Have a heart, guys!

IT is a sight that hits you hard when no young cricketers turn up to pay their last respects to former players, who helped them in their emergence.


Ashok Mankad's former teammates turned up at the Shivaji Park crematorium for the funeral, but sadly there were no current players in sight.


It was no different when India lost stalwarts like Polly Umrigar (below) and Dilip Sardesai (down), who passed away in 2006 and 2007 respectively.Mankad was no stranger to them. He was coach of the Mumbai team from 1999 to 2001.


The impressive Bandra-Kurla Complex ground is due to the efforts of Umrigar, who would spend hours in the afternoon heat to prepare the wicket and ground.Sardesai had an eye for talent. He would visit the maidans and keep a tab on performances of budding cricketers.

'Kaka' Mankad led Mumbai to Ranji Trophy triumphs in 1974-75 and 1975-76. The likes of him would willingly pass on their expertise to youngsters.

Have a heart, guys.

Should women be considered as weaker sex?

THAT'S the million-dollar question that always arises, especially when I am travelling in BEST bus.

I am always in a fix whether to offer my seat to the ladies who are standing. I understand if she is an old or a pregnant lady, but in other cases, I just cannot decide.

Actually I fight with my conscience in such cases. Because I do not want to think and for that matter consider that women are weaker to men. Why should I sympathise with them? By offering our seats we are proving that they are WEAK.

Today we see women not just walking shoulder-to-shoulder but also surpassing men's in all walks of life. They have come out of the shadow of dependence. These are the women of 21st century. They are strong, confident and bold. In fact in many cases I have seen that men are dependent on the women.

But that doesn't mean that I am against the reservation of women seats in public transport. They should be given seats first considering the jam-packed buses in peak hours.

A message from Chetan Bhagat

THOUGHT I should should share this with you

Thank you for giving me this chance to speak to you. This day is about you. You, who have come to this college, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become something in your life. I am sure you are excited. There are few days in human life when one is truly elated.

The first day in college is one of them. When you were getting ready today, you felt a tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what would the teachers be like, who are my new classmates - there is so much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if not all the time.

Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for birthday party - several months in advance - just for the day they will cut their own birthday cake.

I see students like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see older people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age, the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is lost. So how to save the spark?

Imagine the spark to be a lamp's flame. The first aspect is nurturing - to give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard against storms.

To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for you. It isn't any external measure - a certain cost to company pay package, a particular car or house.

Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement. But it isn't the purpose of life.

If that was the case, Mr. Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won't be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday? They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good. If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.

Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature's design. Are you? Goals will help you do that. I must add, don't just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

You must have read some quotes - Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school, where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.

One last thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said - don't be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will I live?

Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It's ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

I've told you three things - reasonable goals, balance and not taking it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose.

Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don't go as planned or if you face failure.

Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did this failure teach me? Is the question you will need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades - how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you. But it's life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember - if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that's where you want to be.

Disappointment' s cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India. From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don't know if you chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years to get close to a release.

Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it? A realistic assessment of the time involved - movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result - at least I was learning how to write scripts, having a side plan - I had my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life - friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously.

Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make it - not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in India, so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than you. In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty damm lucky by Indian standards.

Let's be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don't. I have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don't get literary praise. It's ok. I don't look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her. It's ok. Don't let unfairness kill your spark.

Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.

There you go. I've told you the four thunderstorms - disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

I welcome you again to the most wonderful years of your life. If someone gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, your eyes will shine the same way as they do today. That you will Keep the Spark alive, not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends.

And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history. And there is something cool about saying - I come from the land of a billion sparks.

Thank You.
Chetan Bhagat.

Deepika Padukone outshines dad Prakash

MAY be I am too cynical in my view on this but it was a sight I would NEVER like to see again.

It was disheartening when Deepika Padukone grabbed all the limelight while her legendary father Prakash stood quietly on the other side of the badminton court during an exhibition match on the final day of the Tata Open All-India badminton tournament at Bombay Gymkhana.

The Arjuna awardee Prakash could only look at the fanfare from the other side of the net while holding his badminton racquet. It was a rare sight to see when the flashbulbs were not on India’s all-time greatest sportsman.

I am sure had Prakash been a cricketer than that wouldn’t have been the case.

I agree Bollywood and glamour rules but Deepika isn’t a Madhuri Dixit Nene or Madhubala yet. She is just a one-film wonder. So, the feeling was naturally strange.

Compare this to OSO ‘Dreamy Girl’ father’s sporting career. Prakash, a former World No 1 shuttler, was the first Indian to win the coveted All-England championship in 1980.

He also holds the record of being the junior and senior National champion in the same year (1971). To add more feathers to his cap, he won the Commonwealth Games, Denmark Open, Swedish Open, London Masters and other major titles by beating the best in the world then.

But I know the gentleman Prakash wouldn’t care whether the attention was on him or her daughter. I am sure he must be feeling a proud father.

His humility makes him greatest ever.

Stings for SALE!

I WAS shocked to learn that sting operations are bought for a price. Various sources in the media informed me that there are private agencies, which sell these stings to media groups, specifically to television channels to shoot their TRP rate at regular intervals.

I have also learnt that stings are available on various issues ranging from Bollywood to corruption, politics and administration. One just has to order when the time is right or when the TRPs are going down.

For example: The recent cash-for-vote shame during the trust vote in Parliament. It is learnt that the private agency (generally detective group) shot it and approached various television channels for a fixed sum. The tapes were bought by CNN IBN.

Though I have my doubts over the expose and its timing, it was a shame on the part of such a reputed channel to air the story without even checking the authenticity of the source.

This is one thing I strongly object of sting operations. One shouldn’t make a trap to catch the culprit red-handed. Would you resist, when someone offers an ice-cream on a humid day?

I would like to give my own example when I did a sting operation to expose computer scam. The operation was to find fraud computer engineers who charged exorbitant price in respect to the problem.

The problem: We loosened the plug, which connected the processor of the CPU. We were largely successful in our operation because we managed to find quite a few frauds. Only to connect the plug we were charged between Rs 250 to 450.

During the operation, many a time, a senior colleague and I could have made the same mistake — of making a false trap to catch frauds.

But we made a quick check and adhered to the most important ethics of sting.

A sting operation should be full proof. Sadly, till date there isn’t one in this regard. Why do they always look stage-managed?

Why do sting operations fade soon after making a huge flutter in the nation? Why isn’t the sting an enough evidence to take action against the guilty?

Is anyone listening!