ChinmayC Blog

26th January, 2010. The Republic of India turns 60 today. On this great occasion let's pray for a terror free India and global peace. Best wishes to all of you!

Wish you all a very Happy Prosperous and Fulfilling New Year 2010! Hope you've started the New Year and the new decade in a great way! Now we are going to take a break. As you know Ragini has already left for the events of Shrutinaad including the launch of her audio album. Tomorrow I am leaving for Guwahati , the capital of Assam --a north eastern state of India. After continuous duty and work I need a break and I must help Ragini to make the events successful. And, of course, our harvest festival-- Magh Bihu -- falls mid-January. Going to enjoy after a long time. Winter, bonfire, community feast, lots of delicacies and all. Care to join? Will try to keep you posted if possible.

Just imagine if India and Sri Lanka were locked 2-2 instead of Team India already clinching the ODI series 3-1. The crowds would have gone crazy seeing the hugely disappointed ones today in the abandoned match. Delhi-the national capital of India. Amidst the roar of T20 cricket, the fours and sixes producing dry pitches and the huge money involved it just clobbers our sense of reasoning. How Delhi could have prepared such a pitch and how it could have escaped attention of the business-driven cricket Board officials. What a shame! Capital of India has almost lost the 2011 World Cup tie to be played at the now black listed Firoz Shah Kotla ground in Delhi. The blame game has started. Political leaders too are getting articulate. The Board has disbanded the pitch committee and the officials of Delhi cricket association have already resigned. Much more to come in the coming days. Whatever happens eventually it's not going to help cricket at all and that too in the craziest cricket lovi...

SHRUTINAAD , a Cultural Organization of Assam, presents a music workshop on immortal songs of Poet-Composer-Playwright-Freedom Fighter Kamalananda Bhattacharya (1894-1951) at ADESA Hall, Beltola, Guwahati from January 4 to 10, 2009. Participants can collect and fill the application forms till 4th January. There will be a musical inaugural function on 4th Jan at 2pm on account of the poet's Death Anniversary at the same venue when an audio CD of Kamalananda's songs sung by me is slated for release. Noted writer-litterateur of Assam Dr. Lakshminandan Bora has consented to be the Chief Guest of the function. I had been very busy because of this program in the last few days and yesterday that is 26th of December I have reached Guwahati. I have to record the songs, prepare for the inaugural event and finally to conduct the workshop. Deepak Dutta, Jt. Secretary of Shrutinaad, has been working very hard and had also arranged the venue. Chinmay is likely to join me next week. Please w...

This time no question of 'managing' to win or lose. This is sheer commanding victory of the match and the five match ODI cricket series against Sri Lanka leading 3-1. India was without Captain Dhoni, without Yuvraaj and, Sehwag and Tendulkar got out early and cheaply. Yet, India won the 4th ODI at Kolkata with hands down, chasing a target of 316. So refreshing to watch Gautam Gambhir and youngster Virat Kohli scoring centuries of consecutive balls. This series Indian batting had been consistent and sparkling. Only bowling and fielding need to be strengthened to become number one in Australian style. Generosity is slowly and steadily is being replaced by the Aussie 'killer instinct'. Cheers! And, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Beautiful New Year to all of you. At the moment work is the only option for me. Poor me, having not even a weekly off amidst holidays! No problems. Work is worship. Work is celebration too. Get worked up and enjoy!

The first match was between Australia Vs South Africa. Aus made 434/4 and SA won the match by making 438/9! Total 872/13. Today India made 414/7 and Sri Lanka lost the match by 3 runs at 411/8. Total match score 825/15. India made the highest ODI total of 414 and yet just managed to win by 3 runs. Sri Lanka was cruising for a superlative victory needing just 22 runs off 18 balls with 5 wickets intact. But, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra bowled incredible last overs and the fielding, for a change, was excellent too. The positive--India won a close match by holding on to the nerves in the dying moments. Managing to win was much better than managing to lose which, in this case, was so blissfully easy or rather made easy by some glorious batting by Sri Lankans. A twist in the end! Well, Indian cricket Board officials while making lifeless pitches for an entertaining shower of fours and sixes just forget that the opposition team too can capitalize on this and when they indulge in the fours an...

Of late, one editor has gone berserk thanks to his ever expansive ego and an impregnable sense of self superiority. He was on an important coverage and his reports were crucial to shape up the prime time bulletins on the local news channel. The desk editor became the most harassed one due the preconditions and conditioning. The Conditions: Not a word can be changed of what the reporting editor dictates; No other source can be used irrespective of the importance; Reports must be narrated back to him for final approval; Headlines must only be taken from him; He would not give a voice over by phone because he thought television news should not highlight audio. The Conditioning: He wanted only fresh trainees who followed him blindly; According to him the old trusted hands in the newsroom were too smart and often tampered with his creative expressions thus making the veterans sit idle; Taking the trainee reporters into full confidence he built an impeccable info network so that every wor...