Sania Mirza - A Phenomenal Waste

There were days when Sania Mirza's name was taken in the same breath as Sachin Tendulkar or Vishwanathan Anand. Nice to hear all good epithets about her being the first female tennis player from India to cruise into top 50 players and all blah blah blah.

But the kind of support, idolatry, support she received from general public, Government, media, sponsors was unprecedented for a person of her caliber. Records & facts talk aloud. Except for "Hyderabad Open" (which was not attended by creme), she didn't win or atleast reach finals of any major tournament, leave alone grand slams.

Whenever she was asked any question about her consistent bad performance, she used to go wild at the scribe saying that she is not a winning machine and all crap. But when she is representing India and enjoying the luxuries related to that, she is accountable and answerable by all means.

Her pursuit of being an alpha gal of tennis, craze of making quick money through Govt perks, TV commercials only catalyzed her steep down fall, which is anyways expected otherwise.

Now all these facts are not news anymore, but i was thinking about all these when I recently heard about her marriage to Shoaib Malik, former Pakistan cricket captain now banned for one year under disciplinary action.

Ours is a democratic country and everybody is eligible to marry anyone of his/her choice and live anywhere in the world. No constraints. But she is a person who received a lot of perks for representing India and whatever she is today is just because people associated some kinda pride and patriotism with her winning for / representing India.

Today she answers to a reporter that in an event of India - Pak match, though she supports India, she supports her husband too. Obviously every gal supports her hubby but that doesn't go well with most of her fans or fans of Indian sports whose emotions flare in the case (or may be its my feeling). After Mumbai terror attack, India -Pakistan political vibes hit rock bottom and diplomatic, commercial, business and other kinds of relations too suffered a lot. Lot of voluntary measures were taken by businessmen too in solidarity with Indian Govt and Mumbai terror victims. And this is not a right wing rhetoric. It was felt by a normal citizen of India, but sadly our darling of masses could not apprehend that.

She is happy for having got her Pakistani visa and is seriously planning for Dubai permanent residence. Bottom line is she will not be Indian anymore (though she announces about her representing India in 2012 olympics and all) and all the money, love and support showered on her is a phenomenal waste....And her case is not like any other gal of India. India is loosing its pride in favor of Pakistan and Dubai in the era of diplomatic war with Pakistan....Period !!!

Mohd Sohrab must be hurting himself and Saina Nehwal, Koneru Hampi and others who were eclipsed by Sania mania and her PR & glamor must be smiling !

SCL Tycoons – Journey to its Zenith

IPL fever is on and clearly cricket fanatics are having a blast. I too am keenly following the third season and my favorite is quite obviously Deccan Chargers. But am equally if not more interested in the business dynamics behind this version of cricket.

BCCI, IPL, TV Broadcasters, Players..everybody is minting money. Win-Win situation huh ??? Not really !!! Franchise owners are “currently” on the receiving end as they are still grooming the potential cash cow. Vijay Mallya, Mukesh Ambani, SRK and other owners of franchises are all set to loose some initial bucks before milking the cow. Quite interesting ! More details on the revenue model in some other post.

In the same breath, talking about cricket in my vicinity, “SCL Tycoons” a cricketing subsidiary of our SCL Technology Solutions is on the threshold of its second season at EDCL. “Tycoons team” is an avenue to encourage talent in and around Greater Toronto and to diversify the corporate entity into new areas.

The team has already started huddling and are mulling over various strategies to make the presence felt in the strongest way possible. Team management, captain, vice-captain are trying out different permutations to form a consistent team. For the records, the team comprises of former Ranji Players, former under-19 players and many of the core players are former junior and senior state, district, league players and have played in other celebrated tournaments. The chairman of the team happens to be Robin Singh (former Indian national team test cricketer, former Indian team coach)

So it’s clear that I can’t even think of suggesting or interfering in cricketing decisions or strategies. That’s anyways an alien world for me and am a happy spectator, for now. But being a Chief Executive of the parent company, am contemplating on adding a value to the brand SCL Tycoons and also to the team-members involved with the brand.

All long-term management and marketing strategies will converge at

• Providing a platform to serious players to pursue their dream of playing for the National Cricket Team.
• Creating a Tycoons-culture and building a “pride factor” in players, owing to their association with Team SCL Tycoons.
• Acknowledging players’ performance and contribution in more than one way.
• Promoting brand SCL Tycoons and hence SCL Tech through media management & public relations.
• Garnering sponsorship deals for the team and team members.
• Generating revenue and re-investing the portion for continuous improvement of facilities

We mean cricket and we mean business...wish us good luck :)

Do Women Deserve Special Attention ?

