Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams: Increase revenue from rich & upper middle class. Spare the poor & middle class

Times of India has an article that Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) wants to hike ticket prices.

TTD tickets range from Rs 50 to Rs 5,000. Most devotees buy special darshan tickets for Rs 300. At least 2,000 devotees go for VIP darshan every day, shelling out Rs 500. "The revenue gap can be bridged with a mild hike in ticket rates or Rs 5 to Rs 10 raise for various seva," said officials. 

It's BAD IDEA to enforce across the board hike! In fact, it is a lazy move. Instead, target additional revenue through higher revenue from rich and upper middle class. In my calculation below, let me show you how TTD can raise additional revenue of Rs 500 crores without increasing cost on middle class and the poor.

TTD's image of subsidizing the poor while collecting higher rates from the rich is not entirely accurate. TTD leaves a lot of money on the table when it comes to optimizing revenue from the upper middle class and the rich. TTD can do both - subsidize the cost for the poor and increase exponentially the charges for the upper middle class & rich for the same service that they receive today.

Before we get to recommendations, let's look at revenue streams for TTD. From TTD 2016-17 Annual report summary:

• Investment & Capital Income: Rs 1,889 crores (70% of all revenue)
• Hair: Rs 150 Crores. Leave it untouched
• Loans & Advances to Employees; Lease charges for asset utilization: Rs 171 Crores

That's Rs 2210 crores of Rs 2678 crores that i am not recommending any change.

Accommodation: Rs 114.50 Crores

• Leave all accommodation at Rs 200 & below untouched. I am assuming that 80% of all revenue - Rs 91.6 crores from these levels. 
• All rooms above Rs 200 to Rs 499 - double the room rates
• All rooms above Rs 500 to Rs 1999 - Increase the room rates by 4 times
• All rooms above Rs 2000 - Increase room rates by 8 times
• Institutionalize dynamic pricing that increases all room rates above Rs 200 by up to 8 times during peak season - These accommodation are occupied by the upper middle class, businessmen & politicians and not middle class citizens
• Target: Increase room rate from Rs 200+ rooms from Rs 20 Crores to Rs 75 Crores in 2 years - Rs 55 Crores increase in revenue

Seva: Rs 55 Crores

• Sevas can be classified into 2 categories. Category 1: Niche, low volume seva tickets (Suprabatham, Thomala Seva, Archana, Abhishekam, Visesha Pooja, Tue-Thu Morning Sevas). Category 2: Mass, large scale seva tickets (Kalyanam, Brahmostavam, Vasanthotsavam, Sahasra Deepalankarana Seva. I assume that 85% of revenues come from Category 2 - Rs 47 Crores. Rs 8 Crores from Category 1.
• Category 1 Seva Tickets: Align to market price
• Less than 10% of Category 1 tickets go to middle class & poor. It's usually the rich and the upper middle class that garner most of these tickets. I don't see pilgrims complaining 10 fold increase in these rates. That takes the revenue from Category 1 seva tickets from Rs 8 crores to potentially Rs 80 Crores.
• Anyone who can prove that their income is less than Rs 3 lakhs per year by producing their IT returns of the past year can avail the tickets at 50% of the new price. Without IT return, no discount can be provided.
• I've heard rumors of Abhishekam tickets hawking for Rs 3 lakhs for vastram and Rs 50,000 for vessels. I am sure Rs 125,000 for Abhishekam and Rs 7,500 for vessels will not break the bank for those try for these tickets. 
• Even assuming 20% of all tickets are sold at 5 times current price, Sevas can bring in Rs 72 Crores, 9 time increase from today's price
• Leave Category 2 prices at current level. I do have a recommendation for additional revenue from Category 2 by bringing back earlier seva tickets
• Till mid-2000s, some of these seva tickets were 5x-10x the cost with the rights to bring additional members. For the high cost, TTD issues Silk Clothes, additional ladies. 
• I understand their logic of charging Rs 250 per ticket for each Vasanthotsavam participant rather than charging Rs 2500 when only a family of 2 adults travel. However, if you give them both the options with the Rs 2500 ticket having silk clothes & more ladoos, you are giving the same experience to the pilgrims but optimizing the revenue from those who wish to pay
• Bring back 2 Tier Seva system - 10x for the higher tier (silk clothes, additional ladoos) and retain existing middle class friendly tier without reduction in benefits
• I can safely say 10% of folks in Category 2 will prefer to buy higher tier seva tickets. That's Rs 42 crores increase (Rs 47 crores instead of Rs 4.7 Crores) in Category 2 seva revenue

In summary, TTD can take Seva Ticket revenue from Rs 55 crores to 151 crores - Rs 106 crores

Darshan Tickets: Rs 209 Crores

There are 4 types of darshan tickets - Free, Rs 50, Rs 300 (Quick Darshan) and Rs 500 (VIPs - Cat 1, 2, 3). 

• VIP Tickets:
• All VIP tickets need recommendations from top bureaucrats &/or politicians. Category 1 is for the highest level and is mostly self-declaration. In my interactions with Temple officials, the average volume is 100 Category 1, 400 Category 2 and 600 Category 3 VIP tickets daily yielding Rs 20 crores approximately
• In 2015, Deccan Chronicle reported TTD insiders selling Category 1 tickets for Rs 10,000
• My PoV is that Category 1 & 2 can see 10x increase in prices without losing demand while Category 3 ticket prices can be increased 5 times. So, if you want the privilege of 'VIP Darshan', asking to shell out Rs 5,000 for Category 1 & 2 and Rs 2,500 for Category 3 isn't out of the ordinary. 
• Revenue Increase from VIP Tickets from Rs 20 Crores to Rs 140 Crores
• Quick Darshan:
• There are 23,000 Quick darshan tickets every day (Will link once i find it!). I say that we have ticket purchase utilization of around 60% (just a guess). That's Rs 83 Crores
• Increasing the ticket price to Rs 400 isn't going to reduce the demand. So, revenue goes up to Rs 111 crores. Even accounting for elasticity of demand (trust me, it doesn't exist) - Rs 100 crores isn't out of reach
• Introduce Dynamic demand for Quick Darshan tickets of upto 2x price around key holidays. Of the current capacity of around 200 days, around 50 days can qualify as high demand days. That's Rs 25 crores of additional revenue from Quick Darshan - once again, a service used mostly by upper middle class & the rich
• Between price raise from Rs 300 to Rs 400 and introducing Dynamic demand, TTD can increase quick darshan tickets from Rs 83 crores to Rs125 crores
• Rs 50 Ticket
• Leave it unaltered

Without affecting middle class used Rs 50 ticket and by targeting additional revenue realization from VIP & Quick Darshans, TTD can add Rs 162 crores in additional revenue from darshan tickets

