The smell of home...is slightly smokey

After having returned from India, the first thing that i registered in Amsterdam is cleanliness of the air. It’s cold but it is clean. In India, forget about big cities, but even smaller towns have grown worse over the year. First, there is ubiquitous dirt. Now by itself, India is more dry country so some dirt is expected. The problem has been made worse by chopping off of trees and completely ignoring planting of any new trees. Then it is the vehicles and the sheer abundance of two wheelers on the streets, especially as the road infrastructure for majority of the country has stuck to where it was 20 years back. And finally, it’s the burning. People burn everything, the thrash, the tires, the wood and so on. All this put together has made the air quality really bad. And nobody of course wants to think too much. Like what happened in China recently, only when things will threaten to blow belly up, there will be a change.

It seems easy and obvious. As a person, the most important things are air and water. Even food comes after. Because those two most important things are for free, nobody wants to pay attention and that is such a pity. Having clean water and air will not make anyone rich, but for me, it is basic necessity before one can be happy. In pursuit of money and progress, these basic necessities are taking a back seat but the question is till when. 

Stories i tell my daughter: Sneaky Monkey

'Mama, i am hungry,' Minnie said to her mother.
'Here sweetie, have an apple,' Mother said giving a nice red apple to Minnie.

Minnie took the apple and went to the balcony outside the apartment she was living in. She lived with her monther and father in a tall apartment and she loved to eat while watching the cars zoom on the road below. They looked like toy cars from so far high.

Minnie took a bite of apple looking down from the balcony.

'Ouch,'she said as she felt someone snatch at her hand. She looked at her hand. Her apple was gone and there were small scratches on it. She felt the tears come to her eyes. Looking around, she saw an monkey eating her apple. He was sitting on a tiny ledge above their apartment.

Crying she went inside.

'Mama, the baboon stole my apple. He also scratched me.'Minni said showing the scratches to her mother.
'Oh sweetie. It that baboon again. Somebody must do something about him.'Mother said and she took Minnie to the bathroom to put some ointment on the scratches.

'Has the baboon done this before?'Minnie asked, finally controlling her sobs.
'Yes sweetie. He has been a regular pest. And he is very quick and evades capture. Don't worry, i will tell daddy about this and he will do something'.

Her mom gave Minnie a glass to milk to drink. She went to her room. Her hand was itching slightly. She was angry at the baboon and did not went him to snatch things from her.

She went outside and looked for the baboon. He was still sitting on the ledge that was on the side of the building. When he saw Minnie come out, he showed her the teeth and threw the apple core at her.

'Bad monkey,' Minnie said.

Minnie went back to her room. She had an idea to teach a lesson to the baboon.

When Minnie came out again to the balcony, she was wearing her old sweater and gloves. And she was holding another apple in her hand. This one looked even shinier.

And surprise, the baboon again grabbed the apple from Minnie's hand and climbed back to his ledge.The baboon tried to eat the apple. First he could not bit into it. He got angry and tried again, much harder this time. The apple broke off with a loud crunch. And the baboon yelped loudly as he spit out the part of the plastic apple from his mind.

Minnie was looking at all this and when she saw that baboon was getting angry, she started to laugh loudly and that made the baboon even angrier.

Realizing that he was beat, the baboon left from there and never troubled her again.

Story: Circle

Amarnath died on Saturday at 1:07 AM in morning. He was 79 years old and his youngest son was in the same room as him, sleeping and unaware of what was happening.



Amarnath though, did wake up from his slumber, just before he took his last breath. He knew. And he was happy that it was over. Being atheist, he did not thank god. He just let go.

That should have been that really.

But it wasn't. He felt himself gathering. Soon he was a small point hovering about his own body. He was not able to see anything but he still knew that he was gathering into himself and was still in same room. He still remembered the things. Not all the things. Just the things that remained with him. Indelibly imprinted on his conscious. The hand of the mother on his head as he was falling asleep on a warm summer night, his first sight of sea, and a few more. All inconsequential in conventional reckoning but still most consequential in a picture still larger.

