Sreesanth: The outcast nerd

There is an early warning sign to identify the transition of an individual from a confident person to an arrogant pest >> when that person starts addressing himself pompously in first person. I request your attention to the following statement.

"Sreesanth's way is to be aggressive. Sreesanth will always remain Sreesanth."

- Santhakumaran Sreesanth to Cricinfo

There are two points in that short statement which are certainly disturbing.

(1) Addressing self without using the humble pronoun.
(2) Denial mode; viz a viz acknowledging a problem which has caused significant personal and professional heartburn.

Where does the shoe pinch for Santhakumaran Sreesanth? And why is he the only person on the sphere not feeling that pinch?

Received this one funny parody song yesterday on the protagonist of this post from one of my Twitter buddies which sparked the idea for this blog. Here goes! (It's in Malayalam)



Its funny. No doubt. Now what is not funny are the statements made by the Captain and Manager about this one member of Indian Cricket team.

"I was very specific to him and told him that he should not cross boundaries. If you want to irritate someone, that should be the opposition and not your side."

- MS Dhoni before the World Cup (Newslink)

"He was told that he has been playing international cricket for long enough now that he should know what is right and wrong." 

- Lalchand Rajput, Manager during previous Australian tour (Newslink)


Even the print media and television channels have made a mock-merry of this strange and sorry style of Sreesanth. Any video or mention of S. Sreesanth on YouTube or any social networking site immediately attracts sneer comments, especially from Keralaites, because we understand his issues better than anybody. In all fairness, Sreesanth gets the short end of the stick because he begged for it.



Saddest point is that this is happening to a bowler who was rated by Harsha Bhogle as 'a bowler which appears once in a generation'. Now, Harsha is one astute observer and the finest analytic of the cricket game and players; he has seldom been proved wrong. So where has all that promise withered away?

Sreesanth, if carries on in this self-destructive hillbilly ways, will be a clinical case-study of a talented sportsperson who dug his own grave by trying to be someone else. There is no excuse what-so-ever to the acts Sree has committed over his erratic, short and apologetic career in the name of 'aggression' & 'passion'. Take a look...

•  Deliberately & provokingly barging into English Captain Micheal Vaughan
•  Personally abusing SA Captain Greame Smith 
•  Sarcastic hand-clapping vile towards umpire in IPL
•  Altercation with Harbhajan Singh and the infamous slap-weep incident
•  Multiple fines from ICC for excessive and provocative appealing
•  Persistent over-reaction and on-the-field run-in with opposition team members and spectators 
•  Official final warning from BCCI & KCA regarding on-field behaviour (Newslink)

All the above incidents carried significant fine-tags and bans from the Governing bodies. All this in just 24 Tests and 50 ODIs in under 5 years! But the painful fact is that Sree still refuses to admit there is an issue. He is in a persistent denial mode, just like an Alcoholic finding solace in his ego-defenses. Only if you admit the problem, you can address it, resolve it.

It may be hard to believe but the private Sree is at the opposite pole from the player Sree we all know. Sreesanth could just be the 'most eligible bachelor' if he mimics his performances on Women's College dance halls, Five Star Hotel ramps and on red carpet with arms measuring those Bollywood hotties' tender waist. But drop him on the green, oval arena and the boy goes bizarrely berserk!

It's all impressive dear Sree, but we're not exactly in search for a Rock-star. If so, BCCI would've selected Appache Indian to play cricket long time ago.

Sreesanth's issues seem clear: He is yet to come in terms with the sudden exposure to limelight. Its pretty obvious that the match situation gets better of him everytime he's on an International field; may be it just clouds his judgement. Sree is trying too hard to 'create' an attribute of his personality which is not inherent in him. Sreesanth surely considers "aggression" as physical confrontation or 'maa-behen' usage against opponents, often leading to comical, weird acting outs like 'The Hatter' in Alice in Wonderland, and worse, puts himself and his team under pressure.

