HOLY Wow!!! man that felt gooooooooooooooood, DAAAAAAAA BEAARRS are in the Superbowl after 21 years! what a game! what defense, what offense what special teams!! The Bears win, the Bears win!! and now they are going south for the winter... look out Miami.
The game started late, 2:00 pm kickoff, everyone and thier moms had picked the "Fairy tale" Saints to win the game. We hosted a lunch/game/beer for 6 of our friends. The Bears started a little nervously, 3 field goals, 1 turnover, score 9-0. The nervousness stemmed from Rexy looking a little Shaky (a lot shaky). Then Thomas Jones took over and ran 69 yards in 6 carries to score the Bears first TD. The same play was called 6 times and they still couldn't catch him. This was a result of Ced Benson, the longhorn pounding the Saints for the first 12 minutes or so. We saw a defender bounce back 2 yds upon hitting Ced Ben and Ced kept going.. this man is a BEAST...
16-0 and we could see the palm trees. But Drew Brees has passed for 4000 yds this season and he showed why he was a runner up to the MVP award. they had a sweet play for the first TD before half time and then came the turning point of the game in the third quarter. The Bears were struggling and the Saints started at thier 5 yd line, Brees hit Bush for a short throw who just turned on his afterburners and ran to the end zone 88 yd touchdown. What he did upon scoring that, was unforgivable. Brian Urlacher and 4 more defenders chased him 88 yds, which just shows thier atheletic abilities and they had given up the TD but were completing the play by running down. Bush turned around, pointed to BU and somersaulted into the end zone and proceeded to dance. ROOKIE, BIG MISTAKE! U DO NOT POINT TO OUR LEADER ON DEFENSE AND THE HEART OF THIS CITY AND GET AWAY WITH IT!!! The Bears were upset, the coaches were upset, the CITY was furious. The defense just shut the game down after that.
Brad Maynard who was stellar all game, punted the ball at the Saints 2, the Bears defense chased down Brees on 1st down, he escaped, 2nd down, they chased him down and he threw the ball away, Intentional grounding in the end zone. the prettiest sight on the field for a defense. the refs and the defense doing the "I dream of Jeannie sign" hands clapped over thier heads, Safety, 2 points 18-14.
Rexy suddenly decided to show up. 4 completions for Bernard Berrian, 4 same plays. 1 atheletic catch for a TD, 25-14. The rout was on. Drew Brees fumble, Ogunleye recovery, Ced Ben TD, 32-14. Next series, turnover, Thomas Jones TD, 39-14. GAME OVAAAA....
Lovie Smith got a cold water bath, the snow came down gently, Mama McCaskey smiled and Da Bears got thier paws on the George Halas trophy, Papa Bears trophy is back home.
The celebrations had begun, I called my pal R, he was as overjoyed as I was.
Onto Miami.... Last stop bring your speedos.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
Its the GAME
Listening and Reading can really be misleading. The Saints are supposedly the feel good story of the year for what they mean to New Orleans. HAH! how many people have returned to New Orleans because the Saints played so well this year? how many businesses returned? how many homes got built? maybe a small percentage a very very small percentage. Every expert/commentrator has made them out to be the solution to the devastation of Katrina. They are barely a distraction.
The Bears defense has been called Soft, pororus, over-rated etc. I hope Lovie or one of his assistants have cut each one of these statements out and pasted it on the lockers of Brian, Adewale, Alex Brown, Lance Briggs, Hunter Hillenmeyer, Ian Scott, Tank Johnson and Mark Anderson. These are the Bears front that has the un-enviable task of shutting down/slowing Duece and Bush. If they can force that, the rookie recievers Colston and whats-his-name will be matched up against Nathan Vasher, Peanut and Ricky Manning Jr. This group has the stickiest hands of any in the NFL. I would not be surprised to see them run back one this weekend for a pick 6.
The Bears have to pound the ball early, take a few shots downfield and lead from the start. They cannot fall behind by 10 points and mount a comeback late. I think Rexy is up for this challenge, looking for an early 3-wideout formation with Berrian and Davis running long.
This game should be really close and will turn on a critical mistake late. the win will be 3 points or less. I'm sure i will suffer a couple of missed beats and lessen my life further by a few years.
But at the end of it, Its just a game, its a big game but JUST a game.
The Bears defense has been called Soft, pororus, over-rated etc. I hope Lovie or one of his assistants have cut each one of these statements out and pasted it on the lockers of Brian, Adewale, Alex Brown, Lance Briggs, Hunter Hillenmeyer, Ian Scott, Tank Johnson and Mark Anderson. These are the Bears front that has the un-enviable task of shutting down/slowing Duece and Bush. If they can force that, the rookie recievers Colston and whats-his-name will be matched up against Nathan Vasher, Peanut and Ricky Manning Jr. This group has the stickiest hands of any in the NFL. I would not be surprised to see them run back one this weekend for a pick 6.
The Bears have to pound the ball early, take a few shots downfield and lead from the start. They cannot fall behind by 10 points and mount a comeback late. I think Rexy is up for this challenge, looking for an early 3-wideout formation with Berrian and Davis running long.
This game should be really close and will turn on a critical mistake late. the win will be 3 points or less. I'm sure i will suffer a couple of missed beats and lessen my life further by a few years.
But at the end of it, Its just a game, its a big game but JUST a game.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Bearing down on the Saints - 7 great plays
Truth be told, i have no idea what to feel in this situation. During the White Sox run 2 years ago, i had gone to see tonnes of games during the regular season and felt the world series win was inevitable. Add to it the fact that i was in India for most of the playoffs, this is a new experience for me.
The team that defines Chicago as the hard-nosed blue-collared city that it is, is now 120 minutes away from a SuperBowl win (about 360-400 with commercials, time-outs and maybe overtime). When you simplify it further, they are about 17-20 great plays (not good plays, great plays) from being on top of the sporting world. Brian U had 21 tackles during the famous "Crown thier a$$" win on Monday night, out of which there were about 10 great plays in the fourth quarter alone.
Last week the Bears had about 5 great plays, The Bernard Berrian Bomb, the Thomas Jones save where he batted down a sure interception, the 2 stops on 3rd down and 4th down in regulation and OT and the Robbie Gould kick. The Bears barely squeaked out that win. Just imagine if there were 2 more great plays (Rex complete to Moose instead of the interception and the Hester touchdown not nullified by the penalty), the win would have been a blowout by 2 TDs.
If the Bears would need 7 great plays to win convincingly against the Seabags, they would need atleast 2 more against thier next 2 opponents.
That is what will take to squeak out the next 2 wins, 9 great plays in each game. yes Rex will have to be good, the running game has to be good, the defense has to be good but that should be the norm for a 14-3 team.
The team that defines Chicago as the hard-nosed blue-collared city that it is, is now 120 minutes away from a SuperBowl win (about 360-400 with commercials, time-outs and maybe overtime). When you simplify it further, they are about 17-20 great plays (not good plays, great plays) from being on top of the sporting world. Brian U had 21 tackles during the famous "Crown thier a$$" win on Monday night, out of which there were about 10 great plays in the fourth quarter alone.
Last week the Bears had about 5 great plays, The Bernard Berrian Bomb, the Thomas Jones save where he batted down a sure interception, the 2 stops on 3rd down and 4th down in regulation and OT and the Robbie Gould kick. The Bears barely squeaked out that win. Just imagine if there were 2 more great plays (Rex complete to Moose instead of the interception and the Hester touchdown not nullified by the penalty), the win would have been a blowout by 2 TDs.
If the Bears would need 7 great plays to win convincingly against the Seabags, they would need atleast 2 more against thier next 2 opponents.
That is what will take to squeak out the next 2 wins, 9 great plays in each game. yes Rex will have to be good, the running game has to be good, the defense has to be good but that should be the norm for a 14-3 team.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Tom Brady - Greatest Ever?
