Mr.chidambaram - You are wrong about patriotism and IPL!

There are only two politicians from tamilnadu who i admire namely vaiko and P.chidambaram. But P.chidambaram calling on IPL to postpone or scrap the event in the name of patriotism is plain stupid and dirty politics. It is nothing patriotic to delay or postpone a previously scheduled International event but only understates the incompetence of the folks who are in charge of our national security and unfortunately it includes chidambaram one of politicians you can admire for various other reasons.

The politics behind the decision is very clear that congress want to strike back at Sharad Pawar the NCP chief and other BJP sympathisers who are part of Indian cricket. When elections are scheduled over two months period it's foolish to think that whole country should come to a grinding halt and that too during clear signs of economic weakness in the country and in the greater part of the globe. Indian politicians seem to think elections as the whole and only part of democracy but they are completely wrong.Also remember IPL was scheduled long before elections and knowing Indian politicians i wouldn't be surprised if the elections were scheduled in the middle of hot scorching summer just to spite IPL

Shame on Congress and Chidambaram for staging this political drama. Actually patriotism would be congress taking a policy decision to deny tickets to criminals during the elections. What are the odds that will congress make such a decision in the name of patriotism? Actually better odds are on the mythical Himalayan Yeti showing up on your doorstep!

SlumDog Millionaire a Fetish poverty porn?

Who said porn is not mainstream, Danny Boyle proves thru slumdog millionaire that porn could be mainstream and you can win worldwide reviews and accolades as long as the subject is poverty not sex. Slumdog millionaire is not just poverty porn and it has an added element of fetish to it.(Boy jumping into a pool of excrement and walking out of it). Danny Boyle has gauged the pulse of its audience very clearly and delivered a crisp fetish movie which celebrates Indian poverty.
Danny Boyle deserves the credit for the film's crispness but movie would not have received the same accolades and awards if not for the fetish poverty tinge which runs throughout the film and the film's association with city of mumbai which was just recovering from a terrorist attack allegedly masterminded by pakistan based Islamic Terrorist. As for Rahman his score for the song 'Jay Ho" was very average compared to his Masterpiece "Roja".

To Save India - BJP and Congress Should Come together or Presidential form of govt

The one thing mumbai terror of last week has shown us the country lacks the political will to counter the jihadi and terrorist forces. We cannot blame politicians alone for the mess but some blame has to go to the electorates too who have started rendering fractured verdicts in the past few national elections. Only way this situation can be resolved is to have a executive branch of govt which is totally separate from legislative branch. Do away with the primeministerial post and elect president directly and give the president power to appoint his own cabinet either from the common population or from the legislative members.

As the presidential solution needs a lot of political will which always seems to elude indian politicians because of their divisive nature of politics, the best alternative solution would be for BJP to move towards the left and congress to move towards the right and form a national government to fight terror. BJP should jettison Shivsena, Bajrang Dal from his coalition and congress should move away from anti india forces like communist and also severe its aliances with divisive regional forces like Lallu, Mulayam and Sharad Pawar. This is the only way Indian govt could have strong mandate to fight terror without any compromise otherwise India's ability to counter terror will be diminished by divisive forces like communalism,Minority appeasement and pro china forces like the CPI and CPM. Jai Hind!

Javed Mianadad calling out BCCI

Javed Miandad best known for his last ball six and the man who put aside any doubts about Evolution theory with his infamous antics during a confrontation with kiran more on the cricket field. Now he is talking about BCCI being a bully and unethical. For a Man who hob nobbed with known Inernational terrorist like dawood ibrahim and got his son married to his daughter talking about Bullying and ethics is beyond credibility. When Dawood was an international terrorist he arranged this marriage and shared the same platform with dawood in karachi. It is ridiculous that PCB which begs BCCI everytime to bail itself out by arranging unscheduled tours to pakistan has it's director general taking up arms against BCCI. It's well know that beggars cannot be choosers but may be you can if you have known terror links. PCB has to get rid of this clown and know terrorist sympathiser before he does more damage for pakistan cricket

IPL popularity Trends vs NBA,NFL,MLB, AFL for the final week 06/01/08

For the final week of the event Google Search trends/metrics for IPL generated more search volume compared to all four professional leagues other than NBA.NBA generating more audience is no surprise because NBA conference finals recently concluded and the much expected Laker-Celtics NBA final matchup is on schedule next week. Based on the graph, it is clear that IPL search volume had a slight increase during the final week of the tournament and still lagged behind NBA. But for all five week IPL has consistently outperformed AFL and NFL, kept pace with MLB and underperformed NBA in the web search trends.


English and Australian media always ridiculed IPL as a money grabbing event and relevant to only indian audience but actually IPL search trends have created a blip in every major cricketing Nation and USA, whereas AFL and English county cricket championship failed to create any palpable interest other than their respective nations. I have added a second graph for the final week plotting IPL search trends against AFL and English county cricket
Click on the images below to view it larger and in a separate window

IPL vs NBA,NFL,MLB and AFL



IPL VS AFL and County Cricket

IPL Popularity for the week of 05/25/08

For the fourth week in a row Google Search trends/metrics for IPL generated more volume than AFL(Australian Football League) but less than NBA and MLB. But IPL search volume rose compared to NFL search Volumes. MLB and NBA generating more Internet audience is understandable because NBA conference finals are in full flow and MLB's regular seasion is shifting into next gear. Based on the graph, it looks even though IPL search volume has plateaued but it never had a drastic fall as everyone imagined

Click on the image below to view it larger and in a separate window

IPL disappoints naysayers and critics

IPL in nearly a month of it's existence kicked the ass of all it's naysayers and critics. Should i say arse because mostly the critics have been uptight, tea sipping english folks! IPL has quashed all the criticism ranging from commercial viability to safegaurding the integrity of the game. IPL's popularity and ad rates have been going up because of increased tv viewership. Eventhough cricket is predominantly a man's world, IPL has garnered enough eye balls from the fairer sex when lady charmers like dhoni, tendulkar, shewag and ishant are involved. The argument that 20/20 will involve total domination of bat over ball has been grounded to dust. Actually it has been a very even contest compared to ODI's. Bowlers are getting better everyday as they get more experience in this form of game. One thing that has surprised even the worst critics is how competitive the games are and the committment shown by all players involved in this tournament.

Critics lamented 20/20 will spoil the young talent because of the hard hitting nature of the game. Hope this critics had chance to see youngsters like Rohit Sharma, Gambir, Badrinath and Abhishek Nayar. I am sure you are going to hear more about most of these fellows in other forms of the game in the near future.
Also IPL has given us the chance to see some Legendary performance from Mcgrath, Warne and Akthar who haven't been seen in action for a long time. Eventhough I don't agree how Akthar's ban was circumvented to make him play in IPL(compared to how harbhajan was banished from the tournament) but you cannot argue the effort and performance he put out in his first game.

Except for the stadia infrastructure(which is definitely improving) and the horrible official website , IPL has exceeded all expectations. If English and Australians have organized a tournament of this stature the world media would have heralded it as the second coming of jesus or the next thing since sliced bread and invention of wheel.Because it has been managed by folks in jaipur, chennai and mumbai it is getting mixed reaction. This anathema exihibited by Media against anything to do with Indian cricket makes IPL stronger!Today CNBC US network is highlighting how cricket and IPL is changing the hopes and attitude of young indians who want to play this game in it's street signs show. Hope IPL taught English and Australian Media a lesson in capitalism if they haven't learned it from USA where it has been flourishing in all four major sports