Australian wicket-keeper and vice-captain Adam Gilchrist announced his retirement from international cricket couple of days back. He announced his decision during the last test match between his team and India. It was a sad and shocking news for the cricket fraternity. 

 In his own words, “”I have come to this decision after much thought and discussion with those important to me.” Just recently Gilchrist had broken the records for the most number of dismissals by any wicket-keeper in the world. He has scored 5,556 runs at an average of 47.89, with 17 hundreds. Apart from this  he has taken 414 test dismissals.

His retirement is certainly a blow to the Australian cricket team which has already seen the retirement of some of its top players like Shane Warne and Glen Mc Grath. ‘Gilly’ as he is fondly called has been part of 3 successive Australian world cup winning squads.

Personally it was a shock even for me to suddenly hear about this news. I loved his batting skills and will miss him seeing on the field. As they seasons come and go, but it will be really difficult to replace a player of his calibre.

The cricket world is surely going to miss you Gilly! Adieu! 

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }
.flickr-yourcomment { }
.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }
.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.3em; margin-top: 0px; }

Micro-credit can change lives, originally uploaded by neharaghunath.

A womens accesory shop run by self-help groups in the weaving village of Ayyampet, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India.

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Last week a controversy erupted in India when senior BJP leader L. K. Advani referred Atal Behari Vajpayee’s name for the prestigious Bharat Ratna  award. The award is the highest civilian honour in the country and is awarded every year to distinguished people from fields like politcs, music, etc.

But the whole awards system today is flawed. Why do we have to lobby for some person, just so that he/she gets the award? It is really shameful that the whole award process has become a ‘joke’ now. Awards should be given for hard work, efforts taken to do something and not because you come from a politician’s family.

Even film awards today seem completely rigged. You have a panel of judges who are piad huge amounts of money and asked to choose the winners. Many times these judges go by their personal favourites in choosing winners. Hence due to this the real winners/films never win any prizes.

If awards like the Bharat Ratna are given just based on peoples recommendations then they should altogther be stopped

hey guys,

will not be updating my blog for next couple of days since i’m busy updating my deprivation special website in college.

Is Cricket still a Gentleman’s Game?

This is the question I am asking myself after the recent India-Australia which generated many controversies. The cold vibes between the players from both sides have accelerated so much that the series is being compared to the famous Bodyline series of yesteryear.

Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh was accused of racism and the Indian got back with accusing Australian all-rounder Andrew Symmonds of the same. Things have become so bad that the India has threatened to pull out of the tour. Umpire Steve Bucknor was under fire for giving a host of horrendous decisions. He has been pulled out of the next test, thus putting a question over his future.

Not only the Indian cricket board, but also the Indian players stood behind Singh. Harbhajan was given a 3 match ban sentence. but the team decided that if he wasn’t included in the final playing squad in the next match they would boycott the match.

Even umpire Mark Benson came in for heavy criticism. Ricky Pointing at one time was clearly out, but the umpire did not think so. Pointing himself knew he was out, but he was waiting for the Umpire’s signal. Indian captain Kumble was teary-eyed during the presentation ceremony & said that they would have won the match had it not been for the umpiring decisions.

My point is hasn’t Steve Bucknor even in the past given wrong decisions and particularly when India is playing the match. Does he have some problems with the India team. The Australians have always got way with racism, ball tempering, verbal abuse allegations all in the name of aggression.

Come to think of it aren’t the Australians always in the spotlight for abuse on the cricket field allegations? The Australians over the year have been developed an arrogant and brash attitude. So is the Australian team developing into a bunch of hooligans? Is abuse, hurting another person’s confidence a method to win a match? Why do the Australians have a win-at-all costs attitude even if it means using unfair practises?

The public is justifiably angry. If the public anger turns greater, there might be chances of boycotting the Australian cricket altogether. I do not think that India is exaggerating the issue. They have every right to boycott the tour in a country where they do not have respect.

