India United

India as a nation probably was never that united that she became on the 2^nd April, 10.45 PM. As the lofted shot of Dhoni landed in some twenty or thirty rows back, I felt with my heart and soul that we, the Indian can also conquer the world and beat champions after champions to become the champion. After the gap of 28 years, Indian cricket team brought the Cricket World Cup home once again, after 1983 but this time it was different. In the year of 1983, when I was 3 ½ years old, Kapil Dev’s team was not at all the favourites to win the World Cup. Hence, they had no pressure to perform match after match to the Cup. What they did was to play the matches according to the merits, gave their best and upset teams like Australia, England and the mighty West Indians.

During this World Cup of the new millennium, M. S. Dhoni’s team was the favourites to win the Cup. They were playing at their backyard and had to take relentless pressure from a billion people, and suffer the scrutiny of the experts to live with. At first, the team did not start the tournament in the right note; they could not defend a score of 338 against England and settled with a tie rather than an easy win. Then after that once again, excellent partnerships against the South Africans could not get the respect by other team members as India lost 7 wickets in around 30 runs and gave up a winnable match to the opponent. To me these hiccups were needed so that the team kept on their toes. The turning point of the tournament came in the quarter finals, when we won a tight match against the former world champions ‘Australia’. This particular match was so tight that a stage came when many people thought India would go out of the tournament! It took a great partnership between Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina to bend the tie in our fortune.

Pride is the word which has been used in a negative sense by many people, who unfortunately thinks that having pride harms the character of an individual. But according to me, having the pride and be proud about something brings out the best from an individual.

The pride of the Indian army is such, that to salvage the liberty of the people they smilingly take bullets right on their chests and save our country from falling to many enemies.

The team India that we are seeing now started to evolve as the Great Sachin Tendulkar, the pride of India, gave up the leadership position during the first half of 2000. When Indian cricket could have gone to the ruins, a character rose and came to take the responsibility on him to save the team from corruption. The attitude of team India started to change as The Sourav Ganguly rose as a leader of the billion people. It was for the first time that Australians were given the taste of their own medicines. The first strike which cracked the unbeatable tag of the Australians came at the Eden Garden, where a great, full counter-attack by the team of Sourav, made the mighty Australians crumble under pressure for the first time in many years. Skeptics thought that it was a one time phenomenon but they got their answers, slamming into their faces by that aggressive young role-model who would never shy away to thrash the oppositions by leading from the front.

I still remember a morning of the 3^rd test of the same series in Chennai, where a batsman like Steve Waugh had to circum to such pressure that he got out by “Handling the Ball”. It was quite unexpected to many cricket experts as Waugh’s cool and calm composure could be disturbed by Sourav’s aggressive team strategy.

Then after that quite unexpectedly, team India reached the finals of 2003 World Cup in South Africa and that too in an unexpected manner. Nobody expected that a team which has weakness in bouncy tracks and moving ball could do that. The self belief that Sourav brought in team India once again could be seen as he himself scored a magnificent century at Brisbane, the second most bouncy track in Australia. He tackled Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee with an ease that as if he was tackling ‘his favourite’, any left-arm spinner in the world. And after that when India beat Pakistan in their home territory, the unique attitude was imprinted within any cricketer of India.

This particular night of 2^nd April 2011, was the ultimate point that Indian cricket could reach. Now, the time has come where other teams would like to beat India just like it happened during 70’s & 80’s to the West Indian team and the whole of last decade to the Australian team.

A person from a very humble economic background and a gambler to many gave the nation, the moment which gave away the difference between the people for their caste, class, region and religion. Our nation was united after a very long time when people actually forgot who they were and was proud to be Indians. It was a day which can be compared with every day of our freedom movement where we were always united. But this time the politicians were not the masters who united the people, though they have the power to unit the country but it seems that some vested interest do not allow them to do so.

