Analyse This ...

Well India snatches another extraordinary series defeat from the jaws of victory against archrivals Pakistan. Millions of heart broken. A dream shattered. That's what they call the Indian Cricket team. Cricket is such a passion in India that one of the first few things a kid learns early in his life is to play cricket. In a country where a cricket match is as important as a festival, where cricket stars are not only revered and adored but worshipped, the fanataicism of cricket is such that a match featuring India is greatest event of any day not to forget the excellent TRP ratings fetched by them. A country that eats, sleeps , drinks and virtually lives cricket... that is craze of cricket in India. And such disastrous results do not do justice to the passion and dreams of the million cricket loving Indians. Where does the real flaw lie in the much hyped Indian team that cannot even gift a fitting tribute to the coach, who reinstalled the much needed confidence in the team, on his farewell? The answer lies deep inside the way cricket is handled in India. First things first. The selection procedure is indeed flawed. What can you say when a player finds his place in the team just on the virtue of past performances and being the captain. Also when certain players' star stature prevents them from being dropped from the team. Whereas the new players normally get one or two chances to prove their mettle. If they don't perform well, they have wait for ages to get another call. And if they perform well, then they are assured a place for, atleast, the next few series even if they perform badly. Because of this the Indian team normally ends up as a one-man army. Take a look at the best team in the world , Australia. They are a perfect example of team spirit and individualness does not exist as evident from the Darren Lehmann case when he offered to step down so that the back-from-injury captain Ricky Ponting would play. Secondly, the money mindedness of Indian cricketers does affect their onfield proceedings. The numerous endorsements are not expected from the players and it seems they are better off endorsing than playing cricket. It appears shameful when their ads are screened during a match where the team is losing. The performance of Indian team always yields suspicions of match-fixing schemes. After all a team performing brilliantly in a couple of matches doesn't just make a U-turn and start performing this badly unless ,ofcourse ,the match has been fixed. Another element responsible for this bad performance is the media. The way media handles Indian cricket is a crash course in bad management. It is higly illogical to glorify the team on success and then with a single defeat start criticizing that very team. The way media makes a hero out of the players and then suddenly makes them appear as the baddies is real immatureness. Lastly, the greatest culprits of all, are the foolish Indians wasting their times watching cricket. It is the numerous hopes that the people have pinned up that results in this frustration. The over emphasis laid on cricket has sounded a death knell on other sports and made the cricketers take their job for granted. So the best thing that can happen to India is that this terrible defeat opens the eyes of the ignorant mass and they start investing in other things minimising the hyper-addiction to cricket.

Interview with an Atheist

People call him an atheist. Much isn't known about him. Its still a mystery how people came to know about his ways of life and labeled him as such. The only thing I know about him is that he doesn't like revealing anything about himself. Still I managed to coax him to speak to me. Here is the interview of an atheist:

Me: Its so kind of you for allowing me to interview you. First of all I would definitely like to know why have you been labeled an atheist ?
Atheist: Its quite obvious, I am not a theist.(chuckling)

Me: But then why aren't you a theist ?
Atheist: Because I cannot force myself to believe something that I donot believe.

Me: So you are of the opinion that God does not exist.
Atheist: I cannot say so as I wouldn't say something that I cannot prove. Neither can I say that God does exist because none of us can prove that either.Its just that something existed before we came to being and it still exists having some sort of control on our lives. May be that is what we call GOD.

Me: So you believe there is some universal power above everything .
Atheist: Ofcourse, otherwise the creation of every entity that exists becomes vague whatever scientific theory we give.

Me: Since your belief is quite similiar to the existence of GOD , then why this disbelief in HIM?
Atheist: Because of the way he has been represented. I find it utterly illogical to worship a photo or a stone figure. On one side you claim that God is omnipresent then why do we confine him in to the boundaries of temples, churches, mosques etc ?

Me: It seems your disbelief is more of a veil for your resistance towards the places of worship.
Atheist: Not only that but also against the way various religions have been practised. Something is preached, something comprehended and something put to practice.

