India and Pakistan conflicts------>Is War The Decisive Factor?

                                      W A R-------three letter word, simple to utter, small in length and easy to spell. Dictionary says WAR is "An organized, armed, and often a prolonged conflict that is carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high morality." In exams we simply write this or in viva-voice we say it simply. But is it that simple? Is the meaning that clear and transparent as it sounds?
                                     For the answer lets pay History a visit. Through out history we have seen several wars being fought. Be it the epic battle of Kurukshetra or the battle of Troy, be it the World War 1 or the World War 2, nothing positive came out of it. Wars have only brought down tears from the people's eyes because both sides lose their dear ones.  Often for revenge Wars have been waged. But the outcome was the same.

                                     For a long time India and Pakistan have locked their horns and neither side is ready to release the pressure lest the other one take the upper hand and hit the other one down. The power tussle started on the very onset of the birth of Pakistan and even today it is very much active, particularly at LOC.
                                    Over the years several meetings and peace talks have been held between the superior authorities of the respective countries but the outcome is nil. Wars have also been waged but only innocent people lost their lives.
                                    The tussle between India and Pakistan have reached a new level for the last 10 years. For the last 10 years there have been several militant attacks in India and every time the finger has been pointed towards the militant groups present in Pakistan. People from different parts of India have often debated over the fact whether War should be waged against them or not.
                                   Some feel that only a War or launching a Nuclear Missile will solve the problem. But we should always remember that the several people will die because of this. Mostly are innocent people. We should always remember that even the militants are human beings. If they can be made to understand through words then perhaps no guns or bullets or missiles will be necessary. Because firepower will only lead to more misery.
                                   But making them understand is the last thing that one can hope for in the present scenario. Neither can India wage a war against them nor can India sit back and relax. The thing that India cannot wage a war doesn't mean that India doesn't have a spine. It is just that India knows the after effect of war. The after effect of War, the trauma that people often suffer is greater than any other pain in the World. If we attack today, then tomorrow they will attack us, the day after tomorrow we will attack them again and this will go on and on.
                                  Mahatma Gandhi once said "An Eye for an eye will make the whole world blind". So we must never adopt that policy. But it doesn't mean that we would sit back and let the militants attack and have their way. Pakistan has declined on several occasions that it has no militant groups and that they are not hiding anybody but the attack of America and the killing of Osama bin Laden have shook their testimony as to no militant activity withing their territory.
                                 India cannot off course do a similar thing with Pakistan as no country would like anybody else to meddle with anything (good or bad) happening within it's borders.

                                 Peaceful talks have not yielded any result. Several times both the country's foreign ministers have met but nothing has been achieved to speak about proudly.

Diplomacy etc can be implemented but still it's looking bleak under the present scenario.Both countries are Nuclear countries now. So War now will only mean the annihilation of both the countries. So what else have we left to do? Nobody knows. 
                                
                                     
                                     
  



                      We can at best hope for the betterment of our relation. It would be great for both the countries.                                   

                             

India At The Olympics : From the eyes of an Ordinary Indian

                             

                            Olympic Games have always remained the ultimate challenge for every athlete in any field in every part of the World. Getting a medal in Olympic (whatever it may be:Gold/Silver/Bronze) is the main target for all the athletes for which they practice all the year round for 4 long years. Sometimes they succeed and sometimes they fail, but the dream lives on until the very end.
                                                      
                           Indian Athletes are no different and that they can also compete have been proved by them at different times. They might not have reached the pinnacle on all instances but every time they have given their best.
                       

             This time around the Olympic Game was held in London. The City was well decorated for the event (as we have been shown on TV). The picture on the left shows the beautiful London Bridge on the River Thames being wonderfully lighted and decorated with the Olympic Symbol.
             The arenas selected for the Games were also of the highest level with all the modern facilities. The crowd cheered each and every game and if an Indian was playing and doing well, the Indian Crowd shouted like anything to cheer their countrymen/women. There was a total atmosphere of festive all over London during the entire period of the Games.

                      The opening Ceremony of the game was an event worth watching. The entire stadium was lit up with crackers and all and it looked like a heavenly place. The kids performed to different tunes and it was almost like a fairy land. The burning of the crackers revealing the Olympic Symbol started off the entire proceedings of the Opening Ceremony. It was followed by an act directed by Danny Bowl which depicted the entire history of the British Civilization to this day.

