The Great Fix!

The news was not expected, to me at least. It was impossible to argue, in spite of lack of concrete evidence, that IPL is not rigged. It turned out to be worse than I thought. My feeling was that the tournament was fixed from the top i.e. the administration is fixing the results to suit them. And though I think that still is the case (Chennai’s team is owned by chief of BCCI, how fucked up that conflict of interest has to be!), it has emerged that even players were fixing the games. I do not think the trio currently in bind are the only ones. Two of the players are virtually unknown to have any effect on the results on sustained basis. The fixing goes down deeper, the so called super-stars have to be involved.

It is a batsman’s game. The fixing plan, as per Delhi Police, was bowlers will leak out pre-determined number of runs in a particular over. There was an elaborate system to signal bookies about the players where bowlers were going to ‘take a dive’. But if batsman refuses to hit the bowl, even if the delivery is mother of all lose delivery then what? Also, what if batsman is dumb enough to get out or mishit and gets caught? Also, if two of the bowlers in question were at best fringe players for their respective state teams. If they had this kind of precision to leak the runs then they would be fucking playing for India by now. The only way this plan would work is if batsman was also part of the fix. The bowler will throw a dumb delivery and batsman, knowing this, will hit for the boundary.

Can anyone please ask these questions to the cops? Oh right, the media and the press already work for BCCI and IPL, they will summarily bury this issue in a week or so.  

Even if these bowlers had not got caught, the signs of IPL being fixed are all over the place. The teams are structured haphazardly; the ownerships are shrouded in mystery and the source of funding is murky. If that wasn’t enough then BCCI administration was transitioning into a political organization headed by one of the most corrupt politician in the country. Do you think he really gave a shit about Cricket? He saw the opportunity to siphon money and he jumped in with his two feet. His cotire is who’s who of power and money and IPL was their call to duty.

The prices of teams were beyond wildest imagination. To give readers some perspective – NBA's Boston Celtics was sold to new owners in 2001 for around $340 Million. The team has highest number of championships in the history of NBA; they were the pioneers of employing black players and hiring a black coach. They won unprecedented 9 championships in a row, the feat hasn’t been accomplished again. They, in short, defined Basketball and NBA. On the other hand, Pune’s IPL sold for the same price with virtually no history in IPL and no solid future plan. And, I am discounting the fact that Boston is in US where $ is the currency while Pune is in India where Rs. Is the currency and $1 is equivalent to Rs.55 that means the you have to multiply $340 by  55 to get the valuation of team in Rupee.

Okay…I will stop here….what I meant to say is this shit is fucked up!

I have already ranted about how IPL is ruining Indian cricket. It was befuddling to see players like Sehwag and Gambhir throw away their privilege of playing for India, just so that they could earn more money playing in IPL. By the way, playing for India does earn them millions of dollars (again multiply it by 55 to get their real income in Rupee!) I argued that lure of money shouldn’t be a reason for them to act like this and I also said that this precedent will kill Cricket. I didn’t realize that these players have sold their soul for money.

To be honest all of this doesn’t matter as long as public is flocking to watch the games and flock they will! If we don’t demand honesty then we will only get crooks, if we don’t demand commitment then we will only get money mongers. We get what we deserve, nothing more nothing less!

Kai Po Che - An Alternate Version!

Recently tried to watch Kai Po Che. I didn’t finish it. I couldn’t. I could see how the movie will unfold within first half and hour. I was enraged. But it wouldn’t be sincere to criticize a movie without watching it. So I read the movie synopsis and guess what, I was furious!
 
The movie quality was excellent. The actors played their role sincerely and direction had a purpose. Overall a quality product. But the movie wasn’t a typical run of the mill love story for me to let it go. The subject wasn’t benign. The story is written by Chetan Bhagat, one of the most popular modern day English language author in India. I have never read any of his material but the movie he wrote was such a farce.
 
To say the truth was twisted is an overwhelmingly understatement.
 
When I first heard that the story is set at the backdrop of 2001 Gujarat Riots, I knew the ‘secular’ bias will creep in. It wasn’t simply a story of friendship evolving amidst riots. The riots were central and the bias was essential to the story line. The oft littered Om’s, Swastika’s, photos of gods and goddesses, the backdrop of Temple in every frame, seemingly innocuous, had a dark motive. These symbolism was essential in communicating the‘Hindu conservative’ upbringing of the central characters. The main antagonist, a politician, is a pop culture misrepresentation of BJP/RSS/Shiv Sena leadership. He was portrayed in most negative light – a coward, corrupt and a power hungry anti-Muslim opportunist who would take advantage of his ‘bhanja’ in his nefarious design. I mean Hindi films usually portray mafia underworld in a positive light! Special sequence was created to emphasize the divisive nature of this Hindu politician when he purposefully helps only Hindus after the earthquake. On the other hand, Muslims are showed in best possible lights with no religious fundamentalism whatsoever. The burning of 60 Hindus in Godhra by Muslim mob was fleetingly mentioned as if it was a natural occurrence.

I am not saying Muslims should have shown in a negative light but to clearly demarcate between politicians with Hindu leanings being hell-bent on destroying the lives of peace loving, hard-working, and poor Muslims is a disgusting way of defining the secularism. I don’t think there’s any country in the world where the concept of secularism is disfigured as it is in India. The majority is hostage in their own country! (No, I am not saying minorities do not belong to this country. India is their country too but they are not special because of their religion.)  


The story was loyal to how media and the so called ‘secular’ politicians usually present the reality. The nuance of Hindu-Muslim interaction, their wretched history, the current political pandering for Muslim votes and Muslim communities increasing insistence on not taking advantage of advancing economy is purposefully neglected. The blame was put on Hindus for the riots and politicians with Hindu leanings were shown as conspiring against Muslims. A new reality was created out of thin air and packaged as a serious take of 2001 riots.

In any case, since when the fuck did Indians started caring about truth or reality?

How about an alternate story line: Three Muslim friends start a cricket academy. They spot a raw talent, a young boy with penchant for hitting sixes. He happens to be a Hindu. They started training him hard. They ensure that his training goes well in spite of many challenges (like earthquake and stuff!). Then the riots started. Awfulness ensued but these three Muslim youth protect our Hindu boy and his family. They fight against other Muslims in saving these Hindus and one of the friend dies heroically for the cause. Rest of the two friends then exposes the Muslim politicians and terrorist who burnt the Godhra train.

