One Small Voice

Harbhajan Singh, One more disgrace to Indian Cricket..

kanakalmath — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:07:00 +0000

Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds, and Mathew Hayden must be laughing their hearts out while watching this Sreesanth – Harbhajan Singh episode. Whatever disappointment and frustration they had suffered when Harbhajan Singh had been let off by ICC during recent India-Australia series would have eased off now. Now Aussies should have realized that to punish or avenge Indian cricketers, one need not come thru ICC or any other organization and Indians would destroy Indians eventually. Like when Sourav Ganguly was leading Indian Cricket team, he had become a nemesis to many countries. Finally BCCI came in and screwed up his career for non-cricketing reasons. But despite these things, Sourav Ganguly took his time and came back to international cricket with a bang. But he’s no longer a threat to other countries as he’s no longer holding the captaincy seat.

These two irresponsible cricketers (Harbhajan Singh & Sreesanth) have brought disgrace to India in this high profile IPL tournament by their silly childish behavior. Preity Zinta(Owner of Rajasthan team) must have quizzed to see a male sportsman crying on field when she herself has reputation of tough woman. First of all none of the Indian players are performing well(with the exception of Sehwag, Gambhir, and Ishant Sharma) in IPL. Not only Indians, none of the subcontinent players are performing well in this tournament.

If Harbhajan gets away with small or no punishment, he’d start believing that he can get away with anything. In fact, he’s already started believing that after he got away in Australia. There is one thing common in both Harbhajan and Sreesanth. Both of them are not performing at their best recently in cricket. Maybe that’s why they are not able to suppress their emotions easily. BCCI is capable of taking severe action on cricketers. When BCCI could ban cricketers like Kapil Dev and Azhar(for different reasons), when they could throw Sourav Ganguly out of the team when he had lost his batting form, when they could keep Sourav Ganguly from ODIs when he’s performing well, they can take action on Harbhajan and Sreesanth.

Anil Kumble to Lead India in Tests!

kanakalmath — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 07:46:00 +0000

It’s Anil Kumble, finally!! Not a bad choice and so relieving too! Anil Kumble is more brains than cricketing ability. Though he rarely spins the ball, he’s been one of the most successful spin bowlers in the world! Anil Kumble doesn’t look egoistic and non-controversial. And he has a great commitment for cricket. Maybe that’s what India requires at this stage in test cricket.

Dhoni has still a lot to prove in test cricket. After all, BCCI is not as unprofessional as it looks! Most of the decisions that they took Post-ODI World cup have done wonders for Indian cricket. Amongst them, the major decisions that BCCI took are:

Deciding to retain Rahul Dravid’s captaincy despite India’s miserable defeat in the World Cup.
Deciding not to renew Greg Chappell’s contract
Deciding to carry on without a coach but having bowling and fielding coaches
Making M.S.Dhoni as captain for T20 and ODI matches. Here BCCI might have inspired by Graeme Smith’s case.
Leaving out the Big-3 for T20 world cup
Leaving out Rahul Dravid for India-Pakistan ODI series. Rahul Dravid came out of the shell and scored a double century in a Ranji Trophy match.
Now making Anil Kumble as India’s test team captain.

Media projected M.S.Dhoni as the top contender for the test captaincy. In fact, CNN-IBN went ahead and announced that Dhoni has been appointed as test captain before BCCI could announce their decision! That’s outrageous. Before T20 world cup, Dhoni’s position in test cricket itself was not assured. And India hasn’t played a single test since T20 world cup. So it’s outrageous even to consider Dhoni for the test captaincy! Now under Kumble’s captaincy, Dhoni can try to secure his position in the test side and then can be groomed for captaincy. Dhoni has already proved his leadership skills. But he still needs to prove his cricketing skills in test cricket..

Overdose of Om Shanti Om

kanakalmath — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 09:20:00 +0000

Publicity is essential in movie industry. In fact, it’s essential in any any industry. But it can backfire if it crosses some limit. Over public exposure could lead to destruction. The media desperate for any kind of scoop, and the publicity hungry bollywood combined are torturing the public all across India. Tune into any channel, you’d see Farah Khan, Shahrukh Khan, and Deepika Padukone’s faces. They’re everywhere whether its a sports channel, or a news channel, or a general channel like star plus or zee, or a music channel. It requires a lot of patience and endurance capacities to watch and hear Farah Khan. Deepika’s over presence is fine as she’s new and public has not seen much of her yet. This publicity might help her. As for as King Khan is concerned, he knows how to behave in public. So talks less, hams less and so to some extent his over presence is tolerable. A lot of publicity about a movie generally results into over expectation about that movie. Farah Khan is an average director. I doubt that she’s the ability stand up to this amount of expectation. Om Shanti Om would become a utter flop even if it is as good as Main Hoon na, I mean “average”. I wish Farah had considered what had happened to the over-hyped movies like Roop Ki Rani, Choron ka Raja.

