Cricket is not just a batsman's game!

New rules and flat tracks have made the game batsman-friendly.

We just witnessed a high scoring bilateral one-day cricket series between India and Australia. Though we had 7 matches, we could get only 5, and India won it 3-2 coming from behind. The batsmen on either side went berserk at the bowlers, showing total disrespect. Now that the series has ended, we are made to understand that the ODI format has changed quite a lot in the last few years. A once formidable target of 250 looks mediocre, and big targets, even in excess of 350 give last over finishes.

If all matches are to be played like what we witnessed in the just concluded series, one will be forced to think that bowlers don't play any serious part in the game. If even the specialist bowlers are going beyond 8 runs per over, captains may think of strengthening the batting further by introducing more batsmen who are makeshift bowlers.

ICC first made the game batsman-friendly when they reduced the number of fielders beyond the inner circle from five to four in non-power play overs. With just four people patrolling the boundary, even legendary bowlers will be made to rethink about their landing areas. At least in the sub-continent, we get to see a lot more pitches that are as flat as chess boards. This only helps to demoralize bowlers and potentially end some careers prematurely. Imagine the mindset of a promising bowler like Xavier Doherty bowling on flat decks in seven matches on the trot.

People with business acumen may suggest that big hits bring in more gate collection, game interest, and ad revenue for the hosts and broadcasters. But true cricket fans want to watch good contest between bat and ball. The change of rules might look more lucrative, but high time the ICC resorted to the old field settings and the host cricket boards and associations asked curators to prepare sporting wickets.

Photo: Cricketdawn.com

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TIME flies! Another August 18!

TIME flies! Legend has it that a flight takes off from the Taihoku airport  and crashes down instantly on this date 68 years ago, killing the Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. But what was the reality? Though the plane crash story was categorically denied by the government appointed Mukherjee commission in 2005, our administration is not ready to accept the truth. The various government departments today keep 1000+ secret documents about Bose, 33 of them with the Prime Minister's Office itself, labelled TOP SECRET, SECRET, or CONFIDENTIAL.

We at Mission Netaji have been trying to get them since 2004-05 but every time our request gets turned down by the Home Ministry or External Affairs Ministry stating that if the truth comes out, India's soverignty and relation with foreign countries will be affected. Maybe they are ignorant of the Thomas Mann wordings "A harmful truth is better than a useful lie"! What is the truth in this case, which the government tries to cover up with lies for the last 7 decades? Nothing but the fact that Bose was alive in India, frequently changing residences in Uttar Pradesh, refusing visitors all the time, living the life of an extraordinary sanyasi, at least until 1985. If so, who died in the crash? What made Bose live the rest of his life incognito? Our government knows best. 

Even in today's world, appearing on the cover of the TIME magazine is a big thing. Bose was on the cover of the US edition of TIME 75 years ago with his quote "Britain has ruined India economically, politically, culturally, and spiritually" printed below his colour image. The cover story was titled "Chariot of Freedom". Bose, Britain's enemy number one was described by TIME as "Among the slick, top handful of Congress politicians, most of them obviously enjoying the incense of power and prestige, Subhas Bose stands out." Even today, he stands out from the rest. If we allow him to take rust in the pages of history as an ambitious but failed fighter, posterity will not forgive us for not asking the truth about the cigar chomping holy man of Uttar Pradesh who called himself "Dead Man". Support us in our mission to get to the truth by asking for complete declassification of all documents about Bose. Like Elvis Presley put it "Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't going away."

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Apple's gimmickry to keep people interested in iOS!

I have been testing the Apple iOS 7 betas on my iPhone 4S from the first release. Save for a few features, the OS has been really disappointing and in no way it shows any serious improvement till date. Hopefully it will gain significantly lesser response time and higer stability before it is released to the public. I still don't know what made Apple think about redesigning their GUI rather than adding valuable features to the existing design. The GUI now looks Android-ish and has become flat (good) but pale and lacklustre too. 

Here are the goods and the bads of iOS 7.

The good

• Calls and messages from unwanted numbers can be blocked.
• FaceTime voice calls can be made.
• Messages show sent and received time when swiped left.
• Control centre introduced.
• Automatic updates to apps.
• Background refresh of apps.
• Any number of apps can be stored in folders.
• Better GUI for the app store app.
• Messages sent from other apps use iMessage only if the other number supports iMessage.

The bad

• Poor stability and slower response.
• Control centre cannot be customised. All people may not have the same preference when it comes to the four apps shown in the control centre.
• Unwanted brightness adjustment slider in control centre. Accidental swipes can change your preferred settings.
• No need for airplane mode in control centre. Accidental tap can kill your network and data reception.
• UI text is awfully thin. It is not easy to read the names of callers.
• Visual representation of weather missing from notification centre.
• Quick post facility to Facebook and Twitter not available in notification centre.
• Unwanted animation delay when waking up the phone.
• Nonsensical indicator for network signal strength. It consumes a lot of real estate in the information dock at the top.

Obviously, the bads overmaster the goods. I am disappointed with iOS 7 beta 6 too (released today morning), and am switching back to the good old iOS 6. Apple will need to break the ground to bring me back to iOS 7. :-)

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When it comes to Netaji's fate, "transparency" has a different meaning!

23-Jan-2013 marked the 116th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the greatest yet the most ignored Indian freedom fighter. We know his date of birth but do we have his definitive date of death? What happened to him during the peak of the Second World War? Official version of Indian government is that Bose was killed in a plane crash in Taiwan on 18-Aug-1945. But then how can he die if the Taiwan government says there was no such plane crash in their country on or around that date? Two Indian enquiry commissions finalised that Bose died in the crash whereas a third commission proved in 2005 that there was no such plane crash! So, what happened to Bose if he saw the morning of 19-Aug-1945? Isn't that the beginning of an unclear and unheard story?

Our government has all the information, but it still maintains secrecy about the incidents post 18-Aug-1945. Here are some numbers that can give you a shock - the various government agencies and departments today maintain more than 1000 secret files about Bose. The Prime Minister's Office is holding 33 such files, out of which 7 are labelled TOP SECRET which according to the PMO, can potentially create exceptionally grave damage if they come out. The remaining files are labelled either SECRET or CONFIDENTIAL. The Ministry of Home Affairs holds 70,000 pages of secret information on Bose. The Ministry of External Affairs is holding at least 12 secret files. The Intelligence Bureau has 77 secret files. RA&W (Research and Analysis Wing) says it does not have any secret files about Bose but a sworn affidavit filed to one of the commissions reveals that it also possesses secret information. Even the Ministry of Urban Development, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, and the Department of Food & Public Distribution hold secret files about him!

Why can't we end this secrecy about Bose's death? What bomb does those files contain that can harm India's sovereignty and foreign relations as the government keeps telling us? That too, even after 67 years of his "death"? As the Dalai Lama famously said, "Lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity". Join us at Mission Netaji (www.subhaschandrabose.org & www.missionnetaji.org) to ask the government to bring to light each and every unknown record about Bose and end the secrecy!

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