I was scared to go to Mumbai, almost a year after I last went there. That day was July 26th - when the famous cloudburst took place. That day I spent 17 hours in a taxi, without a drop of water to drink, nowhere to piss and nothing to eat. That was perhaps the most taxing day of my life, but I couldn't help but look at with awe and more than a bit of shame (cos I was gutless!) as millions of people waded in waist deep/chest deep water with dead snakes and buffalos for company to go home to their kids and ailing parents!
Mumbai's infrastructure was woefully exposed, nowhere more so than the airport, where I spent a further 12 hours sitting on a trolley - stinking like the dead buffalo I saw floating on water some hours back.
However, the airport today has undergone a reasonable transformation. The departure gates look swanky, an Internet cafe actually works, there is choice for food and coffee, and it does not look like a cattleshed anymore. So well done, whoever was responsible. I had read somewhere that no more work would be done on this because they had given out the modernization rights to an international consortium. Evidently not, and thank goodness for that.
Even the roads were much better than I last saw them - no traffic jams today - and I travelled from the airport to Colaba and back twice over. Mumbai seems to be slowly but surely getting its act together again - or did I compare today with perhaps Mumbai's WORST ever day last year?
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Saturday, April 22, 2006
The ideal coaching structure
Prem Panicker is terrific - he has clarity of thought that few possess. Read his post on Cricinfo - especially the bit about coaching. Copy - pasting that bit here - nice, simple and quite easy to implement, if anyone cared to. What we have instead is a hapazard coaching structure, good in a few states, terrible in most others, and no consistent structure to evaluate and rank prospects.
...a good starting point would be to implement and fine tune a pyramidal
coaching structure, with the schools, colleges, maidans and local leagues as the
broad base, and age-limit, district and state-level teams the stepping stones to
the top.
Today, systematic coaching begins only at age-level cricket, or later,
by which point you've learnt all the bad habits anyway, and you've left the
coach nothing to do but tinker. Against that, consider a system where there is
one national coach. Under him, and interacting with him on a regular basis, the
state coaches; under this second tier, the district coaches; under each district
coach, assistant coaches in charge of school, college and league-level cricket.
The benefit of such a system is in uniformity – since each tier works
in close cooperation with the one immediately above, players working their way
up the ranks won't find themselves spun around in circles, encountering new
methods at every step. The obvious add-on to that is continuity. The
direction of a national coaching academy cannot be a political favor handed out
in return for votes; surely it is ridiculous that the NCA has, since its
inception, had its chief changed after every BCCI election? The director needs
to be a paid professional, appointed for a specified duration, given a clear
brief, and the authority to carry it out; with that responsibility comes its
corollary, accountability.
The academy needs to be a year-round enterprise – a school that
functions for a fortnight or a month in a year is not likely to throw up
scholars of any quality in any discipline; cricket is no exception to that rule.
The national academy needs to plug in to the others dotting the countryside.
Coaching today has been turned into a cottage industry by former players, all
lobbying their respective state governments for land and facilities, setting up
their own little operations and doing their own thing irrespective. Which is
fine – but a national academy at the head of a loose confederacy of such private
enterprise could be the logical next step.
Friday, April 21, 2006
I have seen India's future
I saw it in Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon. The infrastructure in "New" Delhi is good, and I can see visible signs of it getting even better. Flyovers actually get done, roads actually get widened, and street lights really work. The metro is apparently on par with the best in the world, and with reach and coverage improving, more and more people will start using it. The Delhi - Greater Noida Taj Expressway (6 lanes each way) is on par with anything I have seen anywhere in the world, and the AIIMS flyover better than any other flyover I have ever seen. Gurgaon office buildings and malls could really be in Hong Kong/London/Melbourne.
A Delhi veteran was telling me that the first major improvement in Delhi occured leading up to the Asian Games in 1982. The next wave is now, again leading up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Sport as economic driver - fantastic, just fantastic!
A Delhi veteran was telling me that the first major improvement in Delhi occured leading up to the Asian Games in 1982. The next wave is now, again leading up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Sport as economic driver - fantastic, just fantastic!
Thursday, April 13, 2006
A true Kannada icon
True blue Kannada icons are hard to come by - and there was no one bigger than Dr. Rajkumar. After struggling for the past couple of years due to a weak knee and heart, the megastar passed away yesterday.
Critics have questioned his contribution to society, and have carped upon the fact that he could have done much more. My counter is this - how many people in this world have the power to provide 3 hours of joy multiple times over to 50 million (5 crore) people? Whatever anyone does is never enough, but to his credit, he has done more than most to bring some joy to people, and united a large population desperately looking for a leader. And while his superstar peers, MGR and NTR took the political route and did enough harm, Dr. Raj shunned politics when all he had to do to become Karnataka CM was say yes.
Generations have grown up watching his movies, and his talent and dedication is undisputed. I remember some of his movies, but I remember his songs that much more. He has been a part of my growing up. It is common knowledge that his sons have damaged the Kannada film industry, but Dr. Raj himself has never been tainted by any scandal, always dignified and humble. I am no rabid fan of his, but I felt bad yesterday. We may never see anyone like him again.
He meant something to all of us in Karnataka.
