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Pleasing M K Stalin is the new found mantra in Tamil Nadu for Congressmen. Having completed a remarkable journey as Chief Minister for a year Stalin, the chief executive of the state, feels like the “most wanted man” thanks to the reputation he has earned for helping out old friends and associates, bestowing favours. The one party wooing him most at the moment is the Congress, with veteran P Chidambaram bent upon getting the Rajya Sabha seat the DMK can spare in the elections slated for June. Of the six seats, DMK can win three on its own steam and, one more with alliance party votes. It appears the AIADMK’s two seats are also in heavy demand with party seniors, who are out of power in TN, seeking a ticket to keep their high-profile political careers going. Among them are D Jayakumar, C Ve Shanmugham, JCD Prabhakar, Gokula Indira and C Ponniyan. Congressmen aiming for the upper house also include TNCC President K S Alagiri and EVKS Elangovan. Former Union Finance Minister Chidambaram has gone one up on rivals, however, following his recent visit to Stalin’s home to seek the favour, something his party high command has also assented to. PC has enough clout in TN to get his way to extend his Rajya Sabha innings and prevent his political graph exhibiting a flatline.
Super Kings and that brought about a stunning transformation in the body language of the team. Unlike Mumbai Indians, CSK were never out of a mathematical chance to still make the playoffs. With 8 points in the kitty, after five games, they still have potential to reach 16 points. Early season debacles were owed to very conservative bidding at the player auctions, where reps of ‘Srini Mama’ and his daughter Rupa were apparently inert and hardly picked up players of high value. The change of captaincy, effected after the deal was signed, had offended the main sponsor TVS Eurogrip, who had shelled out Rs 100 crore. Miffed at the change in captaincy, and a lacklustre Ravindra Jadeja not looking the part to rev up the team, they pressured Srinivasan to bring back Dhoni as captain. Srini was concerned about any possible drop in valuation of the team, currently rated at around $1 billion, and impact on future sponsorships. There was only one way out of the impasse, bringing Dhoni back to the helm. CSK may or may not make it to the playoffs but they look like a competitive team now. The fans are mighty pleased and the sponsors are happy.
Is Elon Musk picking up a bias against Indians? It would appear so if emerging dramas follow an early trend in which the world’s richest man, out on a spree to buy his favourite toys, has had bones to pick with Vijaya Gadde, a lawyer of Indian origin, even as the status of Twitter’s CEO Parag Agrawal is under a cloud after the acquisition. Vijaya, top censorship advocate at Twitter had taken decisions to keep out contentious content in 2020 and she was fiercely defended by Twitterati after the Muck onslaught. As owner of the company, Musk will have the power to fire key individuals and Parag may be the a name on that purging list even if he had picked up a reputation as a top engineer who had helped transform Twitter’s developing projects, including letting algorithms guide moderation software. Musk’s ‘absolute free speech’ platform may be up for confrontations with India, which has been thin-skinned to the extent of being the country asking for the most tweets to be taken down. Musk’s ties to China with his Tesla electric cars, which are not being allowed free access if they are not made in India, might also put him on a collision course with India. His obsession with the number 420 places him in a piquant position with the number in India’s IPC that is to do with cheating and fraud.
It appears election strategist Prashant Kishor is running rings around India’s political parties with his well-researched understanding of the voter behaviour, besides insights into which seats swing on what issues. But his former poll research company Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), from which he had disassociated himself, has signed up with the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). While Sonia Gandhi, in her own political despair, is said to be inclined to accept Kishor’s help though it comes with conditions like his wishing to be like a working president while she remains the figurehead, senior Congressmen are not convinced. Insider dope has it that despite Kishor’s dalliance with TRS supremo K Chandrashekar Rao, which included a two-day stay at his residence, Sonia might accept Kishor into her party. There may be a bundle of contradictions in Telangana where Congress must fancy its chances of a comeback in the face of disillusionment among the people with KCR’s style of governance. But Congress will be left hoping that people might understand that a common cause unites not only KCR but also the Left who oppose Congress in Kerala but are on the same page when it comes to national affairs. No decision is likely before Kishor’s one year of self-declared detachment from politics which comes to an end in early May, however, a week of drama is on the cards.