But Sreesanth has some explanations. Like this one (after the Smith incident)

More explanations: (From @sreesanth36 Twitter)

I live with passion..do every little thing with lots of passion.that's my motto .I am thankful to all

Dear Sreesanth, passion, pride and patriotism aren't anything alien. I possess it, you possess it, your neighbour's cousin possesses it, but in varying degrees. Understandably, when you adorn your nation's colours these passions hit the roof. But with Sreesanth they go through the roof taking him along with it. But you must know the difference between 'sarcasm' & 'insult', 'aggression' & 'stupidity' , 'sledging' & 'abuse'.

We've seen hundreds of thousands of sportsmen playing for their clubs, states, provinces and nations with the same pride and passion. But Sree is exhibiting tomfoolery and juvenile immaturity in the name of it. Reminds me of the same 'pride & passion' of erstwhile English Football fans which breached the borders of criminality.

There are quite a few sporting scumbags (excuse the expression s'il vous plait) matching Sree's profile, if that'll make you feel better. Austrialian skipper Ponting, South African seamer Andre Nel, Paki pacer Akhtar, our own Bhaji. But they seldom turned themselves into laughing-stock of the nation. They had issues similar to Sreesanth but they command respect of their team-mates and opposition because they had their on-field numbers to show-off.  People tend to forgive and forget if you let your performance do the all the talk. Sreesanth's statistical exploits with the red cherry have only helped in outraging the cricket fans. Kind of 'all fart, no shit' condition. That's how the bad blood formed between the fans and Sree.
 
This is one fair criticism about Sree, which he ought to take very very seriously. He is pissing off his fans as well as his Captain & team-members consistently. How many times have we seen a ginger Dhoni at post-match conference when journos take out the Sreesanth card?

Some over-patriotic people have some odd arguments and lame excuses for the 'Sreesanth' phenomenon. That Sree is targeted by 'North Indian lobby' because he is a 'Madrassi', a Keralite. Another one that we  are more eager and enthusiastic to see the decline of a fellow Keralite as depicted by the Kerala crab story. hah. Do we all need to be naive like the ubiquitous garden variety politicians around us? This is like Kalainjar Karunanidhi defending Saint A. Raja terming the 2G scam as 'conspiracy against a scheduled caste minister' and such pathetic third-rate politico stuff.

Seriously guys, how can you expect the sensible masses to support and justify the regular excruciating antic show on serious business like International Cricket, where cricketers are role models for kids?

History shows that Keralaites have always admired and acknowledged talent. PT Usha was the delight of the state, and we're still all ears to what she says, and does. Kerala just love our 'black pearl' IM Vijayan and other footballers who adorned our state and national jersey. Which section of public haven't loved or supported our Track & Field stars like Anju Bobby Goerge or Shyni Wilson? Keralites may not be as expressive, open or eccentric like our neighbours in expressing admiration, but claiming that we're envious, jealous... lol! guys, you better open your wide-shut eyes!

Just see why Sreesanth alone had fallen into the odd bracket? You tell me why. Its obvious.

No one asks Sree to be another gentleman-personified Tendulkar or cool-dude Dhoni. Just be sane at the business end of the job. It is perfectly ok to be aggressive, neither do I see anything unduly wrong in this 'sledging' meme. Zaheer and Harbhajan are aggressive on filed without any animation or eccentricity, and it has worked very well for them.

In sledging and aggressiveness, you need to know what you're doing. You must be sure that you don't approach the sacrilegious red line. You're actions must be beneficial to the team. You needn't be a pestilential prick to get under the opponents skin. And lastly, you must know when it starts affecting your concentration instead of the opponent's. Sreesanth appear to be unsure, unaware of all the above.


Result: Boomerang! He becomes the scourge of himself and his performance nosedives.

One thing I beg of Sreesanth. Leave 'aggression' and such emotions at the door before entering the green, at least for a while. Just look back, recollect, reassess. This misplaced 'aggression' has only reaped miseries. Concentrate on the job and show us the 'once in a generation' bowler that Harsha promised us that you are.

 A rare sight for an Indian pacer vs a top class batsman tussle. Sreesanth's peach blows Kallis off the ground

We all want Sreesanth to do well for the country simply because he is a hugely promising, rare, match winning bowler India so badly needs, and also because he is a fellow Keralite. I'll be the first to put my hands up and say "I was wrong" if Sree eventually proves us wrong, with his consistent performances on the 22-yard strip. I sincerely hope to see that day. 


