Monday, February 26, 2024

Road To Paris – Episode 9

We have entered the Olympics Year, and the race for the remaining qualifying spots in heating up. For the Indian contingent, the elations and heartbreaks continue, on the field (and the shenanigans off it).

Here is a quick summary of the updates since Episode 8

Qualifiers
Shooting: After the 2024 Asian Shooting Championships, India now has a qualifier in every single category for the first time ever. 
Men’s: Varun Tomar (10m Air Pistol), Vijayveer Sidhu (25m Pistol), Anantjeet Naruka (Skeet).
Women’s: Esha Singh (10m Air Pistol), Rhythm Sangwan (25m Pistol), Raiza Dhillon (Skeet)

Equestrian: India have a Quota Place in Individual Dressage through Anush Agarwalla – first ever appearance in this particular event.

Sailing: Vishnu Sarvanan earned a Quota Place in Men’s ILCA category

In other news
Badminton: Indian Women won their first ever Badminton Asia Championships. This was also their first ever medal at the event.

Tennis: Rohan Bopanna, at 43 years young, won his first Men’s Doubles Grand Slam title at the Australian Open finally reached No. 1 ranking.

Athletics: 6 Men have now breached the Qualification mark in the Men’s 20km Walk. Only 3 can qualify!

Hockey: Women’s Team fails to reach the Games after finishing 4th in the Qualifiers. A real heartbreak for the team which came so close to a medal at Tokyo.

Wrestling: The mess continues - Elections held, New body elected and then suspended by Govt. An ad hoc committee in place and two separate Nationals held.

Qualification Summary for Team India: Sports: 6, Events 22, Entries:29, Athletes: 44.

Till next time!

Links: Episode 8 

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Wisdom in the middle

From today's edition of Times of India came this Garfield comic strip.



Quite a relatable one!

And then remembered a few other lines on the subject

Bread rises in the yeast and sets in the waist

A moment on the lips a lifetime on the hips

I am in shape, Round is a shape

Sunday, December 24, 2023

2023: The Year Gone By


Another calendar year closes out. The world moved on from the Covid19 virus, till at the very end a new wave crept in again. As Professor Moody would say, “Constant Vigilance” – which should ideally be a default setting for everyone. 

Anyways here is the list of some events & non-events to remember (or maybe not) the year 2023 AD by.

1. Word of the Year
In a world where AI generated material is becoming more and more visible, “Authentic” being named the word of they year, is hardly surprising. Kudos to Merriam-Webster for making this choice.
Meanwhile, Oxford decided to name “rizz” as their word of the year. I have absolutely no clue what that is supposed to be!

2. Terminology of the Year
Amongst the many risks a flight traveler faced, there was added the risk of being peed upon by a co-passenger! And our enterprising newspapers headlined the culprit as “Urinator”. Talk about the lack of creativity here!

3. Mystery of the Year
On a beach in Japan, there mysteriously appeared a round metallic object. Speculations on its identity ranged from UFOs to spy satellites to Godzilla eggs. But no clear answer emerged.
Meanwhile, aliens are back in the limelight with “alien corpses” displayed in Mexican Parliament  and claims of CIA retrieving UFOs from crash sites.

4. Much Ado About Nothing
One fine day, the social media lights up with “news” of name being changed from India to Bharat. After much shouting in online echo chambers, pointless debates, lots of server space taken up, it all turned into a case of “Much Ado About Nothing”. After all, how does one change a name to a name which already is there?

5. Work-life balance debate
“Youngsters ought to work 70 hours a week to boost productivity and enhance India's competitiveness” – thus spoke Mr. N R Narayana Murthy and sparked what seems to be a never-ending debate on the (lack of) work-life balance, productivity and compensation. In the process providing ideal material for all the LinkedIn gyaanis. Many of whom seemed to be spending more than 70 hours of their week on this debate.

6. Management Lessons of the Year 
The Men’s ODI World Cup provided a full blown opportunity to generate management lessons/takeaways. Glen Maxwell’s 201* vs Afghanistan, Angelo Mathews being timed out, India faltering at the last step, Australia winning (again), Attendance at venues, Pitches, – everything had a life lesson derived from it!

