~ Best of Instagram 2013 ~

Here is a short video of some of my Instagram photos from 2013. 

If you have a smartphone and don't use Instagram yet, you should give it a try! Do read about Craig Mod's blog on how Cameras are becoming a passé. "Goodbye, Cameras"

~ RIP Nelson Mandela ~

A man who led by what he believed, who eventually took the path of peace to get freedom for South Africans. A lot to learn & lookup to. 

~ Mr Wenger, 17 years at Arsenal ~

This image has been created by an Arsenal fan, Shahid Shaikh.

Mr Arséne Wenger, the Frenchman, completes 17 years at the club. I have followed the club from 1998  through its highs or lows, and I have always admired him for what he done for the club. Am one of those Gooners who thinks "WengerKnowsBest". 

Gooners have had to live without a trophy for 8 seasons now & the pressure has been on the board, players & especially the manager for his style of play and operations. After having let go of key players season after season and crawling for 4th place finish in the last 2 seasons, most fans had lost their faith in Wenger. The way this season has started off & with our explosive last day signing of Özil from Real Madrid, those fans with "WengerOut" chants have gone silent.

Mr Wenger did surprise everyone with Özil signing, at £42.5M, a new club record for a player. Historically, he has always groomed young players into fine footballers. This time he broke away from his principles and tradition. 

Today, we beat Swansea to go on top of EPL table once again { above Sp*ds :D }. I know its too early to be celebrate. Still an amazing feeling for Arséne's 17 years at the club. The best part being, Spurs drew Chelsea; both the Manchester clubs, City & United lost. Above all, MUFC is at 12th place :P

This would be one of the best weekend for Gooners across the world :)

Some quotes on Wenger:

Jamie Carragher, former Liverpool defender:

“Wenger was responsible for some of the most harrowing and unnerving days of my career.”

“Arsenal conquered all before them from 2002-2004, culminating in them being called the Invincibles after going unbeaten for a whole season. Outstanding  footballers and also supreme  athletes — they had everything. When you stood next to them in the tunnel before a game, the panic would roll in.”

“They were the best I ever faced, the only team that left me feeling technically and physically inadequate. From goalkeeper to striker, they were built like tanks. If you tried to tackle them, you would bounce off them.” More here.

Stan Kroenke, Arsena's majority shareholder:

“Arsène knows how we feel, what our philosophy is, what we want to do and I feel like we are totally aligned. I think he wants to do it the exact same way as we do.”

“I really enjoy Arsène – very smart, very intelligent. He has an absolute view on how he runs that team and the club. He has earned that right. Don’t look for me to interfere with that. I have learnt over the years that sometimes owners try do that and it is not so good.” More here.

Mr Wenger talking about his 17 years at Arsenal:

“It's a long time and a short time,” said Wenger. "I don't know where the 17 years have gone.”

“Our job has a good advantage - you just look forward to the next game. You never look back. I believe that is the most important. Of course when you look backwards, there's a lot of effort and consistency in effort behind that. For me the most interesting is tomorrow's game.”

“[I've never thought] that I don't really need this anymore. I want it even more. I think the good thing about football is that it's unpredictable and the next game is always a discovery and a new adventure and so you focus on that. All the rest is decoration.” More here.

via BBC

~ Dial out criminals ~

Times of India has started a campaign against the Ordinance which the government is proposing to pass which allows criminals to hold on to their posts as MPs and MLAs. 

All you need to do is call +918067730022. The number of missed calls received will be published to show the President of the number of people against the Ordinance. After one ring, the call automatically disconnects. You will get an SMS thanking you for the miss call. Those who live overseas can participate.

I just did my bit. Time to ring out the criminals from the political system. 

~ Winner of NGC Traveler Photo Contest 2013 ~

These two images stand out for me compared to the others.

Merit Winner: Portrait of an Eastern Screech Owl. Masters of disguise. The Eastern Screech Owl is seen here doing what they do best. You better have a sharp eye to spot these little birds of prey. Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia. (© Graham McGeorge )

Third Place Winner: Say Cheese. Cheetahs jumped on the vehicle of tourists in Masai Mara national park, Kenya. (© Yanai Bonneh)

View all the winners here.

