Come on, cheer for fantastic cricket Aussies played!!!

They said it is our best chance to triumph in the terrain where we never have managed to win a series. Yet, the opening game of another round of high-voltage bout went to the home side- Australia, which not many reckoned had the bite and venom to stop the Indian caravan, before the Boxing day.

But Clarke and Co did everything right they could and with an emphatic win at MCG, they have much to boast about.

India, historically, have been slow starters but what was more scary to see was the way our seasoned, though ageing, batting superstars were trampled upon and their confidence trimmed to push them back with sheer pace force by a young bunch of talented Aussies.

It was not only dreadful but also exposed, to a grave degree, our startling ineptness to adjust quickly.

Before we rip off Team India with over-done scrutiny and find out reasons why skipper Dhoni pressed the defensive button on Day four morning, spare a thought for the Aussies here. For a moment subside the spirit of nationalism (only for a while) and let the cricket seduction overtake your judgmental brain to admire the brilliant, absorbing spell of bowling that was at display at Melbourne, praise the silky cover drives that came from the sweet of Ricky Ponting, who was not even sure of his place in the final eleven. Ed Cowan's gritty debut, Pattinson's unplayable cutters and trademark Aussie agility in the field, all of it orchestrated the result in their favour.

And we have not lost everything; I can't remember any foreign tour that we had not begun on a similar note. There are positives for us too. Umesh Yadav bowled with heart and pace, Zak stung the Aussies as he is expected to do and Ishant, I guess, was just bit out of luck at the moment. India lost 17 wickets for a more 200 odd runs and that's where the shoe pinches.

For a team which is trying to move on from the shadow of a super glorious past, this win is immense. It was crucial to Ponting, might end up deciding Michael Clarke's captaincy fate and it provided Australia a footing on the first step of the long ladder of resurgence.

The scenes post victory cried out loud the salience of this victory. (This kind of emotional outburst more suits the teams from the sub-continent, as such occasions come quite rarely for them)

So why is it so hard for us to admit that on the day Aussies were far better than us and richly deserved to go one up?

‘Facebook is Fakebook’

I am very sure the header of my blog is going to attract many eye balls as it will throw many of my readers –majority of them users of facebook, off-guard and they might even feel that the author, thats me, is going through a fit of insaneness and will leave no room to refute my claim about their ‘perfect waste-time machine’ with strongest argumentations.

By the little experience that I have garnered about life and behavioural patterns of the sapiens, I assert that my opposition is seriously and irrationally driven by emotions. Since the E-word has little or virtually no significance for me, I find it uneasy to defend this face-web-book.

Facebook has actually made us learn- How to fake? I come across people endlessly clicking ‘only-their’ solo pictures with all the fake smiles, grins and exhibiting great versatility in putting up a wide range of false expressions on their faces just to get a perfect piktcha-as is it called in FB lingo and if it is good enough and ranks high in the parameters of fakeness, it goes onto become ones display pic.

Facebook is undoubtedly an image-builder and forging oneself in order to project as a positive and ‘feel-good’ figure is what we all do, however shy away to admit the fact.

Recently one of my friends on the ultra-successful social networker FB, uploaded images of the vacation with her family. The scenic beauty coupled with superbly lit cruise decks and scintillating backdrops in those pictures completely knocked me over and did inspire me to admire the nature.

But what followed on FB was both weird and strange. Days later, similar sort of vacation albums were floating all over FB, displaying where the people-starring in those albums had been this summer, when the rest were fighting Delhi’s super hot temperatures.

Nothing personal against anyone here, it’s my take on the scheme of things that FB encourages.

The extent of fakeness does not end here, the concept of ‘chat-friends’ is on the rise too. Some of your friends in the list might never talk to you in-person but the moment they discover the green bulb beside that your name, they may not hesitate to pop up a chat message to you. I find it very funny. Well there is no harm in doing that but this kind of attitude shows duality of one’s character and in some cases deficiency of confidence. But again I fail to understand that how FB can subsidize your confidence and how does it provide the coolness to chat with someone you never spoke to one-on?

