Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Central A/C for a city

Bangalore is centrally air - conditioned. Middle of summer in most parts of India - but Bangalore is an unbelievable 24 degs at noon, and a chilly and nippy 18 at night. No a/c required, no fans needed, blankets are out in full force and early morning walkers wear jumpers and woolen mufflers!
Take that, Mumbai/Delhi/Chennai and bloody Hyd!

ODI Facts of Life

India lost 4-1 to the no-hopers Windies in the Carribean, and much breast beating has started, including the now-familiar cries to bring back Ganguly, Kapil Dev and CK Nayadu. So a team that had a stupendous ODI run in the recent past has been brought back to ground level with this 'shock' defeat. However here are a few facts of life in the ODI version for India:

- ODIs are not very predictable. On your day, you can win, irrespective of how good or bad you/your opposition is. It is just the way it is - unless you are Australia, wherein you win much much more than you lose because you are so bloody good.
- India are always very very strong in home conditions. Remember, the great ODI winning streak was accomplished in India (V SL and SA), Pakistan (pitches similar to Indian ones) and back in India V England. India are historically not so good at adopting away from home.
- India is not alone in being unable to adopt away from home - again, except for Aus, most other teams struggle while travelling.
- India has a very inexperienced team. The bowling attack is young and green, and the batting is not that much different. They will need time and experience of losing overseas to pull up socks.
- India looks much more fitter on the field than ever before. The buzz is better, the fielding is sharper, and they look like a team.

In summary, what I have been trying to say here is that India are not as good as the home results indicated, nor as bad as the Windies loss denotes. We are a middling team, along with a bunch of other teams - but still a far way away from Australia at their best. However, we are looking up - a young team that can only get better as they learn more. We can win the World Cup, and so can a bunch of other teams. The blocks are in place to be built upon for March 2007, and the rest us upto that elusive commodity called LUCK.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

The other India

You and I don't belong to the real India. We are 'First/Second World' citizens living in a Fourth World country. Well, a significant majority of our wonderfully diverse country is Fourth World. When I say you and I, I mean people who have the time, money and ability to access the damn Internet and blog on crazy topics that don't mean a thing to a billion of my fellow countrymen.

Read this great article in the Business Standard if you don't get what I mean. Some stats from the piece that puts the whole reservation thing into a very different perspective:

- 49% of ALL births in India happen to girls below the age of 20! How shocking is that? How absolutely pathetic is that?
- 125 million (!!!) children have near zero access to any school education. So much for a shining India and an economy growing at 8% p.a.
- Atleast 60 million children do not have access to two meals a day.
- 49% of Mumbai, India's richest city with land prices rivaling New York and London, live in slums!

Shocking, mind numbing and I feel ashamed. Can I do something about it? Can you? Just a little?

Monday, May 08, 2006

Bizzare end to the Premier League

Spurs and Arsenal were in a neck-to-neck race to finish 4th in the EPL - thereby securing the last slot to play the Champions League next season, potentially worth over 30 million pounds to either club. Yesterday was photo-finish day and as it stood, if Spurs had won away at West Ham, whatever Arsenal did would not have been enough. However, in a crazy turn of events usually not associated with one of the most professional sports leagues in the world, 10 members of the Spurs football team got up sick in the tummy! And all this after staying in a plush hotel in London at 400 pounds a night. Of course it is unfortunate, but begs the question - on perhaps the club's MOST important day ever, how could an entourage of professional dieticians, coaches and the like allow this to happen? Goes to show that sometimes, SHIT JUST HAPPENS!

Anyhow, as it turned out, Arsenal won handsomely at Highbury (last game there incidentally) on the back of a fantastic Henry hat-trick, and Spurs looked downbeat as they lost 2-1, thereby relinquishing their 4th position. The unkindest cut of all of course was that Arsenal are their absolute arch-rivals - who hate losing out to each other more than most. Poor old Spurs - who now have to wait another season to have a go.