~ Supermoon ~

I couldn't capture the moon rise last evening. As I witnessed the hide n seek  between moon & clouds, following are some of the photos taken at 9 pm. 

Hope to catch today's moon rise. Wish Bangalore sky would be clear enough ;)

{Click the photograph to view full screen}

~ Our own doing ~

This week we saw nature's fury at Kedarnath, Uttarakhand. According to the CAG report tabled in April, the state lacks an effective disaster management system to tackle such disasters.

~ Kedarnath Temple 1953 ~

~ Kedarnath Temple 19 June 2013 ~

I feel this highlights how we Indians approach life & live. Most of us, live by reactions than pro-actions. Instead of addressing problem in an holistic manner, we tend to wake &  fire-fight only when we have disasters on our hands. 

Samarth Mungali, CEO of TadpoleStore, has a very thoughtful post on the disaster.

"…People driven by greed and not need, started plundering their own land. A land which was their existence. 

All this while nature coped, but there’s a limit to tolerance. It’s natural. What was done had to be restored. And thus in a frame of minutes nature took the matter in it’s own hands and cleaned the slate that we had made dirty with our scribbling.

What has happened is a message from nature to stop, to amend. We have been wrong and it is we who are to correct. 

I sincerely hope that in the pretext of redevelopment of the devastated, the same mistakes are not done again. Where the structures have been erased, none should come again. It might sound uncommercial but then…"

Anand Sankar has an interesting post as well.

The devastation caused by Monsoon 2013 in Uttarakhand and to a lesser extent in Himachal Pradesh has been predictably covered by television studios based out of New Delhi. This flood has literally flowed into the lap of the television news media, who can feed their half-baked drivel to people across the country who are anxiously tuning in to get some titbits of information about loved ones trapped in the mountains. While there has been a lot of clamour for a speedy rescue effort, it sorely misses the point when it comes to ground reality. This is another incident which will go down in the history of disasters in India, as one that could have been prevented. 

Do read the 5 points which Anand makes.

As the Media & Desktop-activist, would now go on dissecting at length as to what went wrong; who could be held accountable for this; how it could have been avoided; Atheists asking the very presence of God; et al.  It is very much our own doing.

Instead of developing State units for handling any emergency events, we seem to be always banking on our Armed Forces. My salutations to the men & women of Armed Forces who have always ready for any contingency at any part of the country.

Photographs source: TadpoleStore blog.

~ St Totteringham's Day ~

ArsenalFC beat NewcastleFC to finish among the top 4 in the EPL. As Gooners we aren't happy just finishing top 4 & qualifying 16th time for the Champions League. We want the team to win trophies & silence those the babies of the Million £££ Clubs who love taunting Gooners, offline & online.

We have played very well in the last 45 days of the season winning 8 of the last 10 games.

Reaching the Champions League ahead of Spurs completed a superb turnaround after they trailed by seven points at the beginning of March. Arsenal have now finished above Spurs 18 seasons in a row.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger and his team saluted their joyous supporters, who sung "are you watching, Tottenham?" with added fervour. You can read more here.

The goal from Laurent Koscielny in the second half gave us the victory against Magpies.  

The celebrations at the bench on the final whistle speaks for itself for Arsenè Wenger & the players. 

Good to see a happy locker room. The Gunners deserved the 4th place finish. It's time now Arsenal Board & Wenger add some valuable assets for the next season. 

For all you Sp*ds or BaleFC fans, even though this has been your best season in EPL, it ain't good enough to finish above us. The infographic below should remind the reality. Mind the gap & Happy St. Totteringhams Day. For the un-initiated - "St Totteringham's Day is the day when Arsenal fans celebrate the fact that Tottenham can no longer catch Arsenal in the League. It is a movable feast, but usually falls in March, April or May. It is the day to collect on bets made by over-optimistic Spurs fans in the close season who think that "this is the year". More here

All Arsenal FC photographs from Stuart MacFarlane, the photographer at ArsenalFC.

~ No water ~

A month ago there was an article on FirstPost which became the talking point for many at my workplace. Eventually, I wrote a lengthy post on the same subject which I had been following for more than 5 years. H2O is an essential entity for sustenance of all the living species - flora & fauna.