M. S. Dhoni had a horrible tournament as a batsman. Many people said and teased to tell that he should be a non-playing captain but now I would like to see their blackened faces. When time came, he took the responsibility upon himself to show what a leader can do. Mastering the fear is the most important aspect of a leader. Dhoni did so like he was destined to do so. A true leader would always like to go and lead from the front. Even after he took the trophy from the podium itself he talked about the mistakes that he made. He told that the mistakes would be overlooked as the team won the cup. But I think he would never overlook the mistakes owing to fact that he is a great leader. I hope he brings many successes to India and I would like to request some politicians who make the policy decision to accept the mistakes because MS has shown that accepting the mistakes and taking the responsibilities brings success to the person and the nation.

I hope the republic of India stays united and many honest people comes up to take leadership positions and share the immense responsibilities by throwing out the corrupts and standing up against them. It is possible as last ten years of Indian cricket history has shown that.

For Namam, (My Grandmother) with Love.

Ma,

I loved her.

I expressed the love in a differently.

She laughed,

She cried,

She cared for me.

 I know what ‘Ma’ means.

So, Ma…

I pray to God… that she rests in peace…

Great Indian Marriage:

Commonwealth games 2010 which was held in New Delhi, indeed was a very up hailing, controversial issue but a path finding event in India’s sporting history.

Though, firstly owing to various controversies, this mega event faced the danger of going into dungeons. Till the opening ceremony most of the learned population of India was disgusted about miss-management and the financial controversies of the games. But in India there is a say and which is followed from the time immemorial. It is that everything is like an “Indian Wedding”, where till the wedding is over, nobody knows what would be happening! This phrase was used time and again by the electronic media in national and international events. This so called “India wedding” gave a path finder to the sporting fraternity and competitors. There were lots of people who did not appear in the media, came and conquered the hearts and minds of Indian public.

It was the first time that Indian gymnastics came into reckoning in any international arena. A young villager from Utter Pradesh got a Bronze and a Silver medal in the Floor Exercise and Volt respectively. Hopefully, if without any infrastructure available, this young UP-iat brings the glory, then a new generation would be motivated to take Gymnastics seriously than many other common sports: this way the new brand of Gymnasts that would come up in international arena, would affect India’s image across the world.

Saina Nehwal, the know Indian Shuttler, and one of the most successful sportswoman of India did something unique that probably was overlooked by many of us.  Before she started playing her singles final, India and England were equal in Gold medals tally and we were at third place owing to England’s better overall medals tally. Had she lost the final match: India would have lost the unique opportunity of finishing second position, in an International sporting event. But this young shuttler, not only won a gold medal but she also made our country proud by putting India in the second position. This performance gave a hidden message to the world,  that India as well as her new generation is motivated enough, to give more that their hundred percent to make the country proud.

After the commonwealth games, the image of India’s sporting fraternity would automatically change around the world and hence we all hope that the western domination and Chinese methodical training will be overcome by India’s hard work.

After all the displeasure of various people, India has shown that even if the things aren’t ready to host any international event, we always make sure that the infrastructures of the game or any international event is perfectly ready to use even one minute before the event start.

Internationally, we may have been reputed as last minute worker’s, that is why in near future, India; as a nation would rise rapidly than any other nation could have imagined. India’s brand name, internationally would be benefited as we have proven that we are the people who have the capability to finish something at the very last moment.

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My computer has crashed and I am not being able write on the Blog. I would like upload two or three write-up but coudn't. I hope to come out of this problem and soon I shall upload the write-up.

Just think.

I want.

I would like.

These are the words not made for people like us!

Why?

Why do I say this!

See a creeper, and what do you see?

Don’t you think that it can dream as well!

Surprised, are you: aren’t you?

Why. Don’t you think, a creeper can dream to grow of its own?

It also wants to have strong trunk!

Don’t you think it also want others to depend on it?

Do you know it can actually achieve all its dream?

How? Do you ask how?

Just help it. Help by giving it a stick.

And you could see it would really contribute to the beauty.

Don’t you want to try it out?

I think you should.

