Riquelme, football's philosopher from Argentina

Editor's note: Argentina is creating waves in this early phase of 2006 World Cup football.
Coach Jose Pekerman has built the Argentina side around Juan Roman Riquelme.
Riquelme, Argentina's playmaker, sometimes seems to be playing a game beyond his peers.
He is modern football's philosopher in action.
As the World Cup throws up more twists and turns here is a story that delves into that moody Argentine's mindscape.

By Jason Cowley/The Observer, London
Very occasionally a player emerges in world football who, in style and method,defies categorisation. He is the player who invents his own idiom, plays in a manner and at a tempo that is entirely his own.
One thinks of the young Franz Beckenbauer who, as a counterattacking libero, showed again and again how a defender could be the most creative player in the team.
At this World Cup we have Juan Roman Riquelme of Argentina, the outstanding player of the tournamentso far, and the one stylistically most unlike any other here in Germany. Tall, slim, long-legged and often morose in appearance, Riquelme, who plays for Villarreal in Spain, operates in midfield, just behind two central strikers.
That, at least, is his nominal position, but in truth he goes wherever he wantsas he seeks to create space and possibilities for those around him. In many ways, he is the closest thing football has to a quarterback, the most influential and glamorous position in American sport. The quarterback is the creator, the player who invents the game as he goes along.
If it means passing back or sideways, in order to progress, so be it. Because what Riquelme has, above all else, is patience, the very quality Leo Beenhakker, the veteran Dutch coach of Trinidad & Tobago, says England, so hurried and committed to the longball, palpably lack.
As well as patience, Riquelme's great gift is one of decision-making, of knowing when to 'call the play', and of knowing intuitively what will and won't work and why.
As such, he is the fulcrum of what may be thebest Argentina side since the Maradona-led World Cup winners of 1986, the playermost cherished and, some think, most indulged by the coach Jose Pekerman.
Why is Riquelme indulged?
Because he seldom tackles, rarely hurries back to defend, even when he loses the ball, and can be wildly inconsistent. Above all, he seems to move at his own languid pace. He knows what he wants to do and how to do it, and everyone else will just have to go along with him.
If he plays well Argentina play well, and two days ago, beneath the closed roof of the magnificent Stadium AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Riquelme offered those of us fortunate enough to be there a masterclass in how to move and pass and thus dictate a game.
The players of Serbia & Montenegro, thrashed 6-0, could do little but look on in baffled fascination as Riquelme, the Fifa man of the match even though he did not score, destroyed them with the brilliant simplicity of his passing and movement.
Argentina's second goal, scored by Esteban Cambiasso after a sequence of 24 passes, was the best of the competition, a symphony of collaboration - 'the most beautiful goal', according to Hernan Crespo.
And, because of the intricacy and languor of its build-up, the epitome of everything that the 56-year old Pekerman, appointed in autumn 2004, is striving to achieveas a coach dedicated to a slower, less direct, more classically South American game.
It is often said in Argentina that, because he rarely smiles on the pitch and is reserved and undemonstrative off it, Riquelme plays without joy. This is quite wrong. When, for instance, that second goal went in against Serbia and his team-mates rushed to embrace the scorer, Riquelme, alone, turned towards the bench, to coach Pekerman, and opened his arms wide in a kind of private rapture,as if to say: 'Yes, this is how the game can and should be played.'
Here, for sure, was joy enough. Yet Riquelme is often criticised in Argentina.
His performance in their first game, in which he provided the passes that led to both Argentina goals against Ivory Coast, was widely celebrated in Europe but received with some scepticism at home. He is too slow and unaccommodating, it was said, and plays only at his own pace.
He will not adapt; if the team cannotbe built around him, he retreats and withdraws.
'A friend of mine calls Riquelme the tollbooth,' says Jorge Valdano, a member of Argentina's WorldCup-winning team of 1986 and now a self-styled philosopher of football.
'When the ball reaches him it has to stop. The rhythm and direction of play will depend, to a great degree, on Riquelme's level of inspiration. And Riquelme is not always inspired.'
To which Pekerman counters: 'Some say that Riquelme is slow. But he's not slow when he's in possession. It's the ball that should do the running, not the player.'
On the train to Gelsenkirchen a group of journalists from Argentina were, as expected, divided over Riquelme. 'It's all aquestion of style,' said Ferrarini Guido of Diario Hoy.
'For me, Riquelme is too slow, too mournful even. I prefer someone quick, with happiness and with flair, like [Pablo] Aimar or [Lionel] Messi. But Pekerman sees only Riquelme. He is like a son to him.'
Born on 24 June 1978 in Don Torcuato, Buenos Aires, Juan Roman Riquelme grew up in a family of 10 in hardened poverty. But he is not, as some suggest, a semi-literate child of the villas miserias, the equivalent in Buenos Aires to the favelas of Brazil.
His was not a slum childhood. Nor is he of Amerindian extraction, though some suggest he is. 'That's the romantic cliche, isn't it, that Riquelme is the illiterate street kid, with an Indianfamily background?' says the London-based Argentine journalist Marcela Mora YAraujo.
'Yes, his background is very poor and very tough. But he went to school and he once told me how fortunate he felt to have grown up with enough open spaces around him in which to play football 'from dawn to dusk', as he put it. His family is very important to him and he still speaks of Don Torcuato as home.'
Riquelme, like Maradona before him, played for both Argentinos Juniors and then Boca Juniors, the club he supported and for which he dreamed above all others of playing as a young boy. When he was at Boca, and because he wears the No 10, he was called 'the new Maradona'.
What else would they call him? But the two players - in style, physique and personality - could not be more unalike, even if in their individuality and flair it can seem at times as if they are playing a different game from everyone else - their own game, without obvious peers.
In 2002, Riquelme, who is married with two children, joined Barcelona for a reported £10m. This was a difficult time in his life.
Shortly before leaving Buenos Aires his brother, Cristian, was kidnapped, as have been the family members of several notable South American footballers, most recently the mother of Brazil's Robinho. Riquelme negotiated with his brother's kidnappers and paid the ransom for his release. This, he has said, was why he left his beloved Boca, though this may be disingenuous, because he was also in dispute with the club over his contract.
The move was a failure. Barca's then coach Louis van Gaal spoke of how Riquelme was a 'political signing' from within theclub, not his, and he treated the new arrival with indifference. On the rare occasions Riquelme played, it was usually out of position on one of the flanks.For the first time in his career, Riquelme's confidence withered.
As a player, he needs to feel wanted, as Pekerman, for whom Riquelme excelled as a member ofthe 1997 World Youth Cup-winning team, makes him feel wanted. 'He needs to havethe whole team built around him,' says Guido.
In 2003, the year after he was left out of the Argentina squad for the World Cup in South Korea and Japan, Riquelme joined Villarreal - he speaks of being 'rescued' - a small-town Spanishclub with a wealthy and ambitious president.
This was the start of his comeback. He began to relax again, surrounded as he was by fellow Latin and South Americans, including Juan Pablo Sorin, the captain of Argentina. The intensity and expectation were lower than at Barcelona. He felt wanted again and soon he was once more the fulcrum of the team.
Last season, improbably, Riquelme inspired Villarreal to the semi-finals of the Champions League, where they wereknocked out 1-0 on aggregate by Arsenal, having dominated the second leg in Spain. Riquelme missed an 89th-minute penalty which, had he scored, would have taken the game into extra-time and probably taken Villarreal, because they werethe better side on the night and the momentum was theirs, on to the final in Paris.
Rarely can a player have appeared more fretful than Riquelme as he prepared to take that penalty. It was almost as if he already knew what would happen next. He spat repeatedly; he could not stop looking at the ground, andthen up he ran... and missed. Or rather, the diving Jens Lehmann saved his weakshot. Is it only in retrospect that he looked like a condemned man?
Inevitably, in Argentina, this led once more to anguish about his temperament and his suitability for the national team. All that is in the past, and now, as Riquelme looks up, with Argentina moving so confidently into the last 16, he must see before him the possibility of greater glory. Certainly, he is the tournament's most influential player so far, and its most original, the footballer-as-quarterback.
He may not run extravagantly with the ball like Ronaldinho, or move and dribble as Kaka can, and he will never score a wonder goal of the kind patented by Maradona. But as he has shown here, and Pekerman has long understood, Juan Roman Riquelme can control the tempo of a game like no one else. In so doing he can lead his hugely accomplished and motivated team to the greatest prize of all.

A kiss for Rakhi Sawant

By John Cheeran
There are no free kisses as Rakhi Sawant rightly says.
Ladies and gentleman, there should be no forcible kisses among you henceforth.
But I’m surprised by the lack of support that Rakhi has received at her seconds of distress.
The man in question Mika had no business to kiss her on lips.
This assault on the modesty of an Indian woman during a birthday party is unforgivable.
Just because Rakhi Sawant prefers to have less number of clothes while doing item numbers and has a great body mean that she can be treated as a jalebi that can be bitten into anytime?
And the silence of so-called upholders of female dignity on Rakhi Kiss is deafening.
Rakhi has said in her defence that: “Mika has kissed me forcibly, once before this. I was dancing on an awards nite in Punjab, and he came on stage and kissed me. At the time, I forgave him because he was a friend.
At yesterday’s party, (at Some Place Else in Mumbai) I was introducing Deepti Nagia, the director of my music video, to him, but he started smooching me. He smooched me twice.
Usne mera gala pakda aur bahut zor se kiss kiya. He bit my lower lip twice and broke my ear-ring. I don’t know why he did this to me again.
I am an Indian woman, I will not allow a liplock - a peck on the cheek is okay.”
Yes, Rakhi is an Indian woman!
Where are the rest of them?
Why don’t they come out in support of their distressed sister?
By the way, is Rakhi upset because she has lost the chance of burning the charts with a virgin lip-lock kiss in one of her albums now that Mika has done it without giving any royalty for it? Everything has a price even if it happens at Some Place Else.
I’m penniless and let me blow a kiss to dear Rakhi.

Ghana comes up with Black Magic

By John Cheeran
Ghana’s performance against the Czech Republic was a revelation. The 2-0 win does not reveal the extent of the threatening football Africans unleashed especially in the second half of the game.
If not for a stupendous show from goalkeeper Peter Cech, who foiled a many a Ghana move, the Czech defeat would have been terrible. Also, the Africans wasted a penalty kick.
Yes, of course, the Czechs were forced to play without injured strikers Jan Koller and Milan Baros, they looked a shadow of the team that put three goals past the United States.
But the Czechs committed a few tactical mistakes. First, they chose to push through the middle and the tall Ghana defenders were easily able to win the ball from Pavel Nedved and company.
The Czech should have attacked through both flanks and showered the Ghana penalty area with crosses and lobs. This would have put enormous pressure on the Ghana defence and the story could have been different then.
Second, Czech defence was porous and they let through balls slice open their last line of defence with ample room for Ghana strikers Asamoah Gyan and Sulley Muntari to shoot home. Third, the Czechs were too eager to get the equalizer after conceding a goal in the second minute of the match. In the process they were hurrying through their moves and not skillful enough to control the tempo of the game. A more calm and confident approach would have given them more openings in the Ghana penalty area.
In the end, Germany 2006 got its first taste of black magic.

