An Open Letter To Mr. Milind Deora

Dear Mr. Deora,

Thanks for a great article in TOI of August 14, 2013. It was enlightening to hear the views of one of our elected representatives on a topic that’s close to the hearts of many a youngster in this country. However, some points you raised are worthy of a debate, the benefits of which you’ve extolled in your article, and hence a response was warranted. I will try to summarize your main points so as to keep the response closely tied to the article.

Point #1: Social media platforms do not allow for healthy debate, while our Parliament does.

This point of view is expected and unsurprising within the small minority amongst us who’re on the other side of the “Great Divide of Government of India”, but isn’t substantiated by facts. I call it the Divide because our governance system, from the Parliament at the top right down to the beat constable and peon in a sarkari office, is extremely hard to approach and get service from for a common citizen, which is the very reason for its existence. For the vast majority of the population of this country, it’s almost like a government for itself, by itself, and of itself.

Therefore, we do not hold the Parliament’s ability to hold healthy debates in any high esteem when we read reports that the number of hours that our Lok Sabha sits during its five-year term has been falling steadily, and reached the worst ever record in the 15^th Lok Sabha (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-04-29/india/38902758_1_lok-sabha-budget-session-sittings). Not only that, this Lok Sabha is also on its way to achieving the dubious distinction of having passed the fewest bills in independent India’s history.

So where does the common citizen go to express their anguish about a non-functioning government? Social media. For the first time, there is a platform that allows every individual the opportunity to be heard by millions of other people, and we’re going out there in hordes to talk about the pain we all on this side of the Divide experience every single day. For the average person, Twitter and Facebook are less about popularity and approval ratings like you mentioned, and more about spreading the word about their experiences and finding common cause with others.

Point #2: Changes that result due to outbursts enabled by social media are not well thought-through

You reference the Arab Spring and Iranian Awakening and the Brazilian protest, but miss the protests on the streets of New Delhi during Anna Hazare’s campaign and after the 2012 brutal gangrape incident. But you make a valid point. Protests by people are usually looked upon as a threat by established governments, and the point being made is missed for the noise, and slowly the protest transforms into an us-vs-them battle. However, did our government react any differently during the protests staged in India? Did we ever get closer to getting a Lokpal bill enacted or a corruption-free government? Did we ever get closer to having the streets of this country safe for our sisters and daughters? Unfortunately no. And this lack of solution-building is not attributable to the use of social media, but to the absence of a sensitive, humble, and engaged leadership within our government.

Point #3: Social media encourages pretence, showmanship, and shallow posturing

Assume social media doesn’t exist in our country. Walk out on the streets like a common man and watch how politicians, top bureaucrats, and the rich and powerful of this country move. You will see beacons, blaring sirens, police and personal security pushing everyone else aside, or stopping them altogether. From the posh NDMC areas, try walking towards other parts of Delhi where the top government officials of our country do not live. You will notice that broad, tree-lined, spotlessly clean boulevards give way to congested, filthy, broken roads that have people, vehicles, animals all crammed into every inch of space possible. If this isn’t pretence, showmanship, and posturing, what is? It’s not about the tools we use, but who we are and how we think that creates the vices that you ascribe to social media.

You are a young and well-educated leader of this country, and we are looking to you to bring a change in our country. What we need is very simple – equal access to basic amenities like clean water, air, food, and adequate housing, and equal opportunity to fulfill one’s dreams, for every single citizen of this country. We hope you care enough for your country and its people to work towards this goal, and will not get lost in the distractions that power in our country carries with it in heavy doses.

Regards,

Sarvesh

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Real Beauty: Perceptions Differ

By Malathy Madathilezham

One of the definitions of the word Beauty (as given by Merriam- Webster) is the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit. Thus it is related to our senses, our mind and our spirit. This means that real beauty would be different for different people. This is quite obvious when we observe physical concepts of beauty differ in different cultures, races, countries etc. These concepts change with time. Another aspect of this definition of beauty is that these are qualities, which are not necessarily the visual qualities. So anything can be beautiful; music, fragrance, the inherent or developed qualities of a human being.

