The mess in J&K

Several years of gains in J&K have been wiped out over the last two months. Life had begun limping back to normal; tourists were beginning to make a welcome appearance in J&K after several years and it looked on the surface that some kind of “new normal” would be achieved. All that was destroyed by Ghulam Nabi Azad’s mindless idea of transferring land to the Amarnath shrine. In the IT industry, “ownership” and “usage” are increasingly being segregated. After all, you don’t need to own a computer network or an application to get the benefits of using it. If you pay the owner for its use, you are just as well off. OK- forget technicalities like depreciation of an owned asset and so on- you get the picture, I am sure. Similarly, why does the Amarnath shrine need to own the land to provide yatris with various facilities and amenities? Surely, the government of J&K can provide these amenities without worrying about who owns the land.

The resulting tussle between Jammu and Kashmir has only served to give the hardliners in the region (both sides) a fillip. Deliberately (or unwittingly), J&K’s political leadership has played right into the hands of the hardliners. Today’s agreement notwithstanding, I am not sure how long this temporary peace will last. Make no mistake, it is only temporary. With Pakistan going through its own internal turmoil, the rising temperature in J&K provides an ideal environment for mischief-mongers on both sides of the border.

Shame at Singur

The total investment at Singur that may be wiped out if the Tatas pull the plug on their Nano project there is reportedly more than the total FDI that has come into India in the past five years or so. Financial loss to the Tatas and their automotive ecosystem apart, Mamata Banerjee’s myopic intransigence will cost the state of West Bengal and the entire country far more in the future.

I agree that adequate and fair compensation should be paid to farmers; after all, we are a civilized democracy and not a medieval fiefdom or a banana republic ruled by a military junta. But compensation can also be in the form of agricultural land in other parts of the state. After all, what the farmers need is a means of livelihood. Also, if some farmers are willing to sell and others are not, redistribution of land in the same area could have been considered, so that the farmers do not have to move very far away from their homes; neither would the Tatas have to give up on the convenience of contiguous land.

The ongoing melee may well delay the launch of the Nano by a few months. But think of how badly India’s image has been tarnished. If we as a country cannot support one of our own top industrialists, what chance of support do foreign investors have? Perhaps India is not as attractive as it seems to be. Maybe terms such as deomcracy, stable government and resilient political system that are usualy associated with India are misplaced.

I have not been able to figure out what the Trinamool Congress thinks it is going to get as a political dividend. Neither have I understood why Amar Singh chose to go to Singur and show solidarity with Mamata. But then, there are many other things in life (and Indian politics) that I do not understand either.

Can India beard the Lankan Lions in their own den?

In the last week or so, India have won two consecutive ODIs against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. Trailing 0-1 after the first match at Dambulla, this is a huge achievement. Mendis returned his most expensive bowling figures today, at Colombo’s Premadasa stadium, which will also host the remaining two matches of the 5 match Idea Cup. And yet, the final result belied the wildly fluctuating fortunes. India won the toss and elected to bat and pretty soon, had lost its top 4 batsmen with less than 100 runs on the board. Thanks to a middle-order partnership between Raina and Dhoni, we eventually reached 237. In the penultimate over, the Wily Mendis got both Dhoni and Harbhajan out or I suspect we would have reached 250. In any event, 237 was enough for us to win the match in spite of a Captain’s knock by Mahela Jayawardene that fetched him 94 runs and nearly cost India the match. Sri Lanka’s batting collapsed to 59 for 6. In fact, they had lost 7 wickets before they reached 100 and I was at the time reasonably sure we would win by 100 runs. But Jayawardene was not going to give up without a fight. And in young Thushara, found an able partner. The duo added nearly 80 runs for the 8th wicket, before Thushara was bowled by a Zaheer Khan special.

Zaheer has regained his spot as India’s pace spearhead and since the England tour last year, has done so well. But each time I watch Munaf on the field, I cannot but help think that he is a huge talent not realizing his potential because of his laziness and attitude. He has it in him to be a far better bowler and of course, a much better fielder. I hope Kirsten or someone else can knock some sense into his head.

In the event, the series is tantalizingly poised. India’s gamble of going with only 4 specialist bowlers paid off because they got early wickets that reduced the pressure on Yuvraj, Sharma & Raina- the “5th bowler”. But Dhoni may still decide to perssist with this stratagem simply because our batting remains brittle and has not quite delivered in spite of several scrappy starts by the top order.

But hey, a win is a win- even if it is by a margin of a single run. And this match was won by a far more flattering margin of 33 runs. Chak de India and all the best for the next two matches.

Well done, India!