Is Tom Brady the greatest QB ever? im sure if asked, my wife D would say so, shes absolutely smitten by this guy and we call him her BF. the Golden Boy of the NFL is just the best in his business right now. The human football playbook that is Payton Manning starts freaking out the day the playoffs start and he is struggling badly in the last 2 games he played. When Brady had the ball with less than 2 mins left in the Chargers game i would challenge anyone to admit they thought he wasnt going to score and win the game. He has lost all his recievers, they have a shaky secondary, yet he is a mind-boggling 12-1 in playoffs. I am going to take him to beat the Colts and head to the Superbowl on Feb 4th. Payton will self-destruct. I am just upset the Bears haven't found someone like him with ice in thier veins in the last 20+ years. Rexy is so up and down, if he has the ball with less than 2 mins to go, all chicago fans yell for him to hand the ball off to the RB's and hope the defense wins them the game.
I hope this changes the next 3 weeks.
I hope this changes the next 3 weeks.
Ashi is getting married!!
So the news is true and Ash and Abhi got engaged on Sunday the 14 of Jan. I didnt think this would happen because of her past history and how the Bacchan clan operates. But reports are, Abhi proposed to her in NY and she accepted. Now the wedding might happen in Feb.
I wonder if she will give up acting after that. Jaya Bacchan did that when she got married. Ash has always talked about having kids and settling down. Good for her, now's her chance.
Congrats to the lucky couple.
I wonder if she will give up acting after that. Jaya Bacchan did that when she got married. Ash has always talked about having kids and settling down. Good for her, now's her chance.
Congrats to the lucky couple.
24 - Jack is Back Hours 1 thorugh 4
The 6th Season of 24 premiered with 2 hrs on Sunday and 2 on Monday. Jack came back from China looking like a homeless guy. Wayne Palmer became president (why critisize the Gandhis in India). Karen Hayes is the new NSA. Chloe (ol potato face is still around), Bill Buchanon controls CTU.
They all brought back Jack to hand over to a terrorist called Fayed, he wants to kill Jack for killing his bother. In return Fayed would hand over Al-Asad to the Americans, who think Asad is causing explosions all over the US. Jack finds out Asad is a good guy and Fayed is the bad guy, so between destroying America Fayed negotiated to bring Jack back from China where he was likely being tortured like hell, to kill him. huh! dont terrorists ever read newspapers? dont they investigate CTU agents? Dont they know Jack is the only guy in the US(or not in the US) who can stop them? Needless to say Jack escapes, tries to convice the president and others that Asad is the good guy, they dont belive him. After 6 seasons, you belive Jack or u dont know Jack. Jack proceeds to rescue Asad from death by the americans and finds a new sidekick. All this while the scenes of brutal torture just keep getting more and more gruesome, made me and D cringe as we watched.
Jack saves 1 subway from getting blown up and convinces the administration of his theory. Meanwhile there are more explosions all over the US. The president has not imposed a curfew and the citizens have not chosen to stay at home and are dying by the 100's in Malls and Airports. I remember on 9/11 even the homeless people had sealed themselves inside thier boxes. Anyways, the president decides to give into Fayed's demand and release some 100 captives from a Guantanamo like place, but heres the catch, they dont investigate if any of the captives has an obvious tie to Fayed and is a nuclear expert! Dum dum dum dum... Needless to say Dr Nucleo escapes during the prison to airport journey and reaches Fayed.
A sububan family meanwhile try to help an Arabic neighbor (Kal Penn or Kumar) who is being targetted by the neighborhood bully because his father was arrested by the FBI during a profiling sting. Kumar, on his way to White Castle had picked up a package for Fayed. He is the real terrorist. He holds the son and wife captive and forces regular subarban dad to go out with the package to pick something up. That something is a nuclear detonator. Jack reaches the hostage home and rescues the kid from being shot. Jack shoots at Kumar, who dies enroute to the hospital. I think he needs to get a better agent. First he does not get 1 dialogue in Superman Returns, i mean he could have just said a word. then he gets shot in the 4th hour of 24, whasup with that?
Jack gets the presidential pardon for Asad, they have given out so many of these over the last 6 seasons, im surprised Saddam didnt have a copy. Curtis gets annoyed by this because during the first gulf war, Asad had personally beheaded some of Curtis' buddies in the army. He tries to kill Asad but Jack takes him out with a single shot to the neck. Poor Curtis he survived last season, just barely and didnt make it out of this seasons premiere.
Meanwhile Fayed had assembled the Nuke with the help of Dr. Nucleo and Subarban Dad. and they blow it up when attacked by the US forces. The nuclear could over LA was a chilling visual. Just the thought of it gives me the chills. Jack has front row seats to the mushroom cloud, but there are no EMPs from it, no radiation storms, nothing. Jack should have been fried/radiated by now. Soon we learn that there are 4 more of these in the hands of Fayed.
Despite all this, the scariest part of the 4 hours was the depiction of the Presidential head of staff, the FBI and the Army combining forces to suspend civil liberties in America. They set up temporary camps in parts of LA and start rounding up Arabs to put in these camps. No warrants no reason required. They act very cold and callous in doing so. Somehow, the writers manage to try and convince the viewers that this too is acceptable because there are 2 Arabs in one of the holding cells who know of the plan. 2 Arabs!!! profiling 100s of people on the basis of religion and comming across 2? wow.
Last season, they blew up a nuclear reactor in or near San Diego (Edgar's mom died), this season they blow up a nuclear bomb. The writers are either stuck with stale storylines or they really really want to keep the fear alive in the viewers of such a possibility in real life.
With so much already transpiring in the first 4 hrs, i hope they have planned a good season because usually around hour 16-17, the story drifts off and stops making sense.
Stay Tuned
They all brought back Jack to hand over to a terrorist called Fayed, he wants to kill Jack for killing his bother. In return Fayed would hand over Al-Asad to the Americans, who think Asad is causing explosions all over the US. Jack finds out Asad is a good guy and Fayed is the bad guy, so between destroying America Fayed negotiated to bring Jack back from China where he was likely being tortured like hell, to kill him. huh! dont terrorists ever read newspapers? dont they investigate CTU agents? Dont they know Jack is the only guy in the US(or not in the US) who can stop them? Needless to say Jack escapes, tries to convice the president and others that Asad is the good guy, they dont belive him. After 6 seasons, you belive Jack or u dont know Jack. Jack proceeds to rescue Asad from death by the americans and finds a new sidekick. All this while the scenes of brutal torture just keep getting more and more gruesome, made me and D cringe as we watched.
Jack saves 1 subway from getting blown up and convinces the administration of his theory. Meanwhile there are more explosions all over the US. The president has not imposed a curfew and the citizens have not chosen to stay at home and are dying by the 100's in Malls and Airports. I remember on 9/11 even the homeless people had sealed themselves inside thier boxes. Anyways, the president decides to give into Fayed's demand and release some 100 captives from a Guantanamo like place, but heres the catch, they dont investigate if any of the captives has an obvious tie to Fayed and is a nuclear expert! Dum dum dum dum... Needless to say Dr Nucleo escapes during the prison to airport journey and reaches Fayed.
A sububan family meanwhile try to help an Arabic neighbor (Kal Penn or Kumar) who is being targetted by the neighborhood bully because his father was arrested by the FBI during a profiling sting. Kumar, on his way to White Castle had picked up a package for Fayed. He is the real terrorist. He holds the son and wife captive and forces regular subarban dad to go out with the package to pick something up. That something is a nuclear detonator. Jack reaches the hostage home and rescues the kid from being shot. Jack shoots at Kumar, who dies enroute to the hospital. I think he needs to get a better agent. First he does not get 1 dialogue in Superman Returns, i mean he could have just said a word. then he gets shot in the 4th hour of 24, whasup with that?
