Abhyudaya

Travesty of extravagant shot making

2009-03-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

For last 2 days, I have been following the 2nd Test match between India and New Zealand. Not once, not twice, but thrice now have I seen Indian batsmen disdainfully hitting Kiwi bowlers and getting out subsequently.

First, Sachin Tendulkar - The master tries hitting Jeetan Patel off attack by hitting him for 6, 4, and 4. In his next over, Jeetan bowls a similar delivery, and gets Sachin caught in the slips.

Second, Virender Sehwag - When Boycott said, 'Viru has no brains', he was not completely off the mark. Consider the scenario - India is following on a deficit of 300+; Viru the skipper shows utter disrespect to Jeetan Patel and tries to hit him for a 6 the very first delivery, miscues, and ends up with a 4. Next delivery, Viru tries again, plays an ugly cross-batted shot, and is plumb lbw.

Third, Rahul Dravid - Well this is the unfortunate one. Vettori returns to attack and Dravid hits him for 2 glorious copybook boundaries. As Vettori comes back to bowl his next over, incidents mentioned earlier begin jumping inside my head. Vettori bowls a decent delivery, ball jumps off Dravid's pads, short leg and others go up in appeal, and umpire gives Dravid out.

Australia is still not ready !!

2009-03-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

What a turnaround !!

After Australia conceded consecutive series defeats to India and South Africa, the latter at home, everyone was certain that decade-long Australian dominance in the world of Test cricket was all but over. In absence of the Warne-Mcgrath-Gilchrist-Hayden quartet, an Australian away victory seemed improbable.

But the machine that Australian cricket is, has seemingly churned out capable replacements. A 20-year old and a yet-to-be feared pacer conspired to bring South Africa on their knees only weeks after they were on seventh heaven. Johnson of the "Dravid-is-my-bunny" yore is back in full throttle. Twice in 3 tests, he has crushed Graeme Smith's hand and arguably SA's will.

The way they have outplayed SA in last 2 tests, Australia seem to be not ready yet to give up their numero uno status.

Bank of America rescinds International offers

2009-03-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

Signs of changing times I'd say. Authorities in the US have always known that H1B and L1B are much abused visas, but they kept blind eyes because they needed foreign workers. However, with economy in recession, there is no need for additional workforce, and so witchhunt has begun.

Lets accept the fact that foreign workers are welcome only when needed; domestic needs/interests will always take precedence. Developed world bandies about globalisation and scorns at protectionism only when it needs to do so.

Internationals who consider such expensive education/investment as MBA from US/UK business schools must appreciate potential down-sides, and seriously reconsider before taking the plunge.

US Business Schools Rankings

2009-02-25T13:33:00.000-08:00

Anyone aspiring to do MBA in US invariably scours various publications publishing B-school rankings. As someone who went through the same motion, I share the common belief that Business Week and US News are the two most, dare say only reliable sources.

I have tried to compile the historical rankings of various schools across years since 1988. I have a detailed spreadsheet, however ignorant of how to attach it here, I am publishing the summary.

Here is the summary:

Top 25 as per US News from 1990 - 2009
Schools and respective average rankings over the years.

1. Stanford - 1.47
2. Harvard - 1.79
3. Wharton - 2.95
4. MIT - Sloan - 4.05
5. Kellogg - 4.26
6. Chicago - Booth - 6.42
7. Columbia - 7.89
8. Dartmouth - Tuck - 8.58
9. Duke - Fuqua - 9.16
10. U. Michigan - Ross - 9.95
11. UC Berkeley - Haas - 10.11
12. U. Virginia - Darden - 11.68
13. UCLA - Anderson - 12.79
14. NYU - Stern - 14.21
15. Yale - 14.75
16. Cornell - Johnson - 15.05
17. CMU - Tepper - 15.35
18. UNC - Kenan Flagler - 17.76
19. UT Austin - McCombs - 18.41
20. Indiana U - Kelley - 20.41
21. Emory U - Goizueta - 21.46
22. USC - Marshall - 22.47
23. Purdue U - Krannert - 23.59
24. Ohio State U - Fisher - 24.71
25. U Rochester - Simon - 25.41

Top 25 as per Business Week from 1988 - 2008
1. Kellogg
2. Wharton
3. Harvard
4. Chicago - Booth
5. U Michigan - Ross
6. Stanford
7. Columbia
8. Duke - Fuqua
9. Dartmouth - Tuck
10. MIT - Sloan
11. U Virginia - Darden
12. Cornell - Johnson
13. UCLA - Anderson
14. NYU - Stern
15. CMU - Tepper
16. UC Berkeley - Haas
17. UNC - Kenan Flagler
18. Indiana U - Kelley
19. UT Austin - McCombs
20. Yale
21. Washington U - Olin
22. USC - Marshall
23. Emory U - Goizueta
24. Purdue U - Krannert
25. U Rochester - Simon

Based on US News and BW rankings, I compiled a cumulative ranking. As US News is considered more relevant in US, I gave USN twice weightage as BW.