7. The Armchair Experts Edition
They know everything. Any event which hits the headlines also generates a bunch of social media experts. Geopolitics, economics, commodity prices – these are passe. They also operate in niche zones – e.g., Deep-sea diving (the Titan tragedy), Generative AI (Chat GPT), Lunar geology (Chandrayaan landing), Mercenary armies (Wagner group), Short selling (Adani-Hindenburg), Tunnel rescue(Uttarakhand) .

8. When a Prophecy Actually Came True
#AbkiBaarSauPaar – that was the Broadcasters’ tagline for the Asian Games. Quite an aspirational statement, given that India’s best tally till date had been 70 medals. But at the Hangzhou Games, India reached 107 medals! Now, wondering what projections these oracles at Sony make for Paris Olympics!

9. The Dirtiest Match 
World & Olympic medalists on the streets against the Wrestling Federation. The impasse continued. There had to be a solution to it. Nobody in the powers to be even tried. It was definitely not what anyone wanted to see. And the worst bit, it is still not over. Getting suspended by United World Wrestling, Elections held and the sports ministry suspending the newly elected federation within days. Something is totally rotten here.

10. The Chess Siblings
Praggnanandhaa & Vaishali – the first brother-sister duo to become Chess Grandmasters. Both will be appearing in the respective Candidates tournament next year. What a feel-good story.

So this was a bit of 2023. Wishing all readers a Very Happy 2024!

Sunday, December 17, 2023

2023 - TYIL

The more I learn, the more I realise that I know nothing.

As another year draws to a close, its time for making of the lists. So without much of a preamble presenting the list of random, totally trivial, and mostly pointless, but fun (at least for me) stuff that I learnt through another year of trawling though the inter-webs and other such endeavors, and most importantly remembered to jot down,
  1. India’s first Christmas Cake was baked by Mambally Bakery in Kerala in 1883. (BBC)
  2. Hatsuyme – Japanese term for the first dream you have in the new year, which is said to predict how the rest of the year goes! (Kokoro
  3. Returning Soldier effect – More boys are born during and after wars (Wikipedia). Given the multiple prolonged wars currently going on, could be another validation of this theory.
  4. Samosas are banned in Somalia, apparently because their triangular shape in Christian and it is a western food! (News18) Somalis are missing out on a delicacy.
  5. In 1976, Airbus managed to get an order of 3 A300s from Indian Airlines. The deal clincher – their Chief Executive Bernard Lathiere was born in Calcutta and showed a picture of himself when he was 3 years old with Gandhiji to the then Indian Airlines top boss, Air Chief Marshal PC Lal. (Source: Business Wars Podcast)
  6. Tennis Sets: 6-0 is bagel, 6-1 is breadstick, conceding 0 points – Golden Set, 1 point – silver & 2 points – Bronze Set (Macmillan Dictionary), (Wikipedia
  7. In colonial times, the roads were illuminated by gas lights which were lit using kerosene. Hence kerosene became colloquially ghaslet.
  8. Skeumorph - a derivative object that retains ornamental design cues (attributes) from structures that were necessary in the original to to make something new feel familiar in an effort to speed understanding and acclimation. E.g. Floppy Disk as Save button, the telephone receiver as phone icons etc. (Wikipedia
  9. Terminator Line – the line that divides the day & night sides of a planet. Also called twilight zone. (Wikipedia).
  10. Jasper & Jinx – that was the original name given to Tom & Jerry, which was actually the name of a drink! (Link
  11. Batukeshwar Dutt, who alongwith Bhagat Singh, threw bombs in the Assembly, later co-wrote the movie Shaheed, based on Bhagat Singh’s life and received the National Award for Best Screenplay. (Wikipedia
  12. Einstein Shape – A shape that can be arranged in a tile formations that never repeats! (Guardian
  13. Jaquar brand is named after the founder’s grandmother Jai Kaur (Wikipedia
  14. Cappuccino - means little hood and is named after the colour of the hood worn by the monks in Italy (The Coffee Universe
  15. Emirp - A prime number whose digits when reversed is also a prime number, e.g., 17 & 71, 13 & 31. (Wikipedia
  16. The term “mugger” comes from magarmachh! One of the collateral effects of colonization! (Merriam-Webster
  17. Mickey Mouse has a sister – Mrs. Amelia Fieldmouse!
  18. Münchausen Numbers - They can be written as the sum of each of its digits raised to the power equivalent to the digit itself, resulting in the same number. e.g., 3^3+4^4+3^3+5^5=3435
  19. Capitonyms – Words which change their meaning if the first letter is capitalized. E.g. March & march; Lent & lent etc. (Wikipedia
  20. The Hollywood Sign was originally “HOLLYWOODLAND” and as an advertisement for new property in the area.
  21. Letters to India’s Antarctic Station are routed through Panaji post office. Just who came up with this interesting idea of Goa & Antarctica sharing a pin code!
This as 2023. Hoping to build on in 2024 with some better noting down techniques.