Though I am myself a victim of facebook chatterati and would like to remain one but only by being what I am and not how I want others to see me as.

Why is India superbugged?

The run up to this year’s Independence Day was ultra theatrical and the opportunistic actors of our nation - the ‘selfless’ politicians strained every nerve to score sloppy little political points over each other.
All the fuss was about a report that was published in ‘The Lancet Infectious Disease Journal’, a well- reputed England based medical-weekly.

The journal has named a gene after India’s national Capital- New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) and this ‘not so fortunate’ attribution has miffed few nationalist outfits in the nation who dub it as “England sponsored anti-India campaign”.

Coming back to the contents of the report it said that a particular strand of gene is responsible making bacteria resistant to antibiotics and the bacteria which are infected with this gene, now known as NDM-1, are termed as ‘superbug’ and also may result in death casualties.

The revelations though were not very shocking as bacteria’s turning medicine-resistant is a natural phenomenon and has been occurring since the inception of the first antibiotic by Alexander Fleming-Penicillin. But certainly it does call for an impromptu action from the medical fraternity of India.

But what the concluding paragraph of the report says is no less than an insult to India. It issues a warning that proposes UK nationals not to fly for India for medical treatment and avoid any cosmetic treatments in the country.

The bone of contention between Lancet and the Indian government is the final paragraph of the medical report which sounds more of a warning to UK nationals than a well documented medical report. The Indian government was quick to respond and wasted no time in refuting the claims made by the journal and stated that whatever is mentioned in the report is a deliberate effort of the multi-national pharmaceutical companies to dent India’s brand image.

It must be mentioned here that over the years India has made brisk progressive strides as far as medical treatment is concerned-quality healthcare at affordable prices has made India a leading health center around the world.

The Journal, however, base its study to an experiment they have conducted last December in several cities across India. The results of the trial displayed that 17 of the 37 patients who were found infected with the NDM-1 had undergone some kind of surgery in Indian hospitals and thus inferred that this particular gene has been originated in India.

Not going in the biology of the phenomenon, I want to put forth certain questions that the journal has dodged very convincingly and managed to defend its claim.

   1. According to the report, only 17 out of the 37 patients got the infected virus from India, which is not even 50 percent of the result and to claim that the pathogen is India-born, to me looks a little timid and funny. Also the journal completely refused to share the details of the other 20 infected patients as to how the rest get the infection? That clearly highlights the intention behind publishing such unrehearsed claims.

   2. When the HIV was discovered, why it was not named after USA-its domicile country and why India’s name being floated in a negative tune over a phenomenon that very natural?

   3. The journal had earlier come up with similar reports against US, Israel and Sweden but never went on the extent to name a deadly pathogen after them, then why India is being specifically targeted as the main threat? Is this not a part of a conspiracy against India and ‘politically motivated’ piece to hurt India’s booming medical tourism?

States pitching for India

What has been capturing banner headlines, in all the dailies lately, is the stern resistance Civil Liability Bill facing, form certain sections of the polity. The Bill is paramount to operationalise the Nuclear deal, India signed last year amidst a similar left-sponsored protest.

A lot has already been said and written about the controversial clause that financially caps the burden of foreign, Uranium supplier to a mere a mere 500 crore, in case of nuclear mishap. But the editorials ran across the country have missed a very vital point.

However, with America leading in terrorists’ hit-list, the modus operandi took an acute turn as George Walker Bush took over the reins from Bill Clinton. India was now friends with US. Money was infused into Indian markets through foreign direct investment, various military and financial collaborations were carried out and America whole heartedly supported India’s plea for a permanent seat in the UN council.

But why India? Why so much of effort from the Americans for a breakthrough and more strategic relationship with India? Why did GW Bush risk his position for India’s sake? ..................

Read the complete article on all important Liability Bill in Jhankaar 2010 

Cheers