Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Bharat Ratna & Tendulkar

Letter to the Editor

Bharat Ratna and Tendulkar

Kudos to Sachin Tendulkar on being conferred the highest civilian award of the country-Bharat Ratna. Tendulkar has created a plethora of records and he has added two more records in his kitty i.e.; the first sportsperson to win the Bharat Ratna and the youngest person to win the Bharat Ratna. Tendulkar richly deserves the award in view of his incredible exploits in the cricket field. While the records are there to be broken, many of the records made by the little genius appears to be insurmountable or unsurpassable as even the nearest contestant is far away from his records. Despite all these enviable achievements, he remained simple and humble and kept himself aloof from all the controversies. He was a role model for budding cricketers and a friend, philosopher and guide to his teammates

However, the timing of the announcement of the award was unscheduled and unprecedented. Whether it was motivated by Tendulkar’s emotional retirement from first class cricket or for converting the wide spread public sentiments generated throughout the length and breadth of the country to political advantage will remain a debatable point. In order to forestall any murmuring or criticism, Government conferred the award to an eminent scientist also.

Having won the highest award at the younger age, though at the end of his career, it is hoped that he will devote his entire life for the service of the nation. Since there is no dearth of people to sponsor and promote cricket, it is suggested that Tendulkar may channel his resources for the development of other sports, mainly Olympic events. Legendry athlete PT Usha also expressed similar opinion. The second largest populated country of the world returns from Olympics with peanuts making a mockery of sports. This is not due to dearth of sports talent in the country, but due to apathy and callous attitude of our sports authorities in unearthing, nurturing, promoting and developing talent. Being a sports icon, Tendulkar can play a pivotal role in creating world class sportspersons and m make India a force to reckon with in international sports, emulating our great neighbor China. This will reinforce national integration thereby strengthening the unity and integrity of a nation otherwise divided by cast, creed, region, religion, language etc. I am eagerly dreaming for a day when somebody break Tendulkar’s record of being the youngest Indian to win the Bharat Ratna by conquering the citadels of glory in an Olympics within a period of say 10 years reminiscensing P T Usha’s great exploits at 1986 Asian games.

E M Adithyan

23^rd November 2013

Monday, July 14, 2014

Vaividhaym Adithyante Vaidakdhyam

Tatkal Reservation

According to Railway Rules, “If the passenger whose identity card number is indicated on the ticket is not traveling, all other passengers booked on that ticket, if found traveling in train, will be treated as traveling without ticket and charged accordingly.” This rule is highly irrational, unethical and illogical. There may be several instances a person whose identity number is indicated on the ticket is forced to cancel his programme due to circumstances beyond his control like sickness, accident, death, (self or close relatives/friends) exigency of work missing the train or any other unavoidable reason. In that case Railways can verify the legitimacy of all the other passengers by verifying their I Card. After all, the passenger is not gaining anything by not travelling. There is not an iota of justification for such draconian rule. In the circumstances, imposing extra charge and penalty from other passengers of the group tantamount to rubbing salt on the wounds of the hapless passengers. Extra earning by Railways by such rules will be peanuts, but will be a harassment and ill treatment to the helpless passengers. The extra expenditure to be coughed up by the passengers will be colossal, in addition to the humiliation at the hands of Railway officials for no fault of theirs. It is hoped that Railways will amend the rules to make it more humane, by directing rest of the passengers to carry individual identity cards. This will not be a case of misuse of the facility and will not sabotage the measures taken by Railways to streamline the system of Tatkal reservation.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Football Telecast

Doordarshan has once again disappointed millions of football fans all over the country by not telecasting the scissors football tournament recently held in Kerala. It is the highest prize money football tournament in India and hence it attracts the best football talent in the country. Some of the foreign teams also participated in this tournament and an Indian club team was pitted against a foreign team in the final. For an average Indian a victory against another country or a foreign team is a matter of pride.

Football is the most popular game in the world and it has large followers in all nooks and corners of this country also. The mere fact that the stadium was overflowing with about 40000 spectators on the final day and many more had to return disappointed without getting a ticket is a standing testimony of the popularity of the game.