Prasadam Receipts: Rs 175 Crores

• Leave Ladoo Prasadam price as-is. It costs Rs 34 to produce but is sold for Rs 25. With 3 lakh ladoos a day, Rs 100 crore subsidy.
• My recommendation is for TTD to ramp up Prasadam sale in other areas to cover for this loss. Let me show you 2 such areas
• Big Ladoos are only available for Kalyanam tickets or letter from JEO. There's demand for open market sale and TTD should consider 5000 large ladoos at 100% mark up price. At 5 times the weight, let's assume that the cost/gm remains the same. That's a cost of Rs 170 per Big Ladoo. I am sure there's demand for buying large ladoos at Rs 300/large ladoo. That's Rs 55 Crores of additional income every year and an ability to decrease small ladoo subsidy by Rs 24 Crores.
• Vadas: Vadas are available only for Kalyanam tickets. It's a pain to get prior approval for additional vadas. Assuming each vada cost Rs 100 to make (just guessing!) and if sold for Rs 200, my guess is that there's demand to sell 5000 vadas a day. That's Rs 36 Crore revenue for Rs 18 additional cost and more importantly covering Rs 18 Crore of the ladoo subsidy
• Annam Prasadam (Rice Prasadam): In 2009, during my trip, we purchased Sweet Pongal Prasadam for Rs 350 and received 3 Kgs of Prasadam after the food was offered to the Lord in the morning. Unfortunately, this scheme was revoked shortly thereafter. Why not bring it back and make it pilgrim friendly
• Rs 75 for 100 gms of rice prasadam (Tamarid Rice, Pepper Pongal, Curd Rice, Sambhar Rice, Sweet Pongal) - 1 package per pilgrim
• Rs 500 for 500 gms - max of 5 packages
• Rs 3000 for 1000 gms - unlimited
• Have a daily preparation quota for the first 2 years. Let's say 1000 Kgs (might seem a lot but the TTD kitchens prepare this quantity as free 'Prasadam' every day)
• Assuming 600 Kgs for 100 gms packet; 300 Kgs for 500 kms packet and 100 Kgs for 1000 gm packages - Annam Prasadam will yield revenue of Rs 130 Crores per Year
• My estimate is that TTD will be able to absorb up to Rs 50 Crores of Ladoo Subsidy through this scheme, thereby reducing the ladoo subsidy from Rs 100 crores to less than Rs 10 crores - though subsidy reduction isn't the main aim. Additional services & privileges to pilgrims is the main intent here

In total, Government will increase Prasadam sale from Rs 175 crores to Rs 400 Crores.

Summary:

I don't have details on lease, hair revenue schemes and thus let it stay as-is. Let's summarize Revenue stream increases:

• Accommodation: Rs 114 Crores to Rs 170 Crores
• Seva Tickets: Rs 55 Crores to Rs 106 Crores
• Darshan Tickets: Rs 209 Crores to Rs 371 Crores
• Prasadam Tickets: Rs 175 Crores to Rs 400 Crores

Thus, revenue from these 4 streams will increase from 553 crores to 1,047 Crores - nearly 500 crores jump in TTD revenue. Instead, TTD will be happy to do Rs 5-20 raise across the board. Is that logical or justified?

Let me know your thoughts ...

Indian fan apathy to blame for Olympics, not Administration or Athletes

Do you know who Irfan Thodi is? Vikas Gowda? Joydeep Karmakar? Heena Sidhu? Ngangbam Chanu?

These are atheletes from India who made us Proud in Olmpics but we ignore them because they didn't return a medal. Irfan finished 10th in 20km walk. Vikas Gowda finished 8th in Discus throw. Krishan Poonia finished 7th in Discus throw. Joydeep Karmakar finished fourth in 50m rifle prone. Henna Sidhu finished 12th in 10m air pistol. Ngangham Chanu finished 7th in 48kg weightlifting.

Yes. They didn't win medals like 6 other Indians but because the public won't recognize the contribution of these athletes and will not give them a lakh (when bronze gets them 100 times that amount - Rs 1 Crore!), the apathy of a regular Indian guy is the main contributor to our poor Olympics performance. OK, when was the last time you stepped out for a hard run? or a competitive sport?

If i was made the Sports Minister or the Prime Minister and asked to solve the Olympics connendrum that we face, this will be my vision, goals and action plan

Vision: Healthy & Prosperous country. Through our health initiative, ensure that sports is a mainstream activity in an Indian's life

Goal: 10 Golds by 2028 Olympics. 25 Golds by 2040 Olympics. These are not far away. 2028 is 4 events away and 2040 is  three more from then.

Action Plan: Here is my top 10 actions

1. Starting this year, all school will make PT (Physical Training) a mandatory subject in school. Schools will have to spend as many hours in a week on PT as they do for Mathematics. Physical Training will be a 100 mark subject with 20 marks for drills and 80 marks for performance in 2 sports of choice.

2. Every school will have to mandatorily offer these 3 sports: Track & Field, Swimming and Cricket. In addition, they will have to offer at least 5 from these sports: Archery, Badminton, Cycling, Hockey, Gymnastics, Shooting, Table Tennis, Volleyball and Water Polo. Of the minimum 8 sports, schools are expected to have in-house facilities for at least 4 sports

3. Every Municipality will have to offer at least 5 of the above sports in their juristiction. Every MLA constituency will have to have facilities for at least 12 of the 2016 Olympic sports available for Public. Every MP constituency should have facilities for at least 20 of the 2016 Olympic sports available for Public. Every state should have facilities for ALL 2016 Olympic sports available for Public.

4. Twice a year, ALL students in the constituency have to participate in a District level competition. Every student has to enroll for atleast 2 sports and their performance will go towards their overall academic evaluation till Standard 9. Once a year, there should be a mandatory Schools competition across the state. This should be fixed for first week of October (9 day event starting 1st Saturday of October and ending on the 2nd Sunday of October).

5. National Games are a joke in India because they are not even conducted on a regular basis. National event will be once every 2 years and will be held between the first Saturday of March to the second Sunday of March.

6. Every Olympic sports council/association will have at least 5 International infrastructure tie-ups and at least 1 Academy in each of the 5 zones - North, East, West, South & Central. The Academy will be chartered to identify talent at School level and charter individual plan of actions for these athletes

7. Dismantle SAI. Re-create it from scratch. At least 90% of SAI budget should go towards new infrastructure, conducting competitions, reward prizes. Maintenance of existing or finished infrastucture will be done by the sport committees. No more than 10% to be spent on staff and their salary, maintenance and travel expenses

8. Remove quota systems in Universities and Public Sector Companies. Instead, the focus is towards ensuring every child has gone through a few sports. Instead of Quota systems, provide scholarships for students-athletes

9. Ministry of Sports should be a Cabinet Position and not a Minister of State position

10. Change comes from within. As long as India doesn't run, swim, jump, play - don't expect us to win awards. Government & Organizations can build the infrastructure; Schools can formulate your growing years, but it is up to us to ensure that we make Sports a part of our lives

What do you think? Will we change?

Budget day dreams ...

There is something about our budget that makes economists, stock market analysts, dealers, industrialists and even common man start day dreaming!

