A small Parody.....

I am going to talk about a four letter word which starts with F.....generally when we hear this term, we think about Power, speed, performance etc. ...But for India.it is the reason for giving sleepless nights to almost the entire nation especially the media and we propagated that word to the entire world....... Yes, we are talking about FAST.

Now a search on Anna gives me a pic of old man in place of the expected blonde. The news channels have free fodder. Apparently the fasting person lost 8 kg in 8 days. On listening to this piece of news, my wife looked at me and my innocent paunch with a mischievous smile.......No, i am not doing that.....then one news channel showed anna running in the rain....tell me which anna would you prefer to run in the rain wearing white...definitely not this one... then another news item stated the anna stayed along with Kalmadi......what would they be talking... Here's my take: Kalmadi to anna.."why happened senior?",,,,anna -"dude lokpal bill...and what about you bro"..kalmadi would have replied,,,,"water bill, electricity bill, shirt bill, engine bill etc...." Whatever said and done, my anna has been and always will be our suneil anna ....

And at the end of it what was the outcome, nobody knew...parliament just discussed something and sent to the standing committee.....Even the standing committee was swamped with all sort of lokpal bill..i even sent 1 to them which asked the MNC operating in India to serve beer in their offices....it seems that the standing committee has to stand for a long time..

Now talking about another fast done by the chief minister of a state to propel him to become the prime minister.common this is a fast and not "zandu balm" which cures headaches, body ache, cold etc.....Nothing against him....

. This is giving the eternal PM in waiting some anxious moments. Just spare a thought for this PM in waiting person. He has been waiting for his entire lifespan under "A tall" shadow but now being pushed by this fasting men. This octagenerian has now resorted to rath yatra......and add to misery, the govt. increased the petrol prices......what will happen if rath- which is truck manifested into a lord ram chariot runs out of petrol.

Whatever it is, seeing people FAST around me is making me furious.....

End of an Era

1996

Being an ardent fan of Vinod Kambli, it was disheartening to see him rested and a rookie 24 year old been given a chance to play in his place. India's semi-final loss was fresh in my mind. Still my heart rendered the injustice meted out to Kambli - especially after the emotions he had to go through when Clive Lyodd awarded the semi -finals to Sri-Lanka at eden gardens. The debutant was an utter disappointment. Lasted only 4 balls scoring a paltry 3.

1998

There were angst amongst the Indian public because the batsman was too correct. His copy book shot were always grounded but ended up in fielders hand. It was a pain to watch him especially when we had the God, the prince, the playboy and the gambler showing all the tricks around him. His inability to find gaps led to question marks about his ODI career.

1999

He was the top scorer for the world cup. However, he always had another player playing a better game for the same match which "belittled" his performance. He was happy contributing for the team.

2000-2002

He flourished under the great shadows of the god and prince. With prince taking over the mantle, he was made the deputy in charge. India's eternal hunt for an batsman wicket keeper was hurting India's batting line up. Around 5 wicket keepers were tried during this tenure. None could could justice with either Batting nor keeping. To lend some stability, he donned the keeping gloves unwillingly. And thus began one of the golden era of Indian ODI victories.

2003

India went to the world cup finals after 20 years.BCCI clever's match scheduling saw India playing kenya in the semi-finals. God thrived but unfortunately the team succumbed on the D -day. In all the hue and cry, all the excellent stumpings and magnificent catches taken by a part time wicket keeper was forgotten.

2004

It was one of the crucial tour to Pakistan. India beat pakistan in comfortable 3-2 victory. Dew factor was credited for the magnificent indian victory . The person who was instrumental in making sure that india benefited from the dew was happy taking the backseat. But international fraternity was cognizant enough to award him the first ever ICC overall best player trophy.

2005 - 2007

He has to weather out the turmoil in Indian cricket with differences cropping between the then captain and the coach. When he took the reins, there were a lot of talented players in the dis-coherent team. A big question was raised on the capability and future. But this tenure saw the emergence of most of the players , who went on to lead India to a world cup victory in 2011. India lost 2007 world cup under his leadership but most from that team were instrumental in our 2011 victory. 2007 saw an immediate ouster of the coach. Indian team had to travel to England without a coach. Still this man had the perseverance to double up as an manager and India managed to give a remarkable performace (England won the series 4-3). After he quit captaincy, his role in ODI's started diminishing.

2007 - 2011

The new captain of youngistan had no place for him in the new team. He was only called for the championship trophy as it was played in seaming condition and India required a "correct" batsman. But as the pitches across the world were continuously flattened out to meet the voyeuristic demand for increasing TRP, it seemed as an retirement call for this player. Again, in England when majority of core team players are injured, he has again been roped in to play.

September 16

Today is his last match. May be, he'll succed or succumb. I'll not go for records or win percentages. But i am fortunate to see a sports person entire lifecycle - the struggle in the beginning, glory for his talent, ignominy in defeat and again the resilience to serve the nation whenever he was provided with the opportunity.

Somebody rightly said - we don't need a Bharat Ratna for him, he already features in our national anthem

Trip to tripura

Visit to Tripura

A modest state with honest people. everyone seemed happy.

Redemption of a cricketing Nation

Its always not about winning. Its not always about "how hard you hit" but also "how hard did you take the hit and come back as winner".

The Pakistan team exemplified that. Here was a team which was in shatters in days preceding world cup. No captain allocated, their top world class two seamer humiliated and dropped from world cricket along with their former captain batsman.

