Votes Taxes Wickets et al

Indian Wicketkeeping: A 75 year legacy

2007-08-24T07:12:00.000-07:00

At last... at long last... a blog entry....

Yeah, its on cricket(yawn!!!!!!!!!)... Check out my latest post on Haftamag or below...

And I don't expect you to be stingy in your comments... Pour them out here or at Hafta...

Here it is -

Recently Indian Cricket celebrated 75 years of competing at the highest level in the longer form of the game. These last seven and a half decades have produced some memorable, though fleeting, moments for Indian cricket but it must be said, India has grossly underachieved on the cricket field for a country whose past colonial masters were in fact the founders of this gentleman’s game.

In spite of all the talk about the overall below par performance, cricket has managed to capture the imagination of the common public and continues to hold sway among sports in India. The turning point was indubitably the Prudential Year - as everyone calls 1983 - Kapil Dev holding the Prudential World Cup on the Lords’ Balcony becoming part of the folk lore.

On June 25, 1932, Mohammad Nissar bowled India’s first ball in Test Cricket. From that day 75 summers ago till today, India has come a long way in maturing as a force to reckon with in the game. She has produced some excellent batters, a few good pace bowlers and, without doubt, can take the liberty to proclaim itself as the breeding ground for quality spinners. But all along, a vital cog in the wheel has always rested uneasily - that of the wicketkeeper.

The wicketkeeper’s is a very interesting position - a demanding job that requires squatting and kneeling all day - hardly acknowledged by the viewing public — they are more like the umpires - getting the attention only when they make mistakes. And more often than not, these mistakes turn out to be costly blunders. Some are etched in history - who can forget Kiran More dropping Graham Gooch at Lords when he was in double digits - he went on to score 333; very recently Matt Prior of England, putting on show a live display of the ‘How-Not-to-Keep-Wickets manual’, moving leisurely most times, and whenever his legs moved fast enough for his gloves to meet the ball, pushing hard at the red cherry, just inches from the first slip’s waiting palms and guiding it to the boundary.

It can get really nasty. A joke that was doing the rounds in the British Press -

Question: What do Geraint Jones and Michael Jackson have in common?
Answer: Both wear gloves for no reason!!!!!

The evolution of the Indian Wicketkeeper makes for a very fascinating story. It is one of twists and turns - one akin to musical chairs - some occupying the chair longer than others - some edging out others to the seat - some forced onto the seat early in their career - some given a chance in the evening of their careers.

All in all, the position of the keeper hasn’t been dealt with properly by the Indian selectors, save for a decade between 1976 and 1986 when Syed Kirmani’s reassuring presence behind the sticks was crucial, initially for the success of the Indian spin quartet and later for the quickies, especially Kapil Dev, resulting in many notable victories.

The man who faced India’s first ball in Test cricket from Bill Bowes, Janardhan Navle was India’s first wicketkeeper and the first in the long list of glovemen who could only manage single digit appearances for the country. Interestingly, pre-partition India, before the war, was served by four different wicketkeepers - Dattaram Hindlekar with 4 Test Caps spread on either side of the war leading the list. Post 1947, the question seemed to have been answered in the form of Probir Sen who was the first choice keeper for almost half a dozen years. Perhaps he would be the only keeper to boast of a first class hat-trick against his name!!

These are good days for Indian cricket - they have the luxury of playing two full time wicket keepers in their starting line-up. Dinesh Kartik would be lying if he said that he loved fielding at point and leg-slip. His first love has always been keeping wickets and would relish any opportunity he gets behind the batsman. But this is not the first time there has been an healthy competition for donning the keepers’ gloves.

Even in the early sixties, Farokh Engineer and Budhi Kunderan, both accomplished batsmen, vied for keeper’s slot. Make no mistake - both of them were better than Dhoni and Kartik with the bat and in their glovework. And they, alongside Kirmani, are the only ones of their ilk to have touched the three figure mark with the bat, twice in their career.

That Kunderan was drafted into the Indian side even before he made a first class appearance is testimony to the brilliance of the flashy keeper-opening batsman. He opened the innings with so much authority that any player of the new millennium would be proud of his array of strokes - if he was given more opportunities he might have been probably talked in the same breath as, say Adam Gilchrist of today. The 192 he plundered of the English bowling in Madras in 1964 helped him cross half a thousand runs in a single series - unmatched to this day by any Indian Keeper.

Farokh Engineer, apart from his good looks - he was India’s first BrylCreem model - was a tenacious cricketer known for his remarkable toughness on the field. He was the guardsman behind the sticks for a long time after Kunderan fell out with the selectors. By the end of the first World Cup, there was talk of this young Karnataka keeper tipped to succeed Engineer in the job. And when he did, he made sure the job was his, for the better part of the next dozen years.

Syed Mujtaba Hussein Kirmani was a text book wicketkeeper whose keeping techniques were punctilious and immaculate. This extremely agile keeper was a wall behind the sticks; he used his body as the second line of defence and not many balls would pass him. If you had to pick one wicketkeeper who has served the country judiciously in the last 75 years, it had to be Kirmani. A dozen short of 100 test matches and close to two hundred dismissals against his name, Kirmani is India’s most successful wicketkeeper and would have been an automatic choice as the Keeper in any Indian XI until… Mahendra Singh Dhoni arrived on the scene eighteen years after his retirement.

A trend can be observed in Indian Wicket Keeping history - more like occasional spikes jutting out with small vibrations on either side. There have been many fantastic keepers - Naren Tamhane in the fifties, Engineer and Kunderan in the sixties and seventies, Kirmani in the eighties and Mongia in the nineties. But numerous others have been called for national duty and dumped in no time.

One of the reasons for this was the “Catch ‘em Young” bug which seems to have been passed on from one set of selectors to another. Right from the selection of Chandrakanth Patankar for a lone test during the turn of the year in 1957-58, the Indian selectors have picked many youngsters hoping they would mature with time. But it wasn’t to be - as was seen in the case of Sadanand Vishwanath. He was a part of the successful team that won the World Series of Cricket - he was quick, flashy and spirited, having an infectious attitude and the exuberance of youth. But his inconsistency did him in - very similar to the way Parthiv Patel has scripted his career so far.

Parthiv was spotted young - he made his India debut at 17 - before playing in the Ranji Trophy - keeping wickets to a man almost double his age, Anil Kumble - but Parthiv was disastrous behind the sticks and was found wanting on more than one occasion. Though he made amends for his mistakes with the gloves by making valuable runs, he ran out of favor with the selectors in due course. But it must be said, Parthiv, of late has improved his keeping a lot and has become an accomplished opening bat for the second string Indian side.