If the telecast timing would have clashed with national telecast, Doordarshan could have advised the organisers to adjust the timings of the final accordingly. Alternatively, the remaining part of the game could have been shown after the news. Anyway, there does not seem to be an iota of justification for completely blacking out this prestigious tournament.

Way back in 1982 Doordarshan won plaudits from millions of sports lovers all over the globe for its spectacular telecast of the 9^th Asian Games. Many people could not even believe that Doordarshan could reach such dizzy heights barely three months after the introduction of colour telecast. But with the increase in the number of channels we have been deprived of viewing several national and international tournaments played in Indian soil. The fact that many lesser known tournaments and other tournaments where Indians have no stake at all are telecast live only adds insult to injury. Earlier also Doordarshan failed to telecast the Federation Cup Football Tournament held at Kozhikode and National Football Championship held at Kochi. Doordarshan’s policy of telecasting sports programmes is difficult to understand. Or is it because all these tournaments were held at places far away from the corridors of power?

Friday, June 27, 2014

Sensational Start

The 17^th World Cup Soccer Tournament has a sensational start at Seoul. In the inaugural match, defending champions and hot favourites of bookmakers-France- was defeated by debutantes Senegal through a stunning a goal in the 30^th minute of the match. France appeared to be overconfident leaving too many gaps in the defence. They were also under pressure of defending the title with so much of media hype. Absence of star forward and playmaker Zinadine Zidane also affected their rhythm.

Football is a glorious game and no wonder; it continues to be the most popular game in the world. Perhaps in no other game, the gap between standard of top team and team playing first time in the first round is so narrow except in football. After all the teams reached the final round after gruelling preliminary matches in which 192 countries contested for the 32 spots. The fact that teams like Holland which produced several world class players like Johan Cryuff, Rijkard, Van Baston etc and finalists for 2 times, could not make it to the final round shows the intensity of the competition.

The defeat of defending champions highlights three cardinal things. 1) Don’t be overconfident 2) Do not under rate your rivals 3) Do not over dependent on any player. In the last world cup over dependence on Ronaldo resulted in the failure of Brazil.

It is hoped that World Cup will bring lots of excitement and scintillating soccer in the days to come.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Quest for Quality

The just concluded Durand Cup Football Tournament held in the Capital will long be remembered for one thing the dazzling display of IM Vijayan. Such was his spectacular display that he was the saviour of the team on several occasions and single-handedly took the team to the pinnacles of glory. His scintillating display over shadowed the great performance of many other players of different teams including the foreign players inducted by many top teams. The greatness of Vijayan’s feat can be gauged from the fact that not one of the several footballers of Nigerian origin who are playing for various Indian clubs could match the brilliance of Vijayan. (Nigeria is the current Olympic Champions).

Vijayan was born in a poor family and comes from a remote village of the Country. He spent his childhood in abject poverty. Vijayan’s success story should be an eye-opener to our sports administrators who always nurse a grouse for lack of funds and facilities for the poor standard of sports in the Country. It is not the lack of funds or facilities which stand in the way of our progress but lack of dedication, sincerity, team spirit and killer instinct.

Vijayan is undoubtedly the finest Indian footballer of this decade. He is having an enviable record of being a member of six Federation Cup winning teams. Twice he helped Kerala Police, Mohun Bagan and JCT to win the Federation Cup- the supremacy of Indian Soccer. Football fans have even coined a slogan “Vijayan hai jahan Federation Cup hai wahan.” In spite of all his incredible achievements, he has not been conferred with the Arjuna Award, whereas, many others with unimpressive achievements are Arjuna awardees. Indian Football’s low ranking on World or Asian level cannot be taken as a reason for not conferring Arjuna Award to this talented black pearl.

We Indians are reluctant to recognise talent in various fields. No wonder talented people leave the country in search of greener pastures. Many of them who left the country in sheer disgust due to lack of recognition and not due to lack of patriotism or greed for money or material comforts. India is having abundance of talent in various fields. But our administrators, it appears, are unable or unwilling to unearth talent especially from remote areas of the Country. Let our sports selectors and administrators come out of their air-conditioned rooms and search for talent hidden in carious parts of the Country.

