Laluji Ban Gaye Blogger...

Flipping through the newspapers or browsing across the news in the web media, you would have learnt how blogging is catching up in India and in the entire world in a big way. Be it Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan or Salman Khan. Do these people really write their blogs, or just that they have some one else who does the job for them. I am really not sure about that but few chaps are frank and candid as Lord Jeffrey Archer who was in India recently to promote his latest page-turner, A Prisoner of Birth. He is even bitten by the blogging bug and when posed a question by a reporter:

Tell us about your blog. Isn't it a big commitment for someone who is tech-challenged?

A friend of mine who runs a blog, who is the chairman of my publishing company, was getting 50,000 people (hits) a month. He said, 'You should do it Jeffrey'. So I did, and last month, 540,000 people hit the blog.

I don't post the blog. I handwrite it, give it to the secretary and she posts it. When I sit down to breakfast, I get a pile of emails from the blog. Twenty-five per cent of them at the moment are from India, but that will probably change when I leave.

The latest that I read in Economic Times is that our good old Laluji is having a duologue with a Mumbai-based media team to start his own blog. His source of inspiration is none other than the Democratic Presidential candidate, Barack Obama's magical spell of views and ideas expressed in his blog. The blog is expected to be put up at Mypopcorn.com and the minister is expected to make 2 posts a week. The topics to be covered are just anything and everything.

My personal feeling is that Laluji's blog site is going to draw lot of readers because of myriad reasons, among which one definitely clings on the humor and wittiness factor.



Laluji's first post was centered on the Gujjar agitation and he blames the Vasundhara Raje Government for mishandling the entire scenario and bringing it to disconsolate stage. In his post he expressed his displeasure at the loss that Indian Railways incurs because of the plotted agitations.

The loss caused to the Indian Railways is yet to be estimated but the damage has been severe. Several trains, both passenger and goods, have been cancelled. It is unfortunate that the Gujjars have vented their anger by disrupting the rail lines, but they do not realize they have dismantled lifelines of the country.

Leave the mis-management or the management part of Laluji when it comes to, ruling the state of Bihar for a long time, which if I am not mistaken is for a period of 15+ years. This in itself is a paradox. One very prominent facet of Laluji's persona that impresses me is his earthy humor and adroitness and cleverness in handling the media and the press.

Mind you, he is father to nine children but when he was questioned by the press about family planning, he gave a befitting reply. His reply was that his large family was a resistance against the emergency that was imposed in India in the late 1970s under the leadership of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. The Prime Minister had enforced sterilization to control the country's population and so Laluji went ahead to revolt against this and formed a mini-football team. So much so that, he even named his eldest daughter, Misa after a set of harsh code of laws that provided the police a free rein in the late 1970s.

His name may be Lalu (meaning a 'fool') but to me he has the brain of a super computer and within it runs different processes churning out endless solutions for any kind of imaginable problem in the political canvas. Rewind, your memory and you can recall how in 1997 he was oust from the post of chief minister of Bihar for his involvement in a corruption scandal. Overnight he appointed his wife Rabri (name of a sweet dish in North India) Devi, as the next chief minister. That's brilliant by any standards, planning and executing something with the drop of hat. When the press questioned him about the capabilities of Rabri, he replied with firm conviction that she had managed a house and nine children smartly. Hence questioning her political competency and management skills would be an insult to every Indian homemaker.

To me other than the political astuteness that Laluji possesses, his greatest endowment is his ability to understand the minds of his constituency, strike the right chords (ideology rather than governance works, symbolism and not development are keys for political survival, caste and religion are trump cards rather than performance at grass root level) with those that matter when it comes to vote banks, etc. This may sound lacking subtlety and insight but Laluji is a master at it and that's the reason he has managed to turn every political hard knocks into an opportunity.

One of his most talked about histrionics was when Laluji, once publicly announced that he would transform Bihar's roads, and make those as smooth and unflustered as Hema Malini's cheeks. To this, the BJP campaigner late Pramod Mahajan on a visit to Bihar, riposted that far from matching the smoothness of Hema Malini's cheeks, the in competency of Lalu government had turned the roads as spelunked as the cheeks of Om Puri. As far as I remember, neither of the comparable entities in this discussion created any flutter, and it was a political pas de deux between Laluji and Pramod Mahajan.

