ChinmayC Blog

India got the best pitch possible to seal the Freedom Test Series against South Africa by winning the third test match in Nagpur in less than three days again thus taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match Series. Spinners of India won the first test in Mohali in less than three days and could have repeated the feat in Bengaluru too had rains not intervened from the second day onwards. Bravo India for pitching in perfectly in the perfect kind of pitches provided with perfection by the perfect supporters of Indian cricket. All cricket action at the moment seems to be so spin-oriented that India opted for just one pacer in the squad for the Nagpur test in the form of Ishant Sharma and yet he hardly bowled. The pitch was referred to as ‘diabolic’ by some while for the Indian fans it should described as ‘historic’. Yes, when India win it is always historic and when they lose it is always ‘unfavourable conditions’. Look at the scores. India won the toss and electing to bat first str...

While with his crusader mentor he was a dedicated and committed worker-activist trying to root out corruption from the face of India. His principles were then in the right place as he was fondly called the right hand of his mentor. However, he had another quality—ambition, and that too was very principled. He perhaps thought that eradicating corruption was a huge task as long as one had to fight a formidable system set in place over the years by corrupt governments. Therefore he thought that the only way to fight corruption effectively had to be from within. He had to have a political entity to enter the system and fight it. And from that moment his ambition took over command keeping principles in abeyance. He left his mentor high and dry and formed a new political party. Rest is history. Quick-fix developments and growing evidence over the last three years tend to show that Dehli Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could be the first ever political party in the coun...

As is considered only natural in this country the first Test between India and South Africa at Mohali ended within three days. India beat South Africa by 108 runs today to take 1-0 lead in the four-match Freedom Trophy Test Series. This result must have made Team India, the team management, the cricket Board and all cricket mandarins extremely happy and all must be praising the curator at Mohali no holds barred for creating such a wonder of a cricket pitch. Yes, for India at home the ‘pitch’ along with the add-ons of other ‘conditions’ matter most rather than the competitive quality of the game or the application of the Indian batsmen or the ‘strike’ capability of the Indian bowlers. This has been the case for decades now. In the seventies or even eighties we still remember the commentators saying Sunil Gavaskar coming up to open the bowling   with fielders hitting the ball very hard to the ground at every opportunity. This was to make the ball softer as quickly as possible so tha...

It has been there all the time—maybe sporadic in the past, but consistent in the last few years. We encounter intolerance at every step of our existence. At home, the random husband does not tolerate certain aspects of his wife’s personality while the random wife does not tolerate certain ways of her husband—this is excluding the serious concerns of infidelity or disloyalty. In-laws are hardly tolerated by many particularly in matters relating to money. Children do not tolerate parental ‘advice’. Step out of home and it is worse. Everybody out there is just obsessed of surging ahead of others—does not matter even if it involves pushing or thrashing. Vehicle drivers grimace bitterly at pedestrians for their supposed ‘indulgence’ on the road while the pedestrians lash out at the drivers for their supposed ‘monopoly’ over the roads. Why road rage cases are increasing all the time? Root cause of this is only intolerance. If you only brush against a car in a genuine case of accident withou...

The still raging mystery of the Sheena Bora murder case  is just another reflection of the modern society. It brings out again the erosion of morals, the degeneration of cultures and the fast spreading malaise of depravity, inhumanity and perversion. Ironically, Indian television serials have been decried by many including this writer for portraying devilish characters of grandmas and mothers, but now, these soaps stand vindicated by seeming to show the ‘realism’ in our society. Today’s criminals could be your next door neighbors or people who are a part of your day-to-day existence, and you are at a total loss to anticipate their vile moves that could endanger lives all around you at any moment of time. This is relevant not only to India, but to the whole of modern society across the world. Of course, India with its uncontrollable population and accompanying unemployment is at a far greater risk.  Of particular concern is the fact that today’s adolescents are emerging as the ...

India under the young Test skipper Virat Kohli finally managed to break the 22-year no-win jinx in Test Series hosted by Sri Lanka defeating the hosts by 117 runs in the third Test today thus winning the Series 2-1 after wasting a huge opportunity in the first of the three Tests mostly dominated by them. In the first Test at Galle a win for India seemed only a formality when a dismal bout of batting ensured a win for Sri Lanka. In the third Test in Colombo India put Sri Lanka on the mat setting a huge target of 386 runs and capturing three vital wickets for 67 runs at stumps on the fourth day yesterday. They needed to capture 7 wickets today for a series win in Sri Lanka after 22 years, but their bowlers again showed the haunting lack of penetration for most part of today with the scare of Sri Lanka either drawing or even winning the match and the Series looming large. However, at the last moments of the fifth day Ashwin came back to capture 4 wickets ensuring a win for India. In the s...

The late sixties to the late eighties—the golden period for us as far as the habit of reading book is concerned. For my father the period started from around the early forties. Rightfully, my father and we children were termed as ‘book worms’ by family and friends. We used to coil up wherever and whenever possible with books—books of various nature ranging from detective novels to heavy non-fiction in mostly English, Assamese and Bengali. We can hardly forget those golden moments of reading—on a fresh morning in the veranda armchair or reclining on the sofa in the drawing room or half inclined on the pillow in the bedroom or on winter nights after supper inside the warm quilt with the table lamp burning. On Sundays my mother had a hard time getting us on to the table after serving lunch. My father had the usual habit of trying to finish a book on a single sitting and we also tried to imitate him on various occasions. Thanks to my father’s childhood we favoured English classics a lot an...