P.S. Lists from 2019, 2020, 2021 & 2022.

Friday, November 24, 2023

Road To Paris: Episode 8

Its been a while since the last post in this series. In the interim, there has been major progress as well as quite few heartbreaks in the Indian sporting arena, particularly in terms of qualifying for Paris 2024. Here is a quick summary:

Qualifiers
  • Wrestling: Antim Panghal qualifies in 53 KG Women’s category after winning a Bronze medal at the World Championships. This was an event where the Indian contingent played under the World Wrestling flag as the Wresting Federation is currently suspended due to still ongoing shenanigans.
  • Boxing: Nikhat Zareen (50 KG), Preeti Pawar (54 KG), Parveen Hooda (57 KG) & Lovlina Borgohain (75 KG) have earned Quotas at the Asian Games.
  • Hockey: Men’s Team qualifies for the Olympics by winning the Asian Games Gold medal
  • Athletics: Kishore Jena joins Neeraj Chopra in Men’s Javelin Throw
  • Shooting: Quite a few Quota places earned at the Asian Shooting Championships - Arjun Babuta (10 m Air Rifle), Sarabjot Singh (10m Air Pistol), Anish Bhanwala (25m Rapid Fire Pistol) in the Men’s section and Tilottama Sen (10m Air Rifle), Manu Bhaker (25m Pistol), Shriyanka Sadangi (50m Rifle 3 Positions) in the Women’s section
  • Archery: Dhiraj Bommadevara earned a Individual Quota at the Asian Championships
Now for the Heartbreaks
It has been the end of the qualifying journey for Football, Rugby, Handball India’s Men’s Football Team have failed to qualify after being knocked out in the 1st round of Asian Cup U-23 Qualifiers

Asian Games Perspective
India had their best ever Asian Games performance in terms of the medals, hitting a century. The Indian contingent actually lived up to the Broadcaster's hype of Abki Baar Sau Paar! Overall, a good feel-good factor. However, for a perspective, here is the Indian medals Tally for the Olympics events only.

Discipline

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Archery

0

1

1

Athletics

6

14

9

Badminton

1

0

1

Boxing

0

1

4

Equestrian

1

0

1

Hockey

1

0

1

Golf

0

1

0

Rowing

0

2

3

Sailing

0

0

1

Shooting

2

5

4

Tennis

1

1

0

Wrestling

0

1

5

Total

12

26

30

Qualification Summary for Team India: Sports: 6, Events 22, Entries:29, Athletes: 44

Till next time!

Links: Episode 7

 

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

BookMarks #116: Freedom at Midnight

Title: Freedom at Midnight
Authors: Larry Collins & Dominique Lapierre
Genre: Non-fiction, History
Published: 1975

BookMarks
The book gives a narrative of the last year of the British Raj from the appointment of Lord Mountbatten as Viceroy of India, to Partition and Independence and Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. The book is at times intriguing, at others gossipy and sometimes filled with gruesome passages presenting the story of those turbulent times.

What is obvious is that it is written from a British perspective. They are presented in a kindly light, traders who somehow ended up ruling the country and never as oppressors. All problems are those of the natives, who couldn’t govern themselves! Talk about whitewashing of history.

Hence, it is best read as Mountbatten’s memoirs and perspective rather than as a work of just history.

