T20 @ Chepauk stadium 11/09/12

In India, cricket is worshipped equally as you worship a god in a temple.  The dream of every youth is to become a cricketer even if does not have any qualifications!  The reason being huge flow of money and fame linked to this game.  The players are honoured and worshipped by one and all and the players enjoy that popularity and fame too!

Chennai hosted the first ever T20 match on the 11th September, 2012.  The match between the home team and the visiting New zealand team attracted thousands of people who thronged the stadium to witness the match live and the associated entertainment.

My friend Dr Gopal got a couple of passes for the event and I was fortunate enough to go with him to see this match that was result oriented within a matter of 3 hours plus.  Fortunately, we had a car pass that could steer us right up to the compound of the stadium.  By the time, we could get in to watch, NZ team had lost 2 wickets and the crowd was in ecstasy.  The stadium did not get the face lift that it gets during the IPL matches and was lacking in communication display boards detailing the match that was in progress.  The frenzied crowd clapped and appreciated the first 50 runs, boundaries and the sixes scored by the players and there was a sense of enjoyment all around.  Yuvi's mother and family members sat in the adjoining enclosure and were seen enjoying Yuvraj singh in action with his bowling and fielding.  The visitors scored 167 runs and lost 5 of their wickets with Irfan Pathan bagging most of them.  Brendon Mc cullam scored a breezy 91 and was declared the man of the match.  It is a matter of great appreciation and pride to note that the Chennai crowd was very sporting in applauding players of both the teams and gave lots of encouragement to the players.

The brief break forced us  to visit a few stalls that were specially put up for a quick bite and a soft drink to quench the thirst.  The food stuff that were being sold were too pricey.  For instance, coffee was being sold for Rs40/- for a small gulp in a paper cup, cocktail samosas for  Rs50/- for 5 small pcs etc.. exploitation is something that is born with any Indian and the stadium under the control of Tamilnadu Cricket association was no exception to this!

India came second to bat with Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli and entertained the crowd with their stylish knock.Kohli made a quick fire 70 in about 44 balls and took the home side to sight victory but the party was spoilt with disappointing batting from the captain Dhoni and his trusted aide Suresh Raina who could not en cash the advantage created to achieve victory.  Yuvi sparkled with a knock of 34 out of 22 balls which included couple of sixes over the fence that brought the stadium down with thunderous cheering and noise.
However, India lost the match by 1 run.  The T20 match does not show case the actual skills of the player as it does not give any time to plan or think for both the bowler and the batsmen alike. The entire match was seen as a welcome bugle for Yuvraj singh who battled cancer since the past one year and bounced back to play cricket after a win over the dreaded disease.  The mere sight of the great player in Yuvraj sent rays of hopes for many who are battling cancer of various sorts and has ignited  their hopes to win and be back to whatever they were doing.  Youvraj deserves all praise to send out a strong message and signal to all those affected by Cancer that everything is not lost and you can win if you want to!!??

A sense of satisfaction prevailed after the match was over and it was absolutely Entertainment, Entertainment and Entertainment!

Nithyananda

This Self styled god man or swamiji did well for himself when he hit the headlines and attracted thousands of followers by his good vocabulary and hold on the spiritual subjects on which he spoke!  He could easily control human minds and take them all into his fold and making them listen to him and obey his commands at any time.

It must be more than 7 years when I encountered his gang of followers in Gandhi Nagar club, Chennai where Nityananda was invited to speak and given an opportunity to attract the elite club members into his ashram fold and subsequently into a sort of slavery service.  The first floor conference hall was booked by one of the enthusiastic club members who was later seen canvassing friends and people to join the Nithyananda movement stating 101 reasons that convinced many and forced them to leave their family and households in search of long lasting peace!  I heard loud music in praise of the lord and peeped into the conference hall and  to my surprise, I saw many of my club members and their spouses dancing around this swami in ecstasy!  The godman also danced with them and encouraged.  suddenly, from out of nowhere, one of my club members came and pushed me out of the room and closed the door firmly.  I was wondering why he did so and created an element of suspicion about the truth behind such scenes and belief.  As a club member, I have the right to access all the floors and no one could stop me from that.  I enquired with the office as to how the club can permit an activity such as this where a self proclaimed person can dance with the members and spouses when he is supposed to enlighten the audience about Dharma and spiritualism for which entry should not be restricted.  I did not get any convincing reply as the persons who booked the conference room were senior members of the club holding honorary posts in the club.