Anyone wants to produce this storyline? I will write the script for free!

The Reality Of History

I am almost 1/3 way ‘kindling’ “The People’s History of United States” by Howard Zinn. (I am copyrighting the term ‘Kindling’ i.e. reading a book on Kindle!) First time I learned about this book when Mr. Zinn was making at my college for a lecture. The book's been on my reading list since then. The book is a factual history of people and for people. The ‘people’ are the working class poor, the downtrodden, and the sufferers. The book presents history as is, without white-washing (literally!). And it surely does an admirable job. The book was written to counter the ‘official’ history popular with the masses and taught in the schools. I don’t know how American history book present their past but it is safe to assume that sharp edges are sawed-off and bloody aspects washed clean. It is hard to teach kids that the ‘land of free’ is built by systematically removing native Indians from their own land or enslaving millions of soul simply because of their skin color. It ain’t sexy, you know!

The premise of the book is that the country always excluded majority population from ruling and in essence, is not a true democracy. The rich and the powerful interests always governed and laws are structured to serve them. The blacks, native Indians, woman (all of them) and poor whites were systematically disfranchised right from the declaration of independence. Even the Civil War of 1861 was stimulated more by economic interests of rich than actual opposition to Slavery. (That is not to say there was no opposition to slavery. The north-eastern states had banned slavery for almost 100 years prior to civil war but if it wasn’t for necessity of opening of southern markets and emergence of western frontier, the emancipation of blacks would have been delayed further.)

I am currently going through the Civil War chapter.

I agree with this premise but to argue that true democracy is an ideal state is utopian. It never happened in human history and will not happen ever. The way human psyche works and responds, there’s always someone at the top taking advantage of others who are at the bottom. Garbs could be different; they may be Kings, rich barons, military dictators, monopolist industrialists or Priests. Revolution may throw the existing system but inherent structure remains the same. The human ambition forces people to coagulate, build, destroy, annihilate and rebuild again. There is no cure for this.

I am not trying to defend the actions of European settlers (or invaders!). Without a shred of moral hesitancy, they summarily annihilated all Native Americans. The Founding Fathers of United States proclaimed a grand-standing constitution granting freedom to everyone even though they had slaves and allowed the practice of slavery, disfranchised women and voting rights were based on property owned. I am not saying that these acts should not be criticized.

But there is no denying that this is how the world works and will continue to work. Unjust and violent

Back to the book!

The Syrian Quagmire

The Syria crisis is turning murky and bloody. The civil wars are always a bloody affair so no surprise there. In today’s world, resources – human or natural, play important role in defining the world order. On the contrary Syria which contributes pretty much nothing to the world is playing such an important role in defining the future conflicts. The Syrian situation is interesting because wide array of actors with diverse interests are jostling over this ancient land. Apart from the Basher al Assad, the dictator of Syria, we have Israel, US, the Sunni block (Saudi, Egypt, Jordan etc.), Iran and the Islamic fundamentalist - Al Quida types terrorist organizations - jostling for power in Syria.

Why so much is invested in this piece of land? As I said before this country does not product anything of use. The answer is its proximity to Israel. But this is easy to understand, right? Well, no, in terms of complexity things go downhill from here. The country has been under rule of Assad’s for last 40 years and like other Arab countries, Syria maintains bitter acrimony with Israel. The Assads are Alwaite, an Islamic sect like Shia’s and Sunnis. But majority – 86%, of Syrians are Sunnis. In order to maintain their power they actively feed off Iran for weapons and money. Iran, a Shia state, shares the hatred of Sunnis with Assads. And in order to increase their power in the Arab land Iran uses Syria as a base. Please bear with me as I go deeper in this rabbit hole. The Shias, sunnis and Alwaits share hatred for Israel. So to prove their Islamic credentials they do crazy shit to mess with Israel. The sunni block supports the Palestinian movement. It’s in their interest for Palestine not to form so that they can keep fighting proxy war with Israel. Iran, instead of going through the Palestine cause, supports terrorist organizations like Hezbollah. This terrorist organization is based out of Syria and Lebanon with stated aim of wiping Israel of world map.

In short, the Shia and Sunni block is fighting proxy war with each other by fighting proxy war with Israel through anti-Israel causes and terrorist organizations.

If you are familiar with the concept of Derivative, we are in the territory of double derivatives and about to enter the triple derivatives!

The situation, already dark, turns catastrophically complex when US brings its interest to the table. The Americans are least interested in Syria. The Syrian civil war has been going on for two years already. But three issues bring US to the table. One, they have to insert themselves in the any and every Middle-East situation when Israel is in the play. The Syrian civil war is too close to home for Israel to not to take a role. I am surprised it took them this long to start moving. The Syrians has held the Lebanon hostage for more than 25 years and had made that country a launching pad for attacking Israel. I would have expected Israel to be a major player in Syrian player long time ago.

The second factor is involvement of Iran. US is setting up stage for war in Iran for last three to four years. Under various pretexts, the Americans have been ratcheting up the military presence in Gulf of Homruz. This is making Iran uneasy, to say the least! But they be damned if they reduce their stupid-ass war mongering rhetoric.  With Syria though, Iran cannot afford to lose Assads since they invested so long and so much in them.  With Iran in play in Syrian war, Americans has to jump in the fray to neutralize them. Perhaps, Iran is trying to divert US’s attention away from them.

The third factor is the Islamic fundamentalists creeping into the Syrian war. The remnants of Al-Quida are still active in pockets across the world.  These fundamentalist morons thought they will run with the Iraq war but Americans busted their chops efficiently and comprehensively. Now the ‘left-overs’ are trying to hijack the Syrian war. They have sided with anti-Assad forces, at least for now. And if Assad is to be thrown out then they are hoping to use Syria their home for their grand ambition.

Suffice to say American’s are not happy with this play. They want Al-Quida and Co. dead and buried and I don’t mean that metaphorically! The American response to Syrian crises is limited to providing food and occasional intelligence tips to the rebels. But it won’t be long before we see a concrete in place.

The US policy decisions will impact the future conflict in the middle-east. Involvement of Americans in this conflict will decide whether they have enough political will and band-width to wage full-scale war with Iran. If the Assads are thrown out then Iran will lose a key ally and that may force them to de-escalate their rhetoric with Americans but if that’s to happen then it means Islamic fundamentalist would gain upper hand in Syria and which in turn will draw further attention of Americans. The Americans cannot side with Assads since Assads are supported by Iran but US cannot necessarily side with the rebels either since that means they will be helping the Islamic fundamentalist. Talk about to be or not to be!