~ View on instagram ~

From then to now, the Summer hasn't been that hot in Bangalore. However, the place I live in hasn't had water supply for 5 days now. For the first time, I have seen water tankers ferrying water to homes in the neighbourhood. Unlike the New Bangalore or Greater Bangalore areas which do not have water supply from BWSSB & depend on private water supply. Sourcing water from private operator isn't common around this part of town, where we are used to constant flow of Cauvery water for the past 25+ years. The situation is alarming and should be cause of concern for all of us who are living in the city. 

Sample some of the news from TOI this week,

The storage as on Wednesday will ensure that taps in Bangalore and Mysore don't go dry for 8-10 days, sources told The Times of India. If by then there's no rain, the situation could turn grim. Reason: There are no preparations made to use water classified as 'dead storage' in irrigation parlance. "We can use that water. But we require heavy duty pumps to get the water to flow out. These are made-to-order pumps and require at least 45 days to put the infrastructure in place. No homework has been done on this front, and now, there's no time," sources explained.

According to the above source both the cities, Mysore & Bangalore, are at risk. 

The crisis, in fact, is already on the doorsteps of Mysore city. The pumping station at Hongahalli remained switched off till Tuesday. The Hongahalli pumping station, which draws water for Mysore, cannot draw water from the KRS, as the storage level remained as low as 39 inches, Venkatraju revealed. He said only further release of water from Hemavathy can get this pumping station resume.

The only source of water for Bangalore city other than the Cauvery river, the Tippagondanahalli (TG Halli) reservoir too is in no state to come to the city's rescue. Though moderate pre-monsoon showers are pushing up water level in Tippagondanahalli (TG Halli) dam up to 11 feet, due to rapid evaporation water level is receding to five feet, making any pumping of water impossible. BWSSB stopped drawing water from TG since November. More here

If the ground reality at the dams are that bad. Not sure what plans does our newly elected Chief Minister have up his sleeve to solve {or avert} water crisis.

One cannot have a quick-fix solution for such a problem. There needs to be planning, co-ordination & execution from various departments. Am not aware if we have any such Department or Ministry related to Town / City / Urban planning that does any work for holistic growth of our city. Bangalore has expanded very rapidly in the last 8 years & continues to do. When BWSSB can't plan & provide water for the existing areas under their jurisdiction. It shall only remain a distinct dream for all those new townships and gated communities that are mushrooming around the Old Bangalore. 

We may not have war between Mysore & Bangalore in the coming weeks. But those of you investing Crores of rupees in properties, do check if you will have sufficient water in the years to come.

Also, conservation of water doesn't happen over a festival or an IPL tournament. One gotta save every drop everyday. Good Night!

~ End of Fergie Era ~

Image: BBC

Like many other, Fergie era has come to an end in the year 2013. Even though I dislike MUFC, have a lot of respect Sir Alex for what he has achieved for the club & EPL in general. Don't think there will be another manager of this caliber to rule MUFC or another English club in a long time. Not to discredit from Mr Professor

It would be interesting to see who will be appointed as Manager @ MUFC & also how would MUFC perform without Fergie. Will there be void due to Fergie's departure? Only time shall tell. 

Am very sure that Fergie will still be part of MUFC as a Director or something more significant. Hope SAF recovers from his hip surgery, which he is slated to undergo soon. Wish him luck &  life.

Am happy that we won't be having Fergie Time anymore in EPL ;)

H/T: BBC Sport

~ Holi 2013 ~

Relax! it wasn't a wet one. 

Still had to take bath at the end to clean oneself.

~ Unusual José Mourinho ~

José Mourinho's behavior or character seem to have changed after yesterday's win at Old Trafford  He was seen comforting Sir Alex when Red Card was shown to Nani. Then during the post-match talk, he said, "The best team lost". 

He even went to say that Real Madrid didn't deserve to win. Real would have at the very least equalized even if Nani was on the field & taking the game to extra time. The outcome might have been different if the game had spilled into extra time. Being the man he is, who cares less about reporters or those who run the club. It is quite suspecting to see him talk differently. Not sure what he is up to.