Any discussion about Indian Wicketkeepers would be incomplete without mentioning the duo from Vadodara - Kiran More and Nayan Mongia - definitely among the better keepers India has produced - the latter is considered to be next only to Kirmani in terms of his glovework.

For most of the late eighties, the diminutive More did an admirable job behind the stumps without doing anything extra-ordinarily brilliant. The only refulgent stroke of brilliance from More was his inducing the famous Frog Jump from Javed Mianded that must surely rank the most sought after picture postcards from WC 1992. Post Kirmani era, Chandrakanth Pandit and Vijay Yadav played sparingly, but it was their batting skills more than their keeping abilities that fetched them their spot in the side. In 1994, Nayan Mongia made his debut and he turned out to be more than an appropriate replacement for state mate Kiran More when the latter faded away with some lackluster performances.

Mongia was technically perfect and was a very vocal keeper. He was quite a handy batsman - by the late nineties, most countries started looking out for batsman-keepers and India tried to discover the batsman in Mongia by promoting him up the order. He scored a brilliant 152 against Australia in 1996, but apart from that one innings there is not much to talk about his batting. He was at ease keeping to Kumble, Raju and Harbhajan during the nineties but during the latter part of his career, he made the news for all the wrong reasons - the match fixing scandal, unruly and coarse attitude and unwillingness to team up with others. In spite of all these, Nayan Mongia would probably be remembered as a rare cricketer, to whom wicketkeeping came naturally.

Ironically, even as Mongia was eased out of the team, India struggled to find a good replacement for him. It was sure his shoes would be too large to fill, but the succeeding years saw a host of wicketkeepers get their shot at the Team India cap. MSK Prasad, Saba Karim, Sameer Dighe, Vijay Dahiya, Deep DasGupta, Ajay Ratra, Parthiv Patel, KKD Karthik and finally Dhoni.

Though Dhoni has been quite an effective stumper, he has a long way to go. Not a natural wicketkeeper - he started off as a football goalie - Dhoni has taken to the rigors of International cricket smoothly. But much depends on how much he learns on the job. And with Dinesh Kartik constantly threatening his place, Dhoni cannot afford to relax. The contest between the two might possibly become a three cornered one with Parthiv knocking the selectors doors with strong India A performances - it only adds to the competition and would spur each of them to give their best.

All said and done, Indian Cricket has come a long way in these last 75 years and the stability of the Keeper’s position would only strengthen the side in the long run. With three competent keepers vying for the slot, no one would be happier than the Indian captain Rahul Dravid - his services behind the sticks wouldn’t be required any more!

2007-08-03T04:47:00.000-07:00

Is this what they call "Getting to the bottom of the story" ??

2007-06-21T02:13:00.000-07:00

I am depressed. Deeply dispirited.

I watched WATER yesterday.

One Year On....

2007-06-02T04:35:00.000-07:00

Its unbelievable... Time is runnin very fast indeed... It seems like it was just last week that I started blogging but its almost six months since my last post!!!

It all started last May when I decided I would finally get to spend some quality time on blogger... One year hence and 35 posts after, I am most certainly not pleased with the amount of content I have published on this blog... Really dunno if it has anything to do with my switching of jobs, because my hiatus on Blogger coincides exactly with that!!!

When I started blogging, it seemed an all too easy task to come up with something readable atleast once a week... But 53 weeks hence realization has dawned upon me. It simply isnt easy... And being non-existent on blogdom for six months means I have missed out on many changes... I didnt know until this morning that Blogger mandates the use of a gMail Id to login!! Many of my fav blogs have moved away from blogger.. Some of them are onto their own Web Domains... While some others have simply vanished.. And so many new blogs have sprouted!!! And that definitely isnt good news... Now you need to dig deep into so much of junk to find some good piece of work...

And I have a feeling so many of these web logs have no purpose to exist. They simply don't. Now I don't care if somebody says the same to me!!!

Anyways, the first year on Blogger hasn't been upto the mark.. Maybe the second year would make up for that... So you can rest assured that there will be something good to read on this blog in the coming days.. In case, I am not able to do that, I will at least give some useful links which I come across.. If my readers can gain some value with every visit to this page, then that makes my day!!! and makes your visit here all the more worthwhile...

Now, I am not sure if you gained something from this visit to my blog!!!! But don't stop coming here... I haven't a degree in Marketing and so I'm not sure if I've convinced u enough to come back here, but never mind... If not here, then here. Or if u thought Tamil was your cup of tea, then here. If these two blogs are not to ur liking, don't complain... They are not mine... The owner of those two blogs is sitting next to me with a knife to my neck.. I ain't got any other option, do I??

2006-12-30T22:44:00.000-08:00

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind - MK Gandhi

Its falling on deaf ears, both at home and abroad.

Roller Coaster Ride... Still On...

2006-12-16T05:11:00.000-08:00

The Roller coaster ride is still on... I was foolish enough to believe that it was over...

Its taken a turn again and I am here now in Bangalore, working for Continuous Computing in their VoIP division... Who knows where its going to lead me next... But one thing is for sure.. I'll keep my readers updated... So keep coming!!!

Getting Paid for Nothing!!

2006-11-27T04:17:00.000-08:00

The Aussies are on cloud nine. For a brief period of time last year, in England, it looked like Simon Jones, Pieterson and Flintoff decided it was England's turn to be the Champion Test Team. Their earnest attempt at that didnt last for long though; far too many injuries and consistently inconsistent performances have brought back the English side to terms with reality. Now they know... McGrath can spit fire even after an years' sabbatical; Ponting's hunger for runs will never satiate; Langer, as always, will be a thorn in their flesh and Warney's guile will never be understood by anybody even remotely English.

But, amidst all the glory that this Australian side is enjoying, deservedly, one of their fellow citizens is literally languishing in far-off South Africa. Who said you get paid for doing your job. The laws of Economics sure does get a beating in this case... Here is a person who gets paid for doing absolutely nothing and yet, comments on what someone else is getting paid for..

Greg, better shut your a** and try doing something worth atleast one-tenth of the money that the BCCI pays you.. Or else, this will happen very often in the coming days..

Another Blog!!

2006-11-24T03:40:00.000-08:00

Hi Hi... Yeah I m back... If u have forgotten me already, then I know its my fault... Its not like I was very busy engaged in some work, personal or official, that I didn't blog all this time... Just that I didn't want/wish/like to...

