Terror strikes back

It was a Saturday evening & I was in my room reading the newspapers when my Mom who was watching the television informed me of an "LPG cylinder Blast" at Pune's German Bakery.I left the papers and rushed towards the TV.Within 25 minutes or so it was confirmed that this was not an "LPG cylinder Blast" but a terror attack.My first reaction was to call up my college roomie(who currently works in Pune) who was unaware of these happenings and was planning to go over to the Bakery with his friends!! I told him to stay away from the Koregaon Park area for the day.Only after I had called & messaged all my friends in Pune did I breathe a sigh of relief.But my heart went out to all those innocent youngsters (all in their twenties) who for no fault of theirs fell victim to terror.

The Modus operandi of the blast points to the involvment of Indian Mujahideen, which is now clearly emerging as a terror group funded by the Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) from across the border.Though various other groups like the Indian Mujahideen - Kashmir & LeT-Al Ilama are claiming responsiblity for the attacks, it appears to be a tactic to
sway the investigators off their track & to camouflage the real culprits.

But the obvious question that comes to mind is : Why the blast? Since 26/11 there has been no major terror activity apart from the encounters & infiltration in J&K. Then why these blasts now? And why of all the cities was Pune targeted?

My analysis offers these answers.

1. The blast comes at a time when the Foreign Secretary level talks between India & Pakistan are scheduled later in the month.Hence prima facie it appears that the blast could have been carried out to disrupt the talks.

2. Pakistan also feels India has violated the Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960 by starting construction work on the Baglihar dam built over the Chenab river.This allegation is untrue.

3. Kashmir is not the only issue that those Jehadis are now fighting for.It is "Brand India" that they are averse to.It hurts them to see India making economic progress and commanding so much power at the world level and if you are not convinced by this point, just search for "Abdul Rehman Makki speeches" on YOUTUBE and verify for yourself.Btw Abdul Rehman Makki is the new face of terror,an inveterate who heads the Jamat-ud-dawa which funds the LeT.

4. Pune too being the new IT hub of the country and having a booming infrastructure industry was made a soft target.Also we must not forget that the Indian Mujahideen has many sleeper cells in Pune.

5. These unconscionable terror groups believe that they can instigate a war like situation between the two countries, which would mean heavy deployment of forces along the Indo-Pak border.This certainly serves the purpose for Pakistan as it can then move its forces along the eastern border, vacating its western border & leaving it open for the Afghan-Taliban.Thus it will help Pakistan maintain its strategic alliance with the Afghan-Taliban who will find it easier to escape the US led drone attacks in Afghanistan.

In the wake of all this should India go ahead with the Foriegn secretary level talks with its neighbour? I feel India should.But clearly the focus of the talks should not deviate from the follwing key areas. India should :

1. Ask Pakistan to prove that it is indeed working to dismantle terror
infrastructure from its territory.

2. Ask Pakistan to bring 26/11 perpetrators to task.

3. Ask Pakistan to hand over the voice samples of 26/11 handlers.

4. Ask Pakistan to stop cross border infiltration.

Only if Pakistan is ready to act against its so called "Non state actors" should we think of holding a composite dialogue with them.Till then talks from the Indian side should be restricted to dismantling TERROR.

PS: May god give strength to the families of all the victims to bear the irreparable loss.

Sachin - To be or not to be

Well after a lot of contemplation about what i should write next on, i settled for something that is unique yet fresh in every one's mind. The Occassion : "Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar aka SRT completes 20 years in international cricket".

If you have been going through the papers and news channels over the past week, then i am sure you have not missed the hype and hooplah over SRT completing his 20 years in cricket. I am not sure if another cricketer (mortal to be specific) will get such coverage even after his retirement. Dont be surprised if you get an additional newspaper ( SACHIN TIMES or THE TIMES OF SACHIN or SACHIN EXPRESS ) along with your daily subscription for one month after he retires from the game.[:P]

This post of mine is not in anyway meant to undermine the dedication with which SRT ( GOD to be specific ) has served our nation. Infact I am one of his ardent followers who will never take any criticism against him lying down.
However this post is meant to be taken in a lighter vein. Have you ever imagined what life would be in SRT's shoes? Well that is what i am trying to decode. Lets look at the the positives and negatives of being SRT in India ( Humorously i mean)

First, the advantages of being SRT.

1.) You can import a Ferrari gifted by Michael Schumacher and still evade the 1.5 crores import duty.

2.) You can date & marry a girl 5.5 years older than you without your parents even once disapproving of your choice.

