Dil Se

The upcoming Commonwealth Games mean a lot of things for a lot of people, especially in Delhi. Unfortunately, most of the talk about these big games that India is busy organising, centres around not how to enjoy the event but how to, somehow, get through it. The hyper security talk, the traffic disruptions it is expected to cause, the amount of mandays lost in constant construction activity, and the tedious lead-up to these Games has left a negativity among people, most of whom are busy planning what they need to do for those 15 days that the foreign delegates would be descending on the Capital. As we have learnt by experience, almost always in our tumultuous democracy, chaos precedes every big event. The Commonwealth Games are no different and if we are candid enough to admit, apparent, all-round chaos and confusion, delays and question marks on every aspect will continue to dog us, till the ribbon for the Games is cut. But another, more becoming truth is that all this chaos, all this...

On the sidelines of the Olympics at Beijing, I got talking to a sports journalist from Pakistan about hockey. As I expressed casual concern over the continuous losses his national team was suffering at the Big Games, his retort was swift and angry. “We are at least here which you can’t say about the Indian team,” he said resentfully. True, but that was never the point. Not that one was comparing or even talking of Indian hockey which had been shown the door for the first time in the Olympic qualifiers, but for the Pakistani scribe it was enough of a red rag that an Indian was commenting on “his” team. So, when the Pakistani team threw up its worst performance ever in hockey during the just concluded World Cup, that too on Indian soil, it would have hurt as never before. In comparison, India was no better, losing all its games other than the one against Pakistan. If one were allowed to say or is capable to see, this is a huge blow to sub-continental hockey but many in the stands and in ...

One hears that man has found 600 million metric tones of ice on the moon. An instrument on Chandrayaan has apparently found more than 40 craters with water ice, the size of the craters ranging between two and 15 km in diameter. As per the scientists, this is one of the greatest spatial finds thus far as water ice would be able to serve as a natural resource for astronauts on future lunar missions. Alternatively, they add, this ice could be melted into drinking water or separated into oxygen and hydrogen to provide breathing air and rocket fuel for launching interplanetary missions from the moon. Finally, any moon colony that has been waiting in the pipeline for long years would find fructification with this essential natural resource. In contrast, planet Earth has approximately 1.3 billion cubic km of water, meaning that a sphere with all of that water in it would have a diameter of 1354 km. Out of this, only 2.59 per cent is the total fresh water our planet has, out of which less tha...

By all accounts, this Ilyas Kashmiri is a “serious player” in the global terror network. So, his threat to the upcoming sporting events can’t but be taken very seriously by the Government. One understands why, even if it is asphyxiating for everyone involved in these global events about to unfold in the Capital from February 28 with the Hockey World Cup, security has to be extra-hyper and Delhi, indeed, has to be turned into a partial fortress. All this becomes even more necessary because Kashmiri’s threat has been “done to death” on TV channels and all other hues of the media. So much so that we know all about this shadowy figure who resides across the border. With special news packages being splashed on TV channels about his various exploits till now – and that includes his involvement with Headley and the Mumbai attacks – he has been turned into a larger than life threat in popular perception. Indeed, the supreme duty of the media is to keep everyone informed and purists would argue...

How the common man will survive in the Capital during the elongated sporting season is one question that gives you the heebie-jeebies. Starting this February 28, when the Hockey World Cup kickstarts and then gives way to IPL in mid-March, which in turn carries through April, Delhi will turn into a fortress. And considering the fact that the administration has to provide foolproof security, it’s going to be a veritable traffic nightmare. We experienced a dress rehearsal of this chaos when the Faridabad and Delhi Police closed the main artery near Tughlaqabad where the shooting championship was going on last week. Badarpur residents got stuck for more than four hours just to navigate one traffic signal to Delhi! The Hockey World Cup will take place at the mouth of the India Gate which would mean a whole lot of roads that open into Capital’s main circle will be off limits. People will have to take a detour into Connaught Place where outer circle construction for the Commonwealth Games is ...