But then why?? CAT?? No no no... Not really... Afterall why would one have to give up blogging to prepare for an exam which the IIMs believed involved brilliant conception and intelligent questioning... That it ended up with far impressive typographical errors is an altogether different matter!! Leave that alone... I m back.. and isnt that more important a news??

And Ironically, at a time, when posts from my desk are at a premium, I have decided its time for another... And yeah, this time also you can expect me to be stingy when it comes to posts.

Hey my few few readers, please do note down this...

http://intellectualaltruists.wordpress.com

You can write this at the back of ur brain.. don worry ur cranium wont let it outside..

I assure u, I wont be as active as my team mate... Oh!! didn't I say this was a team-blog?? But this is a team of two.. How many times have we heard "Two is a company, Three and above is a crowd"...

I, along with Bhuvaneshwaran, will try to put max stress on our cerebral tissues to come up with something that might delight ur literary and philosophical senses....

Hey dont forget, I m seriously upset with the traffic tht comes here... I wanna more readers.. yeah I am nt ashamed at making this statement... and also know this.. its compulsory to comment in that blog... Otherwise evil spirits will start haunting you... Its true, Its working.. So better follow the rules ppl...

Cheers... Enjoy the thanksgiving weekend ppl...

2006-10-18T21:42:00.000-07:00

Searching for a Valid Reason to avoid watching the Champions Trophy on SONY Max??

Here it is... NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU

Double Loyalty

2006-10-10T02:41:00.000-07:00

Tatenda Taibu, has finally, moved. No... Not to South Africa but to Namibia. He made his debut last week in some unknown place against an unknown opponent in a never-heard-before tournament.

Cricinfo gives information on those players who have represented two countries during their career. We all know Dravid played for Scotland.... But Steve Waugh?? I had no clue before I read this.

Strange Observations on a cricket field

2006-10-02T22:44:00.000-07:00

Place: MAC Stadium, Chepauk
Event: Challenger Trophy Match #2 - India Blue Vs India Green
My Position: E Stand adjacent to the Bells' Road

* India Greens taking the field in Dark Red colors.

* Munaf Patel obliging a fan with his autograph on a Cricket Bat - doesn't the cricket crazy public know that Munaf isn't even remotely connected to the willow??

* A cricket tournament in India sans Sponsors.

* Sourav Ganguly attracting thunderous applause from the 10000+ crowd; second only to Sachin Tendulkar.

* Radio Mirchi entertaining the crowd in the second half, with soundtracks from two different Police Stories viz., Kaaka Kaaka and Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu; as much as Sachin did in the first half.

* Getting the "Is this match worth 200 bucks" feeling while watching the Greens fall like nine pins.

Sorry.. You aren't Rejected!!

2006-10-02T10:08:00.000-07:00

After nearly twenty days of scrutinizing the lakh and odd applications received, today the Indian Institutes of Managements (IIMs) have come out with the list of rejected applications.

Even as you type your application number in the given text box, deep inside you feel anxious and the "what-if-mine-is-rejected" question hovers at the back of the mind; all these inspite of having checked your application a million times. I went through the same feelings today; but when I clicked on the GO button next to my Appln No., my heart was in my mouth, literally; albeit for a moment.

The reason: The first word that splashed on the next screen was SORRY!!! Shell shocked, I read the whole sentence. It read thus -

Sorry! your CAT Application number 1234xyz does not appear in the Rejection List

For once, I was relieved. But what was infuriating was the word 'Sorry' in front. I have never before encountered a 'Sorry' attached to a statement which conveys something which has happened the right way. Even Wiki indicates that Sorry refers to possessing or expressing regret or sorrow. The 'Sorry' on that page doesn't refer to either. That much I am pretty sure.

I have always had the opinion that "the IIMs can do nothing wrong." Should I still cling onto that opinion?? I really don't know...

Bring Back Jumbo

2006-09-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

The Indian Cricket Team has returned home empty handed; not for the first time though; albeit this time after a decent show in the Malay Islands. "Decent" because for most part of the tournament the team found itself on the wrong side of the Rain Gods. Duckworth and Lewis' complex calculations did them in in the first match; So did they in their second outing as well. Lara gifted them the third and in the fourth, a fiery antipodean dragon spat fire and reduced the Men in Blue to unrecognizable ember.

Experimenting with the team combinations and batting order is not a bad idea – but to do that without letup doesn't augur well for the team in the long run. Using Irfan Pathan as a pinch hitter at first-wicket down might work well as a one-off strategy – but continued pressure on the 21 year old – whose primary job is to trade his skills with the red cherry – to make his bat do the talking has clearly taken its toll on the young lad who sometime back was being celebrated as India's answer to a long and seemingly unending search for a bowling all rounder since Kapil Dev hung his boots in 1994.

The enormous clout that Emotion Quotient still enjoys with the Indian Cricket selectors has come to the fore once again. Pathan, in spite of indifferent form, makes the Champions Trophy team while Sreesanth, promising spells of bowling notwithstanding, finds himself in the cold for the ICC event. How does Greg Chappell explain this atypical decision by the selectors when he has always claimed to be an uncompromising advocate of performance-based selection? The implications of this selection blunder are far-reaching. Sreesanth's confidence is bound to take a downward spiral and Pathan, who in all probability will be cooling his heels in the pavilion during the Champions trophy, will also feel the negative impacts of being the 12th man for too long. This is definitely a lose-lose situation and a chance squandered to rejuvenate both of them. The selectors could have patted themselves on their back if Sreesanth had been given Pathan's place in the team and Pathan given a much-needed break to consult some specialist in swing bowling to bring back the old magic.

Now aren't we deviating from the topic of discussion? No, definitely not. For the uninitiated, this essay seeks to delineate the gross inconsistencies in the selection policies of the Indian Selectors and its direct reflection on the performances of the Indian Team by exemplifying Kumble's case.

For instance, take the India Vs Australia contest which was a virtual semifinal – The bowlers did a great job in restricting the Aussies to 213 (though our bowlers have yet to learn to clean up the tail) but the impudence of the batsmen sans 'my-Leicester-form-is-continuing' Mongia showed up in the course of the shoddy batting display. Mongia played a chanceless innings but unfortunately was left lurking at the non-strikers' end as he ran out of partners. It is in these kind of situations that Kumble's absence is keenly felt. That his bowling adds teeth to the Indian Bowling line-up is an incontrovertible fact; but his batting is an intangible which is often overlooked. The smiling assassin is no mug with the bat and is capable of putting up a solid and dour display with the willow whenever required.

