Competitive Cricket

A few days ago, I read an article where someone had posted the cardinal rules of blogging. The first rule was that one should blog daily. Even if there was nothing to write, sitting in front of the computer would cause easy flow of thoughts was the arguement given The author didn't account for the time involved and obviously, didn't think about Grad students while writing this. I struggle for words in my emails to my Mom, written alternate days. Talk about daily blogging- Nice try!

This part of the world is abuzz with cricket on the shores of Atlantic, with the India-WI series keeping us all gripped. If at all there was any award for the most sporting cricket team in the world, the Boys in Blue should be the rightful and only contenders for that award. Our team loves to play competitive cricket, which means, we would do anything to make a match out of any game. At one end, if we can give a run for their money to the Australians (though not always managing to win), we also make sure that audiences get their monies worth even in matches against Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and as the current tour proves, against a depleted West Indian team, who are ranked 7th in the ICC list and haven't won a major game in the last 2 years.

If the first two matches showed that both teams were nearly equal in strengths and the team holding their nerves right till the end would end up winning, the next two matches proved without doubt, that all talk about this Indian team being a serious World Cup contender was all baloney. Though there is one match left in this series, it is not wrong to conclude that West Indies has clearly been the better side, in spite of having very few world-class players. The only bright side for the Indians has been the getting back of Kaif among runs and the continued consistency of Yuvraj. The top order, for the nth time, failed to click in any of the matches, and this over-dependence on the middle order and lower-middle order does not augur well for a team that is preparing itself for World Cup due next year.

On Sale

Another episode in the Great Indian Tamasha comes to an end. Lucky, this time, it was restricted to only 5 states, but the whole nation was kept on their toes, until the electoral results were declared on May 11.

The States that went to the polls included Left strongholds Kerala and West Bengal, the unpredictable Tamil Nadu, Assam, the insignificant Pondicherry, and the farcical bye-election in Rae Bareilly. The electoral campaigning was a heated one, with national leaders travelling the length and breadth of the 5 states, in order to leave no stone unturned. Tamil Nadu was a peculiar case in itself, simply unmatched in terms of the freebies offered. If Amma offered free cycles to students and cheaper rice, 82-years old Kalaignar offered everything from rice, gas stove and color TVs to free power and land. While this mega sale was going on Tamil Nadu, the neighboring state of Kerala presented a picture sharply in contrast. There were virtually nothing on sale, and it was an even battle, given that the state has one of the most informed electorate in the country. Given its history of shifting mandates everytime, the Left was confident it will make it this time. Karunakaran's break-up from Congress and his last-minute patch was not seen as a confident sign for the Congress. Another loss-in-face was awaiting Congress in West Bengal, where it once again failed to make its presence felt.

The results are not difficult to analyse. Sheer populism brought DMK to power in Tamil Nadu, though I wonder how they are going to manage all the money for the ambitious promises made to the electorate. When the IT Minster Dayanidhi Maran was asked how they are going to manage this, he confidently replied "Oh that is very easy!". Pondicherry was also swept by the Congress-DMK wave, and returned the Rangaswamy government for another term of 5 years. West Bengal saw no change even this time, with the Left romping home with a thumping majority. Mamta Banerjee was once again made to bite the dust at the hustings. The wily Buddhadeb declared his victory as the peoples mandate to continue the good work the Left has been doing for the past 27 years. Winds of change never seem to blow over West Bengal!

Left repeated its success story in Kerala, wresting power from Congress, after a 5-year stint in the opposition. The conservative 82-year old V S Achuthananthan is expected to take on the Chief Ministership, though the final decision is yet to be announced by the "high command". Assam threw up a hung assembly, though the Congress is likely to form the government, being the single largest party in the new assembly.

Meanwhile, Sonia Gandhi romped home with a thumping victory at Rae Bareilly with a margin of 4.8 lakhs over her nearest rival. Inspite of the low voter turnout, Sonia secured nearly 80% of the votes polled. Though there were demands by the Sonia-loyalists to take on the Prime Ministership as per the "mandate", I fail to see the point in getting elected, barely weeks after resigning the seat. If the whole idea was to cling onto the MP seat, why resign and make yourself a martyr. Another gimmick sold well to the gullible people. Kudos to Priyanka and Rahul!

These results mean greater bargaining power for the Left, now that they have one more state, Kerala under them. Meawhile, Congress is also hailing the results as its victory, inspite of losing in Bengal and Kerala, and winning in Tamil Nadu simply due to its coalition with the DMK. BJP, expected to open its tally in Kerala, once again failed to live upto its promise. The biggest loser in this election must be BJP, for failing miserably in all the states. Though the BJP's response has been that they are not a major player in any of these states and hence, the losses cannot be taken at their face value, I feel that if a party like BJP does not have a presence in 5 states of the country, then they are not fit to be a national party. I am not aware when the next set of state elections are due, but whenever they are, I am sure, we are guranteed of another round of drama, excitement, and a sale-mela!

Free TV.....free power....free car...free housing...free everything......Free India

Test Run

Last week, I put a sitemeter on my blog. While its obvious that it keeps a count of the visitors to my blog, it also helps me know the demographics of my visitors and how they got referred to my site. This set one of my roommates, Arun off into claiming that having a name like "Columbus Dispatch" is sure to attract netizens from differerent places to my blog. (For those who are unaware, The Columbus Dispatch is a popular newspaper in Columbus and central Ohio). He labelled it as a marketing technique to sell my blog online. The deal was set. I agreed to rename my blog for a brief period of around a week and watch the site traffic. A nonsensical name was given to the blog and the site activity watched.

Believe it or not, the site traffic remained steady over the last week, disapproving Arun's theory that I was indulging in cheap gimmicks and marketing strategy. I do, in part, agree that having a name that sounds like a popular newspaper is a sure way to attract visitors to my site, but thanks to you all, my blog does attract few genuine visitors. Promptly, the name was reverted back to its usual "Columbus Dispatch", though I prefer the softer, British-sounding Despatch. I also recognised that quite a few people have put my blog as a link on their blogs. I have, in part, tried to reciprocate their gesture and also added few new links on my blog.

Btw, Arun maintains a beautiful blog, which is hyperlinked through this site (See the Links section).

Thanks for stopping by my blog,
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