The end of second season of DLF IPL

Well, this was what happened when the DLF IPL's second season came to and end in South Africa yesterday night. In the nail biting final match the Deccan Chargers beat Royal Challengers by 6 runs. It was followed by firework shows not only the official one in South Africa but also unofficially by a number of fans in Hyderabad. The first I witnessed on TV courtesy Sony Max and the later live in Hyderabad itself.

Well I have been supporting the Team Hyderabad right from the start of the first season, but unfortunately it lost most of its matches in the first season to finish at the last spot. The first season was also not very good for this year's runner up RC, who finished at 7th spot last year just a place better than the Hyderabad.

This year IPL was moved to South Africa, because of security issues due to the general elections in India. But the organization teams' commitment ensured the tournament was no less successful at the new location.

Lets hope that the tournament gains more popularity in future and the Hyderabad Deccan Chargers retain the trophy the year after year.

Incendio lecture series

Incendio is the newly formed activity group in Vinod Gupta School of Management (VGSoM) at IIT Kharagpur. Led by the class of 2009, it organized recently a lecture series cum seminar by so called reknowned management thinker Partha S Ghosh. The programme ran over three and half days and came to an end on Sunday, 17th Feb. The workshop was aimed at covering primarily three areas: Leadership, Globalization and Strategy.

A lot of students, who were made to attend the workshop (because of compulsory attendence requirement) felt quite bored with the programme. A few students who were listening to the lectures said that Mr Ghosh was a bit egoistic in his talks and he seemd to be defending his thoughts at times, when students counter argued the points made by him.  
For eg. there was an assignment designed by him, to judge one's 
personality and to judge if the person is a good leader or not. This involved two dimensions connectivity and perspective. At first he said that a person should be high on both dimensions and explained how his figure is higher in both of these. However when one student raised the argued that some of the questions for connectivity dimensions are such that they clearly indicate that one needs to have low score in it to be a good leader, Mr Ghosh started defending his arguement by saying that one need not be high or low on any of these dimensions to be a good leader, however these can be just used to identify the comfort zone of the person.

The views of the faculty were a bit different. May be because they could not say anything against the famous management thinker in public, because it was the question of the image of the b-school. Prof. Gautam Sinha, compared Mr Ghosh with Lord Krishna (Since Partha is Arjun in Mahabharta and his Sarthi i.e. the chariot driver was Krishna in the great war of Mahabharata, Partha Sarthi is hence Lord Krishna). So should we assume that Lord Krishna was in IIT Kharagpur for three and half days to give away the valuable gyan of Shree MadBhagvat Gita??? and we should feel great that we were lucky ones who heard holy words from the mouth of the prophet himself.

Mr Ghosh also stressed the importance of nationalism or I would say patriotism, I would say. He said that if he would have say in the government, he would form a ministry of ethics. He also stressed on the importance of the national anthem and said that it should be played in cinema halls during each show, so that people remember it and give it the due respect. However it was a mere pity that when the national anthem was being sung at the end of programme, Mr Ghosh forgot the fact that if one wants to give proper respect to the anthem, he should stand in attention with his hands completely straight and facing down beside the body, however his arms were folded since he was carrying a shawl/ cloth with IIT buildings made on it given to him as momento. The rules also says that you should sing the natinal anthem when it is being played or sung by others, but Mr Ghosh didnt seem to be singing it. Surprisingly he lives in the United States and he doesnt care for his ex-motherland any more.

I would like to end with a rather funny quote from another faculty Dr. R P Pradhan that leadership and econometrics are similar. Leadership says that you should work towards finding the best possible path in your life, and in econometrics we analyze data sets to find the best possible path/ relation among them.

The guy called Nishank

I was just wondering I haven't updated my blog for months. There are two reasons one I am not getting enough time and the second I can't think of any topic on which I can write something meaningful. Suddenly the idea came to my mind.. why dont I write about myself.

Well, Gwalior was the city, and 0300 hrs IST was the time on 27th January 1983 (as per Janam kundali) where a child was launched into this world. Well, no prizes for guessing that the child was me.

