Sparsh

Literature demands something, not just from the reader but from society at large. It demands not just that we watch or cheer together, play or dance together, but that we take the time to understand one another. It demands that we create the institutions and the time to make this possible. It demands that we put in the effort. And it demands, most of all, that we agree that it is worthwhile to do so. - Hasan Altaf History has shown us that leisured aristocracies tend to become bored, hedonistic, and eventually decadent. This proves that power is not enough. One must set goals to excel in them, even if done slowly. I had set such a goal and polished my mental agility through the habit of reading. Reading books is an exercise in self-knowledge and carries risk. These thought-provoking books estrange our familiar landscape of settled beliefs into a strange wonderland (maybe dystopia) through new viewpoints. Good books open windows through mysterious ways. I had already listed down books ...

I read a lot on cricket still publish rarely an article on the cricket.  New face of Indian Cricket was written 5 years ago. This is the second part dedicated to our young team for having luck on the road ahead.  Any game is often about not doing what your opponents want you to do. Test Cricket is no exception. I always consider One Day and T20 Matches as an exhibition while Test cricket is an examination. There will be 13 test matches(2 in SA, 2 in NZ, 5 IN ENG & 4 in AUS) in upcoming year. Great players will emerge in upcoming foreign tours through baptism by fire of fast bowling. Our young crop of batsman play aggressive brand of cricket what was termed as 'Australian Way'. Prudence is never the virtue of the new generation . Scoring at high run rate is essential for winning is good but not necessary applicable for all conditions. It is best to attack and play pretty when it suits; claw and fight like hell when it doesn't. Our batting and bowling line up has to di...

I had palnned Sikkim/Bhutan Trip in festival session of Nuakhai . That trip was cancelled due to backing out of the friends. Hence, I was looking towards other options. I do view it as a now or never situation in planning travel schedule. I took quick decision with help of my friend at IIM Ahmadabad. Udaipur and Jodhpur were prime destination of two days short trip of Rajasthan. I was lone traveler this time. A balanced tourism is more about connecting with the local people and their culture, rather than site seeing like Maharajas of distant land. Talking for long session (1/2 -1 hour) with remarkable people like Shambhu (auto-rickshaw driver at Udaipur) and Yarden Gerest- Mar (Student of Computer Science at Hebrew University, Israel) were good experiences of the whole trip. Touring India is always mixed bag of praise, platitudes and panning. Foreign tourists are confronted with unfamiliar sights on a daily basis, such as open defecation that are no longer seen in the developed nati...

Sachin Tendulkar retired today from all formats of cricket matches today. Many has paid homage to this legend and much has been already said about his retirement and figures. I will add few words. I don't call him God but sure rank him as one of the best auteur of the game. I assume him as the last gentleman of the cricketing era giving place to aggressive new India. Sachin was raised in tradition of Mumbai batsmanship, aggressive in strokes yet solid and calm in defense. He took it to greatness with his action and achievements. Rahul Dravid, Robin Singh, Hansie Cronje and Heath Streak are my favorite cricketers. I like Sachin but never loved him. Yet, he was always there as a symbol of hope. During 1990, if Tendulkar failed, TV sets were closed considering all was lost for India. In those days, Indians rarely have something that can be termed as world class. Sunil Gavaskar has given us inspiration that one can be second-to-none with sheer will and hard work. Gavaskar was combi...

There are more than one ways in which one can get educated. This is a list which I found on the net ... pretty inspiring and insightful ! Grow enough grain for one loaf of bread -- and make and eat the loaf Answer ALL the questions of a 3 year old for a week Spend a day alone in a wild place Follow your trash to its final resting place Collect food and blankets and spend a day giving them to homeless people taking the time to stop and talk about life Help in the birth of a lamb, cow, or horse Visit a slaughter house (try to withhold judgment) Organize a rite of passage ceremony for an adolescent, someone at mid-life, or yourself Switch genders for the day Build a house (your own, or for Habitat for Humanity) Ask a low rider how the lifters on their car work Apprentice yourself to someone you've always wanted to learn from Take a picture of you and all your stuff in front of the place where you live. Compare it to the pictures in Peter Menzel's Material World Read ...