And this over exposure has become a disease in Hindi movie industry. It started with remixes. Remixes everywhere and people got fed up with it in the mean time and remix songs almost vanished. Later came Amitabh Bachan and Mallika Sherawat. People got fed up with even Amitabh Bachan and everybody knows what happened to Mallika Sherawat. Mallika vanished and Amitabh somehow is managing the show. Later came in Karan Johar and Yash Chopra family. After a series of big flops like Salaam-E-Ishq, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehana, Dhoom-2, they too have been silenced now.

India wins the T20 World Cup by beating Pakistan

kanakalmath — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 20:28:00 +0000

Finally the young India made it to the top by winning the inaugural T20 world cup. It beat Pakistan by a very small margin of 5 runs. More than the Dhoni’s captaincy, the absence of negative energy caused by the Ex-Captains Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar caused the young India to perform as a team in the historical world cup tournament. The team was fearless, energetic, and was enjoying the game. More than what Dhoni did, what he didn’t do made India to excel. He didn’t try to exercise bossism, he didn’t try to teach them cricket, he didn’t try to build their confidence by artificial tactics.. All he did was to ask them to enjoy on the field and it paid off.
Sreesanth unintentionally tried his best to present the world cup to Pakistan. But the stunning spells of Rudra Pratap Singh (R.P.Singh) and Irfan Pathan neutralized his efforts Sreesanth seriously need to learn to channelize his energy properly. Irfan Pathan deserved the man of the match, but R.P.Singh also should have been awarded the man of the match today along with Irfan. In fact he deserved man of the series more than Shahid Afridi.

India had performed better in the match against Australia than in the finals against Pakistan. But both India and Pakistan are eccentric teams in the sense that they rely more on spontaneity and natural talent than on discipline and cold professionalism. So this kind of game was kind of expected.

Also it was good to see Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar praising the captain Dhoni. He certainly needs their support to grow. In T20 format, a lot of mistakes would go unnoticed. But 50 overs match and test cricket are a different ball game. It’s interesting to see how Dhoni would perform in ODIs with seniors back in the team.

One last thing is about Joginder Sharma. He might be a good player but a chicken, almost childish. He needs a lot of pampering in order to perform. The 2 drop catches in his first match in the series had almost erased his confidence as well as his smile. He should learn not to let such things affect his game.

kanakalmath — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 07:51:00 +0000

The first ever T20 world cup is progressing like a carefully written bollywood movie script like Chak De India!! It’s good for the T20 format as well as for ICC. India and Pakistan always manage to bring in huge crowds which in turn generate huge revenues for the organizers. Cynics might wonder whether the entire tournament is fixed in the first place as this world cup has entered a “too good to be true” situation. But the way India and Pakistan have played their games in this tournament just disproves the cynics claim.

The young Indian team under the unassuming leadership of M.S.Dhoni has excelled in every match that it has played in this tournament. Australians were very good yesterday. But the Indians were even better. A lot of people claimed that this T20 format would kill the spirit of the cricket game. But what we have seen till now is that it has just recreated the spirit which was dead as for as India and Pakistan were concerned. It’s ironical that the two teams which were not even qualified for Super Eight in ICC ODI world Cup 2007 are now in the final of T20 World Cup 2007!! Of course, everything about these teams is different now. The coach is different, the captain is different, and most of the players are different for both of these teams.

Aussies looked like they’re in the control during the first 10 overs when India was batting. India was struggling at 60/2 at the end of 10 overs. But Yuvaraj Singh, Uthappa, and Dhoni combined produced 128 runs in the last 10 overs taking India’s score to 188/5 in 20 overs! Still, the target seemed to be achievable by the world champion Aussies. When Australia was batting it looked like they’re in complete control until the first 15 overs. Mathey Hayden and Symonds threatened to win the match. And then Irphan Pathan, and Harbhajan Singh struck Aussies and Joginder Sharma gave a dream finishing touch by claiming two wickets in the last over.

Dhoni’s beautiful smile and his attitude of concentrating on enjoying the game and giving 100% in the field rather than on winning has created wonders for the Indian team. This has given the team what the so called legends like Greg Chappel, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid failed to give. Though nobody had expected India to win in the semifinals, the win does not look like a miracle but like a deserved win. If India plays the same way as it has played in the last 3 games against England, South Africa, and Australia, the Pakistan is no match for India and India would lift the first ever T20 world cup.

Review of the movie Heyy Babyy

kanakalmath — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 08:36:00 +0000

Surprise, Surprise…. Hey Baby (Heyy Babyy) is a good movie!! After seeing the fall of Khalid Mohammad and Kunal Kohli, it was nice to see a critique turned director Sajid Khan doing well in his first venture though this movie is alleged copy of an English movie called “3 men & a baby”.

