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Sachin Tendulkar, the maestro has met with very difficult times off late, he has never performed so badly in a test series before, than the just concluded series vs SriLanka. Before the Srilanka tour, he was approached by a film producer for a few minutes role, the role demanded him to perform a small temple service in his movie which was a tribute to the Lord's miracles. All the actors, devotees & sports persons were doing their roles free of cost. This was being done to promote the “Siddhi Vinyak” temple & was a good ploy to bring more funds for the temple trust.

Sachin is known to be a very big devotee of the Hindu God, right from his childhood, he has also been very grateful to the God, he used to visit “Siddhi Vinayak” temple whenever he gets free of his Cricketing commitments. The same God who made him a super star, on his own words.

He later promised the producer to meet him after the Sri lanka tour, so that he could act the small role with his wife. This role actually was not acting also, it would have been like a home video, since he only needed to do the “Aarti”(service) in the temple for few minutes, which he would do anyways with or without the camera.

For giving second preference, the Lord punished him, he could not even score 100 runs in all 6 innings put together vs Srilanka, which is by far the biggest failure of his career. Add insult to injury, Sachin also suffered an injury, this injury stopped his international cricket for further month & a half. Instead of keeping his promise to the Lord or the movie producer, he finally refused to act for the small role as well.

Maybe he has infuriated the Lord even further by refusing to act in the movie, altogether. With so many talented junior cricketers aspiring to make it to test level, Sachin's dismal performance in the last Srilanka series, this was not at all the time to play with the mighty Lord's wrath. The lord who made him a big star that he is today, also knows how to pull the plug out.

The biggest challenge of playing the visiting Australians at home is starting, the Aussies known to target the biggest player on opposite ranks (Sachin Tendulkar), now he will face the enemy without his divine Armour in this series. All these 19 years of international career, he was blessed with the divine Armour. None of the fans including myself would like Sachin to fade away, he is also going to be in great pressure to perform due the retirement announcement made by his colleague Saurav Ganguly who too was slowly phased out due to his age & dwindling form.

The selectors are already on their way to phase out the seniors one by one, the Lord also not favoring him, Sachin will have to fully rely on his extraordinary talent, which made him the World's greatest batsman that he is, even now. Everybody knows, Sachin never likes to lose to anybody not even to his own son in a game of ludo, now the fierce competitor & winner should make a piecemeal with the Lord or finally try to extend his winning streak with the Lord also.

This Australia series will decide, tussle between the Lord & the Master.

The issue of seniors vs juniors divide in Indian Cricket has really made a big impact, in this competitive world one should never relax on past glories, this is the moral one needs to learn irrespective of his/her stature in society. Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly & Rahul Dravid all 3 batting stalwarts of Indian cricket 19 months ago were indispensable, they were never under any urgency to be shown the exit door (retire from the game), despite mediocre form with rising age, suddenly the summer of 2007, they opted out of 20twenty World cup, this format being so new, they wanted to give it a slip & take rest to be fresh for the next one day series vs visiting Australians at home. 

The Forex scenario has changed a lot due to the present crash of Lehman brothers, this has lead many banks across the world to retract their aggressive business strategies. Investment bankers, stock brokers & forex marketers are in a limbo now. They are all trying to overcome this sudden catastrophe. This big fall has also resulted in stock exchanges losing many points, they are slowly recovering ground but the loss is not so easy to overcome for them & this Lehman brothers issue will haunt financial hubs across many continents for a while.

Renowned late investment banker – Larry Murkavel once said “never, invest in anything that is linked with a tall building, when it falls you are crushed”.Rightly, most of the stock exchange buildings are tall, the results fell & many investors have fallen prey to it.

The United States govt. has played an active role in stabilizing further fall of the market, with their timely intervention, this is what speaks volumes of the US, they are always ready for any eventuality be it in any field. Now that the damage has been done, the market slowly crawling up to get back in feet, we can only pray “God, save America”.

I have read so many articles in the Internet, asking if Chinese mobiles are reliable. All I can say is, when you are using home PCs, Laptops, branded Mobiles (Nokia, Apple i phone & LG to name a few), then why cast doubts on the unbranded ones ? Most of the consumers in India, don't buy branded PCs, they all come from China without any warranty, so there is no reason why anybody should give a cold-shoulder treatment to Chinese mobile phones.

Most of the complaints about the Chinese Mobiles are that, they do not have a service center, but then logically speaking there is no service center for the unbranded PCs imported from China, either. Yet, people throng to shops & buy these PCs.

The Chinese Mobiles cost half or quarter the price of the original ones, it is better to spend less for the product than to spend four fold higher & get the same features. Moore's law promises that you will have twice as faster Mobile Phones in 2 years than you have today. Then why not stick to something that is cheaper ?

The Indian batting genius Sachin Tendulkar who has made a come back from his groin injury will boost the team’s chances against the rival Sri Lankan team. The last international match played between these two cricket mad countries was in the final of just concluded Asia cup in Pakistan.

Ever since the final performance by Ajanta Mendis who ripped through the inexperienced Indian one day international batting line up with 6/13, he has enjoyed super stardom in both India & Sri Lanka. He is probably the only player in the entire cricketing world who has become centre of all the hype even before bowling a single ball in his test debut.