Don’t cry for Argentina! Cheer them

By John Cheeran
The ease with which Argentina demolished Serbia and Montenegro spells trouble for rest of the teams angling for the World Cup.
Serbia and Montenegro is not the strongest of teams in this World Cup; and soon after this World Cup Serbia and Montenegro are to go their separate ways to mount their different challenges for the 2010 World Cup.
Still six goals from Argentina should catch our attention. All of them sublimely executed. The second goal in the match scored by Esteban Cambiasso is the best goal in the tournament so far, and likely to remain so. It was a supreme team effort finished off by a superb touch. That goal had the longest foreplay for a goal, with the move beginning in the Argentina half and lasting around five minutes to the utter frustration of their S&M rivals.
Finally Saviola fed Crespo, who stepped over the ball and backheeled it for Cambiasso to fire into the roof of the net past a static Dragoslav Jevric.
Argentina has a difficult path ahead of them into the final. But the Latinos have enough talent and ammunition to crack formidable opponents such as Germany and England likely to come up in quarterfinals and semifinals.
Don’t cry for Argentina! Cheer them.

How Lara defied India in St Louis

Gros Islet, St. Lucia, June 14 (Agencies)
Brian Lara hit his 32nd Test century to give West Indies a closely-fought draw in the rain-marred second Test against India on Wednesday at the Beausejour Cricket Ground.
The 37-year-old Lara hit 120-only his second Test hundred against the Indians-as West Indies, following on 373 runs behind of first innings, finished on 294 for seven in their second inningsto leave the four-Test series level at 0-0.
Lara reached his hundred when he square drove Irfan Pathan for the ninth of his 10 boundaries and drew level with former Australia captain Steve Waugh for the third highest number of Test hundreds.
India's Sachin Tendulkar, who was prevented from making this trip byinjury, heads the list with 35 Test hundreds. Compatriot Sunil Gavaskar issecond on the list with 34, and Lara and Waugh follow.
The West Indies captain battled away for a little over 6-1/2 hours and faced 307 balls to give West Indies their lifeline. He added 129 for the fourth wicket with his predecessor Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who scored 54, and put on 71 for the fifth wicket with teammate Dwayne Bravo, who made 47.
Anil Kumble was the most successful Indianbowler with three wickets for 98 runs from 42 overs, and Munaf Patel took twofor 50 from 21 overs.Virender Sehwag, who scored 180 in India's mammoth first innings total of 588 for eight declared and snared four wickets in the Test, wonthe Man-of-the-Match award.
West Indies continued from their bedtime total onthe third day of 43 for one, after a complete washout of the entire fourth day,and suffered two setbacks in the first half-hour.No stroke Kumble, who became Test cricket's fourth highest wicket-taker, completely bamboozled Daren Ganga with a googly and bowled him for 26 offering no stroke.
Sarwan, the West Indies vice captain, whose batting helped the home team clinch the preceding limited-overs series, again failed, when he was caught behind for one off awell-pitched out-swinger from Patel to leave West Indies 52 for three. Lara and Chanderpaul showed level heads however, to defy the Indian attack for the restof the morning, and carried West Indies to 130 for three at lunch.
Lara had inside-edged a drive at a flighted delivery outside the off-stump from Kumblefor two to the fine leg region to bring up his 50. After the interval, Lara andChanderpaul, easily West Indies' two most experienced batsman, continued merrilyalong their way.
Chanderpaul swung Anil Kumble behind square for his sixth fourto reach his 50, but trying to hit a full toss from the leg-spin bowler overmid-wicket he was caught at mid-on for 54. He struck half-dozen boundaries from113 balls in just under three hours.
Lara continued to bat with grit and arrived at his landmark. He looked set for a much larger innings, when the umpire Asad Rauf dubiously adjudged him lbw to Sehwag to a ball that television replays clearly showed pitched outside off-stump and spun away.
His departure energised India, and bearing in mind West Indies' capitulation in their second innings ofthe first Test, the visitors moved in for the kill. Bravo had shown great application for close 2-1/2 hours in which he struck three fours and one sixfrom 124 balls before he was caught at short leg turning a ball from Kumble intothe hands of the fielder.
West Indies were 277 for six, and 19 overs still remained, when Ian Bradshaw sauntered to the wicket. He spent 40 minutes and 40balls over one run before he was adjudged lbw to Patel in a final burst, but most importantly, he had exhausted enough time to save West Indies from blushes.
The first Test at the Antigua Recreation Ground ended in a tense draw, with theWest Indies' last wicket pair of Edwards and Collymore surviving the last 19balls of the match. The series concludes with Tests at Basseterre (June 22-26), and Kingston (June 30-July 4).

World Cup: Beating the deadlines

Editor's note: I love Barnes's flourish up to a point; I would have loved to be in Germany to go through the agony Barnes and his mates are going through!
All the same, I feel, this is an eye-opening read for those journalists who are tourists in Germany during the football World Cup.

By Simon Barnes
Doing sports journalism well is the aim of most of us in the trade.
When it comes to a World Cup, doing it at all is the height of any realistic person's ambition. The odds are stacked against you from the start: getting to the groundis in itself a triumph, involving long-distance train travel, intense crowds and erratic busses.
Then come the usual excitements of delivering copy to a silly deadline: yesterday was an exception and a real treat, in that I was able towatch the game before writing. That means you actually know the result before you start: useful in a game in which Australia, 1-0 down, scored three times in the last eight minutes.
Normally, we are required to file "on the whistle", which means you write while the match is actually going on. I usually start hitting the keys afterhalf-an-hour: after that, I grab the match in stolen glances. My opposite number on The Guardian, Richard Williams suggests that this is why we deserve thesalaries we get paid: because we are so willing to make ourselves look idiots on so many occasions.
I shall be back to this on-the-whistle stuff tomorrow, if I get the ticket I am wait-listed for at the Germany-Poland game. World Cups generally undermine racial stereotypes: any one who thought that people from the Far East were inscrutable had his mind changed pretty rapidly when watching Japan and South Korea play in the last World Cup.
Which brings usto German efficiency.
Most journos work from a laptop that has a battery life of about fours hours. That's not quite enough to be comfortable when covering a football match: there is very little margin for error. For example, yesterday I foolishly lost 500words by stubbing my finger on the wrong button in my creative frenzies.
After that I had problems sending the stuff over by phone. I could have done, then,with a working power-point. In press boxes across the world these days, there are always power-points. You plug your laptop in and so you are safe.
Naturally, they provided power-points at the World Cup stadiums: it's just that they don't work. Not if you are British, and are using a British continental adaptor. In Munich, the sockets had rubber collars that pinged your plug out: in Kaiserslautern, they had hard plastic collars, and you couldn't plug in at all. I can plug in at hotels and in the work-rooms: but in the stadium itself, no.
This does not reflect well on German efficiency. But let me boast about my own efficiency. Today, since I was not going into a match, I went into Mannheim and bought myself an extension lead.
This, being German, I trust, will plug into the German stadium sockets: and I can then plug my computer into my new lead. And I must say, I am more proud of this lead than of anything I have written from the tournament so far.
I think I should get an award for it: extension lead of the year. Believe me, every piece we write from the event, however bad, is a triumph.

Why should Dalits become journalists in India?

By John Cheeran
The Hindu on last Saturday, June 3, 2006, devoted its edit page for bemoaning the lack of Dalit and OBC journalists in Indian media.
Let me state a few things on the subject.
I’m a Syrian Christian from Kerala and a journalist. I don’t enjoy any of the reservation benefits. I’m an upper caste Indian!
I have worked for a reasonable period in New Delhi as a journalist.
When I worked for an organization, where the writer of the The Hindu piece, Siddharth Varadarajan also worked in the past, they did not ask my religion or caste.
I was in fact interviewed by an upper caste Hindu. It would not have mattered little to him whether I belonged to upper or down caste!
That is to say in the defence of media managements that they do not discriminate on the basis of caste. But if Varadarajan wants to have a special recruitment drive for OBCs, SCs and STs that is a wonderful idea. I suggest an exclusive newspaper for Dalits too.
Quite often the advocates of OBC, Dalit agenda have referred to B.N. Uniyal’s so called survey where he failed to find a single Dalit accredited journalist in India.Varadarajan also refers to the Uniyal’s discovery.
There is little meaning in such a theory.
The key thing here is accredited journalist. Though I have been a journalist for the last twenty years, I have no accreditation from the government. Does it take away from my credibility as a journalist? There are many like me. In any newspaper organization, only one per cent of its editorial staff takes out accreditation from the Press Information Bureau.
That basically means Uniyal’s media sensus was a bogus one.
And then, how many journalists are bold enough to wear their Dalit or OBC background?
There are many OBC journalists in New Delhi who will not like to be identified as OBC journalists.
One of my friends, who is an OBC journalist, is holding the No.2 position in the editorial rung of an All-India, English language newspaper chain.
Even his paper’s coverage was not pro-reservationist.
I also wonder how many of his colleagues know him as an OBC journalist.
So much for Varadarajan’s theory of recruiting more OBC, Dalit journalists.
And let me ask Varadarajan why should anyone, including Dalits, become journalists.
There is hardly any money, job security or avenues for growth in the Indian media.
From a Dalit’s perspective he has little to gain from choosing journalism as a profession.
The preferred job sectors of Dalits, much like the rest of the upper caste Indian society, are IT, other allied engineering branches and medicine.
Dalits and OBCs can enjoy the fruits of reservation in these fields while both in college and in office.
What does places such as The Hindu, The Times of India, The Indian Express and the DNA offer to Dalits or for that matter to any educated Indian?

India reach tipping point in West Indies

By John Cheeran
With two more days remaining in the first Test, India is still with a chance to redeem itself as a playing unit. Indian batting has showed signs of awakening with top order coming good in the second innings at Antigua.
There is, however, more work need to be done. Skipper Rahul Dravid has to ensure that India bats through on the fourth day so that Indian bowlers can attack West Indies with enough runs on the board.
For that to happen opener Wasim Jaffer should play more positively. He has scored his second Test century and made amends for his failure in the first innings.
Jaffer should play his strokes giving Dravid enough time to shift his batting gears.
It is also quite important that Dravid does not lose his wicket early. In basic terms he should crack a hundred to infuse life into the struggling Indian campaign.
The fatal flaw with Indian batsmen still continues.
Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman, both comfortable against the West Indies bowling, however failed to put the attack to the sword in the second innings.
Now India’s strategy should be two-fold.
Dravid and Jaffer should occupy the crease but they should also show the urgency to score runs quickly which would enable India to go for an improbable win.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni could be the catalyst for this batting experiment.