The kid started his education journey from a small village called Hanumana in the Rewa District of Madhya Pradesh. As told by his parents, the kid was too fond of schools, and thus his parents started sending him to school at the age of 2-2.5 years, though without officially enrolling him. This was a government run village school so it was not a big problem. But the kid looked to be promising to the teachers (I could recall names of teachers as Ojhaji, Ramayan sir, Radheshyam sir) and the parents were requested to officially enroll him. Here was the problem. Unlike shehri schools culture, the local school didn't have the kindergarten and the school started from the first standard. So the admission was taken in first standard itself. But the parents didn't want to put pressure of studies on the boy, so he had to repeat class I for 2-3 times (exactly याद नही).

The family moved to district headquarter Rewa city. The admission was taken into govt run PK School (named after local princess Praveen Kumari) in the third standard, and subsequently to Saraswati Shishu Mandir (Nehru Nagar) from fifth standard onwards. the progress was good so far, and the boy always stood first in his class.

The family then moved to Guna (another place in MP), and the school was again Saraswati Shishu Mandir, and the standard was seventh. The boy topped his school again in the VIII standard in the MP board exams. The problem of further schooling appeared, as the school was upto VIII standard only, and there were no good hindi medium school in the town. So the boy moved to an english-medium school named Christ H S School which was under CBSE board in IX standard. The parents moved to Nimach (Dist. Mandsaur, north-western tip of MP) which is famous for growing of opium plants. The school was Carmel Convent School (CBSE board).

Being ambitious to become an engineer, the boy moved to Bansal Classes, Kota which is/ was the IIT-JEE coaching institutions. Besides the coaching the studies of XI and XII were done in St Johns Sr Sec School.

The hard labor of two years brought the luck as the boy was ranked 1834 in IIT-JEE 2000. Subsequent to the conselling held at IIT Bombay, Mumbai the admission was finally taken to the four year B. Tech. course in the department of Civil Engineering at IIT Kanpur, Kanpur. The new environment proved to be too struggeling as the first year ended with a CPI (Cumulative Performance Index) of 5.5 on a 10 point scale with one F in the infamous Mechanics of Solids (fondly called MOS). The course was taken by Dr C V R Murthy and about 30% of the class was handed over the F grade. The course was repeated by the boy in the subsequent summers. From then onwards the boy had understood the secrate of success at IIT, and henceforth the performance was getting better and better. Finally on 28th May 2004, the boy received the Bachelor of Technology degree in Civil Engineering from Prof. S G Dhande the director of IIT Kanpur with a final CPI of 8.0.

The boy entered into the corporate world from July onwards, when he joined an Indian multinational company Larsen & toubro Ltd. - ECC division as GET (Graduate Engineer Trainee). The company credited with landmark structures and projects in India and abroad eg. Lotus temple, Delhi Metro, bridge in the movie 'The bridge on the river Kwai' etc. Firsty posting was made in the hills of Meghalaya. The company was executing the contract of 300-bed hospital named as NEIGRIHMS (North East Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health & Medical Sciences). This went on for next one and half months. Till this time the new rank of Senior Engineer (Civil) was obtained by the boy. Mr A Dutta and Mr P K Soni were the instrumental persons who helped him gain the valuable experience.

The next movement was made towards Kolkata regional office of the company in Jan 2007. Mr Soni continued to guide the boy here also. After working there for six months the boy finally put in the papers to join the MBA course at Vinod Gupta School of Management (VGSOM) at IIT Kharagpur. The tough preparations of four months (Aug-Nov) amid a 12-13 hour working hours had broght the good results finally.

And now after one year of the course the Hmm, the boy is currently doing summer internship cum dissertation project in Futures First Info Services Pvt Ltd at Kolkata, and writting this blog entry.

Hmm, though this is in too brief, but if tommorow I need to write an autobiography, this would certaily be of huge help.

Veggie Suicides...

