Award Wapsi - Are they really at fault ?

I beg to differ with a few of my friends with a contrary view on the eminent people returning their awards. I think they have chosen the most sensible way to protest and put pressure on the people concerned to act ! Especially when innumerable letters written by many scholars have been ignored. It neither belittles their stature nor the honour that they have been bestowed with.

I think their protest is in the right spirit but is not enough. Instead of just criticizing and showing their vexation, they could have proposed suggestions to improve the deteriorating polarized environment prevalent in the current Indian setup. Interpreting what it means to return an award is every individuals guess. People who returned the honours alone know the motive behind it.

I myself can see the surge in intolerance against certain sects of people in the society and governments inability to punish the fringe elements present with their own party and outside. The whole idea of these guys could be to get people talking about this deliberate communalization of Indian society. They are at their discretionary liberty to choose the method of demonstrating their displeasure.

The government at the center has become so insensitive to intelligentsia, that they are not able to digest all this and they preferred to call it “a manufactured rebellion” instead of paying heed to the plight of the doyens and take corrective actions. Alleging that these eminent and revered personalities have "selective amnesia" and questioning where were they, when other similar situations happened earlier is just being insensitive to the situation devoid of any intent to solve the problem. A few of the writers have protested and written letters earlier too, may not be as a cohesive unite as they are doing now, but surely they displayed their displeasure during the emergency etc. Even if they might not have protested earlier, it attaches no rational logic to question their intent in past. Painting the whole act as a political gimmick is just miniaturizing the very reason of their act.

They might have thought that organized protests are the need of the hour as Passive protests are not going to help anymore. The president of India appealing to the government and people to protect the plural fabric of the nation not just once itself explains the severity of the divide. Hope the central government takes necessary steps and in the right direction!

Welcome to the World of Optimism

~Breakfast was boring.., but there's still lunch.

~None of my friends messaged or called me today.., my closest ones mite come home 2mrw.

~Nothing interesting on TV now.., my favorite movie might be on in an hour or so.

~It's too hot outside to go out.., evening could have the best weather I've ever seen.

~I didn't make it through this interview.., the next employer could be the one who would worship me.

~I've missed the bus.., the next one's on its way.

~I didn't win the lottery.., I'm gonna save a fortune learning from this experience.

~My good friend hurt me real bad.., time to find my real 'good friend'.

~My last exam was a 'failure'.., may be this is my 'stepping stone to success'.

~I didn't clear the entrance exam.., I'm destined for something better.

~My girlfriend's cheating behind my back.., good for her that she found her true love n good for me coz I know of this.

~My dad thinks I'm good for 'nothing'.., he doesn't know I'm the best at 'something'.

~I love music but I got a bad voice.., guitar is probably where I ROCK !

~Small nations are going nuclear.., rest of the world is uniting to stop them.

~Terrorists are creating havoc.., governments are FINALLY doing something about them.

The left half of every line are not really my problems.., but the right half is how I would look at them. Crying., sulking or complaining don't solve problems., they create new ones. If this has excited even one nerve cell in your brain., I welcome you to the world of optimism., I welcome you to my world....

IPL2014 MI Vs RR Match Analysis

As a cricket fan, I have to admit that the tension filled last playoff match in IPL 2014, between MI and RR was nerve wrecking. I was elated with the result specially after the happy ending that Mumbai managed to achieve by qualifying to the playoffs after their dismal performance in UAE during the initial phase of the tournament. As a Mumbai Indian fan though I was happy to see my team qualify, As an engineer with strong affinity to numbers, I felt the calculations of net run rate shouldn't have caused so much of confusion in deciding what needs to be achieved! It is very critical to have a logically correct methodology in place,  when it comes to matches like these when the victory depends on the fourth decimal in the net run rate calculations!

Its only prudent to adopt the most suitable method that recognizes the winner based on the most accurate logic to declare a winner specially when there are such millions of dollars of prize money and reputation of a franchise at stake. It was disheartening to watch Dravid throw his cap in disdain after the loss.

What ever was the outcome of the match, irrespective of the teams involved in the match, the net run rate calculations should have been more transparent and to an acceptable reason.

The calculations are perplexing. Firstly about their methodology of adopting "Average Runs per over" as the quantitative measure and not "Average Runs per ball" to decide the winner. This is because the former measure approximates and equates the 6 deliveries of an over in to unequal measuring points between two numbers. Secondly, rounding off the net run rate (NRR) to two or three decimal points after considering "Average Runs per over" as the measure is further going to effect the chances of a team. This match just showed us the loophole in the erroneous methodology adopted.

From the looks of it, the above NRR calculations show that there seems to be no reason to understand why even in first place Mumbai was allowed one more ball if the NRR is calculated based on the "Runs per over" for judging the qualifying team. MI was a clear winner with NRR of 0.078 over Rajastan's 0.077. Since this has not happened, contrary to the "Runs per over", "Runs per ball" should have been considered for the NRR calculations. But here comes the more confusing question of why they had considered the NRR rounded to three decimal places? which otherwise would have made Mumbai the clear winner with the fourth decimal. Either case, MI should have been declared winner, which means there was a blunder in setting up the qualifying target !

Nothing of this has happened and to add to all this chaos, more confusion prevailed when the commentators Harsha and Ravi Shastri just kept throwing in more numbers with all the convoluted calculations by saying " Boundary required of the next ball" no no hold on "just 2 runs would suffice" etc etc !

Let us now consider the numbers after the last ball was bowled, Since there was a six hit, there is no confusion since the calculations in "Average Runs per ball" method and ""Average Runs per over" method all showed Mumbai as the clear winner. This isn't the end of confusion yet, I am still wondering how commentators got those "4 needed" oh no "just 2 needed" to win from, when there was already a clear qualified team!

For a casual spectator like me, In addition to the missed run out chances, dropped catches, ball being given to Praveen Tambe in the 13th over, two full tosses, etc, it just gives me further more reasons to doubt if this match was fixed!  Hope this isn't the case, as it doesn't bode well for the already dented reputation of IPL as a brand. Hope more common sense and more logical reason prevails in such close match results!

PS: I welcome being corrected in my calculations and proved otherwise, if somebody spots one.