There is a great debate going on through the whole of India. Its on the creation of new states, particularly Telangana. I just read an editorial in Economic Times. People everywhere is pondering over questions on the viability of the new state. Whether the new one will be able to support itself better than before? Whether the new one will cater to the social or economical need of the people? Whether the new state fulfil the greed of the local politicians? I think that this realm of discussion should also include the questions about the parent state, the state from where the new one is born.
Bihar, as an example, has nothing much other than agriculture to run its economy. It was already the poorest state of India, almost equivalent to Chad. Now, as it is said, it is left with only 'Bhayy' (Fear), 'Bhook' (Hunger) and 'Bharashtachaar' (Corruption). Though many people can argue with me on this but I just tried to give an example rather than giving exact facts about Bihar.
In a similar state, before carving out Telangana, I will suggest the Govt. to first study its impact on all the affected people and then only take any further step.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Sunday, November 08, 2009
I can not sing Vande Matram
The controversy regarding singing of Vande Mataram crops every now and then. I think it is not a controversy rather a discussion among people with no understanding of either the song or Islam. I am very clear about my singing of the song. I DO NOT and I CAN NOT sing it. I have the reason. I will explain it here.
I was reading an article this morning in Time of India about the resolution passed by the Jamiat-e-Ulema-i-Hind on the singing of this song. I just want to answer / explain to a few questions / points asked / raised there. At one point it is said that "The rival Jamiat, headed by Maulana Arshad Madani (Mehmud Madani's uncle), alleges that the resolution is part of a conspiracy to create communal tension, instigated by Americans who had met the Mehmud faction in July.". I would like to tell Mr. Madani to please stop that old trick of blaming America for all the controversies. We are wise enough to think over our issues. We are no more fools that any outside power can create some controversy and divide us. And we also are no fools to believe in people like you.
Mr Asghar Ali Engineer says "both uncle and nephew have forgotten the Jamiat's glorious tradition of participation in the freedom movement, of which Vande Mataram was an inseparable part,''. Some one has correctly answered this question by telling that we love our country, respect it, are 100% patriotic but we do not worship anybody other than Allah. Not even our mother. We do not even bow to our parents to get their blessings. It is not in our religion. We keep patriotism to our heart, and so do we keep our religion. We do not need to prove it by singing the song. Mr Asghar do not find any objection to the translation of the song as he says "I bow to my motherland, what objection can there be to doing so?". But I do find, as I do not bow to anybody other than Allah. He says "The Mughals made courtiers bow to them and perform sajda (respectfully lowering and then lifting your hand to your forehead repeatedly). Why was this not condemned as un-Islamic?". I would say that it was surely unislamic and I do not even consider the Mughals as the practising Muslims. Akbar started his own religion. Jehangir used to drink heavily. ShahJahan was busy building Taj Mahal and other magnificent buildings with public money. We Muslims do not follow kings, we follow Quran, Hadith etc. Kings do not define Islam, nor do the Sufis.
Writer Sajid Rashid says "The Deobandis consider even singing salaams to Prophet Mohammed's glory as haraam". I would ask Mr Sajid as to which salaam he is telling about. In Islam there are only two festivals, Id-ul-Fitr and Id-ul-Adha. Islam does not tell to celebrate Muharram, not even tell to celebrate Prophet Mohammed's birthday which is celebrated in India as Milad-un-Nabi. Regarding the singing of salaam to Prophet, I would say for Muslims Prophet Mohammed is the most respected and loved human. But here also, some Muslims show so much love and affection towards the Prophet that their love towards Allah fades in front of their love shown towards the Prophet. Muslims should consider that Prophet was a Messenger of Allah. We should pray to Allah and try not to go astray.
Finally I would say that I am a practising Muslim. I am a true Indian too. So I sing Jana-Gana-Mana since my childhood days. The anthem do bring goose-bumps on me. But I do not sing Vande Matram, since my school days. So do not consider me as a follower of these Fatwas also. I do my independent thinking.
