ChinmayC Blog

Mumbai continues to chill this season. Two days back it was at 10 degree Celsius, lowest of the decade. Met office predicts Mumbai winter to continue throughout February. Great times for Mumbaikars- -getting used to their woolens and warm suits. Plus having the luxury of bonfires. But, as we have said earlier here, some monumental challengers still refuse to admit the chill and go on defying it with their usual casual wear and the ceiling fan   syndrome.  And some hot news from Bollywood. Shahrukh Khan or King Khan reportedly slapped the husband of his best friend for nearly twenty years, Farah Khan. Farah had been a choreographer of Bollywood guiding Shahrukh to dance since the early nineties. Their bond became more closer when Farah was given a break as a director of the King Khan movie 'Main Hu Na' in 2004 and then one more movie in 2007. Both of the movies did quite well in the box office and so Farah wanted to launch her own pr...

A two-year old baby girl was admitted in a Delhi hospital on January 18, 2012. She was bruised and battered. She had serious head injuries and whole of her tiny body bore marks of torture and abuse. She had been fighting for life since then and as per the latest reports there were a few signs of recovery. The poor child had already suffered two cardiac arrests. Her name is Falak . Her supposed mother, a minor of 14 years, brought the baby to the hospital herself and was detained by the police for interrogation. Later, she was handed over to the welfare department. Her name is Mahi . The teenager ‘mother’ had also a horrid tale to tell. She reportedly confessed to the authorities that she herself abused the baby out of sheer frustration, but the head injury was caused by an accidental fall either from her bed or in the bathroom. Why she was so frustrated that made her abuse her ‘own’ baby? Mahi’s tale went on. She was living with her father who physically tortured her on almost a daily ...

India did just everything humanely possible to help Australia rout them 4-0 in the current Test cricket series played in Australia. In the fourth and last Test in Adelaide too the India top order failed consistently and as usual. The top names in world cricket could not progress to even half centuries. Only young Virat Kohli was allowed to achieve the first ever ton in this current series for India. Maybe as a return favor, for all the tons, double tons and triple tons blessed on Australia by India. This point has tremendous relevance for the title of this article. Through Kohli’s efforts India advanced from a traditional (in this series) 111 for 5 to 225 for 5 and at that stage they had a great opportunity to try mastering some respectability. But the new ball did it once again and India lost all five wickets for just 47 runs. Australia made 604/7 in the first innings and India replied with 272 conceding a lead of 332 runs. The scene was perfect for another follow-on, because anythi...

People die in natural disasters, bomb blasts, madmen firings, accidents of all kinds including the weirdest ones, road rages and so on. They keep on dying almost on a daily routine. Yet, there is no end to the puzzle of ‘how they are going to die next’. What happened in Pune, a cultured, peaceful and lively city of Maharashtra , today is another example in continuing with that ominous puzzle. One normal driver reported for duty in the morning at the state transport corporation terminus in Pune and was scheduled for a trip. Everything progressing normally, apparently with no hidden surprises. And suddenly… mayhem !  The driver took hold of the empty bus and went berserk. He drove the bus into the street…on the wrong side. He went on hitting, crushing and maiming whatever came on the way…cars and other vehicles, auto-rickshaws, helpless pedestrians and so on. He seemed to be in spell or stupor and was absolutely unmindful of what was happening as a result of his mad act. In the ...

One more horrible eve teasing incident had been reported from Jind, a town in the northern state of Haryana, leading to deaths of two innocent girls. The sick mentality of the two-legged cannibals who prowl the streets of India anytime any day strikes one more time. Who will stop these cowards always preying on the weaker ones? Two school girls around 16 years of age, Ankita and Shikha, were returning from their tuition classes in the evening on Thursday on a scooter. Two cannibals looking for easy flesh followed them on a motorcycle hailing the girls with lewd remarks and abuses.  The busy public street promised not even an iota of safety for the girls and knowing this fully well the cowards rode even closer trying to molest them on the move. In a desperate attempt to get clear Ankita, who was driving, lost balance and their scooter veered off towards the wrong side of the street. A racing truck coming close behind crushed them. The incident took place right in front of a major ...

Article first published as The Indian Rash Over Rushdie! on Technorati. The celebrated author of Midnight’s Children , Salman Rushdie’s proposed visit to India as a keynote speaker in the famous Jaipur Literature Festival (JLT) supposed to start from today did not make the country happy. This was despite him being a Person of Indian Origin (PIO). What should have been a matter of pride for the largest democracy of the world turned into the old Indian rash surfacing again in all its sore features. India being a pluralistic society with various linguistic, religious, cultural and ethnic communities the chances are very high for any particular section to get offended by creative works or plain statements made by a particular author or journalist or filmmaker or even politician. In majority of such cases none of the supposedly offended community happened to be even aware of the content of the cause of offense. The only result of this rash is that of a growing wave of intoleranc...