Kerala’s different DNA

By John Cheeran
Kerala has a different DNA compared to the other states in the Indian Union.
Kerala’s playing bone is truly different.
It does feel the lack of heroes and that is quite evident now with the spread of World Cup fever virus. There is only one World Cup and it is the football World Cup.
Central and Northern Kerala have put up huge banners and billboards on street corners, at their clubs and homes, supporting defending champions Brazil and former winners Argentina.
Brazil and Argentina do not need Indian supporters but unofficial fans associations have sprung up in Kerala for these two national teams.
And you may note that at the same time there are no takers for Rahul Dravid and company with their ship sinking in the West Indies.
Maradona and Pele are bigger and truer heroes to the raw youth in Malappuram, Trichur and Kozhikode. Dravid and Sehwag, they are far, far away.
The only thing that is common with Kerala and Latin America is football.
It is also crucial to remember that it is not sheer love of football that pulsates in these places. It is a romance, it is a fellow feeling for two nations that are still on the margins of the First World.
Though they can admire the gutsy approach of an England, Holland and Germany on the football field, they do not and cannot worship them.
Love is only for Brazil, love is only for Argentina.
No wonder two writers who have captured the imagination of Malayalis in recent times are Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Paulo Coelho.

Good night, good luck Dravid!

By John Cheeran
This definitely is critical hour for Indian skipper Rahul Dravid.
Since winning the first one-day match against the West Indies, the Indian team has lost critical opportunities to wrap up the one-day series.
Now they have lost the initiative in the Test series as well.
Indian team is struggling to seize the upper hand in the series. Suddenly West Indians are batting with gay abandon and their fast bowlers have put some of the finest batsmen in contemporary cricket on the mat.
I have no quibble with Dravid and coach Greg Chappell for going into the Test with the particular combination they have chosen.
It’s not reputation that should matter but current form. Hence resting Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh is a move that can be defended in terms of the logic of sport.
The crisis in Antigua has been precipitated by Wasim Jaffer and Virender Sehwag. And by those next in the batting order such as Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif and VVS Laxman. One of them should have played a longer innings to give support to skipper Dravid. That did not happen, as always in the past.
By no stretch of imagination you could call the current West Indian bowling attack fearsome. Guys like Kaif and Laxman should reap maximum benefits when team management turn to them to prove their utility value.
It is a pity that even the inclusion of an extra batsman could not fetch India a 350 plus total in the first innings of a Test.
Going into the third day of the match, West Indies has snatched a valuable lead of 71 runs; it certainly appears that they will consolidate their lead to 150-175 in the first innings.
The dice is heavily loaded against Dravid and company.
If Indians are taking this Test match into the fifth day, that alone will be an achievement of sorts in the backdrop of the last few weeks.
More sleepless nights are in store for Indian cricket watchers as well as for Indian players.
Good night, Good luck!

Cracking the Da Vinci Code

By John Cheeran
There are Christians in Kerala, India, but none is bothered to crack the Da Vinci Code out here. Why?
A few Christians I have spoken to, during my trip to Kerala, are eagerly awaiting the release of the movie. Meanwhile bookshops are doing brisk business in selling the paperback editions of Da Vinci Code.
It has been surprising that a few other states with a sizeable Christian content in the Indian Union have been vocal in raising their objection to the release of the Hollywood movie. Catholic church is leading the crusade against the movie and they are demanding a disclaimer saying that the movie represents a fictional account and is removed many miles from reality.
The reason why the Christian Kerala is cool with the movie is this.
All Catholics are Christians
All Christians are not Catholics.
Kerala’s social scene is dominated by Eastern Orthodox churches and they are not too keen to act as the moral police in the Da Vinci Code affair.
Kerala has had its storms over freedom of expression in the past. The stage version of the Nikoz Kazantzakis novel Last Temptation of Christ led to widespread outcry but now with no local involvement in the Da Vinci Code, Kerala is just not bothered.
The two prominent factions of the Eastern Orthodox church are engaged in a fratricidal war and they have no time for the sensitivities of the Catholic Christian Inc.
It may be the good fortune of the rest of Kerala that they will be able to watch the movie as and when it is released.

Lifting the veil on sex sites

Editor's note:
I'm chasing the monsoon in Kerala; hence the break in updates. It has nothing got to do with the pasting Rahul Dravid and company got in the one-dayers against the West Indies!Meanwhile a friend has sent me an interesting opinion by an Iranian on lifting the veil on sex sites..
Read on

Let there be light
Visitng 'Sex sites,' hardcore puritan nations come out unclothed

By Iqbal Latif


Ideological legislation restricts the freedom to access sites considered as bad for the faithul in countries like Iran, Saudi and Pakistan. This legislation of 'human attitudes‚ more often than not leads to exactly the opposite effect. Even Adam, everyone‚s biological father, slipped when he was enticed to eat the forbidden fruit by our common mother, Eve. It is coded in 'human genetics‚ that this intelligent being is designed to do more of what is prohibited. Google report produced ample evidence of that closet mentality. Google found that of the top 10 countries - searching for sex-related sites - six were Muslim, with Pakistan on the top.

The other Muslim countries are Egypt at number 2, Iran at 4, Morocco at 5, Saudi Arabia at 7 and Turkey at 8. Non-Muslim states are Vietnam at 3, India at 6, Philippines at 9 and Poland at 10. Google lifts the veil now and most of the hardcore puritan nations come out unclothed!! Sexual frustrations lead to choked sex sites on Google within most of the Islamic crescent! Even though homosexuality is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom ranks No. 2 for searches for "gay sex," behind the Philippines.

A suppressed and sexually disoriented mind cannot produce too many research papers and new ideas. The top ten countries, where access to sex sites is the highest, with the exception of newly freed Poland, are amongst the bottom of the countries from where new scientific research emanates. Rather, in sciences, the top nine share only three Nobel prizes. Convoluted suppressed minds make no new inroads. How strange that it is the infidel, corrupt west where most of the advancements are being made, we, the puritans, sit on the bottom but in closets are the most corrupt. This dichotomy may result in raging anger within the 'nation of Islam‚ but it needs to be highlighted. A safe deduction can be made that sexual suppressions are inversely related to higher performance in sciences.

Too much suppression and guilt arising from the need of 'sexual emancipation' is not turning out to be so good for many of the Islamic countries. Rising libidos may be associated with rising tempers and violent attitudes. Toleration and leniency comes with emancipation and free mind. One of the main avenues of development, if not the only, is the freedom to meet and interact with the opposite gender; to restrict these meetings under the auspices of 'state‚ so as to control 'corruption‚ of mind is the worst offence against free man. Giving him his freedom to act the way he wants, as far as he hurts no other soul is his basic unalienable right. Much as we may disagree with the social ills of the bents of sexual impressions in this day and age, we all definitely need to defend the right of freedom; when one‚s freedom is suppressed, other avenues of suppression creep in conveniently.

However, the Google report clearly signifies the closet rebels we all are. Pakistan, Iran and Egypt top the lists of nations where most attempts are made to visit porn sites. Much as we consider this to be ungentlemanly conduct, let us agree that this rebellion of sorts, perhaps discovered inadvertently, points to the colourful nature of our shackled populations. What a great colourful revolution goes on inside the minds of Saudis, Iranian and Pakistanis when they visualise what is not available to them in a normal manner. The trends are very clearly established. It is nice to see a rebellious set of chained millions refusing to accept the legislation of morality by state. This is the indication of freedom and shape of things to come in this society. It also indicates that the concept of eradicating corruption on the face of this earth is so wrongly implanted.

Google lifted the veil this week on one of its best-kept secrets: which nations search for what. Who looks up democracy most avidly? Who types in "drugs" or "sex" most frequently? And consider the list of cities that most frequently look up "amour," the French word for love. Paris, allegedly a romantic haven, is absent from the top 10. The top three berths went to Rabat, Morocco; Algiers and Tunis.

Much as they burn their own country and demonstrated most vehemently, Pakistanis look up "despicable Danish cartoons" more avidly than anyone, according to Google. They also lead the rankings for "sex" - with their neighbor and nuclear rival India seldom far behind.

"Guns" is a word easy to associate with the United States. But the rising incidents of violent kidnappings and murders in Latin America has perhaps driven searchers to the Web for answers. Buenos Aires leads the cities index for "guns" searches, and Argentina as a whole outranks the United States, with Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru also in the top 10.

In closed culture, the lack of woman definitely leads to 'soaring libidos and higher sexual desires.‚ Wherever guardians and keepers of moral values reign supreme, sexual irritations multiply. Google, the world‚s most popular Internet search engine, has found in a survey that mostly Muslim states seek access to sex-related websites and Pakistan tops the list.

According to IHT report, the Google system can also be queried one country at a time, to determine, for example, how frequently people in Afghanistan , Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia are looking up "democracy." The Bush administration is unlikely to be pleased by Google's reply for each of those countries: "Your terms - democracy - do not have enough search volume to show graphs."

The essence of the story perhaps is: 'Just do it,' don't feel shy and inhibited. The basic problem for our backwardness and featureless society is not only our nerve-racking tryst with sexual characteristics, but our two-facedness in not accepting our weaknesses openly. That is the bane of our race; it is for this that the closer we are, the more 'clandestinely evil‚ we get. Bringing it out in the open is the challenge these puritan societies like mine face. The real immorality and vice is about doing things in security and hiding one‚s own surroundings; being an evil in a closet but an innocent lamb outside. The Google report just amply demonstrates that.

If one loves beauty and has his 'own demons of perversion' then let him accept that side of his nature and be open about it; that is how his demons will escape him. Knowing your Achilles' heel will help make you convert your limitations to strength; in this world, is it not all about changing the character of your mischievous sprite to beatific? On the other hand, 'society‚ at large should give in to popular will and be more open and more permissive. A lenient and tolerant society will search 'Google sex substance‚ with pride and not with guilt; this 'comical‚ Google testimony evidently points out nations that legislate on morality create far more confused minds. Let the spirits fly, let the party begin. Let ... there ... be ... light!!

Appreciating beauty is very human, just love it... Providence loves those who love fellow beings; maybe this is the first new revised commandment of this modern era.