As for the meanings and translation of Vande Matram, I would suggest Wikipedia and one other website.
I was reading an article this morning in Time of India about the resolution passed by the Jamiat-e-Ulema-i-Hind on the singing of this song. I just want to answer / explain to a few questions / points asked / raised there. At one point it is said that "The rival Jamiat, headed by Maulana Arshad Madani (Mehmud Madani's uncle), alleges that the resolution is part of a conspiracy to create communal tension, instigated by Americans who had met the Mehmud faction in July.". I would like to tell Mr. Madani to please stop that old trick of blaming America for all the controversies. We are wise enough to think over our issues. We are no more fools that any outside power can create some controversy and divide us. And we also are no fools to believe in people like you.
Mr Asghar Ali Engineer says "both uncle and nephew have forgotten the Jamiat's glorious tradition of participation in the freedom movement, of which Vande Mataram was an inseparable part,''. Some one has correctly answered this question by telling that we love our country, respect it, are 100% patriotic but we do not worship anybody other than Allah. Not even our mother. We do not even bow to our parents to get their blessings. It is not in our religion. We keep patriotism to our heart, and so do we keep our religion. We do not need to prove it by singing the song. Mr Asghar do not find any objection to the translation of the song as he says "I bow to my motherland, what objection can there be to doing so?". But I do find, as I do not bow to anybody other than Allah. He says "The Mughals made courtiers bow to them and perform sajda (respectfully lowering and then lifting your hand to your forehead repeatedly). Why was this not condemned as un-Islamic?". I would say that it was surely unislamic and I do not even consider the Mughals as the practising Muslims. Akbar started his own religion. Jehangir used to drink heavily. ShahJahan was busy building Taj Mahal and other magnificent buildings with public money. We Muslims do not follow kings, we follow Quran, Hadith etc. Kings do not define Islam, nor do the Sufis.
Writer Sajid Rashid says "The Deobandis consider even singing salaams to Prophet Mohammed's glory as haraam". I would ask Mr Sajid as to which salaam he is telling about. In Islam there are only two festivals, Id-ul-Fitr and Id-ul-Adha. Islam does not tell to celebrate Muharram, not even tell to celebrate Prophet Mohammed's birthday which is celebrated in India as Milad-un-Nabi. Regarding the singing of salaam to Prophet, I would say for Muslims Prophet Mohammed is the most respected and loved human. But here also, some Muslims show so much love and affection towards the Prophet that their love towards Allah fades in front of their love shown towards the Prophet. Muslims should consider that Prophet was a Messenger of Allah. We should pray to Allah and try not to go astray.
Finally I would say that I am a practising Muslim. I am a true Indian too. So I sing Jana-Gana-Mana since my childhood days. The anthem do bring goose-bumps on me. But I do not sing Vande Matram, since my school days. So do not consider me as a follower of these Fatwas also. I do my independent thinking.
As for the meanings and translation of Vande Matram, I would suggest Wikipedia and one other website.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Games, We Played
Yesterday I was browsing through some tech-news sites and I saw an article comparing the latest gaming consoles from Sony, Nintendo & Microsoft and the latest games. In my childhood days, I remember, I used to go to a nearby video-games parlor and play games on a big TV with joysticks attached to a wooden box. One rupee per 10 minutes or you lose earlier. Every rupee was worth and valued. Sometimes I used to bring the console home for the entire night for just 20 bucks and I bet there could not be better nights than those, for a child. I did not find the mention of that console in that article, also not even a word about Contra, Mario, etc which I used to play then. The world of gaming has changed drastically since those days.
