My Award Winning Story!!

Freescale Semiconductors Bangalore (I Work there) had a small story writing competition. The idea was to "See the Picture and Write the Story". I happened to win the contest, and here is the Picture and the Story. I am sure you will like it.


RATNA

Young Ratna walked slowly towards the shop across the highway balancing her brother in her arms. She lived in a hut along the highway; her mother had asked her to get some bread. As Ratna reached the shop she saw her rival Lakshmi eating a bun at the shop. Ratna and Lakshmi lived in adjoining huts, they played together, and however, they always ended up fighting as Lakshmi always wanted to win. Ratna reached the shop and asked for some bread, as she balanced her brother a sleek black car stopped in front of the shop. An attractive modern lady of about 29 years got down. She was wearing an elegant black sari and carried a silver purse. Ratna could not help admiring her grace and gait. The lady asked for a coke and paid the money from her silver purse, she put the purse down adjusted her hair and left towards the car.

Ratna realized that the lady had left her purse behind, she put her brother down picked up the purse and raced to wards the lady. “Amma!! Your purse. ” shouted Ratna. The lady looked back thanked the girl and took her purse. The lady asked Ratna where she stayed, Ratna pointed towards the hut. The lady asked her and her brother to get into the car and took them to their hut. Ratna’s mom was surprised to see a car and came running out. The lady explained what had happened, she also said that she was also looking for a domestic help and wanted to take Ratna with her. She promised a good salary, living conditions and also education to Ratna. Ratna’s parents agreed to the deal and after few days Ratna was working for the graceful lady Anamika. Anamika was a divorcee working in an MNC. She would be busy most of the time and needed Ratna’s help in small household chores but she made sure Ratna got good education too. Time passed quickly and now Ratna was a graduate with a job in call centre. The grace of Anamika had rubbed on her and she had shifted with her family to a better location. Anamika had migrated to USA and gave Ratna many gifts before leaving. Ratna bought herself a new car (a black one).

One day as Ratna was driving in her car she realized she was at the same highway. She looked around and spotted her hut and the shop where her dream started. She stopped her car near the shop and got down. She saw a haggard looking girl of her age munching a bun. She realized it was Lakshmi. As Ratna reached the shop the shopkeeper shouted loudly “Don’t you want your bread?” Ratna came back to her senses. She saw the lady in the Black sari staring at her oddly. The lady then paid the shopkeeper from her silver purse, she put the purse down adjusted her hair and left towards the car. Ratna realized her dream was actually happening and the lady had left her purse. She put her brother down. Her brother was not too happy with that. Just then Ratna heard a cry “Amma!! Your purse. ”. Ratna turned around in amazement, she saw Lakshmi racing towards the lady with silver purse in her hand.

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If you liked this I am sure you will enjoy another post from me called "The Ant Story" on the same blog.

The Great Indian Political Wolves !

The battle ground is set, a date decided for the the wolves to strut into the arena and encircle the befuddled prey. The prey is large in size yet its divided attention  has always led to its slaughter. Usually it looks around to find a friendly wolf and hopes it mercifully leads it to safety. Ultimately it perishes due to lack of direction, patience and a sense of resignation. If you have wondered all along how a Billion plus strong Indian population never elected a strong and capable leader after  Independence you have found your answer.

Post Independence India grew up blissfully by handing over the reins to Congress until suddenly one day its people realized that their democratic country was transforming into Monarchy of Nehru-Gandhi Dynasty. The sudden search for alternatives yielded not so attractive options. Slowly the country meandered into a situation where it found most of its neighbors conniving and its leaders napping. Later the country witnessed unrest of reservations and religious divides came to the forefront. Decades passed, and today we fancy ourselves as an economic super power with nuclear power. Hmmm..."Power" is such a strong word - chic to wield , but it turns out we do not know how to use either of these powers. Well enough rants about the government , the billion count population does not use its power to vote too.   

