Here is an interesting perspective in The Economist.

Wow, what a full circle we have come, with respect to the global economic landscape? There were days when every occasional visit by a head of a Western Nation to India would be measured in terms of how big an aid cheque they would be willing to sign in favor of India.

Now, the first symbolic victory of Obama’s trip is proclaimed in the form of some 54,000 jobs he created for his own people back home and the $10 billion worth of contracts signed with Indian firms, within the first few hours of his trip.

The beggar’s bowl has definitely changed hands!

Every statesman happens to be a politician as well and no wonder, the almost lame duck president Obama has to play the politician’s role more, given the current political scenario back home and the 3 main things in his agenda are Jobs, Jobs and Jobs!

Irrespective of the economics and politics around the visit – three things stand out.

First, the politics of terror – what the Indian media and people expect is for Mr. Obama to reign in on the bad boy next door. This reminds me of how and when a principal makes a trip to the class, the meek, yet timid frontbencher would complain about the unruly bully sitting next to him. What he would love to see is the bully get a caning or two from the principal. Unfortunately, the master himself is caught perplexed on how to fix the bully.

Second, market economics – what can we buy from the US in 2010? Obviously, the American firms are eyeing the hefty defence and energy budget that is up for grabs. Fighter planes, passenger aircrafts, discarded arms and equipments, poisonous and genetically altered seeds from Monsanto or Cargil, failed automobile models from GM and Ford, junk food from Pepsi and Coke.

Worst of all opening up the Indian market space for the US Banks and Insurance firms, whose greedy creations almost brought the world to the brink of financial doomsday!

Anything that they can sell in the weak legal framework available here, that reduces their civil and criminal liability. Anything that will entice the 300 million middle class to spend or rather lead them to the same debt trap as many of the failed economies around the world.

Not to discard the innovative spirit of the Americans, but instead why not get technology transfers and investments that would benefit a growing nation and its billion people? We as a nation waste more than what we consume. Sounds atrocious, especially when millions cannot even afford a full meal a day. Why not share technologies and innovation in food processing, storage, logistics and distribution?

Technology that helps our farmers to be more productive, technology that helps us improve our sanitation and basic healthcare standards, technology that helps us lay roads that won’t disappear during every rain, innovation in the field of education, entrepreneurship?

But, as Calvin Coolidge, the 30^th US President once put it – “The business of America is business!”

Third – call it symbolism. But, how many of us really knew Mani Bhavan in Mumbai? Thanks to his reverence to Bapu, amidst all his hectic business parlays at Mumabi, Obama did find time to visit the Mahatma’s home and the First Lady was at her best, when she danced and played hopscotch with the kids assembled at the University of Mumbai.

It’s a different story that the nation has totally lost its touch for the Mahatma and the handpicked kids at the University in no way represent the true picture of the millions of poor kids in this country, who every day struggle to get one square meal or basic education!

To me, the tone of this entire test match and the series was set right on Day 1, with what happened with the Zaheer and Ponting spat. How things have come full circle in the cricketing world in couple of years? Yes, India is the No. 1 ranked team now and the Aussies trying hard to stay in the middle rung. The masters of sledging happend to be at the receiving end this time and Ponting did really look like an old war horse, gone past his prime, shaken for a moment on what has really happened.

This is the new age Indian team, with the right mix of youth and vintage class middle order batsmen, ready to fight not just with sport, but even otherwise. You need not always cross the line like the Aussies or a McEnroe or a Dennis Rodman.  But, in any competitive sport, occasional, yet controlled flare ups, just adds spice to the game. Way to go Zaks!

Other than Gambhir and the skipper, who still appears to be in a jet lag after the successful T20 Champions League campaign, their shoddy performance could have been the single biggest difference between such a close finish to a stroll in the park for India. The rest of the entire team delivered.

That does help clear some doubts about the No. 1 ranking for the Indian test team.

Not a surprise, cause seldom you see any vehicle on the road that is bruise less – if that can comfort you in any way!

The next moment, I see couple of guys smirking their way past my car and picking up speed in their 200cc bike. Not even a pause, not even any iota of concern for the damage they caused. Sure, I looked like an idiot to them, immobilized in my car and the traffic.

The dent on my ego and the inability to do anything but, fly-out some abuse made my blood pressure rise higher, than the physical damage to my vehicle and my wallet.

Welcome to the world of what I call ‘the 200cc culture’. These are the days of guys flaunting their shining bikes with alloy wheels and digital odometers, trying to zip across our roads, to mimic the stunt scenes played on those two-wheeler commercials. Of course, who cares for those tiniest of ‘do not try this at home‘ disclaimers, that are perhaps shown with the intention to make them not readable?