This team would have given a mediocre performance and still no body would have bothered about them. They were looked down as cheaters and even most of the cricketing bodies even mulled severing ties with the nation. Added to this, terrorism has crippled their domestic cricket infrastructure and their country has not hosted a single test playing nation for the last two years.

They would have remained mediocre but they chose to fight with their captain leading from front - and is the highest wicket taker in the world cup. This team with a sub standard batting line up mauled over almost all the test playing cricketing nation in their group to finish at the top. Their group had the formidable Australia, Sri lanka, New Zealand and WI.

They played with grace and with all their heart. There was humility in their effort and sole purpose of redeeming the pride of their country which had taken a beating with all the match fixing allegation. Their each movement was under scrutiny, each miss magnified and criticized. With this pressure, what they did was commendable and awe inspiring.

If there is a team of the tournament award, i would not have any iota of an doubt to which team it should be given !!!!

The news we might have missed during Obama Visit.

While everyone was overjoyed with the arrival of Obama, there was a small news piece in the thrid page of a leading english daily mourning the death of Sidhartha Shankar Ray. My earlier memories of S.S. Ray was of him being the Indian Ambassador back in 1994, where he had forecasted a tighter Indo US relationship and how he see that coming. It was irony that he died on the Obama arrived India as his first State visit confirming to what Ray had predicted about decade and a half ago.

Definitely his work merited a lot of people mourning his death and at least a front page news. To sum up some of his key achievements:

1.) Chief Minister of WB during 1972-77 and successfully dealt with the maoist rebellion.

2.) Right hand man to Indira Gandhi and was said to be the brain behing the 1977 emergency

3.) Governer of Punjab (1987-89) who along with KPS gill quelled the Khalistan revolution.

4.) Planned the Calcutta Metro, the first in this country back in 1970's.

5.) US ambassador,(1992- 1997), was intrumental of change of India's policy of allying with US and was instrumental in putting business on the India - US agenda.

Ray's sharp verbal duels with his personal friend but political foe - then chief minister Jyoti Basu- is etched in golden letters in the state's legislative history. He also happens to be the grandson of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das ( C R Park !!!)

I believe this is a massive loss and 1 salute to this great personality.

fight over an H.

Does H makes that much of the difference. The name remains the same. For instance, my name "Subhankar" has been tampered with free usage of H everywhere as if H is an free electron which can take any place or be removed at will.....shubankar, subankhar, subankar. I never used to take any cognizance of this till today i came across this news piece.

Does it make any difference or is it my sense of indifference. I have stayed out from my state to have that feeling. But is it that important that we use our high pedestal of democracy to discuss this matter on priority. "Whats in a name"...........Shahrukh khan lend a name to Rajni as a goodwill gesture.....

Farmer suicides, illegal mining, rampant increase of naxalism will be have wait till we fix the "H". Thats called living on the "H" :)

Guess the symbol

http://tiny.cc/9z4ea for answer

New york

Check out the pics

New york

View more presentations from Subhankar Pattanayak.

Times Square and Empire State

The Splendor of New York. Taken from Empire State Building.

Statue of Liberty. Ellis Island and World Trade Center

central park , American Museum of Natural History and Metropolitan Museum

Times Square and Empire State

Visit to Madame Tussads, New York

my recent visit to Madame Tussad - Good to see Amitabh being the sole representative from Asia .

Waka Waka

Like the lyrics....also the tune...


You're a good soldier
Choosing your battles
Pick yourself up
And dust yourself off
And back in the saddle

You're on the frontline
Everyone's watching
You know it's serious
We're getting closer
This isnt over

The pressure is on
You feel it
But you've got it all
Believe it

When you fall get up
Oh oh...
And if you fall get up
Oh oh...

Tsamina mina
Zangalewa
Cuz this is Africa

Tsamina mina eh eh
Waka Waka eh eh

Tsamina mina zangalewa
Anawa aa
This time for Africa

Listen to your god
This is our motto
Your time to shine
Dont wait in line
Y vamos por Todo

People are raising
Their Expectations
Go on and feed them
This is your moment
No hesitations

Today's your day
I feel it
You paved the way
Believe it

If you get down
Get up Oh oh...
When you get down
Get up eh eh...

Tsamina mina zangalewa
Anawa aa
This time for Africa

Tsamina mina eh eh
Waka Waka eh eh

Tsamina mina zangalewa
Anawa aa

Tsamina mina eh eh
Waka Waka eh eh
Tsamina mina zangalewa
This time for Africa

Nice song from Lamhaa

Listen to this. Sung wonderfully by Mika

A new Quiz on Bollywood

Do let me know your feedback

A new Quiz URL

In my quest to make the quiz more interactive than plane slide share files, i hit upon this URL where you make interactive quizes. A similar app is there in facebook ( its a dirty app which has lots of Ads and you soon loose interest there.

This Site is a neat one, but has some of key drawbacks:

1.) Does not support picture ( facebook app does it but again its not neat)

2.) Does not support Video and Audio

3.) Does not support single questions.

If any one come across such a site which has all these, please mail me subhankar@gmail.com

Here comes a small quiz on this site.

http://www.goquiz.com/quizzes/bollywood-90s.html

Answers IPL Main Quiz

Answers to the IPL main Quiz

Answers IPL Main Quiz

View more documents from Subhankar Pattanayak.

Indian Premier League Quiz

The main quiz conducted on 21st May

Ipl quiz Main

View more presentations from Subhankar Pattanayak.