The fever catches as soon as people start breaking their New Year's resolutions, which is typically a fortnight or so into the year. Once, we are done with the festivities & the Republic day, the drumbeat starts to raise its voice and experts and sundry start predicting what the Finance minister will roll into the budget. This year is going to be an extra long journey as the FinMin decided to unveil the budget on March 16th instead of the usual end of February. All the better for media, as they fill time with fantasies about lower taxes, increasing limit of deductabiles or even increasing the various tax slabs. The media will line tons of eager housewives, retirees, 'young but struggling' and 'young and high-flying', public servants, private servants .... you get the picture ... Everyone and their uncle will ask the government for a narrowly defined favorable treatment.

So, let's get started. CNN IBN has already interviewed and made a few wishes/desires or 'feedback' as they call made known. First of many, i think ... Real estate thoughts, Power and Energy thoughts, International taxation issues, healthcare, bicycle manufacturers, Auto companies. Major media publications already have dedicated landing pages - Moneycontrol, Economic Times,

The worst of the lot - FirstPost asks "Budget 2012: Should you give a damn?" My friend, can you stop giving it a damn! Wait for a month and Pranab-da will introduce the budget and we can analyse it rather than day dream today ... What say?

PS: I wrote a blog post earlier related budgets. Differenet context but the data points are amusingly/sadly pretty similiar.

With due respects Mr. Ramiz Raja, you are wrong!

No sooner did Ramiz Raja express outrage at the spot fixing scandal, did he backtrack on one case and ask sympathy for Mohammad Amir. Geoff Lawson, the ex-Pakistan coach joined soon.

Their strawman defense? Mohammad Amir comes from a poor background and he was 'ensnarled' in the controversy. They couldn't have played a worse card - "he comes from poor background, he wants to buy a generator for his village!" - Oh! they did!

There have been numerous cricketers who have started from the bottom of the pyramid - Irfan Pathan & Yusuf Pathan are top in my list of mind recall. Vinodh Kambli was another such cricketer from a stark background. Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Kapil Dev amongst others come from strictly middle class backgrounds. None of them took to spot fixing and receiving money for bowling no-balls or batting maiden overs.

While a certain amount of blame has to be apportoined to the suits running cricket in Pakistan, Amir had the choice to say no and go to the press. He took the path of least resistance - chalta hai and hence is as guilty or innocent as the others. He was happy to receive the cash when it was in the dark and turns on an innocent face as soon as his trick gets public.

The third angle and the most intruiging is that PCB wants to take action only after legal proceedings take place. My dear suits, that is a such a weak defense of your action. The laws of the game is more stringent than that of criminal liabilities. How can anyone prove that the betting was a criminal activity? ACC head feels so. PCB believes it can let the legal recourse meander and when the charges are diluted and the perpetrators go unpunished, absolve themselves of any action against the tainted cricketers. Don't fear for cricket as they will definitely hire a retired judge to give semblence to their pre-determined action.

The suits have it all wrong. Cricket laws are far more stringent than the public court. Else, how many of us face charges or reduction in salaries because we finished our sales presentation in 70 mins instead of 60. How many folks face fines and suspensions because we disagree with our bosses and don't shy away from telling them. Poor Virat Kohli, he should have revered to spot fixing instead of staring an umpire for 15 seconds for a dodgy decision. He would have received lesser punishment. The laws of cricket are very stringent on disrepute to the game.

And Mr. Ramiz Raja knows it. In spite of the same, he wants to present the strawman defense so that they check the reaction for potential let-off of Mohammed Amir. Poor Salman Butt & Asif - they should have been a little younger to have got this special treatment

Media & GoI: Rules are different for Telangana & Mumbai

When the Shiv Sena and all narrow minded bigots proclaim Mumbai only for Maharastrians, everyone (rightly so!) condemned it unequivocally.

When TRS and all narrow minded bigots proclaim Telangana & Hyderabad only for themselves, the media (Dr Prannoy Roy, i am looking at you!) and GoI are falling head over heels in giving credence to their claims.

The issue of Telangana highlights how removed our ministers & politicians are from realities. I want to compile some WTFs from Telangana interviews.

1. Telangana is required because Telugu Industry has no film hero from Telangana. Seriously! Even if i take his claim in any amount of seriousness, Rayalaseema & not Telangana provides the much wanted, bad guys of Telugu industry. May be Dr. Srinivas Raj is correct, Telugu film industry don't see hero or villan material from Telangana.

2. Hyderabad & Telangana was a wealthy region in 1956 and have become backward after Andhra Pradesh. Another seriously ill-thought talking point. Either the region was traditionally backward or it wasn't. Just because Usmain Ali Khan was declared World's richest man, doesn't make the region wealthy. Else, with the Ambani brothers, Mittal, Premji, India should be the most wealthy country!

3. While Dr. Srinivas Raj states that Industries have been set in Telangana without benefits to Telangana populance, Dr K Jayashankar claims the oppposite. No industries worth mentioning has been set in Telangana. Companies like Dr. Reddy's Lab don't count in his view

4. Telangana leaders see Andhra folks in Hyderabad as tenants. No worry guys, you might have bought property in Hyderabad but we intend to convert the region into a Zimbabwe a few years down the line. You are free to stay till then!

5. Muslims in Telangana region are asking for a seperate state for any of the following reasons. At 20%, they will have a major say in the politics of the region, Andhra Pradesh didn't have a muslim CM. Telangana will give Muslims the right to ask the GoI to impose a Muslim CM.

6. Telangana was a great state under the Nizams. The feudal system in Nizam rule will return. Folks, don't let small matters like facts stand in the way. Telangana was a backward state with the World's richest man ruling it with such a heavy hand that he fought against integration into India. Nostalgia doesn't change facts!

7. Andhra people look at Hi-tech business for job creation while Telangana leaders believe Charminar has magical job generating features (built by the Nizams, do doubt!) that hasn't been leveraged. Seriously! does this point any merits for debate!

8. Muslims want Mulki rule to be implemented. What's the Mulki rule? Mulki rule mandates that any outsider will have to live 14 years in the state to be eligible for equal rights. Bal & Uddav Thackrey, Ashok Chavan, please move. You might made the utmost efforts to win the "Stupid Politician" of the year award. But Telangana leaders win it with ease. Some sense was put into Telangana leaders and now they acknowledge that Mulki might be unconstitutional. Might?

9. KCR claims that Andhras make no more than 5% of Hyderabad's population. Given that everyone agrees that the population of Hyderabad is around 7.5 million, Andhra population is 375,000 as per KCR. Muslim leader Lateef Mohammad Khan claims that 385,000 of the 600,000+ government jobs in Telangana has bee occupied by non-Telangana region people. Putting these 2 stats together, every non Telangana person in Hyderabad is a government employee. If you haven't received your salaries and arrears, contact KCR & LMT.

10. If the region is as backward as their leader's claim, how can a region with 45% area have 43% share of population? How can the backward region provide 60% of revenues for AP? How does that claim make any sense?

