Thursday 17 August 2017

Of YO-YO TEST AND THE NBE SCAM

1.YO-YO TEST AND THE FITNESS CONUNDRUM

Fitness is an important part of any sport.
Important in cricket as well.
But it shouldn't be the only criteria for deciding a team.
Fitness in cricket is like having good handwriting. Helps a lot in theory exams but when it comes to solving MCQs, you need something more than that.
Fitness levels in cricket can't be compared with fitness levels in other Sports.
No Sport in the world is played across 5 days or for that matter 8 hours at a stretch (as it happens in an ODI game.)
Most sports are played for 90-180 mins, the duration of a T20 match, and in these Sports agility and strength training are an integral part. Importantly, while you have to be involved in every minute of other Sports, cricket offers you a safety that half of the time you will be rested provided your bowlers aren't as bad as Sri Lankans.
And thus my point is- You can never compare the fitness of a Beckham with that of a Sachin.
I am in no way trying to make a point for Yuvraj Singh here but consider Yuvraj of 2011 Worldcup.
He was harbouring a tumor in his chest and coughing up blood on field.
If today's standards of fitness, the so called YO-YO TEST, which is based more on agility and strength rather than endurance, had been applied then, Yuvraj would have been out of Worldcup and we might have never won it. I just wonder if someone like Dravid and Laxman who weren't the swiftest and most agile of players would have passed the test. Having said that they were fit enough to bat days together, which requires an altogether different levels of fitness..
Also, Sehwag for most part of his career was overweight and yet was fit enough to be alongside only Don Bradman, Brain Lara and Chris Gayle to have scored 300 in an innings twice in test matches. Chris Gayle, mind you is considered a statue on the field. He hardly moves. But when he puts on a helmet and picks up a bat we all know what havoc he is capable of creating!!
While I completely agree Yuvraj is nearing his end, I just feel selectors are playing it safe to call his ouster from the team on the basis of fitness rather than runs, which Yuvraj has scored aplenty this year, if you take out the last 3-4 innings.
Also, it sends a wrong message to other players as someone like MS Dhoni who is clearly below par with his batting can now be afforded a safety of occupying a place in the team only because he is fitter than the young and talented Rishabh Pant.

2. NBE SCAM

So, Dr. Batra has been accused of a corruption scam and has been removed as the head of National Board of Examinations, the body responsible for conducting NEET.
And it has been only one year since NEET exams started..
This is fucking disgraceful.
How impotent are we as a nation that we can't conduct a single exam transparently and that too when the whole set up of the examination is based on a successful module adopted by USA for many years hassle free..
Atleast learn from Anu Malik and Pritam on how to make copied thing a hit but NBE has even failed at that it seems..
I don't understand why are only such people like Suresh Kalmadi, N Sreenivasan, and Dr. Batra appointed to these posts?
We need more people like Dr. Anand Rai, the doctor responsible for whistleblowing the Vyapam Scam who was later disowned by RSS and BJP for exposing the truth. Yet, he was successful in bringing the scam in open.
Why are such honest men never appointed to important posts where honesty and integrity are of utmost value?
What is the difference between your government Mr. Narendra Modi and the UPA Govt?
Just making better speeches ain't gonna work everytime.
P.S. For those who might be thinking- but there are no scams this Govt is involved in as of now, my sincere advice is to wait for the 2nd term before we judge them.
Most scams of UPA came out only in its 2nd term. I just hope this Govt doesn't follow in the UPA Govt's footsteps..

~ Devashish

Wednesday 16 August 2017

Independence Day Poem

"Through songs of glory
And chattering hymns,
Through uproars
And shrieks,
Through ghastly silence
Through raucous war cries..
Through tyrannical invaders
And punchdrunk rulers..
Through powercrazy democracy
And the blind judiciary..
I sometimes wonder how my country has survived..

Perhaps,
Irrigated by the holy waters of the rivers galore,
And resurrected by holier blood of patriotic valour..
A crazy zeal to protect the tricolour..
Of some unfathomable sacrifices done without a favour..

Yes, somehow we have survived.
We have fought back the evil only to see the birth of a new evil.
But as the evil continues to threaten and smother us in the midnight hour,
A revolution is brewing somewhere,
And a new India is taking its first little baby steps..
I am sure it will rise up and start to walk on its own,
Run, jump and learn to dream of flying high one day using the wings of fire and courage..
The golden bird is long buried,
The blossoming bud is all that is left of us..
The dark clouds of gloom
Will pass
And a resplendent morning awaits our sun kissed shores."