Soon, there was a pull and the point went somewhere. It could not say where. But it went somewhere. As it zoomed, the point started to lose the memories. Soon all were gone. Nothing remained.


After a time, the point felt of joining. Something so large that there is no scale in which to imagine it. The point joined this big something like a drop of water joins the ocean. The drop is still a drop but it is part of something much larger from which it is indistinguishable.

After some time, a long time, the drop felt a pull. It went to a destination, a warm place. The point knew not how he knew to be there. But it knew that it was in the right place and it was meant to be there. And it expanded. Just a little bit. And it was a start.

Stories i tell my daughter: Misplaced Giant

Urghu was a giant. He was almost twice as tall as grown man and lived on a planet far away from Earth. The planet of Giants was one huge continent surrounded by roaring sea. Urghu did not know this and he only knew that he should walk as long as he wanted. Till he could see the sea and then walk in some other direction. He loved to walk and ate the vegetables and fruits that grew everywhere on the planet. 

One day, Urghu was walking from Cold Water Lake to the Smoking mountain. On his way, he ate some fruits and when the two suns which provided plenty of light to the forest were overhead, decided to sleep under a large tree. Little did he know that right next to the tree trunk, there will open a hole in space that will take him to Earth. But this is what happened.

Urghu went to sleep and rolled a bit. And in sleep he fell through the space hole without even waking up. The space hole could open anywhere, it could open high up in mountains or right in front of full speed train.

Luckily for Urghu, the space hole opened in a apartment in a big city. And even luckier, there was nobody at home. Urghu was not aware of how lucky he was, being asleep.

When he woke up, he felt that something was wrong. Looking up, where the roof of branches was replaced by one of cement concrete, he was afraid. He had never seen any cave like this. His legs were dangling from the bed that was too short for him. He tried to get up and bumped his head against the wall. He tried to get out and got stuck in the door. 

He got sideways and crouching uncomfortably got out of the door. He came into the hall with kitchen on one end. Urghu looked at all the new things and touched the things. Some were fluffy and some were sharp. Looking out of window, he could hardly see any trees. What he did see was a street down below where small cars passed by. He sat for a moment and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was still in the apartment.

After some time, Urghu got hungry. So he opened different doors and behind one, where it was much colder, he saw some fruits and green leafy stuff. Urghu got it all out and ate it with his hands. 

Urghu again opened the doors and there was one that took him out of apartment. There was a lift in front of him. He tried to get into it but could not. 

So he decided to try the stairs with small steps. His legs were too big for stairs and he kept falling down. The apartment was on fifth floor so poor Urghu fell down so many times that when he got out of apartment, he was bruised all over.

When he came out of apartment, he saw a tram in front of him. He tried to get into the tram but the tram driver got afraid and quickly shut the doors.

Urghu was now afraid, bruised and sad. He sat down next to the building and started to cry. He wanted to go home.

Luckily all Giants have a guardian Angel. Urghu's guardian Angel got to know that he needed her when his tears fell. So she came immediately and used her magic to sent Urghu back to his own planet. 

Urghu was so happy that he was back on his own planet and he ran all the way to smokey mountain and feasted on smokey tomatoes and smokey grapes as dinner.

Indian Independence Day

Today is 66th anniversary of the day when British finally left India and India gained Independence, at least in the political sense. Looking at positives, things have improved tremendously in last sixty years. People are living much longer and much better life. Most of people in the country have better access to basic necessities like food, water, health, electricity, and transportation. Quality of life for most Indians has definitely gone up, especially in last two decades.  Most of groups that could be considered as weaker part of society have been given a push through reservations and can claim to be in much better position. Indian diaspora is increasing in the world and has sizable presence in most of top companies.

We always write a lot about what needs to change in India and there are lots of things. At the same time, most of the things that need changing will take a long time, as they have everywhere else. These changes will not happen in a day or a month, no matter what our twitter or facebook conditioned brains might be demanding.