Cumulative Top 25
1. Harvard
2. Wharton
3. Stanford
4. Kellogg
5. Chicago - Booth
6. MIT - Sloan
7. Columbia
8. U Michigan - Ross
9. Dartmouth - Tuck
10. Duke - Fuqua
11. U Virginia - Darden
12. UC Berkeley - Haas
13. UCLA - Anderson
14. Cornell - Johnson
15. NYU - Stern
16. CMU - Tepper
17. Yale
18. UNC - Kenan Flagler
19. UT Austin - McCombs
20. Indiana U - Kelley
21. Emory U - Goizueta
22. USC - Marshall
23. Purdue U - Krannert
24. U Rochester - Simon

Star Screen Awards - Akshay Kumar

2009-02-25T10:01:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, I saw Screen awards 2009. Sajid Khan was genuinely funny as he always is, notwithstanding Ashutosh Gowariker's fuming remarks, to which I partially subscribe. Farah Khan was a big drag, trying hard and failing miserably to sound funny. Shreyas, though a good actor, is not an engaging presence. For couple of hours, I subjected myself to listless performances, how much I wish Salman Khan of late 90s and early 00s were still around. 3 hours had gone by and nothing substantial happened, not that I was exepecting anything extraordinary.

Then I heard Farah Khan calling 'diva of Bollywood' Rekha, she always looks the same, to give away the award for 'Popular Actor (Male)'. Rekha, her expressions have become so stale, announced Akshay Kumar's name, no surpises there. Anyone who can make 'Heyy Baby' and 'Singh is King' superhits has to be 'most popular'. So there was Akshay Kumar, walking as a rock star towards the podium to collect the award from his 'Khiladiyon ka Khiladi' co-star. He took the statuette, swayed a little, and then began the SPEECH. I try to recap what he said: 'I saw Ghazni, and needless to say, Amir Khan's performance was much better than mine in SIK. I refuse to pretend that I am better than him this year, and so cannot accept this award'.

Here is the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv2U3bnCGxo

Not that I didn't know this, but the enormity of the moment, and Akshay's brutal honesty made me literally cry; audience looked equally shocked. I replayed the sequence 5 times to believe that what I had just seen was for real. For someone in show business, where people have mountain-sized fragile egos, what Akshay did was extraordinary. I have been closely following Bollywood awards for 16 years now, and NEVER have I witnessed anything so spectacular. So many times, I need not recount, I saw unworthy people shamelessly accept awards and subsequently bask in glory. I am really glad that someone finally stood up, hats off to KING Akshay.

After I saw this, I began googling to find out media's response. I discovered various reasons behind Akshay's apparently noble act : 'Akshay was pissed off with organisers', 'Akshay and Amir in an unholy alliance', etc., etc. I was shocked to find such cynicism in media. Seemingly, media is uncapable of accepting that a star-without-pedigree can perform such a noble act. Rather than hailing Akshay, media is all out to prove that the act is nothing more than a stunt by the 'Khiladi'.

Not that I am certain of Akshay's intentions, but why such widespread cynicism ? Why can't I hear a single voice hailing a seemingly noble act ?

Honour to India !!

2009-02-25T08:31:00.000-08:00

Last month I read Sanjay Dutt's interview to IBN, in which he casually mentions, 'I am an UN ambassador which is a big honour to India'. 'Slumdog Millionaire' wins Oscars, and we begin proclaiming from rooftops 'The win is an honour to India'. Resul Pookutty invokes 'Om' and India's civilization in his acceptance speech as if he is at 'Parliament of World Religions' and not 'Academy awards'. Someone gets a job at NASA, someone with Indian parents gets elected to a democratic office in the US, and the events are dubbed as 'big honour to India'.

Seemingly, whenever an Indian succeeds in anything remotely international, his/her success is considered 'honour to India', as if the whole country is under scanner. For last couple of years, the phrase 'honour to India' has been used so frequenly that soon if someone with Indian grandparents gets elected to some town hall committee in Timbuktu, I am afraid the event will be considered an 'honour to India'.

Is India so desperate for honour that it hijacks individual accomplishments of its citizens as its own ? Kudos to Rahman, kudos to Resul for whatever their achievements are in their chosen fields, but I cannot bask in their suceesses as if those are my own. I like listening to Rahman, but his getting Oscars make me only as proud as Waugh/Lara getting ICC awards (makes). Limit these achievements to what these are, individual accomplishments, and not elevate these to national honour/pride.