I can't help thinking about the uproar if something like this happened in India to a visiting team like England. All hell would have broken loose and the sub-continent would have been branded as the worst place to tour after Siberia! As I said, sometimes it just happens, even in 5-star hotels in London.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

India was Australia's Ashes? Really?

So claims Hayden anyway. Read this interview where he talks about the actual Ashes, how "God" in the form of an errant Duke ball played a significant part, and also about India. One small part of me was chuffed to read how important the India tour of 2004 was to Hayden and the Aussies - it really was a mission for them, surely the Final Frontier. They did remarkably well against an Indian team that was probably playing from memory of two remarkable series (Aus 2003-04 and Pak 2004). I was intrigued to check out Hayden's averages for the series - just 30 with one 50, a far cry from his previous India visit in 2001 where he became Matt the Bat. So for him to rate the 2004 series as one of the best memories speaks volumes for what it meant to the Aussies. So that accounts for the chuffed bit.

Of course the other larger part of me couldn't help but think how we have slid as a Test side since the 2004 Pak tour. Many in the team probably thought in their minds that a draw in Australia and a win in Pak meant mission accomplished. Aus came much better prepared than ever before, board politics raised its ugly head during that series, and perhaps that was the beginning of the end of the Ganguly-Wright era. This triple whammy hastened the slide, which we haven't recovered from. An unpardonable series draw against Pak at home and a loss away, and an unbelievable series draw against England B means that we are now miles away from being the Test squad that Hayden and the Aussies so respected and wanted to beat. Heck, we are not even a strong force at home these days!

Sure, the ODI revival is very commendable. The team looks young and refreshed, and we have enough utility players to be serious contenders for the World Cup, the ONLY ODI tournament that really matters, to me anyway. Test match victories are the real thing - they last longer in memory and are especially sweet when achieved overseas. Adelaide 2003, Sydney 2004, Pak 2004, Headingley - these moments are what give me the buzz, of course along with WC South Africa 2003. I was too young when India last won a Test series outside the subcontinent ('86 England) - so I desperately hope and pray that we get back to the Summer of 2004, when we were really Australia's Ashes!

Premier League rights get sold

The EPL rights for 3 seasons starting 2007-08 concluded, with Sky and Setanta sharing the spoils. For people unfamiliar with the topic, Sky has held a complete monopoly on EPL broadcasting ever since the Premier League started 13-14 years back. However, with England part of the EU, the Premier League was forced by the EU to break up the rights to ensure that all the rights do not end up with one broadcaster. Many expected Virgin-NTL to win atleast 1 package, but the Irish company Setanta has walked away with 2 packages, thereby getting the rights to broadcast 46 games. Sky gets to broadcast the remaining 92, importantly including the 38 first picks.

The overall package went for a staggering 1.7 billion GBP, a growth of nearly 70% over the last 3 year deal. This apparently includes rights for all media - it is now upto Sky and Setanta to monetize broadband rights etc for their packages.

Amazing that when there is a huge hue and cry in England regarding the ECB's sell-out to Sky that resulted in cricket disappearing from terrestrial TV, there was not a whimper when the entire EPL rights went to two subscriber-driven pay channels. Sky does not come cheap - Sky Sports will set you back by 40 GBP a month for 12 months, and that does not guarantee all EPL games as well. You will have to cough up atleast 7 pounds a game for over 50 games on Prem Plus on a pay-per-view. Setanta will not be any cheaper, but the English seem prepared to pay, and watch. But that's the power of the game. Can cricket in England also command such consumer buying power?

Friday, May 05, 2006

Mysore, get ready

You won't know what hit you as IT-rich Bangaloreans will hit you with all our might. We will take your roads, your real estate, your hotels and your cute tonga gaadis. We will bump up prizes sky-high, making anything unaffordable to anyone but the Maharaja and the geeks. Your maids will demand twice the money for half the work, and your sons and daughters will start dating at 14 1/2. No more sleepy afternoons sipping chai and sutta please, 'cos we will demand world class service at dirt cheap labour rates. Mysore, get ready to get raped!