Recently I received a newsletter from Greenpeace India. Among various activities of Greenpeace, one demonstration by its India chapter attracted my immediate attention. The demonstration or protest was prompted by the recent decision of government to approve large scale open air field trials for Genetically Modified food crops, which could include tomatoes, potatoes, corn, brinjals, etc. The show went like this. A host of vegetables were seen hanging from a thread in Bangalore, as they had committed mass suicide in protest of this decision. A suicide note beside one of the dead potatoes said that potato wished to die in honourable manner rather than living as half potato and half scorpion.

The report said that this was followed by a funeral, where dead body of a martyr corn was taken by fellow vegetables on MG Road.

"The imminent approval of the field trials would mean that our food is one step closer to being dangerously unsafe. The health of citizens and the environment of this country is at risk" said Divya Raghunandan, GE campaigner from Greenpeace. (This paragraph has been taken verbatim from the Greenpeace report)

Please visit http://www.greenpeace.org/india/press/releases/veggie-suicides-are-pointing-t for more details.

Water water every where ....

So, its monsoon time in Kolkata. The city and its neigboring areas are receiving continuous rainfall since Monday night. Many parts of Kolkata, known for its poor drainage system remained waterlogged for several hours after rain stopped to give respite for a few hours. However, when the water started receding, Indra- the rain God was back in action.

The weather office has recorded more than 174 mm of rainfall wednesday in addition to 189 mm rainfall recorded on tuesday. The immense rains are caused by the formation of a low pressure area formed over the North-East Bay of Bengal. If met bureau is to be believed, there is prediction of heavy rainfall in the entire Gangetic West Bengal in next 24 hours.

Courtsey: Telegraphindia.com

According to Newspaper reports, the age old drainage system of Kolkata built by Britishers is capable of handling just 4 mm rain per hour, however it rained closed to 153 mm in just about five hours.

The water clogging threw city out of gear, as surface transport services were disrupted. Trams remained out of service for the second consecutive day on wednesday. Number of buses plying on routes were also very less, a huge rush in each of them could be seen. Auto Rickshaws, charged exorbitant fee for small distances. Lifeline of City- Metro rail had to be discontinued for some time on tuesday after a small fire was discovered in two of the carriage which occured due to water seeping in carriage machinery.

Train services on both Eastern and South Eastern Railways in Sealdah and Howrah stations continued to be affected due to waterlogged railway tracks, forcing many cancelations or short-termination. A friend coming from Orissa had to wait for about three hours in train when his train was stopped about 3 km short of Howrah station. Another friend coming from Ranchi had to get off at Santragachi station, around 10 kms from Howrah because of short termination, and a taxy charged him Rs 600 upto Howrah against a normal fare of around Rs 100-150/-

Many schools and colleges were shut and many exams had to be postponed.

According to some sources, the city has received around 30% of rainfall it receives during monsoon season.

Indian Cricket turns 75

Indian cricket is now 75 years old. India played its first official test match at Lord's (England) on 25th Juna 1932. The tour was quite a drama in itself.

First there was a lot of search for the person who would captaion Indian side. There was legendry Duleepsinhji, but he was playing for England and didnt want to rue his chaces for playing England.

Second, the game needed money for sponsorship and development. It is believed that Maharajah of Vizianagram first emerged to sponsor the then Team-India. However, he was overshadowed by the offer of Maharaja of Patiala. The fight was obviously for the captaincy.

Seeing no harm in a nobler leading the team. Maharaja of Patiala was appointed the captain, with Ghansyamshinji, the Maharaja of Porbandar as vice-captain and Maharaja of Vizianagram as deputy vice-captain.

Nawab of Pataudi (Sr) conveyed his inability to participate in the tour in last moments. when team set to left Bombay on April 4th, Maharaja of Patiala and Vizianagram had withdrawn from the tour. Maharaja of Porbandar was not ready to lead the team at Lord's. And this is how Colonel C K Nayudu stepped in as captain of the team. This made other players furious and they woke Maharaja of Porbandar in the night and said that they would not play under Nayudu. However he somehow managed to make players agree to play under him.

India started well in the game with both openers of England Herbert Sutcliffe and Percy Holmes back in pavilion within 10 minutes. At one moment England was struggling at 19 for 3. Mohammad Nisar the first fast bowler of India takes the honour of claiming first test wicket for India. Amar Singh was the next. Unfortunately Amar Singh died at the age of 29.