Even though I have tried my hands on PlayStation 2, XBOX 360 & Wii among the latest consoles already, every encounter has excited me like anything. These experiences have always rekindled the gaming-freak in me. Nowadays, what I see is that in the console based games Nintendo’s GameCube, Microsoft’s XBOX 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 have the largest market. The gaming industry keeps on releasing better consoles and games with the latest technologies. The graphics has improved so much that I am sure in near future we won’t be able to make a difference between the real video and the images in the games. It is said that the graphics features of PlayStation 2 are so effective that the console could be adapted for military use. See how near the games have come to the reality. Earlier we could maneuver only in the x-y coordinates. Now it is a whole world out there; you can move in any direction. Even the consoles have changed a lot. Earlier there used to be mostly two buttons plus a handle. The buttons were to either jump or fire. Now while I was playing ‘Need For Speed’ on XBOX 360 and bumped my car against an electric pole, I felt a jerk through the console. That was an awesome feeling. Once I went to my cousins’ home and there I played on Wii. The console of Wii is a wireless controller, the Wii Remote, which can be used as a handheld pointing device and can detect movement in three dimensions. I played lawn tennis. I was able to serve, hit the balls in all the ways I could imagine. It was like playing a real game, with the console.
Today’s consoles have advanced networking capabilities. The XBOX 360 has a unique feature that allows players to compete or collaborate online. I saw my cousins playing a game along with their friends online. They were talking with each others and making strategies to win. They were also having profiles on XBOX Live and were able to chat with friends. The gaming field has really come a long way.
I remember me having a handheld LCD video game from Nintendo, GameBoy. I have put its picture here. In this game, Mario must climb a building while avoiding barrels. The player must trigger a lever on the upper screen, activating a hook, which Mario must then jump and catch. If the player succeeds, a peg will be removed and Mario will return to the starting point, but if the player does not, Mario will fall to the ground and lose a life. Removing all available pegs in this manner will cause Donkey Kong's platform to collapse, and he will fall to the ground. Though it was a simple game, it was a kind of life for me and playing it was my best past-time. Later I got a few more hand-held games, however it was an Atari’s console which was my first TV based game. All its games were arcade type. 
After the Atari, I graduated to play Contra, Mario, Super Contra, Super Mario, Road Fighter, etc. I don’t know how many 1 rupee coins had been pushed inside those console boxes by me. I don’t know how many hours I had spent in those parlors. But one thing I can say for sure that I really really enjoyed those days and I still remember them.
Later on, during the college days, I did not have the privilege of buying gaming consoles. Like many others, I started playing computer games. There were many interesting games like the one where we had to handle a helicopter with mouse buttons. There was one very nice pool game. We room-mates used to make records for others to break and then again break those. For me the best and the most deeply engrossing game was ‘Need For Speed 5’. I even went to the finals of the college NFS contest. Some of my friends were mad about games like IGI, Counter Strike, Max Payne, etc.
Those were the days when, at least, I enjoyed my life the most. Every stage of game was a new day of life. Every win used to give a sense of accomplishment. Every moment spent playing was savored. Now, it’s a rat-race. No fun, no sense of accomplishment and thus no life. I made a change to this. I tried changing my life. I downloaded a free version of Mario. I now play it whenever I get free time, or you can say I try finding time to play it. I enjoy, not actually by playing it, but by somehow getting back to those days. Now no one can say “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”.
Even though I have tried my hands on PlayStation 2, XBOX 360 & Wii among the latest consoles already, every encounter has excited me like anything. These experiences have always rekindled the gaming-freak in me. Nowadays, what I see is that in the console based games Nintendo’s GameCube, Microsoft’s XBOX 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 have the largest market. The gaming industry keeps on releasing better consoles and games with the latest technologies. The graphics has improved so much that I am sure in near future we won’t be able to make a difference between the real video and the images in the games. It is said that the graphics features of PlayStation 2 are so effective that the console could be adapted for military use. See how near the games have come to the reality. Earlier we could maneuver only in the x-y coordinates. Now it is a whole world out there; you can move in any direction. Even the consoles have changed a lot. Earlier there used to be mostly two buttons plus a handle. The buttons were to either jump or fire. Now while I was playing ‘Need For Speed’ on XBOX 360 and bumped my car against an electric pole, I felt a jerk through the console. That was an awesome feeling. Once I went to my cousins’ home and there I played on Wii. The console of Wii is a wireless controller, the Wii Remote, which can be used as a handheld pointing device and can detect movement in three dimensions. I played lawn tennis. I was able to serve, hit the balls in all the ways I could imagine. It was like playing a real game, with the console.