Let me restrict myself to human beings. In the present scenario, everyone wants to ‘look’ beautiful! A lot of importance is being given to superficial and external beauty. Scientists are coming out with the measurements/ratios of ‘perfect’ or ‘real’ beauty. Plastic surgeons are using these measurements to make people look beautiful. In addition we have the various creams, serums that are supposed to make us look beautiful and then the gyms and fitness clubs. The cosmetics and fashion industry is thriving on the aspirations of millions to match the concepts of beauty that is being ‘sold’ to them through various media. Thus a lot of economic activity is being driven by the ‘want’ to look beautiful. Mine and your want..

But what about ‘feeling’ beautiful? That feeling which does not necessarily come out of how we look. This sense of feeling beautiful depends on our emotional well being, our happiness and human qualities of kindness, empathy and the like. The kind of lifestyle we lead nowadays with all its tensions, pressures is not exactly helping us feel good about ourselves. We lament about the lack of everything but do nothing about improving our situation. We want to look good and beautiful to others, hide our real self beneath this veneer of ‘Beauty’. But how long would this last… thus we have rising problems of depression, burnouts etc. The pressure on us to match up to the ideals of beauty, success, happiness is too much to handle and makes us forget true happiness, our true beauty and ourselves. The external image that we present to others is but a distortion of what we truly are… In the glam and glitter of the world around us, we lose sense of real beauty… and join the rat race of looking beautiful rather than being beautiful.

For me real beauty is within each of us. To discover that beauty within us and within others is truly a gift. Of course, a good dress, or haircut, or a bright nail polish does make me happy but it can only do so much to add to my self-confidence and self-image. What I am, how beautiful I truly am depends on my actions, my thoughts that are again relative and need not be the same for you. Basically there is nothing real… it’s all an illusion… and my illusion differs from yours!! I believe everybody is beautiful in his or her own unique way. So why don’t you sit down and think about what does being beautiful mean to you?

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London Underground Explained By A Londoner

By Disha Shah

Each city has its own lifeline and for London it is its connectivity through underground trains. Every morning, a Londoner gets up and checks the tube update to plan a smooth journey to his/ her destination.

London Underground Logo

London Underground was formed in 1985 and today it’s a major business with three million passenger journeys made every day, serving 275 stations and over 408kms. It has 13 major tube lines covering the whole of London.

London Underground train

The transport for London website (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/) provides a journey planner where one just needs to provide the intended start and finish destination and the planner provides you with all information, such as time to reach station from home, which tube line to take, around what time, where to change trains, if required, time to reach the destination from the end station, total journey time, any planned closures, etc.

                                    Journey Planner

The tube connects every part of the city to each other and it’s very convenient even for tourists. There are multiple ticketing options as well as day passes available to choose from. I would recommend just buy an oyster and top it up with single fare or day pass or weekly or monthly pass. Oyster is accepted on bus journeys so it has added advantage. The balance along-with the deposit os refunded back whenever one desires.

Oyster card

There is a lot to learn from 150 years old transport system which breaks at times however never stops!

 

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Indian Street Cricket From The Eyes Of Jack Hoyle

Jack Hoyle is writing a book on the madness that cricket incites in Indian minds. He is a fascinating photographer and here he produces street cricket in India while he travelled the country during the IPL. Here’s presenting the first part of the three-part series. Enjoy 🙂

In the backstreets of New Delhi a group of youths squeeze a quick game in.

In Varanasi a group of boys find space between the winding alleys. If the wicket keeper misses it’s a long chase to retrieve the ball out of the Ganges.

The emblem of a street cricket club in Varanasi.

A man sits oblivious as a young cricketer strikes the ball, while playing on the banks of the Ganges, Varanasi.

A typical Sunday in Khajuraho; the streets are closed and the adults look on as the young boys take each other on.

A dubious action, but you can’t fault the effort as a young bowler comes steaming in.