It is mind-numbing and impossible to predict how the glass will break but one way or another civil war in this tiny and useless piece of land will reshape the middle-eastern geo-politics.

The New Yorker recently ran an extensive article on the effect of Syrian civil war on civilians. Tens of thousands have been killed in the war so far. The war is already gruesome but it’s taking turn for worse. Assad’s don’t give a fuck about anyone. They won’t mind killing everyone if that’s to mean they can cling to the power. They have used helicopters, artillery and recently, chemical weapon on civilians. Sadly history of middle-east is littered with Assads. It’s the poor who die in troves and yet, fail to impress on any final outcome. This war is of war of empires and human life is least of anyone’s concern.

The Chinese Import

I am not sure how the Chinese incursion happened. The details are not forthcoming but it reminded me of a legend. Chandragupta Maurya had recently defeated his arch-nemesis – the Nanda dynasty. He was busy in organizing the grand ceremony of coronation. Invitations were sent out in all directions. The ceremony was meant to be more than just grand. It was meant to be a statement signifying change in geo-politics. Nanda dynasty was one of the strongest at that time and Chandragupta by defeating them had established himself to be a power center throughout Indian sub-continent. His invitation to coronation wasn’t necessarily an invitation to party but rather an order to submit to his power.

 As it happened King Purushottam, popularly known as Porus, of Sindh had other plans in his mind. Instead of accepting the invitation he proceeded to behead Mauryan ambassador. He sent the ambassador’s head as his response.

Chandragupta was not sure what to make out of this mess. He had no problem with King Purushottam, at least for now. So he decided to carry on with the coronation. Chanakya, the protagonist behind Chandragupta’s ascension to power, after hearing this incidence was furious. The legend has it that he walked in the middle of ceremony and ordered Chandragupta to stop the ceremony and gather army to attack King Purushhottam. Chandragupta did just that. He proceeded to defeat King Purushottam in a bloody battle. After that battle he accorded himself a grand coronation.

The moral of the story – you better take any challenge to your sovereign authority seriously. I mean dead seriously. There’s no messing around. When your freedom is challenged you response better be furious and apt. The message has to be clear to the instigator – you can’t f*&k around with us.

Unfortunately modern day India never got this memo. We treat our sovereignty with pinch of salt. You attacked us, no big deal; let’s have a peace talk first. You want to encroach our territory, absolutely okay with that; let’s have a talk about that too. Our message is we don’t give a s&*t about our sovereignty or freedom and neither should you! Otherwise, how on earth China continues to encroach in Arunachal Pradesh and Kashmir 50 years we fought war with them. They smacked us around in 1962 due legendary inaptness and criminal negligence of Jawahar Nehru and yet we refuse to learn our lesson, refuse to be vigilent.

The Chinese were simply testing the water. They probably wanted to see how we respond. They probably wanted to check our preparedness. They must be glad to see we failed in every front. Our armed forces failed to detect the incursion, our political class failed to show resolve, strategy or vigor and our society simply turned their back. IPL is on TV, who the fuck cares if Chinese invade us tomorrow, right?

Not sure how so many morons believe that India will be a superpower because I don’t see any characteristics of a strong society. India 2020, my a$%^!

We have IPL though, a grand achievement indeed!  

My encounter with Kevin Garnett

I am a die-hard basketballer and since 2008, a die-hard Celtics fan. Therefore, you must guess what cloud I was in when I suddenly bumped into Kevin Garnett. Seriously, I literally just bumped into him. I was strolling in Union Square and for some reason I thought I should drop by North Face showroom to check shoes. I turned right and I saw two really tall guys walking across me. When I looked close, one of them was KG - the big ticket himself.

Holy Kameameha! Are you kidding me? What are the chances of you literally walking onto one of your basketball superheroes? The answer is none! And here I am gawking at him like a numbnut. He must have noticed it but chose to ignore.

So I called him – “hey KG, big fan” no response I received. So I went rather formal way “ Mr. Garnett, just wanted to say yesterday’s shot with 5.1 left was incredible” No kidding I rattled the whole statistic while following him, crossing the main street and dodging the onslaught of traffic. Just kidding, there was no traffic. Construction has closed that road. But I did follow him to the doorsteps of Gucci.

I received no response! He was talking to his friend during all this as if there is no brown guy with Celtics green sweater following him. Agreed it is hard to notice someone from the height of 7 feet. Especially if there is a brown guy with Celtics green sweater following you. Okay I mentioned the last part already. Nevertheless, what happened is he ignored me into Gucci shop.

Either the feeling of being inconsequential or the intimidating prices of Gucci, I am not sure, I decided not to follow him further.

The guard of next building saw the whole episode and asked me if I wanted introduction with KG. Of course, I said. However, it did not make much sense. Why would KG respond to a building security personnel? Is it because both of them are black and tall? (The building guard was tall, though not as towering as KG) In any case, here we go into Gucci shop. The Gucci “team member” pleasantly welcomed me. I was like, dude, look at me, do you really think I can afford even ‘off the rack, 70% discounted’ handkerchief? However, there was no time for such a reality check. My target was KG. On the second floor, he was shopping for some fancy sneakers. The guard went ahead and said something to him, turned right about and just walked out on me. I was like ‘dude, where are you going?’

KG was standing right in front of me talking to some non-existent person. Now any avid baller knows that KG, with freighting intensity, talks to himself in third person during the game. However, I couldn’t figure out what part of Gucci could possible make him so intense? It wasn’t the prices for sure. I mean, his 6 years contract in 1996 with Minnesota Timberwolves was $126 million dollars.

“Just wanted to say Hello and shake hands with you” is what I said. Yet again, I received no response. As it turned out, he was talking on the phone. However, he did stare at me. That did scare the s%&t out of me. Perhaps my presence was giving me ‘game time’ shivers. His hands were really huge with really long fingers. If he wanted, he could have swatted me away. That thought made me feel like a mosquito. Uncool feeling if I may add!

“Can I please see size 14 of this shoe?” he lovingly asked the salesperson.

Rapidly multiplying uncool feelings! Should I just leave? I still hummed around for few seconds and then decided to excuse myself from the unpleasantness. Unpleasant for me of course! KG probably continued shopping for size 14 shoes, which apparently were much more important than shaking hands with one of his die-hard fan.