Unbiased Analysis always reveal that a ‘cherished tradition’ is neither cherished, nor a tradition; its a easy and popular myth propagated by powerful ones. Once we create movements sought to challenge the power not just of social practices eventually they will challenge political order too. There is term used ‘ Heckler’s Veto ” that has been seen more in democracy mode of governance. Essentially it means that the state refuses to allow freedom of expression out of fear of someone else’s reaction. That is the one lethal aspect that holds moral progress of the whole nation. People judge individuals by whether they comfort you or unsettle mentally and emotionally. So, it is always easy to look for the coziness and intimacy that is inherited in the established tradition, even it is wrong one. As the total rejection of old will lead them into unknown emotional landscape with no peers around them. Only Diversity and open communication can challenge our morals based on culture. Yes, the ...

August 21, 2013 is Blue Moon. The phrase 'Once in a blue moon' has come to mean something that incurs very infrequently. So is my birthday that happens only once in a year. Life is looking okay for now. Off the job, well, not quite smooth. I have seen now 28 years of life of details. The perennial question from childhood in my mind is - Is it merely an accident of birth that led to one person having huge wealth and other condemned to poverty ? The search for the answer of this question has made me an idealist in this practical world. To argue with one's own kin and friends for the ideal of fairness is difficult. One has to drop imposed morality and biased faith for one's own. I try to explore the issues of social hierarchy, religion, loyalty, corruption, sexuality, war, crime, and punishment by becoming morally ambiguous. I am ready to inherited cultural values if they are not respecting human rights. Even I have been rubbing with the comforts, the ragged edges of r...

15th August comes again. With each passing days, India seemed to less shining and more as the great land of Al-Absurdistan . I am ranting on Independence day because we are not bothered about freedom, justice and fairness. The goal of development can't be achieved without securing these premises. When are we putting aside petty political fights and begin focusing on the real problems that threaten our nation ? India is a capitalism encased feudal societies where people hide their prejudice behind a mask of newly coming material wealth. We are amnesic of the issues to be addressed with utmost importance for voices are hushed up or ignored in the media due to business interests or political pressure. We accumulate huge foreign reserve and emphasizing stock piles in food grains. An obsession with government jobs that give access to social and economic security without any accountability. India possesses a range and quality of intellectuals that perhaps only few developing society...

Once a good economy crumbles, results go wrong, inflation hurts more frequently and GDP rate turns slow. Read these three articles to understand, how India has been ruined by Congress ! Blog Post 1 - All confusion apart, I strongly feel that the Congress (I) must not come back to power in 2014–directly or behind the scenes. They must be made to sit in opposition and lose big time like PPP did in Pakistan. That should be our first priority. Let India not become Bihar of 1990s where you could be incompetent with impunity because you were sure to come back to power with the caste equation in your favor. There was not even any attempt to perform; there wasn’t even a pretense of integrity. Let India not become Jharkhand of today either where lobbyists rule and voters suffer–again without an end in sight to the nightmare. Blog Post 2 - A story of destructive governance and citizens who did not speak out. Blog Post 3 -   If patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, there is ...

In periods of revolutionary upheaval, Islamist hardliners often begin by cooperating with moderate or libertarian-leaning groups. Once stability weakens and institutions erode, these alliances are systematically abandoned, allowing hardliners to consolidate power for themselves. Chaos provides the opening; moral certainty provides the weapon. After orthodox and power-driven actors seize control of a movement, many moderate Muslims - often personally tolerant and uneasy with extremist actions - find themselves unable to resist. Their attachment to faith, combined with intense social pressure, discourages open opposition. Those who do resist face physical assault, exile, imprisonment, or social boycott, frequently justified through accusations of blasphemy or apostasy. As a result, individual tolerance within society does little to prevent the emergence of totalitarian control by hardliners. A key ideological assumption underlying such movements is the belief that moral behavior can be l...