so it is better to leave the debate on that. This does not mean that we lose our right to question and compel the elected government to provide us with the promised and basic amenities to strengthen the rural infrastructure. And it is evident from our past that the democracy of India has certainly heard the voice of its people, however, acting upon it may be seen with an eye of skepticism & is altogether a different issue! 

On the other hand, question for us is ‘do we really want to change ourselves for good and co-operate the govt. for better future?’ The answer for this question will clog our minds with millions of thoughts regarding good and bad consequences. I am talking about the least debated but the most affecting problem of ever rising population of India. Any infrastructure developed will have minimum and maximum capacity for operating effectively and last for its expected span. However, the leaping numbers of Indian population means that the infrastructure developed today will be inadequate very soon due to its haphazard use and irregular maintenance in order to serve increasing numbers of beneficiaries.  

Globally we have surpassed 7 billion head counts in past few days and still counting. The population of India is well over 1.2 billion compared to mere 350 million at the time of independence. In addition, it is assumed that India will be crowned as the most populated country by 2030 dethroning China. These figures are worry some now but they will be frightening very soon. It is important to mention in the same context that the banned female feticide and abortion are yet practiced in the country as we come across this malice often through various Medias. 

Along with the authorities, it is also us who has to understand that resources do not increase with population. The irony of the situation is that, in the political circle not much has been spoken boldly regarding the issue and perhaps not a single political party wants to take up the cause which will lead to brighter future. It would be difficult but essential to maintain rising population due to decreasing death rate and increasing birthrate with the help of advancement in medical sciences. If effective plans, policies and education programmes reaching to masses are not formed now, such rise in population, limitation of arable land and limitation of other resources may lead us to a brink of irreversible disaster.       

Therefore, the bottom line is, along with saying ‘Sadda haq ethe rakh’, we also have to co-operate the authorities to make it happen and last for long. In  addition to govt. policies & efforts, it will have to be our determination & solidarity that will save our future from this visible menace. To fulfill our dream of better India, we can start thinking along these lines by leaving our comfort zone and cultural beliefs behind  .   

        

   

Fuel Price Hikes- Nightmare for Few, Opportunity for All

There is no doubt that 11 price hikes in last 12 months has certainly disturbed household budgets of middle and upper middle class in India. In different states and cities petrol price has been increased in the range of 10-12 Rs./ liter after decontrolling it last year. 

Today the price of petrol is 73 Rs./ liter and inflation in food prices is above 12%. Although, yet again arrogance of this govt. is quite evident as they don’t want to take any blame for the uproar after recent price hike. The govt. claims to have no control over price hike, however, it is well known that govt. is the major stake holder of petroleum producing companies. The govt. itself seems to be pretty well unorganized as finance minister indicating no control over price, prime minister denying rolling down the recent hike and petroleum companies indicating possible roll down in price hike if the govt. suggests. Even after facing the heat from allies and possibilities of losing support from them, govt. seems to be adamant on the issue.       

Every political party wants to take benefit of the situation but no one wants to talk about reducing the heavy tax imposed on petroleum products by central govt. and respective state govt. That should definitely ease some pressure from the back bone of common man. One thing is sure that just like other issues such as curbing food price inflation; this govt. has also failed to take the stock of the situation in this issue. It has failed and disappointed people in a very miserable way through its policies and decision makings. 

Anyways, the cry babies of the whole situation may be the petroleum companies, as they don't seem to have problem while distributing handsome dividends to their shareholders. Thus, their claims and reality seems to be contradicting each other. It is important to mention that India imports its approximately 80% of its fuel from OPEC nations, whereas, 20% is produced and refined domestically. Even for the benefit of its own citizens, diplomacy of India doesn’t want to purchase its crude oil from communist country such as Venezuela, which may be ready to provide petroleum at a cheap rate. Obviously, the reason is the influence of USA diplomacy in Indian politics and stronghold of USA in Gulf region! 

Let us forget the politics of petroleum price for a while and do some souls search of facts. All of us are very well aware that availability of crude oil is not certain even for this century. Oil producing countries have not updated the figures of their reserves in last 4-5 years. Thus, it is unclear that how much crude oil and natural gas is still available there to be excavated. The search for new reserves is very slow and full of uncertainty and we are yet to find and adopt eco- friendly alternatives for petroleum products. 

Although drastic increase of fuel prices in the last year, the number of car buyers are not declining. Even the cheaper alternative of fuel CNG is 50 Rs./ liter now. This may paint a picture that, because of economic growth India has seen in last two decades, the higher fuel prices seem to be constraint for few. 

In today’s time where global warming due to burning of fossil fuel and industrialization is widely debated issue, it is a high time that we as an individual start giving in our contributions to reduce the carbon foot print. Using public transport as and when possible, using bicycles or walking to buy groceries from nearby markets and using stairs rather than elevators once in a while are just few of the options we could incorporate into our routine. With the passage of time, these habits would not only save few bucks from your pocket but it will also keep you fit as the physical activity increases. It would also be essential to educate and inspire younger generations by such efforts in order to create environment friendly society which thinks towards saving earth.

The hike in fuel price is a nightmare for those who have no other alternative than bearing it. Although, it’s also a blessing for nature as fuel is costing a lot on our pockets and making us to use or think for cheaper and eco-friendly alternatives. It is time we start acting like responsible species and take positive out of this miserable situation to save our home called ‘Earth’.