Okay, of all the TV networks which one was the best debate on match fixing? Well, for me it was the one on Times Now where our dear old Bishen Singh Bedi appeared half drunk. At first it seemed like I was mistaken but when he started talking I was more than convinced that he was indeed three or four drinks down, at least. A couple of drinks more and I’m sure Bedi would’ve told Arnab Goswami,” Oye, Chadd Yaar. Tainu Kee? Aye koi nai gall thodi hai. Salon se ho raya hega. CHEERS!!” or words to that effect. But you can’t really blame Bedi for this. What do you expect people to be doing at nine in the evening? Good people work through the day and party in the evenings. Don’t they? For that matter, Farouq Engineer who was speaking from Manchester, UK where it was around four thirty in the evening, was seen having a huge cup of coffee (or at least that’s my guess) because you are supposed to have coffee at that time.

Posted on September 3rd, 2010 under India calling. Tags: Amir, Asif, Cricket, fixing, ICC, match, Pakistan, PCB, Terror, war. Comments: 4

Do you guys know why we have military exchange programs with any country? Well, we have such programs with those countries with whom we envisage a scenario where our troops would be operating together to achieve a common goal. That is the reason we have such programs with US, UK, Russia, Singapore, Malaysia and a host of other countries with whom we have good diplomatic relations. If that be the case, then why do we have such an exchange with China? What are the scenarios where we think we would be working alongside Chinese troops? To reduce tension in South China Sea or Sea of Japan? Quite obviously, I really do not think that a such a scenario would present itself anytime soon in future. Then why do we need to have these programs?

Posted on August 29th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: China, Congress, govt, Manmohan, network, POK, retort, visa. Comments: 5

Do you know why Lalu Yadav was asking for Rs 80,001 as basic salary for MPs? No, it’s got nothing to do with the salary of cabinet secretary as was being widely reported in the media. You see, if you have nine kids you need that kind of money to run your household. Don’t you? OK, I know that was a poor joke. Nonetheless, I find myself agreeing with Lalu Yadav for reasons which I feel are worth talking about.

Posted on August 26th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: corruption, hike, Jindal, Lalu, Mallya, money, MPs, pay, salary. Comments: 13

So it was independence day, once again. Like all independence days I tuned in to hear what our PM had to say today. But I need not have because his speech was so boring, repetitive and ridiculous that I nearly fell asleep. And it was only eight in the morning. In fact this speech was quite appropriate for the last year, the year before that, the year before before that year and quite likely for the next year, the next to next year and may be even for next to next to next year.

Posted on August 16th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: 2G, BJP, Congress, day, Gandhi, independence, inflation, Manmohan, Maoist. Comments: 7

All of a sudden in the last couple of weeks the entire policy or attitude, if you please, of every Tom, Dick and Harry including the govt of India on Kashmir and Kashmiris has undergone a drastic change. Now everyone is talking about the feelings of Kashmiris which has led them to resort to violence in the valley. Even media personalities like Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai and Meghnad Desai (sitting in London) are constantly espousing their cause through regular tweets and columns in various newspapers. In fact Lord Desai even said that all stake holders must dilute their positions in order to reach an amicable solution.

Posted on August 13th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: Abdullah, autonomy, Congress, Hurriyat, Kashmir, Omar, Pakistan, Terror. Comments: 5

When David Cameron, the British premier, was in India he said what all Indians wanted to hear, “Pakistan must stop exporting terror.” When Zardari met him recently in London just days after this statement, the communique which came out after the meeting had no relation to his previous statement made in India. Not surprisingly, it said what Pakistanis wanted to hear, that terror must be fought decisively and blah blah blah. When Barrack Obama meets Manmohan Singh he refers to him as a ‘good man’ which is music to any Indian’s ears but when he meets Zardari or Geelani the words that come out are that America and Pakistan have pledged to fight terror to it’s end or words to that effect. There is hardly any reference to Indian concerns, though there is some lip service separately by their foreign office just to keep the Indians in good humour.

Posted on August 10th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: Cameron, communique, diplomacy, Pakistan, Qureshi, Terror, visit, Zardari. Comments: 3

If our nationalistic fervor comes to the fore and we get emotional while we watch patiotic movies like Border or during an Indo-Pak cricket match, let us not fool ourselves by believing that we are patriotic because we are not. Those are only momentary feelings which lie subdued inside us and get stirred up when we are in these situations. Normally, the over riding feeling inside all of us is I, me, myself and how to make more money, legally or illegally. That’s the bottom line. Period. Those of you who are feeling offended or are feeling bad by this statement may have a reason to, I agree. But that’s the whole aim- to make all of of us feel bad about the kind of people we actually are. And we all need to be ashamed of it. By the way, our general attitude is not CHALTA HAI, as people like to put it. It is more like BHAD ME JAI!!!!!

Posted on August 1st, 2010 under India calling. Tags: 2010, CWG, govt, Kalmadi, preparation, stadium, Suresh. Comments: 5

Out of hundreds of allegations of fake encounter deaths why is the focus of our entire nation on Sohrabuddin and Amit Shah? Is it because a fake encounter of a Muslim is a different story than that of a Hindu? And that too because it happened in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat? Why is the CBI investigating only this case and not so many others where the guilty are quite likely from the Congress party? What about numerous allegations of fake encounters in Andhra Pradesh? What about the prosecution of Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar in Sikh riots case? What about Ottavio Quattrochi?

Posted on July 25th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: Amit Shah, BJP, Congress, court, encounter, fake, opposition, Sohrabuddin. Comments: 3

Rajdeep Sardesai says, “I thought SM Krishna acted with great dignity. He may not be the ideal foreign minister, but atleast he’s a gentleman”. Sardesai is not alone. All our media personalities including Barkha Dutt and Arnab Goswami are kind of hailing SM Krishna as if he was a great statesman who was in complete control of things in Islamabad and that his not doing some tough talking was an achievement in itself. In my view they’re all mistaken, SM Krishna included. In my view by not retorting SM Krishna and in the bargain Dr Manmohan Singh has made us a laughing stock of the world, particularly in the Muslim world. I too was so very wrong when I wrote this post Indo-Pak talks: A goalless draw wherein I said that results were known to us before the talks started and that this would end in a draw. Sadly, it has not ended in a draw. Its 1-0 in favor of Pakistan. Yes, we lost, once again.

Posted on July 18th, 2010 under India calling. Tags: BJP, Congress, Indo, Left, Pak, Qureshi, talks, Terror. Comments: 2