In the first innings England were bowled out for 259, with Nissar claiming 5 victims and Amar Singh and Nayudu 2 each. Indian started well but could not cross 189. Nayudu top scored with 40. England declared their second innings at 275 for 8, while Jardine made 85 n.o. in continuation of 79 from 1st inning. In 2nd Indian inning only Amar Singh could show some resistance scoring 51, but in the end Indian team finished with 187 and ended up loosing by massive 158 runs. Unlike modern days, those matches used to be of only 3 days.

झांसी की रानी

सिंहासन हिल उठे राजवंशों ने भृकुटी तानी थी,
बूढ़े भारत में आई फिर से नयी जवानी थी,
गुमी हुई आज़ादी की कीमत सबने पहचानी थी,
दूर फिरंगी को करने की सबने मन में ठानी थी।


चमक उठी सन सत्तावन में, वह तलवार पुरानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


कान पु र के नाना की, मुँहबोली बहन छबीली थी,
लक्ष्मीबाई नाम, पिता की वह संतान अकेली थी,
नाना के सँग पढ़ती थी वह, नाना के सँग खेली थी,
बरछी ढाल, कृपाण, कटारी उसकी यही सहेली थी।


वीर शिवाजी की गाथायें उसको याद ज़बानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


लक्ष्मी थी या दुर्गा थी वह स्वयं वीरता की अवतार,
देख मराठे पुलकित होते उसकी तलवारों के वार,
नकली युद्ध-व्यूह की रचना और खेलना खूब शिकार,
सैन्य घेरना, दुर्ग तोड़ना ये थे उसके प्रिय खिलवाड़|


महाराष्ट्र-कुल-देवी उसकी भी आराध्य भवानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


हुई वीरता की वैभव के साथ सगाई झाँसी में,
ब्याह हुआ रानी बन आई लक्ष्मीबाई झाँसी में,
राजमहल में बजी बधाई खुशियाँ छाई झाँसी में,

सुघट बुंदेलों की विरुदावलि-सी वह आयी थी झांसी में|,


चित्रा ने अर्जुन को पाया, शिव को मिली भवानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


उदित हुआ सौभाग्य, मुदित महलों में उजियाली छाई,
किंतु कालगति चुपके-चुपके काली घटा घेर लाई,
तीर चलाने वाले कर में उसे चूड़ियाँ कब भाई,
रानी विधवा हुई, हाय! विधि को भी नहीं दया आई।


निसंतान मरे राजाजी रानी शोक-समानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


बुझा दीप झाँसी का तब डलहौज़ी मन में हरषाया,
राज्य हड़प करने का उसने यह अच्छा अवसर पाया,
फ़ौरन फौजें भेज दुर्ग पर अपना झंडा फहराया,
लावारिस का वारिस बनकर ब्रिटिश राज्य झाँसी आया।


अश्रुपूर्णा रानी ने देखा झाँसी हुई बिरानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


अनुनय विनय नहीं सुनती है, विकट शासकों की माया,
व्यापारी बन दया चाहता था जब यह भारत आया,
डलहौज़ी ने पैर पसारे, अब तो पलट गई काया,
राजाओं नव्वाबों को भी उसने पैरों ठुकराया।


रानी दासी बनी, बनी यह दासी अब महरानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


छिनी राजधानी दिल्ली की, लखनऊ छीना बातों-बात,
कैद पेशवा था बिठूर में, हुआ नागपुर का भी घात,
उदैपुर, तंजौर, सतारा,कर्नाटक की कौन बिसात?
जब कि सिंध,पंजाब ब्रह्म पर अभी हुआ था वज्र-निपात।


बंगाले, मद्रास आदि की भी तो वही कहानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


रानी रोयीं रनिवासों में, बेगम ग़म से थीं बेज़ार,
उनके गहने कपड़े बिकते थे कलकत्ते के बाज़ार,
सरे आम नीलाम छापते थे अंग्रेज़ों के अखबार,
'नागपुर के ज़ेवर ले लो लखनऊ के लो नौलख हार'।


