ChinmayC Blog

New Year 2012 has been ushered in with a lot of funfair and celebrations across the globe. From the early birds of New Zealand to the die hard revelers of Goa inspired and charged up scenes were witnessed everywhere. In Mumbai too people of all age groups stayed awake late into the night to welcome 2012. Deafening fireworks erupted just when the clock struck 12. Waiting for 12 to welcome 12! Good vibes around! The celebrating spirit was nearly crushed with the news of a 7 point magnitude earthquake thathit Japan just hours after 2012 arrived. But fortunately, there have been no reports of loss of lives and danger of tsunami was also dismissed. With the March 2011disaster still fresh in mind Japan definitely did not want another tragedy particularly on a New Year Day. In India spurious liquor killed 18 persons in the state of Andhra Pradesh today. People celebrate subject to what they can afford. Poor ones celebrate with cheap country liquor poisoned by the death merchants. This is In...

There has been a huge controversy going on in India now regarding the midnight drama enacted in the upper house of the Indian Parliament on December 29, 2011. People belonging to different professional groups have been alleging that the drama was ‘choreographed’ by someone. There is no agreement though on who that someone could be. The main opposition party accuses the government of being the ‘choreographer’ while the government throws the same charge back at them. Besides, one Indian news channel reportedly predicted the ‘choreography’ right in the afternoon of that eventful day. Now, choreography literally means ‘dance-writing’ and it has everything to do with motion and beauty. This cannot directly relate to what happened in Parliament, because there is no predetermined element here and ‘beauty’ cries to be treated with respect. In Wikipedia we come across one more description of Planned Choreography, ‘in which a choreographer dictates motion and form in detail, leaving little or...

Article first published as The Other Side of Midnight on Technorati. War cries suddenly pierced the still and freezing midnight hour of December 29, 2011 in New Delhi—capital of India. The elected representatives of  the upper house of Indian Parliament  came out of the house shouting ‘Murder of democracy’ or ‘A black day’ or ‘The biggest fraud of the government’. Why? Not because the anti-corruption Bill could not get passed even after nearly 13 hours of debate, but because the Bill was not allowed to be defeated. Lok Sabha , the lower house of Indian Parliament, passed the  Lokpal Bill  (anti-corruption Ombudsmen Bill) just before 11 in the night of  December 27  after nearly 12 hours of debate. The coalition government had a working majority in the house and with a few gives and takes in terms of amendments suggested by opposition parties the Bill could be passed finally. But it had to be passed in  Rajya Sabha , the upper house of Indian Parliamen...

Article first published as Cricket-Team India Mauled By Australia! on Technorati. Australia defeated India by 122 runs in the Boxing Day First Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) today in India’s tour of Australia, 2011-12. The victory margin for Australia on the fourth day did not quite reflect the dramatic ups and downs of the match though. This was India’s fifth consecutive test loss abroad after the 4-0 drubbing by England earlier. At MCG too India’s dismal record did not go any better with just two wins in all time cricket history . But prior to the start of the cricket series factors were predominantly in India’s favor. India came to Australia after their thumping win over West Indies in both test and one-day formats and they had regrouped well with all the batting and bowling stalwarts coming back into the team except Yuvraj Singh who was getting fit to join the team perhaps for the one-day series. In contrast, Australia had been a little nervous with quite a few...

After nearly twelve hour debate the lower house of the Indian Parliament, Lok Sabha , passed the Lokpal (anti-corruption Ombudsmen) Bill by a voice vote just before 11 pm yesterday. In the process ten amendments had been conceded by the ruling coalition owing to demands by opposition political parties. Yet nobody rejoiced over this historic beginning. Only dirty politics lingered on and an ill Anna Hazare continued his fast making the common man the most bewildered one. Team Anna’s flop show in Mumbai with just 10000 supporters around was put in sharp contrast by heavy politicking on the floor throughout the day. While Team Anna kept on blaming and thundering on the government, specifically the Congress party, for cheating the Indian people it was very clear in the lower house that no political party wanted a strong Bill. The main opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who has been the mainstay support group for Team Anna, had in fact tried by all means to delay the Bill further an...

Article first published as The Fast Show Now In Mumbai! on Technorati.   Anna Hazare , the crusader against corruption in India, had recently shifted the venue for yet another fast of his from Delhi to Mumbai. Under the grip of acute cold wave conditions Delhi was considered to be too cold for not eating. Entertaining a negative thought maybe the response could have been too cold too! Shifting of venue was not without the usual share of drama that Team Anna now commands. The ground on which Anna was to sit for fast belongs to Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and the Authority takes a fee for such activities. So, Team Anna was presented with a bill for a handsome 800,000 Indian rupees for booking the ground for the period December 26-27, 2011. Fighting corruption cannot be a commercial activity, thundered Anna supporters. So they filed a petition in the Mumbai High Court for concessions. The High Court cited interesting observations while rejectin...

Merry Christmas to all of you! May this blessed occasion fill your lives with loads of joy and boundless happiness. With New Year 2012 round the corner the celebrations are set to go on! And, we must celebrate to make ours and others' lives happy and meaningful. With a note of grief we remember the terrible tragedy in Philippines a little more than a week ago. More than 2000 people lost their lives or were still missing  and more than 300,000 are still depending on emergency aid in the devastating flash floods that hit and swept away the southern island of Mindanao. There is no Christmas celebration for the victims there and in our celebrations we must think of them and wish them all the good in the coming times. There are in fact several huge human tragedies in the past two months and we must never get carried away with our celebrations. I am sorry to say that I could not give condolence messages to the affected people including several friends from our blogging community in good ...