Laluji may be a rustic politician, in dhoti-kurta and may lack the sophistry, he may be dubbed as 'jungle raj' chief minister but under his direction in the present Government, the amount of reformation and profits that Indian Railways has witnessed is management folklore today. The turnaround in the financial health of the Indian Railways, with the reins in charge of Laluji, has been the subject of major discussion at IIMs and many top business schools round the globe.

So what has Prasad done to the Indian Railways which his predecessors could not? The answer lies in his own down-to-earth attitude and rustic wisdom.

Prasad puts it in his inimitable style: "My mother always told me not to handle a buffalo by its tail, but always catch it by its horns. And I have used that lesson in everything in my life, including the Railways."

Prasad's other management mantra for the Railways has been: "If you do not milk the cow fully, it falls sick," which he is practicing while running the Railways.

Laluji is definitely an enigma, a mystery and there are many people who wish to understand the yokes of his flummoxing and puzzling personality. An official is quoted as saying, "More than 100 missions have sought his curriculum vitae and asked questions about him. They say he is worth studying. Such interest is unheard of for any other minister." Incidentally, Lalu Prasad is the subject of a study by sociologists at Harvard University in the United States.

Now if such an interesting personality joins the blogging bandwagon, am sure there's a lot available to read. I am game to read about Laluji's secret for jhakkas one liners and of course about his countrified comparisons. Laluji, where do you get this armory of wit, do share please.

Keep reading and remain connected.

(Note: Some people spell the word, 'Lalu' as 'Laloo', so it's one and the same.)

Sunfeast World 10K Run...run maadi run...

For a moment forget the regular kvetching that one hears in various sources of news and media regarding Bangalore's woeful infrastructure issues. Keeping aside all these daily resentments, everyone rushed to the Kanteerva Stadium on a bright Sunday morning.



But what for? To be a part of the Sunfeast World 10K run, this is an international annual event, and was organized in India for the first time. The Sunfeast World 10k was touted as the richest 10k runs with total prize money of 150,000 USD up for grabs.



The event comprised of six races: World 10K Elite Men, World 10K Elite Women, Senior Citizens run (4 KM), Wheelchair event (4 KM), Open 10K Run and Majja Run (5.7 KM). Since the event was slotted between 6AM and 10:30AM, the city police authorities had made punctilious plans for minimal diversion of traffic during the four-hour marathon which saw active participation of around 20,000 people.



When I reached the spot around 7:30AM, preparations were in full swing for the Senior Citizens run which saw an impressive crowd of 700 plus participants. Most of senior citizens were aged above 60 but the energy and the exuberance that they displayed, quashed the roar of helicopters circling the stadium. Harmony, an NGO organized the senior citizens run. Each of the participants was given a T-shirt by Harmony and once they were dressed, there was a wave of uniformity at the starting point, very similar to a sight when children assemble in schools for morning prayer before classes commence. The highlight of this race was the high energy level of the senior citizens making them feel as if they were still in their teens. Jokes were cracked, few laughs were shared and there was an infectious air of camaraderie among these people who came not only from Bangalore but also from different parts of India.



Oprah Winfrey once said running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it. This was the kind of perseverance exhibited by a group of steel-willed people. Braving the heat and the dust, the handicapped persons maneuvered their wheel chairs, reflecting the true spirit of participation.



Suddenly the action shifted to inside the stadium because the World 10K Elite Men/Women had entered the final stage. In a closely contested run, Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea bagged the 1,50,000 US Dollar Sunfeast World 10K title by completing the marathon in 27:51 seconds just three seconds ahead of his rival Moses Kipsiro of Uganda. The women’s section witnessed the rarest of rare photo finishes in any 10k run, with both Grace Momanyi of Kenya and Elevan Abeylegesse of Turkey, declared joint winners. The complete results can be seen here..



There was cut throat competition in the Open 10K run which had large groups of amateur runners, trying their level best to live up to their own expectations. Few ran, few jogged and rest others just walked in the spirit of sport.



Everyone was indeed up and running. It was a place where the east met the west while running.



The most delightful aspect was to see each one run irrespective of caste, creed, color, religion, sex, age, language, region, etc.



There was one single motive to be a part of the excitement and ebullience.



The Majja Run as the name signifies (majja means fun) merriment was the epicenter of frolic and liveliness. Though the distance to be covered for this particular race was only 5.7 kms, what separated this one from the others were the variety and the diversity. There were runners turning up in varied costumes with powerful messages, banners and placards.