          After this slowly as time progressed it was finally time for the entire Contingent of different countries to come out hoisting their respective flag. Indian Contingent was lead by Beijing Bronze Medalist Sushil Kumar, a wrestler by profession. Behind him came the other members of the Indian Contingent and it was a beautiful scene as our National Flag kept fluttering in the breeze.

                   

         The opening ceremony came to an end with huge number of crackers going on from all sides of the stadium.

















                            The Olympic Campaign started on a sad note for India. The Archers (men & women), from whom a lot was expected, totally flopped. Their performance was below average if we have to measure it on a scale. A few more events followed and all were ending in tremendous disappointment. At one point of time especially after seeing the early exit of the Archer Team, it almost felt like that we would perhaps return empty handed. The greatest shock was the failure of the last time Beijing Gold Medallist Abhinav Bindra's failure to qualify for the finals in the Men's 10m Air Rifle. But future had something else in store for us.

                        

      The surprise came along with shooting. Gagang Narang presented India it's first medal of the London Olympics, 2012. he won a Bronze medal in the Men's 10m Air Rifle and started our medal count.

       It was followed by Vijay Kumar claiming a Silver in Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol. It was also a nerve breaking finish as the competition was very tough and very close. In this competition though Gagang Narang disappointed us by failing to qualify for the finals. Vijay Kumar was a surprise to everyone though he had been performing quite well for the last few competitions.

                   
               A medal was expected from Badminton and Saina Nehwal didn't disappoint us, though the medal came through a bit of luck. Saina's opponent from China suffered a severe injury to her leg in the course of the match because of which she was forced to forfeit the match mid-way inspite of leading the score board. Still this cannot belittle Saina's achievement because she has overcome several obstacles and Chinese obstacle was the last one to cross. At the end, a medal is a medal.

              Mary Kom followed her dream and became the first woman to win a Bronze Medal in the first ever Women's boxing held in the Olympics. This is more than an achievement, it's a record and also an inspiration for many other women of our country. Mary Kom is a boxer later, she is someone else before. She is a daughter, a wife and a mother of 2 twins, but that didn't stop her from achieving her dream of becoming a world-class boxer. Such was her determination. She really deserves our salutation.

      
              Another surprise package to add a medal to the Medal Tally for India was Yogeshwar Dutt in Men's 60Kg Freestyle Wrestling. His Bronze medal match was worth watching. it was a treat to watch especially the manner in which he came back into the match and finished off the match in tremendous style. I salute your patience and coolness.

             The last man to represent India in the just concluded Olympic is Sushil Kumar and hopes were high especially after Yogeshwar Dutt won a medal the previous day. He went on through rounds and with every advancement, our hopes started rising more and more and finally it was the final match. The previous round was very tiring for Sushil Kumar as the opponent was very tough and it took it's toll in the final match. He went down to the Japanese wrestler almost without a fight and his exhaustion from before was clearly visible. Still we are not a bit disappointed with it. By winning this Silver, he has become the first ever Indian to win an Olympic Medal on two successive Olympics in the individual category He started off with Bronze in Beijing and now won a Silver. So next is surely Gold in Rio 2016.


                     Even though the above are the medalists, but that doesn't mean that other players of the Indian contingent didn't excel. Parupalli Kashyap startled everyone with his win over two players who are above him by a big margin in the rank. He eventually went down fighting but before that he has shown his class and gave a hint that if properly nourished and polished he will shine for India in the future.
                    In Athletics also in different departments the Indians displayed much better performance that other years. Krishna Pooniya went the finals of the Discuss Throw but failed to put up much of a challenge there. But we can hope that next time she will move further ahead. Other Athletes also contributed in the best way they could have done and overall it was a brilliant campaign out there for India this time around.
                  But a Dark Spot has been left behind by the Indian Hockey Team which failed miserably and ended up last in the tournament. very disappointing for every Indian. Also just before the Olympic there was a huge dispute in the Tennis Circuit involving Leander Paes, Sania Mirza, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna which resulted into nothing but only disgrace and disgust for the entire nation as the Tennis players returned empty handed.
                   Every event is a mixture of good and bad things and so keeping that in mind it would not be wrong to say that we had a nice time at the Olympics and next year we can expect more medals from our Heroes and other unsung upcoming talented people. 

                                                                
                                                                     !! JAI HIND !!