Images courtesy: Cricinfo, Flickrbuzz

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Ultimate wtf hits town: Indi Commandos

Was just drafting a photo-post on Trivandrum's new International Airport Terminal for my friend Srijith and his TrivandrumLife metroblog when this news hit me.

Kerala's IPL Team's finally has a name. "Oh what's in a name" is probably what you'll think. But there more to it than the epic #wtf-ness purging out of this christening misadventure.

INDI COMMANDOS, with a tag 'Kerala' added as a delayed, reluctant after-thought.

For those thoroughly baffled and confused at this out-of-the-universe name, there is a method to this madness. The explanation, you fools:

From Kochi IPL Team's official Twitter page @IndiCommandos

ha--ha--ha--very funny. Feast time for Twitter guys and lampooning-experts. Nothing will beat this except for a Yarukku yaro sequel (or original). And what if we read between the name-letters?

The owners have no intention at all to carry on as a Kerala Team. If the name is any indication, this is an unscrupulous trick on the people of Kerala into believing that they own the team. No way someone would approve such a crappy name for such a serious business. Indi Commandos? Well guys, the name itself has more than 75% of serious profane nature as this Tweeter indicates. Fill in, don't!

 This is the problem with us mallus and our Malayalam language as a whole. ONV winning the Jnanapit is one thing, but whatever prefix you add to that 'ndi' it becomes obscene, which demands a strict A-inside-a-circle certificate. And with the slang and style we speak our language, especially towards the southern part of our state, this name is not going to be a tasty choice.

Remember the trouble our ace film lyricist Gireesh Puthenchery went through after writing this piece?

"Onnam vattam kandappam penninu K-I-N-D-A-N-D-A-M"

This is not a joke; my dad beat up my brother because the bloody bugger dared to sing it at home! Mind you, it was a hit number featuring Mohanlal. Language, my dear fellas, language. Especially Malayalam where people are so street smart that they see double,triple and all the hidden meanings in cosmos for every word/ phrase. We didn't want this I-N-D-I thing, no.

And Showsanth, Jadeja and co are the Commandos. Indi-martyrs?

Certainly the brain-stormers received a rude, unpleasant shock when they opened social media tabs. So here comes an interesting update! Awe...

Gotcha? The space between the 'indi' & 'commandos' is gone, "Kerala" suffix comes in to ascertain the 'proposed' location of the team and two goddamn exclamatory marks.

Blogger Vadakkus has compiled a cracker of a list of some pretty hilarious tweets of this frivolous christening. I think you all should read this :-)

http://vadakkus.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/indicommando/

I feel sorry for these guys, Windchime Communications, who've been given the job of 'social media marketing' for Kochi IPL Team. Task cut out guys, the mock-fan pages and hashtags have gone uber-viral on Twitter & Facebook...Good luck cleaning the muck. Damage control mode seems to be in order.

And if that's not enough, they've got a brand logo befitting the epic fail name. First looks tell me that this is the second runner up for a kinder garden crayons competition.

There is only one last thing left for Kerala's IPL nightmare. A theme song and promo video. Heard Priyadarshan is on the job. Man, take my advice and stick on to your remakes and Coca-Cola ads. This gonna be a sinking ship; only thing left to see is if it'll set sail on its first voyage or when it'll go down.

Tweetworld is ablaze. Such has been the preposterousness on the microblogging site that 'Kundi Commandos' tag was trending in India after the announcement. If you're not familiar with colloquial Malayalam, 'Kundi' means 'ASS'. Raw and plain profanity. Yeah, you wouldn't want your mummy hear you uttering that!

And so is Facebook. This has been so outrageous that the IndiCommandos satire page on Facebook has already more fan growth than the official page. 1000 members in under an hour! rofl! Congrats Kochi Team owners.

After over an year of roller coaster ride, costing a Minister his job, a hi-flier cricket boss into an asylum-seeker crook-on-the-run, ownership mysteries, money laundering  fiasco, team selection comedy and goof ups with more wicket keepers and spinners than batsmen (for T-20 team! ) this is what the head honchos of Kochi's IPL Team have come up with. This is what happens if you think too much for trivia.