11. And there is this site - which spews all incorrect numbers as facts. A few mis-statements. 

1. I know a lot about the Pollavaram project. Even if i didn't, a quick check provides the following information - Pollavaram is a village in West Godavari district. How can someone divert 405 TMC to Andhra after the water have already reached Andhra?
2. Telangana is hilly & forest area. How can they have 11.25 lakhs areas of lost agricultural land?
3. 65% industries in Telangana is from Andhrites. So? Doesn't that give employment opportunities to Telangana folks?
4. Ramagundam moved to NTPC and deprive Telangana of electricity. Seriously? NTPC is run by Andhra? Ramagundam power is mostly routed to Tamil Nadu as part of the South India grid. That's the fact
5. Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi & Kolkata aren't free zones? Seriously, what is a free-zone? When did the Constitution start Free-zones folks?
6. How can a backward region contribute 74% sales tax? 66% excise duty? 
7. Telangana people were forced to sell land at dirt cheap prices to Andhra people. Or so goes the story .. 

In summary, i believe that politicians are being opportunists and trying to create statistics from nothing. We saw linguistics politics in the 50s & 60s, caste politics in 90s and now we are seeing regionalism for this decade. Telangana needs development and that isn't questioned. In fact, Telangana will receive development as subsidiary from Andhra's prosperity. 

It is sad that media is also playing a double role in denouncing regionalism in one area and encouraging it in another area.

Travesty in Delhi ...

Nope, i amn't refering to the Delhi pitch ., though a lot of blame should go there  ...

...Nope, i amn't refering to Kumar Sangakkara gesticulating to this teammates to escalate a ridiculous delivery and use it as an excuse to stop the match ... i felt it was childish, but Sanga's loyalty is towards his players and rescuing them from a bad situation ...

... Nope, i am't refering to Arun Jaitley or any of the other politicians who don't have the moral responsibility of a fiasco ... no politician in the recent past across the world has ever realized his shortcoming and owed to it, why sacrifice only Jaitley for it?

... Nope, i am't refering to the 2 teams packing off to their hotels within an hour of leaving the field ... showcasing a lack of respect for paying public will catch up, but not today ...

... The target of my ire is Match Referee AG Hurst. How can he not realize the follies of the pitch before the start of the game? If he had as much knowledge as me on the behaviours of various pitches, he can stay home and i can be the globe-trotting match referee. The second charge against him, how can you allow 23.3 overs to be bowled before you deem the match dangerous? I don't think earlier matches lasted this long. Third, did you see the ball that triggered the complaint - it was pitched in the bowler's side of the wicket. Outside the subcontinent, you would have seen the same reaction. Foruth, please see the various replays (i have seen, thanks to Indian News Channels playing it endlessly) - most of the deliveries that kicked up were from short of the length deliveries and not from length. If the bowlers have to adjust to batting paradise tracks (400 runs tracks), why can't the batsmen fed with some questions? Most of the batsmen getting hit were playing forward to a short of length delivery, not on their backfoot. Fifth, This isn't your first series in India (second actually, the previous one was also the Ind-SL 2005 series), how does this pitch behave differently to a fifth day subcontinent wicket? Sixth, show me one wicket that was from an ackward delivery: Tharanga leaving the gate open, Dilshan fishing outside off, Sanga's lazy uppish drive, Jayasuriya outfoxed with a slider and the Samaraweera's running indecision - none of them can be attributed to the pitch conditions

As like your predecessors, you will hide your imcompetent decision behind ICC's opaqueness. This match shouldn't have been called off. You should asked Sanga & Dhoni to quit whining and asked them to continue with the match. You should have told the captains that the pitches in India & the subcontinent in the 1990s weren't any different and matches were conducted fine, thank you very much.

27th December 2009 should go down in history as  a watershed event in Indian cricket. It is the day when ICC rubber-stamped BCCI's move to create batting pitches. ICC & BCCI have sent clear signal to the next generation cricketers. Please become batsmen, don't contemplate about being a bowler. Matches will be called off if we don't see 300+ run ODI wickets ...

The pitch and the various players aren't blameless. However, the match should have gone on. 

Was South Africa robbed in the ICC Awards?

I believed in the afirmative and checked if the cold, hard facts supports the contention.

World Test XI: Gautam Gambhir (India), Andrew Strauss (England), AB de Villiers (South Africa), Sachin Tendulkar (India), Thilan Samaraweera (Sri Lanka), Michael Clarke (Australia), MS Dhoni (India, capt & wk), Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh), Mitchell Johnson (Australia), Stuart Broad (England), Dale Steyn (South Africa), Harbhajan Singh (India, 12th man)

I used Cricinfo Statsguru with the following conditions - 600+ runs, 50+ average, 3 or more hundreds. The list shows: Clarke (17/1440/53/5), Strauss (14/1323/60/6), Gambhir (8/1269/84/5), Samaraweera (8/1067/60/3), Tendulkar (9/896/55/3), Dilshan (8/848/71/4), Jayawardena (8/802/57/3), Sarwan (9/782/60/4), Gayle (9/698/53/3), AB de Villiers (8/603/60/3)

That clears the air about South African batsmen not making to this list. Only 1 managed to sneak in from a stats perspective. So, if there were test batsmen who could complain, it should be the Sri Lankans who managed only 1 entry though they had 3 folks in the above said shortlist. The reason is that they played Pakistan (away, 2 matches), Bangladesh (2 matches), Pakistan (home, 3), NZ (home, 1) - not strong opposition. 

Test Team Wicketkeeper:

My pick would need at least 300 runs, 40+ average, 10 dismissals, at least 2 50+ scores. I shortlisted 4 candidates after eliminating players who had too many matches & too few dismissals (Matt Prior) or too few matches (Pak, SL & WI WKs). McCullum (10/555/34.68/2h,3f/38-35c+3s), Brad Haddin (16/1028/41/2h,3f/55-54c+1s), Mark Boucher (8/316/28/1h,1f/26-24c+2s), Dhoni (8/554/0h,7f,28-24c+4s). 

Once again we can eliminate any claims of anti-SA bias. Dhoni got the vote because he led India to series win in NZ and he displayed some consistent batting. However, i feel for Haddin. He got robbed. Dhoni won on star power than stats power!

Bowlers:

For the bowlers, my criteria was 40 wickets, less than 3.5 RPO, less than 65 SR. 5 made the cut - Johnson (17/80/27/3.12), Siddle (12/49/29/3), Swann (12/48/30/3), Shakib Al Hassan (8/45/23/2.67), Broad (13/40/31/3.3).

Of this list, Hasan, Broad and Johnson made the list. While i understand Johnson & Hasan, i don't get Broad. Steyn missed the list because he had a higher RPO - 3.62 while his remaining stats look good (8/42/27). Bhajji missed the earlier cut because he had 39 wickets (8/39/27/2.5). 

Broad should consider himself very lucky. Not only did Swann have better bowling figures, his batting figures weren't bad either - 12/354/35/0h,3f compared to Broad's 13/395/26/0h,2f. I would have had put Bhajji in the team and have Siddle/Swann be the 12th man.