You would realize,

The stick that is supporting the creeper,

Would also be happy that it helped the nothing to becoming something:

Not only the creeper, but the stick would also thank you and bless you.

The Right to Love:

My dear darling,

Like the wind that brushes the lives

And

The lives dance with the tickling loving touch,

I love to love you.

But if I love you,

 I do not care if you do….

I love because you are there to be loved.

It need not be the case

Where

I expect the same!

To me love is happiness,

So

Seeing you happy would make me believe

That my love is not fake…

Loving you and not possessing

Is the truth

Because

It is my right to love.

 Having you to love me

Is

Not the priority.

It is just that it is the most fantastic feeling

Which

I have when I found,

I have the RIGHT TO LOVE YOU.

High time for a big change………

I am here, in front of you because I spent most of my life as an AAC user and during that time I attended many international conferences. I won the Words-Plus outstanding lecture award during ISAAC conference held in Natal Brazil. Even though I can speak at this point of my life still times come when I get stuck and I take help of assistive technology for that stagnation..

To me, be an Indian is one of the many things for which I am proud of. As India is the largest democracy in the world, we have the freedom to choose our representative, who would speak for us. But there are some basic problems for people with disabilities to cast their vote by which they would be able to choose their representative.

When I get to speak about civil and political rights for persons with disabilities, I get amazed to think that this small minority community was never got counted in census, a very important phenomenon in our country. Persons with disabilities were counted in 1931, and after that in 2001. Though we, the person with disabilities were counted in 2001 but there was a huge discrepancy in that data. It is quite impractical to think that only 2½ percent of total population is challenged!! The problem with these kinds of data is, if the person with disabilities are not being counted with some accuracy how can  we expect to get the basic human rights, which are needed to lead a respectful life?  And when we are denied of the most important right i.e. “the right to be the citizenship”, we just cannot expect to have an individual and independent identity!!

In our country very often we see a closely contested election. In spite of using electronic voting machines, we find many times the candidates request for recounting and often win.. Currently, we can take the example of our Home Minister who was elected in the Lok Sabha after recounting. When we the Indians have such strong likes and dislikes, why do the disabled population should be left outside of this process?

Do the authorities think that we the person with disabilities should not be trusted with the ballots! Or do they have some other interest that we do not know; of do they think that we are simply dumps!!!

We understand that infrastructure is one of the reasons why we face some difficulties to cast our vote. And also owing to a few rules of Election Commission: (mainly where they have divided booths according to part numbers), people with disabilities face problem. But how long do we have to wait?

 If we think realistically the architectural modification cannot be done over night. If that is so do the authorities expect that we are not going to cast our vote and wait till the time when these modifications are made? This is absurd.

In any case I am not saying, changing the architectural barrier is not possible but it would take some time. Instead what I would like to emphasize is,  while these architectural modifications are being made we must have the opportunity to vote, which is one of the most important rights for anyone who lives in a democracy. Many of my friends had experienced problem as they went to vote. The polling booths were not accessible, hence they could not vote.

 If I have to make a suggestion on this issue, I would request the commission to think of making one room in every polling station accessible or wheelchair friendly. Keep a special EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) which would cater the needs of all spectrum of challenged people. This facility would not only help the people with disabilities but it would also help the elderly persons who suffer from geriatrics problems.

I believe there is a huge debate going on around the country about who can vote and who cannot. There are many other debates, which are talking about can and connotes but right to vote is something which is very different that those other debates.

Finally I would like to mention in my  early years as an AAC user when I went to cast my vote, I had to depend on someone whom I could trust with my heart and soul. People often asked me that why do I feel it so important to vote?  My simple answer would be, IT IS MY CHOICE and MY RIGHT. I faced many problems to vote during that time, but when people saw that I was very serious about casting my vote regularly, they realized that I could not be de-motivated from voting. I used to suggest my trusted person to let others take me to the polling area  so that they can also realize our problems deeply and honestly.

My earnest request to Election Commission and Government of India is to implement the Supreme Court order of 2004 which will ensure the most important right as Citizen of India.