A colourless berry

Blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, gooseberry, cranberry (not the zombie), cloudberry, boysenberry, huckleberry (no mark twain here..) … enough of the list. But the one which is making rounds across the globe is the Blackberry - not the berry of Waterloo, England but the berry of Waterloo, Canada. RIM (Research in Motion) the makers of the berry started, I should say in the golden year of the 20th century (some will appreciate this...) as a two way paging system for quickly sending and receiving mails over the corporate network. Initially, not many accepted so that's why it was even nick named 'crackberry', may be only cracks used then..no offense here.

So in 1999, the smart phone for the smart people evolved and now BB holds 21% share in the worldwide smart phone market. Thanks to their USP, engineering, technology, creativity what not...they became the most sort phone among business men throwing away the likes of Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola and so on. BB eventually became the market leader for its robust encryption, compatibility with all bands, push mail service across the globe, remote erasing of data and a clear demarcation between corporate and private mail boxes.

Come 26/7 the world witnessed one of the most gruesome battle in par with Fahrenheit 9/11. The Mumbai attack brought about a series of wake up calls to the Indian government, who found the majority of the communication has happened using satellite phones and BB. So, what do we do..we pressurize RIM to give access to the mails sent using BES and BIS and in readable format. The simple question to RIM, when access is given to KGB (Russia) and MSS (China) why not for us. So, the list is on, countries like Lebanon, Algeria, UAE have asked RIM for the same.

BB works on their own privately held encryption mechanism where in any data which passes from your mailbox to RIM servers (only in Canada.. that's the main issue) and from there to your hand held device is completely encrypted and which is fool proof. They use the best hashing mechanism in the market. The catch here, BB claim that end user gets to decide and define their private key and BB does not have any control nor does it have a master key which can decrypt it. Its a well known fact that in the world of security nothing is impossible, time is the only constraint. CIA uses the same to espionage on any traffic between the servers and devices.

Whether RIM comes up with Storm, Torch or Light or for that matter anything they have to address this pressing problem which will eventually manifold. The list of countries who threaten to stop the service is small now but the list can grow unless RIM comes with a well defined solution.
I have my doubts though, say if BB is banned in India, is it the only way terrorist communicate.. How about using a common mail id where I save the mail in drafts for the other person to read.. only when I send a mail, encryption, stealth, man in the middle, government, everything comes...

Anyways we have to wait to see if the berry is going to lose its colour or not....

Should the cricketers vote or play IPL?

This is one question which has been lingering my mind ever since this tug of war started. Though the dates of IPL have been finalized well in hand before the Election Commission came out with their dates, moving the league out of the country may have some serious repercussions. Mr. Lalit Modi, one man for whom its money which he cares about than (don’t want to use abusive language in my blog..!!!). Thanks to the March incident in Pakistan, where the Sri Lankan team was attacked, any Government will try to add additional security for cricket being played in the sub – continent. And the Indian Government was no exception, but since elections are a top priority they had to compromise.

Now coming back to the topic, moving the IPL out of the country is decent enough and I don’t care a dam whether it’s played in India or outside. As Bernard Shaw says, “11 Fools are playing and 11000 Fools are watching”, except for the 11000 changing to 11Trillion, nothing else has. Voting to elect a Government if not a fundamental duty at least comes in the purview of a common man’s duty. And I seriously don’t think the cricketers are no exception to this. Mr. Modi backed largely by BCCI has come up with a bold decision of moving the IPL out of the country, or else he would make a huge personal loss, we all know how much he gained during the first season.

On one side, we have Mr. Amir Khan campaigning and asking for people to come out and vote and here we have our Mr. Modi playing a different game all together. My point here is, let the IPL be moved to a different country but what happens to the voters. To my knowledge there is no rule stating that cricketers are exempted from voting.

All things said and done, India is a democratic country and anyone can do anything they want.

My friend...

This is a short poetry on a school friend of mine, though we came to know about it later. Its for you vinita............