VANGIPURAPU VENKATA SAI LAXMAN --------> The Tragic Hero

                The general trend in India is that if somebody grows old, other people start looking for some young person to replace him. This trend is visible everywhere in every field. Cricket is no different. But if we speak only about the present situation or only about Indian Cricket we will do injustice to the history of this game.
               Steve Waugh, Mathew Hayden and recently Ricky Ponting have been dealt with similarly. Steve Waugh retired on a heavy note. Pressure was coming on in from the then Australian Selector. Steve has lead Australia to a great height and under him actually the Australians were called as “Mighty Australians”.
               Hayden was dropped from the team and then he played brilliantly in the Next Year’s IPL becoming the highest scorer of that year’s tournament. Then why was he dropped and forced to retire? Hayden had served Australia for quite sometime and single handedly won many matches for them. Did he deserve this?
              Ricky Ponting was dealt with in a more harsh way. He was thrown out of the team in the middle of an ongoing series. What can be more painful and cruel than this? A person who had lead the team to two World Cup trophies deserved much much much much more than this.
             Let’s come back to India. Let’s visit Kapil Dev’s era for a bit. He was not bowling well for quite sometime and so was dropped suddenly. If we look at his statistics, we will see that he has taken the maximum number of wickets on Indian Soil. Let me remind you that Kapil Dev was a fast bowler and Indian pitches used to be mainly for spinners even in those days. There lies his greatness. He was clearly going through a bad patch because of which he failed to perform, but everybody overlooked that fact. Very Tragic.
             The present scenario is no different. Javagal Srinath decided to retire after he was dropped from the World Cup squad of 2003. It was Sourav Chandidas Gangly who had a tought time with the selectors to change their decision and include Srinath in the squad and the rest is history. Srinath bowled brilliantly in the World Cup and that was his most successful World Cup.

         
            Then comes the era of the Fav Five---->        

1. SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR
2. SOURAV CHANDIDAS GANGULY
3. RAHUL DRAVID
4. ANIL KUMBLE
5. VANGIPURAPU VENKATA SAI LAXMAN

                                                                                  

           Sourav Ganguly’s contribution to Indian Cricket was tremendous. But look at what happened to him. He was indirectly asked to take retirement. Still today he laments that he could have played for at least 2 more years.
     
           This is not life My friend, this is pure murder of a talent.

           Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid faced more or less similar situations like everybody else. Anil Kumble was suffering from an injury and he knew best that once somebody else replaces him for 1 test, that will be the end for him. So he was wise enough to say “I quit”.
           Rahul Dravid knew that once the defeat of the last series against Australia comes under the scanner, he will be the one to go under the hammer. He also decided to call it a day. All the other people who failed will not be effected so much as he would be.

           Lastly comes VANGIPURAPU VENKATA SAI LAXMAN .  
            

          
         
          Nothing to say about this man and the way he has played and served Indian Cricket. He was called “THE GOD OF THE 4TH INNINGS” and he alone deserved that title. He not only saved many test matches but also won many for India in critical situations. We should not forget that he use to come out at number 6 and on most situations batted with tail-enders only. He was always in the limelight yet was always in the shadow, always behind somebody else. He never got the applause he deserved. Even in the last hours of his Cricketing life he only got the negative energy of life. He was mentally shattered by so-called “cricket lovers”.

          I salute your decision. There has been no-body before and I doubt whether there will be anybody after you who will be brave enough to take this type of decision of quitting with immediate effect even after being selected for a full Test Series. I can feel your love for the game because even after practicing for 3-4 months just for playing the Test Matches, you have decided to retire without playing even one because you were mentally shattered. I can say that even SCG and Rahul Dravid perhaps have felt the same while retiring and that’s why they have continued playing in the IPL.
        
            SCG & Rahul Dravid----> if the above is true then I would like to see both of you again in next Year’s IPL also. It is immaterial whether you score or not but we would like you two to be there out in the field in action. 
            VVS Laxman---->I know that you have no other formats of Cricket left to play other than Ranji Trophy but we all salute you for your heroism and the great decision you have taken. We will always remember that you have thought about the team first and about yourself later and a live example was when you decided to utilize the money that you were being given in extra to be used during the IPL 1 auction to buy better players for you team. That showed a small part of your greatness. I know that I am not fit enough to discuss about you or give you compliment but I would like to end this on the note:-->
                     
 "THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR HELPING INDIA ACHIEVE THIS HEIGHT OF GLORY"
 
                 
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar->We all sincerely hope we don’t have to see this treatment against you.