Remember the effervescent ‘Hamara Bajaj‘ jingle of the 80s? That is one of my favorites on those days when public broadcasting via the TV was limited only to the state run Doordarshan.  As portrayed in the commercial, the two-wheeler was a pride possession for the family, with the dad trying to balance between a kid standing in the front, gleefully enjoying the breeze, the wife on the pillion and also at times another kid stuck between the mom and dad!

There are multiple versions of that jingle.

The one I like the most, is the one where style is put in contrast to respect for human dignity. A youth pausing his bike for a moment to utter a prayer to a street corner Ganesha idol, couple of youth in their bikes twirling across to not disturb a colorful rangoli on the street, a guy seeking forgiveness the moment his foot touches a fellow biker.

Unique Indianess, Elegance and Human Values, shown coexisting beautifully. Isn’t that life after all, in a civilized society?

These are the times of a fast paced world, a country that appears to be outpacing the rest of the globe in GDP numbers and claiming improved economic and living conditions for its citizens.

If Vespa, Lamby and Chetak were the ones to don the roads couple of decades back, it is the time for a Pulsar, Flame, Wind, Storm, and Hunk. Names – very much synonymous with the time and the highflying youth of our times, yet caught in the harsh reality to coexist peacefully with a huge mass of people.

Two decades later, how far we have come and how much has life changed and in this transformation, where did we lose sight of fundamental discipline that forms the basis for peaceful human coexistence?

Crowded roads with people fighting for every inch of it and fragile infrastructure that has not really caught up with the changing times. So are the people of the times, zipping past their new toys with zero tolerance for the limitations we have to live with.

We are caught in the mad rush of fast lane life ignoring the basic needs of a civic society. It appears as though, over the times, what has changed is the economic affordability, but not the affordability to coexist peacefully.

‘Hamara kal, hamara aaj’ – Yes, of course.

‘Buland Bharat ki Buland tasweer’ – I am not sure!

Thanks to our prime time media, which played a happy host to anyone who is associated with the game in any form, anything that can beef up its TRP ratings and the market economics, these days, anything that carries any significance to our life turns out to be ‘Breaking News’ or the first item in prime time news.

Coming back to the debate on the cricketing failure – be it the late night parties sapping the energy levels of the players or the questionable fitness levels as claimed by some unpublished report or the choice of priorities of some of the key players – falling prey to a club’s cause over the nation’s cause, or just a coincidental poor run of sorts, few things intrigued me in this whole drama.

1. If you are a stranger to the game and have followed closely what has been debated upon in prime time television the past few days, you would be baffled over whether we were talking about few individuals’ contribution to a sporting event or a nation’s cause in a war!  Why do we elevate the results of a lowly cricket tournament to the glorious heights of causing a nation’s defame, as if our cricketers personify the entire nation’s dignity and pride. It’s a sport, stupid!

2. Next comes the question of the freedom of choice for a player – to choose between representing his club’s interests, to that of wearing the national colors.

History gives us many examples. There was once the Dream Team of the USA, comprising the basket ball greats like Michael Jordan, which was also from the pool of the best of talent from the NBA. It is not the Dream Team anymore and today there are lots of nations – totally less in the glamour quotient – who can beat the best of breed from the NBA.

Similar is the case with the English soccer team, who are such an amazing collection of supreme individual talents, have not got any success when playing together for the national side, in any of the recent FIFA world cup events. More importantly, neither does it make any of the players frowned upon as an anti-national and the citizens burning their effigies.

IPL – for that matter any professional league is at a very nascent stage in this country. Turning Pro would not necessarily mandate you play with the same vigor for your nation and nor have many of us come in terms with the hefty paychecks of these sports men and their elevation to instant stardom.

With so much economics at stake, soon, the employers might have the right to decide how a player expends his talent. Man U had a big say in Rooney making a comeback from his injury and playing for the English national side in the 2006 world cup.

For that matter, unlike the other sporting bodies in this country, BCCI is not a federal sport body to live on taxpayer’s money, for the public to have any rightful expectations over its cricketers.

3. The issue lies more with us than with the team – in how we react to any situation. Remember the open roof top bus cavalcade that was given to the same team after we won the 2001 world cup? Remember, when Sachin’s effigy was burnt and poor Mohammed Kaif’s house was stoned after the 2003 world cup debacle?

It is the same cricketing public and the media that orchestrated an over-reaction to a sporting victory and now calling for the heads of the players!

4. Now, coming to the present state of our game of cricket and the players we all love.

Don’t’ forget we are the No.1 Test team and No.2 ODI team. Many of the players in the current T20 team are very much part of that magical run, not to undermine the contributions of the biggies like Dravid, Sachin, Laxman and Kumble.

If we have few niggles to fix with the short-pitched deliveries or our fielding skills send them back to the schools to address those. We don’t have a choice, but to nurture these young talents, if at all we believe in the future.

