Ok I am sick and tired of relatives in India calling up to ask if I am fine in Australia. Yes I am! Australia is NOT a land full of racists. There are idiots everywhere in the world, learn to accept it. Which brings us to the events. Pardon me if this all just seem like brainstorming notes.
I am sure everyone has heard of the incidents where the Indian students got bashed up. It is interesting to note here that this news wasn't covered in the Australian media at all when it happened. The Indian media on the other hand reported it to death. I mean they have whipped up such a frenzy that I am sure if I would have changed my mind about coming to Australia if I was thinking of it now. As a result we have two extreme at ends of the spectrum. By the time the Australian media woke up, the coverage seemed to be more of how the events have been covered by the Indian media.
My major gripe with all this is exactly that. Why didn't the Aussie media give any importance to these events, when they happened. I have heard people say that education is the 3rd biggest export of Australia so perhaps they don't want to demean the sector. I disagree with it totally. I can safely say that an average potential international student would read/listen to the local media and definitely not be up to speed with the Australian media. So no logic for it not to be covered here. If anything it would made the people aware and alert. That is after all why the media exists.
I think it is ridiculous that I have to read an Indian newspaper to find out what is happening in Australia! Thank god mum and dad were in Australia itself when that happened, so they at least know what the real situation is.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Hell on earth
Another really random blog. Things that I have been mulling about.
Now the cricketers have visited the victims as well as the PM and other "VIPs". The cynic that I am, I just wonder how much this helps the affected people. The cricketers I guess help to take the mind off the tragedy a bit. Not too sure of the politicos. Though have to say Rudd looked really sincere when he was talking with the people. I just hope these people know the real work will be when the rebuilding begins. The hearts need to mended as well destructed properties. Will people return? I wonder if I would go back if I was in the situation.
The important thing to consider after the fires have been put out are the lessons learnt. What can be done to stop it from happening again? If two fires would merge it will cause untold destruction. So is there any way to stop that if it comes to it?
Food for thought. Have a great day! :-)
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
My Mumbai she burns
Well my 0.02A$ worth.
Time for India to put up a brave and "united" face but it is only like a PR exercise I feel. The real issue needed to be looked into is how do we stop terrorism or more to the point can we stop terrorism. I beleive the answer to this lies within the Muslim community all over the world itself, more so than any other. How many times have we heard after every attack the oft repeated cliche, "Not all Muslims are like that". Something I know for a fact but for someone who has lost a loved one it may sound as bull crap.
Lets just take the case of terrorism against India. Of all the terrorists caught attacking India how many were Muslim. My guess: 99.99%. The community has to help root out these idiots from amongst them because well its only going to bite them in the arse(religious profiling etc) if they dont.
Can rattle on but well this should suffice for now ;).
Please read Tarun Vijay's articles in the otherwise abonimable Times of India, (I know I have been guilty of reading it ;-) ).
Esp this article India battles to win.
Time for India to put up a brave and "united" face but it is only like a PR exercise I feel. The real issue needed to be looked into is how do we stop terrorism or more to the point can we stop terrorism. I beleive the answer to this lies within the Muslim community all over the world itself, more so than any other. How many times have we heard after every attack the oft repeated cliche, "Not all Muslims are like that". Something I know for a fact but for someone who has lost a loved one it may sound as bull crap.
Lets just take the case of terrorism against India. Of all the terrorists caught attacking India how many were Muslim. My guess: 99.99%. The community has to help root out these idiots from amongst them because well its only going to bite them in the arse(religious profiling etc) if they dont.
Can rattle on but well this should suffice for now ;).
Please read Tarun Vijay's articles in the otherwise abonimable Times of India, (I know I have been guilty of reading it ;-) ).
Esp this article India battles to win.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
A proud Marathi?
Every time I read current stories from India, regarding the Thackeray-marathi manoos things, I feel really uneasy. Wrong signals seem to be sent in every direction. This post is just my attempt to write down things going on about the issue in my head. So well there is a high chance that the output will be muddled.
The question that needs to be contemplated is this.
By Marathi, I mean people who are born, brought up in Maharashtra and speak-understand Marathi. The unrest is there, sad to say. Is it widespread? Not really. But when politicians want to brandish the parochial sword, there is real danger that the unrest will spread.