Me: Can you tell me something about your hatred towards the concept of religion?
Atheist: See, I have always felt religion to be the greatest hindrance towards mutual brotherhood. Almost all mishaps in the world have been direct consequences of religious discriminations. Be it the Crusades, the Hindu-Mughal feud, the world wars, terrorism in the modern world , all have had religion as one of their ingredients. The Crusades had the Christians and the Muslims battling over whose world it was. The world war-II saw Hitler making life hell for the Jews. The existence of the most of the fanatic terrorist wings has more to do with religion than with anyother thing, be it the Jehadis, the IRA or other such extremists. Even it was religion that was the vital weapon used by the British for their Divide and Rule Campaign in India. I don't think any of the religions preaches such kind of violence. It is only the way religion has been interpreted by the followers or , should I say, the way religion has been taught by the so called teachers of religion that has created contempt in the hearts of people.

Me: So What do you think are the real teachings of religion?
Atheist: I am not sure about that but what I am sure of is that a religion can never teach you to have contempt for another religion.

Me: It is also well known that you have a certain dislike for going to temples?
Atheist: I believe that the supreme power is omnipresent. So going to temple doesn't make any sense. I consider that power as a friend, my best friend. I share all my thoughts and feelings with HIM. So I needn't go to the temple. Moreover the temples remain extremely crowded and that repels me. Also the temples are kept so untidy and unclean. If proverbs are to be believed
then, " Cleanliness is next to Godliness". Any place that is unclean doesn't have God in it. So temples don't have the presence of God.

Me: And what do you have to say about the rituals?
Atheist: I have nothing to comment about it because whenever I have followed certain ritual its under compulsion. I have never felt like appeasing GOD because I hate the total concept of doing something in order to make GOD happy so that your wishes are fulfilled. This is not a barter system and you don't make business dealings with GOD.

Me: A last question, don't you think you are interpreted in a wrong way when people say that your atheism is just a fashion statement.
Atheist: People are entitled to their own views and whenever people say so I laugh at their ignorance. My stand on atheism is logical. I don't challenge the presence of God. I challenge the way God is interpreted and worshipped. I challenge the idol worship and false religious practices that take place in God's name. I challenge the religious discriminations. I am not an atheist by choice but by circumstance. If religion had been practiced in the proper way then I would have been a devotee. I would rather continue my friendship with my "FRIEND UP THERE" then succumb to the ignorant practices of the society.

Food for Thought

I have believed since long that there is one thing which we possess upon which we have complete authority and no one can steal or take it away from us. It is our imagination - a gift granted to all by "MY FRIEND UP THERE" so that the process of evolution might continue forever on this planet. And I have made it my favourite past time. So when I was having a curious chat with my one of my close buddies about what was in store for the future of the world, we came upon some great ideas. Now the biggest problem MOTHER EARTH has is that of population and storage apart from the diminishing resources. So we found out some curious possible solutions to these serious threats:-
POPULATION
Solution 1: Introduction of a new law banning further childbirths. No more kids means no more new entries to the human community and then we will have a control over the population. If you fail to abide by this law, the father ,the mother and the offspring will be executed.(Demonic Punishment !!!)
Solution 2: Terraforming. Humans will eventually find out a way to colonise the outer planets that would promote life. So that means we will now have transport vehicles plying not only between countries but between planets. If this plan succeeds then the most sought after jobs will be mining and special corps and every individual will be imparted astronomical training.
Solution 3: This does sound impractical but we will start utilising the empty sky above and the ground beneath(underground/underwater) for shelter. Buildings will be constructed in the empty sky(the Jetsons way) and students will start using submarines and personal jetplanes to reach their school!!!

STORAGE
Solution 1:Everything that has become old and outdated will be destroyed. Archiving and Museums will become illegal. Every thing in the world will deal with the present and the future and the things of past will stay only in memories but no real existence.
Solution 2: Hail Terraforming again but with a twist. The outer space will be used not as a residential colony but as a sort of garbage depot. Imageine the moon being a data repository!!!

RESOURCES
Well we couldn't think about it because the seemingly impractical nature of our talk took a toll on us and we felt that it would be better to eat our dinner than analyse this great challenge. Sometimes you start imagining things that seem like fantasy, unreal, virtual... but seldom we understand that these have always been the food for thought, the very fodder of innovation. Well I should conclude here else my friend would say,
" Don't let your imagination run amok ".