World ODI XI Team: Virender Sehwag (Ind), Chris Gayle (WI), Kevin Pietersen (Eng), Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL), Yuvraj Singh (Ind), Martin Guptill (NZ), MS Dhoni (Ind, captain, WK), Andrew Flintoff (Eng), Nuwan Kulasekara (SL), Ajantha Mendis (SL), Umar Gul (Pak), 12th man: Thilan Thushara (SL)

ODI Batsmen criteria: 400 runs, 40+ ave, 80+ SR, 4 or more fifties. Dhoni (24/967/60/9f/86SR), Yuvraj (24/949/48/4h,3f/106), Gayle (21/942/50/4h,2f,110) and Sehwag (14/782/60/2h,6f,128) are a cut above competition and invited themselves to the party. Guptill (12/448/56/1h,3f/87) made it on superior average. No idea why Dilshan (12/473/47/1h,3f/88) made it over  Hussey (18/699/54/0h,7f/87) and Amla (13/549/50/1h,3f/88) - both of them should consider themselves unlucky. The luckiest person on the list isn't Dilshan but Pieterson (16/440/44/1h,2f/93) who wasn't even the best player on the English team. That honor should go to Owain Shah (18/535/44.5/0h,5f/86). These records compare to Taylor (18/591/45.5/1h,4f/81) and AB de Villiers (18/614/44/oh,5f/88). Slight anti-SA bias but not too much for the huge uproar that we can expect.

ODI All-rounder criteria: 200 runs, 10 wickets. 17 players qualify but 3 folks seperated themselves by having Batting Ave above 35 & Bowling ave below 26. Flintoff (14m/304r/38ba.av/23w/20ba.av) seperates himself in this group that includes Duminy (19/476/37/10/25.4) and Shakib Al Hasan (22/665/37/30/25.6) though Hasan would have won any other year.

ODI Bowler's criteria: 25 wickets, Bow Ave less than 35, RPO less than 6. 12 players made the cut. Mendis (22/46/16/4.15), Kulasekara (24/43/19/4.33), Umar Gul (12/26/20/5) blow the opposition away. Outside this batch, there is a lot of close competition between Thushara (22/34/21/4.7), Steyn (16/28/24/5), Muralitharan (22/36/21.6/4.5), Johnson (16/28/24/5). The 12th man spot was a toss-up and i think the panel made a tough choice. I don't think anyone can make a case one way or the other on the 12th man.

In summary - there doesn't seem to be anti-SA bias. SA didn't have a few people contributing while others suffered slumps. Everyone in the team contributed their bit and hence their rise in Team rankings (the other explanation is that the Aussies slipped and hence elevating SA to the top spot!). They shouldn't show outrage for not having more players because they didn't play a lot of tests and there weren't standouts in the tests that they played. In the ODIs, there is a case for inclusion of Amla, but that's about the amount of under-representation from SA in the World teams.

My changes: 

• Test Team: Haddin replaces Dhoni as WK. Bhajji replaces Broad who goes out completely. Siddle becomes the 12th man. Captaincy to Shakib.
  
• ODI Team: Amla & Hussey replace Dilshan & Pieterson.
  

Unsolicited advise to Jaganmohan Reddy

Hi.,

My condolonces to you & your family for this huge loss. While the state has lost it's CM, the loss for your family is huge. In these trying times, i apologize that i need to talk about politics when it might be the farthest in your mind.

The reason why i had to interrupt your mourning is the increasing clamour to make you CM. Believe me, most of them are following the true traditions of the Congress party or trying to take advantage of the situation. A novice CM who is out of place in regional politics isn't their nightmare but their dream come true. It need not be said that your CMship will be one of the most corrupt in state history, not because you want it that way, but because you would have no control over these ravaging lunatics.

You entered politics about 6 months ago. You have been elected MP. Can you state five things you have accomplished in these 4-5 months? Politics, unfortunately, is easier spoken than acted upon. I am not denying your way to the CM post, but asking you to mature beforing seeking it. Remember that this is the last time you will get the CM post handed on a platter, you need to earn it going forward. Are you ready & prepared for it?

Putting myself into your shoes, i would do the following. If you are keen on the CM post, consult with Sonia & Rahul on the path leading to the CM post. Consult Rahul on how he got educated on people's issues. Get a mandate from Sonia that you will succeed Rosiah whenever he is ready to give up the CM post. Ideally, he should occupy the chair for 2 years and hand over to you at mid term. Take these 2 years to tour the state, tracing the same steps as your father. Learn the issues of the farmers, traders, businessmen, salaried class, working women, housewives and all. Once you attain maturity, the post is as good as yours. Remember, politics is like a bank account, you can only draw what you put in. Frankly, my dear, you haven't put in much to date. Start investing and then encash at a latter stage. 

It is obvious that the support you have today will dwindle drastically as time flies, but you will be left with your core supporters and that's going to be your first lesson.

Regards

Prakashraj - He deserves it!

I just read in Rediff that Prakash Raj has won the National Award for Best Actor for his performance in Kanjeevaram. While i didn't see the movie, i don't think there is one actor in the southern states in current times who can challenge PR for his acting skills. 

Kudos, sir. I like it that you do a variety of roles - stereotype villans (Anthapuram, Okkadu, Pokiri); side actor sharing/stealing hero's thunder (Athadu); father roles (Bommarilu etc) and in a few rare cases, the role of hero. For those who haven't heard of this actor, he is a gold medalist at National Film Institute and is the Amol Palekar-Nanna Patekar-Amrish Puri mix. 

No wonder, famour Southern stars like Chiranjeevi, Rajinikanth, Kamalhassan have praised him often! Enjoy your hour of glory, some lesser talented actor will steal the thunder soon!

PS: To the Rediff Editor. Please check the dictionary for the meaning of "sweep". 

Google Maps - Beats Nokia maps hands down!

My wife recently gifted me a high end Nokia mobile phone. Rest assured, we did quite a bit of research on the available options before settling on our final choice (my wife wanted to buy a blackberry but it didn't make sense for me to pay 800 rs for their GPRS+ services while i could pay only 200 rs for unlimited internet from my TSP).

The phone came installed with a Nokia maps application and 3 month free subscription of GPS service. We wanted to test out and took the phone for our visit to Tirumala (more on it in the next blog!), opening it and making some installations the previous night. Sadly, i missed one major application! Nokia maps is pretty good when it comes to the metros. It has mapped all major Indian cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Bangaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai amongst others. However it has ZERO details of other areas. Some NHs show up in the application but it's coverage is pretty weak. I was surprised (sadly!) that Nokia maps didn't even add a high level map of Tirupati in their application.

I got time to install Google maps after my trip to Tirumala and i was so surprised at their map coverage. It recommended the same path that we took. More so, it has detailed a lot of Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities in India and shows major roads in all these places.

Thumbs down on Nokia maps and astounding thumbs up for Google Maps. 

Chennai to Tirumala: A Prime

Tirumala is about 15o to 180 kms from Chennai. There are many a routes that one can take for this journey.