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Android Phone Now On Narendra Modi’s Name, Here’s More

So if you thought Narendra Modi’s fan are restricted to only buying his memorabilia in Gujarat, you were wrong. A set of android phone manufacturers in China are bringing out a phone in his name, and the gadget as far as specs looks comparable and compatible with the best.

If you thought the list of phones coming your way is getting lesser think again. This election season politicians will also bombard you with gadgets in their name. Who takes the headstart, our digital and gadget-guru, the man with the most twitter and other social media followers, Narendra Modi, popularly known by his followers as NaMo.

If this website and the founders of this company are to be believed the gadget with seriously ultra-specs (only available on high-end phones) will be out around the end of August. The phone rightly named Smart NaMo has been given the name because “Namo stands for Narendra Modi and Next Generation Android Mobile Odyssey” according to the website.

According to the brief product specs available on the website, the 5-inch smartphone will be powered by a MediaTek MT6589 SoC that includes a 1.5GHz quad-core processor and include Gorilla Glass 2 protection and a 13 megapixel camera.

The phone, according to the website, will be available in four variants with 1GB or 2GB RAM and 16GB or 32GB of internal memory. The company is also planning to launch the phone with a Narendra Modi ‘signature edition’.

The idea, according to one of the founders, Ammeet Desai (in an interview to Wall Street Journal), a Gujarati businessman who has a mobile business in China, came from China where several products like MP3 players and smartphones are sold with branding of the leaders.

A Wall Street Journal report claims that Smart NaMo phone will cost Rs 16,000 at launch and have videos as well as apps related to Modi.

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The ‘Fish’ Girl

By Ankit Chandra

No I am not talking about mermaids. Although that is a great topic of another blog, but maybe some other time. For now I am talking about a special breed of girls who have been given prior education, most probably in convents to use a special word ‘fish’.

You see, they are kinda special. You can pretty much single out the ‘fish’ girls out of a group very easily. They usually have very pretty face, more often than not their legs are chiseled by Michelangelo, they are interested in the same sports which you are crazy about… In short they are every thing you want. The trouble is that some times their resume has a few ‘skills’ far too much for your palate.

So what is this fish thing? Any been-there-done-that guy will know what this stands for. In the male bastion, where there are pretty much no rules about using a particular ‘f’ word in a friend circle, I guess women folk kind of observe a self constraint. Add to this the general perception that girls are ‘usually’ the more ‘appropriate’ folks around and will definitely purge the group from its oral misadventures. So when a girl wants to use the ‘f’ word, she replaces it with a ‘fish’! And they think they have kinda swept it under the carpet. What they don’t kinda realize is that for most guys using an ‘f’ word among guys is way more exhilarating than actually trying to avoid saying it, coz now not only you are pretty, awesome and lovely, but you are bindaas, approachable and cool to be with! What a combination…

So here is the deal. Here is this awesome femme fatale, she has a very pretty face, she seems to have a good head, and boy, she loves the same activities like I do, and she uses the ‘fish’ word too! And that’s when all guys in the group begin their ‘moves’ to bag this prized possession. What adds fuel to the fire is that the actions are not exactly rebuked.

And there I am in the crowd, but kinda better off than other guys, and seem to have made the moves better than them. She and I have been talking for a while now, and we exactly share our likes and sense of humor. In fact, it is going sooo well that her ‘fish’ utterances are coming out now more so often and I am reveling in the fact that she is so much one among us, that I could really think about the next step with her. And maybe a little down the road, decide upon a longer road with her too!

She is wearing a beautiful dress. (Oh! what the hell I think anything will look good on her) Although I never ever notice this stuff on girls, but even her jewelry stands out on her. Her cute little ear rings, her thin and elegant necklace just make their presence felt and simply increase the beauty I have in sight. Down in her arms, her red bangles covering just a little area, enough for them to sparkle just like her eyes, make the road I was thinking about even more impelling.

And there is a ring in her fourth right finger on the right hand.

It is then that the final ‘skill’ on her resume shows up. She is taken. As have all other such fish girls been in the past. As they say, that no matter how quickly you approach a ‘fish’ girl, there is always a faster son of a gun, smirking somewhere at you.