Today is independence day so let’s think if India is really Independent. India has political independence and on that we can be sure. The inability of the elected representatives to get anything done is, for me, conclusive proof that at least politically we are free. Most of India still does not have independence from violence, government restrictions and discrimination (be of gender, religious or any other kind). For Indians to be truly independent, they need to be able to live their life free of threat of violence, free to express their thoughts and free to fulfill their potential without undue restrictions. These are the foundations of just society. India today is free country but unjust country none the same. If the nation is able to achieve independence should not be restricted to vote but should be part of life for every Indian. I hope that if not today or tomorrow, at least in another 60 years, India will be a country where not just the country is independent but the people living in it are as well.

Upcoming season for FC Barcelona and State of La Liga

Spanish La Liga will begin on coming weekend and it’s a good time to think how Barcelona will perform in the season. It is a given that Barcelona will be in top 2 in terms of standings at the end of the season. They simply have too much firepower, too much money (more on this later) and Messi to be otherwise. The burning question is if they will win. I am not sure on this subject. In pre-season both Barcelona and Madrid have showed that they are playing quite well. Madrid, if anything, have better depth and as they did not win the Liga last season, they will have extra motivation. Ancelotti is a fantastic coach and knows how to get players to perform. Barcelona, on other hand, have a new coach and worrying lack of central defender. All of efforts by Barcelona to secure a top class defender have failed till date and even right now, their efforts to secure one of Vertonghen, Agger or Luiz do not seem to be succeeding. In terms of squads, I will give Madrid a slight edge and same in terms of coaching. My prediction is hence Madrid to win the La Liga.

As for Barcelona, they have excellent attack, excellent midfield and slightly suspect defense. In attack, Neymar’s arrival means that Messi will no longer be required to do all the heavy lifting by himself. Also Alexis Sanchez should have a better season. With Pedro, Tello and Dongou in picture, there is enough bench strength to take care of any momentary absences. In midfield, Barcelona for me has the best midfield in world, together with Bayern. Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets, Mascherano, Song,  and Cesc are all fine midfielders and can be considered genuine contenders for starting position. With Sergi Roberto and Jonathan Dos Santos providing young back up, Barcelona’s midfield has quality and depth. The defense though is suspect. Pique is excellent and so is Mascherano in his makeshift role. Puyol for me has reached a stage in career where he is unlikely to be able to play a lot of games. So a cover at center back position is minimum requirement for Barcelona. Alves, Alba and Adriano are good options for wing backs. This area has been problem zone for Barcelona since Abidal stopped being an option. Barcelona for defensive stability need a full back who has height and good defensive positional sense. None of the three that Barca have currently have the necessary attributes. This is in fact one reason why I feel that Barcelona’s purchase of Alba last season contributed to their eventual downfall. The quality of Barcelona team means that in most cases defensive frailty goes un-noticed but against top teams, this becomes a problem. And I think that this will again be a problem this year. Defense is a concern area for Barcelona. In goal keeping, the team is well equipped with Valdes and Pinto. Overall the team has lot of world class players and at the same time some obvious weaknesses. This compels me to predict that Barcelona are unlikely to be European Champions this season.

As spectator, I feel confident that Barcelona will have enough good moments to enjoy. The partnership between Messi and Neymar should be fun to watch and the yearly goal scoring race between Messi and Ronaldo should keep the scores high.

And the scores will be high because except for Atletico Madrid, none of other teams have noticeably strengthened in the transfer window. Most of top players are departing for Premier League. And this for me is sad and damning commentary on La Liga.

Even as a Barca fan, I am wondering till how long my interest will sustain in watching the matches. The anomaly of TV revenue where most of money goes to Madrid or Barcelona is taking serious toll of other teams. If there are half the teams in La Liga who are unable to maintain even competitive salary structures, the gap will widen even further and watching the matches will become meaningless. TV revenue is only source of money which is sizable enough and that can ensure that all teams are able to at least compete. Before we go further into TV revenue, let’s be clear that the reason most of clubs in Spain are in trouble is because they have been grossly mismanaged and that is not a fault of Barcelona and Madrid. In fact, Barca and Madrid should be commended that they have managed to avoid the missteps that have plagued most of other la liga clubs.

