Welcome Back, President Obama! Great Victory!

Barack Hussein Obama, the first African-American to hold the office of President of USA, became the first Democrat to win a second term since the second World War. The closest and the tightest Presidential Elections held in US history gave a sweeping verdict in the end to Obama today, still Tuesday night in the US. President Obama  campaigned for over two years and spent more than $2 Billion for this moment of victory. 

He won despite the slowdown in the economy and unemployment. Some say his good management of Hurricane Sandy that threatened the US Presidential Elections-2012 finally tilted the scales in Obama's favor.  He also managed to win in several Republican strongholds. 

Whatever be the justifications offered, the Americans have voted for a good man with the most positive vibes, a down-to-earth personality and a disarming smile. Indians here are happy too as Obama has been good and respectful to India and he has been helping India by fighting terror too with a strong hand. 

The continuing economic pressures and the promises made during the campaigns are set to define the policies to be undertaken by President Obama. In fact, in the case of Mitt Romney's win too the compulsions  would have been the same. Only future can tell where USA goes from here. 

Welcome back, President Obama! Congratulations for a most exciting victory! 

India Vs England Test Cricket: Yuvraj Singh Completes Comeback!

Yuvraj and Harbhajan

The Indian team to play first two of the four-Test cricket series against visiting England has been announced here in Mumbai today by the selectors of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). It was the first selection exercise of the new Chief Selector Sandip Patil who replaced K Srikkanth recently. The 15-member team looks to be a mixture of experience and youth with the surprise inclusion of spinner Harbhajan Singh. And, Yuvraj Singh completes his comeback to cricket from cancer.

There had been some doubts about Yuvraj Singh’s selection since Tests are hard five-day affairs unlike the shorter formats of one-day and T20 matches where the braveheart already made a comeback in September last. But his great show in domestic cricket where he scored a quick double century and in India A’s practice match against England finally convinced the selectors. Legendary Little Master Sunil Gavaskar has come in support of the decision.

The non-performing and most unfit Indian openers, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, had still been retained mainly due to the experience factor. But their place in the final eleven is not for granted thanks to the selection of youngsters Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Murli Vijay who all excelled in domestic cricket. Leading spinner of the world Harbhajan Singh with over 400 wickets in 98 Tests has been recalled at the cost of Piyush Chawla. Though this amounts a surprise decision England’s poor run against the Indian spinners recently and Indian pitches could be the important considerations. The absence of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman continues to figure in the scheme of things too. Zaheer Khan who caused a scare about his fitness a few days back is in the team too. Limited over cricket stars Suresh Raina and Manoj Tiwary could not make it to the longer format.

The first Test starts in Ahmedabad on 15^th November just after the Diwali festival with the remaining three in Mumbai, Kolkata and Nagpur. Before Christmas the two T20 matches will be over and Englandwill go home for a break as Pakistan lands in Indiaafter 2007 for three one-day and two T20 matches starting 25^th December. England will come back in January, 2013 to play five one-day internationals against India.

The Team: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Murali Vijay.

Have your fill of cricket this season…non-stop! 

India: Politics In The Land Of Allegations!

The fight against corruption in Indiahas made one big difference. All the decades since Independence corruption was taken for granted in a system that was a fixed given. Now with the saga of allegations the skeletons have started coming out of the cupboard.  Earlier, allegations were few and mostly restricted as a customary time-specific exchange between political parties. 

 Everybody is in the ‘alleging’ game nowadays. The principal forces include the anti-corruption leaders and activists; anti-corrupt activists turned politicians; retired or voluntarily retired top functionaries; lots of upstarts modeled by the process of fighting corruption and of course, the seasoned politicians and political parties. All allegations elicit instant denials and counter allegations though every allegation is supposed to be based on ‘proof’. Nothing gets proved, allegations continue.

There are some interesting results out of the ‘allegation’ game in which lesser mortals like this writer can rightfully indulge in considering utter futility ‘fighting’ corruption. Allegator (not commonly found in dictionaries) means the one who alleges or makes allegations. Just change the ‘e’ to ‘i’ and it becomes the ‘Alligator’—the crocodilian reptile.

So what? Well, nothing much. Except for two interesting points. The first being the Crocodile Tears Syndrome. All ‘alligators’ are shedding loads of the mystic tears knowing fully well that the tears would finally not well up emotions at all and would be forgotten dry till more ‘alligators’ join the tearful journey.

Second point, the ‘alligators’ shed tears, if at all, only to attract victims and pounce on them eventually. But in this land so stuffed with the ‘alligators and allegations’ who and how would anyone succeed finding the prey. Pray!