In stark irony, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson inaugurated a JCB manufacturing factory at Halol in Gujarat. The bulldozer with claw-like extensions, has become the contemporary mascot for an aggressive Indian mainstream politics today and used rampantly to raze encroachments, even homes of offenders stoking communal fires in BJP ruled states. The use of the bulldozer to get even became quite the rage in UP, MP and lately New Delhi, before it ran afoul of the Supreme Court for being pushed into action at Jahangirpuri of north Delhi. Under the prompting of the BJP head of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), bulldozers had cleared shops in front of a mosque. The message for the minority community over allegedly stoking communal passions, resorting to stone throwing during a Hanuman Jayanti procession that was taken out by the majority community was loud and clear: do not take the majority for granted. Even as the issue boiled over into the top court, a voice of reason was said to have come from one of the highest in the land. BJP insiders revealed that Home Minister Amit Shah had sent a message down the ranks to keep the bulldozers at bay for now, idling in parking lots for the time being. With the message already conveyed, the Home Minister wants to maintain peace, at least for now.
Whoever said Tamilians, laidback to the point of indolence as they can be, do not nurse ambitions? Take the case of Tamilisai Soundararajan, Telangana Governor who is also in charge of Puducherry. Having been given a supposedly apolitical gubernatorial post, she is angling for much higher things as all BJP and pro-BJP personalities are on a watchlist for picking the next President of India. So useful will that person be in office with the power to call who will form the government in case of a hung poll that BJP will be extra careful in zeroing in. Tamilisai is in the running, according to BJP insiders. Meanwhile, music maestro Ilaiyaraja, in the news lately for comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar in his penned preface for a book, is facing the music on social media in a state that is highly opinionated against Modi. It is believed that the maestro, who once supported Leftist causes using his music, is now angling for a Rajya Sabha nomination. The DMK — politically savvy enough to keep on the right side of the Prime Minister in public while haranguing everyone else about the Centre’s interference in State subjects — is maintaining a studied silence in public and claims that it has no opinion either way about Ilaiyaraja’e apparent endorsement of Modi.
The relationship between Raj Bhavan and Fort St George were strained even when Tamil Nadu was a ruling BJP-allied State but, has turned adversarial now. Even before R N Ravi headed to Guindy from the northeast, whispers campaigns abounded about his being an ex-IB official, who spelt trouble for the DMK regime. He started off fairly amiably until the new Governor, at the instance of New Delhi, decidedly ran afoul of Stalin & Co. Governor Ravi is sitting pretty on the bill against NEET passed in the TN assembly. He also held back others, including amendments to the cooperative law. The ruling DMK finds itself in a piquant situation, even had to boycott the unveiling of the statue to Bharatiar, beloved poet of all Tamilians, to express their displeasure of the Governor. In days gone by, several occupants at the picturesque Raj Bhavan located in the reserved lung space of Chennai, were dreaded by the then ruling parties. M Chenna Reddy’s run-ins with the fiery Jayalalithaa became part of political folklore. Governor Vidyasagar Rao kept Sasikala waiting as prospective CM until the Supreme Court passed the verdict to send her to jail. There was even a Governor who believed in going into the woods for his morning ablutions, providing the only comic relief from Raj Bhavan.
Yuzvendra Chahal says he was dangled from a 15th-floor hotel balcony by a heavily drunk fellow player during the IPL in 2013. The incident took place during a get-together when the loquacious leg-spinner was a Mumbai Indian. The buzz in Indian cricket is, while many in the know are aware of who the character is, no one wants to say it in public lest the player involved take offence. The player is also a pretty big personality in Team India today and taking his name might be problematic as some voices have already been raised saying the said “bully” should be banned from cricket. It was a party prank but a very scary one for the “victim” who said, “I was holding on to him, with my arms around his neck. If I had lost my grip, we were on the 15th floor… had there been a small mistake there, I would have fallen down.” The player had fainted at the prospect of hitting the ground from that height. The spinner has named others who played milder pranks on him when he was a Mumbai Indian but the perpetrator of the cubase torrent major incident could not be named as he is at the top of the totem pole now. A driver toolkit 8.5.1 serial key guess as to the major player’s identity is allowed.
The AIADMK head honchos mean business. They are full time politicians running the Opposition party in Tamil Nadu and they are determined to take total control of the party, which means keeping Jayalalithaa’s confidante Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dhinakaran out of the party. The party went into a late-night huddle after rumours began doing the rounds about differences between the top coordinators E Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam. They have sent a message out to the party to hold elections in all phases by April so that the general council can be convened in May. A message has also gone out that Sasikala loyalists are not to be accommodated and that they must be defeated in the intra-party polls. It is no coincidence that the ED suddenly woke up to resume the long running case against Dhinakaran in which he is accused of trying to bribe the Election Commission. After Jaya’s death, there was a tussle for the party and TTV did his best to get recognised as the AIADMK’s official representative through the conman Sukesh Chandrasekhar who is in the news for his extravagant gifts to Bollywood actresses Jacqueline Fernandez and Noora Fatehi. EPS and OPS have since then been in control of the party though Sasikala keeps up the pinpricks with her claims to the party as its ‘General Secretary’.
