On Kapil Sibal

On a Times Now program after the elections and before the cabinet announcement Kapil Sibal was participating. He clearly mentioned that due to his sons being lawyers, it would be unbecoming of him being appointed law minister (MK, please take note).
He also mentioned something else which I would like to share.
When asked by Arnab for what is he in politics when he had such a wonderful and high earning practice, his response was something like this:
"There is no end to how much money one can want and one can continue to run after it. But I believe that I have made enough money with my practice. Both my children are well settled. My wife is still working so that is another source of income for the family. And I wanted to do something for the country so I decided to take the plunge into politics. Fortunately the electorate has put me into the parliament for two successive terms so I seem to be doing the right thing."
This does not exactly capture what and how he said it, but if someone saw it, this was straight and honest talk. I did not have any tilt for or against Kapil Sibal. But after that I have begun to be hopeful that he would deliver in his stint as HRD minister. Hopefully the education system will get a boost now that a competent man like him is there.

Back after a long while

So here I am back after a long break. Not that I did not have anything to right, rather it is more like I was not able to get time.

The little one is becoming cuter and active day by day hence demands for time from her. Sister is going to get married and will be leaving us in about three weeks from now. And office work is becoming more and more challenging, not so much in terms of challenge of work overload, rather it has become more of thinking and insight and managing people and not just technology, which has its own challenges.

IPL 2 is over with its share of excitement. Due to the reasons mentioned above, except for the final, I was not able to watch any single match fully. It was either one team's batting or another's.
But it was great, especially seeing the bowlers, especially the spinners holding their own.

It was also proved once and for all that Sachin Tendulkar can never be a good captain, nor can Yuvaraj, though his team to me seemed the most flamboyant in the way they play. Something of the captain rubbing off.

Now it is to the T20 world cup, where though Indian team looks formidable, I have my doubts due to the continuous cricket. Apart from fatigue, I believe this would affect the hunger for success as well for some of them, which I feel was the biggest reason for the triumph last time around.

Thank God we have a stable government for the next term, a lot more stable than the previous one and apart from the Indian electorate, Team Congress also needs to be congratulated. Brand Rahul is beginning to be felt. They also need to be congratulated for the way MK's tantrums were handled. Now it is the time to deliver.
The Indian electorate does seem to be voting with intelligence in the past one year, considering the recent assembly elections and this parliamentary election. Is this a maturing of the electorate who are willing to look beyond those who merely flaunt caste, regional and religious affiliations and linkages to try to get to power? I do hope so looking at the way the CMs who delivered were brought back in power in the assembly elections and the results of the parliamentary elections. Though these still are really early times.
Some ministerialdecisions are good. Keeping messrs Arjun Singh, Antulay, Bharadwaj etc out of the cabinet is great.
But some are purely from political compulsions. For example no one can expect Mamta Banerjee to be a better railway minister than Lalu.
For Bengal it is a case of either the Devil (Left, inspite of Buddhaeb) or the deep sea (Mamta). Both seem incompetent. Though finally the Left's audacious use of violence throughout Bengal to stay in power seems to have met its match as well as Karat's ego bubble has been pricked.

On Advani, well any sensible Indian would never have believed ever that Advani would become a Prime Minister. And this dream of his is dead.