Thinking of which, isn’t size 14 too small for him? Probably it was for his toddler!

Anyhow, the whole incidence left sour taste in my mouth. I did not want to disturb him by taking a picture. I do not believe in autographs either. I just wanted to say Hello to him. It wasn’t the first time I was meeting a celebrity or a sportsman. I have been up-close (literally, few feet away) with entire Indian team that included Sachin, Saurav, Rahul, Zaheer and Harbhajan. I have met Shahrukh Khan when he was shooting for Zamana Deewana in Matunga. (He was very courteous and polite) I have been hugged by Ustad Zakir Hussian and I have touched Padit Jasraj’s feet after his out-of-world concert. When I introduced myself to Nana Patekar he replied “I am Nana, Nice to meet you”

I have seen Denzel Washington signing autographs on the Broadway. I have shook hands with Jon Stewart. Fortunately, all of these encounters went really well. These celebrities were polite enough to say hello and humble enough to accept my compliments.

However, here, even the basic “Hello” did not go down well. I was disappointed. Moreover, I was hurt. I felt disrespected.

One of the chief reasons I become a Celtic fan was Kevin Garnett. He was technically perfect playing power-forward or Center and most importantly, he was extremely intense player. I like intense players. That is why I loved Ganguly! A player coldly executing strategy and winning is nice but a player so immersed in the game that he talking to himself in third person is just awesome. KG was exactly that guy. He was billed as a ‘big ticket’ in Boston and rightfully so. He bought my ticket for sure.
I kept thinking about this incidence. May be if it was Ray Allen then he would have said a nice hello. However, I could not shake the feeling of being so unwanted. Should he have said Hi to me? Granted, he had a tough game prior night. Perhaps, he was worried about the trade deadline. (He said as such to the reporters earlier) May be, he was trying to relax, hanging out with his friend and shopping. It is his private time.

What he owes me is limited only to basketball court.

We watch the athletes we love so closely. We try to follow their every move. We line up even if there is a rumor of him or her being in the vicinity. Why we do that? Because we aspire to them. Actually, we aspired to be them. Sadly, lack of talent caught up and here we are doing mundane things like millions of others, while they are soaring high, achieving improbable and making zillions. I am not saying our life is miserable. The difference is that they get to work hard and excel in what they love while we try to get by in what we may or may not like.

However, just because we are die-hard fans does not give us any ownership over them. As I said earlier, the contract between them and us is limited only to the ballgame. They want to win for us (at least in theory!) and we want to win through them. If KG did not show even the basic courtesy then he is just a rude guy that you come across time to time.

Nothing more!

Though he better makes some important baskets in the playoff!

Oh and the dude is tall.....like....really tall!! 

P.S. - Post-Environmental World

P.S. – Funny that I come across bit of data on environmental destruction after publishing my last blog. (And I found this data on cracked.com is quite amusing!) The data is primarily centered around impact of American consumerism on environment. The data is frightening in itself. And since rest of the world wants to live in American luxury the impact on environment will be catastrophic.

Shall we?

Various plugged-in devices (in US alone) when not in use accounts up to 10 percent of total power usage. That translates into 100 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emission every year. And that converts into staggering $3 Billion.

US alone boast 50,000 square miles of lawn turfs. To maintain such a gigantic level of sheer idiocy 200 gallons of water per person is spent. US population is more than 300 million. So you multiply 300 million with 200 and I will see you next year! Don’t laugh…..I want you to do the math and count the zeroes for me. And when you are doing that math visualize the barren deserts of once green Africa!

One of the most brazen, visible and yet seemingly mundane act of humongous environmental destruction is use of toilet paper to wipe your ‘you know what’. 36 billion paper rolls are used in US every year! That’s right 3 6 b I l l I o n ! That translates into 27 percent of world’s total TP wood harvest….every year! Of that gigantic number only 2 percent is recycled paper. What if transition is made to more recycled paper? Sounds so earthly right? Because it will save 425,000 trees per year. No wait….I got that wrong. If each household in US replace a single roll of triple-layered Charmin with recycled one then 425,000 trees per year can be saved. But guess who won? Damn you triple-layered Charmin! Damn you!

Around 147 million gallons of fuel is wasted per year because driver didn’t completely shut the gas cap. Remember, if left open, petrol evaporates? What about driving in underinflated tires? Around 1.2 billion gallons of gas gone! Did you know drivers of 18 wheelers leave their truck engine running overnight so that it’s ready to go in the morning? I didn’t and that’s after living in this country for 10 years. However I wasn’t driving the 18 wheeler around the block and keeping it running when I go to bed! Anyhow, coming back to the point – such a spoiled brat behavior costs 838 million gallons of petrol per year. Yep, just like that we won’t ever see a drop of 838,000,000 gallons of petrol ever again…..like…never ever again!

Now this is absolutely bizarre - did you know that hormonal birth control that women all over the world intake cause immense damage to the fishes in the river? No, seriously, the medicines pumped into woman’s body gets flushed out through toilet into rivers. The fishes in the water are suddenly bombarded with hormonal stuff from all over. This causes colonies of fish with gender issues seriously depleting their population. Serious

I presented only four absolutely mind-numbing and one absolutely weird fact to support my argument. Google environmental destruction facts and you will be truly depressed. What gets me is how simple it is to lessen our footprint on the environment. Caring for environment does not mean selling everything and moving to the caves. If we consume what we need and conserve what we can then it is sustainable. But if we are unable to, or worse, refuse to be sensible on this issue then even if humans miraculously survive this century they will be living in the caves.

With cockroaches, of course, and no Bayer!

Post-Environmental World

Just came across an interesting column from Francis Fukuyama published in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs. The column is a wide ranging commentary on current state of world. It is about impact of financial crises of 2008 on western world, nature of protests around the world, drawbacks of existing form of capitalism and democracy, few alternatives to the existing model and finally, rough outline for next social model to come. The points he discussed may sound disparate but the narrative he weaved succinctly captures the common thread. Highlight of the column was his commentary on drawbacks of existing model of democracy and capitalism. Ye he asserts that for a new model take hold democracy and some sort of capitalism has to be in the mix. He also stress on importance of middle class as they play decisive role establishing and maintaining a social system. I couldn’t agree more with these points but what got my attention him completely discounting the impact of rapidly changing environment and general deterioration of natural resources. For me environment will prove the decisive factor in shaping our world in this century.