Talking of India's rain-hit match against WI, Dravid can definitely blame ill-luck for losing after having piled up a 300+ score. The main reason for their loss was the inability of the inexperienced pace men to stem the flow of runs from the broad blades of the marauding Caribbean batters during the Power Play overs. The presence of Kumble in those circumstances would have been handy in checking the fusillade launched by the West Indian top-order.

Also, with the World Cup in mind it is imperative of the selectors to find a core group of around two dozen who would stand a chance to play in the Caribbean Islands, come March 2007. And it definitely should include Kumble. The selectors can't keep coming out with statements like "We know when to bring Kumble in" and "Kumble has been rested" when the team needs him badly. After all, once he superannuates out of the game, he will be forced to take rest in the cozy comfort of his Bangalore residence. Why give unsolicited rest to an important player when he is raring to take the field?

Also with the pitches in West Indies slowing down over the years, Kumble will definitely prove to be a handful for the opponents during the World Cup, as was evident during the recent Test Series there. I really feel the selectors are erring by keeping the war-horse in the paddock a bit too long. Further Kumble, with truckloads of experience behind him, will have a sublime influence on the new chaps in the team; His knack of reading the pitches will help the think-tank in selecting the eleven for a match and his never-say-die attitude and insatiable hunger for success will help lift the overall morale of a side which has been starved of a ODI series' win for sometime now.

BRING BACK JUMBO... Bring back Jumbo....

Are the selectors listening? I suspect not... They have feigned to be deaf all this while and there is no reason why they wont continue to do so...

BCCI to embrace WWW, finally...

2006-09-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

Last week I bought a new Television; but thanks to the Conditional Access System in place (exclusively in Chennai until atleast the year end), my screen wont splash any movie or sports channels until my purse swells enough to retch out some cash for a Set Top Box. But I must say the news channels are providing me good company. Apart from them not many Free-to-Air channels are interesting. I am not an avid watcher of catwalking models, with their trademark grin-cum-smile countenance, criss-crossing their legs on the ramp, sporting anything from a full flowing robe to absolutely nothing - Now isn't this detail incongruous here??

Yesterday while browsing through the channels, I came across some text scrolling on FTV India which mentioned about the BCCI's new website. Now this was interesting. A website for BCCI yet there was simply no hoopla about its launch. Logging on to the URL, one can find details about the Champions trophy and e-ticket booking for the event. Nothing more – except for a “site coming soon” message on top of the entwined royal blue and gold colored BCCI logo.

This issue of a website was on top of Sharad Pawar's agenda during the high-profile BCCI elections some time back. Inspite of being the world's richest sports organization, the men-in-command in BCCI didn't feel the necessity to embrace the information superhighway. After all, even the Tamilnadu CA and the Karnataka State CA own online portals. The bitterly-fought elections of last year forced the rival parties to promise reforms in BCCI and finally Pawar and team have started to fulfill their manifesto commitments. After all, its better late than never.

The ICC website gives the list of permanent, associate and affliate members. Almost all the permanent members have their own website and operate out of their own buildings. Interestingly sometime back, the BCCI's address on the ICC's site was some unknown apartment in downtown Kochi. Maybe it was the residence of the previous Secretary of the BCCI Mr. SK Nair!! It took a full six months after the new regime took over BCCI for the change in address to happen in the ICC's site. Its a shame that this body, whose coffers are overflowing all the time, operates out of a room in the North Stand in the Brabourne Stadium of Mumbai.

Nevertheless, the Board has taken a step in the right direction with the soon-to-be launched website. But we can only keep our fingers crossed and hope that the reforms dont stop here.

Masal Dosa and Coconut Chutney!!

2006-09-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

The last week or so has been very hectic. My sister was getting married and as expected of a responsible bro', I had a lot of work to do which I feel I did with aplomb. The four day break from the job was a welcome change from the monotonous life out here. By the way, an incident took place when I traveled from Chennai to Salem, which caught my eye.

For the onward journey to Salem, I had to catch a train at Madras Central Station. Since my train was scheduled to leave at 10.30PM, I decided to have my dinner at the Central Terminus at a famous hotel chain’s outlet, known for its exorbitantly high prices. Since quality comes with a price, the affluent lot doesn’t mind shelling out a few extra currency notes in return for the food. That I had my dinner at the hotel that night is no indication that I belong there. My taste buds had become dormant and they hankered for dishes that would resurrect their palate. I simply obliged.

The AC hall upstairs was teeming with people; some weary faces exhausted after a tiresome journey and others waiting to embark on their tours. After waiting for a while, I got a seat on a table where a Hindi speaking late twenties guy was having his dinner. He was clearly uncomfortable with Tamil and English – He seemed in extreme discomfiture. I asked him what the reason for his frustration was. He replied very seriously - “Bhaai.. usne masal dosa ke saath coconut chutney nahi diya”. I was bemused... Really didn’t know whether to laugh or empathize with him… In any case, I deeply apologize if my transliteration is not up to the mark. What he meant was that he had not been served coconut chutney along with the Masal Dosa.

What followed was a war of words between the waiter and this bloke. I could only feel sorry for the waiter who had to put up with a mercurial guy like the one just opposite me. The waiter tried to make him understand that once the chutney was prepared, he would serve it to him and that he had no reason to intentionally not serve something which was available in the pantry. But this fellow was in no mood to listen – He argued saying that he was prepared to wait till the waiter served him Coconut Chutney. What befuddled me was that in spite of two other chutneys’ and sambhar adding to the color on his plate, this fellow was insistent on coconut chutney.

He waited and waited… The coconut chutney didn’t arrive… The waiter was fed up too… After all, he was not to be blamed… Finally this guy had to eat the masal dosa sans coconut chutney…

Even as this incident took place, I was reminded of the great British Economist of the nineteenth century Alfred Marshal. He defined economics as “The Study of People in the Ordinary Business of Life”. How right he was. I could relate his view about Economics with what happened in the hotel.

Here is a small analysis of that situation that I came up with, which ultimately took me no where!!

Point 1: The customer (in this case, the young chap) paid for the masal dosa that he ate. So he had every right to question the waiter for the coconut chutney. But since he waited for the coconut chutney to come, the food became cold due to the A/C effect and thus he could feel cheated because he didn’t get full value for his money.

Point 2: If the fellow hadn’t been so finicky, then maybe he would have had the chance of eating a hot masal dosa. Sometimes being choosy doesn’t get you the best of things.