When I was a kid, whenever I traveled through APSRTC buses in Hyderabad, I always used to notice captions suggesting that “respecting women is our tradition” and wondered why women need separate attention and respect. But it took some time (rather years) for me to realize the rationale behind such privilege to the fairer sex.

These days, we see a lot of hullabaloo about women’s reservation bill, women empowerment, women welfare ministries etc...But do we see the difference in our society around us? Very minimal, if any!

Young gals are still facing eve teasing issue, working women are still facing harassment of some kind or other at work-places, housewives are still changing their identities to get along with their “new” families and suffering domestic harassment, women of all ages, stature are still fighting (with or without their knowledge) with the society to establish their career, identity and life. This is the case of an average Indian Woman.

Gals are considered as “grace” “respect” and “beauty” of Indian households. Good till here, but the very gals are paying the price of being the respect of houses. How many gals in an average (or even so called progressive) Indian family can claim they had equal upbringing as their male siblings? Everything from their dressing sense, talking sense, walking sense is directed, managed and programmed by the elders of the family to save the respect and grace of their families. May be they have their own reasons, but the truth remains that equality is not as conspicuous in treatment as in words.

If families are liberal, society isn`t in many cases; barring few cosmopolitan areas of metros, no place in India is absolutely safe for gals. If a gal is liberal, she is stamped as lewd and the whole world is hell bent to take chances. If a gal is seen in a modern wear, eve teasers strip them with eyes and dirty looks, filthy comments as if it’s their privilege to do so. Buses, malls, roads, colleges, bus-stops...you see that everywhere. So there is an unwritten rule that gals who are reserved are good and all others are bad. Broad-minded, progressive are taboo words. And we claim to be a country where ladies are worshipped. Sick

We hear about casting couch in film industry. But that doesn`t mean its limited to film industry, We hear about it more often in filmdom as some kind of glamour, celebrated status and curiosity is linked to celebrities and actresses. But it’s equally rampant in every nook and corner of the society. Corporate world, Fine Arts, Government offices – you just name it. These kinda favours are sometimes asked blatantly and sometimes in a garb and the style / intensity differs from person to person. Good looking gals can get their things done easily only because there are perverts around who fish for their chance.

Housewives are domestic labour in most of the houses throughout India. We see a lot of funny jokes suggesting that men laugh for the last time in the wedding and blah blah blah but how many men realize that housewives have to don the roles of poor chefs, baby sitters, maids of the house. That’s the fact, not withstanding some very progressive and broad minded guys of the new generation. The lady who bears the brunt of the pregnancy and delivers a baby putting her own life at risk can't even give her last name to her li'l one. Tragic ! But that’s how our society is

All the afore-mentioned cases refer to well to do secure families. Now what about trafficking and girl abuse? We can't even imagine the plight of such women. There are cases where gals of age 5-10 are raped and thrown into the dirty mire of prostitution. Only because they are vulnerable. Let me confess that the whole idea of writing this post came out from this small video by Sunitha Krishnan. My heart bleeds when I see this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeOumyTMCI8

I know I can't contribute anything to this issue, except raising my voice in such platforms. Thanks to internet.

Coming back to the point I mentioned at the outset. Do women deserve special attention and respect in our community ? I got my answer now and it is YES.

A woman is a personification of love, grace and sacrifice. The woman is a beauty of home, grace of the society and respect of the family. She is mentally strong enough to take on the entire male dominated world full of hurdles. She is lovable, adorable. She sustains life and she makes the world a better place to live in. AND SHE DESERVES RESPECT.

I know Women's day was around the corner and this post would have been my tribute to the feminity. Better late than never. Just a word of love and support to the women you love might make a li'l difference to their lives today. Make them realize how special they are :)

I salute my mom, wife, sister, aunts, women among my family, cousins, relatives, friends, acquaintances in particular and all women in general for whatever they are. And yeah, whenever anybody addresses you (if you are a guy) as a momma`s boy or a wifey`s guy, take it as a compliment as I do :)

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani !!!

Few days back, when I posted the link showing Toronto as one of the most liveable cities in the world as my orkut status message, immediately I got a spate of hate messages which all mean “Why are you so proud if Canadian city appears in the list ? Are you an Indian or Canadian? Are you trying to show off your new found love towards Canada ?” and many more...huh...

I see many of my NRI friends don’t have good words for their current countries of residence. May be thats the way they show their patriotism and love to Mother India. And there are my good old buddies and relatives back home in India who mock me as an escapist or opportunist who slogs to develop foreign countries :)

And whenever I say a word of respect to Canada or feel good about the country, these people see me with despise :). So it is expected that if I love my home country, I have to hate Canada, don’t appreciate Canadian lifestyle and chant only “Mera Bharat Mahaan”

Lemme tell you guys, thats not me !