Simple example, these were the times when MNS wasn't formed. Advertisements for the Mumbai postings for Indian Railways weren't given in any of the local Marathi newspapers, but all the Bhojpuri-Hindi dainiks carried the news, (supposedly). No doubt this created unrest in the local population. Raj Thackeray wrote about the issue, managed to inflame people further, and then causing the infamous Sena backed ransacking on Railways Mumbai Office.
Why is the unrest there? Aren't we one nation? Well the demographics of Maharashtra, Mumbai in particular have changed a lot in the last 10 years. People will react when language that is different to the commonly prevalent ones, keep falling on their ears. I can state the example of my beloved Pune. I could not imagine a place in Pune where I would hear anything other than Marathi. But now like Mumbai, there is high chance that two strangers starting conversation, won't do it in Marathi. This is not a bad thing at all, but it sure as hell is different. And most people as a rule are resistant to change.
I know so many individuals who after spending their lives in Pune have picked up the language. In fact it's assumed that they will. But I doubt we can make those assumptions any further.
Marathi or Hindi? Hindi is our national language. I think most people in India know the language. I think Marathi people in general don't mind the rashtrabhasha, but I think people may be peeved when, the "outsiders" don't take up Marathi even after staying here for 10-15 years. It can't be Hindi at the cost of Marathi.
Anyways, in this global age how important these things are is debatable. For me I am glad that I know, have learnt English. Because ironically, I think that is the only language that truly binds our great nation. To each his own I guess.
The question that needs to be contemplated is this.
- Is there unrest amongst the Marathi population regarding "outsiders".
- The extent and possible reasons/solutions.
By Marathi, I mean people who are born, brought up in Maharashtra and speak-understand Marathi. The unrest is there, sad to say. Is it widespread? Not really. But when politicians want to brandish the parochial sword, there is real danger that the unrest will spread.
Simple example, these were the times when MNS wasn't formed. Advertisements for the Mumbai postings for Indian Railways weren't given in any of the local Marathi newspapers, but all the Bhojpuri-Hindi dainiks carried the news, (supposedly). No doubt this created unrest in the local population. Raj Thackeray wrote about the issue, managed to inflame people further, and then causing the infamous Sena backed ransacking on Railways Mumbai Office.
Why is the unrest there? Aren't we one nation? Well the demographics of Maharashtra, Mumbai in particular have changed a lot in the last 10 years. People will react when language that is different to the commonly prevalent ones, keep falling on their ears. I can state the example of my beloved Pune. I could not imagine a place in Pune where I would hear anything other than Marathi. But now like Mumbai, there is high chance that two strangers starting conversation, won't do it in Marathi. This is not a bad thing at all, but it sure as hell is different. And most people as a rule are resistant to change.
I know so many individuals who after spending their lives in Pune have picked up the language. In fact it's assumed that they will. But I doubt we can make those assumptions any further.
Marathi or Hindi? Hindi is our national language. I think most people in India know the language. I think Marathi people in general don't mind the rashtrabhasha, but I think people may be peeved when, the "outsiders" don't take up Marathi even after staying here for 10-15 years. It can't be Hindi at the cost of Marathi.
Anyways, in this global age how important these things are is debatable. For me I am glad that I know, have learnt English. Because ironically, I think that is the only language that truly binds our great nation. To each his own I guess.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
why is the IPL bad?
I just keep reading articles after articles in papers here or on Cricinfo. Then I read this today and thought ok thats it. I had to shake off my extreme inertia and blog.
I don't understand why papers in Australia, UK and even media in general are so quick to react negatively to the IPL? Why is the Indian Rupee that bad for cricket? And here I would like to make clear that this post is only focussed on the IPL and not ICL.(which btw I also dont understand why is being made out as the black sheep)
I read Harsha Bhogle's views on the IPL and that I could not agree more with. Has anyone from overseas thanked India for giving them opportunities to ply their trade here? Another brilliant read on the topic was Amit Verma's piece on Cricinfo. If this doesn't shut the negetive vibes nothing will.
The fact is the IPL deserves a chance. Its a concept that is going to take cricket in exciting directions. Who is to say the future is necessarily bad?Who knows because of the franchise/league like concepts, cricket may make headway in regions like US or other countries thus expanding its reach. Why shoot it down before it takes off?
