Indian Cricket Team Dynamics

Things are looking very bad. I am very ambivalent on Sachin as of now. Maybe as he says, he still has cricket left in him, asses his physical level, ask him to play a season of county and ranji and then assess on his physical level and performance. If its gud enuf do select him for the team. Ofcourse sadly, this means that for the first time in 14-15 years, i am indifferent towards Sachin's presence in the team. (Aside: I am sure he can hold his place even at current level of performance, but even if he is replaced i dont think the team will suffer much.) One of the factors has been the baggage that Sachin has brought into the team. By speaking against the current coach in public, you cross a line, no matter how warranted your intervention was.

My solution:
1) Chappell Out
2) Whatmore, Sandeep Patil, Anshuman Gaewkward (In this order) be the new coach. (Woolmer wood have topped the list)
3) Saurav Sachin Bhajji Agarkar out
4) Raina, Pathan, Uthappa, Dhoni, Sreesanth, Zaheer, Patel, Dravid, Sehwag, uv, Powar, karthik to be the core tam contracted
5) Get a bowling and fielding coach
6) Implement performance based contracts ( Experience doesnt holds much water - If you are experienced, it shud translate into performance) - However since experience gets you some know how , there are some positive externalities from experience. A small 20% component weight may be given for experience

A New strategy

Expect more links...maybe in future i can actually come back and read them. Sort of a mix beteen what i am currently reading and what i would like to read...

The Tragedy

Its only true for the Indian Cricket team that a well thought out strategy looks more like a gamble.
Still its a sign of a good captain that he knows the team's ability well and Dravid should have known that batting first with seam movement for India is always a gamble, not a strategy. Irrespective of the fact that the opposing team is bangladesh

Suffocation

In the literal sense, I understand, but in the proverbial sense, is it that people are unwilling to change their mental makeup. I mean whether its an external or internal phenomenon. Are you sort of unwilling to process the said things from a different perspective. My feeling is that we choose so otherwise suffocation like many things else is an artificial concept which while may explain things from a distance is not true in actual sense.

Wimby Equal pay

Put simply,
I dont agree.

The sports are different, why should the pay be equal. Common sense suggests that Mens tennis game commands more finances so should get more money. While many people have commented that its ironical that sharapova earns more than federer, but nobody in right mind suggested thay both should get the same money for modelling assignments even if they participate in the same ad for same brand at same time and same place. Cos they have different financial values.

Yup

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

New year

Supposed to be happy and prosperous..(atleast thts wht evrbd keeps sayin to me these last few days)....



we ll see

The batmobile

Course, koi nahi

Song from the King

I want to break free...
I want to be free...
i want to be a freak...
i want this feeling to be real...
i want to be this way....
any other way is like no way..

i want to break free..
i want to sing...
i want to sing in tune..
i want to be free..

i want the best..
the best that i am...
the best that i could be..
the best that i could be not...

HT Coloumns

I have always thought of Pankaj Vohra as a congress stooge, so i dont think he intended it so, but his coloumn in HT starts as "The Cabinet reshuffle shows that the PM was influenced by the Congress high command". Guess the only way you can be in the 'High command' in congress is by being in the Gandhi family.

Another funny column is that of Mr Sanghvi berating middle class for hypocrisy

Heavy replacing tough

As its wont to say in times of introinspections..

When the going gets heavy...the heavy....start...to think...of ....going

Peadntic semantics

Recentl i have been to a lot of forums and some blogs( referring to comments section) , and i hate people who instead of refuting the logic or idea, focus on some mistakes (language, Grammar etc) and jump to the obvious ( in their eyes) that the poster is dumb so obviously the given opinion doesnt matters.

Its internet, a whole world out there, so unless its a forum on grammatical or spelling mistakes, please avoid the mistakes...just to make me happy if you find no other reason.

P.S- Sorry for all the grammatical, spelling mistakes and the typos :)

Advertisements with Subliminal messages

Just saw the Khadim Shoes ad on TV. and as they teach you in B schools, a good ad sends subliminal messages to the viewers which create favourable impression of the good. While the ad sucks, the subliminal message that they send ( they havent spent much money -leading to such an ill thought ad) makes the product seem like good value for money

Unfortunate Accident

Normally when the Prime Minister of a country says that he strayed into Politics by an accident, you will think - what a great man, so much quality etc...but in case of Manmohan singh, all i could think was 'It shows'

Trivial Pursuit

When people think about something very important for you, is for someone else a trivial pursuit. (Of course as an economist you can justify it as 'you cant compare inter personal utility.yadi yada yada)..so considering tht u r intelligent and/ or not an economist you should feel something amiss.. when something important to u like the well being of India seem totally irrelevant to others...( the argument goes something like in another 50 years the individualism will be so strong that the concept of nation state may not be as relevant as you currently think. So as i see it there is actually enough diversity in the thought process ecosystem to warrant somebody's mission being called a trivial pursuit by someone else.

Maybe the economists are right in this regard..inter personal utility comparison is not only difficult but may be wrong and /or counterproductive.

Decoupling

Apropos the post by Roubini on RGE Monitor , How will the recession (if it happens) influence the world economy, and particularly the Indian one. ie Will i see some reduction in say US cos. spend on IT. How will that effect the Indian or India Based companies (i.e Will US cos become too costly moving traffic to India or that has already happened and Indian companies will have reduced estimated incomes) and how will that effect the increment of a friend or two currently working in IT sector.

Again there could be a definite downside for Indian exporters if US slow downs its exports but i suppose still the overall effect should be marginal.

But for me the Indian effect will be unprecedently albeit marginally effected from US slowdown provided ofcourse the rest of the world does not manages to decouple from the slowing US economy.

Blog Survey

some say the blog is more of a personal diary...my contention is that shudnt it be so...afterall it is not that i am being paid here tht i hv to keep in mind the snesitivites of general public in mind..(ofcourse as long as its not overtly offensive--it is a semi public platform)...so only junta intersted in wht i say come here...so wht i say is upto me..i mean the more the readers the more generic my ritin will be...but as it stands..i am the only reader..(shud it be proof reading-no idea abt these journalistic things)..its more of a diary..again not exactly a personal diary as ofcourswe it s semi public.

More on History

My last post seems to hav created a lot of stir among history lovers and a few history baiters..maybe fukuyama will agree to the contention that history doesnt matters..but probably he was not indoctrinated in a madrassa somewhere in afghanistan...

For me the only historical force left as of now apart from post modernist democracy is the Islamist Resurgence (Al Qaida version)where they seem to suggest that they can subserve the world....i still believe that there are many more moderate muslims so the movement itself is not gonna take place...let alone the conflict with western world and India and China.....its not gonna happpen...

a solution against terror( the most non conflicting one i can find) could be Technological replacement of Oil as the energy source....tht i believe funds most of the virulent version of islam indoctrination....once the petro dollars start to shrink...i believe the money for these things will go away..thus leading the halting of the consolidation of these virulent version of islam...

Once the consolidation is done away with..i am very sure the moderate society in the muslim world will overwhelm these forces...

Otherwise...You have to have the American Situation...Identify states like Pak, SUdan etc and then put pressure..military or otherwise..but it doesnt seems to be working..
plus i dont think the americans are very smart..the squeeze should happen in Pakistan and the middle east rather than anywhere else.....

Time to put another month in the antiquated dustbin of History

Why is history so inportant....i have no idea..... why is even the question important...actually the questions are never important..its the answers that matter...but again isnt the question somewhat responsible for the answers it begets..

well probably thts y its in the realms of pop psychology

Experiments

The world wudnt be the same....lets start another phase of experimentation