When the news about the sex scandal broke out last year I heard from other members of the club that the senior members who were supporting the Nityananda movement and were themselves trying to rescue their wards from the Bidadi Ashram where they were living.  One member was in tears when his teen aged daughter refused to go with him and insisted upon staying back in the Ashram and would not believe the media reports about the scandal.  I hear many of the members of the club have had a bitter experience about this and have disassociated themselves from the activities of Nithyananda.

The government must ,monitor and  censor the activities of such god men who mushroom every now and then and cheat people and swindle money.  Any person who follows the path of spiritualism should not have bondage with any physical property and should not be allowed to accumulate wealth and properties.  The role of spiritual leaders is to guide people and show them the right path to be adopted in life.  Money and wealth should not influence the vision and purpose of such self styled god-men!!

Toyota India -Poor after sales service

My family was excited when my son booked a Toyota Corolla with Lanson Toyota, Chennai 18 and took delivery after a brief waiting period.  The car was quite stunning with its looks and made us feel proud of its possession.  Ironically, the keys provided were electronic with which you could open the door from a distance, open the petrol lid and also the boot!!  The technology had a distinctive advantage over others and something new for the Indian market.

unfortunately, the electronic key had rubber moulds to control various functions such as door opening, petrol lid opening and the boot opening.  It was quite a comfort to operate these functions from one place with a remote!  The rubber moulded parts fixed on top of the key withered due to various atmospheric conditions prevailing in the city and started giving trouble as the electronic chip was exposed and one had to really focus on a point to press or pressure to open the door.  Many times, the passerby used to wonder and doubt if we were the real owners of the car as we struggled often to open the car with the damaged key.

My son lodged a complaint with the local dealer stating the problem and after taking pictures of the damaged key and the car chassis number etc.. replied that the key would be replaced only if we agree to pay up Rs 13000/- for a replacement.  It was shocking to realise that the company charged a whooping sum of Rs 13000/- just for replacing the keys for a manufacturing defect!  Toyota must understand the types of climates prevailing in India before launch of their cars and manufacture rubber parts and moulds accordingly to suit the climate and atmosphere of that particular state.  Chennai being a humid place with sun blazing throughout the year, Toyota should have made stronger key parts to sustain the waggeries of weather.  The matter was represented to Toyota India who promised to look into the matter but never got back to us.  There is a famous saying-"Be a Roman in Rome".  Toyota India is probably following the same policy and have adopted the Indian culture of saying "No" to everything and have consigned ethics to wind?  despite repeated complaints and requests, neither Toyota India or the local dealer Lanson Toyota have come forward to replace the defective key free of cost.  This leads to believe that the company is following restrictive trade practices and force the customer to shell out more and more for everything including defective parts for which they assume no responsibility!

This is to caution the buyers to insist warranty for the keys in such a manner that it lasts at least till the car runs! Otherwise, be prepared to shell out thousands of Rupees for a key which will otherwise cost nothing more than Rs 50/- with the local key smith.  In this case, the local key smiths are unable to replicate as there is an electronic device which authenticates the genuineness and operations.  quite surely, this is a ploy and a trick adopted by Toyota to make customers come to them again and again for spares and parts through which they can steadily earn??  This is nothing but robbery- Japanese style??

I can be contacted anytime@7845265699 for an inter-action on this subject.