ChinmayC Blog

Fifty one farmers including old women had been staying immersed in neck deep water for the last fifteen days. Crabs and fishes were biting them and the limbs of many of them, particularly the old ladies, were deteriorating fast. They could not call it a day because they wanted their demands met first. The farmers had been protesting against what they considered wrong moves by the government. They say it is Jal Satyagraha (Water Movement for truth)-their final struggle even if it means death. Even the media did not pay them attention for ten days, busy as usual covering the insane politicking going on all around. The state government finally thought of examining their demands and meeting them only on the 13 th day. A group of observers from the Central Government is likely to visit the agitating farmers today. The agitating farmers were from the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh, a central state of India. They cultivated in the low-lying areas surrounding the Omkareshwar dam over th...

What a pity! All the attention and expectations focused on cricket superstar Yuvraj Singh's comeback have finally come to nothing. The first Twenty20 cricket match in Visakhapatnam between India and New Zealand   had been called off due to incessant rains. The rains had been falling almost the whole day and hope of an encounter was diminishing. Rains became the perfect spoilsport for a match made momentous by the eagerness of the fans showered on it. The Yuvraj Singh show thus gets postponed.  No reason to lose heart though as the brave-heart has already made the journey back into the game after winning a great battle against cancer. We can hopefully catch him in action on September 11 in the second and the last match of the T20 cricket Series to be played in  Chennai. And then all the excitement waits for you in the forthcoming T20 World Cup.  Over to Chennai now. Make your appointment with Yuvraj Singh for sure! 

The high moment every cricket lover has been waiting for is tomorrow evening 8pm by Indian standard time when the first of the two Twenty20 cricket matches between India and New Zealand will be played in Visakhapatanam, India. The highlight is Yuvraj Singh playing in it after fighting bravely and coming out successfully of a rare germ cell cancer. He played his last international cricket match more than a year back. Of all his fans the world over one American who is pleasantly surprised by the brave heart’s speedy recovery will also be eagerly waiting to see him back in his game. He is not a cricket fan and he understands less of the rules of the game, but he would be delighted as well. He is an oncologist from Boston, Dr. Lawrence H Einhorn, who treated Yuvraj and signed the cricket superstar’s discharge certificate at the Indiana University’s Simon Cancer Center in March this year. Dr. Einhorn is set to witness Yuvraj’s ‘ chemotherapy to competitive cricket ’ journey as another succ...

A society divided on caste lines…further segmented by the reservation policy. The society’s divided mindset of looking at some people as ‘untouchables’ has been maintained with utmost care throughout the history of ‘independent’ India. The elected representatives thrive on such divisions and go on creating divided vote banks to rule ‘one’ country. Corruption based on divisive greed for money first and then power encompasses the ‘one’ and divided country fully. The vicious circle sets in leading to erosion of values, cheapness of lives and culture, increase in mindless violence and…degeneration. A few ominous indicators are crying out to be linked to this process of degeneration. The monsoon session of the Indian Parliament ends tomorrow without any work done or executed or completed. It is stalled for the 12 th day in succession today. No doubt, serious issues are involved, but no party wants the solutions and no debates allowed. Obviously the divisive greed cannot have any solution....

India made the highest successful chase of 262 runs in Bangalore yesterday to beat New Zealand by five wickets on the fourth day of the second and last cricket Test match. As anticipated eagerly the match was a tight and swinging encounter with both the teams fighting very hard till the end. India won the two-Test Series 2-0 and this makes it the third win in successive Test series against New Zealand played both at home and in New Zealand. From a third day lead of 244 runs with the last pair standing New Zealand added 16 more runs to give India a target of 261 to win with almost two days remaining. It was unfortunate that JS Patel who shaped up well to add quite a few more runs by striking the ball lustily was given out by the umpire that turned out to be a wrong decision. Only yesterday a very high standard of umpiring was highlighted as one more positive aspect of this wonderful Test. Indian openers Gambhir (34) and Sehwag (38) blasted away to 77 runs in just 12 overs looking to b...

Finally…the moment September entered the Monsoon poured and poured, and the first major disruption of normal life of the season happened. Since morning today heavy rains lashed parts of Mumbai city, the central suburbs and the district of Thane . Normal activities were disrupted with slowing or stopping trains, traffic jams and water logging. But the showers brought cheers, because it rained heavily in several drought-hit areas of Maharashtra and also in catchments areas leading to overflowing lakes that supply water to the city of Mumbai. The Mumbaikars rejoiced. The farmers rejoiced. As Mumbaikars were relishing  the relief from possible water cuts in future and withdrawal of the present 10% cut the Monsoon shifted its sights over to the main city and the western suburbs since afternoon. Torrential and continuous heavy rains till late evening brought the city to a standstill with the homecoming commuters hopelessly stranded. Every street, road and lanes got clogged; trains almo...

India would need to score maybe around 250 runs to win the second Test against New Zealand in Bangalore and seal the Test Series 2-0. New Zealand would like to add as many runs as possible for the last wicket tomorrow and hope to bowl India out to restore full honors by drawing level 1-1.   At stumps on the third day New Zealand made 232/9 in the second innings with an overall lead of 244 runs. In a dramatic and absorbing third day’s play today 14 wickets fell and as per the standards set in this Test nearly 300 runs were scored. India could add only 52 runs more to the overnight 283 and got all out for 353 conceding a lead of 12 to the Kiwis. Even that was possible largely due to the dogged partnership of 33 runs for the last wicket with Ashwin making 32. Faced with top class seam bowling with the new ball by the Kiwi pacers Virat Kohli and Dhoni could not last long. Kohli departed immediately after scoring his second century in ten Tests and Dhoni shortly afterwards—both falling...