A few passages and assertions which stood out for me
  • Mountbatten’s claim that if he had been aware of Jinnah's poor health, he may have delayed the deadlines for independence and Partition might not have happened.
  • The weighing machines at the railway platforms! Those are finally gone.
  • Book banned in Pakistan because it referenced Jinnah having bacon with eggs for breakfast!
  • 'Trade not territory', the Company's officers never ceased repeating, was their policy. Yet they ended up ruling and exploiting an entire sub-continent!
  • 'The difference between what we do and what we could do would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.': Gandhi
  • The eccentricities of Indian maharajas - none more than Kapurthala who decided he was reincarnation of Louis XIV and declared French as his court language
  • What an arduous task dividing the possessions between countries must have been. Yet, in one aspect there was no debate - Wine cellars always went to Hindu India and Moslem Pakistan received a credit for what they contained.
  • The masses from the villages heading towards Delhi on Independence Day - Tributaries of an immense and triumphant stream, they flowed with the dawn towards the centre of their rejoicing capital to celebrate in its streets the end of a colonization most of them had not even known.
  • Gandhi's idea of self-contained village ideas vs industrialization. Something of Aatma-nirbhar Bharat was still there.
  • After Independence people refused to pay bus fares, assuming they should now be free.
  • £2000 – Cyril Radcliffe’s fee for dividing the countries, which he returned!
  • Everywhere the many and the strong assaulted the weak and the few - Still holds true!
  • Reading the butchery of the trains was just like the dooms scrolling during Covid times. Wanted to but just couldn't stop. What had gotten into the people.
  • Khadi wearing politicians - evidence that the man under it reveres at least the memory if not the message of the man who espoused it.
  • The tragedy of Buta Singh Overall, a difficult read. 
Many of the passages are eye-openers. Also, in today’s times, it is easy to see how selective reading of events & confirmation bias can just swing the opinion of the masses. Constant vigilance is the need of the hour to prevent the recurrence of the brutality of those times.

Previously on BookMarks: Dream With Your Eyes Open 

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Road To Paris - Episode 7

As we celebrate the National Sports Day, the story of Indian sport continues in an all-too-familiar fashion. Every cloud will have a silver lining and every silver lining will have a cloud! On one hand we have our first-ever Athletics World Championships Winner in Neeraj Chopra (the man continues his trail-blazing journey) and on the other the Wrestling Federation is suspended putting on hold many Olympic dreams!

Since the last episode, there have been a substantial increase in the number of Quotas earned by Indian sportspersons.

Qualifiers:
Athletics
  • Murali Sreeshankar in Men’s Long Jump crossed the Olympic qualification mark on way to winning a silver at the Asian Athletics Championships
  • Avinash Sable in Men’s 3000m Steeplechase crossed the Olympics qualification mark in the Swedish Diamond League event.
  • Neeraj Chopra in Men’s Javelin Throw crossed the mark with his first throw in the World Athletics Championships Qualifying. And later on went on to be crowned India’s first ever World Champion in Track & Field.
  • Parul Chaudhary reached the World Championships Final in the Women’s 3000m Steeplechase, created a new National Record and booked an Olympics berth for herself while finishing a creditable 11th.
Shooting: 4 Quota places earned at the World Shooting Championships
  • Mehuli Ghosh finishes 3rd in the 10m Air Rifle.
  • Akhil Sheoran finished 3rd in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions joining Swapnil Kusale at the event.
  • Sift Kaur Samra earned a Quota Place in the Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions.
  • Rajeshwari Kumari earned a Quota in Women’s Trap Shooting
India currently has Quota places in both Men’s & Women’s 10m Air Rifle, thus likely to get a Mixed Team Berth also. Special mention for Tilottamma Sen who finished 4th in 10 m Air Rifle but could not get a Quota due to new ISSF rules giving only one place per country at one event!

