ChinmayC Blog

Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak or Baba or Father Nanak (1469-1539), was the founder of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus, is being celebrated this year today, the 30th of November or whenever the full-moon day called Kartik Purnima occurs during October-November every year all over the world. Guru Nanak is believed to have travelled across Asia teaching people the message of 'one God' who dwells in every creation of His and constitutes the eternal truth. With this concept he created a unique spiritual, social and political platform based on equality, fraternity and virtue. We wish you all a very blessed Nanak Jayanti.  We remember Guru Nanak today and his teachings, his messages and his immortal devotional poems that are composed musically as Bhajans in basic Punjabi, cutting across all religious and linguistic barriers in India. Composers, Vocalists and singers have been presenting his Bhajans or devotional songs to devotees and music lovers since centuries. My fath...

  India have not learnt any lesson from the first match in terms of improving body language, intensity on the field and the basic will to win, despite the second one-day international being the decisive one in the 3-match Dettol ODI Series. The team management reposed full faith on them by fielding the same team, not even replacing anyone in the bowling line-up, prominently Chahal and Saini. To make matters worse Virat Kohli lost the toss again, offering the platter one more time to the hosts to make hay. And they did exactly that.   The Warner-Finch opener-duo who posted another 100-plus run partnership and later Steve Smith who notched up his second consecutive century continued to prove to be India’s nemesis. A target of 350+ runs was to be set for India yet again (the average first-innings score being 319 at the SCG for the last five years). The Indian bowlers did nothing better than in the first match: Saini continued to be the most expensive; Bumrah ineffectual as earl...

  Photo: espncricinfo.com Before coming to the match, we must mention the most heartening thing about cricket new normal: for the first time in 8 months crowds were allowed at the Sydney Cricket Ground, of course, up to 50% of the stadium’s capacity. However, some of stands were seen to be packed to the brim, and in general, masks were not being worn nor social distancing kept. It is not clear how the bio-bubble is going to help in this crowded environment. We hope this does not translate into an indiscretion as far as the pandemic spread is concerned as crowds ranging from 50 to 65 capacities are going to be allowed for all the remaining matches of the India Tour of Australia-2020-21 including the Tests.   Australia have beaten India by 66 runs in the first one-day international match of the three-match Dettol ODI Series in Sydney today, giving the long-missed home crowds much to cheer. The moment the Aussies put up a mammoth target of 375 runs before India many cynics migh...

  He has been much more than just a political leader; he has been an excellent human being with an ever-smiling face, friendly and spontaneous manners, a typical pure Assamese flavor in his warm communications, his deep roots in Assamese culture, his interest in fine arts and love for all forms of music, and an endearing lovable personality. Even in his ripe old age he used to mix with his admirers/supporters like one of them, talking to them in a warm personal tone, singing and dancing with them. Throughout his eventful political career, he maintained his clean image, at times against tremendous odds. People of Assam respected him as much as they loved him. We used to refer to him as Tarunda (like an elder brother) in our Assamese friends’ circles, and we were all fond and proud of him: as a leader who could articulate the state’s problems to the central leaders and in Parliament, and as a central Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Food under former Prime Minister PV Narsi...

  Photo: rediff.com India started their tour of Australia in 2018-19 too from November 2018 to January 2019, and created history by becoming first Asian cricket team to beat Australia in a Test Series in Australia. They also became only the second team of the world to beat Australia in Australia in both the formats of ODI and Test. The first test of that series too started in Adelaide in December and in that cracker of a match India won by 31 runs, one of their slenderest of victory margins. Australia won the second test in Perth by 146 runs, and India sealed the series 2-1 by winning the third test in Melbourne by 137 runs with the last match ending in a draw in Sydney. Then they went on to win the ODI Series 2-1 too. Under Australia’s split captaincy regime for different formats Aussie wicket keeper Tim Paine was the captain in the Test series and Aaron Finch captained the Aussies in the ODI and T201 formats, and they met Virat Kohli as the all-format Indian skipper. The rivalry ...

  After riding on a palpable anti-incumbency wave and the predictions of clear victory by all of the exit polls the ultimate narrow defeat of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)-led Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) in the Bihar Assembly Elections-2020 is bound to cause huge disappointment and bitterness. Unable to accept defeat the leaders of the RJD first started attacking the Election Commission on a variety of alleged anomalies in counting, and then picked out the main alliance partner, the Indian National Congress (INC), for letting them down. A prominent RJD leader attacked Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi for their alleged callousness towards the election. The leader further alleged that they did not come for the election campaigns attending a very few rallies, but were only interested in having picnics. He also questioned the internal management of the INC and its lack of introspection.   Having said that, we must examine the underlying factors. The RJD under th...

  Legendary actor Soumitra Chatterjee passed away in a Kolkata hospital today after fighting with COVID-19 for nearly one and half months. He was tested positive on the 6 th of October 2020 and was promptly admitted to a hospital considering his age and vulnerability. The actor was on and off ventilator support as he developed a range of other infections. Great hopes were generated when he tested negative on October 14; but his COVID-related complications dashed all expectations of his final recovery. He continued to be on life support, and despite the best efforts of the team of doctors we have lost one of the greatest actors of Indian Cinema. He was 85, but still had enough ammunition to surge ahead with his creative pursuits, encompassing a saga of over five decades in Bangla movies. But for the deadly pandemic virus!   Soumitra Chattopadhyay has been one of my all-time favorite actors of world cinema, and living in Assam, I began to realize his immense contribution to c...