Jack gets the presidential pardon for Asad, they have given out so many of these over the last 6 seasons, im surprised Saddam didnt have a copy. Curtis gets annoyed by this because during the first gulf war, Asad had personally beheaded some of Curtis' buddies in the army. He tries to kill Asad but Jack takes him out with a single shot to the neck. Poor Curtis he survived last season, just barely and didnt make it out of this seasons premiere.
Meanwhile Fayed had assembled the Nuke with the help of Dr. Nucleo and Subarban Dad. and they blow it up when attacked by the US forces. The nuclear could over LA was a chilling visual. Just the thought of it gives me the chills. Jack has front row seats to the mushroom cloud, but there are no EMPs from it, no radiation storms, nothing. Jack should have been fried/radiated by now. Soon we learn that there are 4 more of these in the hands of Fayed.
Despite all this, the scariest part of the 4 hours was the depiction of the Presidential head of staff, the FBI and the Army combining forces to suspend civil liberties in America. They set up temporary camps in parts of LA and start rounding up Arabs to put in these camps. No warrants no reason required. They act very cold and callous in doing so. Somehow, the writers manage to try and convince the viewers that this too is acceptable because there are 2 Arabs in one of the holding cells who know of the plan. 2 Arabs!!! profiling 100s of people on the basis of religion and comming across 2? wow.
Last season, they blew up a nuclear reactor in or near San Diego (Edgar's mom died), this season they blow up a nuclear bomb. The writers are either stuck with stale storylines or they really really want to keep the fear alive in the viewers of such a possibility in real life.
With so much already transpiring in the first 4 hrs, i hope they have planned a good season because usually around hour 16-17, the story drifts off and stops making sense.
Stay Tuned
I Dream of Gold (Gould) THE MVP of chicago..
Get ready to build a statue outside Soldier Field. There is one very popular statue outside United Center where the bulls play. It is of a flying MJ. The one at soldier field would be of a kicker (A KICKER!!!) in the middle of a 49 yd kick.
What a game! what a Defense! WHAT A couple of throws by REXY!!!! Did u see that kick?? I must admit i was groaning for a long period of time in the third and some of the fourth quarter. I also ran a mild fever during the Seabags last possession. Early on, the BEARS pounders Thomas Jones and Ced Ben had pretty much put a smile on me and my Bro A, high fives were in abundance in the house. REXY threw that bomb to Bernard and we thought the game would be over.. but the Seabags came back tied it at 24 and started marching down the field with 1:38 left. Tank sacked Hasselback and Briggs knocked back Alexander to force overtime. I could not watch Robbie's kick cause i had my hands before my eyes. but the MVP was MONEY... perfect trajectory, split the uprights and pandemonium ensued. The Bears live to fight another day. The Saints will be marching to Chicago next week but for now, everything is roses, Rex can sleep tonite, Brian can dream of catching Bush next week and pounding him into the ground. Ogunleye needs to rest up and practice tackling the big monster Duece and Peanut has gotta shut down Colston.
But that is for another day. Tuesday is the Bears off day so im taking off from worrying too. Resuming the break down tommorrow.
What a game! what a Defense! WHAT A couple of throws by REXY!!!! Did u see that kick?? I must admit i was groaning for a long period of time in the third and some of the fourth quarter. I also ran a mild fever during the Seabags last possession. Early on, the BEARS pounders Thomas Jones and Ced Ben had pretty much put a smile on me and my Bro A, high fives were in abundance in the house. REXY threw that bomb to Bernard and we thought the game would be over.. but the Seabags came back tied it at 24 and started marching down the field with 1:38 left. Tank sacked Hasselback and Briggs knocked back Alexander to force overtime. I could not watch Robbie's kick cause i had my hands before my eyes. but the MVP was MONEY... perfect trajectory, split the uprights and pandemonium ensued. The Bears live to fight another day. The Saints will be marching to Chicago next week but for now, everything is roses, Rex can sleep tonite, Brian can dream of catching Bush next week and pounding him into the ground. Ogunleye needs to rest up and practice tackling the big monster Duece and Peanut has gotta shut down Colston.
But that is for another day. Tuesday is the Bears off day so im taking off from worrying too. Resuming the break down tommorrow.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Bear - Coaster
i have stayed very silent this week, a nervous silence... The Bears return to action this sunday to take on the Seahawks. On instinct, they should be able to beat up the hawks like they did the first time. That was an awesome comming out party for Rexy - Sexy Rexy. With some horrendous games though he has turned into a Turnover-asauros Rex. Im gonna hold my breath every time he steps back to throw. Im just hoping ol reliable Brian U takes over this game like a man possessed. He is not growing any younger and needs to get that ring on his finger.
1 TD for Moose, 1 return by Hester and one interception returned for a TD by Ricky Manning or Peanut Tillman and the Bears can just hand the ball to Jones and Benson the rest of the way.
If we win im gonna call my pal R in Texas and ask him to make preparations to go to Miami.
A sportsfan can only dream.
1 TD for Moose, 1 return by Hester and one interception returned for a TD by Ricky Manning or Peanut Tillman and the Bears can just hand the ball to Jones and Benson the rest of the way.
If we win im gonna call my pal R in Texas and ask him to make preparations to go to Miami.
A sportsfan can only dream.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Where's Satya?
Quick Hits for Jan,
>> After one turns 29, it is not advisable to go to work the day following a trip from India to the US. i survived the day but crashed so badly the following day, running a high fever and stuffed nose/chest. I used to be able to do this without noticing till last year.
>> I now have prescription glasses for the first time in my life, it is very disconcerting to hold a conversation with someone while wearing these things. My friends, who have never seen me with one are distracted too.. its gonna take a while to adjust.
>> There must be something to this global warming thing, Chicago is still quite balmy at 34 Degrees. by this time annually hell freezes over in chicago with temps in the low teens.
>> There were wierd bird deaths in Austin and strange gas in NY yesterday, have to ask my best pals R and Don what they were upto.
>> While i was gone, i became an expert on everything for my group's clients. It seems anytime someone would ask a question like "Who's an expert on Usabilty?" the answer would be "Satya" this was a quick solution for my team but now i have a few meeting invites i have no idea what to do with.
>> My boss is out in Hawaaii the next two weeks, with him he carries the secrets of my pay increase?? and bonus (Hah!) I hate these 2 weeks.
>> Never put KajuKathli in a microwave. The silver foil covering them causes quite a sparks show.
>> After one turns 29, it is not advisable to go to work the day following a trip from India to the US. i survived the day but crashed so badly the following day, running a high fever and stuffed nose/chest. I used to be able to do this without noticing till last year.
>> I now have prescription glasses for the first time in my life, it is very disconcerting to hold a conversation with someone while wearing these things. My friends, who have never seen me with one are distracted too.. its gonna take a while to adjust.
>> There must be something to this global warming thing, Chicago is still quite balmy at 34 Degrees. by this time annually hell freezes over in chicago with temps in the low teens.
>> There were wierd bird deaths in Austin and strange gas in NY yesterday, have to ask my best pals R and Don what they were upto.
>> While i was gone, i became an expert on everything for my group's clients. It seems anytime someone would ask a question like "Who's an expert on Usabilty?" the answer would be "Satya" this was a quick solution for my team but now i have a few meeting invites i have no idea what to do with.
>> My boss is out in Hawaaii the next two weeks, with him he carries the secrets of my pay increase?? and bonus (Hah!) I hate these 2 weeks.
>> Never put KajuKathli in a microwave. The silver foil covering them causes quite a sparks show.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Happy New Year - The year of the Bond 007
Happy new year to all the visitiors of Chasing Satya. its the year of the Bond TWO 007, im back in the US from a loooooong trip to India. Trying to catch up with all my writing from my experiences back home and a few global events that occured in the meanwhile.