Critics have questioned his contribution to society, and have carped upon the fact that he could have done much more. My counter is this - how many people in this world have the power to provide 3 hours of joy multiple times over to 50 million (5 crore) people? Whatever anyone does is never enough, but to his credit, he has done more than most to bring some joy to people, and united a large population desperately looking for a leader. And while his superstar peers, MGR and NTR took the political route and did enough harm, Dr. Raj shunned politics when all he had to do to become Karnataka CM was say yes.
Generations have grown up watching his movies, and his talent and dedication is undisputed. I remember some of his movies, but I remember his songs that much more. He has been a part of my growing up. It is common knowledge that his sons have damaged the Kannada film industry, but Dr. Raj himself has never been tainted by any scandal, always dignified and humble. I am no rabid fan of his, but I felt bad yesterday. We may never see anyone like him again.
He meant something to all of us in Karnataka.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Salman > over 100 burnt to death
Meerut witnessed a tragedy yesterday which will certainly recur in India many times over. Utter disregard for health and safety norms, unbelievably lax security and zero value placed on human lives. If I had my way, the persons responsible would be peering into a gun squad right about now. It is the responsibility of the Government, local authorities and police to approve of any such congregation - and I am sure they have guidelines for safety. The issue is that these rules are flagrantly violated by paying a piddly sum of money to the people who matter.
The bitter irony of the whole incident is that the Fair was called "Brand India Fair" - Brand India will always go up in smoke, killing innocent Mr. and Mrs. Gupta and their two little kids, who just wanted to enjoy window shopping of unaffordable ACs, plasma TV sets and microwaves from multinational brands!
But this, like countless other incidents, will pass! Our media ( especially the TOI) has better things to focus on - like the jail sentence handed over to that serial culprit Salman Khan. Today's front page in the Times of India devoted bold typeface 100 font for that verdict, and a smaller section to the 50 plus killed in Meerut. Clearly shows where their priorities lie.
Shameful!
The bitter irony of the whole incident is that the Fair was called "Brand India Fair" - Brand India will always go up in smoke, killing innocent Mr. and Mrs. Gupta and their two little kids, who just wanted to enjoy window shopping of unaffordable ACs, plasma TV sets and microwaves from multinational brands!
But this, like countless other incidents, will pass! Our media ( especially the TOI) has better things to focus on - like the jail sentence handed over to that serial culprit Salman Khan. Today's front page in the Times of India devoted bold typeface 100 font for that verdict, and a smaller section to the 50 plus killed in Meerut. Clearly shows where their priorities lie.
Shameful!
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Traffic
Blore: Indiranagar - Home - 15 km - 1 hr 15 mins
I can probably walk/cycle back home and reach faster. But I'll probably be run down by a bus or auto! Aargh, damned if you do, damned if you don't.
I can probably walk/cycle back home and reach faster. But I'll probably be run down by a bus or auto! Aargh, damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
State of Bangalore on CNN IBN
I got back to Bangalore today after a 6 month stay in the UK. Good ol' Blore hasn't changed much really, the heat was tolerable for April, and the traffic just the same. I was browsing the telly today, and got my first real glimpse of the new 24/7 channel CNN IBN. They are running a special on Bangalore, and today's program was a talk show in front of the Vidhana Soudha about the 'State of Bangalore', a poll sponsored by CNN-IBN-Deccan Herald-Radio City-Udayavani-Le Monde-Playboy (ok, I made the last three up!). Commendable initiative by a news channel wanting to do something different, or so I thought. Here are some observations:
- Rajdeep Sardesai conducted the program in his usual in-your-bloody-eye style. I was concerned for Ram Guha and Ramesh Ramanathan, who were in serious danger of having their eyes gouged out by Rajdeep's rapier-like hands. There are many who like his style, but I don't. His confrontational attitude, over-the-top bluster and talking down style pisses me off. Methinks he tends to become larger than the interviewee and the issue on hand. But hey, he is probably better than most others we see on TV in any case, so I just have to live with it.
- Rajdeep continuously mispronounced 'Bengaluru' (pronounced Bengal - uru) as "bungaluru'. It may not seem to be as big a crime, but when the topic of discussion was the renaming of Bangalore as Bengaluru, he had no excuse for this mispronounciation. Lack of homework, or didn't really bother!
- This was my first glimpse of Kumaraswamy speaking in English. It was apparent to everyone that he was struggling in the language, but instead of helping him out (he is not on the podium for his English, but his views on policy and future direction), Rajdeep barely got him to say anything coherent, cutting him abruptly, cracking jokes which HDK couldn't get, and basically wasting a perfectly good opportunity to get him to talk about the plans.
- The AC Nielson poll was quite shoddy, to say the least. Ram Guha said as much, and Rajdeep tried to cram so many questions into a 1 hr program that no one issue was highlighted and discussed even in cursory detail.
- Dr. Rajkumar was voted as the most important Bangalorean according to the poll, with Dravid coming in 2nd and Kumble 3rd. However, instead of calling someone from Dr. Raj's family, they honoured Kumble on stage, with no explanation offered as to why Dr. Raj was not being honoured. Nothing against Kumble, God knows he deserves it all, but why not call Dr. Raj's sons or associates, or do a video recording of an interview with the ailing actor himself?