In Other News
  • The Indian men’s 4x400m relay was a pleasant shock in the World Championships finishing 2nd in the Semis and 5th in the Finals, creating a new Asian Record and giving a mighty scare to many of the favorites. Although it is disappointing to see the Indian women’s relay team no longer the force they were.
  • Neeraj Chopra is a true pioneer. Evidence is compatriots Kishore Jena and DP Manu finishing 5th & 6th respectively in the World Championships Final. What a sight it was to have 3 Indians competing in a single event till the very last stage!
  • Hockey – Indian Men’s team comfortably won the Asian Champions Trophy, a good precursor for the upcoming Asian Games which also serves as the Olympic Qualifying event.
  • Badminton - HS Prannoy continued the Indian medal winning streak going on since 2011 at the Badminton World Championships with a Bronze.
  • Archery – No luck for India’s recurve archers at the Olympics qualifiers, but more chances are coming up.
  • Basketball – Men’s pre Olympics Qualifiers – India finished 3rd and missed out on qualifying for the Olympics qualifiers.
  • Handball – The Women’s team finished 5th in the Asian Qualification tournament and are out of the running.
Now for the Clouds
  • Doping menace continues with Dutee Chand suspended for 4 years for doping violations & Bhwana Jat for 2 years for missing tests.
  • Wrestling - The saga keeps getting murkier. Now other wrestlers have jumped into action claiming bias in direct selection of the likes of Bajrang Punia & Vinesh Phogat. Courts getting involved in the selection matters does augur well for anyone. Meanwhile the Wrestling Federation of India got suspended thus jeopardizing the Quota places at the World Championships.
Meanwhile the qualification race is heating up. Till next time. Next post will be after the Asian Games.

Qualification Summary for Team India
Sports: 2, Events 12, Entries:15, Athletes: 15 

Links: Episode 6 

Monday, August 14, 2023

India @ 76

A couple of days back an SMS arrived.
“Har Ghar Tiranga is back. 13-15 Aug bring home & fly Tiranga with pride! Upload selfies on harghartiranga.com


Yes, its that time of the year, when amongst other things this blog gets a post on all things India. (Here is the 2022 edition

Interestingly, I am also halfway through the book, “Freedom at Midnight”. 76 years have gone by, but many of those issues remain continue and can be traced back to those fateful last days of the British Raj. Bipartisan politics, communal violence, hope and worries for the coming days, history finds new own ways to repeat itself!

[An aside - Wouldn't it be the mother of all ironies, if Scotland is separated from the United Kingdom under the watch of  Rishi Sunak and Humza Yusuf?]

Returning to the present.

India has overtaken China as the most populous country in the world. Or maybe not. After all, the Census exercise has not been done since 2011, another collateral victim of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The effects of Climate Change are becoming more and more visible. On one hand, the monsoons are creating havoc on the urban infrastructure, while other parts of the country are reeling in drought. The seasons are becoming increasingly erratic. The hilly regions are even more at risk, as highlighted by the "sinking" of the town of Joshimath. Given the vast population, and its ever-growing energy requirements, drastic action is required on the climate front. While the government has stated ambitions of Net Zero by 2070, it might be a case of too little too late! Tthe discovery of lithium prospects in Jammu could become play an important role in this climate battle.

India has the G20 presidency. That means almost every city has got some G20 event happening across the year. Which also means there are weird (yet also cute looking) G20 banners and posters on every road and street!

The General elections are coming. That unfortunately implies more political mudslinging, further rejigging of alliances, lots of Aya Rams & Gaya Rams and more hatemongering. The race to the bottom in the political discourse will be heightened (or lowered). The political game of thrones will be on full swing till mid next year, till we finally get a government in place!

In the interim, the actual governance may go for a toss, with everyone looking to extract their pound of flesh from every event. Just look at the online battleground that the Manipur issues have become, while actual on-ground issues continue to be unresolved. Similar is the case of the Wrestling saga. In a country, where sporting heroes are still in short supply, seeing the visuals of some of the most decorated sportspersons sitting on dharna and being dragged around by the authorities was disturbing. And for the public opinion, whose side you stand on is defined by your political inclination. Just continuing the trend of everything being politicized and sharply polarized.

Lets hope the individual common sense stays in the heavily politically charged coming months!

There is a big Men’s ODI World Cup coming up and somehow BCCI has bungled up the event scheduling and ticketing. What a fall from the days of Dalmia & Bindra. Although, they also deserve plaudits for starting (finally) the WPL and providing pay parity for international games. Amidst all the chaos, they still are the best-run sporting organization in the country. Speaks more of the incompetence of the other sports bodies, which for some reason or the other keep getting themselves banned by the global federations.