Well do not blame the public immediately, leaving behind the history let us look at the options Indians have in this elections. The major parties are Congress, BJP, Communists and Other Regional parties. Before we go into who to vote for lets look at a little history. The British ruled India with an Iron hand and an Iron boot. They used a smart policy called "Divide and Rule " .  They finally left and handed over the power to people as we chose to be a democratic nation. Now with so many parties around who do you vote for. Every Political party needed a USP a selling point. A Logo and Jingle to market themselves. Wait are they forgetting something? Ahh yes which part of crowd to target? Why would this section vote for them?

Well now the policy was to divide the crowd into sections and hope to garner their votes  and rule. In Short "Divide and Rule". To be very true this is the best strategy to accomplish any task. Few examples to the credit the policy in real life before we proceed to the political parties. Lets start with the metaphor in the first para.

Wolves and Buffalo : Divide attention and Conquer/Rule the Prey

Project Management : Divide Work and Conquer/Rule the Project

British Rule in India : Divide country by regions - make the rulers fight each other - Rule the unintegrated country

Now to the Political parties and their USPs

Communists: 

Divide country in to Economic classes - tell the poor that rich are exploiting you -Conduct strikes so no industries grow - As the rich fight poor - Communists take power and just Rule everything.

Regional Parties : 

Divide Country on basis of language- Tell the people of your region that the other language speaking junta wants to supersede and abolish your culture- Rule in your respective regions.

Finally the Big Two.

BJP:

Divide Country on basis of religion - Tell Hindus that Muslims plan to take over the world by producing lots of kids and finally when their population is big enough they will convert/cut/rape you. - Tell them that only BJP can safeguard their religion and give them chance to rule -  demolish mosques - ban conversion and valentines day(tats my fav) - Fan Riots when Congress rules- Garner all Hindu votes - Rule the Country.

 

Congress: 

Divide Country on basis of religion/caste - Tell everyone BJP is not secular whereas Congress is- Abuse everything that denotes Hinduism in the name of Secularism - Thumb Rule: Even a dog from Nehru-Gandhi household can rule the country - Give sops to minorities in the name of reservations- Divide country on basis of caste and give sops to few vote banks in the name of BCs Reservations - Fan riots when BJP rules- Garner Minority and Moderate Hindu votes - Rule the country.

Well I can go on and on about the pro and cons of  all these parties but I need to mention one particularly about the Big Two. When country is under attack both of them whine in front of all nations. Hold Pakistan responsible and ask their MOM, DAD and Big Brother USA to punish pakistan. Faced with such gutless opportunistic parties on a voting day public wilts in disappointment to choose one worthless leader. Typically on a voting day the illiterate vote for one who gives them liquor or a Hundred rupee note or is a movie star.  The Literate keep away citing triviality and pessimism as reasons. 

However lets make a difference this year vote for your wolf without fail !!

PS: Did you know at-least 5%  of the votes casted are fake and rigged by political parties.

The Cherry Explodes!!

I deeply condemn the Terrorist attack that took place today on Sri Lankan Cricketers. The attack on cricket here is merely a subset of the greater attack on humanity that seems to have become part of Sub-continent these days. Terrorist attacks in India, War in Sri Lanka , Mutiny in Bangladesh and Terror hubs in Pakistan, human life seems to lost its value too in recession.

Penury and greed had led the Sri Lankan team to Pakistan even after other countries had cancelled their tours. Pakistan is fast turning into a country partitioned between corrupt politicians, shady Army and religious fanatics. The modern moderate class is a mute minority in pak. Most of the readers might have already categorized this post as "Indian Rants" against Pakistan. However, the developments in the region make my case stronger. Taliban is gaining ground in Pakistan and it wont be long before the fanatics start controlling a part of Pak's nukes .