Thanks to a flat world, there are quite a few talented cricketers in this country or abroad (throw the money and BCCI can line-up the best of the breed from any corner of the world) who can help us overcome these deficiencies. The great Viv Richards already said he is ready to help out.

5. The worst of all is, few people asking for Dhoni’s head. Yes, this is one of his most disappointing shows as a leader. But, how can we be so myopic? Just few weeks back, he led his amazing CSK to win the IPL title and cricketing pundits all over the world were raving over this captain cool.

Let some sanity prevail on what we react to and how we react!

Not that, I am a recluse or handicapped by technology. But, little could I reason out the need for a Orkut or a LinkedIn or a Facebook or the recent addiction of many – to Tweet. I do Blog occasionally, to rant my thoughts out on the world around me. But, never did I see a reason to expose my personal self – or rather stay connected – via an Orkut or Facebook.

While I do savor the true merits of social networking, and blogging and twitting have revolutionized freedom of expression in a flat world and anyone in any corner of the globe gets heard on anything and stay connected.

But, I do feel, these days people go a little overboard on what they offer on a public domain. What was once considered a taboo to pry onto someone’s privacy is now being offered on a platter. Why would anyone be interested in what you eat or what you wear or to let some stranger take a peek of what happens in your den?

More than the legit coterie of people who stay connected and hobnob, I feel, these websites get more traffic from strangers, whose random walk down a social networking site is nothing more than what has become an accepted form of voyeurism.

The self propaganda of ‘I am this … I am that … I read this … I did this … I’m doing this …’ goes in perfect marriage with souls trying to pry ‘Who is this … Who does what …’.

Having snubbed by one of my friend’s recent comment ‘What, you are not there in LinkedIn?’- sounded more of a disgrace than anything – I opened an account and started updating my profile with few other details. I am LinkedIn now!

I could see the true merit of social networking, to resurrect some broken connections, where the traditional offline modes like eMail or the telephone were of little help.

The last 2 weeks have been a revelation to me – many of the people I know – my colleagues, both past and current and a whole bunch of friends with whom I lost touch are LinkedIn.

But, so are many of them – social networking agnostic – who I could not trace within LinkedIn – but still, I know they are very much sociable!

Agreed we are living in difficult times, and you could draw parallel of the current Indo-Pak thaw to that of the 1984 Olympics or the Munich games, where the political and contemporary reasons reign over the sport itself.

But, why cant the sport be the great leveller, as it is proclaimed quite often? If India has been one of the largest victim of terror in recent times, so is Pakistan and it so appears that the devil let out of its leash, is out of control on both the nations. Unless some common sense prevails across the leadership of both the nations, both the countries will continue to pay a high price.

If this nation could lend a helping hand to the late Wasim Akram’s wife and one of the IPL franchise is more than happy to take the same legend’s service as a bowling coach, why can’t a Pakistani play the game as well?

You can justify saying, the IPL is deprived of the Pakistanis, on the same lines as many of the current greats playing the game. But, I think, a Sohail Tanveer – the purple cap winner of the 1st edition of the IPL – not finding any taker, is quite intriguing indeed and reflects the extent to which things have changed over the last two years!

Agreed Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth is truly spectacular in depicting the dooms day lying ahead of us and so is my town’s weather that is becoming increasingly stupider with its extra heat and cold. I sure can see gas guzzlers all over the streets and hardly anything can stop my country’s ever-growing middle-class families. Many of them are first generation car owners in a society, where owning a car does showcase your strata, and they are yet to be petrified by the perils of traffic or parking nightmares.

Is this turning out into a Convenient Opportunity? While we are struggling to get hybrid automobiles and alternate energy sources into our lifestyle, there are hordes of consulting companies and agencies ready to share their wisdom on measuring my carbon footprint to predicting the doomsday to advising how Green you can get!

On that note came this interesting topic by Jim Heskett in HBS and with my comments on that.

The world’s wealthiest cricket administration body, with speculations rife about it planning to relocate the ICC headquarters to Mumbai, to suit it’s to be anointed big boss!

Home of the biggest money spinner in the game so far – the IPL – whose riches even makes the once rested cricketers to pick up their craft and has perhaps ushered in an era of players choosing between turning ‘Pros’, over wearing the national colors.

Home to some of the most decorated athletes in the game – be it a Sachin, Sunny, Kapil, Kumble, Viru or an MSD.

Most important, the craziest of fans and an even bigger TV audience, whose market size and commercial implications can outbid any number of countries put together.

Think of the flip side.

Have you ever watched a match in any of our cricket stadiums recently? Compare the viewing experience in any of our stadia to that of a beautiful Capetown or a majestic MCG or the picturesque Queenstown or the pristine Lords. Agreed, the atmosphere is definitely electric in front of a packed Eden Gardens or the knowledgeable crowd of Chepauk or the equally remarkable Brabourne stadium in our country. But, they are poles apart in game experience.

