USD 1 Billion roughly translates into Rs8500 crore and this amount is roughly 4 times the money purportedly spent by Ambani clan on Anant Ambani’s grandiose marriage ceremonies.

I have nothing against the rich splurging their money on the events or for purposes that they hold important or dear. After all what’s the purpose of making do so much money, if it’s not to be spent as per one’s whims and fancies! If the money earned is not to be spent, then the millionaires of the world should not own islands, villas, private planes, yachts or buy rolls Royce, alpha Romeo’s or the most precious designer jewellery. In this matter, I am at odds with the popular trolling against Ambanis for having splurged their money on Anant’s marriage.

However, the above quoted figure of USD 1 Mio is donation by one Ms Ruth Gottesman to Albert Einstein College of Medicine with an objective to making education at college tuition fee free! She’s the former professor of the medical school and the current chairman of the Board and the donation money came from her late husband’s investments who advised her to use it as deemed fit! And what an incredible use has she made of the inherited money by making it possible for students to study medicine free indefinitely!

Billionaires of the world should splurge their money, because splurging also gives a boost to the economy. There have been fringe benefits of Ambani’s events on Jamnagar, Mumbai, fashion industry, precious gold and jewellery makers, hospitality etc and they have all the right to use their money as they like it. I am also aware of several charitable initiatives by the family trust and by Neeta Ambani in particular. But a donation like Ms Gottesman is something that kind of makes a deep impact on humanity and such initiatives are expected from all the world’s billionaires that would ultimately cause a visibly change on the ground situation marred by hunger, poverty and lack of access to medical facilities.

We receive our first bearings from our family elders – mainly parents and grandparents. Are they our gurus? When we go to school, our teachers become our idols. As modern day schools are slightly different from Gurukuls or madarsas that are supposed to provide more holistic education, schools being more a modern day concept, for our teacher gurus, we in any case have a dedicated teacher’s day. When we turn professionals, we learn the tricks of the trade from so many – our juniors, contemporaries, seniors, bosses – and in the process, idolise and adore a few. Are these all our gurus. Then there are actual gurus, godmen, to whom some of us go for blessings, enlightenment, progress et al.

The above thought came to mind when on my WhatsApp, I received Guru Purnima wishes from an erstwhile colleague. All through I have known him and several others too, to be extremely respectful to me, but to be treated like a Guru is the most humbling feeling. Towards the end, this is one’s true earning – love, respect, adoration, remembrance- from one’s erstwhile colleagues, long after one has demitted the position of power. Rest everything else is material – a must and a source of comfortable existence, but not part of life’s lasting achievement. 

To sum up, all those from whom we learn and imbibe something, who treated us well and made our professional journey comfortable and memorable and who helped us in evolving as better humans are our Gurus. The modern day bosses and managers can certainly practice a bit of this as a larger purpose and objective, what we all are exhorted to by management books and programmes. 

188 tests, 704 test wickets and the last game played at the ripe old age of 42 years, when most of the contemporaries would have become either coaches or commentators, are some of the highlights of the great career that James Anderson had, who just hanged his shoes after his last test against West Indies just 3-4 days ago.

A few months ago, his long time bowling partner, Stuart Broad, called it a day after ending a glorious career that saw him taking 600+ test wickets. And Anderson and Broad were the spearheads of English pace attack for many years, sharing a record number of wickets between them. Broad’s retirement would have put some pressure on Anderson also to retire, but probably he wanted to set a record by claiming 700 wickets, to which he was so close at that juncture, and that would be a near improbability for a pace bowler, given the wear and tear a modern day pace bowler faces!

Like in case of Broad, here also English skipper persisted with Anderson to take the last wicket and end his glorious career on a high note. In fact, the batter offered him a caught and bold chance, which Anderson could not latch on to and the match was then finished by the debutant bowler Atkinson, who made a dream debut by recording a figure of 12/106 for the test!

As aforesaid, I do not see any of the current pace bowlers reaching anyway near to Anderson’s figures and if and when anyone reaches there, such an event will not take away any glory from Anderson’s great achievement! Also, his life and achievement will serve an inspiration to young cricketers to be persistent, perseverant, fit, healthy, hungry and ambitious!

All the best Jimmy Anderson for a great next innings!

When an extraordinary effort results in an extraordinary outcome, it’s certainly an occasion to rejoice. But with the world being full of naysayers, who try to look for a negative in every good thing, sometimes even the extraordinary events can come under an unnecessary controversy!