Divine grace and Tendulkar

By John Cheeran
Though Saatchi and Saatchi is confident of Sachin Tendulkar's star status, the star himself is not sure of his footwork.
Tendulkar has sought divine intervention to get back into form according to reports in the national media.
Priests traced the trouble to "sarpa dosha" or evil snake effects in the planetary alignments of the 33-year-old, The Times of India said on Monday. To correct the evil, Tendulkar, draped in white silk, and his wife Anjali began two days of prayers at the Subramanya temple complex in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
"The master blaster's loss of form and injury problems were traced to adverse planetary positions for which corrective rituals are taking place," the report said.
Recovering from a shoulder surgery a year after being treated for a tennis elbow, he missed the recent one-day series at home against England and will also sit out of the five one-dayers in the West Indies later this month. He was, however, confident of being fit for the four Test matches against the West Indies starting on June 2.
"I hope to be back in the Indian team soon,"Tendulkar said after the temple visit.
Is there anything wrong in seeking God's help to sort out cricketing matters?
There should not be.
In a crisis, every human being prays to God. I do pray.
But I also concede that certain things man has to do; man has to take full charge of himself.
I thought cricket was one such field where men are pitted against only men. I have a doubt now. Recent developments and poojas force me to ask whether Tendulkar has become the Tendulkar we know, only thanks to the planetary positions and divine grace.
Yes, divine grace has blessed Tendulkar. But what about those bowlers who are troubling Tendulkar consistently these days? I must say they have succeeded in their dharma.
Those bowlers are also blessed by the divine grace. Or is it that in the last four years bowlers of the world consulted their spiritual gurus and corrected their planetary positions?
Truth must be something like this.
God has blessed Tendulkar for the last 33 years. And Tendulkar has made the most-- runs and money -- out of the divine grace.
Now to believe that Tendulkar's form has waned only because of the planetary position would be preposterous.
It would be a tragedy if Tendulkar himself believes so.
It would be Tendulkar's end as a professional cricketer. It is a pity that after all these years Tendulkar cannot admit that he must be losing his powers of concentration and big time play owing to the advancing age.
There are fitter, faster and wily bowlers than when he started out his career. Tendulkar is young in years but he is a veteran in international cricket. It would be naive to think that Tendulkar will be able to bat with the freedom and assurance when he was absolutely young at the crease years ago.
The solace, however, is at the other end of the crease. A four year older Brian Lara, at 37, still bats well for West Indies. But Lara's secret to success is that he enjoys his cricket, has no eye on the record books and on the fine print of the marketing deal.
Lara, whenever he visits India, has no qualms to say that Tendulkar is the best batsman in the world even when the Indian legend is struggling to live up to the rigours of international cricket.
By showering praise on Tendulkar Lara has won the pressure game. Now when India take on West Indies I'm sure Lara will speak with his bat and outclass Tendulkar.
And by the way, how often Tendulkar has said Lara is the modern batting great of the game?Or how often Tendulkar has come out and praised rival cricketers?
Tendulkar definitely needs assistance beyond cricket but I'm not sure whether he is getting it from the right sources.
Let there be more runs for him.

Save the Children!

By John Cheeran
World is a wonderful place indeed.
As debates abound about the futility of the lifetime and the rationale of Intelligent Design, God sometimes dominate the topic.
Men and women lament their losses when tsunamis strike but a report by Save the Children researchers say that an estimated 2 million babies die within their first 24 hours each year worldwide.
That is, silent but deadly tsunamis are sweeping across the globe relentlessly.
And who is watching over us?
Read more from a report by the Save the Children organisation.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the worst place in the world to be a mother or child, with Scandinavian nations again taking the top spots in the rankings by the Connecticut-based humanitarian group.
Sweden heads the list, with Niger last. The "Mothers' Index" in the report ranks 125 nations according to 10 gauges of well-being -- six for mothers and four for children -- including objective measures such as lifetime mortality risk for mothers and infant mortality rate and subjective measures such as the political status of women.
Charles MacCormack, president and CEO of Save the Children, said the report card "illustrates the direct line between the status of mothers and the status of their children.
"In countries where mothers do well, children do well," he said in a written statement accompanying the report.
But each year, according to the report, more than a half-million women die as a result of pregnancy and childbirth difficulties, 2 million babies die within their first 24 hours, 2 million more die within their first month and 3 million are stillborn.
Causes of death in the developing world were dramatically different from those in the developed world, the report said. In industrialized nations deaths were most likely to result from babies being born too small or too early, while in the developing world about half of newborn deaths were from infection, tetanus and diarrhea.
Japan was among a number of nations highly ranked mainly because they offer free health services for pregnant women and babies, while the United States suffers from disparities in access to health care.
The report said almost all newborn and maternal deaths take place in developing nations -- 99 percent and 98 percent, respectively. The newborn mortality rates were particularly high in countries with a recent history of armed conflict, including Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Ranking at the bottom of the scorecard were Liberia, Afghanistan, Angola and Iraq -- countries where armed conflict and cultural practices impede newborn survival.
"It's tragic that millions of newborns die every year, especially when these deaths are so easily preventable," says the report.
"Three out of four newborn deaths could be avoided with simple, low-cost tools that already exist, such as antibiotics for pneumonia, sterile blades to cut umbilical cords and knit caps to keep babies warm."
The Mothers' Index -- which excluded some nations that lacked sufficient data -- highlights huge disparities between the nations at the top and the bottom of the list.
The report highlights the three areas it says have the most influence on child well-being: female education, presence of a trained attendant at birth and use of family planning services.
Educated women, the report said, are more likely to marry and give birth later in life, to seek health care and to encourage education for their children, including girls.
The report said that family planning and increased contraception use leads to lower maternal and infant death rates.
Many women and children in developing nations, it said, die as a result of births that come at the wrong time -- too close together, too early or too late in the mother's life..

Tendulkar, the dollar sign

By John Cheeran
I do admit that marketing men know the worth of anyone in public life much better than journalists.
Hence I'm not amazed that Sourav Ganguly has not been chosen by Indian media planners to peddle Pepsi or Coca-Cola during this sizzling summer.
I'm told that media planners did not give into Sourav's clout even in West Bengal while finalising their strategy for the ABP Country.
Some of my fellow journalists might be railing against this injustice but I couldn't agree with the ad kids more.
Be that as it may, Saatchi and Saatchi's move to tie up with Sachin Tendulkar surprises me. Tendulkar, currently recovering from shoulder surgery, has signed a three-year deal which can be extended by another three years, with Saatchi's Indian arm ICONIX.
That is, not only during this World Cup, even in the 2011 World Cup, which is going to be staged in the Indian subcontinent, Saatchi hopes to sell the Indian hero.
Reports said the deal was worth around $40 million, a huge jump from his previous five-year endorsement deal worth $17 million, which ended late lastyear.
Tendulkar is struggling. Is his image strong enough to endure the turmoil at the wicket? It should have been a tough call for ICONIX to make.
To pay Tendulkar for the rights to use his image much more than when he was in peak form is a baffling but bold move by any yardstick.
I cannot foresee Tendulkar retaining his place in the Indian side in the post-World Cup scenario.
Right now, Tendulkar is finished as a quality Test cricketer. What keeps him in the Indian side is his fifty-over exploits. There too, Tendulkar has failed to conceal the cracks in his game. Everyone in India is impatient with this fast fading icon and a poor string of scores in the WorldCup (he has to come good in the Super League, since the group matches give two opportunities to crack centuries against teams who do not deserve to be there)will finish him off as a messenger boy to big-time advertising.
May be, ad kids do know better than me.
May be I'm plain wrong.
But by all means this has been an interesting turn of events.
Tendulkar's star status is directly linked to his place in the Indian side. I'm sure, having signed Tendulkar, Saatchi and Saatchi will be eager to ensure that Tendulkar remains in the Indian side. Temptation time for National selection committee.
I have no choice but to recall Indian team coach Greg Chappell's statement regarding Ganguly in this context.
Chappell told The Guardian that he did not realize that how important a place in the Indian team was for Ganguly's financial well-being. Much the same can be said about any player, and that includes Tendulkar.
Another crucial thing is that unlike legendary Kapil Dev, the Mumbai batsman lacks charisma. There cannot be any doubts on that score after all these years.
The day Tendulkar bids farewell to competitive cricket, marketing men will find it tough to project him as a brand. There cannot be an evolution for a finished product such as Tendulkar. And with the 2011 World Cup happening in the Indian subcontinent my money is onhitherto unknown stars in the mould of Mahendra Singh Dhoni to carry the message.
I hope to be around to be proven wrong by Tendulkar.

Let Kabul go to hell

By John Cheeran
Almost a month ago, Reuters were looking for journalists to become chief correspondent in Kabul, Afghanistan.
I too had received the opportunity alert for the same slot.
Though I was jobless then, it did not take me long to say, no, thank you to Reuters.
It is better to starve without a job than be a victim of senseless Taliban.
When I read about Indian engineer Satyanarayana's murder in Afghanistan, I recalled the Reuters opportunity alert.
Though I felt sad for poor Satyanarayana and his family, I was relieved that I at least made one correct decision in a decade or so.
It is true that Satyanarayana did not join a company based in Afghanistan but in Bahrain. But even then he would not have been oblivious to the fact that his company will be doing business mainly with perilous places such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
No amount of money is worth losing your life in such a gory manner that is happening in Afganistan and Iraq.
It is better to commit suicide in India rather than letting the enemy slit your throat for his religious thrill.
And no news is worth reporting from Kabul and Kandahar at the cost of your life.
Let Kabul rot, I can't care less.

Phir Milenge, Pramod

By John Cheeran
I’m not a blind supporter of any political party.
Pramod Mahajan’s death is not a loss that affects only BJP but India as well.
Mahajan’s death, felled by his blood brother’s bullets, is the ultimate political tragedy in independent India’s history. India has lost more illustrious leaders than Mahajan but the circumstances in which Mahajan had to bid farewell, battling for 12 days at the Hinduja Hospital, resembled a Shakespearean tragedy.
Brother turns against brother. Fratricide.
Mahajan was considered to be the ace fixer for BJP. A negotiator with never fading smile, it baffles me that Pramod could not win through an argument or that he left an argument unresolved with his brother that led to his downfall.
How fickle life is. How mysterious is God’s will..
On that fateful Saturday morning, Pramod was at the safest of place on planet earth.
At home, with his wife.
What tragedy could have befell on him when he was reading the morning papers?
It is always difficult to guess other man’s designs. We all can only submit ourselves to God’s will.
Phir Milenge, Pramod!

Kaavya lies between the lines

By John Cheeran
If I had $500,000 I would have just quit my job and stretched out myself on the floor and gone to sleep.
Guys and gals slog it out, cheat each other and eat each other only to survive; not for mega sums like $ 500,000.
The fact that Kaavya Viswanathan cheated her readers for money (she received $ 500,000 for How Opal Mehta Got A LIfe) and fame proves that those who are well educated and lead a good life are worse than rest of the society when it comes to dishonesty.
Even when Kavvya was caught by Harward Crimson, she maintained her elaborate lie that she just internalized whatever stuff she read from Megan McCafferty’s books.
I consider Praveen Mahajan less of an evil for admitting what he has done rather than in a denial mode.
Readers should be wary of writers such as Kaavya; readers should also be wary of those book agents who tom-tom the arrival of new wordsmiths.
Kaavya should be able to realize that world will not fall apart if she does not write anything other than an apology for her copycat act.

It happens in Dubai again!