Today’s consoles have advanced networking capabilities. The XBOX 360 has a unique feature that allows players to compete or collaborate online. I saw my cousins playing a game along with their friends online. They were talking with each others and making strategies to win. They were also having profiles on XBOX Live and were able to chat with friends. The gaming field has really come a long way.
I remember me having a handheld LCD video game from Nintendo, GameBoy. I have put its picture here. In this game, Mario must climb a building while avoiding barrels. The player must trigger a lever on the upper screen, activating a hook, which Mario must then jump and catch. If the player succeeds, a peg will be removed and Mario will return to the starting point, but if the player does not, Mario will fall to the ground and lose a life. Removing all available pegs in this manner will cause Donkey Kong's platform to collapse, and he will fall to the ground. Though it was a simple game, it was a kind of life for me and playing it was my best past-time. Later I got a few more hand-held games, however it was an Atari’s console which was my first TV based game. All its games were arcade type. 
After the Atari, I graduated to play Contra, Mario, Super Contra, Super Mario, Road Fighter, etc. I don’t know how many 1 rupee coins had been pushed inside those console boxes by me. I don’t know how many hours I had spent in those parlors. But one thing I can say for sure that I really really enjoyed those days and I still remember them.Later on, during the college days, I did not have the privilege of buying gaming consoles. Like many others, I started playing computer games. There were many interesting games like the one where we had to handle a helicopter with mouse buttons. There was one very nice pool game. We room-mates used to make records for others to break and then again break those. For me the best and the most deeply engrossing game was ‘Need For Speed 5’. I even went to the finals of the college NFS contest. Some of my friends were mad about games like IGI, Counter Strike, Max Payne, etc.
Those were the days when, at least, I enjoyed my life the most. Every stage of game was a new day of life. Every win used to give a sense of accomplishment. Every moment spent playing was savored. Now, it’s a rat-race. No fun, no sense of accomplishment and thus no life. I made a change to this. I tried changing my life. I downloaded a free version of Mario. I now play it whenever I get free time, or you can say I try finding time to play it. I enjoy, not actually by playing it, but by somehow getting back to those days. Now no one can say “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”.
Friday, October 09, 2009
Sports teams, their names & owners
Cape Cobras inflicted a highly venomous defeat on the Royal Challengers Bangalore. No antidote was capable enough to stop the poison from the King Cobra Duminy. The crowd applauded with fireworks. What a chase! What a start to the tournament opener! I became a fan of this team (Started following it on Facebook too.).
A cricket team from Cape Town named as Cape Cobras. What a unique name! I don’t know what’s the relationship between Cape Town, Cricket and Cobras but I can say that some sports teams have very unique name. Diamond Eagles is another team in Champions League from South Africa which has an uncommon name. I guess 'Diamond' could be because of the infamous diamond mines there but why 'Eagles'. We have another team Victoria Bushrangers in the tournament. Bushrangers, were outlaws in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. Otago Volts, Sussex Sharks and Somerset Sabres have equally strange name.
If we look at the owners of some of the cricket teams in India then we will see that this group is full with either film actors or businessmen. Kolkata Knight Riders, the "Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo Re" team, is owned by Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla & Jai Mehta. Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals are partially owned by Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty respectively. The other partner of the Punjab team is Mohit Burman from Dabur and partners of the Rajasthan team are Emerging Media and Lachlan Murdoch. Deccan Chargers are owned by Deccan Chronicle, Delhi Daredevils by GMR group, Chennai Super Kings by India Cements and Mumbai Indians by Reliance Industries. Vijay Mallya of United Breweries and Kingfisher Airlines owns Royal Challengers Bangalore. Mallya’s interest does not stop at cricket only. He also owns Formula One team Force India. He sponsors the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan football clubs. He also owns the company, United Racing and Bloodstock Breeders which has interests in horse racing. It runs the Kunigal stud farm.