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Chronicles Of A Mom – To – Be!! Woo Ho!! Part – 3

By Shwetha Kalyanasundaram

Being pregnant means one thing – you are barraged with a plethora of advice from the older generation and older to older generation (sigh)!

Coming from a typical Tam-Brahm family who love their filter “kaapis”, cutting down on your caffeine intake is a Herculean task. From drowning 4 cups of coffee a day to a cup or two does lead to its own share of withdrawal symptoms. It’s advisable to add just about 10 ml of the coffee decoction to your milk. (And I sure do use a measuring jug every afternoon when I make my coffee!)

Here’s why! Heavy caffeine intake in the early stages of pregnancy slightly increases the risk of a miscarriage. Caffeine acts as a diuretic, which washes away some of the key nutrients required by the mother and baby.

A pregnant woman doesn’t feel too great a lot of the time and the fact that her bladder is indeed becoming squished as well as having to drink more water to make up for the additional blood supply she is making. When caffeine can act as a diuretic, oh my god! One can just imagine spending most of the time in the loo.

Forget your aerated drinks too (that contains caffeine as well). So all my Mountain Dews have become Mountain Don’ts!!

And not to forget your mood swings which are anyways volatile, thanks to your pregnancy hormones!

And here’s to all my rants on my morning sickness, I finally have an answer in the form of a lemon! Scratch the surface of a lemon and work up the good oils and one sniff and lo! Your sickness mellows down.

Practically everyone is connected through mobile technology. Life’s next to impossible without a mobile in your hand. I have been advised to reduce my exposure (and the baby’s too) by going low on Bluetooth. I get a glare every time I hold my mobile device close to my belly. The only solution – use the landline!!!

And I have bid adieu to all my lovely, shining heels (Sob! Sob!). Sadly, they are all collecting dust in my shoe closet. And soon, my wardrobe. It’s hello maternity wear time!!!

Do you know a pregnant woman drools! I surely do that a lot. Especially at the sight of the pictures of cakes, CUPCAKES, pies, tarts, ice creams…(now I definitely have drool all over my laptop just typing ‘em!) that adorn my Facebook home page. But all that’s a complete no no for me (Baaahh boo hoo hoo!). And they say buy whatever a pregnant woman desires (hrmph..)!

Psst…I still manage to get my hold on these once a month, thanks to a wonderful mom who allows me to indulge in my cravings.

So it’s good bye time folks as I have to hog an ice cream waiting for me in the freezer! Catch up with y’all soon J

Disclaimer: As much as the above experiences are my own, I have definitely referred from my pregnancy bible “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” by Heidi Murkoff and other pregnancy blogs on Google for certain details and reasoning.

Relevant Articles

Chronicles Of A Mom – To – Be!! Woo Ho!! Part – 2

Chronicles Of A Mom – To – Be!! Woo Ho – PART 1

Canvas 4 Review: Super Phone For A Super Price

Micromax today has 18% market share (IDC) in the Indian phone market, only second after Samsung. One of the primary reasons of it scaling fast has been its Canvas series of smart phones. The gadget has everything that best smartphones have in the country, good hardware, great screen size and resolution and the pricing is just suitable to a country like India.

Now they have brought another one out from their cupboard as an extension of the series. Canvas 4 aka A210 looks a superphone at first glance. Let’s look at some of its primary features and gauge the capability better.

Screen: The use of Gorilla glass puts the phone a notch above others in the mainstream. Despite its large 5-inch screen, the phone settles smoothly in your hands and gives an uber cool feel. For an 18k phone, the screen is awesome. The resolution could had been improved (still 1280*720) but the quality of picture is better. The phone’s ability to show saturated colors is better than Canvas HD. Good resolution means better clarity in text. Touch is also better and phone’s refresh rate is refreshing for the user.

Built: A notch above Canvas 4, the glossy plastic with a bit of Aluminium is definitely adding to the look value of the phone. The back cover which is removable looks good too and overall the phone looks premium and polished which was needed as this is the highest priced phone from Micromax till date. The aluminium strip adds to the sturdiness of the phone. The power button is also done with aluminium which is a good change from most of the other phones, even expensive ones.