Editor's note:
Third world workers are having a rough time in Dubai, considered to be the place where you can make quick bucks...Read here a report that Gulf Today published on April 27, 2006

DUBAI: Agitated over the continuous deduction of the salary for punching cards before end of work shifts, more than 3,000 labourers belonging to a major construction company went on a rampage on Wednesday evening smashing buses and damaging and ransacking the company's site office located in Mina Seyahi off Jumeirah in Dubai.
The enraged workers also beat up some on-site employees of the company and blocked the rush hour traffic on the Dubai Media City road for more than two hours. They demanded better living conditions in their labour camps and an increase in basic wages. Riot police and officials from the labour department had to be called in to disperse the protestors who allegedly damaged five buses causing considerable losses.
According to workers, trouble began around 6pm when they queued up to punch out after their day's work. However, a site manager's action of deducting a worker's salary for punching four minutes before time triggered the protests that soon turned violent. "First of all, are paid less salary and added to that is the deduction of the salaries for silly reasons like punching out early.
No worker would gain anything from punching out a few minutes before time,î said one of the protesting workers. He said that majority of the labourers earned less than Dhs1,000 because of low basic salaries and deductions.
"Even after putting eight hours of work in the hot sun, we are paid poor salaries. Most of the unskilled workers are paid around Dhs600 per month," said a worker. The situation was brought under control around 8:30pm when labour officials promised to resolve their problems after consulting the company.
Labourers belonging to the same company had resorted to violence early this month when they broke window panes and the furniture in the labour canteen in their Al Quoz labour camp.
When contacted by The Gulf Today Assistant Director for Follow-up and Investigations, Immigration and a member of The Permanent Committee for Labour Affairs Lt Col Rashid Bakhit Al Jumairi refused to comment on the issue.

How Kaavya Viswanathan Got Caught

By Dinitia Smith, NYT
Kaavya Viswanathan, the Harvard sophomore accused of plagiarizing parts of her recently published chick-lit novel, acknowledged yesterday that she had borrowed language from another writer's books, but called the copying "unintentional and unconscious."
The book, "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life," was recently published by Little, Brown to wide publicity.
On Sunday, The Harvard Crimson reported that Ms. Viswanathan, who received $500,000 as part of a deal for"Opal" and one other book, had seemingly plagiarized language from two novels by Megan McCafferty, an author of popular young-adult books.
In an e-mail message yesterday afternoon, Ms. Viswanathan, 19, said that in high school she had read the two books she is accused of borrowing from, "Sloppy Firsts" and "Second Helpings," and that they "spoke to me in a way few other books did."
"Recently, I was very surprised and upset to learn that there are similarities between some passages in my novel, 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life,' and passages in these books," she said.
Calling herself a "huge fan" of Ms.McCafferty's work, Ms. Viswanathan added, "I wasn't aware of how much I may have internalized Ms. McCafferty's words." She also apologized to Ms. McCafferty and said that future printings of the novel would be revised to "eliminate any inappropriate similarities."
Michael Pietsch, publisher of Little, Brown, said that Ms. Viswanathan planned to add an acknowledgment to Ms. McCafferty in future printings of the book.
In her e-mail message, Ms. Viswanathan said that"the central stories of my book and hers are completely different."
But Ms. McCafferty's books, published by Crown, a division of Random House, are, likeMs. Viswanathan's, about a young woman from New Jersey trying to get into an Ivy League college - in her case, Columbia. (Ms. Viswanathan's character has hersights set on Harvard.)
Like the heroine of "Opal," Ms. McCafferty's character, Jessica Darling, visits the campus, strives to earn good grades to get in andmakes a triumphant high school graduation speech. And the borrowings may bemore extensive than have previously been reported. The Crimson cited 13instances in which Ms. Viswanathan's book closely paralleled Ms. McCafferty'swork.
But there are at least 29 passages that are strikingly similar.
At onepoint in "Sloppy Firsts," Ms. McCafferty's heroine unexpectedly encounters herlove interest. Ms. McCafferty writes: "Though I used to see him sometimes atHope's house, Marcus and I had never, ever acknowledged each other's existence before. So I froze, not knowing whether I should (a) laugh, (b) say something,or (c) ignore him and keep on walking. I chose a brilliant combo of (a) and (b). " 'Uh, yeah. Ha. Ha. Ha.'
"I turned around and saw that Marcus was smiling at me." Similarly, Ms. Viswanathan's heroine, Opal, bumps into her love interest, and the two of them spy on one of the school's popular girls.
Ms. Viswanathan writes: "Though I had been to school with him for the last three years, Sean Whalen and I had never acknowledged each other's existence before. I froze, unsure of (a) what he was talking about, or (b) what I was supposed to do about it. I stared at him. " 'Flat irons,' he said.
'At least seven flat irons for that hair.' " 'Ha, yeah. Uh, ha. Ha.' I looked at the floor and managed a pathetic combination of laughter and monosyllables, then remembered that the object of our mockery was his former best friend. "I looked up and saw that Sean was grinning."
In a profile published in The New York Times earlier this month, Ms.Viswanathan said that while she was in high school, her parents hired Katherine Cohen, founder of Ivy Wise, a private counseling service, to help with the college application process.
After reading some of Ms. Viswanathan's writing, Ms. Cohen put her in touch with the William Morris Agency, and Ms. Viswanathan eventually signed with Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, an agent there. Ms. Walsh said that she put Ms. Viswanathan in touch with a book packaging company, 17th Street Productions (now Alloy Entertainment), but that the plot and writing of "Opal"were "1,000 percent hers."
Alloy, which referred questions to Little, Brown, holds the copyright to "Opal" with Ms. Viswanathan. In the Times profile, Ms.Viswanathan said the idea for "Opal" came from her own experiences in high school "surrounded by the stereotype of high-pressure Asian and Indian families trying to get their children into Ivy League schools."
Tina Constable, a spokeswoman for Crown, said a reader had noticed the similarities between the books. That person, she said, "told Megan. Megan alerted us. We've alerted the Little, Brown legal department. We are waiting to hear from them."
It was unclear whether Harvard would take any action against Ms. Viswanathan.
"Our policies apply to work submitted to courses," said Robert Mitchell, the director of communications for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard.
"Nevertheless, we expect Harvard students to conduct themselves with integrity and honesty at all times."
Ms. Walsh, the agent, said: "Knowing what a fine person Kaavya is, I believe any similarities were unintentional. Teenagers tendto adopt each other's language."

Mahajan fights the most important battle in his life

By John Cheeran
Blood turns against blood.
Fratricide is only a degree lower crime than parricide.
Pramod Mahajan, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and a former Parliamentary affairs minister has been shot at in Mumbai, and even after a four-hour surgery at the Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai his condition remains critical. The shots were fired by his brother, Pravin Mahajan. Mahajan, the Bharatiya Janata Party's General Secretary was hit by three shots.He was hit twice in the stomach and other struck him in the chest.The motive for the attack is not known.
Whatever the reasons that led to this turn of events, it is a severe blow to both Mahajan family and the BJP.
But what times we live in! It is not just terrorists alone one has to watch out for.
Time calls for better anger management techniques to the solace of all.

Aamir Khan's fifteen minutes of angst

By John Cheeran
Bollywood actor Aamir Khan's foray into street protest has put him in a tight spot.
Aamir would have expected the onlookers to applaud when, on April 14, he took up the cause of farmers displaced by the Sardar Sarovar Dam project coming up in Narmada.
His move has created a political storm in Gujarat, the state that will reap maximum benefits from the dam project.
Apparently, Aamir's spin doctors have done a bad job in briefing him about the subject. Reports say that political activists in Gujarat have burnt posters and stormed theatres showing his latest release Rang de Basanti.
Indian media are discussing the many shades of the Aamir Khan episode in the discredited NBA movement. Celebrity involvement in NGO activism backfires, some of them point out. May be. May be not.
Aamir has the freedom to support any cause that catches his fancy. In an interview to the Indian Express he has said: "I don't have any past history with the aandolan. I'm not even fully ware of their history. There are two sides to every story and I'm not equipped to comment on them. I'm not an environmentalist, neither am I an activist. But I'm clearly in support of rehabilitation."
Good.
But does his support ends with sharing the space with activists for a few minutes?
Will Aamir spend his own money so that a few of the farmers can buy land of their choice?
I would be happy if the Bollywood actor pays his Income Tax without fudging the books.
I wish someone dug up the dirt on Bollywood actors' IT outstanding before they embark on espousing noble causes.

While waiting for the Unbeatable Indians....

By John Cheeran
There are no surprises in the 15-member Indian team for West Indies tour.
That is, there is no Sourav Ganguly.
By now, after the last match in Abu Dhabi, which Rahul Dravid's India won convincingly only Calcutta would have been disappointed at Ganguly's exclusion.
And only in Calcutta Ganguly would have mattered. But after Indian team's sparkling run in one-dayers with newcomers such as Robin Uthappa, Venugopala Rao and Suresh Raina seizing their chances Ganguly himself has realised that he cannot push his luck any longer. Calcutta Telegraph's crusader for the reinstate Ganguly campaign lets us know that "For one, Sourav didn't take calls. He also didn't reply when one sent an SMS('what now?')."
That indicates there is some sense left with the Calcutta cricketer.
Be that as it may, it was a fantastic season of success for Dravid and coach Greg Chappell. For once they got rid of the cantankerous Ganguly out of the team, one who should have been thrown out of the team long, long ago.
They brought in new comers both in batting and bowling and youngsters have grabbed their chances with both hands. The lone disappointment of the season was leg-spinner Piysuh Chawla.
Two Test losses -- in Karachi and Mumbai -- indeed reveal the shortcomings of the Indian side. But that's the way with Indian cricket.
There was never an unbeatable Indian side in history.
All efforts are now on to build such a team in India. But to replicate the success of West Indies of late 70s and 80s and later the Aussie model would take a long, long time.
I can't foresee India emerging as the Unbeatables in both versions of the game soon.
There is a distinct chance of India being a very, very good side in one-dayers.
The Dravidians already are a extremely competitive side and with more variation and sharpness in bowling, India can nurse their World Cup ambitions in West Indies.
But those fatal flaws in batting and bowling will come to the fore under pressure in Test cricket and it would be comforting if one can admit that there are no quickfix solutions to India's woes.
But while biding our time to emerge as the Unbeatables, let us raise a toast to these worthy winners of recent times. Only South Africans denied India the one-day series win. Comprehensive one-day wins against Sri Lanka, Pakistan and England are reasons enough to rejoice.
Cheers Dravid. Cheers Team India.