3.) You can be rest assured that any statement made by you will not be met with disapproval. Wow life rocks so far!!

4.) If an umpire gives you a bad decision that might well be the end of his umpiring career.

5.) Important dates like 24th April (date of birth) and 15th November ( Debut in cricket) will be celebrated as national holidays.

6.) Even if you tamper with the ball or appear to be tampering with it , the match referee will be handed a 3 match ban.

7.) You can keep playing the game till you desire and more importantly till you have ensured that a chap named Ricky Ponting is nowhere close to catching up with your records. The BCCI will obviously oblige. (as if there was ever a doubt about it!!).

8.) If you are not inducted in ICC's hall of fame, then there will be 4-5 lawyers willing to sue the ICC on your behalf without charging you a penny.Lols.

9.) You will be referred to as GOD all the time and worshipped along with Lord Shiva on India - Pakistan match day.

10.) When you retire from the game all cricket playing countries and IPL franchises will want you as their batting consultant. So you are assured of a pension even after earning billions!

11.) A score of 45 which includes 5 boundaries and 2 sixes will fetch you a man of the match award when another player has scored 75 not out! Reason?? Well by now i am sure you dont need a reason. Do you?

Its time for disadvantages now.

1.) If you plan to catch up on the latest blockbuster, then you might as well have to book your flight tickets to London, coz you are sure to be mobbed at ,in Indian theatres.

2.) Your kids cant lead a normal childhood which includes : playing in the park , taking a stroll with you at Juhu , buying them Ice creams from the roadside seller. Sad indeed.

3.) At your children's annual day function other parents and their children will be more interested in looking at you than at their kids performance on the stage.

4.) You cannot think of holidaying in India. Thus your kids may not know where Juhu beach, Marine Drive , Ooty , Rock Garden or Gateway Of India are but they are sure to know where Times Square , Madame Tussauds , Disneyland and Niagara falls are! Disadvantage ? Really? Lucky kids actually. [:P]

5.) One bad performance on the field and the TV channels will find faults in your technique and temperament. Warning - You might contemplate retirement.

6.) If your son decides to follow in your footsteps, then God help him. Poor soul will face the humongous task of being compared to you at every step and he might suffer from a nervous breakdown.

7.) You have to give TV interviews to all news channels once you complete 10,11,12....20,21,22,23.... years in cricket with the same enthusiasm with which you made your debut in 1989. This can get boring.

SACH is life in SRT's shoes. Would you like to wear those shoes?

Utter Disgust

"Monikadevi out of Beijing Olympics" --- read a breaking news on an English news channel this morning. For people who are not well read ----Monikadevi is the sole weight lifter(69kg category) from India to have been selected for the Beijing Games. Let me tell you this is no ordinary news because Monikadevi wasnt allowed to go to Beijing in the first place amidst all those doping controversies (as per the charges).

Just two days prior to leaving for the Olympics Monikadevi was accused of doping charges and her dreams were shattered. But this morning came the news that she had been falsely trapped in this controversy after she was cleared of the above charges. All this dates back to early this year when Monikadevi's adversary Shailaja Pujari was selected ahead of her for the Olympics. Later it was found that Shailaja's selection was propelled by bribing a regional selector and thus justice prevailed when Monikadevi was finally picked for the Olympics and deservedly so after winning the silver at Doha Asian Games.

The above mentioned selector (belonging to Sports Authority Of India [SAI])then decided to teach Monikadevi a lesson(actually more out of disgust over the fact that a girl from his region wasnt selected) by falsely managing to get her sample test positive just prior to her departure for the games. Undoubtedly Monikadevi was in disbelief as she had been a clean athlete all her life having cleared 30 doping tests till date. She infact challenged the authorities to shoot her dead if she was found positive of doping after landing in Beijing. But the Indian Weightlifting Federation(IWF) could not risk sending her because if by any chance she was tested positive then IWF could be banned.

I am certainly not a weightlifting aficionado but I felt abashed as an Indian when today she was disallowed from travelling to Beijing after being cleared of the charges levelled against her (by an independent enquiry carried out by IOA). I could not help but feel sorry when pictures of Monikadevi shedding tears were being flashed on news channels.

I completely disapprove of the treatment meted out to a sportswoman (from a small village in Manipur in this case) who had toiled for the past 4 years living an Olympic dream. It takes a lot of hardwork & perseverance to be a part of your nation's contingent for the Olympics and IOA has absolutely no right to demand medals from our athletes when it cannot take care of its own athletes. IOA should bring in selectors who are ready to put the athletes welfare above personal aggrandizement.