My Friend “Vinita”

If silence is a religion, she is the God
If moon is a star, she is the sun
If beauty is skin deep, she is a fairy
If life is sweet, she has to be a part of it
That’s in short about my friend ‘Vinita’


If forgetting is a habit, she is at the top
If forgiving is divine, she is sure to bestow it
If laziness is a biggest enemy, she is your best companion
If talking is a sin, she has nothing to do with it
That’s in short about my friend ‘Vinita’


If darling is a word, she is a delicate darling
If friendship is trust, she is trustworthy
If eating is a problem, she is the greatest chef
If attitude is everything, she has everything
That’s in short about my friend ‘Vinita’


And finally, If words are short to express, she is a thesaurus
If yesterday is history, she is the future.

“ALL THE VERY BEST FOR A WONDERFUL FUTURE”

This in short about my friend ‘Vinita’

Thank you Felipe..!!

Interlagos, the final race of the 2008 Formula 1 calendar saw one of the most dramatic finishes in recent times. Seriously, all die hard fans of Ferrari (me no exception...!) had a bit of tear to tickle during the closing stages. Thanks greatly to one man, Timo Glock of Toyota.

The weekend started perfectly for Ferrari and Felipe, was fastest in both the practice sessions and made a stunning perfect lap to clinch pole for the grand finale. Lewis, on the other hand was fourth fastest with Trulli and Kimi in between. Felipe had to finish at the top to win the title and Lewis had to finish anywhere between first and fifth place. The race started with a bit of drama when the formation lap was delayed by 10minutes due to sudden downpour. This resulted in drama as to which tyres the teams will choose, but thankfully the rain stopped. The first corner, as usual had some action with Nelson and David (who was on his last season.), he eventually had to end his final race without even completing a lap.

The race was just perfect for Felipe; he got the pole and lead the race from start to finish. Because of the rain, Trulli had to lose places which eventually got Fernando in second, Renault doing a sheer brilliance in the second half of the calendar. It was just perfect, till lap 67 when the rain gods showed up again and the pits became active, Kimi went into the pits ahead of his teammate a gamble which surely favored Felipe, and he came in subsequently in his next lap and managed to come out still leading the race.

Now, the action begins, the order is Felipe, followed by Fernando, Kimi, Glock, Lewis and Vittel. So technically, if in this order they finish, Lewis will win the championship by 1 point. But the drama started in the penultimate lap, Vittel overtook Lewis, thanks to Kubica the black marker and the crowd erupted because if Vittel finished ahead of Lewis then both Massa and Lewis will be tied at 97 points but since Felipe had won more races this year he will win the championship. And it seemed this will how it will finish, but this is where Formula 1 becomes highly unpredictable, the Toyota driver Timo Glock ran out of fuel and who was running fourth started cruising and by mere 100m to the finish line Lewis overtook him to take him to fifth and thereby winning the championship. The race couldn’t have got more spectacular than this.

Felipe was is all tears, but the McLaren camp was overjoyed, after Mika Hakkinen this is their first Formula 1 drivers championship and thereby Lewis Hamilton becomes the youngest racer in the Formula 1 history to win the drivers title. The constructor title went to Ferrari, no gifts for guessing that.

Come 2009, Albert Park will be roaring and the rivalry between Felipe and Lewis will reach to higher levels. So, another 4 months before the rivalry begins once again.

On the whole a dramatic season with an even dramatic finish. Congrats to Lewis, sorry for Felipe.

IPL vs. EPL

EPL or English Premiere League is arguably one of the most watched league, much more than a world cup match. The reason it is star studded, when Manchester United play either Chelsea or Arsenal the viewership is more compared to a match between England and Spain. The reason for bringing Spain in the picture would be La Liga league which is equally matched to the EPL with the likes of Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi and so on…. and where huge money is involved.

After both EPL & La Liga gained much popularity neither of them have won a world cup. The last time England one a World Cup was way back in 1966 and Spain has never won the FIFA cup. But all the hyped players play in either one of the leagues.

So where is IPL – the Indian version of the famous English County heading to? All these years it has been soccer where players are purchased (underline) by the league teams and now this has gripped the BCCI – without doubt the richest board, much richer than ICC. Ever heard, "Mahendra Singh Dhoni was purchased in the auction by Chennai Kings", so is the Football fever catching cricket..??

One thing which I seriously cannot understand, how can a human be auctioned..??
So is this their value…?? Sounds weird… One of the main reason for forming IPL – actually I don't know the exact reason but it revolves around money.

Come April when the IPL kicks off….lot of fanfare is expected in this cricket frenzy country when all the top international players battle it out.