No Entry for Indians and Dogs
This was the sign put up by the empirical British Raj before the grand Taj Mahal hotel built before the Gateway of India. This treatment of Indians is what angered them eventually to revolt against 200 years of undisputed rule and topple the Raj. Today the Gateway of India is a great tourist attraction and a source of pride for the Indian in me. The Taj Hotel now has a modern cousin standing right beside it. Till last year the BMC provided parking near the Gateway for cars for a nominal sum of Rs. 5 per hour. I enjoyed this extremely as I undertook a late night cruise off the Gateway with my wife, then returned to eat at my idols restaurant right next door, ‘Tendulkars’.
This time I went to the Gateway, I noticed my regular parking spot was closed down due to security concerns. Visitors now had to park along the road before the Taj Mahal Hotel. This is not a thoroughfare and not a lot of traffic passes through this road. On this day, there were the usual cars parked along the road. When I noticed an opening fit for my car, I saw it was roped off. Upon asking the parking attendant I was told “This spot is reserved”. I believed him expecting some Mumbai politicians or industrialist would ask to hold the spot. When I moved ahead, to the next spot, I was driven away from there too. It was then that I realized that no politician or dignitary was forthcoming but the spot was reserved for foreign tourists that would be arriving at the spot. The parking attendants would then take off the ropes and relive them of Dollars. Me on the other hand, had to park almost 1.5 Kms away from the Gateway, where I did not ask an attendant to help me. He proceeded to berate me for parking in what I believed was still free Indian Soil. He asked me to return within an hour as he needed the spot. It took every once of my patience to not take a swing at him.
60 years after running the Raj out of the country and destroying every sign that kept out Indians and Dogs, my country men have put those same boards up out of sheer greed. There were plenty of cops around the place but knowing them, I was certain they would be collecting their share of the Dollars at days end and would tow my car away. I took the more cowardly way out of vowing never to return to the site. This will not affect anybody because I was never a source of Dollars for those parking attendants and Cops anyways.
Balasaheb Thackeray, tumchya Mumbai madhye “Mi Marathi” aslyacha dekhil kahi sukh nahi. Tumcha Mumbai kahi Dollars sathi vikla gela aahe.
This time I went to the Gateway, I noticed my regular parking spot was closed down due to security concerns. Visitors now had to park along the road before the Taj Mahal Hotel. This is not a thoroughfare and not a lot of traffic passes through this road. On this day, there were the usual cars parked along the road. When I noticed an opening fit for my car, I saw it was roped off. Upon asking the parking attendant I was told “This spot is reserved”. I believed him expecting some Mumbai politicians or industrialist would ask to hold the spot. When I moved ahead, to the next spot, I was driven away from there too. It was then that I realized that no politician or dignitary was forthcoming but the spot was reserved for foreign tourists that would be arriving at the spot. The parking attendants would then take off the ropes and relive them of Dollars. Me on the other hand, had to park almost 1.5 Kms away from the Gateway, where I did not ask an attendant to help me. He proceeded to berate me for parking in what I believed was still free Indian Soil. He asked me to return within an hour as he needed the spot. It took every once of my patience to not take a swing at him.
60 years after running the Raj out of the country and destroying every sign that kept out Indians and Dogs, my country men have put those same boards up out of sheer greed. There were plenty of cops around the place but knowing them, I was certain they would be collecting their share of the Dollars at days end and would tow my car away. I took the more cowardly way out of vowing never to return to the site. This will not affect anybody because I was never a source of Dollars for those parking attendants and Cops anyways.
Balasaheb Thackeray, tumchya Mumbai madhye “Mi Marathi” aslyacha dekhil kahi sukh nahi. Tumcha Mumbai kahi Dollars sathi vikla gela aahe.
Men in Blue why do u tease me so? What a stunning historical win at Burg’ Jo….
The “vaunted” Indian bowling clicked to give India a stunning victory at Johannesburg against a South African team that had nastily swept them aside in the One-Dayers 4-0. Yes ladies and Gentlemen that is no typo nor am I being sarcastic, please read that sentence again and feel the weirdness sweep over you.
On Day 1, I was visiting my relatives and took an extended stop at one of their homes to watch the start of the test match. The start was delayed by an hour due to a “Sweaty” pitch. This is as close to pitch doctoring that a host nation can get without actually being pulled up by the ICC. Within the first hour my gallant men in blue were 14/2 with Shewag and Jaffer comfortably back in the pavilion and the ever daunting but of late shaky Sachin Tendulkar making his way to the pitch. I predicted a total of about 60-65 all out in the first innings and left to my next relatives home. I was told late that night that the comeback kid, our own Dada was holding fort but India was struggling.
On Day 2, I went to meet an old friend where I saw a belter of an innings by VRV singh and Dada’s 50, after which the innings ended at some 240 odd, surely not enough against a quality side like South Africa. This was around 3:30 pm and I left to meet other friends for dinner. By the end of dinner, around 10:30 pm, my friend asked me if I knew how much we had scored. I proudly told him of the 240 score I had seen. The next few words out of him left me speechless. He informed me he was asking for our second innings score as he had seen the south African batsmen capitulate at 84 all out in their first innings. My jaw dropped to the floor. He then proceeded to tell me that we had begun our second innings and were 32/1 with Shewag gone.
On Day 3, I read the papers about this incredible feat. The chief architect of this was Sreesanth who took 5 wickets in a deadly spell. I flashed back to last year when I had witnessed a tall lanky kid clean bowl the god of cricket on the first ball he had bowled. It was the challenger trophy in India that is used to select the International team. This kid had now become the spearhead of the Indian Bowling attack. An attack that has witnessed a revolving door of Balaji, Nehra, Agarkar, Munaf, Zaheer, VRV singh and god knows which others. I saw his highlights, he comes steaming in on his run up, bowls with his arm upright and the seam pointing up. 90% of his deliveries were good to full length and he allowed the seam to hit the pitch and force the ball to swing. I have not seen such style in an Indian bowler since Dev Paaji. Srinath used to be magnificent for India but he had the worst follow-through in the history of Indian Cricket. Sreesanth runs upto the batsmen on his follow-through and glares at him. It is rumored Sachin Tendulkar once threatened him in the same challenger series “Don’t ever come this close to me again”. When the match started, Indians batted fast and gave their wickets up faster. Very very slow Laxman made a characteristic 50. When Sreesanth came in to bat, he was bounced on the very first delivery by Andre Nel, on his follow-through, Nel glared at him and pointed to his heart. It was later reveled he told Sree, “You don’t have heart mate, you are just a bunny I will get you with my next delivery”. Andre did bowl that next delivery which Sree proceeded to hoist over his head for a stupendous SIX. At this stage Sree kept running towards the bowlers end, twirling his bat like a baton over his head and proceeded to perform an impromptu gig with typical south Indian pelvic thrusts that would have made Michael Jackson proud. This was a war cry from the Indian camp that had been beaten black and blue before the series. I have never witnessed such aggression from our cricketers for as long as I have understood cricket. Indians posted a target of 402 for the South Africans.
Day 4 was only a formality; South African wickets fell at regular intervals and India won convincingly by lunch. This was the first test win on South African soil ever by an Indian Cricket Team and they celebrated like they had just won the World Cup and ICC champions Trophy together. Champagne flowed like there was no tomorrow and players bathed in Beer. This was a tad extreme considering there were 2 more matches to be played and they had really won nothing yet. But for this day all was forgotten, Dravid and Saurav praised each other, Shewag was hiding, Sree promised to dance for the TV cameras, Sachin declared this one of his greatest experience and Greg Chappell smiled and hugged Dada.
I had a bounce in my step and kept watching the highlights and celebrations repeatedly and could not get enough of Sree’s jig in the middle of the field. This is elixir, this is the life of an Indian Cricket Fan.
