GOO GOO

It seems just like yesterday that Glory(our 6 yrs old male black lab) came to our home @ Baroda. That's why they say time flies. Really time does fly, and how? The most memorable years of my life had been in Baroda and Glory was one of the many reasons for that. It was a very cute experience in the beginning which turned out to be quite painful one (to be honest) later. The earliest memories of Glory for me are those when we just brought him to our Baroda Shantidham residence and during the same time we had our sister and her two kids visiting from Delhi. Goo-goo as we fondly used to call him, was a very naughty child. He would wake up at 4 AM in the morning and the first thing he used to do was wake me up by climbing onto me and licking my face. He just did not respond to commands. He was a havoc in his initial days. Whatever objects he found, he had to chew it. Well that happens with most of the dogs in their growing days. But, our dear Goo goo never really grew up. He is still a child. Maturity is not a word in his dictionary. He was a spoiler. Anything that came in his range was always destroyed. We all were very angry with his behaviour and used to punish him a lot for his mistakes. But, slowly we realized that punishment is not a way for training a Dog. He was a real attention seeker and he would do anything to get our attention. Gradually, it became clear that one in thousand labs are hyper like him. But, one thing that sets the record straight is that even after being so hyper, even after being punished so many times, he never bit anybody. My little niece Akanksha was very fond of Glory from day one. I believe that Akanksha is the only person in our family who has given nothing but love to Glory. My younger niece Isha was just 8 years old when suddenly all the attention in the household was transferred to Goo goo. She was afraid of Glory in the initial days. I remember one incident when suddenly Isha started running away from Glory and he followed her thinking that she is playing with her till she fell and fractured her hand. After that day Glory was very careful with Isha. I could never understand how even being a Dog he could make out that Isha fears him and he used to be very careful not to scare Isha. Shows that animals can grasp a situation even much better then us humans. Slowly he won over Isha and one day to our surprise we saw Isha patting Goo goo in the morning and he was very very calm with her. Since that day Isha's best friend has a new name, Glory. If anyone in the family even tries to talk with Glory in a harsh tone, Isha is the first one to argue.

Times have changed. My brother's family along with Goo goo got shifted to Mumbai and later I shifted to Pune. Glory has also changed a lot with time. And can you believe it Goo goo has become obedient now. He has responded and understood the situation that he has to stay alone in the house when people are gone to school and work. He is not the old hyper dog now. Only thing he fears is sound of crackers. He would skip the dinner even if a single cracker goes off. Once our family learnt that Glory is so sensitive to crackers, we all have stopped firing crackers on Diwali. I even urge all my friends not to fire crackers which make loud sounds.

Glory has changed the way I used to look Dogs and animals. I sometimes even talk to stray dogs which my friends find ridiculous. If I have changed regarding my sensibility towards animals, Glory is the only one responsible for it. No one in this whole world can welcome me with such warmth when I visit their place. Goo goo gets so excited whenever I meet him, I start feeling very special indeed. That's how the mans best friend treats him. Once when a small child was asked the meaning of love, it responded "Love is when your dog licks you even after you have locked him inside the house for the whole day." That's love for you. Glory has taught us the true meaning of love i.e. unconditional love. Out of this world. Thank you Goo goo for coming into our life and teaching us the very basic lessons of life.

A humble request to the GOD of Cricket

To,
The GOD of Cricket,
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar,
India

Subject: A humble request.

Respected Mr. Sachin Tendulkar,

There is no doubt in my mind that you are the GOD of cricket. Cricket is a religion in India and for a religion there has to be a GOD to worship. You are being worshiped in every house where the religion of cricket is followed. I follow cricket and worship you for your brillance and the blessings you shower by scoring tons and tons of runs in every format of cricket.

So dear GOD here is a humble request from one of your millions of devotees. I want you to bless us cricket fans by playing the T20 world cup for India which is going to be held just after the IPL season in West Indies. I know that I am asking for a bit too much, but I need not convince you or anyone on this earth that your participation in the T20 world cup is going to make a world of difference to the Indian team. I know that you have decided to represent India only in one One dayers and Test Matches, but there are a few reasons why I among the millions of your devotees want you to forget your decision for once and play the world cup at least for this year.