Point 3: The waiter – the target of all expletives from the guys’ mouth – was definitely not culpable for this. After all, he was the interface between the customer and the pantry. But then, it’s the hotel’s duty to give each and every customer their money’s worth. In an era, where we talk of Customer Delight rather than Customer Satisfaction, this was definitely a blemish on a mammoth hotel chain like this.

Point 4: All these bring us to the very basic tenet of Economics – “Incentives Work”. Suppose you offer to pay your employees for working overtime, then most of them wouldn’t mind staying in the office even 20 hours a day. Similarly, I feel that masal dosa being the primary diet; all the other side dishes are just incentives. Maybe when the first hotel was started, the owner wanting to buck up his business might have offered coconut chutney as an add-on to increase his business.

No where is it a written rule that masal dosa should always come with coconut chutney. Being practiced everywhere as a convention doesn’t mean that it is mandatory. The hotel played the business card here where the customer expected the hotel to play the ethical card with a sense of moral obligation.

Though this looked like a banal incident of no significance, it provided me with something to ponder about. I am still trying to find who was right – the customer or the hotel. Your views are welcome too.

Happy B'day Chennai!!!

2006-08-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

Wish you many more happy returns of this day....

With lots of Luv and Attachment....
Me..

Lil' Fellas' Routine...

2006-08-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

[I have tried my hand at something different in this piece of writing. I really feel many of my readers will be able to relate to this piece. This essay is entirely imaginative and any coincidence is purely unintentional. Further, I strongly believe there will be many whose opinions would differ 180 degress wrt mine; I would like to remind them that while I respect their sentiments, I stand by my views.]

TRRRRIIINNNGGGG!!! The alarm clock banged on his ears. It was half past six. The rays of the morning sun pierced through the translucent window beside his bed and flashed on his eyes. It provided a momentary effulgence to his dreams; but the combined effort of the alarm and the sun rays denied him any more rest. He could hardly open his eyes - the slumber of the previous night seemed insufficient. But he knew that another snooze and he would surely not make it to work that day.

"Approach each day as though it provides you an opportunity to learn new things" - These words of his dad kept ringing in his ears all the time and provided him the much needed drive to approach his work with an unusual zest and piquancy. Picking himself up from the bed, he hurriedly finished his morning routine, neatly fit into his formals, swung the strap of the bag across his body, adjusted the Company ID Tag on his collar so that it didn't hurt his nape, took his copy of THE HINDU and set on his path to catch the company bus. The next one hour would be the most enjoyable of the two dozen everyday.

Getting onto the bus, his eyeballs moved faster than ever to quickly spot a window seat; one on which the Push Back worked. Occupying his seat, he flung open his copy of THE HINDU and skimmed through it. There was a twinkle in his eye; it gleamed with the faux radiance of the North Star. The reason - Charming Suchi with her tuneful voice was on air. He had never listened to FM Radio Stations before. Ever since he joined his company a month back, he has been all ears to Suchi, Archana and a host of other RJs on Tamil Radio Stations. The voice was addictive and it provided him the perfect backdrop to read The Metro Plus.

He was loathe to travel and the journey from his place to the office was far from being comfy. The traffic moved as though a “Slow Vehicle Race” was on and the bumpy roads only added to his discomfort. Nevertheless, Suchi and “The Guardian” Crossword gave him good company during the roller coaster ride through the decrepit roads of the City outskirts.

Once he reached the air-conditioned premises of his company, he helped himself to a cup of Horlicks. After chugalugging the beverage, he settled in his cubicle for another long day, spent gazing at the monitor display, checking mails, creating logic, coding data, debugging errors et al., It was only a month since he had joined work but already he found the job becoming monotonous. He thought there was nothing as stodgy as coding... But then he had no other option but to stay put in his job. After all, something is better than nothing, isn't it?

The lunch in his company was next to awesome. It really mattered a lot to a gourmand like him. In fact, in his school days, he had debated successfully against “Gluttony kills more than the knife” during a debate and won accolades. Whenever his morale was down, he would think of the wonderful lunch that his company offered at a subsidized rate, and that would buck him up. Lunch was followed by a short nap sitting on his chair inside the cubicle. As evening approached, restlessness crept in. The itch to leave the office grew exponentially as the sun sank beyond vision.

Though 6PM was the official out-time, if anybody left at the stroke of six, it left a bad impression with the bosses. And our fella always made a conscious effort to be in the good graces of his boss. So he didn't mind staying at least up to 7 in the evening. Another reason - The cavalcade of buses that left at 6PM would always get stuck up thanks to the traffic snarls; and those which started at 7PM would invariably catch up with those that left an hour earlier.

The evening bus ride was at best tiresome and at worst woozy – the bumpy roads, polluted air, noisy vehicles, the clatter inside the bus and to top it all, weariness due to the sedentary nature of the job – all these gave a feeling that it would take eternity to reach home. Finally when he alighted from the bus, it was dark. He slowly walked up to his residence, had his dinner and found some time to relax.

Reflecting upon the happenings of the day, he asked himself - “Did I learn anything new today?”. Maybe he did... maybe he didn't... But he wasn't happy. He didn't like the nature of the work he was involved in. He dreamt for something bigger; something better; something more challenging; something more interesting; something more satisfying and most importantly something more rewarding...

Even as his dreams started taking shape, the day's exhaustion got the better of him and his eye-lids closed slowly but surely. At last he could afford to give his physical body and mental faculties the much needed rest. He was not sure if he would get a good nights' sleep unlike the previous day; but he was dead sure about one thing – the next day was going to be as dull, as monotonous, as prosaic as the last thirty days had been, if not more.

A Long Protracted SMS

2006-08-06T06:30:00.000-07:00

Last week, one of my friends sent me a message on my mobile. Ironically, he used the short messaging service to send a pretty long message. Enough of the pronoun 'he'; I will name him 'Mr.Globe' - that would suit him better. 'Globe' because, he talks about anything and everything under the sun with consummate ease - ranging from Tamil Cinema, English Fiction and non-fiction, Electronics and Communication, Quantum Physics, Economics, Commerce, Cricket, Football, F1, NBA, NFL, C Programming - you name it, this guy has got an opinion on it.