Ajanta Mendis who is also nick named as the “mystery bowler” due to his unusual spinning capabilities & which is very different from other conventional bowler’s action. Sachin Tendulkar who missed the entire Asia cup due to his injury has come back into the team to play for his country in Test cricket, which will test the abilities of both the “Mystery bowler” & the “Maestro”. Sachin has also given clear indications that he has studied Ajanta’s variations even before he has faced him; this is definitely a plus to the Indian genius. Ajanta is an unknown package, whereas Sachin is a legend in his own right, who has made a mockery of Shane Warne & many other so-called extra ordinary spinners.

The media also has a big role to have dubbed this India – Sri Lanka series as a Sachin Tendulkar vs. Ajanta Mendis battle, they should also take into account Muttiah Muralitharan’s contribution in all Sri Lankan victories, and he has been the biggest match winner for them. An experienced campaigner like Muralitharan can only be pitched against a genius like Sachin Tendulkar & not a raw mystery spinner who is yet to make his debut in the longest version of the game. Since the series is starting now in few days, the media’s question will also be answered. Now only time will tell how Sachin treats this mysterious spinner.

The International Cricket Council is facing a situation where it has no experience, every time there is huge money the ICC seems to scratch its head. The ICC wants to make a window schedule for 20-20 Indian Premier League Cricket; this became a forced entry in their 10-year FTP (Future Tours Program), just when the ICC is sitting to discuss about a window schedule for the IPL, now comes another possible league called EPL from England which is a la IPL with more teams & more money.

Cricket is benefiting a lot with money & slowly Cricketers own Million dollar homes. The main worry that is plaguing ICC officials is again the money from the leagues, if this keep continuing new age Cricketers will be more into league Cricket than playing for their country. Presently Cricketers feel proud to represent their nation, but in the future it will be just like soccer where people from different countries will support the league teams.

The time has come for the ICC to balance its act; they should now stop national boards of all major test playing countries from making further leagues, put a cap with just the IPL & the forthcoming EPL to run as registered leagues. Unless they get strong, all boards will start making their own leagues & spoil Cricket for money. As it is Cricket is slowly losing its traditional gamesmanship & gentleman’s game with the advent of 20-20 Cricket. Earlier the ICC was complaining that they lack funds to improve the game, now it is high time they use it properly by keeping the game alive & not make it a 20-20 circus.

Were we more intelligent when we had no computers or did we gain only with general knowledge with the help of internet? These two questions keep cropping up when we neglect all social contacts to be with our computers by pounding the keyboard to get us friends through social networking platforms such as Orkut, Facebook, Yuwie & Hi5 ? The simple question is, is internet making us or are we becoming internet based?

Nowadays if we have a slight doubt, we Google it, there is almost no need to use brains. Internet has become so much a part of our lives that it is hard to be away from it in any capacity, business deals, money transfers, porn, socializing, property buying & even marriages having started taking place through internet. If the entire above list is told to a computer illiterate, he/she would feel so elated & would love to learn computers immediately, but at what cost, individuality?

Earlier we used to think more, write more, read more & even gather all the information without the help of Google or other search engines. An intelligent man was really more intelligent than ordinary men, but nowadays everybody knows how to Google & all look to pose as intelligent with the help of the search engines.

We are weeding out the basics of Human thinking, that is writing by introducing laptops in primary schools, though they maybe very important gadgets to make a student learn, but they surely don’t make the student dependent on his own self. Introduction of computers & internet at a later stage of life is lot better than from age five. We are only making the younger generation avoid books altogether, in the bargain we are making them expert typists & to do copy-paste. The younger generation will be very Google dependent & less of one’s own ability. Internet is not about Google alone, but the very minute we doubt on something, or want to re-check we confirm it in Google.

The big difference to our growing personality is that, we tend to type rather than write & according to scientists writing is the best way to make the subject get etched in memory for longer periods than any other method. What if in schools we are taught to type instead of write from day one? We would have so little to remember what we have studied when we grow up & we would copy-paste our signatures in word documents instead of signing it. After all who has the time to write when we are in this fast paced world?

“Too much is too bad” we should surely work on Internet, but not let our work limited to internet alone & instead be a virtual person.

Usually tourists from the West have a special liking to Asia for its myriad cultures differing with each country. The West always fascinated the Easterner & vice versa. The advantages West has over East is that people are less bonded to their families, people are more practical, richer financially, hence are more interested to see the world.
The East is richer in their heritage, cultural values, a bit medieval, but has more moral values like respect for elders, regularly going to temples / monasteries; these habits have made the Asians to be bound by their families & are god-fearing. In Japan people bow their heads to salute elders, Indian people bend to touch the feat of the elders, China, Thailand, and Cambodia people fold their hands to greet. All these make a Westerner something unique & fascinating. Most fascinating country for a Westerner is obviously the great country called India; this country has all kinds of people, all castes, creeds, religions & customs are followed.
Since East always apes the West due to its financial power, an average Westerner comes to East in lookout of something else other than money, mostly to understand the culture, for cheap living, some go to India for its holy men & charm. For an average Asian a Westerner is rich, liberal, and spendthrift with deep pockets. People of the Indian sub-continent are not as attracted towards West like Asean countries, where there is more Western influence.
To sum up as the sayings go, "opposites attract" there is no better instance than the difference of cultures between West & East.
People from the East travel to the West to earn a good livelihood, Westerners come to East for saving money & knowing about their culture. After all the mentalities don't change much, since East is east & West is west. Like the old adage "Grass is always greener the other side", the attraction for the other continues. It is almost impossible for a Westerner to live like an Easterner & vice versa in every sense.