From the dawn of human history we have been adversely impacting environment in one way or another. But still last hundred years has been unique, and not necessarily in a good way. The scale of environmental destruction, pollution and annihilation has been shocking. With advancement in technology we pollute on gigantic scale and destroy forests at super-sonic speed. Air pollution has gone up so much that the earth’s temperature has risen substantially in mere hundred years. Ice on North Pole is fast disappearing and weather cycles have changed in various parts of world. Clean air and potable water is increasingly becoming scarce and yet human population is growing at rapid rate.

You can hold me culprit for using excessive hyperbole (oxymoron here!)  in presenting my argument. But the situation isn't just bad it’s actually worse. Environmental decline will have direct and immediate effect on communities at micro level and nations at macro level. Scarce resources, polluted land and water and rapidly declining fertile land will force societies to take extreme measures. Social structure may collapse and nations will go to war over water and arable land. China is already on land buying rampage in Africa and South America. 

The tale of Somali piracy s quite illustrative. The Somalian pirates gained worldwide attention when they abducted an American ship.But the problem started well before that. Somalia as we all know is a failed state. Taking advantage of this situation fishing ships from far-away countries like Spain and Japan started fishing in Somalian water. We are not talking about few ships throwing their fishing nets in the water. These Spanish and Japanese ships were advanced shipping trawlers that captures thousands of tons of fish in the matter of days. This means scarce fishing for local Somali fisherman. The initial revolt was against these fishing theft. It later spawned into a piracy enterprise when they realized that piracy pays much better than catching fishes is a different story. Why did Japanese and Spanish trawlers fishing in Somali water? Because there’s not enough fish left in their waters!

Can similar situation happen when strong country will invade a weak one because in want to natural resources? To be honest one of the important underlying reason for most of the wars is natural resources. But situation will be exacerbated since nations will be forced to go to war. All the talk about sustaining civilization, implementing capitalistic democratic model, free trade, importance of middle class, oligarchy, monopoly, revolutions, counter-revolutions, modernism, post-modernism, revivalism, fanaticism, secularism, atheism, enlightenment, post-enlightenment, industrial revolution, post-industrial revolution, communism, socialism, dictatorship, religion influenced social models, secular social models and everything in between will be quite irrelevant because in post-environmental we will be forced to wear masks to breath and go to war over water. 

We have enough nuclear bombs to destroy earth numerous times but we are not sure if we will have enough water to sustain for next fifty years.

You do the math

Why Indian cricket suck?

I was all riled up when India meekly capitulated to Australia in the third test at Perth. But then I had epiphany. It made perfect sense. Playing for India is irrelevant. It used to be an honor, a privilege. The respect you earn for representing your country, the allure of joining a club so select that only few hundred people in last 50 years have managed to join. Not only you have to be a good player but you also need to be fortunate enough to successfully maneuver the corrupt, inept and greedy institution of BCCI. You play for India after all that, you are the man!

But now all you have to play for is IPL. As long as you are “sold” to one of the teams you are gold. Who wants to work hard, stay in shape and perform to play for India when you can make more money in less than half the work playing in IPL?

The reason for my rant is not that India lost to Australia. We are used to that. It’s the way the team lost. It’s the manner of the defeats. The way India lost was not only humiliating but rather debasing. To lose is okay, to surrender after tough fight is also okay but to pack-up and run when faced with odds is not okay. It’s not okay at any level, lest you are playing for your country. There are more than one billion souls living in India. And when representing 1/6^th of world population you can’t gather your cajones to fight then shame on you. Move aside and let the novice take the charge; at least, they will go down fighting.

You see before ensuing tour of Australia I, along with few hundred million people, sincerely believed that India will win this test series. We have the whole squad health and running. Australia on the other hand was still a maturing side. With ax hanging over Ponting’s head and Hussey (my man!) in getting phased out, I thought we can either win 2-0 or 2-1. After three tests and 3-0 scoreline, in favor of Aussie, I am proved to be a dumbass along with few hundred million people. Was India destined to lose? In hindsight, yes. Was India supposed to lose this bad? Probably not!

Look at these disparate set of stats:

· India scored 400 only once and that too thanks to R. Ashwin, a newbie.

· In three test matches Aussie collectively have scored at least four hundreds including two 150+ scores and one 300+ scores. India on the other hand has yet to notch a single individual hundred.

· In third test match David Warner, a newbie himself, single handedly scored 180 at rapid pace. India’s 1^st inning total was 161 and 2^nd inning total was 171.

To truly appreciate the manner of debacle, lack of will, and general disinterest in winning look at following stats:

· Sachin alone has played more than 180 test matches. If you take out Ponting then test match experience of rest of the Aussie team barely touch that number.

· Collective age of all Aussie fast bowlers doesn’t even come close to number of centuries scored by Sachin alone.

· Total number of centuries scored by Sachin, Laxman, Dravid, Gambhir and Sehwag totals more 125 and I am talking only about test centuries.

And finally the true cause of disinterest is the amount of money these players make irrespective of the results. Indian players are contracted players of BCCI. They get paid the contracted sum no matter how much cricket they play. Thus the quantity is the criteria rather than the quality. Class A contract usually reserved for people like Sachin, Dravid and Dhoni usually stands for Rs. 1 Crore per annum. And Class D stands (please correct me if I am wrong) for Rs. 20 lakh per year. On top of that they get paid extra for each One Day, Test and Twenty-20 they play. And to top the icing they make more money through endorsements. But kids let me tell you a secret. The money that we calculated so far (the average annual income in India is around Rs. 40,000!) is peanuts for these cricketers. That’s right the real big-daddy money comes from IPL. And I am talking really big rich sugar daddy!

It’s not just the astronomical sums that these players get paid but the fact that they get paid in American dollars is truly astounding. Let me start with an example from recent past. An obscure player like KD Karthik who can’t hold his place in India team commands $2 million salary in IPL. So it’s simply unfathomable how much money Sachin, Dhoni and Sehwag must be making! In 2009 Dhoni made $9 million i.e. more than Rs 46 crore! The reality is quite stark here. BCCI Class A contract Rs 1 crore. IPL contract more than Rs 9 crores. You do the math! If they can make millions of dollars playing for stupid ass tournament like IPL then why bother playing for India? Even if they are not contracted by BCCI they can still make that much money in a month then why will they care about winning in Australia?