Few celebrities like Dino Morea, Rahul Bose, Charu Sharma and Vijay Amritraj had the crowd screeching as they made their appearance for the Majja Run. Everything here resembled a mini-carnival and fancy dress competition. Girls with different attention-getting dresses very much like the Indianized version of IPL cheerleaders attire.



Someone even put on special clothes to appear princely, like the mighty Tipu Sultan.



The one that surpassed every other costume in terms of ingenuity and colorations was the Ravana attire. Like a bee gets attracted towards nectar, participants were pulled in towards this individual dressed as Ravana to take a few snaps in the midst of the race.



There were lots of groups and voluntary associations such as Parikrma, Harmony and others who all came under one umbrella 'Bangalore Cares'. This aggroup participated in the race for a number of causes such as children welfare, greener and pollution free Bangalore, togetherness, etc.





How can an event of such extensive magnitude and variety happen without the support from corporate and business sponsors and advertisers? Well of course there were some sponsors from a wide spectrum. DHL was the logistics partner and it participated in big numbers, with few of the team members having flown from Mumbai. To name a few, Nike was the running partner, Kingfisher, the airline partner, Radio Mirchi as the radio partner, Manipal Cure and Care, as the medical and health partner, etc who passionately supported the cause and diversity of the World 10K experience. CNBC-TV18 was media partner and it brought the event live to millions of Indians on that day, to the television sets from 7AM onwards, along with a potpourri of other coverages and programmes related to this the event.





All is all it was a well organized event that got equally receptive reactions from all those who participated for this run. This race put Bangalore in the map of conducting with dynamism and zings a global marathon. More so, it was a testimony to the fact that multiple goals can be achieved through sports and citizen's active participation and above all how sports are a social leveler.



In this huge ocean of human beings, I could see some human faces which pulled my attention like a magnet pulls pieces of iron. There was this elderly woman selling ground nuts who was a bit perplexed to see a sea of people just running, a very new site from what sees in her day to day life.



This man was also confused to see this sudden wave of sneaker lovers on an otherwise traffic struck road.



But one of the most satisfying moment in this entire event running with my camera was to capture this bubbly toddler, who had come with her dad and brother (if you can see, the young brother is just hidden from the father) to be a part of this race. She was giving poses which to me meant, 'Daddy isn't allowing me to run or crawl this year, well next year I would be there to tip toe with other people'. That's a smart and emotionally charged expression, so I and my fellow Bangaloreans would wait for you, sunshine girl, till we meet again.



The rest of the pictures are in this album. Naama Bengaluru rocks as always.

Keep reading and remain connected.

BlogWorld & New Media Expo - Blogs Go Mainstream...

A couple of months back, I was at the Bangalore BarCamp, [a Bloggers collective version] which was nothing but a series of talks and discussions on an extensive list of topics, of course in a un-conference format. The blogging world is catching up fast, with the explosion of Internet facilities. And very soon the first and only industry-wide tradeshow, conference, and media event dedicated to the furtherance of the dynamics of blogging and new media, the BlogWorld & New Media Expo is coming.

This Blog Summit is a conference series that focuses on the applications of blogging in various spheres of life, social media and a wide array of topics. Apart from all these, the BlogWorld & New Media Expo would feature more than 50 seminars, panel discussions and keynotes from prominent gurus on the new age online technology and internet-savvy business.

Now anyone who already has the blog virus in his/her blood can join the party. Anyone who is currently blogging, podcasting, producing other forms of new media content, entering the new media industry, or just want to learn about the know-hows of the blogosphere, can be a part of this comprehensive blogging convention, the BlogWorld & New Media Expo.

Blogcritics and Desicritics are participants in this event. Eric Olsen, the Founder and Publisher of Blogcritics.org and who later mentored Aaman in the Desicritics initiative is one of the key speakers at this forum.

A peek into Eric Olsen's career graph in writing, editing, and media exposes his expertise in this arena for close to 20 years now. He has written volumes on a vast array of topics including politics, current events, world affairs, popular culture, music, music industry, digital technology, opinion and commentary, etc., for periodicals, books, TV, radio, and the Internet. As an editor and author, he supervised the compilation and publication of Networking In the Music Industry (Rockpress, 1993) and Encyclopedia of Record Producers (Billboard Books, 1999). In 2002, Olsen founded online magazine Blogcritics.org, the sinister cabal of superior bloggers.