Ultra #fail, epic ^2 proportions! Two to one that this one makes into Warwick Business School list for biggest branding disasters.

Kochi team think-tanks, I'm happy you all didn't decide to be priests naming babies. 

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Shashi Tharoor: A year into the job

Spoiler: This post is a mere look-back on my MP Shashi Tharoor and how he has fared as the most hyped-up representative of Trivandrum. If you're looking forward to discussing the likes of cattle class, interlocutor, IPL and so on,  then you may please close this browser window asap. I propose to look at something very different and in all probability pretty uninteresting. Thanks...

The dates connoted in the passage indicate the tweets of @ShashiTharoor. You can access the tweet-archive on twimp.in or tweeple.in

I'm least bothered about the Foreign Policies and the erstwhile External Affairs conundrum of Dr. Tharoor, its all Greek and Latin for me. This is my perspective of my MP from my constituency and state, simple as that!

Dr. Tharoor surely must've taken this first year as an internship to understand the internal games of Indian politics, and surely got some very hard lessons. The gains for Trivandrum commenced the very day he announced his candidature. The constituency hogged national spotlight and Tharoor deservedly climbed the steps into the Lok Sabha by squashing the now obsolete commie opponent by six-figure margin. Period.

But not before he was taught the first lesson in Politics by the Trivandrum DCC, that you needn't try too hard to create enemies in Politics. His late night party with a group of 'red-class' businessmen irked some local Congressmen who were getting irritated by the limelight a newcomer like him hogged. Tharoor did start well,  on way learning that  if ever there was a 7-day a week job it was that of a politician (May 17). Before leaving for the Capital, he held a 3 hour meeting on the development needs of his constituency within a wide range of experts (May 17) including fellow blogger Ajay Prasad.

On reaching Delhi and assuming the power at his Office of MEA, Tharoor diplomatically handled the doubts about his open tweeting and also pitched in for Trivandrum's long awaited demand on High Court Bench. He was different from ordinary politicians we see around us when he openly declared that the struggle for the High Court Bench couldn't be settled anytime soon and that there has to be a softer stand adopted by the Trivandrum Bar Association. (June 17) The appointment of the one-man commission by the Ministry of Law is a direct reflection of the efforts Dr. Tharoor put in for the High Court Bench.

From eating 6 mangoes a day (June 9) to meeting with CM Achuthanandan in Trivandrum (June 13) Tharoor soon realized his priorities should be the unfortunate sections of society who lives on <$1.25 a day. Inaugurating his first bridge at Kazhakkuttam(June 17), initiating steps for new Passport Office facility, (July 6) and the successful inclusion of economically backward girls in Rai Foundation's scholarship (July 29) saw Tharoor stamping his arrival on all arenas of Indian public life.

It might be ironical to see his caricature as the US-bred-and-spoiled, blackberry wielding NRI Minister who connected with his Twitter constituents and not to the roti-kapada-makan folks in his hometown. 

Tharoor, like other politicians, didn't jump in front of the camera claiming responsibility for the fruitful proposals for Kerala in Rail Budget ' 09. There was just a quite tweet that he was so grateful to the Railway Miniters for showering his constituency and state with the best ever Rail Budget (July 9). And he did continue his efforts to make sure that all the proposals got implemented. Papers have moved more briskly for the Kochuveli and Nemom development plans, though the Trivandrum Central modernization project is still bonded by Fevicol somewhere. Depressing to say though, the 2010 Mamata speech was a disaster.

In a quite robust event Tharoor managed to get Trivandrum twinned with Spanish city Barcelona, the idea being co-operation for city planning and improvement. It was another joke for many eager Trivandrum enthusiasts (and Tharoor deterrents) because of previous experiences with other sister-city projects. Remains to be seen where Tharoor and Barcelona will take Trivandrum to. Fingers crossed. But unlike his predecessors Tharoor took a few useful steps forward, including evoking an official Spanish interest in Trivandrum's dream project Vizhinjam, (that now VISL is seriously looking up at a G-G model) making sure that his brain-child wouldn't be left stranded and become a point for his critics to joke about.