I hope there are people around her to give her that much needed support at this juncture when she stands stranded in this situation. May be she should sue the SAI(Sports authority of India) over this fiasco and ensure that something as serious as this never happens to another athlete.

JAI HIND!

Cheque-De India!

No cricketer likes a string of zeros but when this string is attached to his pay cheque like an endless necklace of pearls he just cannot complain! Yes that is what is actually happening if you have been going through the papers or browsing through the websites for the past 3-4 days. The IPL bidding has created more buzz than the Bombay Stock Exchange. 8 franchisees have been battling it out to bid for the best players in the world from a pool of 78. Welcome to the ultra modern form of cricket i.e. T-20 where its all about the three hour rush of adrenalin.

Consider this: Ishant Sharma who has barely spent 6 months in international cricket has been bought by SRK's Kolkata franchise for a whopping 3.6 crores!! This when simplified turns out to be Rs 1 lakh per delivery! Indian captain M.S. Dhoni who has been bought by the Chennai based franchise for 6 crores will make thrice the money that a Delhi University professor would make in a career spanning 35 years and that too in just 44 days!! I am sure these stats are sufficient to convince you of the money that is being poured into the game.

Now in all this hush hush one news that i am sure most of you would have missed is the fact that this IPL T-20 league has eaten the sponsorship revenue that could have gone to the athletes preparing for the Beijing Olympics scheduled to get underway in August this year. Indias thriving advertising industry sees the IPL as the potential goldmine and even the franchisees are now looking to get individual sponsorships. Multiple world billiards champion Geet Sethi, a promoter of a sports fund dedicated to funding athletes with potential of winning India a first individual Olympic gold medal, voiced his concern in a newspaper article on Thursday saying "The fanatical obsession called cricket has just joined hands with the film world to create a new pastime (I consciously refrain from calling it sport) where it will gain even further visibility and media hype fuelled by both cricket and Bollywood". He also said "This in turn will almost certainly divert sponsorship which could have gone to disciplines with a genuine chance of winning India that Olympic gold."

The IPL has attracted over $1.7 billion in franchise sales, television and promotion rights over a 10-year period in a cricket-mad country with the fastest growing major economy after China. This fantastic success of cricket packaging is being played out at a time when our Olympic medal hopes, who will pit their skills against the best in the world in only five months at Beijing, are starved of funds. Despite being the world's second most populous nation, India has only won four individual medals in Olympic history since they sent their first official team to the Summer Games in 1928. Most of the athletes are finding it difficult to put together a budget for training and international competition in preparation for the games like archery, boxing, athletics, wrestling and swimming.

I am not against cricket or for that matter even cricketers, infact cricket happens to be my favourite sport too. But what hurts me is that the Sports Ministry inspite of receiving requests from Sports Authority of India[SAI] (the body responsible for ensuring that all sports in our country get equal attention) about the infrastructure to buy equipment for archers, shooters and badminton players has simply asked the SAI to buy them on its own!!! What also hurts me is that when 160 crores can be spent on buying cricketers in a matter of hours, cant the Sports Ministry direct some funds towards buying shuttle cocks,bullets,bows & arrows? We might lose out on creating the future Karnam Malleswaris , Rajyawardhan Singh Rathores, Aparna Popats and Saina Nehwals if this trend continues. Does anyone remember Samresh Jung? I am sure no one does, inspite of being awarded the best athlete at the commonwealth games in Melbourne the poor guy got no sponsorship! Probably the BCCI can now think of sponsoring some worthy athletes if not the Sports Ministry!!

Cricket certainly has moved from being a 5 star sport to a 7 star sport but i guess the other sports will also have to be modelled on the new IPL format to attract sponsors & viewership so that the gap between cricket (Modern National Sport of our country) and other sports is bridged.
Till then all i can say is "Cheque De" & "Cheque Le".

Finally i make my mind!

Hello evryone.....

Today(19th feb) is a special day for me coz finally after persuasion from friends and seniors i decided to start my own blog( and why not!). I was really apprehensive about doin sumthng like this but now i am convinced that dis is sumthng dat i can do(atleast d efforts will b dre). I decided to call it "true-expressions" coz wateva i write hre whether it is sports,politics,techncl stuff,entertainment etc will all b straight from my heart, simple & uncomplicated.

I take this opportunity to welcum u all to my space and i hope to receive constructive criticism and valuable suggestions from ur side.

Thanx,

NIKHIL aka N!CKEL