I am a member of the Desicritics family and softly coupled to Blogcritics. It's definitely a moment of pride and appreciation for all the Blogcritic'ians and also Desicritic'ians to have Eric Olsen address such a groundbreaking conference on blogging.

Apart from the discussions on blogging, the conference would also touch other appendages, that regular bloggers use such as widgets, advertising networks, news readers, aggregators, etc to enhance the substance and the presentation of their sites. The event would also feature an open house discussion on the galore of products and services configured to make blogging easy and user-friendly. Apart from these some interesting discussion sessions on topics such as improving the look and aesthetic features of blogs, tips to increase readership, and how to make money from blogs, etc.

The inaugural event will take place on the 8th and 9th November'07 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, with an exclusive 'Executive & Entrepreneur' conference beginning on the 7th November '07.

Venue : Las Vegas Convention Center
Address : Las Vegas Convention Center
3150 Paradise Road, Las Vegas,
NV 89109, USA.

The event has some cool sponsors(check the webpage on the top), with, the Southwest Airlines being declared as the 'Official Airline of BlogWorld & New Media Expo'.

Some facts to show how fast the blog virus is spreading. So much so that many of the contenders both from the Democrats and Republicans brigade are using blogs as a medium for canvassing voters for the forth coming US elections. A glance at the official blog site of one of the strongest Democrats competitors, Hillary Clinton shows the impact this new media tool has made. Also a couple of weeks back, there was news about an anonymous blogger who assumed the persona of Steve Job, Apple's chief executive and made ad-lib posts at The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, to charade Mr. Jobs and his reputation as a swollen-headed and egotistic leader. On being unmasked, Mr. Daniel Lyons, a writer and editor for the technology related articles for Forbes and author of two works of fiction, the most recently one being, 'Dog Days' said.

Mr. Lyons said he invented the Fake Steve character last year, when a small group of chief executives turned bloggers attracted some media attention. He noticed that they rarely spoke candidly. "I thought, wouldn’t it be funny if a C.E.O. kept a blog that really told you what he thought? That was the gist of it."

Mr. Lyons says he recalled trying out the voices of several chief executives before settling on the colorful Apple co-founder. He twice tried to relinquish the blog, but started again after being deluged by fans e-mailing to ask why Fake Steve had disappeared.

Now how can I miss Heather alias Dooce, the queen of blogosphere and a household phrase in Technorati. Heather Armstrong created Dooce.com in February 2001, and a year later she was 'dooced', i.e. fired from her job as a web designer for writing about her co-workers and workplace. Dooce ranks very high on Technorati and is on the top 100 Most popular blogs list and has won Bloggies Award for Best Writing, Most Humorous Weblog, Best Tagline and Best American Weblog. Unlike other top blogs, Dooce is centered around Heather's articulate and humorous pennings on interesting observations in life, pregnancy, babies, depression, jobs, husband, and hilarious interactions with her daughter.

Now some cool facts on blogging.

• 9% of internet users say they have created blogs.
• Technorati is currently tracking over 70 million blogs.
• Over 120 thousand blogs are created every day.
• 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs.
• Blog readers average 23 hours online each week.

[Source: blogworldexpo.com]

Ok, if you see the last point, it's like someone spends to close to one day out of every seven days in the blog world, for reading, writing, commenting, etc all related to blogs.

Do I fit this profile? You guess!

Keep reading and remain connected.

Coolax and Chillax...

I think it was in the early 2006 series, that Ranchi Rambo, Mahendra Singh Dhoni led the Indian squad to victory against Pakistan in the third One-Dayer. More than the win, what was significant was that this dude, found an admirer in none other than President Pervez Musharraf. Yeh he liked not only his aggressive batting flair but also his unique hairstyle.

"A lot of placards in the crowd have suggested that you should get a haircut, but if you take my advice, you look good in this hairstyle," Musharraf told the Indian wicketkeeper-batsman during the presentation ceremony.

After that many hair product endorsements just came bucketing along his way. Brylcreem, was one of such products for which Dhoni endorsed. Incase you are not aware, this was not the first time that any cricketer was promoting for the product, several years ago, former test cricketers Farokh Engineer and Dennis Compton were brand ambassadors for this hair care product.

Just then a point reached, after the embarrassing debacle of the 'Men in Blue' in early rounds of the last World Cup, that the name calling game started. It so happened that, Dhoni's hairdo which was something different that much aligned with his flamboyant and free flow style of playing, now started giving this dashing cricketer an image that he would not have been most comfortable with.