The cricket world needs to understand that the dynamics of the game are changing. And it would be fair to say, so would the tastes of the audiences by and large. Simplest example, the T20 match at the MCG this summer;close to 85000 people came to see it. Thats footy like audiences. Compare those figures to any attendance figure in the tests or ODIs here and you would definitely get the answer.
For some reason statements like these
"
...the true lovers of cricket, and of Indian cricket more especially, must
hope that the IPL will fail as a commercial proposition. It offers,
arguably, a degraded form of cricket; and it will promote, certainly, a
degradation of character..."
that Mr Guha, whose articles on cricket I really like (normally), has used here, really pisses me off. I always thought of myself as a "true" lover of cricket, but I guess I cant use that tag anymore since I have unabashedly brandished my support for the T20 format.Damn!!
Am I a true Indian cricket fan then. Hmm lets see. The IPL gives the Indian audiences a chance to see the big names turning out for their cities. See their performances up close with more frequency than normal. Imagine Shane Warne coaching a leggie in Jaipur, whilst he is there on IPL duty. Oh that would be horrid for Indian cricket wouldn't it! So yes IPL is evil, the very fact that Indian audiences can watch Warne, Kallis, McGrath, Lee, ... is not going to be good for Indian cricket. So I guess I can peacefully sleep knowing I AM a "true" Indian cricket fan. Yes I am hoping the IPL fails Mr Guha.
I don't understand why papers in Australia, UK and even media in general are so quick to react negatively to the IPL? Why is the Indian Rupee that bad for cricket? And here I would like to make clear that this post is only focussed on the IPL and not ICL.(which btw I also dont understand why is being made out as the black sheep)
I read Harsha Bhogle's views on the IPL and that I could not agree more with. Has anyone from overseas thanked India for giving them opportunities to ply their trade here? Another brilliant read on the topic was Amit Verma's piece on Cricinfo. If this doesn't shut the negetive vibes nothing will.
The fact is the IPL deserves a chance. Its a concept that is going to take cricket in exciting directions. Who is to say the future is necessarily bad?Who knows because of the franchise/league like concepts, cricket may make headway in regions like US or other countries thus expanding its reach. Why shoot it down before it takes off?
The cricket world needs to understand that the dynamics of the game are changing. And it would be fair to say, so would the tastes of the audiences by and large. Simplest example, the T20 match at the MCG this summer;close to 85000 people came to see it. Thats footy like audiences. Compare those figures to any attendance figure in the tests or ODIs here and you would definitely get the answer.
For some reason statements like these
"
...the true lovers of cricket, and of Indian cricket more especially, must
hope that the IPL will fail as a commercial proposition. It offers,
arguably, a degraded form of cricket; and it will promote, certainly, a
degradation of character..."
that Mr Guha, whose articles on cricket I really like (normally), has used here, really pisses me off. I always thought of myself as a "true" lover of cricket, but I guess I cant use that tag anymore since I have unabashedly brandished my support for the T20 format.Damn!!
Am I a true Indian cricket fan then. Hmm lets see. The IPL gives the Indian audiences a chance to see the big names turning out for their cities. See their performances up close with more frequency than normal. Imagine Shane Warne coaching a leggie in Jaipur, whilst he is there on IPL duty. Oh that would be horrid for Indian cricket wouldn't it! So yes IPL is evil, the very fact that Indian audiences can watch Warne, Kallis, McGrath, Lee, ... is not going to be good for Indian cricket. So I guess I can peacefully sleep knowing I AM a "true" Indian cricket fan. Yes I am hoping the IPL fails Mr Guha.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Its all happening Down Under
The incidents that have dominated the media here in Australia have been, not surprisingly, to do with the Sydney Test match. Umpires copped some stick as you would expect. It's the other stuff that has dominated post-match news more. I just think because of the insane amount of coverage this issue has got, there are opinions flying around left, right and center. This has only made matters worse. It would be far to say the "media" went overboard.
What the Aussies just don't seem to understand:
1> This is not Bucknor at his worst for the first time against India. He has a history, clearly given here by the GreatBong in his post.
2> With the Harbhajan issue, the Indians feel their word was not taken into consideration, and what more, as Procter says, "one set of players was telling the truth". This has made it a question of honour. So the situation so far is this, 3 Australian players heard Harbhajan say it, umpires did not, stump mics did not, and well if I add,Sachin did not. So there is no evidence. How then did Procter ban Harbhajan? And if he has any other source of information, share it with the public. Can't help but think the ICC is gagging all the parties involved, and this in fact has escalated this issue.