1) You are in the peak of your form as a batsmen this year. Who can forget the 200 you scored in a One day match not very long ago against South Africa.
2) You are already playing the twenty twenty format of cricket in the IPL for your team Mumbai Indians and are giving all the opposition bowlers nightmare. I am sure that you will end up scoring the most runs in IPL as a batsmen and I am very sure that like all your records, that record will also be very difficult to beat.
3) The team our respected selectors have selected contains more unfit players than the players in form. So there is definitely a need of some miracle to happen if this team has to win the world cup again. You being the GOD can only bring that miracle to life.
4) I know that you want to be fit for the one dayers and tests and thats why you want to play less cricket. But, if you are fit enough to play the 14 matches in the IPL and may be a couple more if your team reaches the semi-finals and finals, then in the T20 world cup there are far less number of matches to be played. In fact the format of the first world cup was such that India won the cup by only playing 6 matches in all. So you are not going to wear out playing those 6 matches.
5) Who better than you would know that the biggest pride is representing the country in a tournament like a world cup. I promise you that if after the world cup you decide to take a break for @ least 3 series nobody will complain.
6) Even the great cricketer Sunil Gavaskar asked you to play for India in the Twenty Twenty world cup.
7) You would say that you are giving the chance to the youngsters in this tournament. But, I am sure that every true Indian would definitely agree with me that there is no one younger than you on the cricket field in terms of the form you are in and your ability as a cricketer. You are and always be the youngest cricketer my dear. So please dont think about the youngsters, think about the millions of your followers and think about our country India.
I am sure dear GOD that these are enough reasons for you to consider my humble request and think about it. I represent the followers of religion cricket and I pray to you that please bless all of us billion followers by accepting this request. GO FOR IT SACHIN. BRING HOME THE WORLD CUP. There is nothing more motivating for a cricketer than to win the world cup of cricket.

Looking forward to your kind consideration.
One of Your follower and Devotee (out of hundreds of millions)

Rushikesh Baiwar

Too much of anything is Bad.

Too much of anything is Bad. Cricket is the latest casualty. IPL the Indian Premiere League or Cricket is back in India and how? Amazing as it seems but cricket is indeed a religion in India. It's been just 2 weeks since it started but the IPL fever has caught all across India and possibly the world over, if I am not mistaken. Some enthusiast has already quoted "IPL to India is like soccer leagues in the European countries." How true? Indeed it is!!!! But as they say how long would it (the fever of IPL) last? Well most would agree that too much of anything is bad. The same will happen to cricket as well.
There was a time when I used to watch even the domestic cricket matches telecasted on the television. As on a regular doordarshan channel there was so little time for cricket. So if I saw any bit of cricket, I had to watch it, even if that meant fighting with my not so enthusiast brother. Having seen it evolve from a few hours on doordarshan to an entire sports channel like ESPN, STAR sports and from there to entire cricket channel on television like the Star cricket first and Neo Cricket now. Sony Max shows more cricket than anything in a calender year (really, not exaggerating).
I believe that the fever of IPL is definitely going to go down sooner than later, or they have to make so many changes to the game year after year to make it more exciting and to keep the interest alive. One thing that IPL is doing which should be taken care of very soon is making our key international Indian players sick and injured. The T20 world cup in West Indies is just round the corner. Key Players like Gautam Gambhir, Sehwag, Dhoni and even Yuvraaj Singh are injured or at least not completely fit. Can we put up a good performance with such a team of injured players? Players put their heart and soul to perform in an IPL match and no wonder they are left with one or the other injuries. No prices for guessing that IPL means BIG MONEY. But, these players already have tons of money from various sources. I believe they should take enough rest and should not wear out completely before they play the T20 world cup.
Another important sequence of events which I fail to understand it why is a player like Sachin Tendulkar denying to playing in T20 world cup, when he is in the peak of his form? We can understand that he wants to keep himself fit for the Test and One Day cricket and we all want him to play for India for as long as possible. But, my argument is if he can't represent India in an event like world cup why should he play for IPL. For a player like him the pride of playing for the country should always come ahead of playing for the franchisee Mumbai Indias.
With two more teams going to be added to the IPL from next year, I dont know where is all this going. Only positive outcome of this IPL is we have got so many new cricketers. Who can forget Yusuf Pathan ? No one knew much about him till IPL-I. This year Saurabh Tiwari has got the recognition. Finally, for a cricket fan I am totally confused whether it is good or bad. But still the conclusion is "Too much of anything is bad."