-Devashish Palkar

Monday 14 August 2017

INDIA- A BLOSSOMING BUD

(An old poem I had written at a time when UPA-II Govt was at the height of its corruption and new scams were breaking every week. So, many of these points might not hold true, but some still continue to pester us Indians even today.. )


"INDIA"-The word itself evokes a wave of patriotism in my heart. But its rather disheartening that some of our countrymen, our brothers and sisters, the sons of the very soil, who instead of being grateful to the motherland for her bounty, curse her, malign her and try to denigrate her, and very blatantly forget our duties as sons and daughters, the fact that we are the ones responsible for her tragic fate and also the fact that all the power lies within us..! its up to us how we carry the flag of our INDIA forward and storm the world with our knowledge and deeds or malign her by our callous, selfish deeds!!]
 P.S.- I DEDICATE THIS POEM TO EVERY CITIZEN OF INDIA IRRESPECTIVE OF WHETHER THEY ARE PROUD OF INDIA OR FEEL ASHAMED TO BE INDIANS!!  I JUST HOPE IT EVOKES A SENSE OF PRIDE IN YOUR HEART AND REMINDS YOU OF YOUR DUTIES AND ABILITIES..!!



THIS IS THE STORY OF THE GREAT NATION!
SITUATED BETWEEN THE HIMALAYAS AND GREAT BLUE OCEAN!!


HISTORY DUBBED IT- 'THE GOLDEN BIRD'!
PRESENT CALLS IT- 'THE BLOSSOMING BUD'!!


ONCE UPON A TIME- 'A HEAVENLY LAND'!
A LAND WHERE EVIL WAS BANNED!!


AND TODAY AS THE EVIL RISES UNINHIBITED,
ITS TIME FOR US TO REALIZE THAT- TO THIS LAND WE ARE GREATLY INDEBTED!!
FOR THIS IS OUR HOME THAT  WE HAVE INHABITED!


A PLACE WHERE THE REAL WEALTH USED TO BE EDUCATION!
TROUBLED TODAY BY THE FIGHTS FOR COLLEGE ADMISSION!
SOILED BY THE OMNIPRESENT SYSTEM OF 'RESERVATION'!!


AN ADMINISTRATION WITHOUT ANY NOTION!
A STATE OF TOTAL COMMOTION!!


YES, THIS IS THE STORY OF A NATION!
SMOTHERED BY THE EPIDEMIC OF CORRUPTION!!


AND AS THE RUPEE FALLS AND DOLLAR RISES;
WE ARE TRAPPED IN THE IDENTITY CRISES!!


THE POWER- CRAZY BUREAUCRACY!
AND THE RAPE OF DEMOCRACY!


THE BRIMMING RIVER AND THE EVERGREEN FOREST!
WE CALLOUSLY REDUCED IT ALL TO WASTE!!


HOW SHAMELESSLY WE PLUNDERED HER GLORIES AND TREASURE!
ONLY FOR OUR GREED AND MALICIOUS PLEASURE!!


BUT NOW ITS TIME TO RISE FOR THE NEW GENERATION!
AND SURGE A WAVE OF REVOLUTION!


ITS TIME TO TAKE A BIG STRIDE,
TO RESTORE AND SALVAGE THE LOST PRIDE!!


AS THE NEW INDIA LEARNS TO FLY,
LIKE A YOUNG BIRD IN AN ALREADY CROWDED SKY!


ITS TIME TO LEARN FROM OUR PAST LOSSES,
AS INDIA UNDERGOES A METAMORPHOSES!!


ITS TIME FOR REDEMPTION!
ITS TIME FOR RESURRECTION!!


ITS TIME TO PICK UP THE BROOM
AND CLEAR THIS MESS AND GLOOM!
YES! ITS OUR TIME TO BLOOM!!
AND PUT AN END TO THE DAYS OF DOOM!!


THIS IS THE STORY OF A 'REJUVENATED NATION',
READY TO STORM THE WORLD WITH HER KNOWLEDGE AND IMAGINATION!!


"ASK NOT WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU.. ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY!!"

- BENJAMIN FRANKLIN!!
"KOI BHI DESH PERFECT NAHI HOTA.. USE PERFECT BANANA PADTA HAI!!"- the famous lines from ''RANG DE BASANTI"!


"JAY HIND"

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