Mystery that surrounds Fifa World Cup

Editor's note: One of the rare columns I enjoy reading these days is by Simon Kuper in Financial Times.
Kuper provides a global perspective on sports and on April 15, he wrote about the mystery surrounding the Fifa World Cup.
Here is the Financial Times story
By Simon Kuper
Years ago in London I met a man who worked for an auction house.
Over steak sandwiches in a West End pub he unfolded a real-life detective story about the greatest prize in sport: the original football World Cup, the Jules Rimet trophy.
People think it was stolen in Brazil in 1983 and melted down into goldbars.
But according to my friend, the trophy was intact and had recently been sold in London.
The French sculptor Abel Lafleur had made the trophy for the first World Cup in 1930. It was a magnificent piece: a 15-inch solid gold statuette of Nike, Greek goddess of victory.
My friend the auctioneer's story began in March 1966, when Nike was stolen from a London stamp exhibition.
England was then preparing to host the 1966 World Cup. The theft shamed the Football Association. But a week later, a dog named Pickles unearthed the stolen trophy under some bushes in south London.
After Pickles' discovery, the FA gave the cup for safekeeping to its regular jeweller George Bird. Martin Atherton, a lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire who has brilliantly traced the trophy's travails, describes how in the months before the World Cup Bird cycledit around London from exhibition to exhibition.
The trophy sat in his bicycle basket, concealed only by a cloth. Eventually Bird decided this wasn't safe. He suggested to the FA that he make a replica of the trophy: safer to exhibit this than the real thing. Atherton describes what happened next.
The FA asked Fifa'spermission to produce a replica. Football's world governing body said no. But the FA secretly commissioned Bird anyway. He made a gilded bronze trophy -probably for free, as a gift to the FA.
Now there were two Jules Rimet trophies:the real one and the replica, identical to the layman's eye. On July 30 1966, three policemen drove to Wembley for the World Cup final between England andWest Germany. In the car with them were both Jules Rimets.
After England's 4-2victory, the Queen handed captain Bobby Moore the real trophy. Later the toothless midfielder Nobby Stiles danced on the pitch with it. But then the policemen wrested the cup from Stiles and gave him the replica instead. The British authorities wanted to keep the real trophy safe. That evening, from the balcony of a Kensington hotel, the England team waved the replica to the crowd.
Nobody noticed the difference. In 1970, came the next World Cup in Mexico. The FA had to return the trophy to Fifa. But which trophy? There were two. And so, said my friend the auctioneer: "Theygave back the replica."
In Mexico, Brazil won its third World Cup and was allowed to keep the Jules Rimet trophy forever. A very different cup was sculpted to replace it. In 1983, the Jules Rimet was stolen from the Brazilian FA's headquarters. Police believe it was melted down into gold bars. "But the stolen trophy wasn't the real one," said my friend theauctioneer. "It was the replica."
One of the two Jules Rimet trophies had stayed in London after 1970, stored under Bird's bed. Atherton explains: "It officially did not exist and so could not be put on open display."
Twice Bird'shouse was burgled, and twice the thieves missed the cup. The jeweller died in 1995. Two years later his family auctioned his trophy. "Replica", states the Sotheby's catalogue for the auction. "Reserve price £20,000-£30,000."
That seemed a lot for a bronze fake. But it sold for £254,500, nine times the highest price previously paid at auction for a piece of football memorabilia. "It's an absurd price," my friend told me.
"Unless you know it's the real trophy. And the winning bidder knew." The winning bidder was Fifa itself, and the Brazilian FA probably bid too. Fifa wanted the trophy because it had heard the story of the switch: the story that the real cup had remained in England in 1970.
"Fifa took the decision to buy this trophy as it was thought to be the original one," Fifa confirmed to me. But the international football federation wasn't sure whether the trophy at auction was indeed the real golden cup, or merely the bronze replica.
Fifa didn't ascertain this at the viewing days before the sale, probably because it's not done at viewing sessions to produce testing equipment to check whether an object is gold. Fifa's purchase was a gamble.
Immediately after buying the trophy, it had an expert examine it. You can imagine the scene:a backroom, a couple of football officials and a jeweller.
And then the jewellerwould have broken the news: the trophy wasn't the real World Cup, but a cheap gilded bronze replica. Both my friend the auctioneer and Fifa had been wrong: the switch had never happened. Expecting to snag the real Jules Rimet, Fifa had blown £254,500 on a fake.
It has since loaned the thing to the National Football Museum in Preston. One question remains. Where is the real Jules Rimet trophy? Was it really melted down into gold bars, or is it now under some Latin American bed?

More than a vote at stake in Kerala

By John Cheeran
I have little more than a vote at stake in the Kerala State Assembly Elections that is taking place in India now.
Two of my friends are contesting the elections for the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Trichur (Thrissur) district. They are the candidates of Communist Party of India (CPI).
Both V.S. Sunil Kumar and Rajaji Mathew Thomas are young and they fuel the hope for a better quality of political life in Kerala. Sunil Kumar is contesting in Cherppu constituency while Rajaji is trying his luck at Ollur.
Rajaji is a former General Secretary of All India Students Federation (AISF) and All India Youth Federation (AIYF). Sunil is the Kerala state Secretary of AIYF now.
We got to know each other during the early 90s when CPI held its National Conference in Thrissur.
Sunil and Rajaji are honest and tireless workers of the CPI and their induction into the poll arena will strengthen an aging leadership of the party.
I have not met Sunil Kumar recently. I met Rajai two years ago at the CPI headquarters in Thrissur. Standing at the veranda of Comrade Varrier Memorial Building, it took me a few seconds to recognize Rajaji Mathew. The fire in this Communist’s belly apparently was doused by the inertia in the party. He was greatly alarmed by the political drift in the party. There was no immediate answer to whither the CPI? The outlook was bleak then even in Thrissur, which had been home to legendary Communist struggles in the past. The Bharatiya Janata Party was in power at Centre and the Congress-led UDF was ruling at Thiruvananthapuram.
I have been told that both Sunil and Rajaji have bright chances of winning their seats in this election and becoming MLAs.
Whenever I think of these two comrades, an election defeat pops up in memory. With Sunil being the campaign manager, AISF had contested student elections in Sree Kerala Varma College in 1992. Breaking convention and in a brave tactical move, AISF had taken on the might of SFI, the Marxists’s fountainhead.
All of us, including me, lost that election battle.
I wish Cherppu and Ollur can make amends for that defeat 14 years later.
Lal Salaam!

The 365 shades of Sunil Gavasakr

By John Cheeran
Envy must be the middle name of former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar. I have criticized Gavaskar in the past and it makes me sad that the legendary cricketer remains as cussed as ever.
Gavaskar has said that international cricketers should be willing to play 365 days in a year. I would have dismissed Gavaskar’s comments with the contempt that it deserves but then he happens to be the Chairman of ICC’s Cricket Committee.
Gavaskar or, better still, Malcolm Speed should immediately clarify whether the ICC shares former Indian captain’s belief, of the more the merrier.
It is interesting to read what Gavasakr said on the subject: “I can’t see the problem, these players are turning out for their countries. It’s an honour to represent your country. I would be willing to sweat 365 days in a year for India. Those who can’t stand the heat should stay out.”
Gavaskar was reacting to reports of a possible strike by international cricketers if the ICC did not reduce the number of matches.
Quite recently Gavaskar had wore his national pride on his sleeve by taking up the India Cap issue.
It is strange that as someone who has played cricket at its highest level with great intensity Gavaskar cannot empathize with the plight of modern cricketers. Though no Indian cricketer has cribbed about playing too many matches the truth is that non-stop cricket is taking its toll all over the cricketing world.
Tim May, President of the Federation of International Cricketers Association, has drawn the ICC’s attention to the issue. “It’s a revenue-raising frenzy. It’s pushing the players into a position where they are just going to say, No, It’s too much, we’ re walking away from this.”
I strongly feel that when ICC takes a decision on the non-stop cricket what matters is the opinion of current crop of cricketers rather than old fogies such as Gavaskar.
Taking cue from Gavaskar, Sharad Pawar may one day make India play 365 days a year so that Rohan Gavaskar might get a chance to play for the country.

Abu Dhabi matches a regressive move for cricket

By John Cheeran
Staging international cricket matches in Abu Dhabi is a step, which I oppose vehemently.
For that matter, anywhere the game has no chance to spread its roots.
The UAE has no serious domestic cricket and there is no clime for the game to take roots.
It is one thing to build impressive stadiums. But where are the youngsters playing the game in the UAE?
It is quite another matter that the UAE is home to millions of Indians and Pakistanis, fanatic followers of the game. They watch the game, read about the game but cannot afford to play it.
Unless Emaratis, the local people, take up the game there is no point in playing cricket only to help a minority who are interested in staging the matches.
Mercifully, and quite wisely, locals prefer to play and enjoy football in the UAE.
The UAE has great ambitions to be a sporting hub; Abu Dhabi recently hosted a friendly between football world champions Brazil and the UAE national team. The UAE itself played in the World Cup final round in the 90s. Two years ago, Dubai and Abu Dhabi hosted Fifa’s World Youth Championship successfully.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi now host European Tour golf events; and more and more international sporting events shall take place there.
The phenomenon of Sharjah happened much before the cricket playing nations woke up to the marketing potentials of the game. And what a farce it turned out to be in the end.
Once the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided not to play in Sharjah, the Cricketers Benefit Fund Series, which used to organize the matches, vanished into the desert.
It is true that a portion of the profit was earmarked for earthquake relief when India and Pakistan clashed in Abu Dhabi. But if you want to raise money for charity, by way of cricket, why play outside of India and Pakistan?
Why not Lahore, Mumbai, New Delhi or Karachi for a venue?
At a time when India is considering full convertibility for rupee, the argument that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was keen on the foreign exchange from the proceedings does not hold much water. It is again a case of cricket administrators, this time a responsible political animal such as Sharad Pawar, making a colossal mistake.
But, then, the original sin was committed by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
ICC had no qualms in shifting its base to Dubai, where there are more bricks than bats.
India should have opposed that move and made either Mumbai or New Delhi as the center stage of cricket. Money talks? Isn’t it?
Read also http://johncheeran.blogspot.com/2006/03/nyt-on-plight-of-asians-in-dubai.html

An NRI journalist learns his profit

By John Cheeran
Terrible are the consequences of aiming for quick bucks in life.
Chances are that you lose yourself, including freedom and self-respect.
I’m not surprised by the experience Mr. T. G. Jacob, a senior Indian journalist, had with an English newspaper in the UAE.
Jacob has written about his humiliation inside the office in his blog www.marchofdisgrace.blogspot.com
But the point is who was responsible for Jacob’s plight?
Was it fellow journalists or the management? Or Jacob himself?
Freedom has a premium, self-respect has a premium and I’m happy and proud that the journalist in Jacob was man enough to resign the job.
But Jacob has not explained why he allowed himself to be humiliated in his blog.
I guess it was the fear of incarceration by authorities. Fear is the cutting edge philosophy for management in some societies. Journalists have sold out to the management even in India so it should not surprise us that journalists are treated on equal footing with page-makers.
Do journalists deserve any better?

