Leander Paes pulls a joke on himself

Trust us Indians to create drama out of even the most mundane activities. Forget the unfolding of events towards nominations being handled without any foresight, the behavior of players in spotlight too has left a lot of question marks on their sanity.

I just don't understand what was going on in Leander's mind. How can you expect to form a team with individuals who have gone public with views that they don't see eye-to-eye with you and would rather not play than being paired up with you. No team, however big or small, can have any success when the mates have internal differences.

Despite knowing neither of Bhupati-Bopanna wanted to be paired with him (Bhupati has gone on record saying he hasn't spoken to Paes in months), he kept on fostering dreams about partnering one of them. I totally agree he deserves a better partner to have any realistic hopes of scoring a medal but with the other two players acting on whims, Paes had only two choices - partner a lesser player or pull out. Given he wears his patriotism on his sleeve (not that Bhupati / Bopanna are unpatriotic) and has made more statements coming from the heart than the head, it was no surprise to read Paes has pulled out. 

I really do not understand what was achieved by that statement as he was back later asking for assurances on partnering Sania. 

In a sense it was a fair decision to split Lee-Hesh; they've represented us in four Olympics with nothing to show for it. They played the last one in Beijing coming together "only for the sake of a billion aspirations". If ain't broke, don't mend it but if it's not working for you, then no real purpose is being served in keeping it together. 

It may just give us a better shot at the Olympics this year; who knows we may have an All-Indian final, but then that's the hopeless optimist in me talking.

Indian Rail: Feedback and Reaction

This is copied from the Facebook status update of my friend Gurunath Waigankar. A very good example of how even the public sector is adopting technology and is providing instant solutions to make our general travelling experience better.

Incident 1 
It happened few months back. We were traveling and me & family were
waiting in the A/C waiting room at Secunderabad Station. The attached
bathroom was not clean and was giving bad smell. Added to this
discomfiture, the bathroom door was not closing tight, and I also observed
that shutter was not closing tight because of faulty door closer. I
complained to the attendant . 

I also sent an SMS " The bathroom of A/C waiting room on platform No 1 of
Secunderbad Station is dirty and stinking. Pl arrange cleaning . Also the
door is not closing properly". After few minutes we left the waiting room
as our train arrival was announced. Within few minutes I received text
reply from Railways, giving an Id No and that action will be taken . After
few hours I received a message that the bathroom has been cleaned . After
ten days I received another message that the faulty door has been repaired
and thanking me. 

Incident 2 
Recently on 24 th October I and my wife were traveling by Hyderabd Ajmeer
Express on our Rajasthan trip. Next day morning, I noticed there was no
water in the bathroom and the taps are all dry, whereas our journey will
continue and we will be reaching our destination ( Bhilwara near Ajmeer) 
after another 18 hours. I was worried that it is going to be a miserable
time to travel without water. Water or No water, people will continue to
use the bathrooms and the stink will become unbearable. I complained to
the Conductor. I also sent a SMS "Traveling in the A1 compartment of
Hyderabad Ajmeer express train No 12720. No water in the bathrooms . Pl
arrange. Also replace leaking valves else problem repeats." Pat came the
reply" Your reference id is 1110250019. For status visit
www.scr.indianrailways.in. or SMS as STATUS<SPACE><id> TO 8121281212 .
Thanks for registering complaint " . 

After about 20 minutes I received message that water will be filled at
the nearest Railway station having water filling facility. At Itarsi
station, water was filled and we had no problem . After about a week I
received another message that the faulty valves have been replaced . It
was amazing.

I am thankful to the Railway authorities for introducing a system where
one can complain from a running train even and doubly grateful that they
have acknowledged the complaint and attended. 

I collected this help line number from the Railway waiting room !

Many times while traveling by train we are put to unexpected
inconvenience, we react by cursing and criticizing. No other response. Of
course once we reach our destination we just forget.

There is no use in cursing the darkness around you, do light a candle
however small it be, it gives an inspiration and ten more candles will be
lit . The process continues reducing the darkness.

The Railway Number to which you can SMS is 8121281212 . Please pass on
this message to your friends and it may help some one in need including
you .

Satyameva Jayate

Satyameva Jayate is doing atleast what it set out to do: Getting people to talk about issues that have been  predominantly known yet accepted facets of our society.