My first viewing of CNN IBN was quite disappointing. I really did not see anything here that wasn't similar to that on NDTV already. The Bangalore initiative concept is laudable, but execution left a lot to be desired IMHO. But what do I know?
- Rajdeep Sardesai conducted the program in his usual in-your-bloody-eye style. I was concerned for Ram Guha and Ramesh Ramanathan, who were in serious danger of having their eyes gouged out by Rajdeep's rapier-like hands. There are many who like his style, but I don't. His confrontational attitude, over-the-top bluster and talking down style pisses me off. Methinks he tends to become larger than the interviewee and the issue on hand. But hey, he is probably better than most others we see on TV in any case, so I just have to live with it.
- Rajdeep continuously mispronounced 'Bengaluru' (pronounced Bengal - uru) as "bungaluru'. It may not seem to be as big a crime, but when the topic of discussion was the renaming of Bangalore as Bengaluru, he had no excuse for this mispronounciation. Lack of homework, or didn't really bother!
- This was my first glimpse of Kumaraswamy speaking in English. It was apparent to everyone that he was struggling in the language, but instead of helping him out (he is not on the podium for his English, but his views on policy and future direction), Rajdeep barely got him to say anything coherent, cutting him abruptly, cracking jokes which HDK couldn't get, and basically wasting a perfectly good opportunity to get him to talk about the plans.
- The AC Nielson poll was quite shoddy, to say the least. Ram Guha said as much, and Rajdeep tried to cram so many questions into a 1 hr program that no one issue was highlighted and discussed even in cursory detail.
- Dr. Rajkumar was voted as the most important Bangalorean according to the poll, with Dravid coming in 2nd and Kumble 3rd. However, instead of calling someone from Dr. Raj's family, they honoured Kumble on stage, with no explanation offered as to why Dr. Raj was not being honoured. Nothing against Kumble, God knows he deserves it all, but why not call Dr. Raj's sons or associates, or do a video recording of an interview with the ailing actor himself?
My first viewing of CNN IBN was quite disappointing. I really did not see anything here that wasn't similar to that on NDTV already. The Bangalore initiative concept is laudable, but execution left a lot to be desired IMHO. But what do I know?
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Terribly disappointing
Not the best day to be an Indian cricket fan - the capitulation under pressure was quite sickening. I feel for the skipper Dravid - his 100th Test (ok, 99 for India and 1 not-so-super Test) couldn't have gone more disastrously for him. He got the decision after the toss wrong (surely it was a team decision with Chappell in tow), and a situation where all India needed was a draw to win the series turned into a series draw that feels like a loss, just like against Pakistan at home.
A positive move to go with 5 bowlers will roundly be criticized, but as Dravid rightly said, that is the way forward if we have to win more Tests abroad. The strategy was right, the execution went horribly wrong. The shakiness at the top of the order is more than worrying now - we need more runs in all conditions from the rest of the top order. Poor Dravid can only do so much!
Freddie must be over the moon at the moment, and it is indeed a fantastic performance. Great spirit shown by England to overcome the injury crisis and a deserving series draw. Debutants were successful, discards returned and shone like they had never been away, and the experienced hands stood up when it mattered. Terrific team performance!
End of the day, spirit was what was the difference between the two sides - England were prepared to fight it out longer than we did.
Ugh, this feeling sucks!
A positive move to go with 5 bowlers will roundly be criticized, but as Dravid rightly said, that is the way forward if we have to win more Tests abroad. The strategy was right, the execution went horribly wrong. The shakiness at the top of the order is more than worrying now - we need more runs in all conditions from the rest of the top order. Poor Dravid can only do so much!
Freddie must be over the moon at the moment, and it is indeed a fantastic performance. Great spirit shown by England to overcome the injury crisis and a deserving series draw. Debutants were successful, discards returned and shone like they had never been away, and the experienced hands stood up when it mattered. Terrific team performance!
End of the day, spirit was what was the difference between the two sides - England were prepared to fight it out longer than we did.
Ugh, this feeling sucks!
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Selling-out of the heartland
Simon Barnes is one of the best in the business - of writing, that is. His articles on sport in the Times (of England, not the tabloid in India) are great reads. Do read this one on how every sport tries to change its core to attract the 'non-fans', and in the process runs the risk of alienating the heartland (the hardcore fans of the sport), and also the dangers of pandering to a fickle audience who may leave if they find something sexier the next week. He cites examples from baseball (designated hitters in the American League who replace pitchers), football (penalty shoot-outs) and of course Twenty20 cricket.
Hat tip to Cricinfo for the link.
Hat tip to Cricinfo for the link.
Monday, March 13, 2006
March Madness on the Net
Anyone who has been to the US can vouch for March Madness - the NCAA college basketball competition that kicks off every spring. CBS has the rights for this high-profile tournament, and has decided to put the first round matches on the Net, FOR FREE. Currently most online sports are pay-per-view or subscription based. Reason - the number of Net viewers were not large enough to get advertisers to fund the programs. However with the Net growing rapidly as a mainstream medium in the US, CBS reckons there is a sizeable audience out there who will watch matches on the Internet and therefore advertisers will be interested in. Of course, the beauty of the Internet is that viewers can watch the match they are interested in, which works beautifully when there are multiple matches in progress. I remember the NBA launching Broadband TV funded by advertising sometime back. Clearly the US is the best market to launch advertising-funded streaming sport given broadband penetration and Net usage levels. This is more evidence that the Internet as a viable business model is back!
