Rest in peace, Wings of Fire

Today is a sad day for India. India has lost the most beloved president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. Dr. Kalam a renowned scientist, who later became the president of India. His contribution in every field is well known. He was known as Missile Man of India. But, behind this, his views were clear. He don't wanted missile to attack neighboring countries, but, because it requires strength to stand up to another strength. His work as a part of DRDO and ISRO is commendable. His contribution towards the Pokharan nuclear test  is beyond the boundaries of a scientist.

In his form, probably for the first time, India got a president with acclaimed scientific background. He was never called a president of a party, but, in real sense was the president of India.

He was probably one of the few who actually deserved a Bharat Ratna.

Yesterday, even during his last few hours, he was involved in sharing his vast experience with the audience. At that time, he collapsed.

He was an inspiration to all and especially to scientists like us, who need a ray of hope to survive out of their day to day failures in scientific research. He was the one who actually brought President's position in limelight and made people believe that President's position in not just for show, but, it actually has some rights and say in decision making.

This is a big loss we all are suffering, which can never be filled. Even at the age of 83, we feel, it was too early for him to leave us. A person, we all needed to look up for inspiration.

IPL: 2 year suspension of CSK and RR

 A very strong decision came out yesterday when CSK and RR, two teams from IPL were suspended for 2 years. This all happened thanks to the owners of these two teams Mayappan of CSK and Raj Kundra of RR. While being an owner of a team, these two people were involved in betting to make some extra cash. It is really saddening to see IPL going down the drain with every new year.

Personally, I really liked the concept of IPL. I followed it, I favored it, I supported it. I founf IPL as a place where new upcoming players will get a chance to showcase their talents, where oldies after retirement will get one last chance to try their hands on bat and ball, where some of the talented players who never got a chance to appear in India XI can make some money before hanging their boots and dreams of playing for the country.

This was the concept which made me support it. The way IPL started was also awesome. But slowly some where things started going wrong right from the second year. Biggest controversy at that time was the treatment given to Dada ( Saurav Ganguly). It was shocking to see the treatment given to him. At the same time, another legend VVS Laxman was also experiencing similar ignorance from his team.

Slowly, things started getting dirtier. More and more of senior players were ignored. Even Rahul Dravid had to change his team. But he proved himself by making RR one of the most consistent side in IPL.

And then this idea of fixing started entering minds of few people. Some where it was said that few matches were fixed, but it did not get proved. Instead, there were some instances of spot fixing which were proved and some of the players were involved in this scam. One of the biggest names was Shrisanth. It was really shocking to see him involved in this fixing.

But the story was only half told till this point. When more pages were turned, bigger names started coming out. And out of some of these pages, appeared the names of Mayappan and Raj Kundra.

Now that their involvement has been proved beyond doubt, its their team which is going feel the heat. There are many players from CSK and RR who do not know, how can they be part of IPL any more. It is no big issue for a player like Dhoni or Ashwin. They are big names and have relatively easier path to walk. But some upcoming players like Samson or Binny or for that matter Rahane who were doing good with in the working culture of RR (groomed by Dravid). But, they will find it difficult to get a place in other team. Their way of playing may not be appreciated by other teams. Just like Pujara, who other wise is a fantastic player but has no place in IPL ( instead he was playing in County cricket during that season), these players may also end up staying away from IPL. The way Praveen Tambe at the age of 42 could make an entry playing for RR and leave a mark in IPL, I do not think other teams would have tried him at all.

All such things will come to an end because of suspension of two teams. By the time they will be allowed to play, many such talents would have lost their chance to prove themselves.

 

Greece exit averted: For now!

So, Greece succeeded in cracking a deal with European Union and got a bail out and a growth package. Overall it looks like Greece negotiated very well and got a lot more in spite of its situation being at the receiving end. Of course, EU wants some tough stance to be taken by Greece so that situation may at some point of the time normalize.

One of the important aspect asked by EU to Greece is to bring in laws to reform its economy. This will include some heavy decisions to be on the pension scheme and the tax revenue.

EU also expects Greece to liberalize the labor market.

It also expects privatization of electricity networks in the country.

There is also an expectation to keep the shops  open for a longer time, some how making people to spend money and let money come in market, which otherwise is hiding in people's trunk.

EU also wants Greece to design a systematic methodology including formation of a trust fun, a short term bridge financing  to avoid bankruptsy.

In return, EU will do all possible things to keep Greece with in EU. It will also be taking help of IMF in providing assistance to the country.

 

All said and done, the worse is not over, just postponed for some more time. Surprisingly, this deal had a positive effect on our stock market. Though, the fall wasn't that significantly observed during the fall out few days back, the positive approach has really boosted the stock market. For a change, after a long time, the market was appearing green.

Lets see how things take turns in future. It is too early too speculate anything, but according to me, it will be a miracle, if Greece will come out of bankruptsy and stabilize its society in near future.
For clearer understanding of the negotiated conditions, follow this link
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33504487

 

 

Greece: Twist in the tale

The Greece story is writing new pages in history. This is a story which started a lot earlier by started creating interest since say 2011. Lot of things started happening back then. Check these pages of the story.

At some point of the time, the story apparently was coming to an end, probably a happy ending. But all was not well. Greece, on one hand was running short of money, but, on the other hand, do not wanted to reduce the level of their standards of living.  This was the point of conflict of interest.

The European Union (EU) wanted to put restrictions which will make Greece thrifty. But, Greece do not want to compromise with their standard of living. Greece, major part of expenditure is associated with the Pension schemes. EU wanted to bring this expenditure under control. A lot has been happening on this front.

Finally, yesterday, the people of Greece voted for decision whether to accept European Union's conditions. Based on this it will be decided whether EU will decide whether to continue helping Greece or to let them leave EU.

 

Result of the voting is out now and people of Greece have decided to stand against the conditions being imposed by EU. They are apparently ready to leave EU and accept the condition bankruptcy.

There is another angle to this decision taken by people of Greece. With this decision, Greece probably will be in a condition where they will negotiate with EU to relax the conditions put on them. EU as such do not want any of the country to leave. Because if Greece leaves, there are other countries including Spain, Ireland, Portugal waiting in line and then EU will kind of become meaningless.

 

It will interesting to see now, how this story unfolds in future. The next few pages of the story are going to be very interesting and probably effecting every one of us in some or the other way.

 

Panga lena sikho!

This advertisement reminded of initial days of IPL when some interesting ads would start making round making people's neck turn, wait for a minute and watch an advertisement. Even a funny take on the game would make it a hit. Looks like, just as IPL became a big hit, this league of our Desi sport Kabaddi has started gaining popularity. That is the reason why such an ad could be created.

This latest advertisement for Prokabaddi league made me wait and watch it. Initially I did not understand what is happening and appeared some thing just funny. But when it was connected to Prokabbadi league towards the end, it got fixed in mind that Prokabaddhi league is starting soon. I feel this is the best way to reach to people and make them realize about a event. Had the ad been presented in any other fashion, I probably would not have paid any attention. But this is a good development and it will help attracting more people to watch the game.

I enjoyed this ad a lot and that's why sharing with you all.

Watch it at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9va9LJkjBT0

incase the embedded video is not working.