ChinmayC Blog

The editor was at his wits end trying rather too hard to optimize his limited resources for an assignment that was as sudden as was demanding. He had to arrange several guests for a prestigious live newscast in the main circuit of the channel on a short notice. The guests were all big shots including top retired executives and professionals. As he proceeded on his assignment he began to learn to his dismay that super egos never cease to exist and become even more powerful after retirement or with age. Two of the required panelists were the most nerve racking experiences he ever had. They lived very near to the studio of the channel and the editor expected they would just come down. When it was time for the arrival of the first guest the guy in the central office called telling him frantically that the eminent guest was waiting for office transport. The editor was completely taken aback because the guest did not tell him about the requirement and he could not arrange a car immediately ...

It is precisely because of the unique title that this post is getting written. True, you can hope to find anything possible under the sun in India, but such titles only in a while. We have told you earlier about the increasing conflict between the politicians and policemen of this country. There we had mentioned the unprecedented nature of the incident—a cop getting beaten up inside the august institution of the Maharashtra Assembly by a group of elected representatives belonging to various political parties. Following the national outrage over the issue the constitutional body suspended five Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and over the next few days the Budget Session has been continuously disrupted. Infuriated by the suspension the MLAs have been demanding that the beaten up cop be suspended from service too for his alleged misbehavior with one of the accused MLAs on a case of over speeding.  Maybe greatly concerned over the loss of working days the state Home Minister...

Cheteshwar Pujara (82 not out) and Virat Kohli (41) made the tricky Delhi pitch look easy as they helped India romp home crushing Australia by 6 wickets in the fourth Test match today and India swept the Series 4-0—for the first time against mighty Australia.   They lifted the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2013 after throwing it away in Australia exactly in the reverse manner of a 0-4 drubbing. It was a great moment when the legends Alan Border and Sunil Gavaskar presented the Trophy to the winning captain MS Dhoni. Cheteshwar Pujara Justifying his tag as the new ‘wall’ of India Mr. Consistent Pujara played an outstanding unbeaten innings seeing through the end. Virat Kohli who was expected to play a crucial role today gave him perfect company and nearly achieved the target of 155 runs between themselves. The most positive aspect of these two youngsters was that they did not play in fear or in anticipation of the tricky pitch and just batted naturally facing Lyon and Maxwell with author...

Nathan Lyon At last when the Series is a foregone conclusion Australia showed today why they were considered the best in cricket not very long ago. With Aussie skipper Michael Clarke having left for home following his back problems, and Shane Watson returning from the disciplinary action plus reaction to take up the leadership, Australia still managed to regroup tremendously and showed intensity both in bowling and in fielding as they have been used to, and they seemed to be back at their aggressive best attacking the Indians in more ways other than strictly cricketing so characteristic with the Australian cricket teams. Call these mind games, sledging, or whatever. The most important thing being they managed to put India on the mat leaving the match wide open on a tricky Delhi pitch. At stumps on the second day of the fourth cricket Test match between India and Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2013 in Delhi today India had to struggle every inch of the way to finally take a ...

Justice Delivered After Twenty Years: The Supreme Court today delivered the final verdict on the convicts for the 1993 Mumbai Serial Blasts (March 12, 1993) case. It upheld the death penalty for the main accused Yakub Memon, converted death into life for a few others and sentenced Bollywood actor of Munnabhai fame Sanjay Dutt to five years of imprisonment. Mumbai reacted in a mixed way--a sense of sadness combined with a feeling of assurance that everybody is equal before the law. Fondly called Sanju Baba, Dutt is to spend about three and half years in prison as he had already served 18 months of imprisonment and will have to surrender withing a month. After twenty long years final justice has been done for a brutal terror act that killed 257 people and changed Mumbai forever transforming it into a permanent terror target. Anti-Rape Bill Becomes A Law: The upper house of the Indian Parliament, Rajya Sabha today passed the anti-rape Bill and as it was already passed by the Lok Sabha th...

In the revolutionary follow-up to the horrific Delhi gangrape women safety has been dominating the think-tank of the nation with brainstorming, measures, judiciary commissions, ordinances and laws-in-making coming up in quick time thanks to the concern finally shown even by politicians towards this societal issue. The police have come up as the immediate authority who could practically contribute immensely towards this cause with interactive or proactive or cooperative efforts. But as a total jerk and a terrible contrast the safety of the police itself has suddenly confronted this clueless nation called India or rather the largest democracy of the world. Recently a cop had been killed in broad daylight in a town of the famously feudal Uttar Pradesh—beaten up badly first and then shot. A notorious politician, currently a minister in the state government led by a most ‘promising’ young educated Chief Minister, had been implicated in the murder. A FIR had been filed against him, but no a...

India defeated Australia by 6 wickets in the Mohali Test today clinching the Series 3-0 and regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after they lost it 0-4 in Australia. They have indeed created history by the effort. Never before in Test cricket history against Australia have India won more than two Tests in a series and never with a zero margin. Now they have a very good chance of making it 4-0, an exact revenge delivered, in Delhi where the last Test starts from 22 nd March, 2013. India also never won three Tests in a series since 1993-94 when they swept Sri Lanka under the leadership of Mohammad Azharuddin. For Australia they have never lost three Tests in a series since 1988-89 under the leadership of Alan Border. The most positive aspect of the Mohali Test of swinging fortunes is that the match had a nail biting finish in the last moments of the last day converting it into a one-day thriller. Aussie captain Michael Clarke did come in at No. 6 to bat, but he never looked at ease d...

Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay The third cricket Test between India and Australia in Mohali for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2013 has been interesting for all possible reasons. First day washed out due to rains that really came out of the blue. Second day saw Australia starting a grim battle with their batsmen trying more to stick on to the job rather than launching themselves for a victory, because in the back of their mind they were probably aware of the fact that a full strength team is likely to be fielded for the fourth and last Test and therefore if they manage a draw here in Mohali they could still try all guns to make a respectable defeat margin of 2-1. Third day yesterday was a classic by all standards as Australia recovered from 273/5 to 408 all out thanks to a dogged partnership of 97 runs between Smith (92) and Starc (99) for the eighth wicket and the job for a draw was almost done. Famed Indian spinners succeeded in only depriving the duo of their deserving centuries, but...

The Pakistan government has been steadfastly honest about its skewed international diplomacy in relation to its neighbor India—keeps offering the bait of peace and talks, and reciprocates with military attacks and terror strikes the moment the offers take shape. When a round of bilateral talks starts or ends positively it gets invariably neutralized by some kind of ridiculous and controversial statements or actions on the Pakistan front. When a Pakistan President or Prime Minister or Minister visits India in a most amiable atmosphere Pakistan sponsored terrorists deliver a strike or the Pakistan army does something nasty on the Line of Control (LoC). Cricket has always been an integral part of Pak diplomacy too. Banking on the cricket crazy millions in both countries this politics works faster and more effectively. After a long gap since 2008 the Pak cricket team came to India in December-Jan, 2012-13 for a short ODI Series and fans were delighted. But on January 6, the day of the las...

After a lot of differences and brainstorming over the past four days finally the Union Cabinet approved the Anti-Rape Bill last evening in New Delhi. The Government of India thus wants to replace the Criminal Offenses (Amendment) Ordinance promulgated in February 2013 with the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2013. Now the challenge before the government would be to make the Bill into a Law by getting it passed in the Indian Parliament by 22 nd March 2013, because Parliament goes into a recess for a month then and by the time it resumes the session the Ordinance would lapse, that is, on April 4. Before that the government will have to overcome the opposition storm in an all-party meet on Monday. The approved Bill recommends death penalty for rapist-murderers and also in cases where the rapist leaves the victim in a persistent vegetative state. The Bill also revises the earlier proposal of life imprisonment to rapists and mandates that the rapist will now have to spend the ‘rest of his ...

Incessant rains washed out the entire first day’s play of the third Test match between India and Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Mohali today. For the depleted Australian team thanks to the unprecedented decision of the team management to punish four players for indiscipline the rains seemed to have wiped off their woes—for a day at least. But at the same time trailing 0-2 they needed to win this contest desperately to stay alive in the Series and losing one full day makes it all the difficult for them to press for a favorable result within four days or even three depending on the pitch and field conditions. For victorious India too the loss of a day means they have to try harder to seal the Series with an all-time record of winning against Australia by 3-0 or even 4-0. Brad Haddin was flown in on Monday to replace the injured keeper Wade and that made a team of 12 giving them an option to make one change. And they took the option by dropping all-rounder Glen Maxwell desp...

After playing some of their worst cricket in recent times and trailing India 0-2 in the current Test Series hosted by India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2013 Australia seems headed for more serious trouble. As the third cricket Test, a must win for Australia, begins in Mohali from 14 th of March four players of the Australian team including two key playing ones Shane Watson and James Pattinson were axed by Team Management. Earlier, dashing Indian opener Virender Sehwag had been dropped from Team India for the last two Tests and this piece of act had been generating a lot of politicking over the past few days. However, in the Australian case it is not politics, but protocol that means the four axed cricketers did not complete their homework as desired under rules.  Why politics in the Virender Sehwag case? He has been a non-performer for at least the last five Tests and scored his last century two years ago. His steadier partner Gautam Gambhir was dropped at the beginning of the ...

What happened was unbelievable for me—living in Mumbai for years. A sense of business or a drive for business is always palpable almost everywhere in this mega city that never goes to sleep—from the slum hutments to the luxurious high-rise enclaves. One has to be business minded here not only to survive , but also to earn the extra bucks to survive better or to amass millions to figure among the dirty rich. The business atmosphere is so friendly that at your local market you can shop even without having money in the pocket. The seller or vendor just fills your bag with the stock response ‘You won’t run away, would you!’ Therefore, what happened was just beyond me. Today being Maha Shivratri apart from being a Sunday too, my wife had a sudden requirement for few things around 4.30 pm. I decided to visit the nearby society grocery store to save time. The residential credit society had a tough time finding a suitable business partner to run the store for them, and finally they found a bu...

In a school certificate examination in a certain language in a certain place in Maharashtra something very unusual happened. The exam hall was filled with bright and expectant students waiting in suspense for the question papers to be distributed. When the suspense ended and they had their papers in hand they hardly expected what they encountered. Thee was a question that left them all shell shocked. Some of them got emotional, some of them broke down and some of them protested vehemently. Even most of the teachers on duty became very angry and supported the students. The exam schedule got disturbed and absolute confusion prevailed. Finally the authorities canceled the question papers on that particular subject and gave assurances for rescheduling. The authorities also promised to take stern action against the setters of that question paper. The question was ‘how would you write a letter to your younger brother on your father’s sudden death’. They came prepared for the exams, but defi...