On Day 1, I was visiting my relatives and took an extended stop at one of their homes to watch the start of the test match. The start was delayed by an hour due to a “Sweaty” pitch. This is as close to pitch doctoring that a host nation can get without actually being pulled up by the ICC. Within the first hour my gallant men in blue were 14/2 with Shewag and Jaffer comfortably back in the pavilion and the ever daunting but of late shaky Sachin Tendulkar making his way to the pitch. I predicted a total of about 60-65 all out in the first innings and left to my next relatives home. I was told late that night that the comeback kid, our own Dada was holding fort but India was struggling.
On Day 2, I went to meet an old friend where I saw a belter of an innings by VRV singh and Dada’s 50, after which the innings ended at some 240 odd, surely not enough against a quality side like South Africa. This was around 3:30 pm and I left to meet other friends for dinner. By the end of dinner, around 10:30 pm, my friend asked me if I knew how much we had scored. I proudly told him of the 240 score I had seen. The next few words out of him left me speechless. He informed me he was asking for our second innings score as he had seen the south African batsmen capitulate at 84 all out in their first innings. My jaw dropped to the floor. He then proceeded to tell me that we had begun our second innings and were 32/1 with Shewag gone.
On Day 3, I read the papers about this incredible feat. The chief architect of this was Sreesanth who took 5 wickets in a deadly spell. I flashed back to last year when I had witnessed a tall lanky kid clean bowl the god of cricket on the first ball he had bowled. It was the challenger trophy in India that is used to select the International team. This kid had now become the spearhead of the Indian Bowling attack. An attack that has witnessed a revolving door of Balaji, Nehra, Agarkar, Munaf, Zaheer, VRV singh and god knows which others. I saw his highlights, he comes steaming in on his run up, bowls with his arm upright and the seam pointing up. 90% of his deliveries were good to full length and he allowed the seam to hit the pitch and force the ball to swing. I have not seen such style in an Indian bowler since Dev Paaji. Srinath used to be magnificent for India but he had the worst follow-through in the history of Indian Cricket. Sreesanth runs upto the batsmen on his follow-through and glares at him. It is rumored Sachin Tendulkar once threatened him in the same challenger series “Don’t ever come this close to me again”. When the match started, Indians batted fast and gave their wickets up faster. Very very slow Laxman made a characteristic 50. When Sreesanth came in to bat, he was bounced on the very first delivery by Andre Nel, on his follow-through, Nel glared at him and pointed to his heart. It was later reveled he told Sree, “You don’t have heart mate, you are just a bunny I will get you with my next delivery”. Andre did bowl that next delivery which Sree proceeded to hoist over his head for a stupendous SIX. At this stage Sree kept running towards the bowlers end, twirling his bat like a baton over his head and proceeded to perform an impromptu gig with typical south Indian pelvic thrusts that would have made Michael Jackson proud. This was a war cry from the Indian camp that had been beaten black and blue before the series. I have never witnessed such aggression from our cricketers for as long as I have understood cricket. Indians posted a target of 402 for the South Africans.
Day 4 was only a formality; South African wickets fell at regular intervals and India won convincingly by lunch. This was the first test win on South African soil ever by an Indian Cricket Team and they celebrated like they had just won the World Cup and ICC champions Trophy together. Champagne flowed like there was no tomorrow and players bathed in Beer. This was a tad extreme considering there were 2 more matches to be played and they had really won nothing yet. But for this day all was forgotten, Dravid and Saurav praised each other, Shewag was hiding, Sree promised to dance for the TV cameras, Sachin declared this one of his greatest experience and Greg Chappell smiled and hugged Dada.
I had a bounce in my step and kept watching the highlights and celebrations repeatedly and could not get enough of Sree’s jig in the middle of the field. This is elixir, this is the life of an Indian Cricket Fan.
Haves and Have Nots.
In looking at what the 9% growth of the Indian economy has brought, I was impressed by the rapid development in the cities like Pune, Mumbai and Delhi. I was also troubled by the riots of the 30th of November. I started to realize and also read some small articles in the dailies about the impact of this dizzing growth. On a day that the Sensex hit 14000, I saw news channels break out the champagne, the brokers on Dalal street break out into Bhangras, I called my dad to congratulate him on the value of his own portfolio, and was asked by a kid from a slum near my house for Rs.10 to clean my car.
The middle class, upper middle class and high class families in India are enjoying the benefits of this 9% growth of the economy. Gone are the clichés of the educated-unemployed. Any person with basic education and knowledge of English can now work in the popular BPO’s and call centers. The base salaries in these places are Rs 10,000 – Rs. 12000. These type of salaries approve the people to gain home loans and auto loans and every other loan known to man. The banks that have become more independent due to government dis-investment and entry of foreign banks have become despondent to lure customers. This is the class of people now who live in the grand constructions of DSK and drive their latest model Chevy’s and Honda’s.
When you look on either side of these constructions or out on the road during one of those long rides in your Honda, one can see the Indian have-nots. These people have been left out of Mr. Manmohan Singh and Mr. Chidambaram’s globalization party. They are still un-educated, still un-employed, still the ones causing the well-publicized population problem in India and still the ones that have to resort to child labor to feed families. These people are growing more and angrier, militantly angry at the country and the government and their affluent neighbors. It is obvious they must also want to try the new restaurants in town, the new stores in town. This is where the daily incidents of home breaking, chain snatching come in. Every day there are reports of these incidents occurring in influential neighborhoods of Pune. Somewhere the economists of this country have to realize that the policies to improve the education rates and providing minimal employment to these class of people is not working. They are creating a social time bomb that will go off like it did on 30th November. This is a problem that will not be resolved by the age old policy of go-slow, generational change. The entire current generation of these uneducated classes has to be improved now. India will not survive this present generation becoming disinterested and militant against the citizenry.
The fast paced MNC’s have to be convinced that this is their job. The government has proven in 60 years that this job is too big for it to complete. The multitudes of SOP’s enjoyed by these companies have to come at a price, a price of involving themselves in the basic education of Indians. They have already opened up their own training institutes and also involved themselves with some of the premier educational institutes in India. They have stood upto the government on certain key issues. They need to have a civic responsibility towards the cities that they set up shops in. In the US, there are various employee groups that volunteer to tutor the needy, prepare tax returns for them, build houses and clean and paint support homes. All these activities are supported by the employers. They match monetary contribution by employees and hold such voluntary contributions by them in the highest regards. These are celebrated in various company functions and in print.
This is the termite infection at the heart of this magnificent wooden palace of India. This is the image foreigners take with them when they leave this country. This is the image imprinted on the minds of foreign CEO’s who visit this country looking to invest here. Forgotten are the beautiful expressways and flyovers and exotic cars running on those streets, forgotten is the aromatic food served to them on silver platters. The image of a 12 yr old girl wearing torn clothes carrying a dirty baby in her arms at a traffic light begging for a few rupees is what haunts me. Will someone please let me know how to get in touch with Mr Singh and Mr. Chidambaram because I visited their homes and their offices and the dirty little beggar girl was kept far away from both by their imposing security guards. I am also sure her home is blocked out of their view by the heavily tinted windows of their glistening BMWs. Please sirs she is out there, teach her, help her, her kid might not be so forgiving to your glass homes and may pick up a stone.
The middle class, upper middle class and high class families in India are enjoying the benefits of this 9% growth of the economy. Gone are the clichés of the educated-unemployed. Any person with basic education and knowledge of English can now work in the popular BPO’s and call centers. The base salaries in these places are Rs 10,000 – Rs. 12000. These type of salaries approve the people to gain home loans and auto loans and every other loan known to man. The banks that have become more independent due to government dis-investment and entry of foreign banks have become despondent to lure customers. This is the class of people now who live in the grand constructions of DSK and drive their latest model Chevy’s and Honda’s.