Tharoor's panaciousness saved Trivandrum from losing of the Mental Health Center of Excellence originally proposed in Trivandrum, to Calicut. Tharoor did vociferously fight for the city but it appeared for a while that the executionery power of the State Govt would win. State Minister for health Sreemathi teacher almost succeeded in taking the institute to her constituency but as Tharoor would tweet later, an MP can influence the Central govt but without the co-operation of the State Govt nothing gets done(Sept 11). But the one relief is that this tug-of-war didn't result in the State losing an Institute, like what happened with the IIT. (You can read more about it on Hijacked City on TrivandrumLife)


Tharoor's timely involvement in the Sree Chithra Tirunal Institute of Health Sciences and Technology expansion plans may save Trivandrum from losing yet another prestigious development to Malabar. This has been the curse of this city,  when the Congress led coalition is at the helm its Central Travancore-Cochin areas in focus and when the Reds are in control its the Malabar region which is given the thrust. Tharoor has been a welcome relief for Trivandrumites on that count and episodes like IIT, NIFT, NIALS doesn't happen too often.

It might be imperative to note the way he used the foundation in the name of his late father, the Chandran Tharoor Foundation to assist the Neyyar Dam kids to access their school safely. Airport Development, new road developments and infrastructural initiatives have picked up during the tenure of Dr. Tharoor, unlike the previous regimes where Trivandrumites heard more and saw less.

Even small things matter. Tharoor was earnest in appreciating even minor initiatives from his constituency because his Tweets carried the weight of Gold. Tharoor happily responded to a local web initiative http://www.filmydum.com/ to promote their website by his tweet. (Feb 2)

A new working platform was formed for the integrated development of the capital region, TCAN (Trivandrum Citizens Action Network), for expediting the developmental works for the city. (Mar 13).

Tharoor did hint at his hands were tied because an MP didn't have executionery powers. Quite right, the LDF Govt getting cold feet over Trivandrum becoming like  a family property for Dr. Tharoor just like Amethi for Rajiv Gandhi. Quite interesting when you think that the likes of Mr. Vijayakumar who was the fighting warrior for Trivandrum, has almost gone into a shell.

Tharoor may still regard his most important achievement as bringing the  IPL team to Kerala. Rest is history. All in all, a Greek tragedy...A great cricket enthusiast himself, Tharoor was instrumental in bringing the Rendezvous Consortia together for a Kerala team above the much stronger contenders like Ahmedabad, Nagpur and so. His works also helped in expediting the Edakochi stadium by KCA and also in the putting the skids on the similar stadium in Trivandrum as a part of National Games. Tharoor was very vocal about getting the facilities ready in Trivandrum to hold IPL matches, even as we speak now.


Just not IPL, it would be cruel to suggest that he is not trying to uphold his constituency when he has mentioned about efforts to bring in world-class events to Trivandrum, like the Hay Literary Festival (May8). These kind of events may give our local economy great boost than TRIDA building a market complex.


Some people feel that Tharoor hasn't lived upto his expectations, that they see no 'visible' changes. Well folks, what do you expect to see in 12 months? A palm-island in the Arabian Sea off Veli or a new Burj Trivandrum in the CBD or a Maglev from Attingal to Kovalam? First time in my living memory I'm seeing someone who're honest and committed to his constituency and ready to look beyond the 2.5 crores MP fund. Remember, all what our previous MPs had managed to do with that money was re-thatching a few school sheds, building public toilets and tarring a few roads to their in-law's houses... Tharoor has pretty much addressed the most needed development needs of the city instead of promising castles in the air.

Its just one year folks, and Rome was not built in a day! A small example: We are just getting to see some obvious changes to the urbanscapes of Trivandrum after the road development project was kicked off 8 years back! So how wise it is to write the post-script now?


Pretty much of the Tharoor critics seem to run and hide when someone talks about pointing out a suitable replacement especially for Trivandrum. Even hardcore critics who care about the city, gumly agree that the city can't get a better one, well at least in the next few years. 

Perhaps my political viewpoints may change over time but one thing I'm pretty much assertive about. Trivandrum may never get someone as committed as Tharoor, at least we have a person whom we can speak to. As his Congress deterrents said he wasn't accessible, but how ironic he was available at the press of a button to you and me.

