Hawkeye :: Murali’s Blog

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One step at a time …

Perhaps the wicket that made the difference. The Aussies went down down down from here and the Indians gained a momentum that was unstoppable ! Way to go … Chak De India !

and check these interviews too … rather cool

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Took me quite a while to get to making a blog post, but it was more the occasion I confess

My initial thoughts on today, the 60th anniversary of India’s independence are rather mixed, primarily because at first sight this is passing on as just another holiday, a day to watch the flag being hoisted in the apartment, read special features in the newspaper and beyond all this, perhaps nothing more significant. Which is so unfortunate, because through the day I have been repeatedly mulling over the significance of the day and the more I think about it, the more privileged I feel, here are a few reasons why …

That India actually made it to 60 as a Free nation is a enigma and one wonders whether it is because of Democracy or despite Democracy ! Consider the odds against it, Illiteracy, Corruption, Poverty leading to a huge Rich-Poor divide, Class divisions, Religious conflicts, Dynastic politics, this nation and its people have seen it all, borne it all and move on in rather typical India resolve. Whether that resolve is the by-now pathological ‘Chaltha Hai’ or a more deeper divine belief in one’s Karma & Dharma is something I am not able to understand, but it is there and it has got us this far despite all odds. Perhaps it is the same flavor of us as a collective that took us onwards through ages of foreign invasions and loot

India is 60 today, against all odds … & onwards we go !

Isn’t it amazing that today, we boast of the world’s largest Democracy (with Universal Adult Franchise) and one that works (atleast true to Democracy’s original purpose), now whether the people that this process elects are the merited enough to make laws and rule the country can be debated (& often quickly concluded that all of them are crooks, which again becomes the subject of another debate), besides we also boast of a truly Independent Judiciary and a Free Press. The 3 pillars of People’s Choice, Fair Justice and the Watchdog Press is an asset that the past 60 years of Free India have created and on these pillars would the future be made

India is 60 today, against all odds … & onwards we go !

Lets take another cut at this and compare ourselves with Pakistan (I can hear some of you reading this squirm at the very comparison … and if that is the case, then I rest my case), which became an Independent nation exactly a day before we did and look at where we are today and where they are. 2 nations both bound by the common trauma of Partition and a common reason to hate the enemy in Kashmir are today tending to be poles apart in terms of the basic factors that a nation should be made of. Pakistan’s recent history has been pock marked by sustained spells of Military rule, Martial Law, Coups, Religious extremism and an overall sense of middle age backwardness as contrasted with India’s appeal of a stable democracy, Large English speaking middle class and the world’s IT backroom boys. I am completely certain that for a comparable set of the population (say the middle class) in both India & Pakistan, the state of living both within the home and outside might be more or less the same (we all live in the same world and face the same problems), yet as a nation India and Pakistan are poles apart and the recent actions by Gen Musharaff in stifling the Judiciary and threats to impose Emergency are only making the difference more stark

India is 60 today, against all odds … & onwards we go !

That said, 60 is but a minor instant in a Nation’s lifetime, there is a lot of Labour left to do and so much more to achieve as a nation. Education, Health Care, Infrastructure, Rightful Equal Opportunity, Access to Capital and Sustainable use of Energy are but a few of the money strides we need to take as a Nation. It is great to be here this moment and feels even better to head on onwards, odds or otherwise !

We (Wife, kid & mother) are off to Coorg for a 4 day vacation at the Orange County in Coorg. Visiting the place was on my to do agenda for a long long time having read about the Tibetian settelement at Bylekuppe, Cauvery Nisrgadhama and Tala Cauvery (where the river originates), we are rather keenly looking forward to this one

eBay (the place where I work) launched a set of fancy flash-based widgets that can show a specific item / lsit of items / search results in a nifty looking widget for your blog, myspace page, yahoo 360 etc etc

It is very very easy to create (3 steps and you are done). Try it out today and dont forget to buy me something from the widget below

eBay To Go
eBay Launches “ToGo” Widgets For Any Listing

Advertisers on Yahoo Search can now enable users to buy products using their PayPal account. The merchant listings would display a blue shopping cart icon on the Y! search results page. This very clearly is an attempt to combat the Google Checkout program which pretty much does the same thing, but the big downside of that is that users would have to provide their credit card data to another source (Google)

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Menacing rain clouds gather Hosted on Zooomr

In Feb this year, I had the opportunity to watch the 2nd Final of the CB Series between England & Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). England famously won the tri-series by trouncing Australia 2-0 in the best of 2 finals. Loved the game, the crowd and the atmosphere. Even now I remember the days way back in 1985 when I used to wake up at 5am to watch India play in the One Series in Australia and how much I wanted to watch a cricket match at the SCG & MCG even then

• Watching Amber’s Webnation #

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• All photos backed up from various CDs to my external hard disk #
• My MTNL DSL line was down for a couple of hours … did experience some withdrawal symptoms. Backing up my Photo CDs kept me busy ! #
• just got twitter configured on Google Talk / Chat in Gmail. Does this work ? #
• ok ok ! it does work. Would I use GTalk or the Twitter Yahoo widget ? Decision time ! #
• Twittering the F1 Grand Prix @ Sepang, Live #
• Heartbraking start to the race, Ferrari’s have lost the advantage to McLaren Mercedes #
• Massa & Kimi attacking Hamilton, but the Brit is holding up rather well. Impressive for someone in his 2nd race … Massa hits the dirt #
• Now it is Kimi vs Lewis Hamilton, Kimi would hold the experience edge here #
• Fernando Alonso has built up a good 8+ second lead over Kimi. This doesnt look too good for Ferrari #
• Looking at the way Alonso is running away ahead, is he on a 3 pit stop strategy ? #
• Kubica pits … long long time … 14 seconds ! #
• Alonso is extending his lead at the top, going atleast half a second faster than hamilton & kimi #
• how much longer before lewis hamilton succumbs to kimi raikkonen’s pressure ? #
• @doctorvee was reading your blog about live blogging the Aus F1 GP, I am doing the same to the Malaysia GP right now #
• the big boys are starting their pit stops, massa @ 9.4 secs, alonso to come in soon #
• very impressive pit stop for hamilton, 7.4 secs … exits ahead of Kimi #
• hamilton is smoking the tracks, fastest lap of the race thus far 1.36.701. This rookie looks good ! impressed ! #
• half-way through race distance, McLaren looks to be the favorites for a 1, 2 finish #
• 6 laps to go, kimi comes within 4 seconds on hamilton in 2nd place #
• hamilton held the ferraris back rather well at the start of the race, will it be different towards the end ? #
• Hamilton is now in Kimi’s sight, 5 laps to go, lead down to 2.6 seconds. Go Kimi … Go ! #
• Kimi needs to finish 2nd to ensure that Alonso does not run away with the championship lead #
• praying for kimi to edge ahead of the McLaren of Hamilton #
• will it be a case of so near, yet so far for kimi. regardless of what happens, Hamilton has impressed me ! #
• Alonso wins @ Malaysia, Hamilton pips Kimi. Great race ! this is going to be a fantastic year of racing #
• Had high hopes from England when Bell #

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