I have blogged on this topic before and in my last blog the target of my ire was Gambhir. I published that blog after disastrous England tour. Since that tour India fought hard to win against weak West Indies. And I wasn’t surprised to see Gambhir has not scored a decent knock since England tour. Sehwag, apart from his 219 scored in a tiniest possible stadium has been a redundancy. Laxman’s pretty much checked-out. Sachin is waiting for someone to present him his 100^th century. Zaheer came back all right. Dhoni has rapidly faded into a non-factor. I mean how on earth a world-champion team fades into lame-ass mediocrity and listlessness within a year? Where’s the pride? Where’s the ego?

For better or for worse (mostly for worse!) cricket is a national game of India. So much energy is wasted on the game that it’s aggravating to know that in last fifty years or so India has not produced a world-beating side. Mind you cricket is not even played at world level. There are officially only eight test playing nations. Of those, New Zealand is chronically resource-strapped. Bangladesh is chronically (and comically!) incompetent. West Indies is chronically mismanaged and Pakistan, well, you know! That leaves, apart from India, only Australia, South Africa and England as formidable sides. And India has not beaten Australia and South Africa in their respective countries and won only two series in last thirty in England. Yes, we have won against these nations in India but the mere fact that we can’t even dominate a game played, with some seriousness, only in four countries is mind-boggling.

India does not play well in any other game. These cricketers make so much money and still manage to lose. I know money doesn’t buy talent. But if these players don’t have talent then at least, don’t pay them! On top all this they whine about public pressure and tight schedules. Get over yourself! Because you get so much attention you command so much money. If no one showed up at the airport when your flight arrives then no one is going to pay you ever. Ask Dhanraj Pilley – an ace hockey player and former India captain. I don’t think he made enough money in his professional career as a star hockey player as what Virat Kohli makes in a year.

The tour’s going to end soon. I will be surprised if India doesn’t lose the fourth test by huge margin. Soon the IPL juggernaut will start rolling. Players like Gambhir and Kohli will score some half-ass runs in IPL making sure their American dollars continue to flow. India does not embark on international cricket tour for next couple of years. By then Gambhir and Kohli would have made at least $5 million dollars and nobody would care!

Average annual per capita income in India is little over $800.

The IPL Apple!

Once you bite the apple there is no going back! 

The recent performance of Indian team in England needs no introduction. No cricketing team ranked Number One has played as poorly as Indian team did. As if losing a series wasn’t bad enough India didn’t even win a single international game. Not even a single one-day international.
I blame this shameful performance to IPL. 

Gautam Gambhir a good batsman. But along with other ‘giants’ of the game he sucked big time against England. I think he should be dropped from the team not for his poor performance but for his lack of commitment to the cause. He played the World Cup and he must have been tired by the end of it. He also got injured during the world cup but instead of resting and preparing for one of the most important tour of England - place where ball swings viciously– he foolishly opted to play for his IPL team. He played the whole session and got injured some more. But then instead of excusing himself from the Indian team he had audacity to open the innings in the First test. At the back of such a strenuous work load his awful performance in next two tests makes lot of sense. What doesn’t make sense is his decision making ability. And yes, his insatiable grid!
He added another layer of injury during the third test against England and played no role in second and third innings.  (But he still managed to drop two crucial catches when he was on the field) But the agony doesn’t end here. I am talking about my agony! He says he banged his head hard enough to be disoriented for rest of the tour and yet he was playing for his IPL team again in the worthless Champions Trophy 20/20 right after end of England tour. 

IPL is here to stay is quite all right.  I am not against ‘cricketaintment’. I am not against cricketers making millions of dollars for 15 days’ worth of work. They can do whatever they want in their spare time. But they shouldn’t or rather they can’t mess their priorities when it comes to playing for India. IPL is a sport or entertainment, whatever you want to call it. But cricket in India is a different specie and has a storied past. Yes it’s a colonial game but India embraced cricket so readily because Indians got the taste of representing their country, to root for their country long before independence. Representing your country in any sport is a privilege but to do so in Cricket in India is unique. Also the fact that cricket is the only sport on the world level in which India suck less. We have been fielding competitive team since 1950’s. And these teams have given us quite a few moments to cherish. The victories were savored because there was little else to cherish. In 1980’s when India was slowly sinking in the potholes of economic disaster the victory of 1983 world cup was a gift from heavens. For such moments Indian fans elevated cricketers to God like status. Cricket is the only sport worth rooting for. Nobody in India follow Ranaji cricket yet throngs of people show up even if India is playing against Bangladesh or Zimbabwe. 

They are not their only for the love of the sport. Crowd cheer for their country more than they cheer for the game. They want India to win every game against Pakistan. They want the gratification of winning against mighty Australians. Fans identify so much with cricket that they take any real or imagined insult at their cricketers personally. You rarely see Indians uniting against price hike or shitty corrupt politicians but they were on the street s protesting when Sehwag and Tendulkar were banned for a test in South Africa. Tendulkar is Tendulkar because he scores runs for India. He has been behemoth for Mumbai but his claim to fame is being highest run scorer for India. That’s his identity. And no matter how much successful IPL becomes or how much more IPL bastardizes the game, the first and foremost identity of a cricketer will always be his nationality. 

Under such situation it’s insulting to see Gambhir, Khan and Sehwag giving more importance to IPL owners than to India. It’s insulting to see Tendulkar skipping West Indies tour because he was tired from playing in IPL. I am not sure who he is kidding. There are only 8 serious test playing nations in the whole world. And if he is ready to skip playing against one of them so that he can concentrate on IPL then it’s not fair to Indian as well as to the West Indian fans. 

Talking to my brother on this issue he made a valuable counter-argument. BCCI is a heavily political organization unaccountable to the fans, to the government or even to the players. They pick or drop players for no obvious reasons. For example look at Amo Muzumdar’s career. A contemporary of Tendulkar and Kambali and a loyal soldier for Mumbai cricket, Muzumdar is the highest run-scorer of Ranaji trophy. And yet he was never even short-listed for Indian cricket team in any of the format. I mean we have in numerable dud players representing India since 1990’s and yet this behemoth of runs with perfect technique was neglected for no reason whatsoever. 

Under such conditions if Muzumdar had opportunity (he is retired from cricket couple of years ago) to play for IPL and not only make truckloads of money but splash on the national stage then would it be surprising if he shows loyalty to his IPL overlords than Indian cricket team? Probably not but it sure would be sad. Injustice happens to lot of people in India. In fact India is a land of injustice and unfairness. Do Indian soldiers manning Kashmir border get a fair deal? They are putting their life on the line only for politicians sitting in Delhi fuck up the hard won battles. These soldiers are poorly paid (as compared to any IT sector employee) and they get poor equipment to do their job. Would they rather man a rich person’s home just because they will make twice the money doing so? Some of the soldiers would but most of the soldiers do their job because they love their country. 