When you look on either side of these constructions or out on the road during one of those long rides in your Honda, one can see the Indian have-nots. These people have been left out of Mr. Manmohan Singh and Mr. Chidambaram’s globalization party. They are still un-educated, still un-employed, still the ones causing the well-publicized population problem in India and still the ones that have to resort to child labor to feed families. These people are growing more and angrier, militantly angry at the country and the government and their affluent neighbors. It is obvious they must also want to try the new restaurants in town, the new stores in town. This is where the daily incidents of home breaking, chain snatching come in. Every day there are reports of these incidents occurring in influential neighborhoods of Pune. Somewhere the economists of this country have to realize that the policies to improve the education rates and providing minimal employment to these class of people is not working. They are creating a social time bomb that will go off like it did on 30th November. This is a problem that will not be resolved by the age old policy of go-slow, generational change. The entire current generation of these uneducated classes has to be improved now. India will not survive this present generation becoming disinterested and militant against the citizenry.
The fast paced MNC’s have to be convinced that this is their job. The government has proven in 60 years that this job is too big for it to complete. The multitudes of SOP’s enjoyed by these companies have to come at a price, a price of involving themselves in the basic education of Indians. They have already opened up their own training institutes and also involved themselves with some of the premier educational institutes in India. They have stood upto the government on certain key issues. They need to have a civic responsibility towards the cities that they set up shops in. In the US, there are various employee groups that volunteer to tutor the needy, prepare tax returns for them, build houses and clean and paint support homes. All these activities are supported by the employers. They match monetary contribution by employees and hold such voluntary contributions by them in the highest regards. These are celebrated in various company functions and in print.
This is the termite infection at the heart of this magnificent wooden palace of India. This is the image foreigners take with them when they leave this country. This is the image imprinted on the minds of foreign CEO’s who visit this country looking to invest here. Forgotten are the beautiful expressways and flyovers and exotic cars running on those streets, forgotten is the aromatic food served to them on silver platters. The image of a 12 yr old girl wearing torn clothes carrying a dirty baby in her arms at a traffic light begging for a few rupees is what haunts me. Will someone please let me know how to get in touch with Mr Singh and Mr. Chidambaram because I visited their homes and their offices and the dirty little beggar girl was kept far away from both by their imposing security guards. I am also sure her home is blocked out of their view by the heavily tinted windows of their glistening BMWs. Please sirs she is out there, teach her, help her, her kid might not be so forgiving to your glass homes and may pick up a stone.
Wither Pune? Wither Punekar?
There once was a small city of Pune, Punyanagari as the residents fondly called it. The residents were knows are Punekars and their attitude itself had a name of Puneri. The city was known as a sleepy city. Mumbaikars teased them how no one in this city owned watches. But they did own watches, they would open their stores at 10:00 am. Would shut them down by 12:30 pm, sleep till 4:00 pm, re-open their stores till 8:00 pm and go back home. They would proudly shop at Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale and Grahak Peth. They would ride their trusty luna’s with the popular refrain of “chal meri luna”. Cars would be the domain of a few. Their high rise building would go to a dizzy 3 floors and the most popular place to live was in the peths that were crowded to the hilt.
WOW that is what I say when I see the new Pune. There are malls all along the streets. Pyramid at Moledina Road, Pune Central near Koregaon Park, Nucleus Mall at Police Commissioners office and at least 5-6 more being constructed along big streets in Pune. This in itself is a terrific development. I checked out all of these, they have deep parking spaces underground, and a lot of room to put up food courts. The one problem it causes is that it does nothing to elevate the traffic congestion and crowd trouble around the area. What they should do instead is move the surrounding small shops into these malls. Move Marz-o-Rin, Burger King, all these stores into the pyramid mall. This will force people to park their cars in the basements of these malls and also keep the crowds inside; this will ease the woes of East Street and M.G Road. The cantonment officials can then put together a terrific plan to replace the old dilapidated buildings into bigger ones that can be planned around wider roads.
These ideas sound obvious to a common person but again the bane of Indian officialdom is committees and master plans. Currently the infrastructure being put together, is the result of the 1980 committee results on transforming the streets of Pune. Even if all the suggestions of this report are implemented by the end of this decade in 2010, infrastructure needs will still be outweighed by 30 years. This is all mind-boggling. Implementation of plans is what takes long years in India. In Pune currently every known street and every unknown street has been dug up. This reduces the width of every road 5-15 ft. The plans are to lay down optical cables for communications, underground electrical cables etc. before they redo all the streets, presumably in concrete. But all the streets have been dug up at the same time. Now there are no workers present at any of these sites so there is no reason for the citizens to feel there is any hope for a quick remedy to their problems. In true Indian officialdom fashion the funds must’ve dried up till the next financial year. There are municipal elections planned for next year, the corporators want to tell their constituents that they are keeping their promises by re-constructing streets. But they should have known that the election code of conduct will come into force and prevent any more funds being allocated for populist projects.
The culture that comes along with these new developments of malls and lavish restaurants is that Punekars are now enjoying the nightlife. Big families head out every evening for dining out. What used to be an occasion, to head out on Saturday evening or Sunday evening with your kids is now a daily occurrence. This must be due to the multiple allowances provided by the different companies to their employees. The sprouting of BPO’s and offshore development centers has provided jobs to even the barely qualified applicants within the city. Students in Junior colleges work nights at different call-centers and earn in the thousands. At a time when my pocket money would be Rs.50 per week, the cost of petrol was Rs.20; this would leave me about Rs.25 to spend on food and hanging out with friends. Now even college students can afford coffees worth Rs.200. In addition to all this, students from other states have started making Pune their homes. Earlier these students would complete their studies and head to Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad or Delhi to secure jobs. Now with the Software development center opened up in Pune, they set up shop there. The significance of this occurrence is that there were always such kids who had the big amounts of money to spend even when we were students, this culture had already been omnipresent in the well-to-do homes of Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. It is still a foreign concept to what used to be the Marathi Manus.
Another factor that has influenced this new Pune is the scores of students who went to the US during the software boom of 1999-2003. Software companies would send out new entrants to the US within 6 months of their graduations. Every engineering student in Pune had given their GRE’s or was in the process of giving them in their final years. With a downturn in the US economy and the upturn of the Indian economy, India became a destination of choice for a lot of these people rather than face the uncertainties of the US. When they came back, they brought with them stories of Malls, Multiplexes, super shopping centers and influenced the Indian Retail Sector to push development of those. Once the initial centers saw a steady stream of customers, every one wanted a piece of the pie. Even today, as I look around me, I see a lot of NRI families visiting their relatives in India during the December vacations, they, like me shop till they drop, buy 22 ct gold, travel only first class and eat only at Subway (I don’t).
When and if I ever do return to this lovely city of mine, it really will never be the city I once knew or have even figured out today, it will be a new incarnation some 10-15 years from now. It will always be a new experience for me and I will have to remind myself that I am not in the Pune I knew but am in a whole new city.
WOW that is what I say when I see the new Pune. There are malls all along the streets. Pyramid at Moledina Road, Pune Central near Koregaon Park, Nucleus Mall at Police Commissioners office and at least 5-6 more being constructed along big streets in Pune. This in itself is a terrific development. I checked out all of these, they have deep parking spaces underground, and a lot of room to put up food courts. The one problem it causes is that it does nothing to elevate the traffic congestion and crowd trouble around the area. What they should do instead is move the surrounding small shops into these malls. Move Marz-o-Rin, Burger King, all these stores into the pyramid mall. This will force people to park their cars in the basements of these malls and also keep the crowds inside; this will ease the woes of East Street and M.G Road. The cantonment officials can then put together a terrific plan to replace the old dilapidated buildings into bigger ones that can be planned around wider roads.