To sum up the built and looks, at the price tag of 18k no mainstream phone has better stuff than this one. No doubt there is scope for improvement but as mentioned this is the best at the point of entry i.e. the price.

Camera: 13MP camera in an 18k phone? Yeah you heard it right. Before you get excited hear this though. The quality of pixels ain’t great so although the news of 13MP makes good hearing, the feature ain’t upto the mark by the standards. The pictures captured lack depth and detail. Bad light is further bad news and close-ups are not good either. There are focus issues too especially during close-ups. Videos are marginally better although recording in MP4 format would had been better than the 3GP it uses.

Android 4.2.1 or Jelly Bean: Smooth functioning like all Canvas series phones highlight the Android in this one. The default user interface works well as compared to customized interfaces that other makers have put on their devices. The phone’s speed is good too and while switching between tasks also the lag is not much. Games perform well and browsing is smooth.

The speaker is good and sound is good as well. Voice quality is good and signal strength at first usage also looked decent.

Differentiation Indexes: To differentiate and to showcase innovation the phone makers have come out with a few features like blow to unlock and video pause. The features are not very user-friendly though and it would had been better had testing would had been good before throwing these into the open. Thankfully the makers have given ways to turn off these features.

Battery life of the phone is decent. With 3G, the battery lasts around 12 hours.

Verdict: A good phone overall sans the camera features. Good speed, brilliant screen and fantastic performance make it a good buy at 18k. If you are looking for a great smartphone sans brand image of big phone makers like Samsung and Apple, this is the phone to go for. 

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Zimbabwe- India’s Achilles Heel In ODI’s?

Kartik Kannan explores via stats and more why India has not been as successful as they should be in Zimbabwe. 

Picture This! South Africa and Australia have won 100% of their ODI’s played at Zimbabwe.  You’d expect the reigning ODI World Champions (India) record to be similar or close, under normal circumstances, but the truth is chillingly different. If one were to rank ODI sides based on their success percentage in Zimbabwe, India figures a poor 8^th, with only Bangladesh and Kenya behind it, success ratio being only 57.14%. Over the last 21 years, India has played 21 games in Zimbabwe, losing 4 times to the host (Zimbabwe), twice to New Zealand, once each to Sri Lanka and West Indies. In the light of this statistic, whether the Indian selectors had made the right decision in selecting an inexperienced team to tour Zimbabwe? Statistics and History say no, while the Indian selectors affirm that infusing young blood would augur well for the future.

Table-1 shows how ODI sides have performed in Zimbabwe ever since Zimbabwe became a full member nation of the ICC.

Table-1 -Success % of ODI sides in matches played in Zimbabwean Soil

	Played	Won	Lost	NR	Success Ratio	Ranking
India in Zimbabwe	21	12	8	1	57.14	8
SL in Zimbabwe	23	18	4	1	78.26	4
Aus in Zimbabwe	7	7	0	0	100.00	1
England in Zimbabwe	17	12	4	1	70.59	5
WI in Zimbabawe	15	9	5	1	60.00	7
Pak in Zimbabwe	15	12	1	2	80.00	3
SA in Zimbabwe	8	8	0	0	100.00	1
Bangladesh in Zimbabwe	30	13	15	2	43.33	9
Kenya in Zimbabwe	13	3	8	2	23.08	10
NZ in Zimbabawe	16	10	5	1	62.50	6
Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe	154	46	97	11	29.87	Not Applicable

Digging further, the article aims to look at important factors that correlate with the Indian performances in Zimbabwe over the years, and aims to present the readers the Achilles heel that Zimbabwean soil has been for Indian cricket intermittently. Some of the important statistical cogs in India’s wheel on their Zimbabwean trips are as follows.