Cricket is wonderful at both ends of the spectrum
Yesterday and today have displayed cricket at its finest - some people just don't get how a game played over 5 days can be terrific, and how a smaller 1-day version can also be breathtaking at the same time. The bottom line is that the game is fundamentally great - it just requires two evenly matched teams giving their best on the field to make for a wonderful spectacle.
I cannot describe SA's successful chase of 434 aptly - it was just crazy. I was thanking SA for letting Ponting score 164, thereby reducing the painful World Cup 2003 memory for Indian fans, but what Gibbs did was outrageous. Some will criticize this run-a-thon as being too batsmen-centric, but don't tell me this was not exciting. Cricket needs to find a balance between bat and ball, but what happened at the Wanderers did cricket great good - no doubt about that.
At the other end of the spectrum was India's wonderful win against England in Mohali. A rain-affected match that everyone expected to end as a draw sprung to life thanks to India's young and old - Munaf Patel and Kumble. India's wagging tail and England's collapse in the 2nd innings left India with few to get, which they did. What was especially pleasing about this victory was that it was achieved not on a dust bowl under oppressive heat and inhospitable conditions. Mohali is one of India's best venues, the weather was more English than Indian, and the pitch had enough for the pacemen to get it to rear and bounce, for batsmen to play their shots and for spinners to get turn and bounce. As David Gower said, it perhaps was as close as one can get to the perfect Test Match pitch - that's what makes this victory special.
Will this win make the Indian authorities realise that India does not necessarily disintegrate on a pitch with some pace and bounce?
434 successfully chased! Still can't stop shaking my head!
I cannot describe SA's successful chase of 434 aptly - it was just crazy. I was thanking SA for letting Ponting score 164, thereby reducing the painful World Cup 2003 memory for Indian fans, but what Gibbs did was outrageous. Some will criticize this run-a-thon as being too batsmen-centric, but don't tell me this was not exciting. Cricket needs to find a balance between bat and ball, but what happened at the Wanderers did cricket great good - no doubt about that.
At the other end of the spectrum was India's wonderful win against England in Mohali. A rain-affected match that everyone expected to end as a draw sprung to life thanks to India's young and old - Munaf Patel and Kumble. India's wagging tail and England's collapse in the 2nd innings left India with few to get, which they did. What was especially pleasing about this victory was that it was achieved not on a dust bowl under oppressive heat and inhospitable conditions. Mohali is one of India's best venues, the weather was more English than Indian, and the pitch had enough for the pacemen to get it to rear and bounce, for batsmen to play their shots and for spinners to get turn and bounce. As David Gower said, it perhaps was as close as one can get to the perfect Test Match pitch - that's what makes this victory special.
Will this win make the Indian authorities realise that India does not necessarily disintegrate on a pitch with some pace and bounce?
434 successfully chased! Still can't stop shaking my head!
Monday, March 06, 2006
Indispensable --> bad
Every cricket team needs the ultimate talents - the players who are so good they can win matches singlehandedly, and are talismans for their teams. However, being too good can also be detrimental to the team in the long run. Here's how.
Australia have two absolute gems - McGrath and Warne. One of the best pacemen in the world and the best spinner ever have made Australia the champion team of the last few years. However, they are both in the final lap of their careers andAustralia don't have ready replacements. As India proved in 2003-04 Down Under, England in the Ashes and South Africa now in the ODIs, Australia is eminently beatable without these guys. Since they were the best by far, they rendered themselves nearly indispensable, and Australia are now suffering. The Aussies pride themselves on a strong domestic system that keeps a strong bench in place - in fact it was proved when they dropped Mark and Steve Waugh and kept getting stronger! However, McGrath and Warney are in a different league, and being match-winning bowlers, the task is that much tougher for Australia.
India had one such guy not too long ago. A Tendulkar-less India in the 90s was worthless. Indispensable is too meek a word to describe what he was to the team. However, thanks to a revival under Ganguly and Wright, the emergence of Dravid and now Sehwag, and Tendulkar's own injury problems, we do not collectively self-immolate when we see an Indian XI without Tendulkar. Surprisingly, India has managed to handle the transition better than Australia. It helped perhaps that Sachin is not a match-winning bowler - it is probably tougher to replace champion bowlers than batsmen! Or is it?
The West Indies have the one and only Brian Lara. He is so unbelievably good that without him, the Windies are sometimes worse than India at football! The team even with Lara is terrible most times, but you can't blame Lara for that. They have not found a replacement for him yet, and poor times for the Carribeans seem set to continue.
