Indians living abroad and home societies

A lot of people in western countries blame indians for not socializing enough. More so, they are actually blamed that they either dont come out or stick to their own kind. Lately there have been a lot of such accusations, and so much so, that either Indians are sometimes not considered a part of home country or they are feared and suspected. The suspicion and hesitancy in accepting them in mainstream society has been more and more pronounced in European countries. It is particularly acute in more advanced countries like Germany, UK, etc. (even though france seems to be an exception).

Most of these accusations are a result of a big misunderstanding from the home society. There are two points to consider before jumping to such conclusions.

Firstly, Indian social structures are different. Indians are a very soft breed of social creatures. Intially, there is a lot of "over the surface" interactions with the home society. This is just to understand what are the values and the underlying ethos of the home country's society. Once it is established that the home country principles are more or less in coherence with the principles inherent in the society of which Indians have been a part of, only then, Indians will try to become a free part of mainstream society. This is not to be construed as resistance to new social norms. This reluctance on part of Indians happens only when there are some contradictive ideologies or ethics could be felt. Given a neutral or a new idelogy that does not contradict with existing Indian philosphies, rarely would an Indian avoid socializing.

This dilemma is more pronounced in cultures where pre-marital physical relationship is not a taboo. In Indian society, it is still very taboo. Not only that, it is also discouraged. So, Indian parents are very apprehensive of home youth. On surface, this looks like resistence to new culture, whereas the resistance is of a different nature and cannot be generalized to entire society as whole.

Secondly, in advanced countries, most of the Indians that have moved there under work visas or permits. It goes to say that these permits are for limited time periods and sooner or later the worker will be back in India, looking for another job or that person may be an extension of the permit (which cannot be guarenteedly renewed). So, the primary thrust of such Indians is to save as much as they can. Socializing always definitely involved give and take, and would certainly involve certain expenditure as a part of social activities. Most Indians, esp. families, dont want that. Infact, they are there to earn and save as much as they can.

Finally, I would feel that it is unjustified for home countries to be apprehensive of Indians arriving in home countries. Their skill and hard working nature will only bring revenue and profits to the organizations that employ them. By filling those positions economically, they are generating some other jobs at some place else.

Appalled!

I am totally appalled by the "Independent Evaluation of Performance by Consulting Groups" hired by the publishers of the benchmarks. I have seen this happen with MQ, Databases and Application Servers, and what not!!

There are certain ignorant sections in the online community that follows this and also defends these reports. I am a little tired of all the hype that surrounds this performance benchmarking.

It is like asking which one is faster, a Porsche or a Lamborghini. Of course, these two vehicles have varied maximum speeds, but a lot depends on speed under what conditions and most importantly, in whose hands!

So, with all the software, it depends on the production conditions, and code/maturity level of developers.

So, give me a break, and STOP this madness!

Amazing UEFA CL!

Yesterday, in an eventful day for UEFA CL, Chelsea defeated Valencia in Mestella. This is the first time an English club has defeated Valencia in the home ground. And one of the rare occasions that will leave a lasting impression on the minds of valencia home crowd and players. I did not get a chance to see the game, and looking forward to seeing it. Even though I am a little biased against Chelsea, but I have lot of respect for them.

And as I had thought, ManU have routed Roma. Roma was making their first appearance in UEFA finals, and it was pretty much predictable that they may be knocked out of the tournament, but they have made it good to reach this far. At least, they made farther than Inter. Ironically, the only Italian team in contention in UEFA league is Milan, which is far behind either in Serie A.

It will be interesting to see which wins, Ottmar Hitsfeld's discipline and organization or Carlos Ancelotti's flair and tactical acumen.

Liverpool is more or less through (even though they would do well to get some players rested). However, Rafael Benitez's side should not get complacent. Challenge in such situation is to be confident and still come out with a reasonable side of reserve players who can get some match practice.

It seems that it will be semi-finals dominated by clubs from English Premier League. After Mestella, I am tempted to think that Chelsea have finally broken their big match jinx and are on the path for a significant silverware, probably first in their history. If they do, Mourinho and Ibramovic are set to become Chelsea legends. It will be probably third CL medal for Mourinho. I marvel how this guy keeps his players motivated for success. However I may hate his flamboyance, I will still admit that he has a knack of turning things around.

