Web series - "Delhi Crime" my review

I like good web series but am not a crazy fan of television to watch series after series. This might be a reason why I have just watched the series "Delhi Crime" almost two years after it released on Netflix!

I must say I really did love the attempt. It gave me a fresh perspective on many issues regarding this case. I was one more citizen watching with absolute shock as this case was reported on news channels in 2012 and supported fully the protests by fellow citizens. However, I realised how fast this case was actually solved by the police and against potentially how many difficulties. How could it be simple to track six rapists in a city of 17 million plus surrounding states from where most of the culprits were? How could the police have possibly prevented such crimes when the ratio of police to regular citizens is so low? 

The kind of political and social pressures while dealing with an emotionally draining crime was fascinating to know more about. The actors of course going by the ratings, had done a fantastic job and the series kept up the pace and involvement of the audience through all the episodes. Kudos to the director for the background research done and the extremely good presentation.

If you have not watched this, I highly recommend that you do. But before that do expect to continue to be shocked by this crime as that is never going to go away!  

Thank you 2020 and welcome 2021

Happy New Year everybody. Wishing you and yours good health, happiness and success in 2021.

I am as happy as anyone else to see 2020 go. But in all honesty I cannot say it was all bad. Don't get me wrong, 2020 had enough sorrows and created desperate situations for me as much as anyone else, however there were enough other 'firsts' that make me appreciate it as well. 

For one thing, and if nothing else, it gave me enough time to stop and think. To stop and slow down by force. That created new avenues to channel my energy and talents. Thus were born some new and long- pending ventures.

So, if we are alive today, having survived 2020, let's not complain too much. Let's take those experiences, the good, bad and ugly and take it all forward in 2021 to the best of our abilities. Let us focus on positivity in life and be useful to ourselves and others. That might be the single best and common goal for all mankind. 

All the best wishes for an excellent year people. Lots of love.

Catch-up

A long gap again!

Life suddenly got busy again in this eventful COVID-19 year. I became a student again at none other than Yale University and what an experience it has been!!! Deserves another post in itself.....

Following this I was invited as a Guest of honour and key note speaker for the 53rd Engineer's day event organized by the Institute of Engineers in India, Qatar chapter. The selected theme was one of the best I have spoken on - Self-reliant India. 

The event had such an impressive line-up of distinguished guests and eminent speakers including 

H.E the current Ambassador of India- Dr. Deepak Mittal, 

Prof. K.K Aggarwal, Chairman, National Board of Accreditation, India and

Dr. Mylswamy Annadurai (Moon man of India), Chairman of National Design and Research Forum, India.

I thoroughly enjoyed the event and talks and leave you here with some pictures :)

IPL 2020 and Thala Dhoni :)

The Indian Premier League is the most successful cricket league in the world and is usually held during the months of April and May. But this year being this year, the IPL obviously was affected too. Finally the IPL is being held now and the venue has changed from India to the UAE. I am very partial to my home team, The Chennai Super Kings! They are also one of the most successful teams in the IPL and have been in more finals than any other team. In spite of being suspended for two years, they won the title three times so far in the last eleven editions and were runners-up a whopping five times! That's just a little background for people not familiar with the IPL and CSK. 

Moving on to the only Captain that CSK has had so far - Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dhoni is also former Indian National Team captain who led the Indian team to the elusive Cricket World cup victory in 2011. Dhoni, in my opinion is a walking Management legend on his own and you can learn so much from just observing him in action. Nicknamed 'Captain Cool', most of his fans have never seen him lose his cool, however in the very rare occasions that he has, we have pitied the one at the receiving end of it! His run chases are legendary and we live to see him hit beautiful boundaries in every match. 

Now obviously Dhoni is not in his prime now and pushing 40 is not a young age for a sportsman. However, he has never disappointed and has so far done justice to his multiple roles in the game. I am only very surprised at some fans and even cricket experts who start hammering him specifically every time India or CSK lost, no matter how good the game. For instance, this IPL 2020, CSK have only played two matches so far, won one and lost another. The match lost was a high scoring match and the total put on the board was only less than 20 runs short of victory. The total is in no way representative of a poor performance at all. Maybe the bowlers could have done a better job in controlling the runs given away to the opposition batsmen, but nevertheless it was a good game that any cricket fan should have enjoyed watching. I don't have a problem with half baked regular fans criticizing the match or captain, however what about the so called experts, or commentators of the game. These comprise of other former cricketers, so you would expect them to speak with some practicality. Does one expect to win every match? Is Dhoni to be singled out every time for a poor or even great performance but with end result of a loss? The same people will laud him shamelessly during the next match that CSK will win. 