I suppose the trendiest team names are the NBA teams. There one team is Detroit Pistons while another is Philadelphia 76ers. There are also some other teams with funky names like Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Charlotte Bobcats, Minnesota Timberwolves, Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Hornets.
Though English football teams do not have very unusual names, their owners are pretty rich guys. Roman Abramovich, among the richest in the world, owns Chelsea. Though Arsenal's parent company is Arsenal Holdings, American sports tycoon Stan Kroenke owns a large chunk of it and another major part is owned by Alisher Usmanov. Other American businessmen like George Gillett and Tom Hicks own Liverpool Football Club and Malcolm Glazer owns Manchester United. (We have a local ManU team also, Mangalore United. It plays in the Karnataka T20 league.) Manchester City is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Ruling Family of Abu Dhabi. Fulham is owned by Mohamed Abdel Moneim Fayed, the owner of Harrods. Fayed's oldest son, Dodi had a close relationship with Diana, Princess of Wales. Both of them died in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997. There is an Indian connection with an EPL team. Queens Park Rangers Football Club is partially owned by steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal.
Sports is always interesting, both on field and off. Sometimes it is people like Mohammad Asif, who failed a dope test, and sometimes it is people like Serena Williams, because of her outburst during the US Open. There are also times when sportspersons like Kim Clijsters inspires a million and Vijender Kumar encourages a billion-strong nation. Sports has its pieces. Champions T20 League is another chapter in it. Hope it brings joy to its followers and hope my hissing reptiles ‘Cape Cobras’ win it.
A cricket team from Cape Town named as Cape Cobras. What a unique name! I don’t know what’s the relationship between Cape Town, Cricket and Cobras but I can say that some sports teams have very unique name. Diamond Eagles is another team in Champions League from South Africa which has an uncommon name. I guess 'Diamond' could be because of the infamous diamond mines there but why 'Eagles'. We have another team Victoria Bushrangers in the tournament. Bushrangers, were outlaws in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. Otago Volts, Sussex Sharks and Somerset Sabres have equally strange name.
If we look at the owners of some of the cricket teams in India then we will see that this group is full with either film actors or businessmen. Kolkata Knight Riders, the "Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo Re" team, is owned by Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla & Jai Mehta. Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals are partially owned by Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty respectively. The other partner of the Punjab team is Mohit Burman from Dabur and partners of the Rajasthan team are Emerging Media and Lachlan Murdoch. Deccan Chargers are owned by Deccan Chronicle, Delhi Daredevils by GMR group, Chennai Super Kings by India Cements and Mumbai Indians by Reliance Industries. Vijay Mallya of United Breweries and Kingfisher Airlines owns Royal Challengers Bangalore. Mallya’s interest does not stop at cricket only. He also owns Formula One team Force India. He sponsors the East Bengal and Mohun Bagan football clubs. He also owns the company, United Racing and Bloodstock Breeders which has interests in horse racing. It runs the Kunigal stud farm.
I suppose the trendiest team names are the NBA teams. There one team is Detroit Pistons while another is Philadelphia 76ers. There are also some other teams with funky names like Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Charlotte Bobcats, Minnesota Timberwolves, Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Hornets.
Though English football teams do not have very unusual names, their owners are pretty rich guys. Roman Abramovich, among the richest in the world, owns Chelsea. Though Arsenal's parent company is Arsenal Holdings, American sports tycoon Stan Kroenke owns a large chunk of it and another major part is owned by Alisher Usmanov. Other American businessmen like George Gillett and Tom Hicks own Liverpool Football Club and Malcolm Glazer owns Manchester United. (We have a local ManU team also, Mangalore United. It plays in the Karnataka T20 league.) Manchester City is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Ruling Family of Abu Dhabi. Fulham is owned by Mohamed Abdel Moneim Fayed, the owner of Harrods. Fayed's oldest son, Dodi had a close relationship with Diana, Princess of Wales. Both of them died in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997. There is an Indian connection with an EPL team. Queens Park Rangers Football Club is partially owned by steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal.
