BedTea.in | Ravi Matah's Blog

Johannesburg:  The Warriors were confident of posting a big score after having won the toss at the Wanderers and had posted 45 runs in the sixth over when R Ashwin got Jacobs out lbw while he attempted a reverse sweep and that wicket at that stage cost Warriors the match. Davy Jacobs was going great guns till then and his team was sighting a total of 170 – 180 runs. But the collapse was soon to follow and they could manage only 128 for 7 wickets in the 20 overs.

Murli Vijai

Jacobs took the attack straight away to the opposition, hitting two boundaries off Doug Bollinger in the very first over. The Warriors’ skipper followed it up with a cover drive in the next over of Albie Morkel.

After Jacobs fell, Muttiah Muralitharan throttled the Warriors with his skill, and L Balaji maintained the pressure with a disciplined spell in the middle, keeping the Warriors to 128, which was never going to be enough. And it wasn’t. This is the last time this group of players will turn out for Chennai, and they gave themselves a nice farewell present.

The frequent fall of wickets, after the prized scalp of skipper Davy Jacobs, at regular intervals, derailed the once steady-looking Warriors’ innings as the home side struggled to put up a challenging total in the final. (more…)

News media in other countries are sceaming ‘Call the games off’ and players from a few countries have refused to participate citing filthy conditions and lack of infrastructure facilities. Athletes are due to arrive at the Games Village, New Delhi today. More than fifty athletes have withdrawn their names in recent months and it is a national embarrassment as they have refused to participate.

JLN Stadium Over-bridge

And to add salt to the wounds, the over-bridge outside the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium collapsed where in about thirty workers were injured, four of them critically. And now begins the blame game – one calls it bad assessment at the planning stage, others say bad execution.

Yesterday, when the news of the over-bridge at Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium falling down was released on the TV channels, twitter was in full flow in condemning the organizing committee; tweeples from all over the country cried ‘shame’ on twitter and these tweets went on for more than three hours.09

The last minute preparations in completing the jobs at hand have lead to various problems for the CWG committee and add to their woes the rains have played havoc all over North India. (more…)

News travels fastest on twitter and in the first-of-it’s-kind  news  we have a four day old @babyinayat whose mother Gursimran Kaur from Jallandhar (India) tweeted that she has delivered a baby girl, thus breaking the news of the first ‘live’ baby being tweeted in the world. Twitter is now the fastest media for news in the world. Four days old Inayaat is the new sensation on twitter. She had to be famous on twitter as both her parents are active on twitter and went on tweeting before, until and after her birth.

Gursimaran and her husband Sumit Aneja aka @SumtheBum , both of whom are active on the twitter networking site, had  been tweeting about the expected baby’s arrival earllier also and four days ago she was a bit upset as the doctors had given her 20th Sept as the due date and that she wanted to have the baby earlier. (more…)

Too much is happening on this auspicious day. The month long festival of Ramzan ends and Eid-ul-Fitr is being celebrated by Muslim brethren all over the globe. In the Maharashtra State in India, Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated with great pomp and vigour. Fortunately, wiser sense has also prevailed on Pastor Terry Jones of the church of Florida who has agreed not to burn copies of Quran as earlier decided by him.

Eid is celebrated with pomp and gaiety and breakfast is had with dates, which are considered a ritual, and sweets. Elders and children, wear new clothes and the smiles are visible everywhere. They greet one and all, irrespective of caste, colour and creed chanting ‘Eid mubarak’.

During the festival Muslims exchange gifts, and greet everyone as a mark of solidarity and brotherhood. It is believed that the Prophet of Islam saw the moon on this day and said, “O God make this moon a symbol of peace for us’, thereby the Prophet expressed the true spirit of Eid to promote spiritual harmony and a peaceful environment in the world. (more…)

A commemorative stamp was issued by USPS  in honour of Mother Teressa on her  13th death anniversary.  Mother Teresa, the Macedonia-born ethnic Albanian nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta in 1950 and was also honored with the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979.

Mother Teressa

Teresa  was born on 26 August 1910 as Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu and  worked extensively for the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying. She had a special place for leprosy patients. After her death, she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.