England have never had that problem for a while. Throughout the 90s they were a mediocre team that had county tigers who got injured if there was a strong wind in the area, and had no super-talents. However, that seems set to change - Freddie Flintoff is the mascot of a new-look England team that can hold its own against all comers. Sure, Harmy can bowl fast and KP can bang it - but if Freddie had gone home before the first Test with the rest, India may have had to just turn up to win the series. Can you imagine a Freddie-less England travelling to Australia and winning a Test? No chance! Freddie has reached indispendable status. How England manage him and without him will determine long term success of the team.
Sri Lanka also have two megastars without whom they are a mere shadow - Murali and Jayasuriya. The back up options for Murali are meagre at best, and the line up without Jayasuriya is still not strong enough. Can Sri Lanka find a few players who can fill in the blanks?
South Africa managed reasonably well without Donald - Ntini and Pollock filled the breach nicely, and the team was always blessed with all-rounders who collectively contributed.
I guess the secret lies in the SA/India method - teams should aim to build a bunch of players who can collectively match the talents of their reigning superstar. To get another Tendulkar is a futile search - but by developing Dravid/Laxman/Sehwag, India have enough batsmen to be prepared for the eventuality. Similarly with SA and Donald. Aus have failed to build back-up bowling options who have the experience and ability to step up to the plate.
Australia have two absolute gems - McGrath and Warne. One of the best pacemen in the world and the best spinner ever have made Australia the champion team of the last few years. However, they are both in the final lap of their careers andAustralia don't have ready replacements. As India proved in 2003-04 Down Under, England in the Ashes and South Africa now in the ODIs, Australia is eminently beatable without these guys. Since they were the best by far, they rendered themselves nearly indispensable, and Australia are now suffering. The Aussies pride themselves on a strong domestic system that keeps a strong bench in place - in fact it was proved when they dropped Mark and Steve Waugh and kept getting stronger! However, McGrath and Warney are in a different league, and being match-winning bowlers, the task is that much tougher for Australia.
India had one such guy not too long ago. A Tendulkar-less India in the 90s was worthless. Indispensable is too meek a word to describe what he was to the team. However, thanks to a revival under Ganguly and Wright, the emergence of Dravid and now Sehwag, and Tendulkar's own injury problems, we do not collectively self-immolate when we see an Indian XI without Tendulkar. Surprisingly, India has managed to handle the transition better than Australia. It helped perhaps that Sachin is not a match-winning bowler - it is probably tougher to replace champion bowlers than batsmen! Or is it?
The West Indies have the one and only Brian Lara. He is so unbelievably good that without him, the Windies are sometimes worse than India at football! The team even with Lara is terrible most times, but you can't blame Lara for that. They have not found a replacement for him yet, and poor times for the Carribeans seem set to continue.
England have never had that problem for a while. Throughout the 90s they were a mediocre team that had county tigers who got injured if there was a strong wind in the area, and had no super-talents. However, that seems set to change - Freddie Flintoff is the mascot of a new-look England team that can hold its own against all comers. Sure, Harmy can bowl fast and KP can bang it - but if Freddie had gone home before the first Test with the rest, India may have had to just turn up to win the series. Can you imagine a Freddie-less England travelling to Australia and winning a Test? No chance! Freddie has reached indispendable status. How England manage him and without him will determine long term success of the team.
Sri Lanka also have two megastars without whom they are a mere shadow - Murali and Jayasuriya. The back up options for Murali are meagre at best, and the line up without Jayasuriya is still not strong enough. Can Sri Lanka find a few players who can fill in the blanks?
South Africa managed reasonably well without Donald - Ntini and Pollock filled the breach nicely, and the team was always blessed with all-rounders who collectively contributed.
I guess the secret lies in the SA/India method - teams should aim to build a bunch of players who can collectively match the talents of their reigning superstar. To get another Tendulkar is a futile search - but by developing Dravid/Laxman/Sehwag, India have enough batsmen to be prepared for the eventuality. Similarly with SA and Donald. Aus have failed to build back-up bowling options who have the experience and ability to step up to the plate.
Online DVD rental in Bangalore
seventymm has launched an online DVD/VCD rental service in Bangalore. On the face of it, it looks like a service that would work in Bangalore - the city has a reasonably young and large Net-savvy population with time and money on hand to watch DVDs/VCDs.
This idea is a straightforward copy-paste of the Netflix and Screenselect model. In fact, their website features look strikingly similar to that of Netflix, whose co-founder is on the advisory board. Further indication there are and will continue to be many more ventures that start in emerging markets that are direct replicas of proven business models in the West. seventymm has got funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the VC firm that has made lots of money from Hotmail, Skype, Baidu and Overture.
Here's what is interesting about seventymm though - the pricing. I am sure they would have done their research, but the pricing looks shockingly high. 200 Rs a month for 4 movies (2 at a time) or 550 Rs a month for unlimited movies seems high enough, but the bummer is the registration fee of 500 Rs and a refundable deposit of 2000 Rs! Whatever the heck is that for???
I think the pricing is high is because of competition. These guys compete with the neighbourhood VCD/DVD rental shop, who merrily rents out pirated stuff for 10/20 Rs a movie. Even though it is for a day, quality is suspect and all the titles are not available, the price difference is considerable. No normal person will watch more than 10 movies a month (even that sounds too high) - which costs 200 Rs. max. There are many such VCD shops who offer free delivery and pick up services as well, so that benefit is negated as well.