Just the other day I found out how homework is being done by rich Indian students studying abroad. Well, a bulk of their work is being done back in India only — by their erstwhile tutors! So we have this Indian girl who is a High School student in the US. She had to write an essay on art. All she had to do was call up her mom in Delhi and ask her to arrange for the piece. The mom went to the tutor, paid her Rs 1.75 a word, and sent the piece back on email. The girl’s teacher was mighty impressed by her insight into art! Apparently, more and more students are getting their homework done online and they are paying for it at premium rates. Whether it is an essay, or math or algebra or even English home-work, if you have the money and parents who really don’t mind you not studying, life is a smooth-sail. One such home-work doer told me that this particular field is actually a huge industry and that there are BPOs who take on school homework assignments in bulk. Really, times have moved and...

Double standards in politics are rising as vertically as the priceline and there seems to be no dearth of political leaders who are out to have fun at the expense of their respective voter manoos . Look at Shiv Sena. The bhaiyyas have been in Mumbai for ages. So have Shiv Sena and Bal Thackeray. And the ’twain have co-existed peacefully, even when the non- manoos did not know Marathi. So why is the manoos vs non- manoos campaign so young? Because it is nothing but turf war within Sena, not so much over manoos and non- manoos as between Raj Thackeray and the Uddhav-Bal combine. Can someone tell us if the Sena has a quota for Marathis manoos in its party recruitment drive? Like, only 10 per cent non-Marathis allowed? To add appeal to their outrageous campaign, (why does the Government always allow it to snowball), the Sena chooses its targets carefully. This time it is superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Now, there are a hundred more serious issues the Sena could have raised rather than go ...

Sometimes, being wise may not be appropriate. One glaring example of that is J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s decision to not hoist the Tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on R-Day, and the Central Government’s silent agreement to this move. True, the young Chief Minister of this sensitive State was guided by fears of spoiling the peace and apparently said that such symbolic gestures like an R-day flag hoisting can be given a go-by in the larger interest of non-violence. Our Republic has been carrying on this “symbolic” gesture for decades though there might have been a thousand reasons to curtail this annual pride parade that marches into the Capital with a spring in the step. It is a show of Indian might and sprite, of tradition, of history, of culture, of patriotism and all else associated with a free and able nation. It’s not as if the terrorists have not been looking for a grandiose disruption at Rajpath, an eventuality the Indian Government has kept at bay, without thinking ...

In a week when Sharad Pawar was threatening another increase in the price of yet another essential commodity, the burning question for sport buffs around the world was whether the long and leggy Venus Williams was wearing any underwear at all underneath her slit-to-the-navel tennis skirt. Well, apparently she does wear a wholesome underwear under her provocative dress which has had a million tweets on Australian Open websites and the revelation came after a wag dared to float the query at a full-fledged Press conference! Well, Venus whose power on the court has long been as awesome as her dress sense, took the rather embarrassing query in her stride and laughingly informed the gentry that she would know best as she had designed both the skin coloured underwear as well as the multiple-slits yellow skirt that is being talked about as much as Sania’s nosering was in previous years. Now that we are relieved that Venus is not all that improper on court, we can safely go into the history of ...

The last blazing headline on Indian Hockey said: All is well, for now . ‘For now’ is the operative, alarming and fearsome part. Our national game is in perpetual ignominy and no one seems to be doing anything about it, at least no one in a position of power or anyone, for that matter, associated with the game from the inside. It is alarming that one day, Hockey India’s provisional head declares in no uncertain terms that if players demand money they can take a walk. He tells the nation that he will field a Team B; he will not give money; he will definitely not be pressured by “anti-nationals” — these being players wanting money over national pride. The very next day, IOA chief Suresh Kalmadi steps in and announces Rs 1 crore for the players, pending the World Cup and the Hockey India elections! For anyone who knows, Mattoo is an IOA man so there was something that was not for real when he was making announcements of dumping the team. Indian Hockey, already reeling under funds and infra...