Agnes left her home in 1928 to join the Sisters of Loretto in Ireland. Six weeks later, she was sent to India as a teacher for the Sisters’ school in Calcutta. While teaching in Calcutta, Mother Teresa began her work with the poor and sick, a work that would become her life’s calling.

She worked tirelessly for 50 years in the service of the poor and the down-trodden.

She was loved by all, but her critics accused her of accepting dirty money.

Some raised concerns about the way she ran the Missionaries of Charity. Still others accused her of working to convert people or of limiting herself to keeping people alive rather than tackling poverty itself. (more…)

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has been awarded the honorary rank of group Captain in the Indian Air Force in a glittering ceremony held in New Delhi on Friday. Air Chief Marshal PN Naik pipped his uniformed shoulders with the rank and said that Sachin would soon be flying sorties in Su-30MKI, and added that it depends on the master blaster to make him available for this purpose. 

Sachin Tendulkar

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, who sets the cricket field on fire with his bat, now wishes to light up the skies by flying a Sukhoi-30MKI, the most lethal fighter jet in the Indian Air Force. 

Sachin Tendulkar has 48 Test Cricket centuries under his belt and has stated that he has no plans to retire from International Cricket in the near future. 

Replying to a question about the fighter plane he wishes to fly, the batting legend said: “I want to fly a Sukhoi-30MKI.”  (more…)

Pakistani players Salman Butt, Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Amir had been summoned to London by Scotland Yard in connection with the no-ball controversy that has erupted during the current England – Pakistan series. They have been interrogated at length and the Pakistan Cricket Board says it will not take any action upon the reports of the media. nor upon the sting operation,  but is awaiting the investigation report from the Scotland Yard. 

The news is absolutely shocking for the fans of Cricket. Why, such a thing happened, was the question in everyone’s mind. Is it endless greed for money at this age? These things were unheard of, a predetermined no-ball in between a devastating spell during the 4^th Test, which the Lords has ever witnessed. Shocking, is the word and rape of Cricket would be no exaggeration either.  (more…)

The Government of India has approved a 300% hike in the salary of it’s Members of Parliament and still they are not happy. This approval on Friday was followed on Friday, by protests by the MPs that they would not work for in increase of 500% as recommended by the Parliamentary Committee. 

They were expecting a salary of approximately 80,001 per month, which is at least Re. 1/- more than that of a bureaucrat. Simultaneously, the Government has also doubled their perks, but the parliamentarians stalled the proceedings of the Lok Sabha, creating difficulties for the Speaker Meira Kumar to maintain calm in the House. 

The news is, that this hike is being reconsidered and might go up further.  (more…)

 Steven Slater, the Jet Blue flight attendant who quit his job via emergency slide at Kennedy Airport, has given a brute, but essential message to the world that the flight attendants are also human and deserve their ‘due’ place in the Society.

Stevan Slater, the flight attendant who has become media sensation, was released on $2,500 bail on Monday night. He told reporters he was surprised by all the attention his story had generated.

Steven Slater

Agreed, after take-off, your first requirement is to get a drink and nibble. It’s the duty of the steward or the stewardess to serve you because you have paid for it in the ticket, but you have no right whatsoever, to be rude to them.

There he comes, pulling the trolley, with bottles, snacks, disposable glasses and paper napkins, smiling and asking every passenger ‘what would you like to drink Sir/Madam’? He puts a napkin on the make-shift dining table and then puts the disposable glasses and plastic cutlery on it along with the drink of your choice. (more…)

It’s a matter of national honor and pride that we are hosting the Commonwealth Games. Going by the media reports the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games 2010 has left a blot on the India’s image and a lot will have to be done to save the face of the nation. The allegations of misuse of funds granted for the conduct of these Games speak volumes of the inept handling of the whole affair.

This has even angered Queen Elizabeth, the Queen of England who is furious over allegations of corruption involving a UK based firm in the baton relay of the Commonwealth games launched in London last year.

An equipment which you can buy out rightly for under Rs. Four lakhs is being hired for Rs.Ten lakhs for a mere 45 days? Yes, I am talking about the treadmill suppliers who are being paid only Rs. One lakh for 45 days rent of the equipment and being billed by over a 1000%. A taxi which was available for £ 250 a day in London was being hired for £ 450 a day? (more…)