Indian players should play for the love of the country. I am not saying they shouldn’t worry about the money. They should be able to make as much as money as they can. The reality is, unlike the players of 60’s or 70’s; the current crops of players do make shitload of money playing for India. They are crorepati’s playing only for India. 

IPL is bonus money, a lot of money but still bonus. And as they say, one shouldn't work for the bonus! 

Please also see Suresh Menon’s blog below. His suggestion is spot on!
http://cricketnext.in.com/blogs/sureshmenon/2968/62659/need-a-body-for-the-players-by-the-players.html

In Digvijay We Suck!

Digvijay ‘Doggy’ Singh, the current professional ‘ sewer dweller’ of Indian politics is at it again! When bombs went off killing dozens of innocents on the busy streets of Mumbai most of us were, at first, shocked to see mayhem then sad to see the human loss and finally enraged to witness, yet again, the sheer incompetence, impotency and criminal negligence of ruling party. But Digvijay, our erudite non-leader was busy weaving web of lies, unfounded accusations and outright anti-national behavior.

He care least about the lives lost. He moves around in Z+ security. He cares list about the incompetency ,impotency and criminal negligence because, well, that’s him personified. His job was to bark at the wrong tree and pee all over. He had his prose ready for mocking the unfortunate souls. He was huffing and puffing already. After all he is battle hardened in the sport of gutter wrestling. In fact, he is quite professional at it. He is so pumped up that I have seen him baring his teeth even at his shadow. “This shadow is the work of RSS” I have heard him saying. To that, Sonia said “Yes my dear, that’s RSS’s work. Now you keep on barking”

I know you never heard of this sport because it’s quite exclusive and open only to the gutter dwellers. What you do is, every time you see someone passing by you start throwing gutter waste on them. You do that to old and young, woman and children. It’s not an easy game. To play that game you need to have no credibility, no ethics, no morality, you should be a louche, power hungry and you should be expert in ass-kissing and boot-licking. And of course, the incompetency and the impotency part I mentioned above. You should be reeking venality all over. Even by the lowest possible standards Digvijay set for himself his recent outburst against RSS after another Islamic terrorist attack was so low that actual gutter creaters were like “you are the man!”

Accountability isn’t exactly a strong point of current ruling party of India but even by their standards Digvijay is a nadir no one would dare to compete. I would love to think of him as a jobless politician who can’t make money off of his position (i.e. siphon of public money to his Swiss bank account) anymore if it wasn’t for scores of innocent people killed. That’s not to say that the Sonia’s party, sometimes known as Gandhi Party or the Congress Party, isn’t paying him to bark and pee at every corner. He is a dog all right. The current government is full of such personalities who resemble more to our canine ‘best’ friends than actual human beings. The grand old party of Congress has become a canine compound since independence. You have to lick boots of Gandhi family to get any position in any government. Loyalty to Gandhi’s is supreme and takes precedence over loyalty to your country. Loyalty to ethics or truth, now what’s that all about?

He was the Chief Minister of 2nd largest state (at that time at least) in India for more than 8 years. Every Chief Minister of India dreams of becoming Prime Minster of India one day. I am sure Doggy had those dreams too but reality slapped him pretty hard. He not only lost the state elections but he couldn’t even transition himself to a cabinet ministery in central government. He is basically ‘ghar ka na ghat ka’.

All though the world wouldn’t miss a beat if he becomes ‘ghat ka’!

No one expects Digvijay Singh to speak truth. Even his mama wouldn’t dare dreaming that. But the malicious stuff his potty mouth vomits is not merely another act of Gandhi-ass-kissing. It’s part of nefarious design. He speaks of things that only CBI, NIA or perhaps, the Prime Minister or the Home Minister would know. Of course, our Prime Minister is not known to know anything. But just for the argument sake, in a perfect world, in a hypothetical situation, in a dream state, if our Prime minister was competent enough and senile enough then only he would know that RSS is running bomb factories. Because that’s a pretty serious accusation, especially if you are to make such accusation after Islamic terrorist bombed Mumbai again!

The people standing at the corner in Zaveri market didn’t start their day thinking they are going to die today. They simply started the day as they did for last so many days. Except that what they didn’t knew or didn’t realize that their current government, the police organization and intelligence agencies are not meant to protect them.. How pathetic is that? And to top that a senior ‘leader’ of ruling party actually has cajones to blame a cultural organization for the bomb blasts! Is he trying to gloss over the mistakes of ruling party? Or is he in cahoots with Islamic terrorists, ISI and underworld to defend the terroristbombing? Even before the dead were counted Digvijay was making unsubstantiated accusation diverting precious public resources and media attention away from the tragedy? If he knows something about the bombings then shouldn't he be talking to the cops instead of holding media conferences? How come the ruling party allowing one of its members to level such accusations? How come our Prime Minister allowing such insidious behavior?

In spite of carnage of 2008 the chief minister of Maharashtra couldn’t get in touch with chief of Mumbai police after these recent blasts. Even after four days there’s back-and-forth on whether there was suicide bomber involved. Our prime minister finally uttered “perpetrators will be punished”. If that to hold true sir, you should be the first one to go to jail. Rahul Gandhi said that 99% of the terror attacks have been repealed. Really? I would request you to go and stand in Zaveri Bazaar without your Z+ security (which by the way is paid by us)

The process of protecting civilians is riddled with bureaucratic impasses and the will to protect the innocent civilians is compromised with sordid dance of treachery under the guise of political brinkmanship. The current ruling party is a vortex of corruption and criminal negligence. Innocent civilians are treated like expendable objects and their deaths are pawned off for political gains. If you think things aren’t bad enough then just wait, it will get worse.

But I think we deserve these hazardous buffoons. After all, in spite of carnage of 2008 we elected them in 2009.

The Great Indian Escape

It was the last hour of the third test. India, the recently crowned one-day cricket world champions, had five wickets in hand and only 86 runs to score. Any sane person would bet for India. It's just makes sense. A good 15 overs were in hand, sun was shining brightly. There was nothing stopping India from cruising to victory and win the already won cricket series. Yet Indian captain offered to call off the game to which West Indian captain happily obliged. And why wouldn't he? India had Laxman and Raina batting. Dhoni, Kohli and Harbhajan Singh were still waiting in the pavillion. To top it of, Ravi Rampaul who more than troubled Indian batsman through out the series was nursing wounds in the hospital.