• Chennai-Naidupet-Kalahasti-Tirupati (196 kms): Longest route but one of the fastest as you stay on a 4 lane, seperated highway where average speeds of 100-120 isn't unheard of. The only glitch is that once you get on NH205, you need to be acutely aware of speed breakers that pop up without warning. I advise first time travelers with limited experience in 'real' Indian road experience to take this road. Better RoI on your BP than fuel!
• Chennai-Tiruvallur-Thiruttani-Nagari-Puttur-Tirupati (173 kms): The cab driver's favorite route as you spend most of the journey in Tamil nadu rather than in AP. It is also one of the worst road to take as it is riddled with potholes, clumpy bitumen chunks and uneven road. It is any gamer's paradise for 3 hours of driving - just real conditions instead of sitting in front of a PS3! I don't recommend this road at all!
• Chennai-Sulurpet-Kalahasti-Tirupati (177 kms): Took this route only once, on the way back from Tirupati. NH5 is a bonus while the rest of the route is quite ordinary
• Chennai-Tada-Kalahasti-Tirupati (174 kms): Of all options, i haven't taken this road at all.
• Chennai-Red Hills-Periyapalayam-Surutupalli-Puttur-Tirupati: The road that i have been taking quite often these days and carries my recommendation. You stay a lot in AP State Highways than in TN State Highways and that means better road experience. Also, if you are not too anxious to get to Tirumala, there are a lot of not-so-famous but very important & beautiful TTD run temples on the way that falls in this route:
• Nagalapuram (Lord worshiped as Matysa avatar - has fins instead of legs and is called Vedanarayana Swamy)
• Narayanavanam where it is said that Lord met Ammavaru. The lord is called Kalyana Venkateswara Swamy here.
• Tiruchanur (more popularly called Alamelumangapuram’) which has TTD’s second most important temple – the Temple of Padmavati Amavaru. Any trip to Tirumala should include a trip to Tiruchanur. For travelers from Chennai, it is best to organize a trip on the way back.
• Srinivasa Mangapuram: While one needs to see Lord as equally beautiful anywhere, I find him at Srinivasamangapuram to be quite special. Only decked in flowers (and without any gold, diamond or any other precious metals & stones!), it is said that the Lord stayed here before he got married.
• Tirupati Kodandaramaswamy Temple: Haven’t been there in a long time. Will go there next time.
• Tirupati Govindarajaswamy Temple: When you align from your bus or train in Tirupati, this is the closest temple – it is right in the middle of town; yet this isn’t visited often. Pilgrims are in a rush to go to Tirumala and once they are back, too tired to go to this huge temple. Did I say that this temple, consecrated by Ramajunacharya himself, is HUGE? I haven’t visited it in a decade but plan to do so in the next visit.

All-Time India's Test XI

Cricinfo has started a country specific All-Time Test XI starting with Australia's All-Time Test XI. The process for England's All-Time Test XI is under way. I decided to jumpstart India's All-Time Test XI.

To whittle from the list of 260, i decided to have a minimum stats critieria

• Wickets (Min): 150 (Post-1950s); 100 (Pre-1950s) 
  
• Runs (Min): 2000 @ Ave (Min): 40 (30% leeway for Pre-1950s)
  
• WK: 100 Dismissals
  
• All Rounder: 75% of Min. Wickets & Runs
  

There are 6 categories - Openers (2), Middle Order (3), All-Rounder (1), Wicketkeeper (1), Pace (2) & Spin (2)

The following is the list of shortlisted candidates:

• Openers: V Merchant, P Roy, S Gavaskar, NS Sidhu, V Sehwag, G Gambhir
  
• Middle-order: V Hazare, P Umrigar, V Manjrekar, C Borde, D Sardesai, MAK Pataudi, G Viswanath, M Amarnath, D Vengsarkar, M Azharuddin, S Tendulkar, R Dravid, SC Ganguly, VVS Laxman, 
  
• Wicketkeeper: S Kirmani, F Engineer, K More, MS Dhoni
  
• All-rounder: Vinoo Mankad, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri,  
  
• Pace: Srinath, Kapil Dev, Z Khan, 
  
• Spin: Subhash Gupte, B Chandrasekhar, BS Bedi, A Kumble, H Singh, EAS Prasanna, S Venkataraghavan

The reasons for leaving out some folks - K Srikkanth (Average below 30; Only 2 Test Centuries); CK Nayadu (no Test Centuries), Lala Amarnath (Average below 25), N Contractor (only 1 century), Jaisimha (Average around 30), C Chauhan (no century)

Some folks don't pass the stats but are in the list: Vijay Merchant (brilliant batsman but played only 10 Tests, 7 as opener), P Roy (Pre-Sunny best Opener?)

Analysis & Selection:

Openers: Only 2 stand out as outstanding. Sunny & Sehwag. Roy & Merchant played in an era where India wasn't dominant and known for brilliant individual but inconsistent overall performances. Sidhu was good but weak against pace attack. Gambhir has the potential to challenge Sunny & Sehwag but has a long way to go.

Verdict: Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag 

Middle-order: Look how packed the middle-order is! There are 14 contenders and from them we get it all - class (Ganguly), grace (Laxman, Azhar), endurance (Dravid), technique (Viswanath). In this list, i think only Laxman & Amarnath never captained the side. As tough as the choice seems, the cream has a way of finding itself seperated from the remaining greats. 

Verdict: Tendulkar (no reasons required), Dravid (stellar record, match winning performances) and G Viswanath (IMHO, Tendulkar in the pre-Tendulkar era!)

All-Rounders: Indian Test cricket has had only 2 great groups - Middle order batsmen, Spinners. But the all-rounder class is the most barren. Ravi Shastri was good but not great. Pajji was the best we ever had and Mankad has stats pretty similar to Kapil Dev. Mankad was a bit better with the bat & Kapil with the ball.

Verdict: Vinoo Mankad, Kapil Dev (Kapil selected as All-Rounder/Pacer)

Wicketkeeper: While Dhoni might look the parts of the winner, i don't think this is as easy a selection. Primarily because Dhoni hasn't achieved his potential in Test cricket. Otherwise, what explains the fact that Dhoni has only 1 century in 37 test matches. Farookh Engineer has the advantage of being an opening batsman while Kirmani was the best pure Wicketkeeper we had. Dhoni has the potential to take this spot down the road.

Verdict: Farookh Engineer

Pacers: The less said, the better. There are just 3 Indian paces with more than 100 Test wickets - Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath & Zaheer Khan. I will go with Srinath for now. Khan has the potential to take this spot in a few years.

Verdict: Javagal Srinath

Spinners: Rich crop here as well. Kumble is a shoo-in because of the fact that he won the most matches for India. The fight amongst the rest is pretty intense. My vote for the present is for Bishen Singh Bedi but Bhajji is already on the rear-view mirror. If Bhajji can perform at the highest level over the next 3-5 years, the spot will be his.

Verdict: Anil Kumble, Bishen Singh Bedi

India's Test XI: Sunny, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Vishwanath, Mankad, Kapil, Engineer, Srinath, Kumble, Bedi.

Just Missed: Dhoni, Kirmani, EAS Prasanna, B Chandrasekhar, Bhajji, Gupte, Vengsarkar!