The ABC of reservation for OBCs

By John Cheeran
Indian media, by and large, are against reservation for backward classes in higher educational institutes (read central institutes such as IITs and IIMs) in the country.
Let me say in the beginning that I'm a Christian (though Christianity does not recognize caste, those lower caste Hindus who converted are in line for the reservation cake) and in league with Brahmins and other assorted upper class Hindus in India on the reservation subject.
Though I don't read Indian newspapers exhaustively I came across a comment in The Times of India by Amrith Lal, defending the reservation policy.
I don't know whether Mr Lal belongs to a scheduled caste or tribe or the OBCs. Who knows he may even be a Brahmin. But he must be a brave man to go against the grain in New Delhi.
It is always good to have a different opinion on any issue. And it takes a certain amount of courage to root for SCs and STs in Delhi's media scene. To the credit of the nation, we have established a consensus that SCs and STs should be given the benefit of reservation precisely because the community is not savvy enough to exploit the legal provisions. But to root for the OBCs in the media, especially now, does not take much courage.
Because some of the top notch editors in Delhi and Mumbai in fact belong to the OBC. I know a few of them, but it is not my intention to reveal their names andexpose them for not standing up to the rights of OBCs. And the sundry soldiers as editors and reporters there are many, many OBCs out there. But in the newsroom they prefer to pretend as Brahmins!
I'm against the reservation policy (50 per cent reserved for SCs, STs andOBCs) which is already in practice in Southern India. But I'm saddened by thefact that the top notch OBC editors in New Delhi and Mumbai are pretending to be themselves Brahmins.
Being a Brahmin is not bad thing. In fact it is the thing all of us should aspire to be, thus wrote the great OBC intellectual O.V. Vijayan in 1994 in the then undivided Indian Express.
But let's come to the central point.
Mr Lal says in his comment that the South of India is living with the 50 per cent reservation policy already, so why should anyone in North should have trouble in accepting the same?
This, indeed, is a wonderful argument. Any mistake, if enough people makes it, soon ceases to be mistake, becomes a BIG RIGHT.
So since South India has accepted the mistakes, North can make it a right thing by embracing it. And Mr Lal has no qualms in opening the doors of IITS and IIMs, considered to be higher temples of learning, to OBCs, on the basis of reservation. He argues "this should be an opportunity to for IITs and IIMs to increase their student intake."
If IITs and IIMs want to increase their intake why cannot the same thing be done from the open category, where even OBCs, SCs and STs are welcome to excel on a level playing field?
Why the increased intake has to be from the OBCs only? What about those who are 'born high'?
Mr Lal makes an interesting point later.
"Quotas in institutions have to be understood as an instrument to create opportunities for those who have been denied access to knowledge for social reasons. Quotas aren't ani-merit."
Wow! Does Mr Lal believe that they (OBCs are thriving communities all over India. For example Ezhavas and Muslims in Kerala are OBCs, both communities are the richest in Kerala) have been denied access to knowledge?
If that is the case, how did they come till the gates of IITs and IIMs?
None has denied the OBCs access to school and colleges. If they hadn't gone to school and colleges, they could not have come for JEE.
So there is no case of expiating the guilt, by Brahmins and upper castes, in this reservation issue.
It is quite simple. If you have a yardstick in education and employment apply it fairly. There is nothing called positive discrimination in life. If you are a student, you are judged by the marks you score. If you are an employee you are judged by the quality of work you do.
There are no birthrights to be distributed in the world.
I would like to quote P.V. Indiresan, former Director of IIT Madras, on the subject. "Do you want to select Indian cricket team on the basis of caste?"
There are enough OBCs in the Indian team too, without resorting to reservation.
I don't know whether Mr Lal is a journalist.
What if Times of India starts recruiting journalists on the basis of their caste? How much reservation Mr Lal suggests in journalism?
As they say charity can begin at home.

Skipper Dravid’s masterstroke

By John Cheeran
I’m disappointed by skipper Rahul Dravid’s decision to take rest during the Guwahatti and Jamshedpur one-dayers against England.
Yes, it shows the confidence of a skipper who has completed his mission of humbling the English. It also shows skipper’s faith in his mates to carry on with his ideas.
Dravid is having fun both as skipper and batsman. Some of his tactics have paid rich dividends for Team India. The way Dravid handled the side in Kochi illustrates his leadership skills and cricketing nous.
Dravid’s Power Play left England totally breathless in Kochi at a crucial time of their innings. Dravid applied second Power Play only in 29th over, there by denying England batsmen the freedom to step up the scoring, when they desired.
As is their wont, Arun Lal and Nasser Hussain doubted the wisdom of Dravid delaying the Power Play. They predicted a flood of runs sweeping Team India to the nearby Arabian Sea. But as things turned out, once again, these TV loud mouths were proved wrong.
Most of our experts are unable to go against the grain. Being bold means you have to be highly individualistic and take decisions based on the NOW rather than the past.
Batting first after winning toss in the Mumbai Test was a bold and aggressive move though the cricketing riff-raff, including Geoff Boycott, termed it as a colossal blunder.
It is in this backdrop that I prefer to enjoy Dravid leading from the front against England to complete a 7-0 brown wash or what can be termed, an India Wash.
Also, skipper is in great touch with bat, has succeeded in his usual No.3 slot as well as an opener. This, indeed, was a great time to carry his good form to rattle off some more runs against a demoralized bowling attack.
But it goes to the credit of a selfless Dravid that he has decided to take it easy for two matches letting Virender Sehwag rediscover himself as a leader and opener.
By staying away Dravid paves the way for the debut of young opener Robin Uthappa. Skipper’s move will also give a beleaguered Mohammad Kaif sufficient time to kick-start his career.
If there is one man in India who will be upset by all these tactical positioning, I will not name him.
After all what name you can give frustration, other than Ganguly!

Dravid puts Flintoff and Co in their place

By John Cheeran
India could not have won the seven-match one-day series against England in a more convincing manner than they did at Kochi.
Even die-hard India loyalists would not have expected the team to bounce back from the last day collapse in Mumbai Test in such a fashion, winning first four matches to wrap up the series.
In Kochi, India won their 15th consecutive match, chasing a target, a new world record in one-day cricket.
While India was winning the match, with Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina applying the finishing touches to the efforts of skipper Rahul Dravid and Irfan Pathan, I heard a critic trying to put Team India’s success story in perspective.
This perspective is called depleted vision.
Throughout the series against England, both in Tests and one-dayers, some of the pundits were telling us that visitors are a depleted side.
They don’t have Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Ashely Giles, Simon Jones etc. A national team should have sufficient replacements and at international level any newcomer is expected to stand up and deliver the goods.
I would like to remind those critics that by their yardstick, India too is a depleted side.
India is without Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly (whether you like it or not hasn’t he scored some runs in ODIs?), VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble.
And add to this, the wretched form of opener Virender Sehwag and Mohammad Kaif, two players who have contributed immensely to India’s progress in one-dayers.
What matters is not the reputation of players but ability to succeed NOW.
India, to the credit of skipper Dravid and coach Greg Chappell, has found a new set of players who are ready to give their life to team’s success.
It is a pity that the likes of VVS Laxman and Kumble can’t find a place in the one-day eleven; but it shows the intensity of the competition that has thrown up future legends such as Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina.
Not at all a bad state of affairs, I must say!

Rahul Dravid's Way

By John Cheeran
A 3-0 lead in a seven-match one-day series has its own advantages.
I must quickly say that England, the Ashes winners, have struggled with their one-day workouts recently.
England, however, are considered to be a very good Test side. England drew the Test series with India 1-1. They have beaten Australia at home and are the No.2 side in ICC's Test rankings.
The common wisdom in cricket is that if you are a good Test side you are boundto become a good one-day side too. You got to have your basics right to survive in Test cricket and if that is the case, nothing should stop you from winning one-dayers.
Well..England are no pushovers in one-day arena. Rahul Dravid and his men can take pride in seizing the advantage though England are very much with a chance to win the one-day series.
From the Indian angle, to bounce back from the last day meltdown in Mumbai in such an authentic fashion shows the resilience of the side. There were quite a few learned men who questioned Dravid's ability to inspire the boys after the reverse in Mumbai.
Without Sachin Tendulkar, India's finest one-day player ever, and with an out of form blaster Virender Sehwag, Dravid has taken India to a face-saving situation, at least, in the one-day series.
Again, Ganguly's comeback hopes were ambushed as teenager Suresh Raina andYuvraj Singh shored up the wobbling Indian middle order. Again, Dravid led from the front as he stepped up to open Indian innings in Goa so that India could bolster their bowling.
If Yuvraj Singh sunk Ganguly's chances of a one-day return with an impressive display during the Sri Lankan and Pakistan series, now it was Raina's turn to be Ganguly's gravedigger.
With India staring at defeat in Faridabad (92 for five) and Ganguly packing his kit, left-hander Raina attacked the England bowling with gusto to give India a memorable victory.
Raina did not let the fireworks end there as we all watched the second round in Goa.
Raina's run making gives team management the freedom and luxury to give Mohammad Kaif more time to find his form. As coach Greg Chappell pointed out Kaif remains an integral element in India's design for the World Cup.
But some of the old problems remain with Dravid. Batting must consistently live up to the challenges ahead and for that, team should begin at the top. Sehwag has to sort out his batting quickly and on a day when pitch demands only four bowlers, Dravid can bring in one more batsman.
Dravid has to solve the opener's riddle too, if he is not interested in padding up first on a regular basis. Selectors have rightly brought in Karnataka youngster Robin Uthappa, whose aggressive ways at the wicket shall soon make him an opener India could bank on.
And one thing is certain. There is no place for Ganguly in this Indian XI.

Goan pitch too much for Hussain and co

By John Cheeran
India's win against England in Goa was truly magnificent.
But something else make me really happy. It is that the omniscient, formercricketers-turned television commentators had to eat their words as the match entered the final phase in Goa.
Former England skipper Nasser Hussain was apprehensive that pitch will not last the full 100 overs and the batting second will be a difficult task for England.
Hussain, along with Arun Lal, was harping on the point that Indian skipper Rahul Dravid was lucky to win the toss and bat first.
When the Indian innings was in progress, commentators were reminding viewers how difficult the stroke-making is and giving England skipper Andrew Flintoff the moral licence to lose the match.
Is it Flintoff's fault that he lost the vital toss?
How can England batsmen chase any total on a picth that is certainkly going to deteriorate and assist spinners in the afternoon?
The view from the commenatry box must be excellent otherwise the sages such as Hussain, David Gower, Dean Jones, Arun Lal and L Sivaramakrishnan would not have predicted a low score in Goa.
They backed up their predictions with statistics. Viewers were reminded repeatedly that the average total posted by team batting first was only 196. Aha, wonderful and thank you.
But then commentary turned mute the moment Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina stepped up the gas. Runs flowed in the last 10 overs of Indian innings and pitch suddenly turned benign.
India posted their highest score in the series, 294 forsix. That should not be a poor score on a bad pitch!
The pitch, prepared on a football field at the Nehru Stadium, held firm and England was not given any chance to grumble. At least Paul Collingwood, who gave the impetus to England chase, did not have any complaints about the pitch. He made an entertaining 93 to raise visions of a thrilling England victory.
What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?