a) Contribution of the Top 5 Batsmen

One of the main reasons of India’s ascent in ODI’s in recent times, has been India’s batting and looking into 8 of their ODI defeats in Zimbabwe, 7 of them came when India’s top 5 batsmen have not scored enough runs. India has averaged around 228 in ODI’s on Zimbabwean soil, with the top 5 batsmen contributing 68.19% of the runs. Across all of their 21 matches, 7 of the 8 defeats in Zimbabwe have been a clear case of the top 5 batsmen’s failing to maintain an average of 68.19%, (with the contribution from the top 5 ranging from 15.28% to 64.18% in these games lost as shown in Table 2)

Table-2- Contribution % of the Top 5 batsmen when India has lost ODI’s in Zimbabwe

Game	Total Runs Scored by India	Top 5 Contribution %	Match Result	Opposition
2010-M1	285	64.56	India Lost	Zimbabwe
2010-M4	268	64.18	India Lost	Sri Lanka
2010-M3	194	45.36	India Lost	Zimbabwe
2005-M5	276	75.72	India Lost	New Zealand
2005-M1	164	15.85	India Lost	New Zealand
2001-M5	274	28.47	India Lost	West Indies
1998-M3	222	42.34	India Lost	Zimbabwe
1997-M1	168	43.45	India Lost	Zimbabwe

Excepting one occasion, whenever India’s been all out, India has lost all such matches. So it’s fair to say that once the Indian batting is into its tail, they have not managed to win any game in Zimbabwe since 1993.

When India wins, the average contribution of the top 5 have ranged between 72.94% and 98.35% -9 times out of 12, while India have still managed 3 wins despite the top order contribution having been lesser than the average of 68.19%, which underscores the importance of the number 6 and 7 slot. Table 3, analyses India’s win patterns in ODI’s on Zimbabwean soil, through the contribution of the top 5 batsmen.

Table-3- Contribution % of the Top 5 batsmen when India has won ODI’s in Zimbabwe

Match Links	Total Runs Scored by India	Top 5 Contribution %	Match Result	Opposition
2010-M2	243	98.35	India Won	SL
2005-M4	255	58.04	India Won	ZIM
2005-M3	279	81.36	India Won	NZ
2005-M2	226	67.26	India Won	ZIM
2003-WC	255	72.94	India Won	ZIM
2001-M4	230	90.00	India Won	WI
2001-M3	170	82.35	India Won	WI
2001-M2	237	85.65	India Won	ZIM
2001-M1	137	90.51	India Won	ZIM
1998-M2	236	95.34	India Won	ZIM
1998-M1	216	94.91	India Won	ZIM
1992-M1	239	58.16	India Won	ZIM

One interesting observation on Zimbabwean soil, was the success that Mohamamed Kaif,Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly have enjoyed on previous tours, which shows the importance of defence, technique  and flair in the top 5 batsmen, on a tour to Zimbabwe.

Table-4 Outstanding Performances by Indian Batsmen on Previous Tours to Zimbabwe

	Series	Matches	Runs	Average	S/R	50/100
Mohammed Kaif	2005 Triangular Series	5	277	92.33	71.2	2/1
Rohit Sharma	2010 Triangular Series	4	260	86.66	91.54	0/2
Sachin Tendulkar	2001 Triangular Series	5	282	141.00	82.45	2/1
Sachin Tendulkar	1998 Bi Lateral Tour	3	198	79	100.63	0/1
Saurav Ganguly	1998 Bi Lateral Tour	3	158	79	75.23	0/1

With the current team selected for Zimbabwe- Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, ,Virat Kohli,Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Suresh Raina vie for the top 5 slots, India need to find the right men for the job who contribute substantially. In recent times, at ODI’s away from home, India’s victory is largely proportional to their top 5 batsmen firing above the average ( contributing more than 68.19%), similar to Table 3, which augurs well for the side(captured in Table 5)

Table-5- India’s Top 5 and Top 7 Contribution in recent ODI matches away from Home