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IPL-Gate: Pun unintended

[Statutory Warning: Some names and associated statements may create severe indigestion. Have some Gaviscon ready if you have]

The dust has settled on the MEA innings of Dr. Tharoor. And as a politically inevitable response, we're going to see the vacuuming of the the dust, dung and dirt from this IPL dinghy which effectively ran-out the minister. But some quarters have brought in the much needed fun-side to the fiasco by letting the world know what they felt about this all. Who else do you think? :P

Lalu Prasad Yadav is literally 'aghast' by the corruption he finds in IPL. He wants the Govt to take over BCCI and IPL, annex it into the Sports Ministry and perform an anointment.  I can foresee which portfolio Lalu will be interested in, if he gets in next time. But Sir, we're impressed by your honest attempt to sanctify our system. C'mon let's commence from Patna. Cattle-fooder for instance?

btw, Mulayam Singh Yadav is also reportedly 'shocked' and 'stunned' into submission by the rampant 'favouritism', 'money laundering' and 'unlawful activities' in IPL. According to the UP Supremo 'Cricket is a foreign game, it ought to be banned in India and Govt should promote desi games instead.'  Seriously, I'd like to know was this fellow is smoking.

"Yeh IPL kya hai, kya haaai yeh IPL" (What is IPL?), explains Hon. Minister Vayalar Ravi. Listen.

"IPL is a glorified gambling with black money. The Govt must look into it to see who is behind all this. Who are these people, where does the money come from? It is a matter of concern."

Moment of Eureka from Mr. Vayalar Archemedes Ravi! But why wasn't there no concern about all this before? Its not as if this IPL had suddenly mushroomed in the last summer rain. It took 3 years, and ultimately cost India a Minister, to open the can of worms that is IPL. I really hope something productive comes out of all this mess. Tharoor mustn't be made a scapegoat for nothing, especially when the High Court rejected a demand for a probe and the IT Dept has cleared him off any gain via this Kochi deal.

The third edition of the IPL is currently underway and in just 3 years its think-tank Lalit Modi has grown from a null-factor to a money spinner, ie in virtually no time. His growth chart, which looked like a rocket trajectory is all set to come crashing down like the WTCs of 9/11(yes, promising to bring down a few surrounding him as well). Someone who is not afraid to take on even the nation's Home Minister, someone whose career credits speaks for himself. Highlights:

The Telegraph

According to documents in possession of The Sunday Telegraph, Lalit Modi was convicted by a United States court in 1985 after pleading guilty to charges of possessing cocaine, false imprisonment and assault.

He was put on five years' probation.

From a school drop out, to a US University student acquiring a criminal record in drug-dealing and kidnapping, carrying on to become the all-in-all of Cricket India, Lalit Modi has it all in himself to make it to a Union Cabinet. What more could BJP ask for? He terminated UPA's poster boy, tainted the Govt and exhibits remarkable ability in multiplying financial assets in geometrical proportions. Oh, I almost missed out on the bollywood-ish traits. Look who is on the ramp, arms all over the former Miss Universe!

image courtesy ibnlive.com

No surprise IPL has openly exhibited its liking for blondes, brunettes and the femmes of especially (and exclusively) the 'white' variety. Like the two black cheerleaders who learned it the hard way, as did Ms. Gabriella Demitriades, neither IPL nor Modi play by the rules of decency, transparency or dignity.

He always has a few tricks up his sleeve as well...like that cock-n-bull tale on television about his Twitter account being hacked and 'some material' being deleted. What material dude, we've not lost our marbles yet hey...

Nevertheless, his business model impressed even the media-gods of our times!  Look at Pronnoy Roy showering the crook with praises when his New Delhi Television heralded him as the Businessperson of the Year 2008.



The Ministry of Finance is going to probe into all sources of IPL funding. (Newslink) Mr. Modi way well take a good few of the team owners, proxys and well-wishers to his grave. The high-flier, I guess, would be hurt pretty badly by the incessant fall from such great heights. Gravity is a cosmic phenomenon, so is Newton's III Law.