Sports is always interesting, both on field and off. Sometimes it is people like Mohammad Asif, who failed a dope test, and sometimes it is people like Serena Williams, because of her outburst during the US Open. There are also times when sportspersons like Kim Clijsters inspires a million and Vijender Kumar encourages a billion-strong nation. Sports has its pieces. Champions T20 League is another chapter in it. Hope it brings joy to its followers and hope my hissing reptiles ‘Cape Cobras’ win it.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Come Out and Play
“Come Out and Play” is the motto of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, scheduled to be held in New Delhi between 3rd and 14th October 2010. Though India has hosted Asian Games twice, in 1951 and 1982, it has never hosted the Commonwealth Games. It will be only the third developing country to host this event. Jamaica in 1966 and Malaysia in 1998 have hosted it earlier.
The Commonwealth Games is a multinational, multi-sport event, just like Olympics. It is held every four years. A total of 71 teams participated in the last Games, including 53 members of the Commonwealth of Nations. Tokelau, a dependency, is expected to take part in the 2010 Games in Delhi. The first such event, then known as the British Empire Games, was held in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada. The name changed to British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954, to British Commonwealth Games in 1970 and assumed the current name of the Commonwealth Games in 1978. There are a total of 31 sports and further 7 para-sports which are approved by the Commonwealth Games Federation. A number of optional sports may be picked by the host nation. In the last edition, a total of 4500 athletes participated in 16 sports.
Delhi became the host for the 2010 Games by defeating the Canadian city of Hamilton by 46 votes. This voting was done at CGF General Assembly in Montego Bay in November 2003. The preparations for the Games are already well underway at an estimated cost of Rs. 70 billion (US$1.4 billion). Delhi is expecting around 5,200 athletes and 1,800 officials. There are numerous civic and infrastructure projects being carried out to make Delhi a world-class city, ready to host the Commonwealth Games and guests in 2010. Delhi’s airport is being modernized, upgraded and expanded to handle the passenger traffic envisaged during the Games. Twelve new flyovers and several bridges and under-bridges have been planned to improve road connectivity with the Commonwealth Games Villages, the sports venues, and within the city. An additional 25,000 hotel rooms are being built to meet the requirements of the Games. India is also getting ready to cash in on the Commonwealth Games barrage of tourists. It is developing 20 tourist destinations.
Shera, the official mascot of the Games, is a Royal Bengal Tiger wearing a white sporting jersey and blue shorts. The Royal Bengal Tiger is the national animal of India. It is also an endangered species because of its vulnerability to habitat loss, poaching and environmental degradation. The Nineteenth Commonwealth Games promise to be Green Games. The Organizing Committee has made a commitment to ensure that the negative environmental impact of the Games is minimized. The Games will focus on waste management, forestation, anti-litter campaigns, sustainable transport, use of renewable energy sources and efficient water management.
India won a total of 50 medals, including 22 gold, in the last edition of the games in Melbourne. India’s highest medal tally was in 2002 Games when it won a total of 69 medals, including 30 gold. India has never led the medal tally. Hope as a host nation it will achieve this too.
I and many others of my age-group have never seen India hosting such a mega event other than the cricket world cup. It is a kind of first for us. I am very excited and waiting in eager anticipation to watch the Games to be held in India. I hope it becomes super-duper successful. Hope India shows its best both on the field as well as off the field in hosting it. “Atithi Devo Bhava”. India now has a chance to show that it still believes in it. Hosting a sporting event at a scale such as the Commonwealth Games is a matter of international prestige for the country, and is bound to provide a significant boost to India's global visibility, viability and the overall "brand India". India is heralded as the next world economic superpower and the 2010 Commonwealth Games will be another opportunity to project the nation on the world stage. The Games will also leave behind dramatically improved, world-class sports facilities that generations of India's athletes can use in the future. I am very thrilled about this event happening in my country and thus I try to track every development about it. And I expect that many of my fellow Indians too would be following the development.
Bolt!! We are waiting for you.
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