Don't understand the medical community brouhaha over his previous episode. The one on foeticide did not imply every parent wants to do away with the girl child or the one with dowry did not generalise in-laws as greedy monsters; rather it merely suggested there are sections of people among us that follow these practices as a regular way of life. Similarly, the recent episode (in all fairness) did not target the whole medicine community, just a cross-section. Which society doesn't have its own bad eggs!

We have all had our own good and bad memories with the medicine community but by demanding an apology, these gentlemen (and ladies) are doing a disservice to their own practice. If Aamir does issue an apology to the doctors, I'd ask my father to serve a notice on his show, demanding apologies for the first two episodes; because despite being a father of 3 daughters and having a daughter-in-law, he never subscribed to either of those two schools of thought.

(Unwitting) Hero to Traitor to Victim (to Redemption?)

I have to admit, I had not heard of Dr. Shakil Afridi until last week. Then, as is the wont these days, the web can't have enough of him being discussed. If he has been discussed internationally since January as they claim, I blame my Google News aggregator for missing updates on the gentleman earlier on.

Was Dr. Afridi aware of the real intent behind the CIA vaccination campaign? If he did, would he have acted in the same way or would he have notified someone in the government of the shenanigans? That is a question with some very good retrospective answers and a very entertaining panel discussion but I'm sure there wouldn't be easy answers to the person handling the hot potato. For all we know, he may well have participated in the program just for the monetary aspect of it. For someone in his position it might have seemed like an easy enough way to make some quick money for himself.

It also makes for an interesting question and answer session of what exactly makes one a nationalist. In an increasingly globalized world, where borders are being rendered less and less effective with each new wave of technology and social development, does one work for the good of global humanity or do my duties toward my country forbid ignoring a local problem to sort out a global issue? I'm sure this is the contention of a lot many people wiser and better informed than me and this would remain a subject that has more gray areas than a straight black or white.

Is Afridi being made a scapegoat by the authorities? Is he paying the price for their incompetent intelligence and impotent bargaining power over Uncle Sam? Any self-respecting citizen would disapprove of foreign militia on their motherland. However, for a country that has provided (almost unrestricted) airspace to their allies, Pakistan authorities sure like to play it both ways. And if they do indeed have a problem with that unsanctioned strike in Abbotabad, why can't they put their foot down and stop the drone attacks that still continue?

Of course the contentious issue is not Pakistan's alone. Was the US correct in going after its man on a foreign land where they have no jurisdiction? They do have a credible argument that Pakistan was not doing enough to bring bin Laden to justice but does that give me free access to go in all guns blazing?

By that yardstick, would the US object to the citizens of Bhopal (or the government, perhaps) prosecuting Warren Anderson in India for the 1984 gas tragedy that has claimed about 5 times the lives lost in the World Trade disaster?

Coming back to Dr. Afridi, I would be glad to see him a free man. If the authorities in his country do not approve of his actions, simply strip him off his citizenship and be done with him. Something not very dissimilar to what the Chinese did to Chen Guangcheng. Not the same offence, of course. But a similar solution would save some further embarrassment and unwanted pressure.

Story of Surain

From a show on Hidayat TV (a faith show directed primarily at the Shia sect)

The Maulana mentioned we need to be good but not only talk about being good but be good in deeds. It is far better for us to have Allah know we do good deeds than strive for people to accept us as good people. Our good deeds should be in the way of Allah. If we do things to gain acceptance of people, then it is these people we should be expecting rewards from , rather than Allah (swt).

An anecdote was narrated of Surain (not sure how to spell that name) who defeated an enemy soldier. Someone else went to Rasulallah (pbuh) and claimed credit for the victory. A person who was familiar with the event was surprised about this but soon enough there was another person who came forward and claimed credit for the same act.

The person familiar with the event did not like this and immediately ran to Surain and asked him to go to the Messenger (pbuh) and get his due credit. He said to Surain, "There are already two people claiming your victory and there might be more if you don't go ahead and let the truth out. You deserve to applauded for your victory."

Surain said "No, my friend. I shall not do that. If I had done this for the Messenger (pbuh), I would most definitely have gone to him. I have acted in the way of Allah and for Him alone is that I went into that battle. He knows what I did and nothing is hidden from Him. My actions are in the way of the Almighty."

This little anecdote teaches us a great deal about our approach towards helping others. We should be generous and kind but rather than chasing social acceptance it should only be done in His way.