Let's wait for the real names behind all these IPL franchisee to come out. Already head-honcho Modi is doing some explaining about his blood relatives and buddies among the owner's list of some franchisee. Something which has been given tax rebates in hundreds of crores may well turn out to be a 'family owned enterprise' altogether. Waiting to watch how many roads actually lead to Pope in Rome.

Down far South, and a li'l bit to the West, some of the local leaders have expressed their 'sadness' over Tharoor ouster. Ramesh Chennithala's feeble voice was the first to be heard AFTER everything was over. He feels 'Tharoor should have been more careful' and that it shows 'how committed Highcommand is about ethics in public life.'  Newsreport

A big rofl! Ethics in Indian Politics?? First time I'm hearing of such a substance existing, I sure hope this isn't the Dark Matter those space guys are searching for. I presume this Ethics roll is handed over to all the members elected from all Assembly & Parliament constituencies, Mr. Chennithala?

To crown it all here comes a Kerala channel with a 'Vision' which spread the nitrous oxide like wildfire... Someone created a fake Twitter account of the IPL lady 'Sunanda Pushkar' (which has now been erased) quoting that she was 'very hurt by the ongoing allegations'. Our glorious channel guys actually jumped in and made this fake tweet their 'Breaking News' by actually quoting the fakie!!

Seriously mates, who gave you your certificates? Any novice will pass that account as a fake, clearly indicated by the profile picture of the run-of-the-mill media shot of the lady and a multitude of other indicators.

Guys, please. This is enough. This will rank up there, among the now famous hot-dog crack-up of the listless commie paper and the persistent spoofs of Kerala's most circulated newspaper (gulp). Pity. 

As for the IPL-gate and the Pandora's box, open sesame!

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Odd man out

Shashi Tharoor resigns.

Winners:

Congress
BJP
Left

And the lone loser...

Shashi Thaoor.  And the millions of men and women including yourselves and myself who rejoiced a bit too much (and a bit early) to see someone enter our political scenario who could clear a bit of stagnation and odour from it. Sad, the system is rigid and primeval than we thought, so are the ones who control it.

But why just Tharoor? Because the greenhorn didn't learn the ubiquitous hide n seek ploy? In politics they say, if you get a chance to strike down an opponent, grab it with both hands. That's exactly what the BJP did, credits to them. Moreover its their duty and obligation to come out tooth-n-nails, especially when it was their darling boy Lalit Modi who was in a corner. They played the politics well, and Congress caved in without a fight.

If our national party is honest about fighting the so-called 'corruption' then perhaps Kaangress should open up the knickers of some of their own men, co-alition partners and friends and peep inside. How about Sharad Pawar and A. Raja for a start?

Any citizen of this country would like to know how our politicians amass wealth in hundreds of crores whichever way you do the math with their salaries and perks.

Ah, you need balls mate. A political neophyte like Tharoor made a perfect sitting duck for the party's double standards. The whole of Maharashtra and Tamilakam will come crashing down if you dare touch the above mentioned boys. The equation: politics= business= money has become the anthem in those parts, not so much in Kerala.

Not to mention our great leaders from Kerala keeping their tongues securely zipped up inside the buccal cavity. Characteristic, wonder if the old Kerala crab tale is a bare fact afterall. May be a blackberry yielding, handsome, educated and trendy politician has given some serious mediocrity feelings to some of our khadar-clad netas.

But someone raised a very valid question. A successful UN diplomat who served nearly 3 decades in high ranking positions without ruffling a single feather has been such a glaring misfit in our system. May be the odd Tharoor-cynic is right afterall. Indian politics is not for the likes of him, give us more Pappu Yadavs, Shibu Sorens and Mayavatis.

The latter folks have got a glossy CV full dotted with exemplary qualities befitting an Indian politician. Murder, arson, rape, corruption...you name it. And they've learned the fine art of  feathering one's nest without even God Almightly getting a wave of it. Tharoor may have been a touch injudicious in flaunting his lady friend who just had a major gain from something he was involved. Right or wrong, but certainly skulduggery and favouritism didn't reach India with Tharoor.

Make no mistake, this is not the end of the road for him in any sense. Relieved of the duties of MEA may be a blessing in disguise for the suave diplomat-turned-politician. Now he will have apt time on his hand to sweat it out for his constituency and state. In fact, 4 years from now when he returns to the voters he would've been least judged by what he did at his MEA desk.

