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Manmohan Singh has now inducted a total of 78 ministers in his team, 12 days after the election results were announced,  thus the formation of the Central Union Ministry was finally completed. This was an ardous task and by no means an easy task in a country of this magnitude and compl;exities. There is no such comparable  instance in any other part of the world.

The oath taking ceremony of the new ministers was held in India’s Presidential palace called  Rashtrapati Bhawan on Thursday. In  totality there are 33 cabinet ministers, 38 ministers of state (MoS) and seven MoS who are likely to be given independent charge of their respective portfolios.

Numerous factors were  to be taken into consideration in choosing  the cabinet, as well as, ministers of state berths. Frstly  there are 28 states and seven union territories in India. Suitable representation has to be given selectively to all states and the union territories also. Secondly,  the caste and  religion factor  also needed to be taken into consideration. Thirdly the allies of the Ruling Party have also to be satisfied by allotting  berths to them.  This was by no means a task of simple arithmetic. (more…)

The IPLT20 is finally over and millions of cricket lovers have not much left to do. Even I am thinking what to do in the evening as there is no match today. Go out or simply sit back and watch a new TV serial. Having spent almost 39 evenings at home watching the matches, there is suddenly a vacuum in our lives after the final match. But what will South Africans do who were directly involved in doing their jobs for the tournament and/or watching the games.

The hotels would be half empty. The employees would be enjoying  themselves after the hard work. Airport staff would be happy. This had been a high flying tournament and after 40 days of hullabaloo and hectic arrangements they would be relaxing in bright sunshine. The Security Staff deputed for this tournament would have gone to quench their thirst after the final. They had earned a well deserved slug after doing a splendid job. They stayed sober during this hi-fi extravaganza to ward of any untoward incident. It is only by the exceptional prowess of the Security Staff that everything went off smoothly. (more…)

The million dollar extravaganza, IPLT20 came to a close on 24th May 2009 at the Wanderers at South Africa with Deccan Chargers lifting the trophy defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore by six runs in a heart throbbing final encounter.

Anil Kumble won the toss for the RCB and opted to field first. Gilchrist was bowled by Kumble in the very first over. It then appeared that everything was over for Deccan Chargers but that was not to be. He took 4 wickets but still could not win the match for his team. At the ten overs time out mark, RCB were 62 for 3. Thereafter, Gibbs and Rohit Sharma gave some respectability to the score and the Deccan chargers were 143 for 6 after 20 overs.

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I still remember like it happened few days ago but it  had happened  almost two decades ago. My neighbor knocked at my gate and asked whether he could park his car inside our campus as the road outside his residence was being metalled. Then I saw few blankets on the back seat of his car. He himself told me that they were just returning from Chandigarh after attending a friends daughters wedding. Then I asked him as to why he carried his own blankets. Then he said, what are friends for?

Man can find satisfaction by living in a society and talking to people. But it is in the company of friends that he enjoys most. And true friends are few. True friends are those who have no inhibitions, they are purely selfless and sacrificing people. The understandings are absolutely clear. A true friend is what you see in a mirror – your own image. Then how can you harm your own self?  There are no doubts in either’s mind. Friends don’t betray though some people do. Those people who betray are not friends in the true sense of the word. One has to be very careful in reposing trust in another. But Rome was not built in a day and so is friendship (more…)

You have now worked for a considerable number of years, have achieved a level of comfort – but are you satisfied with what you have? If yes then why? Why are you satisfied? You should know that satisfaction will put a full stop to the furtherance in your career and progress in life.

If you are satisfied, as of now, this would mean that you have no dreams and/or desires to further your state of life. Almost three decades ago, while I was working at  Sena Bhawan New Delhi, I had to go on an official errand to Kingsway Camp. There I saw small, dingy, just eighty square yards  houses comprising of  two rooms one bathroom which were  constructed  years ago for the expatriates (refugees) from Pakistan. Few of them had pucca roofs over them but most  of them were tin top. And then I saw this name plate outside one house and I burst out in laughter. It read – ‘Ram Lubhaya Chopra, Permanent LDC, Ministry of Defence’. Just see how happy and contended this fellow is that he has used the word ‘permanent’ in his name plate also .Permanent is a status within an office which is achieved after 10 to 12 years of service and not to be boasted around in public. He gets tons of amount of satisfaction that he is permanent and that nobody can chuck him out of his job for forty years and will come back to his little house and get pension thereafter WOW. Very very happy.

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In the previous blog we had invited applications for the post of a Prime Minister in India and had also laid down the essential  requirements for the candidates. We did receive a few applications which, after being checked by the screening committee have been brought to the table of the selection committee. Let’s see what happens here.

A three member selection committee was constituted by the Chairman of the bureau. The members of this committee were  all octogenerians and had six decades of political experience. The meeting began. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, three cups of coffee (each) on three occasions and a few cold drinks later, the committee went through the bio-datas of the few applicants to decide the best contender for the post. They discussed about them  at length and this is how the discussion went on  till midnight. (more…)

IPL T-20 – Two, was scheduled to commence from 10th April 2009 in India but since the dates of the matches clashed with the Indian Elections it was decided to move the tournament outside India. Lalit Modi the Chairman of IPL T-20 flew to Johannesburg and it was announced there that the tournament will be held from 18th Apr 2009 at various venues in South Africa comprising of fifty six round robin matches , two semi-finals and the final.

Ha Ha. The world is enjoying this billion dollar extravaganza. The streets are half empty just before 4.00 PM every evening in India and people are glued to their TV sets impatiently waiting for the first ball to be bowled. I am sure the same would be happening in other parts of the world. How is all this managed? How did Lalit Modi achieve this? (more…)

There are mainly two national parties, too many regional parties, then the third and fourth front I  don’t know of and then recently in the news was the party of the comedians led by Jaspal Bhatti 🙂 . This advertisement is being placed considering the fact that today there are too many aspirants to the post of Prime Minister.

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Applications are invited for the post of a Prime Minister in India, which is one of the largest democracies in the world.

Essential Qualifications: – Candidates should have working knowledge of Hindi and one language of the State in which they reside.  He or she should have  absolutely no knowledge of English language Their children may be studying in English school which is understandable  and this  should not be an embargo to his or her selection to the post. (more…)

The Kolkata Knight Riders was launched with a lot of fanfare. There were dances, music and the King of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan,who owns this team, was also there to show his charisma and boost the morale of the team And I still remember his words spoken just before the commencement of  IPL-I –  that “so long as Kolkata Knight Riders is playing –  Saurav Ganguly will remain as it’s Captain. But what happened ? The team got a thrashing from all quarters and today is standing at number  eighth position of  the eight participating teams.  Can you guess what happened? Saurav did not perform to his potential Why?. Do you remember that the 326 runs required in London 5 years ago were achieved by none other than  India in an ODI and it was then that Saurav had performed  as he was then committed to the team and later  removed his shirt and ran down to the pitch to greet Yuvraj and Kaif. Please remember the famous dictum – . History repeats itself and one should learn from it.

It is once again a rift between the Captain of a team and the foreign coach. It all started with the arrival of John Buchannan followed by the multi- captaincy issue brought forth by him. And somehow Shah Rukh Khan also relented to the coach’s advice and made Macullum the captain instead of Saurav Ganguly. Do you remember what happened when  Greg Chappel was appointed the coach of the Indian team? Saurav Ganguly was sacked as the Captain of Indian Cricket team and after one more match (as a player) he was not considered in the playing eleven  and asked to warm the bench – eh?

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