I am referring to that game changing superhuman effort extraordinaire by Surya Kumar Yadav that tilted the match decisively in India’s favour! A few naysayers, antagonists and pessimists ( I feel like calling them enemies of the game of cricket and team India) who have nothing better to do other than looking for flaws in something that’s absolutely perfect , are just crying hoarse and wasting their energies!

It was a great effort that was reviewed and found to be in order. And for a moment if we believe that there was a judgmental error, has such an error or interpretation happened for the first time? High time for these couch potato naysayers, who are the very antithesis of the sportsmanship and the spirit of the game of cricket to shut their mouth and acknowledge the great show by Surya and team India.

First it was Pakistani legend, Inzamam-Ul- Haq, casting aspersions on Arshdeep’s ability to reverse swing the ball in the 15th over, which as per him, wouldn’t be possible without ball tampering. Now, there’s another controversy regarding Surya’s extraordinary effort in completing that spectacle of a catch to dismiss David Miller in the last over. As per some reports, the boundary line had shown movement during the process.

My take on both the above controversies is that transparency in the game of cricket, due to multiple cameras, drones, stump vision camera, third umpire review has reached unprecedented heights, mainly thanks to technology, but also the game administration’s endeavour to minimise human errors. Umpires, who are humans after all, did use to give benefit of doubt to a team, especially in the matters of run outs, faint edges getting caught behind by keeper or slips, LBW decisions, interpretation of wide ball et al, but the modern technology and rules of the game have eliminated all these aberrations. And in both the above matters, when ground umpires, third umpire as well as other game officials have not detected any anomaly, who are these rabble rousers, irrespective of their past achievements, to cry for spilt milk. We, the cricket lovers, have always accepted Umpire’s decision as final with utmost grace.

I have a slightly different take on the controversy relating to the game of cricket. While I don’t deny practices such as betting (which can be legalised as anything legal at least fetches revenue to coffers) and occasional instance of a bookie approaching one or more players, this general tendency of treating everything as fixed, manipulated and staged is nothing more than oversimplification of a complex situation and a very banal thought. The devotion, dedication, emotion and effort by players can’t be faked! Let’s stop all this junk and start enjoying the game in its purity.

T20 World Cup had a glorious ending last night with India deservingly lifting the cup. The winning streak that started with the first match against Ireland continued till the very end and during the course of this roller coaster ride – roller coaster because pitches in US were batters’ graveyard- the new order clearly emerged that can be summarised as below:

(1) Team India no longer depends on one or two icons – it thrives on the contribution by each and every individual. Gone are the days when we would switch off TVs once the top 2-3 guys were out cheaply. This team bats deep with Ravindra Jadeja at no.8.

(2) There are no weak links in the bowling spearheaded by the world’s best bowler Boom boom Bumrah. The captain now has the luxury – he sparingly used the frontline spinner Jadeja and the seventh bowler Shivam Dube was used only once!

(3) India doesn’t have to worry about toss. Batters can chase any target and bowlers can defend any total! This is a rare attribute of all departments being equally strong.

(4) India currently is spoilt for choices. Look at the team that’s going to Zimbabwe for a T20 series, led by Shubhman Gill. All these players will eminently qualify to be the members of the team winning T20 World Cup.

(5) IPL heroes – Sanju Samson, Yajuvender Chahal, Rinku Singh – didn’t get to play any game as none of the playing members gave up any opportunity to contribute.

(6) And there cannot be a more befitting farewell to icons Rohit and Virat and Indian coach Rahul “ the Wall” Dravid for all of whom yesterday’s game was their last international T20! Seldom does one get to see so many icons together at the same time.

Another very positive outcome of this victory is the unprecedented love and appreciation that this team got from Pakistanis, including the masses. Once their national team was ousted, they chose to support Team India and this spirit of bonhomie and mutual appreciation should be capitalised upon to build bridges.

Congratulations Team India and thanks to all those who represented India, including officials, coaches, physios, standbys etc, with very very special thanks and best of luck to Rohit, Virat and Rahul! Party that started last night immediately after the result should not end but continued.

We have always heard that cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties and no one can safely predict what’s going to happen next in any game! This rule applies to all formats of the game – test match , ODI and T 20.

If the above is indeed true, why we as fans react so weirdly when any game doesn’t go our team’s way? Why the players whom we treat as demigods one day, become an object of ridicule the next day? What about the law of averages that states beyond doubt that no streak – whether it’s a winning or losing streak- is perpetual? Above all, while we all are passionate about our favourite game and its exponents, why don’t we reconcile to the fact that it’s after all a game and our favourite exponent a human!