Read this article - Mourinho defends decision to bench Rooney. He even defends or agrees with SAF decision to bench Rooney.

1. Is he being humble & modest coveing his usual arrogance
2. Is he desperately looking to replace #SAF next season at #MUFC

Your thoughts on José?

~ Wrecked once again ~

We are bombed at will. No hope w/ politicians nor the police. State vs Centre. Intelligence vs Police. In Incredible India we the people suffer.

~ IIPM strikes back ~

IIPM like the founder, Mr Chaudhuri, needs lime-light to stay in the business. Never come across any educational institution in India which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons for about 8 years & counting.

IIPM was the hot topic back in 2005 from the blogosphere for the way they operate and take the students for a spin. If you google you will find a lot of them talking about it & few students have even taken them to courts. Back in 2005 we never had the mainstream media cover the topic. Things have changed over the last couple of years. The Caravan & Career 360 have been reporting about the same and are entangled in a legal battle with IIPM at various states of India.

Here is an extract from Live Mint article

The Caravan editor Anant Nath said, “Our biggest concern is that DoT has taken this action by itself. We haven’t been informed about this notice. In the conventional course, we expect it to inform the said media houses. So, at the first instance, we will take this matter up with DoT itself, and if further needed, we will take legal action also.” 

Maheshwar Peri, publisher of Careers360 magazine, said, “It is outrageous. We will reply to the notice and may explore a contempt case.”

IIPM have got the gag order from the court to block 78 URLs which speaks truth (oops! negatively) about their institution. Looks the think tank @ IIPM don't seem to get it right. Unlike 2005, people have exploded from Blogosphere to Social Media {read twitter, facebook, g+, etc}. In the age of technology you cannot restrict access to information from people. 

As Gaurav puts it "Remember, truth never hurts those who are right."

Updates:

1. Mr Chaudhuri has responded officially on the defamatory links being blocked or removed here.
2. Shehla Rashid has a good post DoT blocked URLs- Analysis and History
3. Vivek Kaul has a good take Arindam Chaudhuri is the Subrata Roy of the MBA business

Source: LiveMint | MediaNama | FirstPost | My Old Post | Gaurav Sabnis | Faking News | IIPM's Rs500-Million Lawsuit Against The Caravan
Image Source: FakingNews

~ Republic of India ~

Today India is celebrating her 64th Republic Day & I still have hope left in the system for better governance & living. I say that after reading the Justice Verma report.

The commission headed by Justice Verma was setup after the Delhi Gang Rape incident when the politicians for the first time realised that the Youth of this country will no longer sit quietly. People have been taken for granted for many years, by those who rule us.

Justice Verma - former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Leila Seth - former judge of the High Court and Gopal Subramanium - former Solicitor General of India together have done a great job in coming up with a string of amendments to the Criminal Law of India towards a safer place for Women in India. 

The three of them have spent many hours going through the public suggestions & then articulated the public sentiments into Amendments. Summary of the report can be read here.

The road ahead ?

1. The report gets tabled in the parliament in front of the Politicians to approve these amendments to the Criminal Law. 
2. Test for all the Politicians irrespective which party they represent to pass the bill as early as possible.
3. Rules doesn't necessarily guarantee justice. Our Police force need to implement them to the word with due diligence towards the general public.

Lets see how long does it take to achieve the above road bumps which ensures the Laws are in place for safer place. Until Women of this country feel safe and have their rights, we might be a Republic but the Democracy is Farce. 

Image: Google's doodle

~ Where next? ~

The post is a trigger based on the latest Nvidia offering of Tegra 4 & CES 2013 

While we are creating devices that are getting faster, thinner, smarter. On the contrary we humans aren't evolving at the same pace in our own environment with many aspects of life.

A lot of open questions:

• As humans beings, being more civilized with fellow earthlings and habitats
• Providing drinking water
• Education to the masses
• Preserving natural resources for future sustenance
• Bringing awareness to people towards - *balance* in what you have vs what you want
• Many more to list

I very much agree with what Elon Musk had to say, "Sooner or later, we must expand life beyond this blue mud ball— or go extinct."^