Yet India decided to let go the game. Yes, they didn't loose. Yes, they won the series but if they did that in a shamefully defeated manner. It wasn't that they chose the draw over a win, it's that they didn't show intent to win that got me and scores of other riled up.

How can India call themselves the best test side in the world if they don't have enough balls to score 86 runs off 90 balls? Come on, you are telling me the pitch is slow? You just won the world cup for heavens sake! If you don't play to win then you should just go home and spare us the humiliation.

West Indies is ranked 7th out of 8 test playing nation. India is ranked 1st and yet India decided to opt for the draw. West Indian players are paid peanuts for playing while Class C contracted player in India makes more than Rs. 25 lakh. And that's just for being contracted. Players get paid for each test, one-day and 20-20. Add endorsement on top of that and each Indian player is a millionaire. And yet you play for a DRAW! You kidding me!

I am not saying Indian team plays bad. Of course not. They have been consistently winning for last ten years. They won easy games, they won hard games, they won some improbable games. They beat minnows, they beat good teams and few times they were just kick-ass. They deserve to be ranked number one.

But at the same time their rank is not secured. England and South Africa are within sniffing distance. If you want to hold on to your numero uno status then you need to win continuously. You need to play to win continuously. The aim should not just to be number one in the world but there shouldn't be any number one like you ever. That's what West Indian team of 1980's achieved. And that's the realm where Aussie of Shane Warne resided.

Indian team doesn't play for themselves. They play for India. And when you play for your country your only aim should be to win and nothing else. There's no draw, no cop-out clause. Dhoni, admittedly one of the greatest already, should be ashamed of his decision to shake hands when he should be busy whacking ball around.

Champions are champions are at the heart first and if you are thinking about draw then you ain't the one!

Sedation, Stupidty and the Provocateure

Arundhati Roy’s recent yapping was beyond rationality. If rationality was food then she would be dying of hunger. Of course, then she would be blaming the so-called right-wing Hindu nationalist, Indian government, Indian army, the capitalism and the freckled lady that looks at her every time she looks in the mirror! What she won't do to survive (in our fantasy world of rationality) is to actually meditate on her thoughts for at least five seconds before speaking. Rationality, you see, doesn’t come attached with her royalty checks nor was it presented to her with Booker.

She is a certified nut-job who constantly needs media attention and since, she ran out of words or ideas to put a decent book together, she shops around for so called ‘causes’. She is an equal opportunity employee when it comes to finding things to protest. Religious, regional, economical and social, she is ready to sell herself for all. She is a professional provocateur. She believes that she is voicing the voiceless and standing up for the powerless. But in a rapidly globalizing world where protest is a thing of past and lobbying and organizing is the new mantra, she ends up hurting the cause rather than helping. But I understand, woman’s gotta eat, woman’s gotta protest. And in this case insult and provoke the very nation that feeds her and gives her the freedom to speak.

Criticizing your mother nation isn’t wrong. Dissent, if valid, is a cornerstone of democracy. India is one of the very few nations on mother earth that grants the right to express. I also understand the important role artist play in democracy. It’s their job to dispute the status quo and voice the concerns of the society. They are the medium for society to express and aspire. But freedom of expression should be accompanied by responsibility. Yes, you are free to say anything but that doesn’t mean you should. You can’t curse people because, all though it’s perfectly legal, it’s not civil. Similarly, you can’t accuse for the sake of it because that’s unethical.

But Ms. Roy neither fathom depths of ethics nor can she carry weight of responsibility.

I wonder where she gets cajones to spread outright lies. Is it her Booker prize that gives her guts to brand whole of Indian army as rapists? Or is it the sad realization that her royalty from her one and only book is fast running out and without provoking another controversy she will go broke? President of United States was to visit India soon and she seized the opportunity with both hands. Time to make some green.

Honestly I never thought she will run out of royalty. May be, people finally realized beyond grandiose vocabulary there’s nothing in the book.

“Kashmir was never part of India”

“Indian Army is raping all Kashmiris”

“India is ruled by upper caste Hindus”.

I have to admit that this lady go for big. All these sparkling rubies that she spit out aren’t innocent hyperbole. 

They are outright lies.

The absurdity is not hard to discern. Any kid with basic knowledge of Indian subcontinent can point his middle finger to such ludicrosity. If Kashmir is not part of India then nothing is part of India or is everything’s part of India? Ms. Roy obviously needs to take basic history lessons. Instead of spreading her imagination at Harvard it will serve her better if she takes history of Indian Subcontinent 101 at Harvard. And she should continue her ‘education’ in Common Sense 101, How Not To Sale Yourself 101 and Minding Your Own Damn Business 101!

India in its current avatar is a quite recent happening. Before that Pakistan and Bangladesh were India too. Forget about Kashmir, even Pakistan and Bangladesh was India.

Before 1989 Indian Army wasn’t as active as it is right now. Ethnic cleansing of Hindus by Muslims was happening since 1985 and then Muslim terrorists started wrecking havoc further and in response Indian army started patrolling Kashmir Valley. And before making her “rape” statement she should have checked rapes across India.

And India is ruled by upper castes? Current President of India is a woman of not upper caste. Current Prime Minister is a Sikh and supremo of ruling party is a evangelical foreign born Catholic. Last President of India was a Muslim and one before that was a lower caste Hindu. India is probably the only country so active in affirmative action’s that government actively works towards disfranchising upper castes!

She is clever in not making such statements where people might ask her questions. She will speak in Kashmir forum and will share podium with a known India-hater but she don’t have guts to attend a Kashmiri Pandit conference.

It seems that her Booker prize wrecked havoc in her upper deck wiring. Her brain, perhaps shrinking because lack of real activity, is suffering with rare disorder that makes her unable to digest facts and comprehend reality. May be she needs to update her operating system that works in this century.

She can’t fathom the fact that world has moved on and she is the one left behind. She is a redundancy as far as any constructive dialog is concerned. She is good only for her preposterous, shrill, absurd fantasies. In her delusional world everyone in the world is an oppressor and she needs to stand up for them.

Alas, who is going to stand for us whom she is relentlessly oppressing?