The grouch with the Aussie team is that they seem boorish and arrogant in their behaviour. The naive "pact" was not followed by Ponting and the Indians feel aggreived. Rightly so.
In the interview with Channel 9 Current Affair the day before, Ponting says about the post-match conference fiasco, that he did not expect any question about the Dhoni dismissal and so was taken aback. He claims he did not see the replay till untill later. Well that to me is symbolic of what all that is wrong with their attitude. He hasn't seen the replay for that, so one would expect the captain of a nation to say he hasnt seen it so no comments, or something along those lines. But no Ponting is aggressive and rude towards the media guy.
Ponting is a fantastic batsman, and his team is the best as far as playing cricket goes. If they want to be liked they have to start and accept, they are not liked and respected like the previous great teams from the Carribean etc. As Geoff Lawson has said,"Whether the team themselves think that is another issue, but I can guarantee you the rest of the cricket world certainly feels that about this cricket team".
All this said and done, I definiely think that Ponting shouldn't be sacked for sure but needs to realize that something is amiss and rectify it for the future at least.
I think the Steve Waugh and Border theories of cultural differences seem even more relevant to me now. An excellent article here by Waugh. Read these "neutral" articles as well. 1. 2. 3.
A balanced view from the blogosphere.
In the Australian media, the reaction have been more or less balanced, compared to the Indian counterparts. The Channel Nine site, the Australian also has some pretty clearly pro-Aus biased articles. You have to go see them. The Nine one had this video on the site yesterday, saying WWS team has dug up a gem from the past. Also today they have these videos of Dhoni claiming Peiterson at Lords, and Harbhajan refusing to walk. What timing! Coincidence?
What the Aussies just don't seem to understand:
1> This is not Bucknor at his worst for the first time against India. He has a history, clearly given here by the GreatBong in his post.
2> With the Harbhajan issue, the Indians feel their word was not taken into consideration, and what more, as Procter says, "one set of players was telling the truth". This has made it a question of honour. So the situation so far is this, 3 Australian players heard Harbhajan say it, umpires did not, stump mics did not, and well if I add,Sachin did not. So there is no evidence. How then did Procter ban Harbhajan? And if he has any other source of information, share it with the public. Can't help but think the ICC is gagging all the parties involved, and this in fact has escalated this issue.
The grouch with the Aussie team is that they seem boorish and arrogant in their behaviour. The naive "pact" was not followed by Ponting and the Indians feel aggreived. Rightly so.
In the interview with Channel 9 Current Affair the day before, Ponting says about the post-match conference fiasco, that he did not expect any question about the Dhoni dismissal and so was taken aback. He claims he did not see the replay till untill later. Well that to me is symbolic of what all that is wrong with their attitude. He hasn't seen the replay for that, so one would expect the captain of a nation to say he hasnt seen it so no comments, or something along those lines. But no Ponting is aggressive and rude towards the media guy.
Ponting is a fantastic batsman, and his team is the best as far as playing cricket goes. If they want to be liked they have to start and accept, they are not liked and respected like the previous great teams from the Carribean etc. As Geoff Lawson has said,"Whether the team themselves think that is another issue, but I can guarantee you the rest of the cricket world certainly feels that about this cricket team".
All this said and done, I definiely think that Ponting shouldn't be sacked for sure but needs to realize that something is amiss and rectify it for the future at least.
I think the Steve Waugh and Border theories of cultural differences seem even more relevant to me now. An excellent article here by Waugh. Read these "neutral" articles as well. 1. 2. 3.
A balanced view from the blogosphere.
In the Australian media, the reaction have been more or less balanced, compared to the Indian counterparts. The Channel Nine site, the Australian also has some pretty clearly pro-Aus biased articles. You have to go see them. The Nine one had this video on the site yesterday, saying WWS team has dug up a gem from the past. Also today they have these videos of Dhoni claiming Peiterson at Lords, and Harbhajan refusing to walk. What timing! Coincidence?
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
US dollar collapsing??
I have limited knowledge of economics and the finance world ;) but chanced upon this article the other day which was a rather alarming read. Would love to hear peoples views on that.
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