In my opinion, if seventymm can shake off the security deposit and reg. fees, the game changes a bit. What are they scared of - someone not returning 4 DVDs?
The other issue is of personal pick-up of DVDs. In the US and the UK, customers have to mail back the DVDs in a pre-paid envelope. That makes it a lot easier to coordinate logistics. In traffic-crazy Bangalore, if they promise to collect DVDs at a particular time of day and don't turn up, that just leads to utter confusion and dissatisfaction.
I hope this works - the convenience is definitely there, but as with most other things in India, price and execution is critical. I don't think they have got it right so far.
This idea is a straightforward copy-paste of the Netflix and Screenselect model. In fact, their website features look strikingly similar to that of Netflix, whose co-founder is on the advisory board. Further indication there are and will continue to be many more ventures that start in emerging markets that are direct replicas of proven business models in the West. seventymm has got funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the VC firm that has made lots of money from Hotmail, Skype, Baidu and Overture.
Here's what is interesting about seventymm though - the pricing. I am sure they would have done their research, but the pricing looks shockingly high. 200 Rs a month for 4 movies (2 at a time) or 550 Rs a month for unlimited movies seems high enough, but the bummer is the registration fee of 500 Rs and a refundable deposit of 2000 Rs! Whatever the heck is that for???
I think the pricing is high is because of competition. These guys compete with the neighbourhood VCD/DVD rental shop, who merrily rents out pirated stuff for 10/20 Rs a movie. Even though it is for a day, quality is suspect and all the titles are not available, the price difference is considerable. No normal person will watch more than 10 movies a month (even that sounds too high) - which costs 200 Rs. max. There are many such VCD shops who offer free delivery and pick up services as well, so that benefit is negated as well.
In my opinion, if seventymm can shake off the security deposit and reg. fees, the game changes a bit. What are they scared of - someone not returning 4 DVDs?
The other issue is of personal pick-up of DVDs. In the US and the UK, customers have to mail back the DVDs in a pre-paid envelope. That makes it a lot easier to coordinate logistics. In traffic-crazy Bangalore, if they promise to collect DVDs at a particular time of day and don't turn up, that just leads to utter confusion and dissatisfaction.
I hope this works - the convenience is definitely there, but as with most other things in India, price and execution is critical. I don't think they have got it right so far.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Test for Dravid and Flintoff
This Test match is turning out to be a classic - at the end of Day 3, England are ahead by 71, and assuming 10 and 11 don't add too many for India, England have 180 overs to make something out of this match. Kumble and Kaif did fantastically well to get India close to the England total after a great swing masterclass from Hoggard to make the match interesting. India's batting collapse was saddening, but the spirit shown by the lower order was heartening.
Now with 2 days to go, Dravid will be tested - how does he set fields for this England batting lineup? Does he defend the runs, or does he attack with his spinners? I guess a bit of both. It will be interesting to observe how he goes about marshalling his attack tomorrow - and whether India will miss another bowler again. Can Kumble and Bhajji run through the England batting line up and give India a smallish target to chase?
Freddie will be tested like never before as captain. He is surprisingly ahead after 3 days - but does England have the courage and talent to go for the win? Do they have the firepower to get atleast 350 ahead by tomorrow, and then bowl India out in a day or lesser? Will he encourage his batsmen to attack? Whatever target he sets for India, will he back his bowlers to get 10 more Indian wickets on Day 5?
Fantastic Test cricket - any result is possible. More power to the bowlers, I say.
Now with 2 days to go, Dravid will be tested - how does he set fields for this England batting lineup? Does he defend the runs, or does he attack with his spinners? I guess a bit of both. It will be interesting to observe how he goes about marshalling his attack tomorrow - and whether India will miss another bowler again. Can Kumble and Bhajji run through the England batting line up and give India a smallish target to chase?
Freddie will be tested like never before as captain. He is surprisingly ahead after 3 days - but does England have the courage and talent to go for the win? Do they have the firepower to get atleast 350 ahead by tomorrow, and then bowl India out in a day or lesser? Will he encourage his batsmen to attack? Whatever target he sets for India, will he back his bowlers to get 10 more Indian wickets on Day 5?
Fantastic Test cricket - any result is possible. More power to the bowlers, I say.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Sport can change lifes
Oh yes it does!
It can create a sense of belonging and identity among a completely disparate cross section of a country/region/city/family - just observe any public place when India plays cricket (or when England plays football, or the Yankees are in action). Complete strangers get along famously, united in supporting a bunch of athletes giving their best on the playing field. People huddled around TV sets or in pubs and bars, cheering and agonising together - very few other social activities can generate such a feeling.
Sport taught me the value of teamwork. The camaraderie that comes from playing a team sport with a bunch of blokes every evening is irreplacable. The winning feeling and the lessons learnt from losing help me on a daily basis.
And yeah, if you do play sport, it helps combat obesity and shitloads of other diseases.
It can create a sense of belonging and identity among a completely disparate cross section of a country/region/city/family - just observe any public place when India plays cricket (or when England plays football, or the Yankees are in action). Complete strangers get along famously, united in supporting a bunch of athletes giving their best on the playing field. People huddled around TV sets or in pubs and bars, cheering and agonising together - very few other social activities can generate such a feeling.