Mr.Globe is known for doing things differently. That night Mr.Globe called me up and said he was trying to come upwith a good message that he could forward to others. My curiousity got the better of me and I asked him to forward the message to me also, knowing that it would be something beyond me!! Here it is -

SMS1: Why do people go to the extremes to prove that they are innocent not knowing that even those who challenge their innocence on the outside but think they are truly innocent even though they really are not are not(sic) right not because of the inconsistency in their thoughts and claims but because of their inability to understand the truth... Dont they understand that the moment they start proving their innocence, they actually start loosing it or tell (Contd..)

SMS2: (Contd..) us that they never really have been since their pride of being innocent has come from their way of veiwing innocence as a virtue which actually depends upon one's vaue system.. Dont u think the thin line between being naive and innocent is actually drawn by the mind which in any case is nothing but what we have developed to differentiate and distinguish rather than live with.. I think I wish to forget what innocence actually (Contd..)

SMS3: (Contd..) means.. Infact I think I wish to forget everything.. That i still live..

I am finished. Even to re-type this message is tiring. Wonder how long it took for 'Globe' to create this. I sat with this message - with so many subjects and predicates - throughout the night but couldnt go beyond some distance.

If anyone can decipher the whole message, (the probability of which I feel is, as much as that of India winning a Football WC), then please do me a favour by shouting it out in the Comments corner.

Why not Waugh??

2006-07-31T10:02:00.000-07:00

Sir Garfield Sobers is the latest entrant into the septuagenarians club. And the world media didnt miss the opportunity to highlight the exploits of the first Six Sixers man and how he made a lesser known mortal called Malcolm Nash famous (or infamous!!) overnight. Almost all the writers who showered praise on Sir Garry delineated the fact that the world will never see an all round cricketer like Sir Garry for a long long time. Indeed true.. His records are mind boggling. 8000 odd test runs at an average of 57 plus and 235 wickets at 34 apiece. Add to this the 109 catches that he held, mostly at slips - He is a clear leader among the multi-dimensional cricketers who have played this game.

Whenever the talk revolves around all-rounders, the names that crop up are Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Sir Richard Hadlee, Sanath Jayasuriya, Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock, Andrew Flintoff and of late, our own Irfan Pathan. But one name that all experts miss out is Stephen Rodger Waugh. This former captain of the Kangaroos is considered to be among the most successful captains in Test History, has amassed more than 18000 International runs, taken nearly 300 International Wickets and held more than 200 catches inclusive of Tests and ODIs.

"Ice Cool Man" was how Steve Waugh was called for his tremendous composure to bowl overs at the death. But injuries in the later stages of his career didn't allow him to roll his arm over as frequently as he would have liked to. If only he had bowled as regularly as the aforementioned players did, who knows where he would have ended up in the wickets list!!

Nevertheless, I strongly feel that, even with this record with the bat and ball, he deserves to be called a genuine all-rounder and will only add sheen to the relatively short list of "The Greatest All-Rounders of Cricket".

A brief hiatus; While I get Cognizantised...

2006-07-19T00:42:00.000-07:00

So after three long months, finally I am off to Chennai. This is the longest break I ve ever had thus far. To be honest, the last quarter of an year, here at Salem, has been boring, to say the least. If not for the World Cup, I m sure I would have gone mad by now.

Ironically, I started blogging toward the fag end of May this year, when I was hired and then fired by an MNC even before I stepped into their office. That gave me the time to blog on different things under the sun. Now the time has come for me to enter the corporate world. I will be joining Cognizant Technology Solutions at their Chennai office this Friday. That means lesser time to be spent on Blogger.

I am raring to go. Really I want to get a feel of being in the Corporate Kingdom and learn the different tips and tricks to a successful career. And top on my priority will be to gain first hand knowledge on Corporate Dynamics.

Heard that the first two months will be spent in the CTS Academy in the name of Training. So again the learning process continues after a 90 day break. Or should I say a 4 year break? ( Really I didnt gain much in four years of E&C at Guindy).

One thing is sure. My access to the internet will be several times lesser than it has been in the last three months. And I hope I return to Blogging as soon as I settle down at my place in Chennai.

Ah! I almost Forgot... Hereon all my posts in this blog space will be in my personal capacity and the views expressed will be my own and will not represent the views of the company or institution that I represent. In any case, I wil add the disclaimer asap.

Business Line means BUSINESS

2006-07-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

The last time that I saw the whole design color of a newspaper changed to suit the whims and fancies of the advertiser was three years ago when The New Indian Express sported a green look. ONGC had won some environmental award or they had initiated some green eco-friendly practice in the Industrial sector. I am not so sure of it. Immediately ONGC’s advertising agency swung into action, did their homework and the result was a green color Indian Express newspaper for a day. Though I must accept that the green color did add some sheen to the dull black and white of The Indian Express, I cannot agree with Newspapers giving up on their policy to accommodate advertisers.

True, there might not be any hand written policy on the design and the color to be used; but then giving up on your trademark design for a more trendy one is always looked at as an attempt to catch the imagination of a wider audience, which means the number of loyal readers of your newspaper is on the decline.

THE HINDU was probably the first newspaper to have an 'All Advertisements' first page. But that was only till the mid 1950s. THE HINDU has come a long way since then. Our first PM Nehru called it “The Old lady of Mount Road” signifying the importance of their building on Anna Salai, which now holds the Asian School of Journalism. Today, it is the number one English daily in South India.

Recently expert graphic designer Dr. Mario Garcia made lots of changes in the design of THE HINDU and its group publications. And to mark the change in the style, The Hindu calls itself Traditional yet Contemporary. Nice attempt at not trying to sound clichéd!! Though the new look is pleasing for the eyes, many old-timers don’t buy that story.

This morning, when I saw THE HINDU Business Line, I was shocked.

How many news articles did the front page carry? Absolutely none at all. The whole first sheet (that means the front and rear sides) was an Advertisers’ space. This time, BL too sported a green look. Not the dark green of ONGC, but it was a much pleasing fluorescent green of Karur Vysya Bank. The first page had nothing except for KVB’s green and The Hindu’s masthead. Now isn’t this going a bit too far in sacrificing your Headlines for some money? As a matter of fact, the third page of this Tiruchirapalli edition was similar to the usual First page, having the masthead and the Main Headlines in bold.

So I presume this is a collectors’ edition in which The Hindu’s Masthead appears twice!!

I feel that The Hindu, with a rich legacy, would be better off without these Ads, at least on the front page.

Slap Slap Slap – Captain Style

2006-07-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

When was the last time you saw an elected representative of the people behave in an unruly manner? Surely not long ago. Even two days back, the Karnataka assembly was in absolute pandemonium and there was commotion all around the place with the MLAs verbally and physically abusing each other.