So, the line up for semis:
Chelsea - ManU
Liverpool - ????????

Will it be Bayern's organization or Milan's flair?

Let us meet tomorrow to share the news.

Hare Krishna.

Indian cricket board!

Last week, Indian cricket board made a landmark decision. Performance based incentives for players, almost entirely. The lost team takes only 100K for a match, takes 400K for a victory.

For a series victory abroad, it takes 40M!!

Graded contracts are removed. No-one is grade A contract or grade B contract. Every contract is valid at the same grade of remuneration (that is what should have been done a long time back).

Another side, the number of endorsements per player is a maximum of 3. Hmmm ... a little controversial, but I would like to wait and see how this works out rather than jump the gun. Former players, and a major %age of fans, think that it will not impact earnings.

Guru Greg has been retainede, although as the "head" of National Cricket Academy. "Coach" designation has been abolished. But, new designations like "Fielding Coach" and "Bowling coach" has been introduced. Manager will be more or less the "Coach(-in-Chief)".

So, what is the message that BCCI wants to convey?

There are certain important points:
1. For players: We have money, but it will be given only if you play well. Forget endorsements, if you play well, you wont need them to roll in money.
2. For players: We have money, and whoever performs, gets it. Doesnt matter if it is a senior or a novice.
3. For Ex-players: We have money, if you think you can produce results, it is yours to take, just make sure that team wins.
4. For Greg: We liked your propositions, and they seem true. We respect you and we have money to pay you. Can you help us more at the grooming level, so that we can be assured of a technically better pool of players.
5. For (Senior) Players: Dont think team needs you. Perform or perish.
6. For fans: We know that you want team to win. and are tired of watching these people in every commercial. Well ... we will give you a break.

Out of 6 points above, BCCI says that it has money in about 4 points!

All in all, it is a stance to appease every section associated with cricket. But it is full of half measures. It hasn't transformed Indian cricket totally, yet it has not let things remain as they used to be.

It will be interesting to see how it turns out!

Hare Krishna.

Kris Srikanth: An idiot

I think that Kris Srik(k)anth and Sunil Gavaskar are the two biggest idiots in Indian cricket right now. Everytime you ask them a question, they give you back their opinion. There are two things in cricket: 1) Fact. 2) Opinion.

If you ask these two cricketers about anything, these two guys are totally adept at mixing these two, and give you a confused answer, where you will struggle to figure out what portion is day-dreaming and which portion is a fact.

And the latest example of a joke is from the on-going debate of coach.

I dont know what they think when they are against a foreign coach in the sub-continent. Do they want to say that John Wright has not done good enough as Indian coach, or that Dave Whatmore is inferior as a coach to _______ (fill it with any Sri Lankan name). Or that Bangladesh should really opt for either of them as a coach rather than Dave Whatmore himself.

Or do they want to tell the world that we are simply jealous that all that we expected for ourselves was being handed over to 'foreigners' and we are outraged with jealosy?

I am inclined to think that latter is the case.

They say that foreign coaches are not good for India when asked who should be a coach. Why cant they simply answer the question rather than bring in an opinion. By some mysterious stroke of luck, do they explain why they think so? No, you have to find the answer to great people's great words yourself. And when you solve this mystery, please make sure you explain it as a comment on my blog ('cas i am still scratching my head).

Again, who should be a coach? Answer: We have a lot of talent in India. Again, an opinion!

Let us try again, what should be done to improve Indian team's performance?

They have to be more committed. (How? No answer! Find yourself.)
They have to try harder. (How? No answer! Find yourself.)

You can simply keep them asking how, and they will give you endlessly pointless answers.

They drool over Australian style of play, but they are simply uninterested in accepting Greg Chappell's methods. Well, if you are not shocked by Australian cricket, then accept their methodology until you have a better one!

Again, they will answer "it will not work in India". How? Go find yourself!.

So, you mean to say that India will never play like Australia or South Africa?