यों परदे की इज़्ज़त परदेशी के हाथ बिकानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


कुटियों में भी विषम वेदना, महलों में आहत अपमान,
वीर सैनिकों के मन में था अपने पुरखों का अभिमान,
नाना धुंधूपंत पेशवा जुटा रहा था सब सामान,
बहिन छबीली ने रण-चण्डी का कर दिया प्रकट आहवान।


हुआ यज्ञ प्रारम्भ उन्हें तो सोई ज्योति जगानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


महलों ने दी आग, झोंपड़ी ने ज्वाला सुलगाई थी,
यह स्वतंत्रता की चिनगारी अंतरतम से आई थी,
झाँसी चेती, दिल्ली चेती, लखनऊ लपटें छाई थी,
मेरठ, कानपुर,पटना ने भारी धूम मचाई थी,


जबलपुर, कोल्हापुर में भी कुछ हलचल उकसानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


इस स्वतंत्रता महायज्ञ में कई वीरवर आए काम,
नाना धुंधूपंत, ताँतिया, चतुर अज़ीमुल्ला सरनाम,
अहमदशाह मौलवी, ठाकुर कुँवरसिंह सैनिक अभिराम,
भारत के इतिहास गगन में अमर रहेंगे जिनके नाम।


लेकिन आज जुर्म कहलाती उनकी जो कुरबानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


इनकी गाथा छोड़, चले हम झाँसी के मैदानों में,
जहाँ खड़ी है लक्ष्मीबाई मर्द बनी मर्दानों में,
लेफ्टिनेंट वाकर आ पहुँचा, आगे बढ़ा जवानों में,

रानी ने तलवार खींच ली, हुया द्वन्द्ध असमानों में।


ज़ख्मी होकर वाकर भागा, उसे अजब हैरानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


रानी बढ़ी कालपी आई, कर सौ मील निरंतर पार,
घोड़ा थक कर गिरा भूमि पर गया स्वर्ग तत्काल सिधार,
यमुना तट पर अंग्रेज़ों ने फिर खाई रानी से हार,
विजयी रानी आगे चल दी, किया ग्वालियर पर अधिकार।


अंग्रेज़ों के मित्र सिंधिया ने छोड़ी राजधानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


विजय मिली, पर अंग्रेज़ों की फिर सेना घिर आई थी,
अबके जनरल स्मिथ सम्मुख था, उसने मुहँ की खाई थी,
काना और मंदरा सखियाँ रानी के संग आई थी,
युद्ध श्रेत्र में उन दोनों ने भारी मार मचाई थी।


पर पीछे ह्यूरोज़ आ गया, हाय! घिरी अब रानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


तो भी रानी मार काट कर चलती बनी सैन्य के पार,
किन्तु सामने नाला आया, था वह संकट विषम अपार,
घोड़ा अड़ा, नया घोड़ा था, इतने में आ गये सवार,
रानी एक, शत्रु बहुतेरे, होने लगे वार-पर-वार।


घायल होकर गिरी सिंहनी उसे वीर गति पानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


रानी गई सिधार चिता अब उसकी दिव्य सवारी थी,
मिला तेज से तेज, तेज की वह सच्ची अधिकारी थी,
अभी उम्र कुल तेइस की थी, मनुज नहीं अवतारी थी,
हमको जीवित करने आयी बन स्वतंत्रता-नारी थी,


दिखा गई पथ, सिखा गई हमको जो सीख सिखानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।


जाओ रानी याद रखेंगे ये कृतज्ञ भारतवासी,
यह तेरा बलिदान जगावेगा स्वतंत्रता अविनासी,
होवे चुप इतिहास, लगे सच्चाई को चाहे फाँसी,
हो मदमाती विजय, मिटा दे गोलों से चाहे झाँसी।


तेरा स्मारक तू ही होगी, तू खुद अमिट निशानी थी,
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी,
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झाँसी वाली रानी थी।।
                                                      --- सुभद्राकुमारी चौहान