Almost all of the housemaids who come to your homes for work from the nearby slums of Mumbai have a similar tale to tell. They work very hard throughout the day in different homes to make some monthly pay package. But at the end of the month they get nothing for their comfort. They have to hand it over to their mom-in-laws or husbands. And, their husbands unfailingly spend their hard-earned money on drinks. Most of the husbands do not work at all, so they need the money all the more for their indulgence. The housemaids go on suffering silently and very soon it impacts their health. A deathly pale and skinny maid worked in our place now and then for the last two years. She always looked tired and took a long time to finish her work. From others we knew that she was always sick and visited the government hospital daily to take some booster injections. We also came to know that her in-laws and her husband were very cruel people and not only took her money away but also deprived her of min...

Article first published as The Mystery Of The Black Ink! on Technorati. Someone threw black ink on the face of the Indian Yoga Guru Ramdev Baba at a press conference held in the national capital Delhi recently. The famous up-market guru was speaking about his future moves on corruption and black money when the black incident happened. The thrower was immediately caught and given a strong beating by the Baba supporters. Then the police came and arrested the offender thereby rescuing him from further beating of the third degree. Ramdev Baba was magnanimous in dismissing the incident as mere nothing, but later on he alleged the involvement of the ruling Congress party in the incident. No surprise in that. Because, he could hardly forget his unceremonious midnight ousting from the fasting ground in Delhi by the government of India in June, 2011. Ramdev Baba saw the showering of media and mass attention on Anna Hazare during the peak of the movement against corruption. Therefore he too de...

The Perth massacre of the Indian cricket team by Australia marked the third consecutive loss in the present India-Australia Test Cricket Series and the seventh consecutive overseas Test loss in the past seven months for India .  Such defeats that make a mockery of a cricket test match. No fights, no resistance, no determination—only abject surrender mindless and lacking any application. Just imagine! A team that only recently occupied the No.1 position in Test rankings suffers an innings defeat when the opposite team scored only 369 in the first innings—not exactly a mammoth total by test standards. But India is immensely capable of doing the impossible! They make 161 and 171 respectively to offer a series-clinching win to Australia on a platter. No surprise then that Aussie skipper Michael Clarke want many more astounding victories to make a meaningful assault for the No.1 position. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, rated as the most positive and winning captain India have ever produced, ...

   Bhogali or Magh Bihu—the harvest festival of Assam is celebrated in mid January that is the month of Magh about to begin. Bhogali means ‘aplenty’. And it’s winter when people are more energetic. Bhogali Bihu belongs to the farmers who harvest the ripe golden paddy crops after long and hard work and have a well deserved community feast of new rice, fish, meat and other delicacies. Plus celebrations. In some villages of Assam buffalo fights are still a rage.  Magh Bihu falls normally on 13th-14th January as per the timing of Makar Sankranti . Sankranti means changing of direction. The time when the sun changes direction from one constellation (of the zodiac) to another is known as Sankranti. Transition of the Sun from Sagittarius to Capricorn during the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere ( Uttarayana ) is known as Makar sankranti . Only this year, a leap year, B hogali Bihu is being celebrated on 14th and 15th of January, 2012. Days prior to the Bihu g...

Australia massacred India on the very first day of the third test in Perth today. The famed Indian batting strength is no more. Not even on paper! The celebrated cricket stars of Team India have failed again and again, and yet again! Not even one scored even a half century. The likes of Sehwag, Dravid and Dhoni were utter flops again. Very Very Special Laxman did nothing but ordinary once more. Only the finger-pointing Virat Kohli struggled to reach an individual score of 44. India were bowled out for just 161, in similar manner as in Sydney or even in Melbourne . The demolition squad of Australia —Siddle and Hilfenhaus—was amongst the wickets today too. If Pattinson was there in action maybe the Indian innings could have folded up for less than hundred runs! His replacement, Harris, was also helped by magnanimous Indian batsmen to get into top form.  Worse followed. In the Australian innings a lackluster Indian skipper Dhoni did not even think of giving the ball to Ishant Sh...

Article first published as India vs Australia: The Case of Pointing Fingers on Technorati. Indian batsman Virat Kohli showed a finger at the crowds during the second cricket test between India and Australia in Sydney recently. Since he showed his middle finger it was taken as obscene and accordingly he was penalized. Indian pacer Ishant Sharma followed the gesture and also showed a finger. But there was a huge controversy regarding which finger he showed. Officially it was not the middle finger and so he was not penalized. Both players alleged that the abuses thrown at them by the crowds were gross and at times indescribable. They seemed to have only retaliated in ways they thought to be tit for tat. The incidents led to a big debate in Australia on good manners and particularly the Indian traditional ones. But the peculiar case of pointing fingers has a deeper significance and typical ramifications. The team that prided in having the best batting side of the world faile...