These ideas sound obvious to a common person but again the bane of Indian officialdom is committees and master plans. Currently the infrastructure being put together, is the result of the 1980 committee results on transforming the streets of Pune. Even if all the suggestions of this report are implemented by the end of this decade in 2010, infrastructure needs will still be outweighed by 30 years. This is all mind-boggling. Implementation of plans is what takes long years in India. In Pune currently every known street and every unknown street has been dug up. This reduces the width of every road 5-15 ft. The plans are to lay down optical cables for communications, underground electrical cables etc. before they redo all the streets, presumably in concrete. But all the streets have been dug up at the same time. Now there are no workers present at any of these sites so there is no reason for the citizens to feel there is any hope for a quick remedy to their problems. In true Indian officialdom fashion the funds must’ve dried up till the next financial year. There are municipal elections planned for next year, the corporators want to tell their constituents that they are keeping their promises by re-constructing streets. But they should have known that the election code of conduct will come into force and prevent any more funds being allocated for populist projects.
The culture that comes along with these new developments of malls and lavish restaurants is that Punekars are now enjoying the nightlife. Big families head out every evening for dining out. What used to be an occasion, to head out on Saturday evening or Sunday evening with your kids is now a daily occurrence. This must be due to the multiple allowances provided by the different companies to their employees. The sprouting of BPO’s and offshore development centers has provided jobs to even the barely qualified applicants within the city. Students in Junior colleges work nights at different call-centers and earn in the thousands. At a time when my pocket money would be Rs.50 per week, the cost of petrol was Rs.20; this would leave me about Rs.25 to spend on food and hanging out with friends. Now even college students can afford coffees worth Rs.200. In addition to all this, students from other states have started making Pune their homes. Earlier these students would complete their studies and head to Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad or Delhi to secure jobs. Now with the Software development center opened up in Pune, they set up shop there. The significance of this occurrence is that there were always such kids who had the big amounts of money to spend even when we were students, this culture had already been omnipresent in the well-to-do homes of Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. It is still a foreign concept to what used to be the Marathi Manus.
Another factor that has influenced this new Pune is the scores of students who went to the US during the software boom of 1999-2003. Software companies would send out new entrants to the US within 6 months of their graduations. Every engineering student in Pune had given their GRE’s or was in the process of giving them in their final years. With a downturn in the US economy and the upturn of the Indian economy, India became a destination of choice for a lot of these people rather than face the uncertainties of the US. When they came back, they brought with them stories of Malls, Multiplexes, super shopping centers and influenced the Indian Retail Sector to push development of those. Once the initial centers saw a steady stream of customers, every one wanted a piece of the pie. Even today, as I look around me, I see a lot of NRI families visiting their relatives in India during the December vacations, they, like me shop till they drop, buy 22 ct gold, travel only first class and eat only at Subway (I don’t).
When and if I ever do return to this lovely city of mine, it really will never be the city I once knew or have even figured out today, it will be a new incarnation some 10-15 years from now. It will always be a new experience for me and I will have to remind myself that I am not in the Pune I knew but am in a whole new city.
Who destroyed the Queen?
The list of people responsible for this incident was as follows:
> The 24/7 news channels in India. For more than 2 days, the news channels ran pictures of the desecrated statue, the statue itself was not one of the majestic ones set up and protected by the government or local communities. The incident had a feel of a local dispute rather than a racial statement. Yet the news channels played it up worse than a death of a popular politician. They debated who did this and why? They argued it could be rival castes, etc and enflamed passions. When the Queen burnt, they kept showing images of the train ablaze as if to taunt groups of Dalits, “The people of Ulhasnagar have done this to prove their loyalty to Dr. Ambedkar what have u done?”. This was extremely irresponsible behavior. News channels should report news not create it. Healthy debate is one thing but to postulate that the incident is racially motivated is not acceptable. News channels show know their audience, not everyone in India is savvy to know the difference between reporting news and mindless conjecture. I am very sure that someone incited the mobs taking the news channels debates to be truths. Shame on you journos.
> The politicians of India, local municipal and state government. For the entire day that Maharashtra burnt, not one politician came forward and requested the people to maintain peace. The chief minister of Maharashtra was on his way to Singapore and had to reluctantly cancel his trip. Not once did he or his Home Minister Mr. R.R. Patil show his face on any of the news channels. The great Dalit leaders, Mr. Prakash Ambedkar and Mr. Ramdas Athavale who have never met a news camera they didn’t like, were missing for more than 3 days. None of the local corporators of Ulhasnagar or Mumbai came forward with a token apology and request for peace. All this because the BMC (municipality) elections are just around the corner, while some political parties wanted to embarrass the ruling parties, the ruling parties did not want to come across as anti – Dalits so they chose not to take a stand one way or the other.
> The law enforcement. In Mumbai they say the cops are never on time. This was the image most portrayed in Indian Movies. The Mumbai police chiefs were so angered by this image that they passed legislation banning movies from showing the cops in this bad light. On this day cops were prominently absent. When the miscreants stopped and started emptying the train, it must’ve taken some time. No cops were alerted, when the train did not arrive at the next station after leaving the previous, no railway police were deployed to investigate why? In the days following, there were images of police standing beside the passengers offloaded from the train and gawking as rioters set her ablaze.
> The Indians. Shame on the people who thought they could make a statement by burning the train. Shame on the passengers that got off the train and watched as their property was doused in fuel and set ablaze. Shame on the people who lived next to the spot where the Queen was burnt and watched. I am sure there were hundreds if not close to a thousand people on the train that morning. The rioters were not in those numbers. Someone should have rushed the rioters and beaten them on sheer numbers. But the passenger of the Queen is a middle class/upper middle class common Indian. They are god fearing people who have an attitude that I should not be hurt, my property should not be hurt, who cares if the Queen burns, it’s government property.
The incident reminded me of flight 93, the brave souls of the flight took on the dangerous hijackers and crashed their flight. They all perished but they may have saved a lot more people and even the symbol of American democracy, the White House. Will Indians ever have the passion to protect something other than their own lives? Will “I love my India” be anything more that a slogan or a kitschy song?
30th November – A day of shame, the Queen burnt, a community shamed.
We reached India past mid-night and got to Thane and slept around 4:00am, anticipating a birthday feast the next morning courtesy of my In-laws. When I awoke at 9:00 am, the city was silent, not a soul moved anywhere. This is a very strange occurrence in any part of India let alone a suburb like Thane. My dad informed me that riots had broken out in the city and hence everything was shut down. I thought it was a joke but if only that were true, the next 24 hours I felt nothing but anger and shame at my fellow Indians.
A couple of days before, a statue of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar had been desecrated by some ruffians in a far away city of Kanpur in the state of Uttar Pradesh. This is no doubt a dirty offense. The culprits should be apprehended and punished accordingly. Dr. Ambedkar was an intelligent man who authored our constitution and championed the cause of the downtrodden. The concept of statues and their representation of living beings is something I haven’t been able to understand in India. In retaliation of this act in a faraway state, the dalits in Mumbai and its suburbs rioted. Gone were the teachings of Gandhi and Dr. Ambedkar himself. No peaceful protests, no apologies were asked for. Busses and cabs were set ablaze, people pelted shops with stones, the cops fought back with lathis and tear gas. In all this, the new 24 hr news channels in India kept showing images of the descecrated statue and the riots and how people were getting lathi charged by the police. Soon a new and gruesome image flashed on the screen. This was an image of train being burnt. The flames were shooting high in the air and upto 7 bogies were ablaze. When the train was identified as the Deccan Queen, my heart broke.
