Some of my friends have told me that Indians are like “coconuts”. They are “brown” on the outside but “white” on the inside. I do not believe that all Indians behave this way but at the same time I think that there is some truth to these statements. Indians in the United States for example [...]
The Commonwealth (full name is Commonwealth of Nations) is an organization of fifty four member states. Fifty two of these nations were part of the British Empire. The Commonwealth Games is one of the showcase events for this organization. Except a few countries like Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada almost all other countries are [...]
The motto of the International Cricket Council is “Great Sport Great Spirit”. But the spirit was anything but great after the failed attempt by Australia and New Zealand to install former Australia Prime Minister John Howard as the next ICC President. The reaction from both Australia and New Zealand raises many questions about their perception [...]
I always wondered about what life would be like for our ancestors thousands of years ago. Imagine the first Indians walking along the shores of Goa and Kerala on their long journey from Africa about 65,000 years ago (scientists estimate that it took human beings about 5000 years to travel from east coast of Africa [...]
One of the criticisms leveled against a Muslim in India is that they are supporters of Pakistan. Of course this is not true in the vast majority of cases. Some of us accuse Indian Muslims of supporting the Pakistani cricket team when they play in India. This is the very same accusation made by locals [...]
Steve Waugh said today that Sachin Tendulkar is a great batsman but Don Bradman is the greatest. I am a fan of cricket and of baseball. Both these games are related (Baseball is an offshoot of Cricket) and use similar terminologies. Both are summer games and in both cases tradition plays an important factor. In [...]
The Indian cabinet today approved the proposal to allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India. The Minister of Human Resources and Development Kapil Sibal said that “This is a milestone which will enhance choices, increase competition and benchmark quality in education”. Foreign investment in education is something that India has allowed for a [...]
Sachin Tendulkar faces a dilemma that most of us do not have to face. As a batsman he has dominated the sport of cricket during the past two decades. Statistically he has set records both in test cricket and the one day version that are unlikely to be broken. You have to play at a [...]
In an yet another blow to the Indian Premier League English cricketer Ravi Bopara said that he had concerns about the security situation in India and indicated that he has postponed his trip to India to play for Kings XI Punjab. In a statement he to the Daily Mail he said that “Cricket is my [...]
A few weeks ago I wrote an article on what I thought was discriminatory practices by the Indian Premier League cricket when it came to selecting players from the World T20 Champions Pakistan. The reasons provided by the IPL for not picking players from Pakistan went from availability issues, to lack of visa guarantees by [...]
It is very clear that the Indian government has a major problem on its hands in Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena is not only challenging the state and central governments authority over the state but is also trying to influence India’s foreign policy. If the government does not handle this swiftly and cleverly then it has [...]
The Indian Premier League (IPL), the nations top cricket league and one of the most important cricket leagues in the world held their player auction Today in Mumbai. The base price varied from $200,000 for players like Kieron Pollard (West Indies) and Wayne Parnell (South Africa) to $50,000 for Adam Voges (Australia) and $20,000 for [...]
Australian cricket has always fascinated me. Australia always knows how to field a good team and their teams always had a healthy mix of young and veteran players at every position. For the past forty years Australian captains were not only great leaders and proven winners but also some of the best players of their [...]
Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray has made some controversial statements again. The self-appointed leader of the Hindus (specifically the Marathi’s) said that he will not allow Australia to play in Maharashtra. He wrote “Our boys are being stabbed, burnt and shot at in that country and still our cricketers have no qualms in playing with [...]
Talking to reporters in New Delhi India’s Minister for External Affairs said that “one can understand students going there [Australia] at the university level, at the IIT level or at the level of some other institution of excellence. When I went there, I was shocked to see so many students in courses they don’t need [...]
The earliest image of Tendulkar that I have was all those sixes that he hit off of Pakistani spinner Abdul Kader. Indian cricket fans those days were waiting for somebody to come on to the scene and save Indian cricket after the retirement of Sunil Gavaskar.
On the surface everything appears calm. Cricket as a game and many of the players on the national team are household names in India and most of the cricketing world. Indians would tell you that economically India is also the engine of world cricket. For the most part this is true. Advertisement and sponsorship money [...]