Sport taught me the value of teamwork. The camaraderie that comes from playing a team sport with a bunch of blokes every evening is irreplacable. The winning feeling and the lessons learnt from losing help me on a daily basis.
And yeah, if you do play sport, it helps combat obesity and shitloads of other diseases.
Freddie as captain
You always get the impression while reading Freddie interviews that what-you-read-is-what-he-really-is. He comes across as a fun-loving beer-swigging typical English bloke, difference being that he happens to be very very good at his sport.
He now has been asked to captain his side in a very tough tour, but there is not much of his team left to captain. Trescothick had to leave for personal reasons (what's with the English and personal reasons?), Vaughan's career is hanging by the thread with yet another recurrence of his knee problem, and Simon Jones goes back to his favourite place - the hospital. With Giles still in England recovering, that's 4 of England's Ashes heroes out without a ball being bowled in the Test Series.
India look overhelming favourites now on paper - but it is not a done deal yet. If Harmison and Freddie can get the ball consistently at throat level - which is a very tough ask in these conditions - I think England have a chance. That, and can their batsmen bat patiently enough and not sweep every bloody ball bowled by Kumble and Bhajji?
I have been waiting to see our batsmen face up to genuine pace at both ends, and I hope the series is interesting. I am frankly bored of India - Pakistan now!
He now has been asked to captain his side in a very tough tour, but there is not much of his team left to captain. Trescothick had to leave for personal reasons (what's with the English and personal reasons?), Vaughan's career is hanging by the thread with yet another recurrence of his knee problem, and Simon Jones goes back to his favourite place - the hospital. With Giles still in England recovering, that's 4 of England's Ashes heroes out without a ball being bowled in the Test Series.
India look overhelming favourites now on paper - but it is not a done deal yet. If Harmison and Freddie can get the ball consistently at throat level - which is a very tough ask in these conditions - I think England have a chance. That, and can their batsmen bat patiently enough and not sweep every bloody ball bowled by Kumble and Bhajji?
I have been waiting to see our batsmen face up to genuine pace at both ends, and I hope the series is interesting. I am frankly bored of India - Pakistan now!
Monday, February 27, 2006
Sky bags it in the UK
I had written earlier that Sky may well lose out on the rights to England's tour to India because of price. Turns out Sky called Nimbus' bluff, and finally managed to bag the rights for apparently 10 million GBP. It does look like Sky had to pay more than they wanted to pay, but they also secured a 4 year deal in return. According to the deal, they get exclusive rights to England tours, and have to share the feed with an Asian population-focused channel like Zee/ARY/Sony for the other tours. Nimbus would have wanted to get a lot more than 10 million GBP for the England territories, but probably got a lot more than that Sky would have offered initially if they hadn't raised the Asian channel bogey! All in all, an interesting negotiation that most probably ended with both being happy and sad at the same time.
The happiest are the English Sky subscribers who were petrfied that they will have to buy some vague channel (Zee/Sony/ARY) they only knew existed, just for this series. Sky seems to have got 4 of their commentators (including my favourite - Nasser Hussain) - so the stage is all set for viewers in the UK to watch their favourite team lose to India:-)
The happiest are the English Sky subscribers who were petrfied that they will have to buy some vague channel (Zee/Sony/ARY) they only knew existed, just for this series. Sky seems to have got 4 of their commentators (including my favourite - Nasser Hussain) - so the stage is all set for viewers in the UK to watch their favourite team lose to India:-)
Friday, February 24, 2006
Stars to look out for
Check this video of the U-19 World Cup finals out (thanks to Manish of Sightscreen) . It is so very refreshing to be able to watch youngsters untainted/not blinded by stardom and international pressures doing what they do best. Piyush Chawla and Anwar Ali Khan caught everyone's attention, and this video clip illustrates why.
These two guys will surely play a huge part in the next few years. I can't wait to see Chawla in action against England - maybe his chance will come in the ODIs. He is also handy with the bat and is a terrific prospect for an Indian team that will have to live without Kumble very soon.
This World Cup U-19 finals really reinforced the old order - India is still capable of generating great spinners, and Pakistan has a conveyor belt of pacemen and swing bowlers. India have taken the 'youth' route and blooded U-19 performers consistently (Pathan, Kaif, Raina and now Chawla) - will Pakistan do the same with Anwar Ali Khan and the left-armer Jamshaid (who was obviously inspired by Mr. Akram)?
Category: Cricket
Monday, February 20, 2006
BCCI TV deal and UK after-effects
Nimbus has bagged the global media rights for Indian cricket for the next 4 years (till Mar 2010) for an unbelievable sum of 612 million $. This article neatly gives us all the gory details.
This deal clearly shows market forces at work (well, mostly). A bidding war was engineered by the BCCI with 'transparency' the buzz word - ensuring that all bidders had to up their bids in the fear that they could very easily screw up their entire business model for the country if they lost! The fear of losing was perhaps just as important as the price of winning. I expected Zee to win the bid, but now that Nimbus has the rights, expect them to sell it piece-by-piece to Zee to start with, and perhaps launch their own channel down the line. In fact, HarishThawani has gone on record saying that all options are open.