Deccan Queen has been the one train that has fascinated me since I was a kid. It runs from Pune to Mumbai C.S.T. Leaves at 7:05 in the morning from Pune and returns at 9:15 in the night. She was always the crown of the central railway. She was the first fast train from Pune to Mumbai. She was the first train to be colored blue and white. She would not stop at big stations like Kalyan and Thane and would roar through those like a beast possessed. I would wander to the platform that she would whiz past just to watch the blur of blue and white. People would say she swept the platforms with the dust she would kick-up. Along the years, more trains were introduced, the queen slowed down a bit, she shared colors with other trains originating out of Pune. But I would proudly recall the Queen as the best train I had ever known in my life.
This same Queen was emptied by miscreants near a suburb of Ulhasnagar and set ablaze. She burnt all day, the firemen we helpless to stop the blaze. In the end, the engine was badly destroyed and 7 bogies were burnt to dust. Total monetary loss ran to Rs. 7 crore. She was shut down. For the next 3 days, Puneites who regulary rode their Queen to work, went to the station in the morning, but she did not come. The railway authorities did not have replacement bogies to run her, the scramble was on to try and put her together. On the third day, she limped back to life on the limbs of some spare bogies collected from various trains.
In the days following, I tried to figure out what happened, who went wrong, where was the law enforcement machinery? What I found was very shameful and disturbing.
A couple of days before, a statue of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar had been desecrated by some ruffians in a far away city of Kanpur in the state of Uttar Pradesh. This is no doubt a dirty offense. The culprits should be apprehended and punished accordingly. Dr. Ambedkar was an intelligent man who authored our constitution and championed the cause of the downtrodden. The concept of statues and their representation of living beings is something I haven’t been able to understand in India. In retaliation of this act in a faraway state, the dalits in Mumbai and its suburbs rioted. Gone were the teachings of Gandhi and Dr. Ambedkar himself. No peaceful protests, no apologies were asked for. Busses and cabs were set ablaze, people pelted shops with stones, the cops fought back with lathis and tear gas. In all this, the new 24 hr news channels in India kept showing images of the descecrated statue and the riots and how people were getting lathi charged by the police. Soon a new and gruesome image flashed on the screen. This was an image of train being burnt. The flames were shooting high in the air and upto 7 bogies were ablaze. When the train was identified as the Deccan Queen, my heart broke.
Deccan Queen has been the one train that has fascinated me since I was a kid. It runs from Pune to Mumbai C.S.T. Leaves at 7:05 in the morning from Pune and returns at 9:15 in the night. She was always the crown of the central railway. She was the first fast train from Pune to Mumbai. She was the first train to be colored blue and white. She would not stop at big stations like Kalyan and Thane and would roar through those like a beast possessed. I would wander to the platform that she would whiz past just to watch the blur of blue and white. People would say she swept the platforms with the dust she would kick-up. Along the years, more trains were introduced, the queen slowed down a bit, she shared colors with other trains originating out of Pune. But I would proudly recall the Queen as the best train I had ever known in my life.
This same Queen was emptied by miscreants near a suburb of Ulhasnagar and set ablaze. She burnt all day, the firemen we helpless to stop the blaze. In the end, the engine was badly destroyed and 7 bogies were burnt to dust. Total monetary loss ran to Rs. 7 crore. She was shut down. For the next 3 days, Puneites who regulary rode their Queen to work, went to the station in the morning, but she did not come. The railway authorities did not have replacement bogies to run her, the scramble was on to try and put her together. On the third day, she limped back to life on the limbs of some spare bogies collected from various trains.
In the days following, I tried to figure out what happened, who went wrong, where was the law enforcement machinery? What I found was very shameful and disturbing.
An Open Letter to the Chairman of Air-India and the Honorable Aviation Minister Mr. Prafulla Patel.
Dear Sirs,
I have held your airlines in the utmost respect. It is my country’s flagship airline and has been successful for a good part of the last few decades. I have always been angered when foreigners trash the airline for its service. In fact I was outraged when my company, one of the top banks in the US has officially banned any official travel via your airline. This was even more insulting when my company has identified India as the next prime target for market expansion.
This December I decided to travel by Air-India despite having other options just to get the experience that I could write about. What I got for this is the most shocking customer service experience of my life.
The ticket agent himself was courteous in checking in me and my wife and taking our luggage in. Upon boarding though, the nightmare began. The seats themselves were extremely dirty. The back of the seats before us that would face us were badly stained. Upon opening the food trays, we noticed they were stained by leftover food. I can understand that Air-India itself has only 9 air-craft that you have to re-use. But surely you can have disposable seat covers or replacement seat covers that can be replaced when the aircraft reaches India and then cleaned while the aircraft makes the trip across the seas. This on the face of it does not seem like a difficult option. There is no dearth of cheap manpower at India’s airport to replace the seat covers. This is the worst reputation that a flight company can have, that they have dirty air-craft that disgust even the local Indians.
The attending staff was very courteous on the Chicago – London leg of the flight. During the London – Mumbai leg however there was a terrible staff that ignored passengers, did not provide water and food when requested and in general was missing during most of the flight.
Upon landing, the customs documents were not provided by the flight staff on the aircraft. This led to a horrible dash of multiple passengers from multiple flights onto the immigration counters. These counters themselves were not well staffed or well managed to explain which documents belonged to returning Indians and which to passengers that had Indian Visas. After this, the checked-in luggage was missing for a good 2 hours. Bags from various Air-India flights were available in different baggage belts irrespective of what was displayed on the boards. Airport baggage handlers were harassing people for money all this while and also throwing bags off the belts.
All this is just unacceptable behavior of an international airline. I have traveled by the majority of American airlines as well as multiple Indian domestic airlines but never have I encountered this. Yes they all have flaws but none so damning.
I hope you look into this and rectify the flaws else no amount of new aircraft or cheaper seats will ever improve the standing of this once proud maharaja.
Thanks,
Chasing Satya
I have held your airlines in the utmost respect. It is my country’s flagship airline and has been successful for a good part of the last few decades. I have always been angered when foreigners trash the airline for its service. In fact I was outraged when my company, one of the top banks in the US has officially banned any official travel via your airline. This was even more insulting when my company has identified India as the next prime target for market expansion.
This December I decided to travel by Air-India despite having other options just to get the experience that I could write about. What I got for this is the most shocking customer service experience of my life.
The ticket agent himself was courteous in checking in me and my wife and taking our luggage in. Upon boarding though, the nightmare began. The seats themselves were extremely dirty. The back of the seats before us that would face us were badly stained. Upon opening the food trays, we noticed they were stained by leftover food. I can understand that Air-India itself has only 9 air-craft that you have to re-use. But surely you can have disposable seat covers or replacement seat covers that can be replaced when the aircraft reaches India and then cleaned while the aircraft makes the trip across the seas. This on the face of it does not seem like a difficult option. There is no dearth of cheap manpower at India’s airport to replace the seat covers. This is the worst reputation that a flight company can have, that they have dirty air-craft that disgust even the local Indians.
The attending staff was very courteous on the Chicago – London leg of the flight. During the London – Mumbai leg however there was a terrible staff that ignored passengers, did not provide water and food when requested and in general was missing during most of the flight.
Upon landing, the customs documents were not provided by the flight staff on the aircraft. This led to a horrible dash of multiple passengers from multiple flights onto the immigration counters. These counters themselves were not well staffed or well managed to explain which documents belonged to returning Indians and which to passengers that had Indian Visas. After this, the checked-in luggage was missing for a good 2 hours. Bags from various Air-India flights were available in different baggage belts irrespective of what was displayed on the boards. Airport baggage handlers were harassing people for money all this while and also throwing bags off the belts.
All this is just unacceptable behavior of an international airline. I have traveled by the majority of American airlines as well as multiple Indian domestic airlines but never have I encountered this. Yes they all have flaws but none so damning.
I hope you look into this and rectify the flaws else no amount of new aircraft or cheaper seats will ever improve the standing of this once proud maharaja.
Thanks,
Chasing Satya
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