Coming to TV revenue, if we look at England, TV makes for majority of income for most of clubs. The bottom club in premier league this season will likely make around 60 million euros or more. For La Liga, I think that the bottom club will make less than 5 million euros as TV revenue as compared to around 200 million for the top 2. Most of La Liga clubs will be lucky if they break 25 million euro barrier for TV revenue. And TV revenue will be majority income for the clubs. Hoarding of TV money by the top 2 in Spain is hence having a fundamental impact on most of the clubs in La Liga who are unable not only to compete against the top 2 but also to compete against the bottom clubs from other leagues. With German and Italian leagues sharing TV revenues as well, I will not be surprised if the La Liga bottom 10 are poorer compared to bottom 10 of other leagues. With European labor market being the free market it is, this means that La Liga clubs will also lose average guys and this will further impact the quality of competition.

 This points to me that if there are no drastic steps taken, La Liga will act as provider to other leagues and the gap between Madrid and Barca will become so big that the matches will lose their competitive flavor. A few fans might love watching their team winning 10-0 every match, most of casual fans and neutral fans will desert La Liga. This will have direct impact on Barca and Madrid and the kind of brand that they want to become. I hope that the clubs realize soon that they need a healthy La Liga to back up their claims to be great teams. Without strong La Liga, they will stop mattering too.  

Stories i tell my daughter: SpiderGirl

(A friend of mine got my daughter Spiderman, Doc Ock and Green Goblin and she loves them. So i make stories of these characters. She does not like the standard stories but something different. These stories are mostly irrelevant and follow no rules.)

"Oww", the young voice shouted that made Spiderman look behind him. A small someone was falling to ground. Spiderman, without a thought, extended his arm and shot the web to catch the person from hitting the ground too hard and injuring themselves. Who is it, Spiderman wondered as he jumped to the ground.

It was a small girl. A small girl? Spiderman was not sure if he was amused or irritated. What was a small girl doing following him? Looking at her, he could see that she was wearing a cape similar to his own. Most probably an imitation copy from the stalls that were selling Spiderman costumes to young kids. They were remarkable similar to one Spiderman was wearing.

"Who are you, little girl and why are you following me?" Spiderman said. 

"Spiderman, i am your big fan and i want to become like you too."

"But who are you?"

"My name is Sarayu and i live in building right opposite yours."

Oh my god, what am i to do, Spiderman thought as he removed the web from around the girl.

"Why were you following me?"

"I want to help you catch bad guys. I jumped right after you and was holding the webs that you were using to jump after you. I am very good at it. The last web dissolved too quickly and i fell down."

"Do you know that if you had fallen, you would have broken a bone or worse?"Spiderman said. Inside he was wondering how to get out of this situation. Tough criminals were much easier to deal with for him than small girls. 

"It would have been ok. I have shoes with springs and i would have bounced once or twice."

The girl was quick at responding back. 

"You can never be sure. Will you go home now?"

"No. I want to come with you and catch some bad guys."Sarayu had balled up her hands and seemed in no mood to listen. 

Spiderman sat down and said in slow and deliberate voice, "Sarayu, catching up bad guys is not that easy. Lets make an agreement. You grow up and learn things. I will allow you to go together with me once you have grown up, okay?" 

"No. I want to come today."

Can she go back to her home by herself, Spiderman was not so sure. The girl was resolute but she was a young kid. He decided to take a direct route. 

"Come with me."

Spiderman picked the girl and took a route back. 

"Spiderman, we are returning home."

"Yes, i forgot something."

Spiderman saw that the window right opposite his own was open. 

He said, "Is that your room?"

"Yes, it is. Would you like to come inside. I have all your stories in comics format."

Spiderman was amused that they had made him a comic book superhero. Not very popular, apparently as he had not heard of them yet.

He said, "Some other time."

And he quickly dropped the girl at her room and jumped away. 

He could hear the girl shouting, "Spiderman, Spiderman"as he sped away. 

Do i need to change the house, Spiderman thought as he hopped from one building to other. His life had become even more complex.