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November Double Tragedy Hits Assam!

  The first to dissolve into eternity was the legendary singer-poet-lyricist-writer-journalist-filmmaker  Dr. Bhupen Hazarika  who passed away at a Mumbai Hospital on November 5, 2011. And now, the celebrated author-social reformer-academician Prof. Indira Goswami, better known by her pen name Mamoni Raisom Goswami, passed away at a Guwahati hospital on November 29, 2011. Two noted personalities of Assam who have been rooted to the soil and totally committed to the people and the land they belonged to. They have been the torchbearers for Assam carrying themselves with numerous awards and recognitions at the national and international levels. Assam has been identified with their laurels and as their home state. While one got the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the highest honor in Cinema in India, the other got the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honor of the country. One is dearest ‘Da’ (elder brother) and the other is beloved ‘Baideo’ (elder sister) for all of the Assame...

India-West Indies One-Day Cricket Series: Start With A Thriller!

  The first match of the One-Day Cricket Series between India and West Indies at Cuttack today proved to be a genuine thriller with ups and downs for both the sides. It was a classic low-scoring match on a supposedly flat hatting pitch. Both sides lost nine wickets each and India finally managing win by 1 wicket with 7 balls to spare!   India won the toss and elected to field first. No surprise considering the dew factor that influences results in matches played this season in India. Team India was without the services of Dhoni, Tendulkar, and Yuvraj Singh with Pravin Kumar too left out due to a last minute injury.  Indian pacers Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Vinay Kumar kept the visitors on a tight leash not giving runs easily and taking wickets at regular intervals. The spinners also contributed with part-timer Suresh Raina taking the vital wicket of Darren Bravo who top scored with 60 for the West Indies. The visitors were finally restricted to 211 for 9 and t...

Retail Politics!

Article first published as Retail Politics! on Technorati.   The Indian parliament began its winter session on November 22, 2011 and so far it could not function even for one day. That is say the supreme constitutional body was not allowed to function by the opposition political parties. First was the issue of the continuous price rise despite the fact the inflation rate had been showing a declining trend for the last three weeks. Then there were issues of bringing back the black money deposited in foreign banks and other regional tangles. The first week was guillotined on these issues. Before the second week started the Indian Government announced a 51% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) package thus opening up the very attractive multi-brand Indian retail market for international players like Wal-Mart and others. The opposition parties including coalition allies of the government got another sought-after excuse to go on disrupting the Parliament. The opposition political p...

Cricket: The Truth About Yuvraj Singh!

Article first published as Cricket: The Truth About Yuvraj Singh! on Technorati.   Finally the truth is out about the persistent fitness problems of Yuvraj Singh , the Indian cricket superstar, over the last few months. The truth was revealed to the media by his mother Shabnam Singh. Yuvraj has a golf ball sized tumor in his left lung and was first diagnosed as cancer. Yuvraj Singh has been a consistent match winner for Team India since 2000 in One Day Internationals (ODI) and in tests since 2003. Whenever he happened to be in full flow scoring big and always quick India won invariably. He is best remembered for his incredible match winning partnership with Kaif in the Natwest Series Final against England in 2002; his six sixes in an over of Stuart Broad in a World Cup T20—2007 match against England again and his man-of-the-tournament performance in World Cup—2011 that India won. After the World Cup—2011 Yuvraj Singh has been in and out of the Indian team due to fitne...

Cricket: An Extraordinary Test! And Fire Engulfs Mumbai On Terror Anniversary.

The third test between India and West Indies, in Mumbai 22-26 November, was nearly abandoned for a listless draw. It ended in a draw alright. But with what a nail-biting and edge-of-the-seat finish that nobody could even dream of. And, the end result was indeed a big boost for Test cricket plagued by frequent boring and drawn matches.   When West Indies scored a massive 590 batting first the match was very much alive, depending on Indian batting it could have swung either way. But India replied well and ended the third day in a sound position. Then onward the only interest left in the match was Sachin Tendulkar's century of international centuries. The fourth day saw Tendulkar getting out just six runs short of that historic moment. After some hiccups India reached a safe 482 with Ashwin's century. The West Indies saw the day off at 89 for 2.  The last day's play was anticipated by all to be another reminder of drawn test matches. But what a day it turned out to...

Cricket: Sachin Tendulkar Misses Hundredth Ton, Ashwin Gets His First!

Since the Cricket World Cup in March-April, 2011 in every cricket international match Sachin Tendulkar features there has been a wild anticipation for his feat of the Century of International Centuries. He has already made 51 Test and 48 one day hundreds so far. The third test between India and the West Indies played in Mumbai from November 22, 2011 was no exception; rather expectation reached the peak because he was playing in his home ground and on a batting beauty of a pitch. But the agonized wait was set to continue longer. West Indies won the toss and elected to bat. They batted for more than two days on the flattest wicket of the tour and finally wound up for a massive 590. India finished the third day at 281 for 3 with Rahul Dravid completing 13000 runs in Test cricket. The match was set up not for an exciting finish but for Tendulkar’s hundredth hundred. He remained not out on 67 and needed just 33 more runs to complete the huge achievement... Read More... One-Day Squad Annou...

Anti-Corrupt Fascists?

The point is not about your anti-corruption stance. The point is about you going out with knives and daggers to attack the corrupt . The trend is growing increasingly dangerous. The beginning of the species called anti-corrupt fascists? A stalwart of Indian politics, the present Agriculture Minister and former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and an octogenarian, Sharad Pawar was attacked at a public place in the national capital, New Delhi. The youthful unemployed attacker was supposedly angry at corrupt politicians and was the same person who attacked the sentenced former minister Sukh Ram a few days back. From the highest level of the nation to the masses, everybody wholeheartedly condemned the assault and expressed shock at this incident happening in a democratic nation. The opposition parties also condemned and Team Anna condemned it too, but with a difference that was too obvious. There was a ‘but’ in their condemnation. The largest national opposition party said while condemning t...