Boycott, a pain in Indian cricket's arse

By John Cheeran
When Geoff Boycott used to hold the bat during his career, he was an intolerable bore.
Boycott has become a pain in the arse in the last 15 years in his role as a newspaper columnist and television commentator.
His sermons are a load of rubbish and it is a known fact that he has no qualms in currying favour with Sourav Ganguly and even Jagmohan Dalmiya.
Boycott used the aftermath of India's Test loss in Mumbai to launch a tirade against Indian skipper Rahul Dravid. Boycott accused Dravid of not giving Indian supporters a proper explanation for his decision to bowl first after winning the toss.
Any Tom, Dick and Boycott can become wise after the event. Boycott should learn to shut up his mouth. Dravid had told the Indian cricket fans that his decision to bowl first after winning the toss turned out to be a mistake in hindsight.
so what rubbish is Boycott writing about in his syndicated column?
Why does he insinuate that Dravid does not have the courage to admit it when a decision goes wrong?
Not only Dravid owned up to his decision, unlike his illustrious predecessor from Calcutta, he did not describe the move as a "collective decision."
That's what leading from the front is all about. In the same column, distributed by a syndication agency based in Calcutta, Boycott accused Dravid of not opening the Indian innings in Tests!
He said Dravid's decision to not to open the innings is mystifying to him! The reason is amazing, Dravid is India's best batsman.
In that case why not Sachin Tendulkar open in Tests? Why not Brian Lara open the West Indies innings in Tests? Why did Prince of Calcutta come so low down in the order in Tests?
The thing is that Boycott's rubbish comes after Dravid opened in the Pakistan Test series only to resuscitate Ganguly as a batsman.
Mr Boycott, unlike you, Dravid knows what's best for India. Dravid has not runaway from any challenge. Dravid has opened for India in Tests, kept wickets in one-dayers, and tamed the fastest and fiercest of bowlers all over the world.
Dravid prefers to scores his Test centuries away from India and when team need them the most. Just because Dravid is decent in his dealings with men and media, don't take him for granted.
Mr Boycott, next time try to read what you write. May better sense prevail!

A break for whom? Dravid or Ganguly?

By John Cheeran
Desperation knows no limits.
Quite a few Sourav Ganguly supporters had hoped in the backdrop of Indian batting's collapse in Mumbai that Rahul Dravid's boys will struggle in the one-day series against England. Certainly, India did struggle but they won in New Delhi, Faridabad and Goa in convincing manner, if you are ready to admit that in limited overs, margin of victory can be as thin as one run.
The more India wins, the more desperate Calcutta caucus gets.
For the rest of India, Ganguly, as a cricketer, is dead and buried on Pakistan soil. But the sight of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir struggling at the top of the order and Sachin Tendulkar putting his shoulder right in London, makes Bengali hearts beat faster.
One of the syndication agencies, a euphemism for the racketeering of journalists, based in Calcutta, has been campaigning actively for the inclusion of Ganguly for the last four one-day matches against England.
This agency had made their hay when Ganguly was shining as Indian skipper. So what do they do? They get Dean Jones, former Australian batsman and now a television commentator, to write in his column some astonishing things!
Jones does a SWOT analysis and the Aussie writes under Opportunities that Rahul Dravid needs a break from cricket. He does not explain why Dravid should take a break from the game.
Dravid is in great form, he has led the side with vision and daring and skipper himself has no plans to take a break. But Jones prescribes the rest therapy for Indian skipper!
Jones does not stop there.
He went on to write that when Dravid takes a break, Sehwag can lead the side and to plug the gap in middle order, Ganguly should be brought back by selectors!
What logic, this is. This is the worst crap I have read in my life!
The tragedy is not that the Calcutta syndication agency spoon-fed Jones its Bring Back Ganguly idea but The Times of India ran the Jones column with the headline "Rahul Dravid needs a break."
I beleive in the dictum that a dog should not eat the other dog.
But I cannot help wondering what crime Times of India readers commit to deserve this?
Give me a break please!

A letter to Greg Chappell

By John Cheeran
Is Greg Chappell doing his job?
Coach Chappell has worked his magic with guys such as Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth and Munaf Patel.
Youngsters Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni too have benefited from the Aussie legend’s presence.
It is quite surprising that young fast bowlers have added a few things on to their skills but senior batsmen have lost their moorings.
A renowned batsman in 70s and 80s, Chappell’s inputs, however, have not helped seniors such as Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly sort out their batting woes.
Interesting thing to be remembered here is that it was Chappell who helped Ganguly in 2004 to regain his batting form in Australia. In fact Chappell had become Ganguly’s trusted man during that time.
A grateful Ganguly ensured that Chappell got Indian coach’s post so that he doesn’t have to rush to Sydney to sort his own problems with bat.
Chappell, in an interview to The Guardian, confessed that without the influence of Ganguly he would not have got Indian coach’s job.
But again why Chappell magic is not working with the senior batsmen where as guys such as Pathan has invented their batting skills.
Is it because the senior pros in the side are not listening to coach’s suggestions?
Whatever the case may be it is a pathetic spectacle to see Sehwag holding his bat without a clue against balls that leap to his throat. Sehwag’s weakness was apparent in the Karachi Test and throughout the last Test series against England.
It is surprising that the initiative has not come from Sehwag to overcome his weakness against the rising stuff. Bowlers all over the world must be relishing now the prospect to harass Sehwag.
Chappell too has to admit his failure in giving the adequate technical and psychological support to the beleaguered Indian batsmen.
Chappell can explain that he cannot bat for those who are struggling in the middle.
We would, however, like to see the Indian batsmen face rival fast bowlers with courage and conviction.
And Chappell cannot deny that, as a coach, he has the moral responsibility to restore Indian batting its dignity.
I wish the likes of Tendulkar, Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir rein in their egos and become better students soon for their own good as well as for the benefit of Indian cricket.

Worshipping false Gods

By John Cheeran
Though India has won the first two one-day matches against England in the seven-match series, changes are likely to take place in the team sooner or later.
Indian team management’s immediate objective should be to win the next two matches, which would give them the series victory.
That should enable skipper Rahul Dravid and coach Greg Chappell to take some tough measures against some of the established batsmen in the side. Here I presume that even if India win the next two matches, there will not be any significant contributions from openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.
These two have tested the patience of Indian fans and team management and they should be told to take a walk from the side now. Even when conditions were conducive for batting, Sehwag and Gambhir failed India miserably. Their failure at the top, especially in the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, is unpardonable.
Hence Dravid will have to re-think his opening options. If I were in Dravid’s shoes I would have promoted Yuvraj Singh as an opener to begin with Sehwag and will bring VVS Laxman to bolster the middle order.
If Sehwag remains restless and out of form, there is another path. In that case, VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh should open the innings for India. Both VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh have opened in one-dayers and Tests before. And anyone objecting to the idea of making VVS and Yuvraj Singh openers, they should realize one fact.
If a technically unsound Sourav Ganguly could open the Indian innings in one-dayers, anyone can do the opener’s job. The successful opening combination of Ganguly and Tendulkar were the product of the exigencies of one-day cricket and Test match technique was not the basis for such a move.
That should hold good for a new opening combination like Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh or better still VVS Laxman and Yuvraj.
Who knows we will have to accept the reality when Tendulkar comes back he will have to revert to No.4 batting slot in one-dayers too. Naturally, there will be instant criticism against such a move but whatever works best for India should be acceptable for everyone.
The time to worship false Gods is over.

Gooch gives full marks to skipper Dravid

By John Cheeran
Simon Briggs this one is for you!
The Daily Telegraph, London, correspondent had written last week that skipper Rahul Dravid cannot inspire the Indian side.
But former England skipper Graham Gooch says Rahul Dravid was inspirational as skipper in the first one-dayer in Delhi and some of the catching was as sublime as it was ridiculously inept in Mumbai.
Gooch wrote in his column “The irony is complete. England as a Test side keeps moving upwards while its stock in one-day cricket is slipping everyday. India is a side reborn in one-day cricket while in Tests, it's almost on a life-support system.”
Gooch lavishes praise on Dravid. “I liked Dravid for the way he positioned his fielders around Andrew Flintoff's bat even when the colossal England captain was hell bent on blowing India away. Dravid gave a slip and a short square-leg to Harbhajan and introduced the second Power Play. Flintoff swept at two deliveries in vain and another, fuller and flatter, caught him plumb in front of the stumps.
"Five of the England batsmen were out attempting a sweep or toying with the idea at a critical moment of decision, as was the case with Geraint Jones. Clearly, England thinks of it as a ploy to counter the Indian spinners and upset the field.
It was adequate with its defensive methods in Tests but in the fast-paced world of one-dayers, you need to score runs as well and hence the reliance on this method. The England batsmen are still some way from leaving the crease to the tweakers. It's a skill which can't be taught overnight.”

India finds a hero in Raina

By John Cheeran
After losing five wickets for 92 runs by the 25th over, few sides successfully complete their chase of a total such as 227 for a win.
India did just that on Friday against England, for their 14th consecutive one-day win while chasing.
There were enough reasons for skipper Rahul Dravid to get worried after he himself got the raw end of the stick, after ran out by Paul Collingwood.
Dravid, however, can relax a bit about the future now with 19-year-old Suresh Raina emerging a match-winner in Faridabad.
There was no doubt about Raina's potential and he had played his part in some ofthe rousing wins in the past against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
But today Raina rebuilt the Indian innings from debris and finished the job with a cool head and admirable flourish.
With this knock Raina has cemented his place in the one-day side, and there by firming up those options for World Cup before skipper Dravid and coach Greg Chappell.
It is harrowing to watch when you lose your wickets in the manner that India lost them today against England.
Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, though avoided the early meltdown, disappointed again by throwing away their wickets, playing rash shots. Both of them wasted glorious opportunities to salvage themselves, if not anything else.
For the first time in recent times Dravid failed to flourish in a crisis, but his run out was tragic to say the least.
The brigther side of Friday's crash was that it gave Raina the perfect chance to parade his batting skills. The statistic is incredibale that the unbeaten 81 in Faridabad is Raina's first one-day international half-century, for today he played not as a teenager but as a seasoned campaigner who knows when to lash out and when to rein himself in adversity.
His innings had its moment of uncertainty but it was a mature effort, not reckless batting.
Raina has big shots, as he showed in the latter part of his innings, but he has the nous to pierce the field and rotate the strike to frustrate the bowlers.
A composed batsman that he is, Raina, in the one-days to come will be both a nourisher of India's fortunes and destroyer of bowling attacks.
In Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Irfan Pathan India can maximise their potential in the one-day format but India can win consistently only when the top order justifies their fat pay package from the Board of Control for Cricket in India.