Talking about his constituency, Trivandrum may not have yet got a Burj Trivandrum or a Palm Island or a Mag-lev but steps for some realistic projects have surely been taken. My party has been spoiled in a sense, but nevertheless a folder of  Tharoor: The MP will be published here in a short while.

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IPL @ Kerala!

Its champagne time for the sports lovers of Kerala, especially Cochin, when the vibrant Kerala port-city snatched one of the just two spots available for the prestigious IPL T20 Cricket teams.


This could well be a shot-in-the-arm for Cochin and for the overall cricket/sports development of Kerala as this new cricket avatar called IPL may well be the beginning of a new era in our sorry sports tale. I'll tell why  in a minute.

Facts first: its the hitherto unheard of Rendezvous Sports World Limited, a consortia of a few real estate biggies viz Anchor Earth Pvt Ltd, Parinee Developers, Anand Shyam Estates & Developers, Film Wave Combines Pvt Ltd and private investor Vivek Venugopal (Elite Group, Trichur) that gobbled up the Cochin franchisee out of nowhere. The group fished out a cool 1530crore green bucks for the cricket team, ahem! In fact this Cochin team and the other one bought today, the Sahara India's Pune franchise shelled out more than what the first 8 teams were valued together during IPL- I.

Incredible! But when the 3 big money makers of Indian economy, the Bollywood, Corporate World and the Cricket Duniya come together who wants to be a skeptic.

Acting the Devil's Advocate here , just 2 teams are managing to show some green in their balance sheets from the last 3 years of 'business', amazingly the persistently losing  Kolkata team carried by Shah Rukh is among them!

Ah, when you invest such barbarian sums you have to give yourselves some time. But it's not just the money which gladdens my heart about this IPL dinghy, its the hope of this one benefiting the whole community is what attracts me.

Just like the English Premiere League...

IPL Cochin or rather it is called IPL Kochi, is going to propel the name of Cochin and Kerala to much more dizzier heights. Minuscule, some may think, but in this globalized world everything matters, especially when its country vs country, city vs city and even panchayath vs panchayath when attracting investments and nurturing their societies. The EPL has demonstrated how well sports could be used to the benefit of the whole city.

Surely many of us wouldn't have bothered about the western English town of Manchester if not for the glorious Manchester United team it hosts. And the two football teams this English city own have influenced the culture and economics of the city in a big way. I don't see why IPL would not replicate such a success tale in Indian cities given the popularity of the game in the nation.

 
Cochin is building its own stadium off the pristine shores of Edakochi to be the host ground of the new IPL Kochi team. The Kerala team wouldn't have been possible if not for the enterprising and cricket-enthusiast MP of Trivandrum, the charismatic Dr. Shashi Tharoor. Quoting Mr. Lalit Modi, the father of IPL, it was Tharoor who was instrumental in bringing together the consortia and presenting Keralaites with their own team, negotiating the strong contenders from Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Nagpur etc which had a better cricketing culture that ourselves.

It may take a good while before IPL grows into a much bigger and wider spectrum, knitting well into the community it supports. Is it too tall a hope to see multiple teams from the same city, like London having as many as 4 major EPL teams, but I think eventually second divisions will evolve for the competition. With decks being cleared for a cricket stadium to be built in Trivandrum (as a part of the 35th National Games) I hope the Kerala IPL team would be playing in my home-town as well.

There is one spoiler though. What I learned from the IPL is that there may not be much city-loyalty to be seen in the stadium, like what happened in Delhi. Mumbai's Sachin Tendulkar was cheered full time when he smashed the Delhi bowlers in their own den. Its usually the players that create a heart-chord for supporters and I have a private fear that I'm sure many of you guys may share...

I just heard NDTV speculating that this guy, the one you see here, might be captaining the IPL Cochin team.. Now, sorry for being rude and cheeky, but we haven't done that many sins to deserve this, have we?? Sorry Sreesanth, you've been a very very poor ambassador for our state.

Sure, if a group of lions are led by a donkey then I'd not rather mention the fate of the poor herd of lions... :P

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