Apart from the ruckus in the State assemblies and the Parliament, we don’t really get to see our Netas agitated in the Public domain, when they are the cynosure of all eyes. But on Monday, Vridhachchalam MLA Mr. A. Vijayakanth, also known as Captain to the Film Industry did something which was sore to the eyes and totally unexpected.

Like any other news channel, CNN-IBN is known for the sensationalism that it creates. And it didn’t want to miss on this opportunity to show Captain in poor light. The video showed Vijayakanth, on tour to Trichy for the shooting of a film called “Dharmapuri”, slapping his assistant Ravi, when he was scrunched by on-lookers from all the sides. This had happened when our ‘caring and compassionate’ Captain had gone to nearby SriRangam to console people who had lost their homes in a fire, which had gutted their homes, a day earlier.

And guess what, this prompted a chain reaction – or can we call it chain slapping?? The assistant goes on to slap the people who had assembled around Vijayakanth, so that the crowd disperses. On the whole, our Captain ended up slapping the same people whom he had come to share their grief with. By the way, the lesson to be learnt for the Police is that if you want to disperse a mob, don’t worry. You don’t need tear gas; just get Captain going along with you.

To top it all, Captain decided to explain why he did it. On Wednesday, in Trichy, at a function to mark the induction of some 2000 new members into the DMDK fold, he asked his assistant to take the dais and said proudly, “This is the person whom I slapped.”

What followed was even better. Here it goes –

“We are both friends. We spent all our childhood together and grew up together. We used to beat each other even in our childhood. I used to beat him. He used to beat me. Maybe now he is not comfortable with hitting me, because I am the party leader. Otherwise, slapping each other is common for us. Some people have blown this out of proportions. Maybe they fear that I might become a great politician.”

Wow… What an explanation!!

Sometime back, I thought Vijayakanth would become a model politician in the days to come. But he has proved that he belongs to the tribe of Politicians who have made a mockery of the people of TN. Congrats Captain... You definitely deserve a place with the best of our Thalaivars for your performance, both on-stage and off-stage.

And yeah, we fear you might slap your way to glory!!!

The story of a Failed Country and a so-called rude city

2006-07-12T03:59:00.000-07:00

[My head has had no role in the creation of this piece of writing. It has been my heart throughout. Though I don’t emote much, the happenings of the last 24 hours in Mumbai and Kashmir has had a huge impact on me and my heart could do nothing, but explode.]

Firstly, my heartfelt condolences to the kin of the victims of yesterday’s attack and I sincerely hope the victims’ souls rest in peace. Let us pray the Almighty to give strength to their families to come to terms with the tragedy and hope that these dastardly acts don’t ever happen again, anywhere in the world.

My first impression on seeing the news of blasts in Mumbai was not one of shock. It was one of anger. I was really enraged. What a huge Intelligence failure it has been? The people of Mumbai didn’t deserve such inhuman actions.

In spite of the suddenness of the attack, the Mumbaikars have tried their best to help fellow human beings. Everyone did his bit to help the affected victims – from the rickshaw wallah to the ordinary commuter to the rich businessman on wheels. The spontaneity with which the people came forward to help was indeed touching.

By the way, this was the same city that was branded the rudest in the world by Readers Digest. A pity, that they used very shallow criteria for finding out the civility of the cities. The survey used three tests to take stock of the politeness factor – dropping papers in a busy street to see if anyone would help, checking how often shop assistants said "thank you", and counting how often someone held a door open.

As a matter of fact, the cities of the US came on top in the survey. These were the same cities that witnessed widespread looting and arson in the wake of the Katrina hurricane. Still these cities are better than Mumbai!! You cannot help laughing at that after having seen the way Mumbai responded to the blasts yesterday. The steely determination and grit of the Mumbaikar came to the fore, in the midst of some heavy downpour of rain. They were not going to get bogged down by what had happened. A whole lot of the commuters took it upon themselves to help the injured and carry them to hospitals. And the Queue at the Holy Family hospital to donate blood was on the rise all the time.

Mumbai showed to the world that its citizens could help each other when needed the most and that in the face of adversity; the whole of Mumbai would stand up united in its cause. Hats off to the spirit of the Mumbaikar. Even the Blogger community in Mumbai has come to the rescue, trying to help people abroad with whatever info they have. They have hosted webpages on Blogger and Wiki Jotspot, which can be edited by anyone.

In the first place, why should all this happen to Mumbai? Why should something like this happen to India at all? India is one nation that has never interfered in the matters of other countries. For long, India has maintained the Non-Alignment policy. But the terrorists know that India is a soft target and the mellowed nature of the Indian citizen has only helped build that image.

It all started with Kashmir. The war in Kashmir, a proxy war against India by Islamabad sponsored terrorist organizations never seems to have a full stop. This could have been avoided if only Pandit Nehru had given some thought for the people of Kashmir. It would have been an altogether different situation now if Kashmir was awarded autonomy by Nehru. Instead, he committed a blunder that has changed the whole India-Pakistan equations. Lots of Kashmiri Pandits were killed, many more displaced; and in the last two decades, Kashmir has seen some of the most bloodiest incidents of all time. Yesterday’s serial grenade attacks in Kashmir is testimony to that fact.

I am sure, Jawaharlal Nehru is among the very few people who are as vilified after their death as they were glorified during their lifetime. In spite of all the good that Chacha had done as Independent India’s first PM, he committed a grave mistake; the result of which is the loss of innumerable Kashmiri lives in the last twenty years. So, I would first point my finger towards Nehru’s grave. He was a failed Prime Minister.

Of late, there has been a spate of attacks all over the country. A country of India’s stature should be able to avoid these attacks and lack of Intelligence reports definitely shows the Home ministry in very poor light. The 2003 attacks in Mumbai occurred ten years after the ‘Dawood Ibrahim masterminded’ serial blasts of 1993 and reminded us that all was not well with Mumbai. The Diwali-eve attack in a heavily crowded market area last year in Delhi, the Varanasi attacks, the attack on the IISc, Bangalore and the innumerable number of attacks in Kashmir have re-iterated the fact that Shivraj Patil has not been upto the task in the North Block. The Manipur rape issue, the unsuccessful Naga talks and the directionless talks with ULFA Bodos in Assam indicate the ineffectiveness of Mr. Patil. Now even after the Mumbai blasts of 7/11, Mr. Patil doesn’t impress.

So the lesson to be learnt is this – You needn’t do a good job in your ministry; As long as you remain loyal to 10 Janpath, you wouldn’t lose your job.