India registered its best ever performance at the Olympics, winning 1 gold and 2 bronze medals. So far, most of India’s medals have been in team sports like men’s field hockey; this time, all 3 medals were won on individual performances. Sadly, several other medal prospects, such as the Paes-Bhupathy combine and and Sania Mirza in tennis, Saina Nehwal in badminton and the plucky Akhil Kumar in boxing were not good enough. Neither was Gagan Narang or Rajyavardhan Rathore (who had won silver at Athens and was feted nationally then for what remains a hugely creditable achievement). And who knows what might have happened if Monika Devi had made the trip to Beijing.

For a country of more than a billion people, 10 medals is not a very lofty target. To put this in perspective, at Beijing, the US and China ended up with more than 100 each. Even countries like Zimbabwe, that are goin through their own national turmoil, won more medals than India did. But all told, this time’s performance does ignite a small spark of hope that in the years ahead, India may end up with a medal tally of 10. This is achievable in 8 years, provided the government focuses resources on spotting talent and then training and nurturing it.

Time for the “Fab Four” to bid adieu?

Although Sri Lanka got the better of India 2-1 in the series, there was one aspect that seemed common to both teams. For the hosts, Vaas, the old war-horse, looked tired and uninspired. In the Indian team, Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman and Kumble looked jaded. For arguably among the best players of spin bowling in the world, our seniors looked woefully ill-equipped to handle young Ajantha Mendis. Even Murali, whom they have played before, caused them quite some trouble. Team India’s next series is against Australia in two months and perhaps it is time they retired from cricket completely or else, their ignominy of being dropped from the ODI team (Sachin being the exception) may just be exacerbated if they are unceremeoniously dropped next season. Their contributions to Team India over the last decade anda half is unquestionable. But all those sterling performances will be forgotten easily; all that the unforgiving public will remember is that Mendis snared Laxman on all four occasions, or that Sachin and Ganguly scored less than 100 runs apiece in 6 innings they played.

Abhinav Bindra creates history

Abhinav Bindra, one of India’s medal hopes at the Beijing Olympics, created history today by becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal in an individual event. Truth be told, men’s hockey apart, India has never won a gold medal at the Olympics. To win in an individual sport is that much more creditable.

Abhinav was behind the others during the qualification round- but through intense concentration, made his last shot count (where he score 10.8 out of a possible 10.9).

The defending champion, China’s Zhu Qinan won the silver  medal, and Finland’s Henri Hakkinen, won the bronze (but for a late stumble, he might have pipped Zhu for the silver).

At Athens in 2004, it was Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore- another shooter- won us the silver.

Another chak de India moment….

Congratulations Abhinav and here’s wishing you many more successes.

What goes up/down must also go down/up

After a 3 week period during which crude prices came down by almost $30/barrel, another uptick seems to have begun.  The unanabated rise in domestic inflation (the official rate is past 12% and methinks the “real” inflation for middle class India must be closer to 20% if you keep in mind the typical “basket” of goods and services they consume. That banks have hiked interest rates suggests that high inflation is here to stay at least for the next quarter or two. This will make bonds more atractive and not surprisingly, the stock markets might again catch a cold after just showing signs of recovery.  Oh well….

A “Galle(ing)” loss for the Lankan Lions

An inspired and hostile spell of fast bowling by Ishant Sharma combined with Harbhajan’s guile to beat Sri Lanka at Galle. After losing the first test at Colombo by an innings last week, Team India bounced back to hand Sri Lanka only their 3rd loss at this venue (Australia and Pakistan have earlier beaten Sri Lanka at Galle, if I recall right).

Yesterday, at the end of three days, the game was evenly poised. Both sides and gained- and squandered- their advantage at different times. Having lost both Sachin and Dravid towards the end of yesterday with a lead of 237, Indian fans must have expected  that Laxman and Ganguly would propel the team to a near assailable lead of 400. Sadly, that was not to be and the Indian second innings folded up fairly early today, leaving the Lankans to score a reasonable 307 to win.

And that is where Ishant played such a crucial role. He and Zaheer (who also bowled with fire, although he did give away a few extras due to no-balls) had the top 3 batsmen back in the dressing room with Sri Lanka’s second innings score at 10/3. Samaraweera, who remainded unbeaten on 67, defended one end dourly, scoring when opportunities presented themselves. But a steady procession at the other end soon meant that the Lankans were handed a Galle(ing) defeat.

The 3rd and last test that begins at Colombo next Friday will thus become even more interesting. Kudos to team India. It wuld be churlish if I do not mention the huge contributions made by Sehwag and Gambhir, who, between them, accounted for nearly 2/3 of the runs scored by Team India in both innings. Which all goes back to prove what experts always say- you need to bat well, bowl well and field well to win a cricket match!