ChinmayC Blog

The spectre of being powerless scares him stiff. He has been winning the elections in that little state of the Indian republic last four consecutive times and has been a minister on different occasions enjoying immense bouts of power. Thanks to his power he has made millions of bucks and properties across the state. He has created pockets of influence at every level of government and administration. And, he thinks fondly, the luxuries and comforts associated with power and position are just too lucrative. How could he even think of foregoing all that? Not possible at all, but this election was different. The opposition brought in the issue of corruption and campaigned vigorously asking people to end the long period of misrule. The fools, he growls to himself, they fell for it…as if the new rulers would usher in an era of historic honesty! Why, anybody who becomes a people’s representative must first ensure his/her life-long safety and security—resorting to all means of doing it, he mus...

The city is expanding since decades with population and concrete congestion increasing all the time, but it still goes to sleep early, relatively speaking. City going to sleep early means you don’t get the facilities at night—like shops and markets, public buses and more importantly the omnipresent cycle rickshaws. We did not mean it to be, but we got late that evening at a relative’s place. To add to our woes, the eldest boy of the house had to go out on an errand, obviously taking the car with him. Any possibility of getting a lift was thus ruled out. My tension was genuine because my septuagenarian mother was with me and to make her walk nearly a mile was never a bright idea. We took the small lane leading up to the main road and started walking hoping to get some transport on the way. Auto-rickshaws, even a rare sight at daytime, were not passing by at all. A few cycle rickshaws going towards the main road had passengers and the ones coming in towards us from the main road were emp...

Mitchell Santner  It looked like a Test match on the last day (the third day could be the last day) on a rank turner with batsmen struggling for dear life. More specifically, it looked exactly like the last Test match played in this venue in November, 2015 between India and South Africa when the hosts won the series thanks to the rank turner and spin within three days. For the first match of the Super-10 stage of the ICC World T20 Championship the pitch in Nagpur was obviously out of ranks. Who knows it was perhaps gifted to Team India thanks to their known aversion to anything ‘green’. Only recently the ‘green’ offered in Pune worked disastrously for the Australia bashers as they perished to a shock defeat against a lifeless Sri Lanka in the first match of the domestic T20 Series that they eventually won 2-1. Whatever be the pitch issue, it was New Zealand who prepared perfectly for it including three spinners in the team and batting with a definite plan. The so-called masters of...

Ravichandran Ash win-- P layer of the Match & Series India today clinched the T20 International Series against Sri Lanka 2-1. In the 3 rd and final match played at Visakhapatnam Team India annihilated the visitors wining by 9  wickets. For a change skipper Dhoni today won the toss and put the visitors in surprising everyone—perhaps keeping in mind the dew factor. And the decision vindicated him thoroughly. He opened the bowling attack with Ashwin and two wickets fell in that over. Ashwin went on to capture 4 wickets for just 8 runs—a no mean feat in the shortest format. Displaying a total lack of application and spirit the full Sri Lankan team folded up for a humiliating 82 with Nehra taking 2 and part-timer Suresh Raina chipping in with 2 wickets. The victory for India seemed a mere formality which they completed in 13.5 overs with the loss of Rohit Sharma. The slow track where Sri Lankan spinners got some turn delayed the proceedings a bit. Shikhar Dhawan (46) and Ajikya R...

A billion prayers could not save him. Better than the best medical efforts ensured by the Indian Prime Minister could not save him. The miracle that saved him finally could not save him for telling his story of ultimate human endurance, indomitable willpower and exemplary courage. Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad who was buried under 25 feet of snow and ice for 6 days in Siachen Glacier and rescued alive passed away today in an army hospital in New Delhi where he was admitted on 9 th February, 2016 after being flown in an air ambulance from the Siachen heights. His medical bulletins over the last two days narrated his continuous deterioration with multi-organ dysfunction, lack of oxygen in the brain, blood clotting in his body not responding to maximum possible dosage of medicines and coma. He was on maximal life support system and yet he could not be revived. Today morning he slipped into a deeper coma and passed away shortly after. The whole of India is under a deep sense of loss, s...