Match Link	Runs Total	Top 5 % Contribution	Top 7 Contribution	% Impact of Number 6 and 7	Opposition	Result
2013-M1	331	75.83	92.75	16.92	South Africa	WIN
2013-M2	236	96.19	96.19	0.00	West Indies	WIN
2013-M3	102	97.06	97.06	0.00	Pakistan	WIN
2013-M4	182	91.21	91.21	0.00	Sri Lanka	WIN
2013-M5	129	69.77	95.35	25.58	England	WIN
2013-M6	229	65.07	83.41	18.34	West Indies	LOSS
2013-M7	187	44.39	88.24	43.85	Sri Lanka	LOSS
2013-M8	311	74.92	84.24	9.32	West Indies	WIN

b) The Importance of numbers 6 and 7

In Zimbabwe, India had hardly depended on numbers 6 and 7 to bail them out of crisis to win matches, except for 1 match, where India beat Zimbabwe in 2005. On occasions, when India has lost ODI’s in Zimbabwe, their numbers 6 and 7 have contributed between 25-50% of the total runs in 5 losses, but not enough to finish well.

In the last 8 ODI’s away from home, as listed in Table-5, India has relied heavily on its top 5 to win them matches, and when India’s top have scored below 70% of the total runs, India have seen their number  6 and 7, contribute substantially, but not enough to make India win. If for some reasons, India find its top order in trouble, India needs a strong number 6 and 7 to help India finish well. This is a specialized position and India will do well to test if Rahane or Rayudu can complement Ravindra Jadeja at this position, in the absence of India’s best finisher-MS Dhoni. It will be interesting to see how infusing inexperienced talent like Rayudu/Rahane in the middle order works, since India’s past attempts  in Zimbabwe, had not paid dividends. Youngsters like Samir Dighe, Reetinder Sodhi and JP Yadav have fallen by the wayside, after one flash in the pan performance, while other youngsters like Hemang Badani, Naman Ojha and Venugopala Rao had been miserable failures with the bat, in Zimbabwean conditions.

c) Pace or Spin?

India’s batsmen, have shown no preference for the pacers/seamers or spinners when it comes to forcing the runs with the run rate being constant at 4.90 against either of the types of bowlers, but have demonstrated a capacity to lose more wickets to pace with an average of 35.6 against pace, as against an average of 45.92 facing spin bowling. The upcoming Zimbabwe tour, being a bilateral series, will not have other established sides hurling down a swinging cricket ball at high pace, but will see medium pace bowlers from Zimbabwe in action. The Zimbabwean bowling, though performed well against New Zealand and Bangladesh, would need to maintain their line and length against a strong Indian batting line-up.

d) Indian Bowling

Indian bowlers have performed well in Zimbabwe, largely under the leadership of  Saurav Ganguly.  A lot of success was attributed to the fact that each time India played under Ganguly, the bowling unit was mature and managed to capture wickets. Whenever India had experimented with in-experienced bowlers on a Zimbabwean tour, India had performed badly, notably the 1997 tour and the 2010 tour. In Zimbabwe, India has heavily relied on pace than spin to bowl oppositions out. Indian Pacers have taken 89 wickets at an average of 28.85, while the spinners have toiled hard for little returns, taking 37 wickets at a rather high average of 44.76.

But one of the encouraging signs that India are seeing is that Spinners have outperformed pacers in their last tour to Zimbabwe in 2010, with 12 wickets to the 6 that the pacers took. The 2010 tour was India’s worst in terms of bowling, as India picked up only 21 wickets out of a possible 40. India’s pace department struggled for rhythm, with their 6 wickets coming at an average of 69 runs.(way above the average of 28.85 that Indian pacers have in Zimbabwe), as opposed to the 46.75 runs a wicket that the spinners conceded. On the 2010 tour, India experimented their bowling with Ashok Dinda, Umesh Yadav, Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar and Pankaj Singh, all of whom came a cropper, largely due to collective inexperience.

The years 2001 and 2005, were the best tours India have had in Zimbabwe, when the Indian bowlers picked up 39 and 34 wickets out of a possible 50 wickets in 5 matches, while the worst tours  were 1997 and 2010, when they did not have a strong leader and had an inexperienced attack. India’s current team will miss the strength and leadership of MS Dhoni, as they deal with an interim captain and an inexperienced bowling attack.