Why are we living in 12th Century BC?

Please tell me why rules like - Women cannot wear trousers, belong to the 21st Century?

Honestly! Do Muslims think that their God has no other work than create dress codes that he approves and doesn't approve for women? If fanatical Muslim men spent 10% of their time that they spend on moral policing, they are sure to find their way to their God.

Shame on you both, Musharaff & Indian Media!

Recently, Ruler-of-the-Alternate-Universe & I-am-Mr-Right Pervez Musharraf appeared on Karan Thapar's show The Devil's Advocate and talked nonsense about Kargil being a military & diplomatic victory. Nothing better can be expected of this hypocrite. But his response shown how low he can stoop to, a remarkable 'achievement' for him.

The following response caught my attention:

"Because if you are talking about India-Pakistan, Indians had moved all their forces against Kargil and there was as a result weakness elsewhere. So, we knew what the Indian forces are capable of and what we are capable of. The situation was very favourable in Kargil, in Kashmir and on the entire border. We were capable of responding to any Indian action," The Nation quoted Musharraf,as saying

That's quite troubling. What does Musharraf imply here:

1. Kargil was the bait that he planned to lure India to a larger war?
2. Since India shifted focus to Kargil, he planned to attack other parts of India?
3. As Pakistan hadn't developed a nuclear weapon (as admitted by Musharraf himself), the mere rhetoric of using nuclear weapon would send India into a dizzy and make it employ nuclear weapon against Pakistan? He can then go around the world showcasing himself as victim rather than the agressor?
4. He had disregard for human lives when he was trying to take the subcontinent to the brink of nuclear war?
5. After Kargil escalates to India-Pak war, China & US will come in support of Pakistan and Russia supporting India could trigger WW III?

Not only does Musharraf prove that he is an idiot but also a dangerous one at that! He has neither statesmanship nor intelligence, neither takes advise nor is humble. He is the stereotype of all dictators - stupid, rigid, grandiose, pompous and did i mention evil?

Blame should also go to Indian Media. They just have to stop cuddling up to the evil idiot. Media attention is like oxygen to Musharraf. He cannot live without it. Ignoring him will destroy him. The second issue with Indian media was no one was willing to analyze his statements and take him & Pakistan to task. How about calling a few Defense experts and quiz them on these lines and showcase to the whole world, esp Pakistan, how evil they have become? Indian media, experts in sensationalizing news, is really poor when it comes to analysis. And that's why it is a shame ...

The biggest myth about the Budget

Ok, it isn't a myth. 

It's more like people's aversion to accept plain truth.

The budget is more a mechanism of rewarding the supporters than anything else. That's one reason why the budget was more focused on the poor than on business. What else can we expect when India's business capital didn't even have time to vote in the recent election?

And to see the kind of bizzare predictions made by respected media outlet - Interest Payment on Home loans increased from Rs 150,000 to 250,000 (Business Standard), a figure that jumped to Rs 300,000 (The Economic Times). Slashing Personal Income Tax from peak 33.99% to 25% (The Hindu) or increasing the Income Tax Exemption from 150,000 for common 'man' (Woman have limit of Rs 180,000) to 200,000 (CII Wish List) or 300,000 (Assocham).

So, lesson to the Rich, Upper-middle class, middle class: Next time you want the Finance Minister to do you favors, go to the voting booth.

Educational Reforms in India - Are they headed the right direction (?)

Yesterday was a day for Educational news in India.

• Kapil Sibal mooted the idea of scrapping 10th board exams
• Mayawati wants to re-write rules of passing exams: Pass only 5 subjects instead of six to be declared SUCCESFUL
• Anna University (Tamil Nadu) released the rank list for Engineering Admissions. 

If Manniya Mayawatiji behenji had her way, you only need to pass 5 subjects to be declared succesful. No doubt, other chief ministers will try and outdo her to gain politicial mileage:

• Karunanidhi will declare that the pass mark for OC, BC, MBC, SC and ST in Tamil Nadu has been revised from uniform 35% for all categories to 98%, 30%, 25%, 20% and 10% respectively. To provide equal platform for all, the pass mark for OC will increase by 0.5% every year for the next 3 years while the pass mark for other categories will decrease by 2% every year for the next 3 years.
• Laloo & Sharad Yadav will join hands and raise voice to insist that OBCs, SCs and STs be given special status in examinations. They will be given question paper one hour before the exam start.
• Muslim leaders will insist that as an oppressed class, they be considered given the SC status and hence be eligible for 10 - 20% quota of SUCCESFUL candidates irrespective of whether the candidates pass or fail.
• Christian leaders will insist that they be provided a 20% quota on the total number of schools in the country. 
• Karnataka & AP politicians will insist that parents be allowed to pay money in lieu of marks for their children. The formula suggested is that the parents pay Rs. 10,000 (OC) per mark in each paper while the amount for BCs, SCs, STs, Muslims and Christians are Rs. 100, Rs. 10, Rs. 1, Rs. 50, Rs. 75 respectively

Okay, joke apart - i want to discuss the Anna University results to showcase how Mayawati & Sibal are headed the wrong direction. In the Tamil Nadu engineering admissions, 125000 students have been declared eligible for approx. 110,000 seats. 

• I learnt, with shock, from one of the website that there are 44 candidates with a perfect score of 200! Why the shock? The last rank to get into College of Engineering, Guindy's ECE course (the No. 1 course) is 31 (in 2008). That means 13 students will miss getting into this course inspite of getting a perfect score, just because they weren't born earlier or the computer gave them a low "random" number.
•  There are 5,700+ candidates who have scored 195 & above (97.5%). Based on last year's admissions, 5700 will not get you into ECE course in any Government College. In fact, they won't even make it to ECE in any of the leading private Engg colleges. 
• The only courses that 5700 can get in Government colleges are these: Agricultural Engg & Mining Engg (College of Engg, Guindy); Rubber & Plastic Tech (Madras Institute of Tech); BioTechnology (GCT, Coimbatore);Fashion Tech, Textile Tech, Metallurgy, Textile (SS) in PSG; Civil, EEE, Mech, Metallurgy (GCT, Salem); Civil, CSE, EEE, Mech (GCT, Tirunalveli); Civil (SS) in Thiagarajan, Madurai; Civil (AC Tech, Karaikudi)

Bottomline: If you don't get 98% and above, you shouldn't dream of studying in a mainstream course in leading Engineeing colleges in Tamil Nadu. And Ms. Mayawati & Mr. Sibal and stating that they want to de-stress kids from the rigors of exam. What is more impossible? Having only one exam in 12th (10th is scrapped) based on which your life ahead is decided or having multiple exams (2 or preferably more!) to ensure that kids gets acclimatized to the enivornment of competition. 