In the midst of all such bad articles and tweets, I finally found a good article by former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, who actually analysed the decisions made by Dhoni the Captain and Dhoni the batsman. Makes an interesting read and here is the link

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/ipl-2020-ms-dhoni-is-the-ultimate-realist-he-has-always-been-that-way/story-1qcIVV0vS2d3qYZAmQgPCI.html

In another instance, another team, the Royal Challengers Bangalore, lost very poorly. A former cricketing legend took a dig at the Captain, Virat Kohli and of course dragged his poor wife along in his comments. This as well is a common underlying theme in India - blame the partner! 

Looking forward to the rest of the matches this edition, tolerating more of the good/bad articles and just watching our Dhoni in action! 

Prime Minister's address on Indian dogs

I loved the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi's address today that included a bit about dogs. He spoke about their integral contribution to the Indian Army's services and importance in preventing acts of terrorism. He took the time to honour several dogs by their names which makes the whole narrative much more personal. For their trainers and units they were family, so it is only fair that their contribution was acknowledged by name, by none other than the Prime Minister himself. While the list is extremely small and the PM will not have enough time to list all martyred dogs in service, it certainly reflects the respect for all of them. 

The PM had also taken the time to research and list some of the native breeds of India and point out some of their special characteristics. They are so much more suited to the country obviously as they were natives here long before their western counterparts arrived and can handle the conditions and native food much better. He also spoke about research happening across Government agricultural institutes on these dogs. The PM encouraged people to do their research and learn more about all of this information, which is sound advice any day. 

The last bit was the best, where the PM asked every family thinking about adopting dogs to consider Indian breeds. One thing the PM should have added is to say adopt strays from the streets who are basically mixed breeds and are very resilient. But I will add this here. Strays are more loyal than any dog of a particular breed that you might 'buy'. Never buy a dog, whatever the breed may be, while there are so many homeless that you can save. People breed dogs for materialistic benefits and for most part the dogs are misused. Help prevent that, please!

It is important that people who have a voice use it for such matters, so it will be heard by more people. For this thank you Modi ji; animal lovers appreciate you taking the time to talk about this.  

Even Republicans endorse a Democrat this election!

I am not sure if this has ever happened before but hard core Republicans and three ex-team's staffers have endorsed Democratic candidate Biden!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-endorsement-mccain-bush-romney-staffers-reject-trump/

In their letters, the main thing that jumps out other than the many adjectives describing President Trump of course, is that they would like to see decency return to the Whitehouse and the country!

This election is going to be extremely interesting :)

Daggers drawn for the Duchess of Sussex as usual

I cannot understand the level of hate that goes around for the Duchess of Sussex. Wait, on the other hand, maybe I can. When a woman comes across as confident, self-assured, self-sufficient and is successful in life, it is the duty of society to take her down a notch or more than a notch if possible. Hence all stops are pulled by people who generally have no business poking into her life. Her past career as an actress apparently has people deciding that she does not deserve life as British royal or better yet, she 'got' Harry due to some diabolical plan along with her mother! Seriously? They seem happy and she has handled all crap with more grace and maturity than anyone so please move on people.

Take the most recent outburst for example. Markle merely encouraged the American people to use their vote at an online event that she spoke at. She has reiterated the importance of using one's right to vote and honour the past and future which is a reflection of the care for the community. Some of the statements made include very general statements like "If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem, if you are complacent, you are complicit" etc., Note that Markle did not endorse any specific candidate.

These are very general statements, applicable for any democracy where your vote matters and has to be exercised. As a person who is well known, it is encouraging to see someone who uses their voice to say the right things. It is amazing to see how even this is a fault and has led to a TV show host, Piers Morgan, recommending that their titles be stripped. This after the couple have made it abundantly clear that they do not care for the title, power or responsibilities that come with it. What is his qualification to make such a recommendation in social media to the Queen is beyond most of us. A woman is shamed because she comes from the show world, but media is also show business today and does not provide any value in that case to his opinions.

His argument makes no sense; he thinks that since royals by UK law are not expected to comment, Markle has overstepped. Maybe he is not aware that she is a US citizen, and in the US , she is not expected to abide by UK law? Even in UK, in typical British confusing fashion, the royals have a right to vote but considered unconstitutional if they do (eye roll). What does that even mean?!!! 

Get a life people and please stop trying to make headlines using someone else's fame and name.