Australia (Perth vs Melbourne)

Cricket, Tennis, Rugby.... name it and Aussies are in it. First let’s talk about cricket and the recently concluded 3rd test between India and Australia. Good thing India won the test in 4days and thereby has a chance of drawing the series which Aus. lead 2 - 1 thanks largely to the Sydney test. I would like to appreciate the Indian team for the success, truly a great victory. Not many teams have been able to win in Perth but India managed it and it was not by any means luck; they fought the game fairly and dominated each session on all 4 days. On the whole a great victory for the Indians.

On Saturday I also watched one of the greatest tennis matches in recent times. It’s the Australian open 3rd round between world no.1 Roger Fedrer and world no.49 Janko Tipsarevic. From the start Fedrer was not in good shape both his volleys and movement on the baseline, in simple terms he struggled. A few days back Marat Safin after his loss, told the press that Fedrer was in good shape and in sure contention for his 13th Grand Slam title and I started to wonder whether this match is going to be the greatest upset of the first grand slam of the year. Tipsarevic aged 23 put up a real great fight and Fedrer was clueless of his serve and made the world no.1 struggle for most of the points. Tipsarevic had a better percentage record when compared to Fedrer in 5 setters but the world no.1 proved why he is the best by winning crucial points at the right moment to clinch a place in the 4th round. Truly, this has to be one of the greatest matches of Australian Open 2008. In the post press conference Fedrer acknowledged Tipsarevic by saying it would be nice if some matches ended in draw but in tennis you don’t have it.

Take a bow Janko Tipsarevic.

Down Under Blues...

When Anil Kumble took over as the new captain of the Indian team he would have never expected these kind of problems would crop up but this is not something new for the Indian team. The controversy over the umpiring decision in the recently concluded 2nd test between India and Australia has raised many eye brows.

Steve Bucknor and Indian team are very good pals and especially Sachin Tendulkar, who has been declared out in the most bizarre ways. If my memory is right, McGrath was bowling to Tendulkar who tried ducking a short ball and fortunately or unfortunately the ball did not bounce and hit him on the helmet, as always the whole of the Australian team went up and Mr.Bucknor declared him out and it went into the record books as LBW (Leg Before Wicket). Can you imagine, the ball hitting the helmet and you are declared LBW. And Mr.Bucknor is regarded as the ICC panel's elite umpire, I wonder how they came to this sort of conclusion.

During Australia's previous tour of India, former captain Rahul Dravid hit a ball and it was caught brilliantly by Michael Slater but after the ball bounced off the ground and he was declared not out. No one could imagine what happened next, Slater came and bombarded Dravid saying you should leave if you are out and not wait for umpire decision and it’s the same Australians who talk this nonsense when Symonds should have walked out. In fact he gave a statement after the match saying he gives credit to the bowler. What sort of sportsmanship is this?

Sourav Ganguly caught by Clarke when replays clearly show that the ball bounced of the ground, umpiring at its best. Dravid caught behind when the ball clearly flips the pad. Mark Benson (England) another officiating umpire can hear all this but not when Ponting nicked one to Dhoni and neither did he hear the Symonds issue.

The true spirit of the game, where the hell has it gone maybe when you play Australia in Australia you should leave all the spirits and all the sportsmanship. There were previous instances of ball tampering, does any of you know 'Cricket Australia' is known for changing balls in the course of the game... hey... come on that's not ball tampering... they are just changing balls... but aren’t the umpires only supposed to do this.

This is Australia at its best, playing and winning at regular intervals. If they think they cannot play against a particular bowler then don’t worry they will accuse the bowler for chucking, racial discrimination (we all know what sort of person is Andrew Symonds..!!)

The ICC is always mum when some issue crops up with the Indian team, may be all the big heads can answer this. And the BCCI for their part, "we have made a strong protest with the ICC", hell with it... why can't you cancel the series and ask the team to return. This is not something new for the Indian team, every time the team tours Australia something or the other keeps cropping up. And Mr.Ponting gives a press meet saying, "Don’t question my integrity" - all I have to say is none of you people play with the right spirit of the game.

Till 1992 world cup South Africa was banned from playing International Cricket, maybe Australia too needs a treatment like this.

Till then Happy Cricketing - Cricket Australia