Is Policeman's Life Less Important Than A Cricketer's?

I do understand that policemen will be needed for crowd control. I also understand that a well organised posse of policemen will go after a gang of dacoits and may even lose some brave men. I do not deny that some policemen will be seriously injured in line of duty while controlling riots.

But why should an unsuspecting policeman be used as a sacrificial pawn to protect another person who has knowingly ventured out to play or watch a game of bat and ball, despite all the warnings?

Are we saying that playing cricket is so important that it is okay to let some policemen die while trying to save the life of some cricketers or watchers?

My point is: if we already know that there is grave danger to life from a faceless enemy who can appear from nowhere and at will, then the police force should be used to weed out the source of that danger in an organised and planned manner; not as fodder to terrorists who can attack as and when they like. Why should we assume that it is the duty of policemen to save the life of reckless people involved in playing and watching the game when the right thing for them was to stay at home?

Seriously, why should you be held responsible to save my life, if inspite of all the warnings, I am foolish enough to go out to play or watch a game where a bat hits a ball? Just because you are a policeman? Frankly, I am not convinced.

Shame on Raj Thackeray and his think alikes

'Leader' is a positive word. In that sense I would not like to call this politician called Raj Thackeray a 'leader. However as an Indian it pains me to see that a man like this can have such a clout and following.
But I am not really shocked that such a thing can happen. I do realise that this is part of Nature. For many good apples there would be some rotten ones too. But what surprises me is that the custodian of this garden is not making realistic efforts to wean out the bad apples from the good ones. A good gardener knows the importance of getting rid of rotten apples early so that the good ones don't get affected too.
Amitabh Bachchan may have played the role of Bagwan in a movie, but please do not expect a screen hero to stand up real life dadagiri, risking his own and his family's lives. In real life it is the responsibility of real-life gardeners (ruling government - politicians and bureaucrats) to take care of the gulistan-hamara i.e. our garden that is India.
All that Jaya Bhaduri said in a function was that being a UP-ide, she would speak in Hindi. How does this insult the Marathi language? Mind you, Hindi is India's National language not just a regional one. So when Raj Thakeray used his prowess in speech to make it look like an insult to Marathi and prevents release of Bachchan's movie to get some cheap publicity, our government should have taken immediate action against him.
When I entered IIT Kanpur, my best friend was P.L. Vaishampayan whose father was working in UP secretariat. Vaishampayans are Maharashtrians. In IIT, I formed many friends from all over India. If we go by Raj Thakeray's doctrine, IIT Kanpur should not even allow non-UP students in IIT Kanpur!
Beating up young people from other states who came to appear in examination for a job in Indian Railways is despicable to say the least. It is absolutely shameful. And it gives an opportunity to others to laugh at us.
Today we are celebrating Indian victory over Australia in Mohali cricket test match. We are not celebrating Maratha (Tendulkar) victory or Bangal victory (Ganguly) or Delhi victory (Sehwag, Gambhir).
Anand is leading Kramnik 2-0 in world chess championship. So does it mean that it is Tamil Nadu victory? No, it is India that is hoping that Anand would maintain or increase this lead.
In few hours our own Chandrayan will be launched into space, targeting moon. Will we all Indians not rejoice in it's success? Or should that glory be confined to the state from where the rocket is launched?
The very basis of India is that as Indians all Indians have equal rights in any part of India. If someone challenges this very root of India's existence, it is challenging India's very existence. And if such a person happens to be an Indian himself, he should be tried in court for no less a crime than challenging India's existence.

Sourav Ganguly Hits Master Stroke

In chess if you sacrifice a pawn which was worthless anyway and gain some advantage, it would be considered a smart move.

Well Mr. Sourav Ganguly has done the same by announcing his retirement today. With Yuvraj and Badrinath scoring centuries against Australian Test Team and Mr. Sourav Ganguly who managed to force an entry into India 'A' team (at expense of some non-celebrity player) to have some practice before the test, scoring hardly anything against New Zealand's 'A' team, the writing was clearly on the wall.

The current Indian cricket team is selected for 1st two tests only. Now suppose Sourav Ganguly fails again in these 2 tests, then with the back drop of recent Sri Lankan disaster, Ganguly may not have found place in 3rd and 4th tests, what to speak of next seriez! And in any case, the FAB 4 (5 if you include Kumble) have their days numbered as far as future seriezes are concerned.

So by announcing his retirement, Sourav Ganguly has hit a master stroke. Now he is likely to play in all 4 tests. The selectors would now be unwilling to drop him from the team, whatever may his contribution be. In addition he will now play without pressure, so there is a good possibility of him clicking.

And if he does click, and scores a century or two, what do you think all the TV channels, fans et al will do? They will force 'Dada' to review his decision "in national interest"! And if he doesn't click, well, he has already retired!

Wow Sourav, I am impressed with your immaculate game plan. You would give good competition to Anand in chess.

Tendulkar should go now

I agree that there should be different set of norms for great and not so great players. In that respect I tend to nod my head in agreement when people say that Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar should be allowed to select his own time period for retiring.

However my agreement is only up to the point where there is no better player (currently, we are not discussing total greatness of a player in his career) than him in term of total deliverables in a match.

We can see that India is winning ODI series inspite (or BECAUSE?) of his absence. The last Australian and Sri Lankan tours are proofs enough.

Therefore it is time that Tendulkar starts thinking of retirement, if he believes in 'graceful exit'. By 'graceful exit' I mean there should be reasonably large number of people left in the world who genuinely ask "why?"

Thing is, plenty are already asking "why not?"