Article first published as India's Comical Political Antics on Technorati. The struggle for votes becomes acute at the time of elections. Pursuing this severe urge for amassing maximum possible votes political parties are pushed to the extremes of antics. The common onlooker gets maximum entertainment in the bargain. India’s Election Commission recently  ordered covering up  of the statues of  Uttar Pradesh  Chief Minister  Mayawati   in light of the forthcoming assembly elections in this most politically strategic state of India. There were around ten statues of  Mayawati  and more than hundred statues of her party symbol—the elephant--in the state capital of Lucknow apart from numerous ones in other parts of the state. The logic for this order was fully justified since the statues might indeed impact the voters who could either be motivated or irritated to vote or not to vote for her. With a set deadline the work began in great haste and the st...

Mumbai shivered on Monday yesterday and its genuine winter after 2008 is continuing. The mercury had reached 11 degree Celsius yesterday—at least 4-5 degrees below normal—and the met office forecasts further decline in temperatures. In the coldest city of Maharashtra, Nashik, the mercury went down below five degrees. With the sun coming out strong cold breeze at daytime gets neutralized and you feel comfortable with your normal attire. But if you go out late in the night you feel the biting cold and you wake up to chilly mornings. For a change Mumbai nights are being decorated with bonfires with the most vulnerable people like watchmen, guards and night-duty staff enjoying the warmth.   Mumbai gets such an occasional winter thanks to severe cold wave conditions in North India. From mid-December, 2011 till now acute cold wave conditions have been gripping and sweeping across the region. For the past five days it has been snowing in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh—the northernmost sta...

At the start of the New Year a good friend of mine sent me a joke on the husband-wife syndrome. While talking about a certain ‘Law of Equality’ it says,” The time taken by a wife  when she says to her waiting husband ‘I’ll get ready in five minutes’ is exactly equal to the time taken by a husband when he tells his wife from office ‘I’ll call you back in five minutes!’” This reminds me of an old joke about couples where the law of equality seems to be maintained in some measure. “A couple quarreled bitterly and they were not on talking terms. It was night and the logjam continued. Now, the hubby had to go for an urgent appointment early in the morning and he did not believe in the alarm clock because he used to shut it up on the very first ring. He needed his wife’s help, but how? So he left a note by her pillow-side that said ‘Please wake me up at 7am’. He overslept and finally waking up found the clock striking 8. He jumped up and as he began cursing the institution of marriage he...

Article first published as Your Liability, Our Asset! on Technorati. Recently the main opposition party of India, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), inducted into its party fold an expelled minister of the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh —the largest northern state of India. The former minister, Babu Singh Kushwaha , was expelled by the Chief Minister of the state Mayawati due to his involvement in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam. Under the NRHM scheme the Government of India had released around 100,000 million Indian rupees to the state to be utilized for rural health expenditures. Following murders of two Chief Medical Officers and one death under suspicious circumstances the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took up the case about two months back. Mayawati suspected Kushwaha’s involvement in the murders too apart from the gross misuse of the funds. The BJP’s inspiration for this act was obvious. It wanted to garner more votes since assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh w...

Team India lost a great opportunity with history behind and history-to-be-made ahead. They won the toss and elected to bat first—a tremendous advantage in a match they wanted to do well. The so-called best batting line-up of the world flopped miserably. If 13 wickets fell in the first day of the second cricket test between India and Australia in Sidney it was due to Indian batting failure and if only one wicket fell on the second day today it was Australian supremacy. Doubtful starter for the series Ricky Ponting went from strength to strength—scoring two half centuries in the two innings of the first test in Melbourne and scoring his 40 th ton here in Sidney. He scored this ton after two years. Well, there is a saying about Team India’s proverbial generosity—if someone or a team is hopelessly out of form, play with India because India would restore the confidence lost in overflowing measure! Australia looked to be a team in disarray prior to the start of the series and now, they lo...

Today is the 62 nd Death Anniversary of Poet-Composer-Singer-Playwright-Actor-Freedom Fighter Bauli Kavi Kamalananda Bhattacharyya.  On behalf of Shrutinaad, music lovers and our most respected readers we offer glowing tributes to the legendary Poet-Artiste of Assam.  Read More...

The second cricket Test between India and Australia will be played from tomorrow at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). All eyes are obsessively focused at the moment on this much awaited duel between the two giants of test cricket. Apart from the classic cricket rivalries the Test is of great interest for two reasons. First the celebrated Australian cricket ground in Sydney is going to hold its hundredth test match. Second Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has not yet achieved his hundredth feat—a century of international centuries. The batting maestro has a great record in Sydney with two tons and one double ton  during his four series outings in Australia. In 1992 he became the youngest ever test cricketer to score a ton in Australia. Australians fans are happy for the hundredth test at their favorite venue. They will be elated if Australia defeats India to take an invincible lead in the four-match series. Indian fans will be crazy with joy and pride if Team India win and level...