Even today, students of Andhra Pradesh state board appear for 3 public exams - 7th Standard, 10th Standard and 12th Standard (called INTER). I think that's a better path than scrapping exams. Have multiple public exams but maybe grade system in 7th & 10th and mark system in 12th. One of the strengths of Indian students seen globally is their basics taught in middle & high school. Where our system lacks is the ability to provide free thinking to the kids and this method isn't going to encourage folks in free thinking. It will only ensure that kids join coaching institute in their 8/9th standard to target 12th  exams and thereby missing on the basics. Mr. Sibal - I don't have too much hopes on Behenji. However, i can appeal to your senses. Don't Scrap 10th. Retain it, better still, introduce graded public exams in 7th Standard. 

PS: I cannot but take a dig at Reservation system in Tamilnadu. The news release from Tamil Nadu shows that 8 of the 10 Toppers in Engineering Admissions come from "Backward Class". And this isn't an exception. Look back at 2008 & earlier data and you will see that folks from BC community usually have done well. Isn't it time to decrease the quota for BC community and re-classify them as Forward Class. Or is it too much to ask from a political system that works towards taking our society backward everyday?

PPS: Globally, yesterday will be remembered as the day when we lost 2 great artists - Michael Jackson & Farrah Fawcett (Charlie's Angel). For all his flaws, Jackson is the King of Pop and inspiring folks worldwide (hello, Prabhudeva and Lawrence Rahavendra)

MS Gill - Be our Sports Minister, not Cricket Minister

Dear Mr. Gill.,

A few years back, you retired as Cheif Election Commissioner of India (CEC). Having reached that post, i hope that i can deduct that you are good in beauracratic activities. Lesson 101 of beauracracy states that you need to identify the boundaries of your role. 

Saina Nehwal reached heights that no Indian has ever reached. She became the first Indian to win a Super Series Badminton tournament. And i see no congratulation statement from you when you took time to praise Pakistan's T20 World Championship victory. 

Pray, Mr. Minister - Can you stop being India's Minister for Cricket Affairs and become India's minister for Sports & Youth Affairs. (and practice what you preach to others - Encourage sports other than cricket)

And by the way, i find it an insult that Saina received a cash prize of Rs 200,000 when each member of the 2007 T20 Championship victory earned Rs. 8,000,000 (apart from Porsche & Mercedes Benz cars), that's 120,000,000 for the 15 member squad - apparently, Cricket is worth 600 times more than Badminton in India.

Will the Minister take some action

Your's Sincerly

A True Sports Fan

Primer: How to transport $130 billion

The WTF News of the day:

Two Japanese nationals were detained by Italian financial police last week after trying to enter Switzerland with $134 billion worth of undeclared U.S. bonds, mostly Treasury bonds, an Italian daily said Wednesday. According to the report in il Giornale, two unidentified Japanese in their 50s concealed the bonds, including 249 U.S. Treasury bonds each worth $500 million, in a suitcase with a false bottom that was searched by the Italian authorities June 3 when they were in Chiasso, at the border with Switzerland, about 50 kilometers north of Milan. 

Wow! They were caught transporting $134 billion ... not 134 billion yen - which would still be a mind boggling $1.37 billion! Would they have been caught if they were using the Gulfstream IV or Gulfstream V? instead of a car? 

Folks, $135 billion is so much money that it will wipe most of India's External debt ($140 billion). Only 29 countries in the world have more external debt than the amount captured in the raid. Also, i am wondering if this amount is legal or black money. Does it belong to any bank or does it belong to some mafia gang? Why am i thinking that this news will suddenly die down & we will never hear more about this incident?

Another aspect of the news that surprised me - Italian Financial Police. Do these folks go around Financial institutes dressed in coats & ties? I bet India can do well with one such special force dedicated to fight black money? Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, i hope you are listening.

Casteism & Political play ...

For long, affirmative activists & apologists have cited the caste system as the bane of Hinduism and the need for reservation for SCs, STs and increasingly for OBCs. Some of the arguments are validated by facts with a lot more, steeped in nothing more than rhetoric. One such instance is the Reservation for Muslims which will remain as one of the most "very-funny-if-it-wasn't-sad" moment in Indian history. Did someone forget that these folks ruled India for over 700 years? Did we forget that these folks murdered millions of Indians, plundered crores of property, forced conversion, all in the name of religion? And tell me again, why does this group needs reservation?

My point isn't not just against reservation for Muslims. My point is highlighting the fact that we now have reservation for BC Muslims. I hope that folks are familiar with the fact that Islam by principle is against castes; Islam states that all men are born equal and there isn't distinction any group of followers. However, that was not how it was followed in India. So, Tamil Nadu government has implemented a 5% reservation for BC Muslims. If this isn't a WTF moment, i don't know what is. Next on the agenda for right-wing Muslims is to get SC status while the politicians are looking for a 5% reservation for BC Christians (an ordinance was passed in 2007 in TN for 3.5% reservation for BC Christians but revoked and sent to National Minorities Commission for it's recommendation a.k.a rubber stamp!)

In one more not-so-funny incident, Encyclopædia Britannica blames Hindus for caste system in South Asian Muslims. Reservation in India is the (politician's) gift that keeps on taking from us ... 

Note: I am not against affirmative action. I am against affirmative action for political reasons; economically progressive groups; rewarding backward social measures; States deciding BC communities. I support affirmative action - at primary education level; for SCs & STs; timed-out & measured system with objectives and goals; monitored under the Supreme Court

Unmodernized JEE system...

I was amazed to find that JEE counselling is an archiac system whose only place in modern India is a museum.

Highlights of their 2009 rules for counselling:

•  The main purpose of asking the qualified candidates to appear in person for the counselling is to verify their identity
  
• After checking their identity and documents, the candidates will be asked to submit their choice sheets of courses and institutes.
  
• After the qualified candidates have exercised their choices as per the counselling schedule, seat allocation will be done centrally, at a later date on the basis of the AIR-cum-choices exercised by the candidates.
  

Why is it so difficult to implement an online seat allocation system for JEE? For AIEEE, it might get difficult, but JEE with 15 colleges & 8000 seats, it should be much easier. Let me take a stab at creating a system.

• At the time of result announcement, succesful candidates will get the link to register to a website where they can provide their preference institute & course.
• The candidate can change his data any number of time till 5 days before commencement of counselling.
• 3 days before commencement of counselling, the data on candidate preference is published to all succesful candidates, thus enabling them to gain an idea of which course & institute they might get.
• On the day of counselling, candidates will gather 2 hours before their allocated time to the center. Their documents are checked and allowed within the "green room"
• The "green room" is the location where the allocation is made. The green room will display real time vacancy positions across all open colleges to candidates.
• 15 minutes each is allocated for every batch of 100 to make their decision and confirm their seat preference. Each candidate will be allowed to bring in 2 people to help him make his decision. 
• Each candidate will be seated in the green room for at least 30 mins before he has to make the decision. Since he gets visibility of the information for at least 30 mins, he gets adequate time to make the correct decision. Also, the mock excercise before the start of counselling would also enable him to picture a close enough view on his allocation. 

I am sure there are much brighter ideas than mine for real-time seat allocation in JEE. The time has come for the JEE committee to open up to the 21st century reality rather than remain in the time wrapped cocoons of seat counselling.