A Day (Off) Before US Open Final

You have to have read Andre Agassi's autobiography 'Open' to imagine what it means for the tennis players to get a day off before finals of a grand slam (or any tournament). This book gives you so many insights into a tennis pro's life that you start loving the game in a totally different manner.

This year, at US Open, it was Djokovic's turn to get overjoyed because of the day off before his slated final against Spanish bull - Rafael Nadal. Djocovic played the second semifinal against top favorite Federer and won it in a gruelling five setter. In the US Open, winner of second semifinal does not get a day off like the first finalist does. He has to recuperate through a single night before going for the gruelling fight of the final.

(Image - Wikipedia)

The awe-inspiring beauty called Arthur Ashe stadium does not have a cover for rain. It means that Djocovic got exactly what he needed most - rest. Read in NYTimes article that the Arthur Ashe stadium, the biggest tennis stadium in the world with a capacity of 23771 seats, will need a whoopping $ 150 million to get a retractable roof, and also some re-engineering due to its size and structure!

Now it will be fun watching the two players play for their life and a grand slam. Though Nadal is a favoured one, my heart wants to see Djocovic (the eternal No. 3 after Federer and Nadal) to win. He has the potential to win the game...

 

Do You Agree?

Media and its trivializing effect on even profound matters is an interesting (and sad) thing to watch and observe. In India, the media has a long history of being the major player in political/public discourse - and this has its own merits and pitfalls.

Currently, the media scene in India is spearheaded by the TV news channels. With their foolish, superficial knack of picking up issues which are equally foolish, and elitist, these channels are a classic example of how a responsible media should not be.

Here is an example (Hindi language) of a TV report appeared on CNN-IBN, a leading Hindi news channel in India.

---

All this came to mind today, when I watched 'Frost/Nixon'.

It is a nice movie - memorable not due to the performances, but appealing due to its historical relevance. But what made a mark on me was its take on TV media in general. Here is a quote from the movie that sums my feelings.

James Reston, Jr.: You know the first and greatest sin of the deception of television is that it simplifies; it diminishes great, complex ideas, stretches of time. Whole careers become reduced to a single snapshot.

At first I couldn't understand why Bob Zelnick was quite as euphoric as he was after the interviews, or why John Birt felt moved to strip naked and rush into the ocean to celebrate. But that was before I really understood the reductive power of the close-up, because David had succeeded on that final day, in getting for a fleeting moment, what no investigative journalist, no state prosecutor, no judiciary committee or political enemy had managed to get - Richard Nixon's face swollen and ravaged by loneliness, self-loathing and defeat.

The rest of the project and its failings would not only be forgotten, they would totally cease to exist.

Don't you agree?

Wikileaks, India?

The furore caused over the Afgan war logs leak over Wikileak is extremely satisfying for me. Such leaks atually fill the gap which the Right to Information acts can not fulfill in various countries. And less secrecy is always welcome. Weber has said about bureaucracy that it thrives on the control over information.

Read this story in Guardian about how the teams of datajournalists worked on the leaks -

It was central to what we would do quite early on that we would not publish the full database. Wikileaks was already going to do that and we wanted to make sure that we didn't reveal the names of informants or unnecessarily endanger Nato troops. At the same time, we needed to make the data easier to use for our team of investigative reporters: David Leigh, Declan Walsh, Simon Tisdall, Richard Norton-Taylor. We also wanted to make it simpler to access key information for you, out there in the real world ??? as clear and open as we could make it.

The data came to us as a huge excel file ??? over 92,201 rows of data, some with nothing in at all or were the result of poor formatting. Anything over 60,000 rows or so brings excel down in dramatic fashion ??? saving takes a painfully long period of time (tip number one ??? turn automatic saving off in preferences???). It doesn't help reporters trying to trawl through the data for stories and it's too big to run meaningful reports on.

After reading the story, I wondered will Indian media ever can pull off such a coup? Will the owners of media houses in India allow their reporters to work on something so secret and so important?

Indian media, unfortunately is now a part of the unholy nexus of politicians, bureaucrats, & corporates - all who have access to important information within their domains. However, I must say that - to some extent - TV channels in India seem to be more independent.

Awakening Thoughts

You wish so many things to happen. You want so many things so desperately.
For instance, I want to pursue 3 things very very desperately. First is to train for a marathon. Second, I want to pursue photography. Third, I want to undertake boxing. Fourth, I want to go for higher studies. Fifth, I want to go on a long vacation to Ladakh. And so on.

And I want them very badly.
Somehow, I feel that doing these things might satisfy me from within. Doing them will fulfill me, complete me.

But there are so many things which prevent me from doing these things. Some are practical issues, some are my own mental restrictions.

A few months ago I started playing table tennis again. I had played the sport at school with some moderate success. But then was completely out of touch for so many years. But I am playing it again. I am thinking of improving my game to my old levels.

I don't know how much this is fulfilling me, completing me.

But, hey! You know, I am actually doing this.

So what's the point?

How about thinking about the things which I am already doing, concentrating on it, improving myself at it? I am actually pursuing the sport because it is very within reach for me. There is a table tennis table in community hall where I live, plus I have got so many playing partners there. That is the reason why I started playing it without giving much thought.

Now, as you change your focus - to the things which are withing your easy reach, and to the things which you are already doing, I feel liberated. You will feel that even these activities are equally fulfilling.

It is not important what you are doing.
It is important whether you are doing something or not.
There will be ample time to go for more difficult desires.

Now is the time to do it, and do it more passionately.

It is all about journey. Not about reaching there.

*Image - Flickr

My (new) Musings (And some old - imported from previous blog)

First things first. I admit that this is not the first time that I am migrating. I started first with...ok, I do not remember with which blogging platform. But my first serious attempt at blogging was with wordpress...let me check if that blog is still alive - must be so, 'cause I did not kill it.

Yes it is still alive!

It was on wordpress.COM, so it offered so less flexibility that I decided to switch to Blogger - which after being acquired by Google, was rolling feature after feature, and was quite hot. So, on one fine day, I killed my blog-growth at wordpress and shifted to Blogger.

I must say that I never flourished on Blogger. Somehow, I found Blogger offering flexibility in a very rigid way. Yet I blogged consistently there. My made-famous-by-Freakonomics post 'What A Business Model' about Mumbai's local train??travelers??was written on that blog. As also my featured-in-Mint post - 'Villages Or Cities?', and an update on it - which was a response to an article in Mint by economist Atanu Dey (%$#@*^&! I did not have the link to my post on LiveMint.com).

Anyway.

Now here I am. After trying many things on many platforms...this is my new attempt at writing regularly.

Let's see...