The movie starts routinely with double meaning dialogs. Just when I was thinking that a new David Dhavan has born, the movie takes a complete U turn. And this transition from double meaning dialogs to semi-serious mode looks inline with the flow of the movie. The Casanova trio do not look odd when they turn into sympathetic and responsible souls. Akshay Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh, and Fardeen Khan have given excellent performances. Akshay Kumar, and Ritesh Deshmukh’s comedy timing is already proven and wellknown. But Fardeen Khan’s performance is a pleasant surprise of the movie. The baby (Angel) has also done a great job. The credit for this must go to the director. I couldn’t help smiling during close up shots of the infant.
There are few disappointments too. The one disappointment of the movie is Vidya Balan. She’s ok, but not as good as she was in her earlier movies like Lage Raho Munnabhai and Parinita. And the music is very mediocre. But the choreography is damn good.

One more peculiar thing about this movie is that it is exactly the opposite of what is projected in the promos. In promos, it is promoted as a sex-comedy movie. Other than the first 15-20 minutes of the movie, skin show is not at al there. And it’s a semi-comedy movie.

Buy Satyam: IT Sector Analysis

kanakalmath — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 12:26:00 +0000

Taking the data from the last 4 quarters, Satyam Computer Services seems to the cheapest stock amongst the IT bigheads. Satyam is running with the P/E of 21.43(CMP: Rs.472.35 on 28-Jul-07). Wipro has a PE of 24.45(CMP: Rs.493.45), Infosys has a PE of 28.16(CMP: Rs.2007.8), and TCS has a PE of 27.97(CMP: Rs.1153). So Satyam has least P/E amongst its peers.

Variance Analysis for the last 2 quarters:

Company	Sales Variance	Other Income Variance	EPS Variance
Satyam	+2.93%	-10.84%	-3.48%
TCS	+2.20%	+50.51%	-0.45%
Wipro	-2.86%	+12.56%	-18.91%
Infosys	-0.11%	+112.5%	-9.82%

Considering the last two quarters, Satyam is clearly shows the best performance. Wipro and Infosys are the worst performance in the last two quarters. Satyam has 2.93% increase in Sales. But its EPS has fallen by 3.48%. TCS has 2.2% rise in Sales but its EPS has fallen by 0.45%. Even though Satyam has highest sales increase, its EPS has gone down more than TCS. That is because TCS’s income from other sources is increased by 50% !!

The fall in EPS despite increase in sales is because of the rupee appreciation against dollar. In fact, that’s why the IT sector has been underperforming since few months. Satyam is the best pick amongst this underperforming sector.

On the macro level, the market as whole is in negative trend. The collapse of the market on Friday the 27^th July 2007 is likely to continue as Dow also extended its fall on Friday also. So there is a chance that Satyam can be picked up at lower level than this.

Reservation: How to fight this menace?

kanakalmath — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 20:47:00 +0000

Recently Supreme Court of India brought a stay on OBC reservation in the Higher Education. It brought countrywide cheers. But will Supreme Court ruling be able to curb this menace? I don’t think so. Even Supreme Court will be helpless against Government’s determination. Some or the other day, this reservation is bound to come. The IITs and IIMs which enjoyed unparalleled excellence will no longer be able to sustain the same once this rule comes into force. No political party would dare to oppose this reservation. No political party can afford it. It would be a political suicide to oppose Reservation. That’s the reality.

The reason is quite simple. The political parties can not afford to oppose this reservation because Backward Castes are their vote bank. No political party in its sane state can do any harm to its vote bank. But OBCs(Other Backward Casts) are by definition a minority. Even while being a minority population, the backward castes have managed to become Vote Bank. So the race is on for who brings the first proposal. The Government and the other political parties will continue to bring in new reservations as long as backward casts remain as vote banks.

So the only way to stop this menace is by making the backward castes a minority in the Vote Banks also. The educated people, the middle class, and the upper castes don’t generally care to participate in voting because they know that all political parties are equally evil. Because of this cynic attitude, they withdraw themselves from voting. It’s a loop. The educated people don’t bother about voting and so political parties won’t bother please the educated people as they don’t play any role in bringing them to power. In fact it would be a stupid move if they try to do so. We have seen the fate of Chandrababu Naidu and S.M.Krishna in the past. They just don’t survive if they try to please educated people. So this “Don’t care” attitude is mutually shared between political parties and educated people.

But some parties do try to favor industrialists as they get funds for their election campaign. From the middle class, the political parties have absolutely no use. That’s why in every government policy, the middle or the salary class is screwed up badly.

It’s been more than 50 years since we got independence. The 50+ year’s history has shown us that the “change” won’t come from political parties. Now is the time for us to act.