A Question of Responsibility

"With great power comes great responsibility".
These are the lines with which Peter Parker (a.k.a. Spiderman ) brings to end the proceedings of the classic Hollywood flick SPIDERMAN. As classy and adorable these dialogues might sound , they carry the weight of an Old Wizard's wise advice. It's not in possessing great power that we become great, but it is in our greatness to carry on with our powers without misusing them. Well the above have been cited by me in context with the powers vested by MEDIA that has often been misused by them. I have always been of the view that the media be made free from the shackles of governmental authority for its the duty of the media to get the truth out. But there is a thin line between getting the truth out and intruding someone's privacy. And this line has often been crossed by the media. I still remember the day when Princess Diana died (thanks to the paparazzi intent on getting some intimate pictures of the Lady with her boyfriend Dodi-Al-Fayed) . She was a lady I admired and adored not only for being beautiful and gracious but also for being so humane and charitable that even after her death she continues to rule the heart of millions. Her tragic death is just one out of the many cases handled badly the media. Not to forget about the hundreds of divorces yielded by the ever-over-anxious media playing spoilsport with the happily married lives of the CELEBs... As Andy Warhol once pointed out that everyone of us has his share of 15 minutes of fame, the media true to these words raises people to the zenith of stardom only to dismantle their very foundation for the rest of their lives. If this world has to be renovated then it is the media that has to understand it's purpose and set things right. It has to understand the enormous power it possesses and handle it with utmost responsibility.

Are We Alone Here?

Well the Champ returns back to his writing ways and today he is going to ponder over the billion dollar question - Are we alone in this world? The case in study is why I feel that someone is watching over me although I know that right now I am alone in my room writing down these monolithic pieces of wisdom and when I see behind me the emptiness of the room feels me but as I turn my back and start facing the screen, I again start getting these paranoid feelings. I register a case of mental harassment against that invisible entity. And the detective in me takes up the case convinced that the truth cannot hide forever. I start inspecting the whole of my room for evidences and I get weird signals (as they say) of an ominous presence. The room is in a mess and every single object in my room seems to possess life be it my dirty sport shoes trying to get my attention or the potato in front my PC querying about it's purpose. I try not getting distracted and go on searching the place exactly behind my chair which is supposed to be MR. INVISIBLE thing's hideout. Why was he staring at me anyway and why does he just vanish out of the sight when I looked back. Is he hiding from me or is he stalking me? Well if he is stalking me then he better be careful because the glamorous CELEBs of my world have taught me a lot about handling the stalker stuffs. The pieces of apparels behind me , hung from the string that acts as my closet, seemed to be bystanders sighing down with utmost innocence. And that's were the investigation rounded up to a zero. No more clues ahead. The invisible thingy (as my friend calls it) seemed to have had a plan in his mind that made for a great execution with plenty of stealth put into it. Just when I was about to put down my weapons, I struck gold with my extremely loyal and handy brain coming to my rescue with an seemingly good trap. I sat facing my screen and placed a mirror in front of me and the next time I felt the presence of that thing behind me , he will be caught. Well I can sense that all those reading this, are now patting my back for this great idea and thanks for it. So I waited for sometime but no one really came out from his hideout and this made me feel that it must have been an illusion. But suddenly the thief came out of his den only to be caught by my aquiline eyes. At last, the stalker had been caught and I was elated by this great success. But Mr. Invisible turned out to be a small mouse that ,unknown to me, had been sharing the room along with my other two roommates. He had made my room his hideout/shelter. Good for him. All these great arrangements for catching a mouse!!! Well somethings turn out to be pretty much different from what they appear. The cat and mouse game over, I returned back to my job. But in the back of my mind I still knew what had been caught wasn't my stalker. Something else was still there roaming freely throwing his macabre glances at me. It still is. We are certainly not alone here. And if some other entities do exist then who is intruding whose privacy. They or We?
Well that’s another billion dollar question. Isn't it?

The Magic Of Love or is it?