Then came the 20-20 World Cup in 2007 and the young Indian team won this trophy under the captaincy of Dhoni. He again rose from the ashes and shone like a beacon. Now something new is on platter when the local chookra heads to his hometown, Ranchi with the complete disappearance of the famous locks. A new hairdo, 'point cut', the short trimmed hair managed without combing.

He got some flattering comments on his new make over.

"Bahut smart dikh raha hai, bal kata liya hai, jhakas look hai, (he is looking very smart after a new hair-cut. His looks are irresistible)," said the companion claiming that now he would change his hairstyle.

Now there are many theories centered around this choppy coiffure. One surmise goes by the word that the Team India ODI skipper is trying to imitate the latest trend as is followed by Bollywood stars. Is Dhoni trying to have his hair cut short like that of John Abraham ? The new look is the outcome of the handiwork of hair stylist Sapna Bhavnani and her precisioned fingers on the scissors.

Now the second theory stands a bit strong. Some link it to a solemn request from Bollywood sensation model-turned actor Deepika Pradukone as there are rumours about his affair with this beatific lass. Now this theory maain thoda sa daaam hai, kyon ?

Deepika Padukone, inspite of having a busy schedule, travelled from Bangalore to Mumbai to be a part of the cheering crowd for the recently concluded Twenty-20 match against Australia held at Brabourne stadium. There is some furphy in the media and the newspapers that, Deepika even invited the cricketer for the premier show of her film 'Om Shanti Om' to be released shortly.

But when Dhoni was questioned by the media, woh thoda shaaarma gaya and replied.

'Please do not change my girl friend's name at least for the time being' was the request made by India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to the media.

I don’t know how much of this is true and how much is false, but I have a major doubt. Now the movie 'Om Shanti Om' is going to be released shortly, in which Deepika is sported with SRK with his new swaggering and swashbuckling hairdo in the Dard-e-Disco song. If she liked the flowing hair in the movie, tau abhi Dhoni se short sporty cut kyon ?


Some one answer me please.

Keep reading and remain connected.

The Road Ahead for Dr. Shilpa Shetty...

Today morning, I flip the newspaper and I see this. What ???? Ms. Shilpa Shetty turns Dr. Shilpa Shetty.

Ok Ok, a little bit of flash back, it was in 1993, I was still in my junior school and those days having a cable connection at home was a privilege. It was during a visit to a friend's house when my friend's mother was out for work that we got the video cassette of the movie 'Baazigar' from a nearby video parlor and saw the movie.

That was the first time, I saw the svelte and lissome Shilpa Shetty. The trademark of her persona apart from her patli kaamar was her giggle. From Seema Chopra, a young college girl in 'Baazigar', who falls for Vicky Malhotra because he is a studious chap and helps her with lots of notes and stuff to a 32-year-old star lionising her entry to a super-achievers list.

Babe, your journey has been stupendous.

The Leeds Metropolitan University was so awe struck by the lady that, it has conferred a doctorate degree on Shilpa Shetty. By doing so, the University says it has

"fulfilled its wish to honor prominent Indian personalities who contributed to India’s emergence as a fast developing cinema-proud nation during its 60th year of freedom struggle".

But this very statement is just a flippant rhetoric. I accept the very fact that Shetty is the youngest among those who have been chosen for the honor, the earlier ones being Amitabh Bachchan, Shabana Azmi and Yash Chopra. But other than that what has been her contribution to Indian cinema. She is like any other star with a career spanning just 14 or 15 years with a string of flops and few doing good at box-office.

Any person can make this out, her latest road to fame is none other than winning a TV show in UK that was marred by some racial controversy. I also appreciate the way the lady handled the scenario and the media then, but to accolade that candid handling of the event with coveted academic honor has left me a little bemused.

There are many people from India and from around the globe who have been or are feted with honorary academic degrees but these people hold that stature, that aureole and put in simple words are deserving candidates. The last President of India, Abdul Kalam, the poster boy of Indian software industry, Narayan Murthy to name a few have truckloads of credentials to merit such honorary awards. Also just a couple of months back, the man who introduced the internet age for the common man and made Windows, the window to the new world, Bill Gates was rewarded a degree by his alma-mater, Harvard Univ, 30 years after he left its portals. So if someone goes on to compare these towering personalities with Shilpa Shetty, its just like comparing apples and eggs.

