The First Month of the Decade!

The first month of the decade just flew by and interesting is the only word that I could conjure up to describe it. Jan 2010 courted controversy - the bread and butter for folks like me who are always on the look-out for interesting stuff.

A disclaimer - This post contains material that may not appeal to sensitivities of all people. So exercise caution and if you feel, you are sensitive, you are advised in your best interests to stop reading further.

Here goes the snippets of month gone by -

Tiger Tiger. burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye.
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire? - William Blake

1. Tiger Woods - No explanations needed here. The saddest part was the media. What Tiger Woods does in his personal life is his personal life. Media instead went all guns blazing... Latest reports coming in - John Terry - Chelsea defender - is not far behind


2. Aman ki Asha - A commendable initiative by Times of India to bring peace between India and Pakistan. A lot of people laugh at this initiative (myself included) especially after 26/11 and thereafter. However, we have fought to resolve for more than 50 years. Why not give peace that much time?


3. No Pakistani players were bought in IPL auction-3. This is exactly what we do not want and what the extremists want. As a journalist said, the Indo-Pak politics is the barometer of the cricket ties. I would put the blame for the fiasco on Hand-of-God.(read government)


4. Indian Hockey Players - No pay, no play. Another low for Indian sports just before the Hockey World Cup. Hockey players were never given their dues citing no funds. Funds started coming in from everywhere to help them. Yet the federation simply gave them the choice - nation or pay. Ironically yet expected, federation was more bothered about the upcoming elections rather than world cup.


5. Global Warming - Happening or another money making machine. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) goofed up big time in its report on Himalayan glaciers. Surprisingly Michael Crichton's State of Fear also talks about the manipulation of data by the NGOs working on Climate Change to divert funds. So what about Global Warming - Author's take - "In this world, there is enough for everybody's need but not enough for anybody's greed." - Mahatma Gandhi. Efficient and effective utilization of natural resources with minimal wastage and afforestation. In the long run an holistic approach towards development without exploitation of natural resources may well be the trump card for sustainable growth.


6. Pakistan cricket team - "You need to be a superman to lead Pakistan." Geoffrey Boycott on cricinfo. Its sad to see a bunch of such talented cricketers under-performing. Bad for Pakistan and bad for cricket. Probably a cricket series with India can help them ;). Cricket is the only secular religion both countries follow religiously.


7. Sensex - It started on a high note but then just went southwards. This was despite the fact that 2010 would be better. Sensex always prove one thing right. Whatever the level of maturity, people still are moody and have wild mood swings. Another, observation - when sensex, you read the business page of newspaper, you will see profits of companies going up and when it goes down, most company reporting results will be showing loss or less than expected growth. Is it something psychological or am just selectively seeing???
   
8. Telangana - a call for separate statehood or is it a call for development by the marginalised portion of Indian society. Government have simply tried to diffuse it by creating a committee. Author's take - Seeing the development of the newly forged states does make sense to have smaller states. However, the manageability of a state should be the criteria and not the others. Else there is a danger of turning the entire country into small states - much like the small kingdoms that ruled before the Britishers coming in.


9. Meghalaya - A tale of two CMs. Since its inception, only two chief ministers could last out their entire 5-year term. This is other end of spectrum when state size is concerned. To quell instability, a decision has been made to create two CMs. Indian democracy performing wonders. A lot to come on this front.


10. The Hottest - Bal Thackeray - A saffron-clad lunatic commanding such power who may not be even fit to read this entire post is the most feared person in Bombay (Mumbai to be politically correct) even when people have voted him out. Such is the intricacies of Indian democracy. Probably he has read Dylan Thomas' poem - Do not go gentle into that good night, so he is making noises. Cricket, bollywood, industry - everything is suffering. But the noises have taken out the fizzle out of Raj Thackeray. Poor guy is now busy defining who a Marthi-manoos is. Salute to SRK, AK, MA here. They haven't bowed before him. Or have they? SRK has not. That's a good sign. We need somebody to stand up to lunatics. Sadly people in power don't think it is their responsibility. Again the Shiv Sainiks were arrested when they marched towards AK's residence. Nobody touched the Tiger. You can read an Unposted letter to him here


11. FedEx pockets his 16th Grand Slam title beating Andy Murray. It was perfection personified. Its a privilege to see him play. Frankly only Nadal can test the perseverance of perfection in Federer. Else nobody can beat him on current form. Good news for Indian fans too. Leander Paes wins his 11th career grand slam title in doubles, catching up with Mahesh Bhupathi.


12. Apple launches I-Pad. Was not much impressed by its features. It has all the features of IPhone minus the phone and plus the e-book reader. Probably once it comes into the market and reviews from early adopters may fuel.


13. Google threatens to quit from China after some of the accounts of human rights activists were hacked by Chinese hackers and remove censorships by the Chinese government. The red-dragon has derived its power by blocking everything which is uncomfortable. Google just stands for the opposite. It was inevitable sparks would fly some day.


14. China banned Avtar for fear of popular uprising. Clearly the Dragon is feeling insecure. The Indian elephant at least doesn't have to worry about this. Else I would not be able to write such posts. True value of Indian Democracy.


15. Racial attacks against Indian in Down Under - Though it is sad to see racism against Indians, India cannot preach anti-racism to Australia. Racism is a form of discrimination. And most of us discriminate against fellow-Indians all the time based on religion, caste, region. Attacks against north Indians is just another example. Who are we who cannot stop discrimination in our own country against our own fellow-man, ask somebody else to stop discrimination against us in their country?


16. Bihar clocks second fastest growth after Gujarat. CM Nitish Kumar definitely should be given a pat on his back. Another example of effectiveness of Democracy - People voted out Lalu Prasad Yadav and growth in return.
    
    
17. After the stinging loss in to Democrats, Obama turns populist. Talks of stopping tax breaks to US companies who outsource. But the actual impact on IT seems to be minimal, as many US companies depend on getting services from India like IBM, Accenture. So US in its own interest may not implement it.

There is still a lot of news to cover. For example the earthquake in Haiti, Indo-Bangladesh test series, CPM Jyoti Basu passed away, three-idiots, where all wazz not well, Kumbh Mela, etc. But citing the length of the post, other news were given lower precedence. Really thank Sree, for his posts do give me lot of food for thought and also new types of post. This idea too from Sree's monthly rants :)

Do drop in your comments about the special news edition. Do let me know if a monthly edition of news does sound a good idea or not? Leaving on climatic note -