Traffic jams in Delhi have peaked like the fog. It’s like a monster you can’t get past; a drill you wish you were never made to take; a nightmare that has jumped out of office hour restrictions to become an all-day stresspot. Go anywhere, even to your local market, and it takes more than double the time it used to. There is no parking space, the horns keep blaring, the anger spills out of cars and it is a general mess that makes you feel like running away into those motor-less days of yore. Delhi has always been crying about more cars on its roads than it can handle. Hence came the Metro. Now the situation is that the Metro is spilling over as much, even more, than the roads. In short, there is no escaping the jams, the sea of people, the bursting buses and the exploding trains. In such a scenario, the Government — totally in a Commonwealth Games state of mind — goes ahead and closes the arterial areas of Connaught Place. The result? Even more of a mess, aided and abetted by the Auto E...

This Kasab thing is getting to be too much. Foremost is the question: Why is this terrorist still alive? Why has the Indian court yet not ordered his hanging? It is, perhaps, such democracy in the law that not just gives escape routes to terror perpetrators like Kasab but also lends them the bravado to say the most outrageous things in court, that too in a blatant waste of time, money, energy and mandays. We have already heard and read a lot about Kasab loving paneer ; Kasab demanding (and perhaps even getting) biryani feasts; Kasab wanting an appointment with Amitabh Bachchan and Kasab being put up in a high-cost security cordon which has cost the nation Rs 36 crore and mounting! Pakistan would be a happy nation. For, it managed to not only orchestrate the worst ever terror strike on Indian soil but also has its nation mocking the entire Indian system. Actually, not just mocking but also bleeding. Rs 36 crore is no pithy amount. It can feed thousands of souls who are living and dying...

The climate is changing and not only in Copenhagen. Delhi is dying to get the shivers and it is still not getting them despite being in the arms of December. Sikkim, somebody told me, has rained pretty less this year; up in the Himalayas, the snowline resembles the hairline of a balding man in youth; and if you were to step into a theatre to look into the future, 2012 will tell you how fast the end is coming and how there is no hope in hell for anyone to turn back the tide of man-engineered destruction of Mother Earth. Of course, not many are still bothered about there being no life on Earth a million years later. It is, after all, hundreds of generations later that life will die so how does it really, really matter! Saving the environment for some is like charity — dispensable till you really have the money to part with. For me climate talk gains significance when I am unable to move the traffic away at any time of the day; when the water supply shrinks every year; when rain becomes ...

This has been a comparatively uneventful year, if you were to discount the swearing in of America’s first Black President and China’s hyper activity in verbal declarations of territory. But it was a year when two path-turning events completed 25 years and without any succour to their victims — the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Both events took lives — horribly and due to negligence. More than a generation has come up after 4,000 Sikhs were mostly burnt to death by a rampaging mob trying to avenge Indira Gandhi’s assassination. A recall showed how many families were destroyed and how many orphans are growing up in crime and punishment, as a result of this unholy riot. Not much relief has come their way, though as the Congress was forced to deny a ticket to alleged leaders of this riot, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, both of whom have been sureshot seat winners in Delhi’s Assembly elections. Other than this, the Congress has done precious little to help the affected ...

It is exactly one year and four days to the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai. TV channels ensured the nation got a complete and almost real re-run of those dastardly 62 plus hours of Pakistani siege that changed the face of Mumbai forever. Sadly however, even after such a big time lapse to the incident, there has been no, absolutely no, movement in punishing the guilty. All the Government has been able to do is submit a huge dossier to Pakistan, citing all the evidence it has collected and all Pakistan has done is hedge for a year and then just a day before the anniversary of this biggest terror attack on its neighbour, book seven men for the conspiracy and execution of the incident that took more than 150 lives. Is that not too less too late? The PM, touring the US and Spain as of now, certainly feels so. Perhaps, he has forgotten his misadventure of announcing from Sharm in Egypt that India would delink terror with talks with its wily neighbour. Nothing could be softer than this announc...