India’s bowling arsenal this year for the Zimbabwe tour is very similar to the 1997 and 2010 tours, with no real leader of the bowling unit. India’s bowling unit sports a whole bunch of inexperienced bowlers in Shami Ahmed, Jaydev Unadkat, Mohit Sharma and Pervez Rasool.  The bowling attack will largely rely on the experience that Ravindra Jadeja and Vinay Kumar bring to the table, apart from expecting the new comers to come good.

Table 6  analyses India’s bowling in Zimbabwe by series and by bowler types.

Table 6- Indian Bowling statistics for ODI’s in Zimbabwe by tours

	Matches	Total Wickets	Pacers Wickets	Spinners Wickets	Pacer Avg	Spinner Average	Pace Eco Rate	Spin Eco Rate
2010 Tri Series	4	21	6	12	69	46.75	5.93	4.88
2005 Tri Series	5	39	28	8	25.21	42.5	5.00	4.86
2003 CWC	1	10	7	3	14.14	24	3.58	4.24
2001 Tri Series	5	34	28	4	26.10	74.75	4.16	4.53
1998 Bi Lateral Series	3	22	12	8	32.25	36.25	4.55	5.00
1997 Bi Lateral Series	2*	2	1	1	86	37	4.82	4.63
1992 Bi Lateral Series	1	10	7	1	20.71	57	4.01	4.38
Overall	21	138	89	37	28.85	44.76	4.64	4.77

*- While 2 matches were scheduled, only match is taken for computation as the second ODI in that series in 1997 was washed out without a ball being bowled.

Based on the current form, will India’s swagger help in mowing down Zimbabwe, or will India’s inexperience lynch them at their familiar Achilles heel? Many questions show up, as India prepare for their future, in the hope that they brush aside history.

Hashtags On Facebook: Implications For You And Your Brand

With Facebook finally having forced to follow Twitter and Instagram and having had to onboard hashtags, there has to be implications. Here are 4 most important ones for you and your brand 

1. What’s Trending: What is most important for a marketer on a social media platform. It is to know what’s making the most noise and is being followed frantically. Twitter and Google+ are two platforms which clearly show what’s trending because these are easily captured via Hashtags. With FB now bringing Hash, it would soon make people know what’s trending on FB which is nowhere in sight currently. Imagine with the number of folks on FB how crucial this will be for brands and for common folks.

2. Increase in Exposure: Till now what you posted on facebook was limited to the number of fans you had and constantly added. Now everything that you post on the platform with a relevant and appropriate hashtag is visible to everyone who is looking for something close to that. Imagine you are a photographer and with each photo with a relevant hashtag you will be connected to folks who would be looking for services in the domain you cater to. With the kind of numbers and engagement that Facebook see’s you are in with a business once you work with good relevance.

3. Customizing your Hashtags: So you thought this will increase spam, not really. Facebook will allow you to filter and search for hashtagged comments within your social circle as well. So if you want to know what your network is saying about a get-together that you have planned, you can just filter it down to your network, thus avoiding spam that is unwanted information. Extrapolate this and imagine the same for a brand, how relevant isn’t it?

4. Massive Advertising Reach: The reach of advertising will increase massively through hashes. Imagine Tata Nano launching a new car with some feature that is worth talking. They push the ad on Facebook with a #Nanonew. Now anyone who comments on the video and uses the hash becomes a part of the thread irrespective of him/her commenting on the video post. The best part is Tata can take stock of everything that has been happening on it. Works great, isn’t it?

We all know Hash tags have been very successful for both Twitter and Instagram. It enables users from all over the globe to come over and discuss on things they want to, breaks global divide completely. By bringing Hash on Facebook, it has increased competition, especially for Twitter which had launched its advertising space very recently. How will it impact both the platform we will know in a while, for now though the brands stand to gain a lot from all the efforts.

Related articles

• Here’s Why Facebook Wants to Edge In on Twitter’s Hashtags (allthingsd.com)
• Facebook Adopts Twitter’s Golden Child: The Hashtag (fool.com)
• What #Hashtags on Facebook Mean for Twitter (dijytal.wordpress.com)