There is something shady about pakistani cricket setup too. Javed Miandad one of the greatest pakistani players and highly placed administrator in Pak cricket has his own dark connections. JM's son is married to Underworld Kingpin Dawood Ibrahim's daughter. For the uninitiated DI was accused in 93 Mumbai blasts and fled India fearing arrest and is known to still control the underworld in India. DI is also 4th on FBI's most wanted list. DI was recently thought to have joined forces with Al qaeda and actively funding terrorist hubs. Imran Khan the world cup winning captain , a failed politician and spokesman who is recognized by the West went on record supporting the Islamic hardliners. That means no education for girls, shariat law and a medieval life style. When leaders like Imran speak in favor of Islamists one can be doubly sure that Pak is heading towards nadir.

On Cricketing front this is the tombstone for Pak cricket. No other country will travel to Pak and PCB will end up bankrupt . My heart goes for all those who got injured and this may mean some players such as Samaraweera who will end up in bed when in prime form. This incident will definitely change the worlds perspective of Pak. As the sentiment goes its clear that Islamic militants have killed the adopted religion of Pakistan - "Cricket".

Art of Spin !! - Contemporary Greats

If there is anything Magical or Mystical in Cricket it is the "Art Of Spin". I have always enjoyed watching a the bemused face of a batsman bowled around his legs by slow turning seemingly innocuous ball. Spin is all about fooling a batsman, manipulating his mind and playing a prank on him, And believe me this is no easy art to master especially when there is a chance that you will be thrashed like any other swindler on failing in your act. You need a brave heart, shrewd brain and confidence to back it up all. No wonder all great spinners turn out to be great captains if ever handed Captaincy. My article today is a tribute to the contemporary greats of Spin.

Shane Warne :
God of Leg-Spin burst into the public eye with the Ball of the Century which turned a mile to disturb the peace of Gattings stumps. The baffled look on Gatting and Dickie Bird tells it all.



Warne had controversies surrounding his personal life and I am no one to comment on it. People talked about drugs scandal during WorldCup. Well I am no supporter of drug culture but truth is drugs can not help a spinner. In the end Warne turned out to be Maradonna of Cricket.
Australian captaincy is one thing that Warne deserved but never got. To be true Ricky Ponting is not even half the tactician as Warne as IPL proved. Warne won the Tourney with a bunch of Rookies whereas in international cricket Ponting continues to flounder with strong teams after retirement of Warne and Mcgrath. The greatest spin bowler from Australia deserved the honour to lead his team. His retirement left a void in Australian team that would take a century to fill.


Muthiah Muralitharan:
They called him a freak and a chucker, he was subject to many tests and taunts, Yet today he stands tall with highest no. of wickets in both Tests and ODIs. Murali, a tamilian in Sinahalese dominated Srilanka is an icon. In contrast to Warne, Murali is shy and humble being. However as aggresive with the bowl in his hand. The look in his eyes as he is about to deliver a ball can give one nightmares. Though Offspinner by trade Murali perfected Doosra (legspin with off spin action) and tormented batsmen all over the world.
Murali until the emergence of Mendis was the lone strike spinner in the side and SL depended heavily on him for wickets. Murali continues to weave the ball around and is the Last man standing of the Golden era of spin after retirements of Warne and Kumble.




Anil Kumble:

The bespectacled genius of Indian spin. When Kumble entered the cricket scene no one thought he would take 619 wickets in Tests and become the 3rd highest wicket taker in the world.
Kumble remained the most potent force in most of Indian Test victories. Kumble never spun the ball a long in comparison to Warne or Murali. However, Kumble used his fast spearing deliveries and flippers to capture most of his wickets. Kumble was better known as a Medium pacer in a Spinners body.
Kumble was devastating on final day pitches that wear and deteriorate. Kumble is poster boy for persistence, dedication and toil. The steely look in his eyes spoke volumes about the hidden agression in the softspoken Engineer.
The highlight of his career was 10 wickets in an innings againgst Pakistan at Kotla.
My Favorite however is the picture of his reaching his maiden century at the Oval in 118 Test matches. He managed to do what Shane and Murali missed. He became the Indian Captain and scored a century.



In my Next post I will talk about other spinners bhajji, saqlain, vettori and new Mendis.
Make sure to view my next post for my own video on How to bowl a carrom ball.