Everyone knows that Bollywood as a film industry is twice the size of Hollywood and has a global following of millions, with a successful production being watched by anything up to 3.2 billion people worldwide. So its plain and simple business to romance with this goose laying golden eggs.

Councillor Mark Harris, leader of Leeds City Council, said: "This is fantastic news for Leeds and for the whole region.
"The IIFA awards are a huge international event which attracts Bollywood stars who have more fans than many major Hollywood actors.
"Winning the right to stage the IIFA awards is a major coup and will showcase our beautiful region to a whole new audience of film producers, fans and international media.
"Leeds is proud to be part of this high-profile event and we will be extending a warm Yorkshire welcome to everyone who attends."

Or is it just another supplement to the 'India Now' spectacle that London Mayor Ken Livingstone has launched with so much fanfare. Well whatever may be the case, the best beneficiary is the heroine of the plot, Shilpa Shetty, sorry sorry Dr. Shilpa Shetty. When she was questioned how she plans to take the relationship with the University, she honestly said, "It’s going to be a life-long relationship. I have tried my best to do my best. At the moment I am basking in the glory".

Now, what is that 'best to do my best' is a little blurry and groggy to me. Is it films shot only in Britain, or is it no films, supporting some social international group, and the list continues...Let me wait and see maybe the best is yet to come.

Till then I agree with you, Shilpa Shetty, that kitaben and books are not the only road to an academic honour, tu sahi bole re....

kitaben bahut si padhi hongi tumne
magar koi chehra bhi tumne padha hai
padha hai meri jaan nazar se padha hai
bata mere chehre pe kya kya likha hai

Keep reading and remain connected.

Cricket Is More Than A Game

The Cricket World Cup is just round the corner and cricketers along with their fans across the globe are waiting eagerly as the biggest event of the game takes center stage on March 9, 2007 in the West Indies.

The game of Cricket is not just a game but a "religion" which drives 1.2 billion people into a state of frenzy once the men in blue are on the field. Introduced in India as a rich man's game, today there is hardly any place in India or any heart in the Indian diaspora that is not infected by its tentacles. "Lagaan", a period film’s script was written with the intention of appealing to the contemporary viewer, particularly the cricket buff about this shift from a phirang aadmi’s game to aam bharatiya game. The country comes to an abrupt stop when a cricket match is being played, the roads are deserted, parties and weddings are postponed, operations in hospitals are rescheduled, parliament goes in for early closing, work schedules at offices are re-planned,etc.

The World Cup is like a festival for us. The craze, the frenzy, the excitement and a feeling of patriotism reaches its pinnacle during this time. Every Indian is soaked in the tricolor whether in his/her attire or spirit. All cricket fans bond with each other ignoring all differences of caste, creed, color or religion. Just about everyone becomes an expert discussing each and every aspect of the game. Like, I myself follow the game but am not an ardent follower or die hard cricket fanatic. But what charges me is the spirit and the liveliness of the fans. Someone holding a transistor in a busy local bus or the busy Mumbai local trains or near a chai shop to know the latest score. They shout for their team and pray for one single cause – An Indian win with a wide spectrum of human emotions on display. Isn’t it amazing! So much so that the drama of the game continues off the pitch, and in recent weeks, the marketing and the branding fraternity has not left any stone unturned in cheering for the men in blue. This is exactly what "Nike", the official apparel sponsor for Team India did in its latest AD.

"Nike has signed a 43-million-dollar deal to kit out the Indian cricket team after outbidding rivals Reebok and Adidas, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said.

The five-year contract, which starts on January 1, 2006, also gives the US sports goods giant the rights to sell the BCCI's official merchandise at its retail outlets across the country.

Nike's bid for 1.97 billion rupees (43 million dollars) topped Reebok's 1.19 billion rupees and Adidas's bid of 1.28 billion rupees, BCCI vice-president Lalit Modi said on Friday."

The AD is a little to long and can be bracketed as a short movie snippet. It starts with a typical Indian scene, a traffic jam something very common in all Indian cities and the city that is highlighted is Mumbai, home to some of the best cricketers the world has ever produced. It’s like "I think cricket, I drink cricket, I breathe cricket". One go-getting boy jumps on to the roof of a bus while another gets on to an adjacent bus and thus the virtual cricket pitch is formed instantly. The game starts amidst the crowd trapped in the traffic blockade. The batsman hits the ball hard and like a projectile it hits a hoarding and then a balcony and after passing through ‘N’ number of hands, the ball suddenly gets under a moving car and one of the fielders risks his life to collect the ball. Note the elephant there in the video, I feel it symbolises the Rising Elephant economy growing at a rate of more than 8% a year. Watch more here, aaram se.

