Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Saina Nehwal, the next golden girl of Indian Sports

After a long wait for the next golden girl of Indian sport, Saina Nehwal has staked the claim for the title. I had almost a year back written about our need to support women in India and had mentioned Saina Nehwal. She has now put forth a strong case, not just for her but for all sportswomen. She has done one and all proud with  3 titles in so much weeks. A proud moment for  all us Indians.  She has something common with the previous golden girls of Indian sports arena. She is not a superstar , just a great sports person who is working really hard. Same as P T Usha, shiny Wilson, Karna Malleshwari and Mery Kom.

 

I believe the best asset of Saina has been Performance Personified.  Looking at her work of last few years, it is very clear, she did not just work on her game. She worked on a lot stuff around her game. Like Stamina,  strength etc. She never let down focus and most importantly she always kept raising the bar. At this point we need to give credit also  to her mentor  Pulela Gopichand and her family. For a girl  this age and such success, it would have been very easy to lose focus. There are many sportspersons across the globe who have wasted talent after a initial euphoria.

 

Saina, I believe should at this point of time also ensure that she does not tire herself out and bore herself out. In her quest to be number one  we don’t want  her to wear out when she reaches there. It’s going to be even more difficult to stay at these top rankings than reaching them. Also, the dream of every sports person, the Olympic gold. She has the mettle to win, does she have the endurance?

 

Time will tell. And we have an even bigger job, to back her to the last. She needs a lot of support and prayers from us and she will do great.

 

Kudos

Friday, June 25, 2010

Is this blunder in the making or stepping stone to suceess?

Hiya,

 

The Afghan story is not getting over at all. Now Gen. McCrystal is fired and Gen. Petreus comes in. I simply don’t understand how politicians across the globe have the same genes. I thought Obama would be open to criticism, well, the results are out and he is not. I agree totally that the general should have kept his disdain for the US policy to boardrooms, but if your boss ain’t listening you gotta look for other ways. Also, he did not give out any real secrets or something about the US strategy in Afghanistan.  He just said that  “ I am not happy with my Boss and his ideas”. Why can’t you listen to him and try to take him into confidence? Also, looking at this strategically, a new general has to take control of a war in difficult situation  and he has a deadline of July 2011 by when the President of USA has a promise to keep with his people.

 

I know that records of Gen. Petreaus, his authoring the counter-insurgency manual, role in Iraq and his political skills. It’s all great, but he has not been on the ground. You took out a man who has been turning it around successfully though not as fast as expected just because he publicly said something that you don’t agree with. If bosses start firing people for that, voh!

 

For other countries like India also Gen. Petreaus is a point of worry. He is well known as a deal maker. His policy is known as  ‘Play well with All’. So Pakistan would be really looking forward to help him cut deals with the Taliban and other militant groups and by that install proxies in Afghan and as soon as the Americans leave, start undermining the Afghan rulers.  This is their opportunity. It’s know well that USA is desperate to exit Afghanistan.  They know it’s just a matter of time. They also know well that India does not want to get involved in the running of Afghan war.  Somehow,  I am getting a feeling that This is coming back to hit us hard, especially after Obama’s risky decision of leader change.

 

 

Seya

 

Monday, June 14, 2010

Mineral Pie is the next big story

Just read this news on Times of India that USA geologists have stumbled upon mineral deposits worth millions of dollars. Well, after reading that the first thing that came to my mind was, let us see now how quickly US and allies exit Afghanistan.  Especially when the initial monetary value of the mineral deposits is in trillions.  This might be a golden opportunity for the US government to get itself a consolation prize and may be even muscle out from the Afghan govt. enough of the mineral pie to get them some profits to cover their war expenditure and may be some extra change to pump into their  suffocating economy.

 

Though, my bitching about the USA might sound like I hate them, countries like India do need them to stay at Afghan for a longer period also. Especially after this mineral discovery. China is already into Afghan for mining. USA moving out and giving a free run to Afghan govt. would  give China to move in quickly and capitalize on this mineral  find. Also, looking at the corruption record of the Afghan govt. , it seems better that the USA stays in for a longer period. Over and above, the catastrophic thing that could happen in such  a circumstance is the mines that would be developed falling into the hands of the Terrorists and the Taliban. This might have strong repercussions as they will have more pennies for their arms and travel expenses.

 

For countries like India also a longer US stay in Afghanistan will be beneficial. Else the Indian security fraternity’s assessment that the Taliban will run riot with the ISI support will be spot on. Afghan region will be back to where it was 10 years back.

 

Another interesting point was that the initial finding was done by the Soviet Union while it had occupied Afghanistan, the US geologists got their first hint in 2004 from the national library in Kabul. So, do the Russians also get a pie?

 

I just hope and  pray that the common Afghan man gets some benefit from this find and not get exploited, especially when the social welfare or environmental laws are little if not non-existent in Afghanistan.

 

Seya

A reading suggestion for the day

This is my first official blog post via email. Let’s use the technology if we have it. lol

For last few days, I am terribly depressed. Especially having a feeling that I am not successful in life. I am always wondering what I did wrong or more importantly what I really need to do right. I had no idea till 15 minutes back. Then I came across this article in MSN. Good article, it was posted for a totally different reason. To show how some differently able people achieved success in life. Overcoming the deficiencies and more importantly the misgivings of others and the lack of support from society. But when I finished the article one thing dawned out to me. There is one more difference between me and them other than their disabilities, and that is, they tried to do something in their life. They had focus and worked to achieve it. Where in I am just day dreaming most of the time.

So, my suggested reading for the day is, & who fought coma for IIM, & 10 other stories of grit

Chao

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Bhopal Gas tragedy: Why politicians need a pie of everything?

hiya,

my email blogging is not working. No idea why. Tried twice this week but it is not even bouncing.

Anyway, getting on with my post this week and as many of you have already guessed, ya I am going to talk about the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Though it so long since it happened, the court verdict has come so late there is no respite to the victims. I am not going to talk for the victims here. There are a lot of people out there talk for them right now.

My point of concern is this. Many ministers then were involved in getting the Union Carbide CEO out of the country. They flew him out of Bhopal in a state plane. ie. On exchequer's money. The reason that is coming out now is that , they feared that foreign investments will be affected if a CEO is arrested. The same ministers are holding very important posts even now. vow!

So for these ministers the foreign investments is even more important that life of the very people who voted for them? Vow! Also, Warren Anderson, the Union Carbide CEO at that time knew of possible safety issues in Bhopal. In fact, I read that the same issues were identified in a plant in the United States also. As you have already guessed, the issues were fixed in the USA plant but not at Bhopal. Why? Because i just bought the law makers. So if law catches me I will change the law! right?

That's exactly what has happened. They talk about stricter norms and all crap. But they are not able to even make the culprits accountable. How are they going to prevent some more unknowns from committing this crime again? And once in 5 years we elect them.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Its raining in Mumbai

Its raining here in Mumbai. yipeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

wait for one long year seems to be getting over! Hope the year of drought is drawing to a close.

As I am posting here, I can smell the fresh rain drenched soil.

yes, Its raining for the first time in 2010 right outside my house and i cant just take my eyes of the rain drops and the small lightnings. My ears cant just stop listening to the rain drops falling onto the tiles.

Hope this is the beginning of the respite from the Mumbai hot and humid summer!

yipeeeeeeeee!! Rains are here!