My question to all those who say that I slog to develop foreign countries: Do you know that I used to work for US clients even when I was a Business Development Manager of a software company back in Hyderabad? Today, lakhs of engineering graduates, MBA’s, MCA’s who work for software and few other industries in India too slog to develop foreign countries. I just do it from out of India to earn more bucks, thats the difference. And, it doesn’t mean that you are developing India if you reside in India :)

I pity all those who mock NRI’s life style as pseudo lifestyle and their trials to become one among the locals as fake. My simple question: Can you accept any non Indian residing in India if he/she doesn’t mingle among you? How many residents of India religiously follow Indian lifestyle, indigenous products and desi technology in their day to day life? The intensity and magnitude might differ, but dependence on foreign technology or lifestyle is an integral part of most Indians. AND-ITS-NOT-BAD.

If you are in an alien place, fall in love with that place. Thats the least thing you can do to express your gratitude to the place which shaped your education, profession, career, your outlook and improved you in more than one ways, financially of course. And it definitely doesn’t mean that your love towards home country is demeaned.

I express my respect to my current country of residence. This is the place which gave me an identity and whatever I’m now, I owe it to my association with Toronto and Canada. Is that a matter of shame? If I don’t like this place, why would I be here? Why shouldn’t I celebrate development and recognition to my new abode?

In the same breath, I love to see the name “India” in local newspapers, follow Indian politics, cheer for Indian sports teams, celebrate Indian festivals, watch Bollywood and Tollywood movies, feel for terror victims in India, feel good about developments, reforms, feel proud of accomplishments, sub-consciously look at India everytime I see the world map. Though I don’t say India is the best country in the world, that doesn’t stop myself from being proud of my identity, my roots, my Indianness. After all, we don’t need to be the best to love or respect ourselves.

I respect and show-off my association with Canada, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani..aur Woh Hamesha Hindustani Hi Rahega ! Its not the matter of choice, its destiny, identity and pride.

- Chandu Hyderabadi

My Take on Telangana Issue !

For the last few months, Telangana and whole Andhra Pradesh are getting boiled in this turmoil. Everyone has an opinion and so do I..and here it is.

I’m a Telanganite, born in Warangal, brought up in Hyderabad. My wife is from Coastal Andhra and I have a lot of loved ones from that area, my brother in law is from Rayalaseema and I have spent 4 years of my life in Rayalaseema (engineering in Kurnool). So I feel I have some kind of attachment towards all areas of AP.

Since November, a lot of people asked me “Do you support separate Telangana movement or Samaikhyandhra Movement? “. Huh....now do I need to support or believe in one of these movements? Friends, let me tell you that for me “Both these movements are sooooo UNREAL”. I don’t want to be part of either movements or political gimmicks.

To those who support separate Telangana movement:

Do you think your life will change if separate state is formed? What has separate state to do with development? Let’s assume for a while that all those statistics about backwardness of Telangana are correct. But how can you assume that a new state, a new CM can change things? There are some inherent issues which can never be solved by changing boundaries of the state. The only group of Telangana that would get benefitted would be political fraternity and nobody else. Get it straight.

Do you think there would be no differences among various areas of Telangana? When we say that Telangana is backward compared to Andhra, so is Adilabad compared to Hyderabad. So once Telangana state is divided, shall we start a new movement for separate Adilabad or Nizamabad as they are more backward compared to Hyderabad or Warangal? Then a separate state for mandals, towns??? Where will this end? Any answers????

Do you honestly feel that you don’t need any cultural exchange from Andhra people? Can you let go your love and passion for Telugu film industry, media, radio, Kuchipudi art form and other forms of entertainment which is predominantly sustained by people of Andhra origin?

Can you start accepting the fact that pilgrimage centres like Tirumala, Srisailam, Annavaram, Sinhachalam and beautiful cities like Vizag, breathtaking scenes of Godavari districts, culinary delicacies of Krishna and Guntur don’t belong to us anymore?
You may answer that all these don’t matter if we get our own Telangana. But brothers, just realize that we may get our own state of Telangana, but in this bargain, we will loose a lot, and a part of our identity too. Is it worth?

To those who support Samaikhyandhra:

Don’t you think that this so called Samaikhyandhra movement has been started by vested interests only to claim Hyderabad and all statements regarding “unity of Telugu people” are fake?