If our sports administrators earnestly start their work right now with devotion, dedication and determination, there is not an iota of doubt that the world’s most populous country (by that time India may overtake China in the field of population) will figure in the medal list in the first Olympics of the 21 century – 3 years from now.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Hats off to Habib and his boys

WELL-DONE BOYS!

Hats off to Habib’s boys for their superlative performance in the just concluded DCM football tournament at Delhi. They are a bunch of energetic, enthusiastic and dedicated youngsters. TFA boys become the darling of the crowd overnight with their scintillating display and stole the heart of many die-hard football fans. The beauty and artistry of TFA boy’s play even overshadowed the magic of IM Vijayan, the most successful footballers of this decade.

These teen-agers from Tata football Academy once again dispelled the doubt that there is dearth of sports talent in the country. This is amply demonstrated by many of them playing first time in a major national tournament became giant killers without any big name in their ranks. This is also a testimony of the coaching prowess of Habib.

Habib a veteran footballer of the yesteryears and now a successful coach of TFA deserve all praise for moulding a crack combination. Habib’s brilliance can be assessed from the fact that after the match between Bengal XI and Cosmos New York few year ago, a person no less than legendary footballers Pele patted Habib for his stellar role in the drawn match. What our jumbo-sized sports organistions could not do for years-unearth and nurture talent-TFA’s coach Habib could do in two years.

In spite of having good coaches in the country, we are inducting foreign coaches who were unsuccessful in their own countries by paying exorbitant fees. Instead of inducting foreign coaches, we should provide international training and exposure to our own coaches to learn the latest techniques and finer aspects of the game. Indian football reached its nadir during the stewardship of Rustom Akramov, a foreign coach. He committed the biggest blunder by asking Joe Paul Ancheri to play in the Defence. Ancheri is lethal striker and no wonder even now he has the temptation to overlap and assume the role of a forward. However, for us Indians, foreigner’s words are like priest’s sermons and we meekly accepted the blunder.

The exploits of Tata Football Academy should be an eye-opener to our sports administrators. There is abundance of sports talent in the country and if everybody associated with sports make dedicated efforts, the standard of sports in the country will improve dramatically in the near future.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Veda Sammelanam

Translation Undertrials

Translation Tragedy

Translation Football

Translation Criminals

Pisukkanmarude Lokam

Nhendu Jeevitham

Madiyanmarude Lokam

Janasevakarude Nadu

Feeding Machine

Durabhimanikalude Lokam

Antharjanam

Aathemar

Monday, January 27, 2014

Nothing official-Skelton staff

When I joined Bharat Electronics during 1974 November, my first posting was in Internal Audit Department. In those days employees were properly placed and not misplaced. There are examples galore. Adithyan in Audit, Kashmirilal in Cash, AC Sharma in Air conditioning plant, Kanoon Kumar in legal department, Bhimsen in Canteen etc. Besides me there were 3 more Accountant/Senior Accountant in Internal audit, another lean and thin fellow Unnikrishnan, and two fat persons Sablok (Not all people) and Malhotra. Subsequently Malhotra left BEL and Sablok was temporarily posted to Regional Office New Delhi. (He remained there for 28 years and retired from there).At that time payment of final bills, purchase orders beyond some value etc were required to be vetted (Not wetting) by Audit before they are released. Some Auditors virtually wet the file containing the proposal put up for vetting by Audit through various means. Many Auditors love to sit on the fence and watch all the mishappenings so that they can come out with voluminous Audit Reports which takes months to read. This practice is being followed by several others also. (Latest example, Adarsh Flats). Now a days only Post mortem-sorry post audit is there. Head of Audit Department thought of empowering Accountants and prepared a draft proposal. He asked me to go through the proposal and give comments. The proposal reads like this “…..Audit is working with Skeleton staff at the supervisory level…” I told him “Sir, what you have written is literally correct. If Sablok and Malhotra were here, you would not have made such a remark….”