An Icon called NaMo !!!

To begin with, I am not a politics person. I do not follow too much of politics because of the kind of politicians India has. Politicians to me only do one thing. Make so much money for themselves during their tenure that they don’t have to think about earning their entire life. But, Narendra Damosardas Modi, the current Chief Minister of Gujarat has changed my thinking about politics. There is no doubt at all that this man is an exception. Not a single person staying in Gujarat is untouched by the Narendra Modi govt. What a spectacular change he has brought to Gujarat and its people. It was in 2001 when he got elected as CM of Gujarat and from there on there is no looking back. He has transformed Gujarat completely. I am not a fact and figures person, but I can say for sure that under Narendra Modi the progress Gujarat has done is matchless. Today Gujarat is way way ahead of all the other states of India in terms of Infrastructure, Agriculture, Technology, e-Governance, Industries, and you name it. Can you believe that today in Gujarat almost every single village has a non-stop supply of electricity for almost 20 hours a day? A person staying in Maharashtra Village will say it is impossible. Gujarat has non-stop supply of water for agriculture purpose and otherwise. Gujarat is the only state where interlinking of rivers has been done so as to provide the complete state with enough water. When the basic necessities for a common man are met, then only you can call a state progressing. People who earlier used to migrate to cities for Jobs are now starting their own business and Jobs in the village itself. Such is the condition of a Village in Gujarat. Thanks to NaMo (the abbreviation of his name) as he is lovingly called. He has the distinction of the only CM who has started e-governance in Gujarat. His system is the most transparent till date. When Gujarat faced the calamity of the earth quake in 2001, it was Narendra Modi’s government who did the restoration work for all the damaged villages in record no of days. The Gujarat government has also received UN award for that. He has done aggressive progress in all fields. His various plans like educate the girl child, save the girl child are big hit. The most intellectual people in India say that if Gujarat model is applied in all the states of India, then India will soon be a developed nation. Narendra Modi has received various awards and all the money he received for the awards has been added to the girl child education fund. Such is the greatness of this man. He is certainly a role model to all the politicians of India. When Tata nano was facing problems in West bengal, NaMo was the first person to offer the land for development of the Tata Nano to the Tatas. JRD Tata in his speech during the Vibrant Gujarat once said to all the industrialists that "if you are not investing in Gujarat then you are stupid".

During the post Godhra riots NaMo government was accused of killing the minorities and not providing protection to them. Well indeed yes that was the only bad patch for the Narendra modi government. However, it has still not been proved as the Nanavati commission had given a clean chit to NaMo. This government has started an Accident Emergency Service called 108. If you see any accident and you are in Gujarat, all you have to do is dial 108 and inform about the accident. Within 15 minutes an ambulance will come to take the victim to the hospital. People say that the 108 service saves many lives daily. Such a service is needed in all parts of the country. So many people die in an accident just because timely hospitalization could not be provided. This service saves more people in a day than those were killed in the post Godhra riots.

All young and old have become fans of Narendra Modi. When was the last time you have heard that youngsters are fan of a politician. Narendra Modi has changed the way people looked at politicians completely. One of the participants of Popular NDTV Imagine show, a gujarati girl has Narendra Modi wallpaper on her mobile. That probably says it all. In one of the latest development we heard that Amitabh Bachchan, the greatest icon of Indian Film industry has agreed to be a brand ambassador of Gujarat Tourism. Bachchan family's association with the Congress party and later with Amar Singh (Ex Samajwadi Party leader) is well known. Even then he chose to become a brand ambassador for tourism of a BJP led state cannot be taken lightly. It's all because of Narendra Modi.