I heard people saying that Telangana without Hyderabad or Andhra`s contribution is like a begging bowl. Do you know that
- Most of the flow area of R. Godavari, R. Krishna is in Telangana and if Almatti saga is repeated in separate Telangana, Andhra can no more claim itself as a granary of rice. Period.
- Legacy or heritage of Telugu people roots back to Kakatiya Empire flourished in Warangal. There is no other place in AP which reflects Telugu grandeur or heritage as much as Warangal does.
-Singareni Collieries produce coal for most of South India and employs some 80,000 people;Ramagundam boasts one of the India`s largest thermal power station which produces electricity to many areas of South India.Ranga Reddy district is one of the most industrially developed districts with resources which can support large scale industries. Sirpur, Nirmal and lot of places support mid and small scale industries.
- Bhadrachalam, the second most revered pilgrim center, Basar the only Saraswathi temple in India attact thousands of devotees.
- If you still feel that Telangana is only about Hyderabad, think again buddy.

Hyderabad: The bone of contention. My friends from Coastal Andhra are heard saying that they are the people who developed Hyderabad. A small piece of information for all those who come from this school of thought
- Hyderabad is a city with history of more than 400 years. It was the richest area of British India, well before anybody can think of "developing it"
- People from Arabic world came, conquered and built state of the art universities (Osmania), hospitals, reservoirs (Gandipet, Himayat Sagar), monuments (Charminar), improved the way of life of Hyderabadis well before there were similar facilities in the rest of the country. But they never claimed that "only they developed" Hyderabad.
- People from Britain came, conquered and built railways, made Secunderabad the headquarters of South Central Railways, established convent schools and missionaries, built roads, highways and raised the standard of living. But they never claimed that "only they developed" Hyderabad. - Marwadis, Gujaratis, Parsis, Sindhis came to establish various businesses. So did people from Andhra, Rayalaseema and also from other parts of Telangana.
- Everybody contributed to the development of Hyderabad, but...but...nobody did it with the noble intention of "developing Hyderabad". They did it for their own livelihood and prosperity. Dare to disagree?
- Hyderabad is not developed only because it is a capital of Andhra Pradesh. If that’s the logic, how can Mumbai be a commercial and entertainment capital of India instead of Delhi? And how can New York be a financial capital and Los Angeles the entertainment capital of US, instead of Washington DC? Development occurs where there are resources.

How many people from Andhra or other parts of AP accept Telangana slang, culture as their culture. Telangana slang is always and only subject to ridicule and in movies, used only by comedians and villains. Even our very own Megastar did not / could not use the Telangana / Hyderabadi slang in Shankardada series though the hero of original version in Hindi used mumbayya slang. May be because "people won`t accept that" and the very people now talk about "unity of Telugu people and one state for all Telugu people". When KCR does his drama of hunger strike unto death or when Lagadapati Rajagopal performs his share of acting, they are trying to become Demi-Gods or future CMs of their respective areas and to support them in their political ambitions, people like us become fools and few people die too. Pathetic !

So it doesn`t make any sense for me to support either separate Telangana or Samaikhyandhra movement. I always belong to Andhra Pradesh and I wish all the people of the state respect each other and live with each other.

I would love to sing "maa telugu thalli ki malle poodanda" and also recite "naa Telangana koti ratnala veena". I love my identity as an Indian, as an Andhraite, as a Telugu speaking person and as a Telanganite.
Jai Andhra, Jai Telangana, Jai Rayalaseema (for me Samaikhyandhra is no more a good word). Your comments?

Toddling into the world of blogs !!!

So finally, I’ve done it. Launching my personal blog’z nothing short of an achievement for me. Though I’ve dabbled with blogs by posting huge comments, somehow I was a bit reticent to create one for myself. Thanks to few influential personalities, that I got rapt with the idea and I did'nt throw away much time thereafter.

If you think, getting carried away by an idea by itself is a good thing, you are wrong. I heard people say that ‘a planned start is half the success’. I have planned the start, but implementing the same was yet another project by itself. I found myself caught in a maze wherein I couldn’t decide how to start and what to publish (that’s the rationale behind this bland post. Please bear with me for few more days till I get accustomed to this kinda stuff !!!)

Writing huge mails and documenting professional stuff is a different ball game, but writing some blah blah about myself, without a clue of who the intended audience is really a Herculean task for me.

Either ways, the news here is that I’ve decided to implement the plan, I’ve sketched. Now coining an apt title for my blog is altogether a different hurdle. Then I wondered, how people are so fluent in translating their hearts into words !!!! Damn.. am very bad at that.

The bottom line here is.. I have decided the title to be ‘Vibrant Serenity'. Well, may be Serenity is the not the best of words which can shout aloud bout me or my attitude, but am sure people who know me and have seen me from close quarters would appreciate it.. and I want YOU to be among such people.. Who know me, who are close to my heart !!! Hope this made you feel special !!! Now get ready for the onslaught....

(Note: This is the post I've written sometime back (in 2007)in blogdrive and fortunately (for you) or unfortunately (for me) haven't updated anything after this.)