In this modern era, where a sport is also offered as an entertainment, the experience that is offered to the fans, as an end consumer, is what matters the most. Take the case of a Boxing Day test match at MCG or the great American pastime in Fenway Park or the Yankee Stadium or a ball game at Madison Square Garden – there is much more to the game and it is the magical evening experience that you pay for!

Many of our cricket stadia are nothing but concrete jungles with barbed wires separating the viewing public from the playing eleven. Almost all the stadia – including the big ones like Chepauk and Eden Gardens lack basic amenities, like clean restrooms, hygienic food and emergency safety exits. Given the security climate we are in, you are left to the mercy of the pathetic hawkers, who sell water packets and few unhealthy savouries, amidst the din created by a maddening crowd. Leave alone the fact that, it is a nightmare to even think of finding your car and your way back home through the traffic maze post a cricket match.

Coming back to the facts. Why is it so difficult for the cricket administrators of this filthy rich franchise – whose books are blessed non-accessible for any accounting norms in this country – to provide these basic sporting facilities, if not be the pioneers in game innovation?

As consumers, aren’t we entitled for any of these? But, just like anything else in this country, who cares? As proclaimed by the IPL boss himself last year, a big chunk of the revenue comes from the TV advertisement slots and who cares much about the poor sloths who venture into our stadia to watch the games?

Reason, the so called cricket boards are manned by the same corrupt politicians who rule this country. Many of them are so inept to even to tell the difference between deliveries bowled around the wicket to over the wicket. Not that you need to be an exceptional athlete in your sport to administer the affiliate – a very successful Bernie Ecclestone or a David Stern merit this argument.

BCCI has grown from couple of millions of revenue a decade ago to close to 200+ million now. Where does all this money go and what interest the politicians might have on the game, other than the luscious greenback that shrouds the game. As we saw the day before, the DDCA meeting convened to discuss the pitch fiasco was nothing more than a fist fight we see in our parliament.

What puzzles me more is this? Leave alone the hapless cricket fans of this country, who could only vent out their anger by pulling down banners and destroying the chairs in the stadium, what happened to some of the most decorated cricketers of this country?

What makes them keep mum on this sorry state of affairs of their very own breadwinner? Other than the recent Sehwag spat against the Delhi selectors, an unsuccessful rebel league from Kapil Dev and few occasional utterances from Gavaskar, none of them seem to care much. Why is it so? Who is so Big – the game, the players or the administrators? Why is it not right to question your bosses?

Unfortunately, in a country of our size with such divergence of opinion and with no dearth of issues every day, our memory is so fickle and we learn to move on. Soon, it would be ‘What happened in Delhi?’ It is this amnesia that energizes our politicians.

Have you been on the receiving end or listened to anyone giving this, what I call as a 5-minute alibi, for their time commitment, when you know for sure, the 300 seconds – is a good amount of time to accomplish many a thing in this world – for sure would not suffice the activity in hand?

“You said you will be here by 9:00 AM, where are you?”

“I am caught in the traffic, sir. Will be there in 5 minutes!”

“So, how long this will this thing take?”

“5 minutes sir, it will be ready!”

During a recent train ride, I happened to eavesdrop over a mobile phone conversation of my co-passenger. We are at least 3 stations before the final halt and I have no idea, from that final destination, where he has to go to meet his client.

“Sir, will be there in 10 minutes sir.”

“…”

“hehe, no sir, just 5 more minutes, I will see you. hehe”

He shut off his phone, without a semblance of remorse for what he just committed.

First of all, from where we were to where he has to go, I cannot understand how that 10 minutes got reduced into 5 minutes, unless my friend has got the super natural power to speed up the train or fly out like a Superman!

Jokes apart, the point is that, when it comes to Time, I can’t believe why on earth we commit something, which we know for sure we cannot meet. Or, how did we lose significance of the units of time and started pulling numbers out of thin air. But, we all do that quite naturally.

Many a time, I have been a victim of these false jives, watching my 2 an 5 minutes promises turn up into hours, waiting for my fellow individual to show up.

This is not limited to individuals alone. Have you listened to the continuous machinated rants in our railway stations?

“Train No. 1234, bound for … will arrive shortly on platform number…”.

Unable to comprehend the term ‘shortly’, I keep waiting and even cross the dreaded, yet obscure, yellow line to take a peek into rail track. After a good 15-20 minutes, there you have the divine emergence of the black monster, chugging at its own pace, perhaps, based on the mood of the engine driver.

Agreed, we live in a complex world, and the infrastructural deficiencies add up to the error factor. But, most often, without making any attempt to predict the actual, we end up erring by a huge margin.

It is always the case of, throw some number and care less of the reality, with the modern day time machine dangling around our wrists more for ornamental reasons.