In fact, the earth had shaken from under Latur for Shivraj Patil when he lost the 2004 LS Elections from there. Still he was made a minister and given the most important portfolio of Internal affairs and was also shown the back door to enter the Parliament. I held Mr. Patil in high regard when he was the speaker of Lok Sabha during the years 1991-96 and had the impression that he was a man of high integrity. Now I must accept, Shivraj Patil is a failed Home Minister.

Maharashtra has been in the limelight for the past few weeks; albeit for the wrong reasons –

1. First,the Mumbai monsoons have caused havoc for the ordinary public. The Maharashtra government wouldn’t learn from its past mistakes.
2. Vidarbha has seen more than 600 suicides in the last two months alone. The cotton farmers of the place had no other choice than to end their lives, in the wake of their ever-rising debt. The prices of cotton had hit an all time low. If only Vilasrao Deshmukh had kept his election promise of offering Rs. 2500 per quintal of cotton, then the script would have been totally different.
3. The mayhem following the defiling of the statue of Meenatai Thackeray, the late wife of Balasaheb, might have turned into a full blown riot, but for some sensible policemen.

Cotton Agriculture is a failed occupation.
Vidarbha is a story of failed farmers.
Maharashtra is a failed state.
Vilasrao Deshmukh is a failed Chief Minister.
And, with much difficulty, I would say Congress is a failed party.
UPA is a failed government.

All this from a staunch supporter of the Parent Party of India. Sometime back, I would not have even imagined in my dreams that my blog would be full of scathing attacks on Congress and its members. But the inhuman massacre of people yesterday and the continuous failure of Intelligence in India have prompted me to change my stance.

Still, I wouldn’t attack Dr. Manmohan Singh, in spite of him being a puppet in the hands of Sonia; in spite of him being culpable for the Quota Imbroglio; He is the right person in the wrong party. Now, didn’t we say the same thing about Vajpayee too, some years back??

In spite of the UPA's poor performance in the last two years, the opposition NDA seems to be sleeping. The main opposition party, BJP is struggling to cope up with internal problems and has no time to perform the role of a responsible opposition. Even the BJP would accept this fact -
NDA is a failed opposition.

When both the government and the opposition fail miserably, cant we say that ours is a failed country??

Happy Birthday… Bengal Boys!!!

2006-07-08T09:46:00.000-07:00

Bengal has produced many a famous names with many firsts to their credit. The first Indian Nobel Laureate, the first Indian to get an Oscar, the first Indian man and woman to cross the English Channel, the first Dada Saheb Phalke award recipient – all are Bengalis. Today happens to be the birthday of two eminent Bengalis who have made an impression on the world stage.

But unfortunately we use the past tense to describe their achievements. One of them is Sourav Chandidas Ganguly, the former captain of the Indian Cricket Team and the other happens to be the former Chief Minister of Bengal, Mr. Jyoti Basu who turned 92 today.

India marched into uncharted seas and attained dizzying heights under Sourav Ganguly. He is the most successful Indian captain in both Tests and ODIs. It remains to be seen if his successor, Rahul Dravid, with a recent overseas Test series victory under his belt, will emulate Ganguly’s heroics as skipper.

Mr. Jyoti Basu still holds the record for the longest serving Chief Minister of India and his communist government was the longest serving democratically elected communist government world over. Though his successor Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has continued the good work done by him, it will be a tough ask to emulate Mr. Basu.

I wish them both a very happy birthday and hope Mr. Basu hits a century and Ganguly scores many more centuries!

PS: I really don’t know if a 92 year old qualifies to be called a boy. But for sure, Mr. Basu wouldn’t mind it.

Football does the trick for Merkel…

2006-07-08T05:15:00.000-07:00

Of late, the Germans are a happy lot. Yeah, they are happy in spite of their World Cup semifinal loss to Italy. There is this newfound love for their country and for once, they aren’t ashamed of waving the Black-Red-Yellow stripes. Their sense of guilt, which seemed to be eternal, following the Nazi sponsored genocide in the first half of the 20th century has finally been overridden by their love and support for their football team. So this World Cup in Germany has achieved, what even the Holy See Elections of last year failed to fulfill. Following the election of Joseph Ratzinger as the Pope last year after the demise of Pope John Paul II, the German President Horst Koehler said – “We are not particularly overjoyed with his election. After all we have been home to the most horrific and atrocious acts of the 20th century and it will take a long time for those wounds to heal.”

That means Michael Ballack, Jurgen Klinsmann and Franz Beckenbauer are the saviors of German Pride because they have aroused the national spirit that had died along with The Fuhrer. The cicatrix of having killed more than 10m innocent people has vanished almost suddenly and it is now a thing of the past. Don’t you think this argument is ludicrous and borders on the extremes of ridiculousness?

Why cant the Germans take inspiration from pre-Nazi history? Why can’t they treat the Nazi era as an aberration in an otherwise rich history and culture? True, there is no bigger mistake than to exterminate a racial or religious group. But post 1945, the right way to go about it would have been to shrug away the happenings of the Hitler era and move towards the future, taking inspiration from the past. But that unfortunately hasn’t to be.

There have been enough personalities in the past who have made Germany proud. Even before the Industrial revolution in Europe, Beethoven made waves with his music. Around the same time, Karl Marx founded his economic and political philosophy that would give the world a new jargon called Communism. Germany’s contribution to Science has been priceless – Kepler, Daimler, Gauss, Hertz, Helmholtz, Otto Hahn, Diesel, Kirchoff, Planck, Ohm et al. Now you know why almost every SI or FPS or CGS unit was the name of a German Scientist.

If this was not enough, the greatest human mind of all time – Albert Einstein – was a German.

If we assumed that only sport brought Germans together, then why wouldn’t the magic work when Boris Becker became the youngest Wimbledon champion. One may counter saying that Germany wasn’t unified then. But didn’t Steffi Graf emerge victorious Grand Slam after Grand Slam and Michael Schumacher win race after race, long after the Berlin wall was brought down? Why didn’t Oliver Kahn winning the Golden Ball award and Germany finishing second best at the FIFA World Cup 2002 imbibe patriotism in the German public? After all, being in the final brings a special feeling that can’t be felt participating in a third place playoff, even if you are the host.

Whatever the reasons for this newfound nationalistic feeling, Angela Merkel wouldn’t complain as long as the public gives her a high approval rate, as they have been for the last few months. And surely, she will be mighty pleased that her people have at last learnt their National Anthem.