Hey guys i am back after a week long trip to Kancheepuram. Kancheepuram is a small temple town in Chennai.

I had gone on a ‘Covering Deprivation’ trip on behalf of my college. Covering Deprivation is all about rural journalism. so we go to rural areas and try to understand their problems, needs and then come back.

In my college’s own words; Covering Deprivation means:

Deprivation” refers to the inability of individuals in a society to achieve basic human functioning. Among these are the ability to live a long and healthy life free from avoidable disease and hunger, and the opportunity to be educated and to have access to resources needed for a socially acceptable standard of living.

When i started out with the trip, i never felt as if i was in a deprivation trip. We stayed in a 3 star hotel, with great comforts. We were two people maximum three people in a room. And we had two tempos, a qualis car and two other cars for traveling to the villages.

We visited an Irula tribe village. Irulas are supposed to be traditionally rat catchers and snake catchers. However with industrialization and improved agricultural practices they have almost given up their traditional practices.

They complain that in a month they are employed only for 10 days maximum. they end up working as agricultural labourers where Men receive 100 rs per day and women receive 50 rs per day. But my question is if they are so poor how cna they afford to have a Tata sky satellite dish? They have television sets, radio sets. So from where do they get so much money? their houses are so small, they are basically thatched roof houses made of mud and brick.

Their houses are built so low, that one literally has to crane their neck to enter the houses. The roads leading up to the Irula villages are in excellent condition! they are pukka concrete roads. They village ha sits own water supply, may of the houses have electricity connections.

So my question is how do you define Deprivation? just because people have tv sets, but yet they are unemployed for half of the month, does it mean they are deprived? Any answers to these questions people????

A recent survey by the National Crime Record Bureau pointed out that our capital Delhi tops the crime chart in the country. It tops the charts for molestation, rape, murder, kidnappings. Put together Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai top the cities with most number of crimes committed.

On New Year’s eve in Mumbai at around 5 am around80 men completely drunk pounced on 2 women outside the Marriot Hotel, Juhu. the street is supposed to be one of the busiest in the city and the men acted like hooligans and molested the women for around 15 minutes. The women had come out of the pub to go to the beach. That time these men started passing lewd comments at them.One of the women got upset and started abusing him. Immediately the men got angry and started assaulting the women.

Thankfully a newspaper reporter was standinf nearby and he alerted the police van.

But the most shocking part is the men fled away seeing the police. No arrests have been made so far. My question is just because a woman goes to a pub enjoys herself, drinks a beer or two is she vulnerable to men? Does it mean she has to accept the sexual advances made to her by men? i fail to understand this mentality.

The similar thing happened couple of weeks back.  A Finnish married woman was raped in Navi Mumbai after she took a lift from an unknown man. Yes she had gone to a pub, she had some drinks, but why does it indicate people that she is ready to be raped or abused? Cynics might say that it was her fault to take a lift from an unknown man late in the night. But still even if that was a mistake, nothing can justify the crime committed upon her.

The police commissioner for this zone says they are still investigating the merits of the case and will make arrests soon. But isn’t it too late already? The offenders had their share of fun and are now relaxing in their respective homes.

Don’t these people feel ashamed? If they are so sex-starved why don’t they go and get themselves laid with some prostitute? How can you just keep abusing women and expect them to suffer silently?

I am sorry if i have used harsh or abusive words. It is just frustrating to see the crimes committed upon women increasing everyday. People who commit rapes should straightaway be handed the death sentence.

Last year also a similar incident had happened in Mumbai on New Year’s eve. A young woman was almost stripped naked and sexually abused by 70 drunk men at Gateway of India in full public view. No one came forward to help her. After around 10 minutes of fighting with them men that the girl’s friend could save her somehow.

It is because of these incidents that i feel country is very ‘backward.’Shame on men who cannot respect women. One shouldn’t forget the fact that women give birth to men. If she chooses she might never have a ’son.’