Price rise has been the talk of recurring seasons but this being the peak of pocket woes, one wonders what really needs to be done. For starters, the aaloo pyaaz anaaj basket is empty not just for the lowest strata but also for a huge chunk of the working middle class. Matar , for example, is in season but is selling for Rs 100 a kg — touching the rate of the foreign apples. One would then say, quit having matar . Done, but what about the rest of the veggies? Aaloo for Rs 32 kg; tomatoes for Rs 30 a kg and mounting; our Chief Minister has also felt the pinch shifting away from fairprice pulses at Mother Dairies to a more convenient atta packets. Think what this unmitigated price hike has done to the people. My maid, for example, used to take the bus to and from home. Of course she has had her monthly salary hiked but is still walking instead of bussing at least one way. This is not just a solo case. Hoards of people from the lower strata have been getting up two to three hours earlie...

Manu Sharma and his antics showed us all how much of an ass the law is and how clever are the men in power to exploit its lacunae. But other than this fact, which we all are aware of, was the shocking behaviour that Sharma indulged in. Goes without saying that the man is a habitual offender who may be causing too many emotional and existential problems for his high-power family. His night-time do showed us how unrepentant Sharma is about the grave crime he has been convicted of — killing Jessica Lall in cold blood, for which he is serving a life sentence. Subsequent reports in a section of the media suggested he is a model prisoner who adheres to all jail rules, behaves politely in all situations and is constructive in his jail endeavours. Going by the way he kicked up a row in a night club, that too on parole, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Perhaps, it is again his well-connected family that managed to get in this kind of a face-saving report in some newspaper. On a larger canvas, ...

What is it with the Indian fan and a religion called cricket? Just when a slew of obituaries started to convince you that the demise of the 50-over format had all but arrived, that too much cricket was killing the game and that player fatigue was a monster worst than a sparkless innings, two remote venues — Vadodra and Nagpur — showed how the Indian heart will always beat for cricket. Even as cricket greats of all hues said the 50-over format was over for good, fans spilled out of the huge stadias. Both Vadodara and Nagpur were a sellout, both revived the hope for 50-over matches. Official figures quoted a 42,000 crowd in Nagpur which only swelled by the end of the exciting game. Vadodra, too, was bursting at the seams. As for Delhi, unimaginably long queues were spotted till late Friday evening and soon the sold-out boards were up at Kotla counters. Not that the crowd dissipated after that. People were still trying to ask cops where one could find that elusive “just one ticket please”...

Cricket has managed to kill cricket in India, at least so it seems for now. The much-touted Champions League is over and out without even a whisper campaign for a promotion. For Indian fans to get weary of cricket would otherwise have been unimaginable but that happens to be the case now, howsoever surprising and alarming it may look. Too much of anything is like familiarity and contempt, and cricket has become an unwilling victim of this syndrome. Topping this ceaseless and tiringly unending season of cricket is the consistent non-performance of the Indian team, often lionised for wholesomeness. Skipper Dhoni’s strange non-insistence on mandatory net practice is just one aspect that is yet to be fathomed by the game watchers. All through the last three tournaments, Team India’s fielding capabilities have shown up as pathetic. Yet, the skipper has defended optional nets, be it all through the T20 World Cup or even the most recent Lanka tri-series. Dhoni has, without a stress on his bro...

ravelling cattle class in the train has its own romance, the romance of getting those juicy nuggets of information which you never ever would have got from the A/C confines of your compartment. Having been denied a quota reservation from Siliguri to New Delhi at the last minute (due to troop movement to the China border), I jumped into the pantry car berth benignly offered to me by an obliging ticket collector who promised me an AC II berth sometime later. Of course, one did not bargain for what one got in the process. Having never ever visited a pantry van in a train, it was quite a humbling seven-hour experience to sit in between littered sandwiches, rolling samosas , cartons of salt and pepper sachets and the relentless smell of food being cooked, served, consumed and thrown around. Sitting amid waiters, caterers and sweepers who, incidentally, prefer to be called support staff, I felt like a red panda in a new zoo with everyone coming to see how the oddity (that’s me the lone woman...