India Vs Australia Test Cricket: Gambhir Mind Games!

Former Australian captain Steve Waugh once made famous his strategy of the ‘mental disintegration’ of the opponents and since then this tactic of mind games have been regularly resorted to by Australian cricket teams, particularly with a challenging Test Series like the present one in India coming up.

True to the ‘spirit’ Australian captain Michael Clarke today expressed his ‘surprise’ over the omission of Gautam Gambhir from Team India and said it was indeed good news for his bowlers. He also said that India would definitely miss the services of a ‘wonderful’ player like Gambhir. Clarke was speaking to reporters in Chennai on the eve of their second warm-up match against India-A led by none other than Gambhir himself. While opener Gambhir had indeed been the backbone of the Indian batting for several years Michael Clarke is also worried about his relatively new team facing up to the challenge of Team India in India.

However, Clarke was quick to clear up his ‘mind’ by saying that it is not about what you say, but it is about what you do. Performances on the field matter more than what you play on the mind, he seemed to defer from his predecessor Steve. By the way ‘Gambhir’ in most Indian languages including Hindi prominently means ‘serious’. You see, this could be not just mind games, but serious ones!

The first Test between the two tough rivals starts from 22^nd February in Chennai. Mind games, real or imaginary, may just add up to the real game.

Newsroom Humor: Hapus Mangoes in America!

Hapus and alphonso mangoes are grown mostly in the Rantagiri district of Maharashtra, a state of India. They are called the kings of mangoes. The taste is pure, deliciously sweet and fibrous yet very soft. The look is green-brownish-pinkish. The shape is a delight to the beholder and the size fits the palm.

The mango season begins in around April in this western state of India when the price remains very high—about $10-$15 a dozen. In June-July it falls to tolerable levels. Mango festivals are organized in Mumbai around this season where growers from different regions of the state open their stalls of the priciest mangoes and sell at wholesale rates. Folks throng such festivals and try for a good bargain. Here pricing rates per dozen are not so much adhered to. The customers look for a peti, that is, a straw padded wooden case of rows of mangoes sealed tightly that can be bought at bulk rates.

The newsroom of a local TV channel got the news that hapusmangoes are being exported to America after a long break of 18 years. That was big news. It occupied the headline slots for whole of that day. It was newsworthy and also sentimental as it evoked a sense of pride among the local newspersons employed there.

Two days later there was a shortage of hard news and it was becoming very difficult to manage the mandatory three headlines for a bulletin ten minutes and above. The chief reporter discovered something and rushed to the editor gushing out, “Sir, hapus mangoes in America! We’ve got our headline!”

“That was two days ago. We made full use of it. No way!”

“No Sir! The mangoes have reached America!”

“Are you crazy? You mean to say we make another headline that the mangoes have reached America now; and then we go on making headlines how many Americans have devoured how many mangoes on a daily basis! Don’t get too patriotic, man! Now, get rid of that mangola mania and hunt for some hard news!”

         (This article was written in 2007 and published at Ezinearticles. Since the topic is relevant any time we have decided to publish it again here. We plan to republish several other Humor articles later here. Enjoy! )

Kolkata College Violence: Politicians Of Future?

Times of West Bengal, a state of eastern India, seem to be marching step-in-step with the increasing intolerance shown by its Chief Minister Mamata Bannerji to almost everybody living in her state—from writers, journalists, cartoonists, rape victims to even foreign investors. As we have often referred to her in these pages ‘merciless’ Mamata promised a new beginning by uprooting the 34-year-old stagnant and autocratic rule of the Left in May, 2011 and by bringing her Trinamool(grass-roots) Congress (TMC) overwhelmingly into power. But over time she has managed exactly to shake up those very grass-roots of West Bengal. She has managed to antagonize political parties and citizens alike thus creating an unhealthy atmosphere of mistrust, doubt and malevolence. Today we have witnessed another shame happening to this state known once for having a most literate, cultured and sensitive population. 

It was just a college in prime Kolkata that like any other college is supposed to impart education on the students. And it was just a day when nominations were to be finalized for the college union elections. But maybe discarding education completely and taking lessons from the political behavior rampant in this country called the largest democracy of the world students came well prepared for the occasion—with guns, crude bombs and all other ‘political’ weapons.

The rival unions had to be the student wings of the TMC and the Congress for the simple reason that Congress could not manage to come to power last time and that Mamata walked out of the Congress led ruling coalition of India in apparently utter disgust. The role of the Left union could not be put in the ‘right’ perspective till the last reports came in. The students though were in the right political perspective and their ‘dedicated’ and ‘inspired’ behavior must have made Indian politics proud. And violence was the only possible result. .

It was the most shameful and ugly outburst of violence coming from none other than the students—the future of India. They lunged for each other’s blood and there was absolute chaos with smoke, fires and brickbats piercing the broad daylight. The shame was complete when a police sub-inspector on duty got the bullet and was declared brought dead at the nearby hospital. Scores of others got injured in the mindless violence. And what followed was equally shamefully political—passing the buck and more blame game.

Future politicians of the largest democracy of the world in the making? Grief!