We know, because Bangalore went through exactly the same thing some 10 years ago. Bangaloreans are still gasping for air that does not exist thanks to the mega boom in the city. Now, with the Bangalore Mysore road much better than ever in its history and the BMIC roads coming up, Mysore will become another extension of that monster city called Bangalore.

Mysore, beware!
Sigh!

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

God I love Bangalore #1

The weather in Bangalore is a major attraction. I simply love the weather here, which I believe is the best in the world - never tooo hot, and never tooo cold. Take this week for example - temperatures touched boiling - 37 degs for the last few days. Just when we all thought it was getting unbearable, it is raining now - bringing the overall temp down many notches. God, I love Bangalore.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Ah to be in England now

...and to read screaming headlines about the state of English football. Last week must have been from editorial heaven for the press hounds in England, what with:

- The FA surprisingly offering the England manager job to Luis Scolari of Brazil, only to be famously turned down by the non-English speaking manager. He actually cited the English press and the constant intrusions as one of the major reasons for rejecting the offer.
- Chelsea winning the Premier League twice in succession, only for their unbelievable manager to throw two medals (the original and a replacement one) right into the stands during the victory ceremony, and then going on to announce that Chelsea was the worst club in the world to manage! Only Mourinho can do this, and are the English journos loving it or what?
- Rooney going ahead and doing what every single English football fan was dreading for the last 6 months - getting himself injured with 6 weeks to go for the first World Cup in many years where England had a decent chance. Without Rooney however, it could only be one thing - Disaster - as Gerrard put it mildly.

It's all happening in England right now, and the World Cup has not even started.

Last chance for a significant overseas win?

Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Kumble and Laxman have been the core of the Indian Test team for over a decade. While these guys have been at the top of their game and have been acknowledged the world over for their abilities, the one big gaping hole in their CV is a significant overseas Test series win. No, Zimbabwe does not count, and Pakistan '04 is still sub-continent.

I am certain these gentlemen feel it more than most - Tendulkar may have been the best batsman in the world over the past 15 years, but the dearth of away wins takes away some sheen from his reputation. Same with Dravid, perhaps the best No.3 in the world in a long time. Of course, the reasons are plenty - foremost among them being the lack of bowling firepower and batting nous on pitches where the ball bounces and seams more than at home. However, history won't bother going into details - it will go by the dismal away record and hold it against these great cricketers.

Of the 5, Ganguly has been discarded, but the others are still in with a chance to rectify the record. The upcoming West Indies tour may perhaps be really India's best chance to notch up a significant overseas win. Critics will claim that beating the Windies is not what it used to be, but for an underachieving team like India, it will count as a major achievement. Dravid got it right when he said India cannot go into this tour as favourites - simply because they have never managed to pull it together overseas. Bar the Aussie tour in 2004 where they were breathtaking against a McGrath and Warne-less Australia, they have let themselves down badly.

So a series win in the Carribean will be a significant achievement for the team. Also, this tour gains lot more importance because it may well be the last chance for the Indian stars to win anything away from home. India tour South Africa in Dec this year, and even the most ardent Indian fan cannot hope that India will win there. The pitches there are bouncy and pacy, and India is still not equipped enough to handle that. India tour England in June 2007, and England will start that series as huge favourites. India then tour Aus in Dec 2007, and Aus at home are simply awesome.

If you consider the age, career stage and circumstances of Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Kumble, I don't see most of them carrying on after Dec 2007 - which means this Windies tour could really be their last real chance! Will this be on their minds? You bet! Will they dig deep and pull India through?

Absurd land prices in Mumbai

I fell off my chair when I read this some days back - an apartment in Nariman Point Mumbai was apparently sold at a rate of Rs. 60,000 a square foot! Just close your eyes and imagine 1 square foot area - enough for you to keep, well, one foot in it. 1333$ for that piece of land is nothing short of stupid, wherever in the world, let alone Mumbai.

The city has a few things going for it perhaps, but a lot going against it. Mumbai definitely is not worth such high prices. How can anyone afford it in a city of 13 million where over 75% can only dream of clean drinking water and a roof on their head?

It happens only in India!