The Call of Love is really powerful and it enriches you... or something like it. That's something that I have heard since my childhood. I don't know why God has still made it a forbidden fruit for me till now. But since I am someone who searches for reasons in every aspect of life, how a query like this can remain unanswered. So I went on to search for the reasons by diving into the mysterious last 19 years of my life. Well I did have a lot of crushes but I lost interest in all of them after a few days. And most of them were females whom I could never approach. But I found, my unfortunate case of not falling in love, was not as a result of me being an introvert or of my excessive shyness, but more of a direct consequence of the various real life love stories that I had seen. There was a case when one of my good friends fell for the same girl on whom I had a crush. And people like me who value friendship a lot, did an idiotic blunder (as you may say) by getting out of his way. It's a different story that even my friend was unsuccessful in his attempt which however introduced me to that girl's extremly ugly and dark side. I am thankful for being saved. Then there was another case when I chose friendship over love and became good friends with one of my crushes. But what got me drift away from love were two incidents. The first one involved someone I cared for a lot. What hurt me about the whole episode is that his love created a lot of turmoil in the family. I don't understand how people take side of their lovers whom they barely know and that too against people who have spent their whole lives for them. Well I would never like to be in such a situation. These things are good for a script of a movie but not in real life. How can one be so selfish and ungrateful to the very people who are the masterminds of his creation? It is a different thing that all those problems were later sorted down in his family mainly because of the way he handled it and also because of the cooperation his family members gave. The other incident too was equally eye opening. Because I haven't seen people undergo drastic changes. For good or bad, only the "ONE UP THERE" knows. Years of association takes a backstage to months of romantic greetings.That's what got him to move away from the very persons whose company he could not leave before. Well I am happy for him because he is more happier now than he was before. But after this incident I have had my priorities sorted. I am here to fulfill some sort of objective that I am destined to. My personal experiences have made me think that love is a distraction. I want to live a life like a free bird and not be under the binding chains of my girlfriend. I value my friends and family more than anything and something called "LOVE" will not be allowed to trespass in. So hey, all the girls out there, bad luck for you. If someone objects to my views you are welcome to comment on it and try to enlighten me about where I went wrong. And if you are out there clapping in favour of my views, let me say I love Fan mails. And all those who have been hurt by these statements, I am utterly sorry I can't help, these are my personal views not meant to hurt anyone. Others who are right now extremely angry with me and are wondering why I wrote all these, well I had warned you all, once I start blogging all hell is going to break loose.

Hail The Indians

Well I am just back from a game of Rise of Nations, and playing as the Indians, have covered the entire world but Japan. And with a move left Japan is about to face an impending invasion from the greatest ever conqueror the world has seen. Games are so cool; they give you the power to realise your dreams and your weirdest imaginations. And they often force you to intrigue yourself with a weird question. Are we the ones who play games or just pawns in a huge game someone "UP THERE" is playing? As vague as the question may sound, it has its own complicacies because if we are indeed pawns in a game, then we have two ways out - complete our objective else face a valiant elimination. Sounds familiar? Am I telling your life's story? Maybe; for, all the things in the world are interlinked and what we see maynot be what they are. There is something mysterious about our existence because we exist as if we don’t exist. Too complex for you to understand? Well everyone isn't entitled to learn the secret of this world and those who learn it are no more part of it. It’s a difficult decision to make - to be part of this virtual world or to know the real world. After all its a matter of which pill you choose that changes your life. And the conclusion is that if I had been you, I would easily conclude that the writer of this piece had just seen ANIMATRIX yesterday and got so much caught in it's enchanting web that he is still to come out of its hold.

And then all hell broke loose...

Some things change the fate of the world... Imagine what would have happened if Eve hadn't consumed that evil ominous apple, if empires had worked on enriching the world rather than conquering each other's territories, if the Britishers had not invaded India and then India hadn't been partitioned into two, if the world wars had just been confined to the pages of fiction, communal disharmony, terrorism , treachery, wars, corruption ... etc had just been part of dictionary and a remote reality , and what if a rebellious introvert residing in his dream world having a penchant for weird things and dislike for monotonic things had not decided to start blogging... Well the world would have been a better place to live. But since the world isn't one right now, that rebellious introvert has decided that its time to express his views about everything that exists in this world or that had existed once. After all he lives in a country where he has the freedom of expression and expressing your views cost you just a piece of your mind and nothing more. And if you had the courage to read this scrap that came to my mind out of nowhere, then let me assure you more are going to come as he has started blogging and all hell is going to break loose...