Here in the UK, the cat has truly been set among the pigeons, with Sky's so-called monopoly for overseas England tours under serious threat. It looks very likely that Zee/Sony/Ary will bag the rights. Thankfully the BBC Radio deal seems to be proceeding smoothly, with TMS agreeing to pay 1.7 million $ (1 mill GBP) for the series. Thawani has stated that they will grant highlights to either Channel 4 or Five, thereby satisfying the terrestrial lobby. If Sky do lose out, this will be the first time in many years that they are not telecasting a major live cricket series. Unless Sky dig deeper into their substantial pockets and cough up the moolah, my money is on Zee picking up the rights in the UK by paying some incremental money over and above the India rights.
This deal clearly shows market forces at work (well, mostly). A bidding war was engineered by the BCCI with 'transparency' the buzz word - ensuring that all bidders had to up their bids in the fear that they could very easily screw up their entire business model for the country if they lost! The fear of losing was perhaps just as important as the price of winning. I expected Zee to win the bid, but now that Nimbus has the rights, expect them to sell it piece-by-piece to Zee to start with, and perhaps launch their own channel down the line. In fact, HarishThawani has gone on record saying that all options are open.
Here in the UK, the cat has truly been set among the pigeons, with Sky's so-called monopoly for overseas England tours under serious threat. It looks very likely that Zee/Sony/Ary will bag the rights. Thankfully the BBC Radio deal seems to be proceeding smoothly, with TMS agreeing to pay 1.7 million $ (1 mill GBP) for the series. Thawani has stated that they will grant highlights to either Channel 4 or Five, thereby satisfying the terrestrial lobby. If Sky do lose out, this will be the first time in many years that they are not telecasting a major live cricket series. Unless Sky dig deeper into their substantial pockets and cough up the moolah, my money is on Zee picking up the rights in the UK by paying some incremental money over and above the India rights.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Nasser Hussain is fantastic
In my opinion, Hussain is one of the two best commentators in World Cricket.
Hussain understands modern day cricket, thinks and speaks like a captain, and puts the viewer into the captain's mind and tells us what the players out there are going through mentally and physically. We do not want 'star' commentators who tell us that the ball is racing away to the boundary in 10 different ways - we can see the damn thing for ourselves. Nasser adds value, to my viewing anyway.
Today's break-time show on Ten was case in point. His views on bowling coaches was terrific. Everyone and his dog says cricket teams need bowling coaches. But Nasser explained in 2 minutes what a bowling coach can do - with a 'for instance'. Having seen Troy Cooley work, he said that Cooley's role is to track how many overs each fast bowler bowls in internationals AND county cricket. He monitors their body weights, their off-season work, their fitness, their run ups and works out a program to make sure that youngsters coming through (like Freddie, Harmison some years back) peak at the right time for the Tests and important ODIs. His point was that India has RP Singh, Pathan and Sreesanth - all 20-21 years old and promising - but they can so easily go off the boil like Nehra, Zaheer and Balaji did in precisely 6 months.
For India to be winning consistently, Nasser made the point that come Nagpur 1st March, if England win the toss and bat, India want these three bowlers fresh and raring to go, not tired and sluggish due to workload in Pakistan and improper recovery in the gap between series!
Now that put things into perspective for me like no one else had. You do not need 1000 word articles and countless interviews by ex-cricketers extolling the virtues of fast bowling coaches - simple, clear and articulate thinking is what is needed. Hussain provides that to the cricket viewer.
Oh, and Ian Healy is the other one who does this to me - and entertains while at it.
Category: Cricket
Hussain understands modern day cricket, thinks and speaks like a captain, and puts the viewer into the captain's mind and tells us what the players out there are going through mentally and physically. We do not want 'star' commentators who tell us that the ball is racing away to the boundary in 10 different ways - we can see the damn thing for ourselves. Nasser adds value, to my viewing anyway.
Today's break-time show on Ten was case in point. His views on bowling coaches was terrific. Everyone and his dog says cricket teams need bowling coaches. But Nasser explained in 2 minutes what a bowling coach can do - with a 'for instance'. Having seen Troy Cooley work, he said that Cooley's role is to track how many overs each fast bowler bowls in internationals AND county cricket. He monitors their body weights, their off-season work, their fitness, their run ups and works out a program to make sure that youngsters coming through (like Freddie, Harmison some years back) peak at the right time for the Tests and important ODIs. His point was that India has RP Singh, Pathan and Sreesanth - all 20-21 years old and promising - but they can so easily go off the boil like Nehra, Zaheer and Balaji did in precisely 6 months.
For India to be winning consistently, Nasser made the point that come Nagpur 1st March, if England win the toss and bat, India want these three bowlers fresh and raring to go, not tired and sluggish due to workload in Pakistan and improper recovery in the gap between series!
Now that put things into perspective for me like no one else had. You do not need 1000 word articles and countless interviews by ex-cricketers extolling the virtues of fast bowling coaches - simple, clear and articulate thinking is what is needed. Hussain provides that to the cricket viewer.
Oh, and Ian Healy is the other one who does this to me - and entertains while at it.
Category: Cricket
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