Afghanistan’s rather pathetic display against formidable South Africa should not make the team and its players a villain from an overnight hero that they were after cruising into last four only day before yesterday. The people of Afghanistan should continue to rejoice at this extraordinary effort by their team that’s no longer treated as a dark horse, but acknowledged as a team of great substance!

In the evening, we witness the second semifinal between England and India. Given the uncertainties of the game, multiple results are possible – rain can wash out the game, easing India into finals automatically based on the team being a group topper, it can be a one sided disaster going either way like Afghanistan SA match, it could be an exciting hard fought battle going either way or it could be a tie going into super over! Let’s first acknowledge that we have sent our best players, who have so far performed commendably and then tighten our belts, hoping for a great game of cricket. As Indians and supporters of our team, we all want cup to be ours, but at the end of it, no one can escape the glorious uncertainties of this glorious game!

All the best team India!

There was a power break down and I woke up totally drenched in sweat. It seemed that I was sleeping without fan and AC for quite sometime as the room appeared to stuffy and hot. I got up and thought of making myself a cup of tea to get over the lethargy due to insufficient sleep. As I lit a match stick to switch on my gas stove, it refused to light up. The pipeline gas supplying LNG to my residence was not receiving gas from its source. As I opened tap to at least drink a glass of water to quench my thirst, I found the tap was running dry and there was not a drop of water to drink. I started feeling suffocated as if choking to death, when I actually woke up from my nightmare. AC and Fan were running, my wife was sleeping peacefully next to me but in spite of everything being fine, I was indeed drenched in sweat.

If we and our policy makers don’t invest in energy, water and food, the above nightmare is going to turn into a reality sooner than we can imagine. Monsoon is just a tad delayed and a bit weaker, but lakes supplying water to Mumbai are already dipping into reserve stock and yet meeting only partial requirement of water. Mumbai roads are infested with water tankers going here, there, everywhere. Power consumption in places like Delhi, reeling under extreme heat, has reached a new peak and any further demand for it may break down the system!

Things are scary, but in spite of tremendous progress in all walks of life, we seem to be unable to resolve the vital issues of availability of potable water, cheap and green energy and affordable basic food.

Sunday 16th of June 2024 is being celebrated as Father’s Day. On this eve, I can’t help but remember my father and have very fond memories of his life, well lived. A simple, hard working, truthful and complete family man, let me highlight some of his more unique attributes:

(1) He rose literally from ashes, having had to restart all over after being uprooted from Lahore.

(2) The entire world, more so the weaker sections of the society, was his friend and he had no enemies. Friendship to him was caring for his acquaintances and wishing them well and not the partying kind of friendship; he never partied.

(3) He had no vices; an occasional smoker that too he quit in his 40s.

(4) He was a stickler for punctuality- leave apart official engagements, even in his life in general – he had fixed time for all daily activities.

(5) He loved children and preferred to be with them instead of adults discussing politics, business or other people!

(6) He never traveled out of India ; he even didn’t own a passport!

(7) Above all, in spite of being a great father and a great son, I don’t think he had ever heard of Father’s Day!

Learning from the above is to become an epitome of excellence in whichever role life puts us into, without necessarily showcasing the role in this new fad of celebrating dedicated days.

Headlines in today’s national dailies are replete with formation of new government headed by Mr Narendra Modi, giving this government nomenclature of Modi 3.0. The following random thoughts immediately come to my mind at this subscript of 3.0 being attached to the name of the Prime Minister to describe this government:

(1) Generally, subscripts 2.0, 3.0 etc are used to represent the new or revised version, more so of a software. To that extent, the use of subscript is most appropriate as it’s  indeed the third time a government headed by PM has assumed office. 

(2) It can also be representative of a famous adage, “ third time lucky.” Let’s hope that this government is able to resolve the long pending cantankerous issues of disputes with neighbours, naxalism, terrorism, inflation, global warming etc.

(3) It can also mean the government working in third gear to implement reforms such as privatisation, asset monetisation, consolidation of banking sector, further fiscal  and monetary reforms etc at fast pace.

(4) Unfortunately, in the parlance of a race, no.3 is representative of “ also ran” or laggard, an eventuality that we all wish should never be a possibly outcome.

Let’s hope and pray for the success of the endeavours of the new government for the benefit of our nation and its citizenry. Let it be one out of the above 3 points or at best all the three, but never the fourth! Let’s wish the new cabinet all the best!