I am really proud to be associated with Gujarat (My complete education and first 5 yrs of my career in Gujarat), on whose soil such a dynamic leader was born and is still doing every bit to take Gujarat ahead in terms of overall progress. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that India needs many more Narendra Modis. Thanks NaMo for all that you have done for Gujarat. You have made all of us so proud.

GOD BLESS YOU !!!!!!

Tendulkar @ 200

Wow !!!! Amazing !!! Fantastic !!! Stupendous !!! What a day it has been .. Thanks to the almighty that I could witness the record of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar today. Yet another record in One Day Cricket in sachin's name. Today he became the first person in the History of One Day International cricket to score 200 runs. And this was not against any oridnary bowling attack. It was against one of the most formidable side in One Day cricket. It was South Africa. The record was created on the Captain Roop Singh Stadium @ Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, India. Tendulkar achieved this feat in only 147 balls. Can you believe it? And people say he is getting old !!! Well this great player can give any 19 year old run for his money. Amazing feat !!! Made me proud to be an Indian once more. Only dream remaining for me and Sachin is to get india the World Cup in ODI's (once again after 83). We are eagerly waiting for it Tendlya... Lets hope this joy will become many fold when we win the 2011 ODI world cup. Long Live Sachin. God Bless You !!!!!!

Indian Republic Day 2010

26th January 2010 has been different. I do not remember the last time I had seen the Republic Day parade on television. It has been an amazing experience. It makes me proud to be an Indian. There is so much diversity in my country. Seeing the various jhanki's (life size model based on some theme) be it of all the states or of the various government departments, it was a mesmerising experience. The performance of the BSF troop on motorcycle was outstanding. The balance these guys show on motorcycle is unbelievable. I was completely taken aback by the efforts that has been put behind all those things. Says a lot about how much progress our country has made. I remember most of the republic days after my school days, I just used as another holiday. It was just by chance that I wake up early today and switched on the TV first for the awesome experience of 'Phir Mile Sur mera tumhara'. The patriotic song which had become the national anthem of the late 80's and 90's. Its back with a bang. With a lot more celebrities and singers/musicians added. It was a wonderful experience witnessing it. I could not stop myself to make "mile sur" my mobile ringtone. Our country is full of variety in music. I could see that right now on TV. These are the scenes post the republic day parade. Wonderful experience. I would recommend all the Indians to watch this Republic day telecast at least once. Like me you will wait for it whole year to watch it again. I got very emotional witnessing it and felt so proud that I am a part of this country which has so much variety in color, music, dance, culture and you name it.

Happy Republic Day !!! Vandematram !!! God Bless India !!!

Response to the Survival Story of the Nande couple by Pune Mirror

http://www.punemirror.in/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News%20-%20Latest&sectid=62&contentid=2010012420100124004515607440dfa7a
This is in response to the story published in Pune Mirror Dt:Jan 24, 2010, Sunday (Cover Story, link above). Its really sad to see the smiling faces of Indians on the backdrop of the devastation. Fortunate were the couple who survived after such a mishap in the country, but how can one smile and get snapped for a picture when there is so much devastation all around? I am not sure whether the photograph was snapped earlier, but then its the responsibility of Pune Mirror not to publish such smiling pictures of the survivors when there are deaths and crying people in the background. I would have felt really proud if this Indian couple would have even tried to save a single life in such a situation. I am only saying this based on the fact that nowhere in your whole story the couple has tried to help anyone. These lucky survivors are feeling proud that GOD was kind to them (and I thank GOD for that) and they are sending you stories of death and devastation all around them. I really felt sad that Indians who are known to help others are behaving in such a way and I am further shocked to see that a daily newspaper your stature who is very famous to carry life saving campaigns like the Helment Campaign is publishing such things. These people had the time and courage to click the snaps of the rubble, people dying and crying but did they try to help anyone ? These kind of stories should not be entertained at all by the newspapers like yours. You should not encourage people doing stories when they should be actually helping save lives or do whatsoever is possible to them to help people in such a situation.