So go and vote and snatch that “Vote Bank” advantage from the backward castes and from uneducated people who don’t understand the evil of bad government but still play a major role in who comes to power. Try to vote for the least evil, most educated, and with the least criminal background person. If you can’t find such a person, vote for some unknown person whom you are sure will not win. This would cause votes splitting. It would have effect on the winning margin.

There is no short term solution to this problem. An another way to tackle this problem is advocated by Maniratnam in his movie Yuva. But that approach calls for active involvement in politics which everybody can not afford to. That approach is very risky as involvement in politics calls for a direct head-on with well established organized crime.

If you like the ideas in this article, please forward it to as many people as people because only a mass movement of Educated People can bring in the change. After all we are not helpless and we too can make a difference!

Google Apps Vs Microsoft Office

kanakalmath — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 06:08:00 +0000

Google has released its Google Apps finally to the enterprise customers. The media world has suddenly started making hype of it as a competitor to Microsoft Office. But why the world is so much passionate about seeing the defeat of Microsoft? Who are really bothered about Microsoft’s supremacy? Why everybody writes viruses for Windows but not for other operating systems? Is it the customers? I don’t think so. Actually it’s the vendors who are really worried about Microsoft, not the customers. Customers wouldn’t bother whether the product they’re using is a technical innovative masterpiece or not as long is it is easy to use and pleasant to the eyes. The fact that nobody has been able to equal or come near Microsoft’s user interface and ease of usage has led to the frustration in the vendors mind. Microsoft’s success and its customer base have fed in the fear of getting wiped out from the industry for many vendors. These are the guys who promote the inferior products just because they hate Microsoft. Linux is a good product but it doesn’t deserve the publicity, support, and hype it got from the industry. It’s not because of their love for Linux, but for their hatred for Microsoft. They say Microsoft is not an inventor. How about Linux? Linux is a copy from its birth. It’s copied from Unix and later it’s road map follows Microsoft religiously. Whatever that comes up in Microsoft will come in Linux (of course with inferior quality) after 5-6 months. But still Linux gets so much support from the industry. I guess these same people might be sponsoring virus writers just to make Microsoft’s life miserable. Despite the continuous attacks from the industry, Microsoft is still surviving.

Microsoft didn’t go to the top by chance or by accident or by somebody’s grace. Its single minded focus about bringing desktops to everybody (Computer Engineers as well as common public) has brought Microsoft to the Numero Uno position in the industry. Like there are two eras in the computer hardware, Vacuum Tubes Era, and VLSI Era, there are two eras in software also. They’re, Pre-Microsoft Era and Post-Microsoft Era. Before Microsoft came into the industry, the usage of computer was limited to the computer engineers and experts. Using computer was so complex that only computer trained people could use it. The common public could never dream of using computer. Then Microsoft came in and it made computer usage less simple than using your personal radio or TV. People never thought that computer screens can be pleasing to the eye. That black console was the identity of computer. Microsoft came in with Windows, and the world had left with no option but to follow the leader. Whatever the industry people say, one thing is true. When Microsoft does some product, people start using it and rarely people require any training to use Microsoft products.

It might be possible that Google Apps may steal some of Microsoft Office’s market share as Google also has the same passion for creating user friendly and efficient software. I have used Google Document. It’s useful and good product but not a revolutionary product. It can be at most compared with the Wordpad rather than MS-Word. People will still use MS-Word and MS-Excel and then upload onto Google Apps to use its online collaboration features. Moreover no enterprise would be comfortable to put it’s sensitive confidential data onto Google’s servers. But if Google makes Google Apps an Intranet application rather than Internet application by setting up a server(cluster) in individual enterprise, then it might work out in Google’s favor.

Google Earth – Penetrating Indian Military

kanakalmath — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 04:44:00 +0000

Google has finally agreed to blur the images of the Indian military bases and government sites. But I wonder when Google Earth could penetrate Indian military installations so easily, how about terrorists or enemy countries like China and Pakistan? Our military should be ashamed of the fact that a software company could penetrate it so easily. Instead of asking Google to blur the images, India should have tried to make its military bases more secure so that nobody can penetrate it. Blurring is post processing. So they would be having the images anyway. We can never assure that Google doesn’t use these images for wrong reasons. Anything can happen. China might cut a deal with Google to acquire these images by giving some offers. American Govt. can pressurize Google and get these images. Google is just a software company under the US jurisdiction. It can be pressurized.

Our country’s economy is growing, growing at a better rate than our neighboring countries. It would definitely attract jealousy and hostility from the neighboring countries like Pakistan which are still going deep down to poverty. And China is one of our competitors and it’s a powerful military country. India has to strengthen its defense to counter these countries. India is already a favorite testing spot for terrorists. We can not afford to be weak on the defense front.