I think for a moment, they should shut their mouth. They should think, and then talk something. It really sucks to see that former Indian cricketers are simply jealous and Xenophobic. It is a pity that these people are looking to lead Indian cricket.

Captain Vengsarkar, by any stroke of luck if you happen to read this blog, then please accept my humble apologies for putting forth idiocy of your former colleagues and call back Greg Chappell. What is the worst that can happen? You will lose another world cup series and come back in first round. But you can be sure that everyone who comes back will be under 25. Then, you just hand them some reasonable international experience. By the time the world cup after that comes, you would have greatly enhanced your chances of winning that one(i.e. if by some stroke of luck, you dont win the first one).

And yes, I feel that Sachin should retire or strengthen the bench. It is time for someone younger to play and learn the game.

UEFA Champions League, Update

The predictions about the last post of mine on the final four of the Champions league seem to be turning true after all!

Yes, even though there is still one more round to be cleared, but I feel that Chelsea are already in trouble and they'd need a bigger than self effort if they are to win away at Mestella, one of the most imposing stadia in the world. What I am surprised about is the scoreline. Clearly, Jose Mourinho has never been to Mestella or did not pay much attention to the infamous reputation that it has, else he'd have been more adventurous, would have started with Shevchenko and also would have played a more aggressive game(This game should have been the way he talks!). However, it'd be interesting to see what happens now.

Well, well. Milan. Silence talks more about than any other words now.

Roma is always the dark horse, and even though they have won the match at Stadio Olimpico, defeating ManU in their own backyard is a totally new thing, as they may sorely come to know. I think that quarter-final is still far from over.

PSV is out in all probabilities. and Liverpool is prolly going to meet the winner of Valencia-Chelsea tie. ManU/Roma will be lucky not to play Valencia in Semi's. Even if given a choice, I am sure either managers would have preferred to play Bayern/Milan.

Here are the Semi-finalists for me:

Valencia - Liverpool
ManU - Bayern

I am tempted to say that Valencia and ManU may play the finals. But I have not seen Bayern play this season and Liverpool are very good in pressure situtations.

Frankly, at this stage in tournament, it is anyone's day.

300!

This weekend I saw 300. What to say ... amazing movie. Totally mesmerizing.

I was moved by the sense of sacrifice, duty, glory and courage of those 300 beautiful minds and their actions. It was not a story that involved a lot of bloodshed, but it looking beyond that, it involved a lot of test of strength, wits and energy. It was a test of character and about putting duty before personal preferences. It was about putting society at large before family and it was about having faith that society deserves that sacrifice.

So deep its impact has been on me that I am tempted to ask if that was true.

And my opinion is that it must have been true.

It is an established historical fact that Xerxes won that battle, and so we would have been inclined to think that he would have been inclined to complete his glory by mentioning that there was nothing to stop him in this world. So, would he have allowed historians at that time to record this event? Would they have been allowed to mention that there was a battle with 300 men that first few battles were won by the Spartans?

Even though those 300 may lost their life, but what they could hold on to was the glory. Today, we are able to see that movie and marvel only because glory is still theirs. And I think that is what the movie's central theme is - Glory. Patriotism was not a central theme, but glory was.

That takes us back to the question I asked earlier, did those people have enough faith in society to sacrifice all that they ever had? The answer could be yes, could be no, we may never know about the truth. But there was something that is true beyond doubt, they had glory to fight for.

Glory, through courage, that can defy victories of Xerxes.

And by God, didn't they have it!

Hare Krishna.

c2-c4/c7-c5

I love chess. There is one move that unsettles me more than any othermove, which is c2-c4/c7-c5. It doesnt matter whether i am playing black or white, I just feel very unsettled when this move is played.

I fail to understand how to counter this move.

Today, I am going to try out gambit against this, but I am unsure how successful I will be.

Lately, something that has really really impressed me is the gambit. I used to think that gambit is a risky affair, but as the more I analyse and read about the openings with gambits, I realise that speedy development and a sharp attack is a DUTY when you offer a gambit, and that is the style of game I like, aggressive, sharp, imbalanced and prospective.

Will update you once I am done with the game.