Meanwhile, despite the Hindenburg report, the stock markets continue their bull runs, reaching new highs, and providing a pretty good silver lining amongst the political & environmental crowds. Although it all could be just a bubble waiting to be burst.

Overall, not a rosy picture but to end on a good note. “Naatu Naatu” won an Oscar providing the first truly Indian Oscar winners (earlier ones were all for external projects). It was a pleasant surprise to see this foot-tapping chart-topping song reach such popularity!

On that musical note. Happy Birthday India! Jai Hind!

Monday, July 10, 2023

BookMarks #115: Dream with Your Eyes Open

Title: Dream with Your Eyes Open: An Entrepreneurial Journey
Author: Ronnie Screwvala
Genre: Non-fiction, Memoirs, Entrepreneurship
Published: 2016

BookMarks
“Dream with Your Eyes Open” is not exactly an autobiography but more of a collection of lessons learnt in what goes in making a successful entrepreneur. The book narrates the author’s learnings from his various ventures starting from his childhood, like selling balcony seats at his family home to get a glimpse of the stars at a premiere, starting a theatre group, a toothbrush production company and multiple ventures into the media space! And all along he passes on the learnings he has acquired from his experiences from the struggles, the success and most importantly the failures.

Here are a few nuggets taken from the book about entrepreneurship
  • Entrepreneurship is a journey, not an outing.
  • Entrepreneurship is about living life on your own terms.
  • Dream huge and dream with your eyes open
  • Risk means pushing the envelope when others want to take the safe route, and caring more about potential rewards than possible losses.
  • As long as you have the hunger to succeed, innate confidence in yourself and in your abilities, the guts and conviction to take sensible risks and a can-do attitude, you will prevail.
  • Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone.
  • Entrepreneurship in a nutshell: action and reaction; understanding, confronting and transcending fear; working, disrupting and succeeding; trying and failing. And then laughing about it all later, while absorbing lasting life lessons.
  • When you start from scratch, you’ve got nothing to lose.
  • Deep knowledge comes from doing.
  • Authenticity is at the heart of effective communication.
  • The importance of acquiring domain knowledge—or at least the ability to ask the right questions if you want to succeed in a new initiative at scale.
  • Failure is inevitable. One of the hardest and most enduring lessons everyone in business learns is that not all great ideas succeed. Plan for failure. Embrace failure. But understand that failure is a comma, not a full stop.
  • Failure can be a stronger motivator than success.
  • Failure is more interesting and instructive than success.
  • You’re not answerable to anyone but yourself.
  • Level your gaze beyond the horizon. Life is too short to allow others to make you feel inadequate.
  • Do what needs doing. Figure out what went wrong and fix it.
  • Plan for success and insist on survival. To survive is to give yourself a fighting chance to succeed.
  • Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.
  • Exits are about creating value and letting go when the need and opportunity arise.
  • Focus occurs in the present.
  • Most success springs from feeling joyous and confident, believing one can accomplish almost anything—and sporting victories contribute to such euphoria. The day India wins big at the Olympics and becomes a global player in sports, we will already have become an economic superpower.
  • It's all possible.
Overall and engaging read. It also helps that the Ronnie Screwvala’s journey has already been in the public eye. So getting to know the background of these ventures makes it more interesting. 

Previously on BookMarks: Endgame 

Monday, June 19, 2023

BookMarks #114: Endgame

Title: Endgame: An Insurgency on Wall Street
Author: Sheelah Kolhatkar
Genre: Non-fiction, Finance, Real events
Published: 2023

BookMarks
Invested money was likely to appreciate much more rapidly than income in the future, which would only increase the gap in wealth between those who already had money and those who didn’t 
- Thomas Piketty (Capital in the Twenty-First Century)

Endgame narrates the events surrounding the short squeeze and unprecedented rise in the share price of Game Stop stock in 2021.

This is a short volume. The subject is interesting, the protagonists are interesting, there is lot of history built up, it is a fight of the underdog against a rigged system. And yet, somehow the book just falls flat. The narrative seems abandoned and hurriedly finished at the same time. While we learn about a few characters, the book seems more like an extended trailer rather than an entire movie!

Previously on BookMarks: Landmark Judgments that Changed India