North-south, east-west, rich-poor, men-women, rural-urban, Hindu-Muslim, a craze bordering on madness unite the nation when it comes to cricket. I have one of my cousins, studying in standard seven in the US who asks me for the blue T-shirt of Indian cricket team incase he doesn’t travel to India once a year. It’s a must-buy in his list when he is in Bangalore, else I have to send it somehow may it be by post or through some person. The reason, my cousin wears this blue T-shirt whenever India plays any important cricket match. Few call this craziness but even though he is born and brought up in the US, he is still soaked with cricket-mania.

The matches, the highlights, the strike-rates, the pre-match predictions, the post-match analysis, the schedule, the records, the cricketing histories, and other nitty gritties of the game would be feeders for all forms of media such as newspapers, blogs and television in the coming few days. So let me leave that part here and get into some interesting stuff.

India's latest pace sensation Sreesanth is all set to rock cricket fans. It is not his bowling that I am talking about here [though I want that too], but his song, the lyrics of which he wrote himself. His 6-year old niece lends a seraphic tone to the song. Watch more here.

"It is a motivational song that gives a feeling that the whole nation is there for the team to support them in their ups and downs. It gives a dream that we are going to win the World Cup."
"The song has to be there on the lips of all Indians at the Caribbean grounds to motivate the players," Sreesanth adds.

How can you think of the World Cup and forget noodle strap, Mandira Bedi who will once again anchor Extra Innings on SET. This time she will drape herself in saris, specially designed by fashion house Satya Paul. So from noodle strap to no strap, rest all hoooo la la lee le ho hoooo la la lee le ho. The saris will be auctioned by online website eBay after the mega event and will include flags of the participating nations, signatures of players, a red cricket ball, newspaper mastheads and cricket figurines.

Mandira Bedi has also acted in a movie "Meerabai Not Out" made by her husband Raj Kaushal. Meera, a 30-year-old lady is a teacher in a school, hails from a middle class family, which lives in Mumbai's Shivaji Park, the mecca for budding cricketers. Since she is 30, she is in a kind of a set-up where she seems to have missed the boat as far as marriage is concerned. Of course, her family is still on her case to get her married soon but she is not interested; her first love being cricket.

The World Cup has always been garnished with spicy anecdotes, which make it even more interesting. From the dressing room gossips to the food to the late nightouts if one is across the other side of the Caribbean, everything becomes the flavor of the season. The fans just go crazy and the media, the sponsors even the restaurants all over, try to score on it. Like it happened to me yesterday. I along with two of my friends, started for a late night dinner in some restaurant near my residence. We heard some loud music before entering the food hall, only to realize that something special was happening in a pub, "The Legends of Rock" adjacent to the dinning hall. To satisfy our curiosity we barged into the pub only to find that a live coverage of cheering hangama for the Indian Team being shot by Headlines Today, one of the leading news channel of India today. This was part of the cheering campaign before Team India left for the West Indies on Feb 28th’07.

The time has arrived yet again and it would be no different. The game of cricket would be at its glorious best along with its favorite sons aiming for the trophy. This tournament has always been a test of team spirit and the ability to perform under pressure. At the end of the day, the team, which displays power, performance and passion for the game, would be the ultimate winner. So let’s get set, all equipped with our lucky charms, anthems and prayers to be with our teams as the battle begins.

By the way, do you know what is the official song for World Cup 2007? It’s 'The Game of Love and Unity', sung by Jamaican-born reggae star Shaggy, Barbadian entertainer Rupee and Trinidadian Faye-Ann Lyons. Yes it’s the same old Grammy Award winner, Shaggy, best known for his hit singles Oh Carolina, It wasn't me, Angel and many others.

Khel ke maaidan pe kuch rishte baneiynge, kuch rishte tutaiynge, kuch kwaab sajeegee, kuch umedaiyain bhi, paar TEAM INDIA, kuch kar guzroo ish baar, dekhado 1983 ke woh jalwaee....

Cross-posted at Desicritics here.

Keep reading and remain connected.