Major tennis tours like ATP, WTA and ITF are allowing Russian and Belarussian tennis players to compete without flags or anthems. But Wimbledon, one of four Grand Slams being a private event, is seriously considering a ban on stars like world No 2 Daniil Medvedev and world No 5 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus on the grounds that their victory could boost the Vladimir Putin regime. The legal implications are being considered seriously in the wake of recent images of war crimes on Ukraine’s streets showing up as evidence of the brutal war Russia is waging. The All England Lawn Tennis Club may receive legal advice that private clubs have more freedom to allow or ban players and they would not be subject to the same discrimination laws as the tours. What is the point the tennis fan may be wondering as Russian athletes are so far free to participate in global events as individuals but the UK might wish to take the economic sanctions and sporting bans further because of the war in Ukraine. Wimbledon might find a way out by asking the likes of Medvedev to sign an anti-Putin form and that they are not receiving any money from Putin or Russia or Belarus. Medvedev, like Novak Djokovic, is a resident of Monaco who could now miss two months of tennis due to hernia.
The senior DMK minister Durai Murugan may have set a record of sorts missing his flight to Dubai, twice on a single day. Having landed up at the VIP room of Chennai airport, the minister realized he had processed his Dubai visa on his old expired passport. He rushed back to the city to rectify the error through back-and-forth calls being made to Dubai. Armed with the rightly secured visa, the minister returned to the airport hours later the same day and, not wishing to waste any more time, advanced his departure by opting for an Air India flight. Seated in the business class and all set to fly, the minister received a call on his mobile from the Tamil Nadu chief minister’s office advising him to cancel his trip. The cockpit door to the pilots’ domain not having closed for departure, the minister was allowed to deplane and go back home to Kotturpuram. The CM’s decision to call off his senior minister’s Dubai trip was partly owing to carping criticism by the opposition AIADMK party that had also found fault with Stalin’s own trip to Dubai earlier with family for which DMK party had paid the charter fare.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak, once considered a replacement for Prime Minister Boris Johnson if, Partygate had hit his party, is under fire now over his wife’s Rs 430 crore stake in the company her father Narayana Murthy founded. Infosys still runs its Moscow office and delivery office though the company is at pains explaining that its office serves global clients locally in Russia sans any active relationships with Russian companies. Having advised British companies to cut ties with Russia, the Chancellor is facing the challenge of his wife Akshata’s fortune that is facing calls for full disclosure in the UK. He had said, “We must collectively go further in our mission to inflict maximum economic pain and to stop further bloodshed,” Rishi is under pressure to explain his family wealth through his wife’s holding in India’s second biggest IT company. Rishi was pointedly asked whether he was giving advice to others that he was not following in his own home and he replied – “I’m an elected politician, and I’m here to talk to you about what I am responsible for. My wife is not.” Regardless of how the Ukraine situation goes while raising such questions, one thing is clear and that is Rishi Sunak may have already lost out in the race to the British Prime Ministership.
Luxury yacht ‘Scheherazade’ with an estimated worth over Rs 525 crore, is thought to belong to the Russian President Vladimir Putin. The yacht has come under the scanner even as it lies anchored at an Italian marina. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has once indicated that the yacht might belong to the Russian President. Its crew members are drawn from the Russian Federal Security Force (FSO), the same force that secures Putin’s luxury villa off the Black Sea coast in Sochi. So far, about $17 billion in assets thought to belong to 34 oligarchs close to Putin have been processed and are ready to be seized though the super-rich Russian President himself is believed to own hidden assets worth about $100 billion. As Putin emerged last week in a blue, knee-length Rs 10.5 lakh Italian designer coat and roll neck sweater worth Rs 3 lakh at a public rally to celebrate the 8th anniversary of Russia’s annexure of Crimea, there were clear signs of the many fine things that Putin fancies. Scheherazade is said to be the world’s most expensive superyacht whose owner has not been identified. With six decks and two helicopter landing areas, spa, sauna, gym and golden fittings in toilets, the yacht drips with luxury that adorns Putin, whose official salary is Rs 70 lakhs a year.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin is taking on what seems politically impossible at the moment – bringing together firebrand West Bengal prima donna Mamata Banerjee and Chief of the fast-fading Congress party, Sonia Gandhi. Stalin’s plan is overly ambitious even as a phenomenal clash of egos will surely ensue between the two over leading a united charge against BJP and its supremo Narendra Modi. Stalin, however, seeks to work in right earnest to bring about a political rapprochement to forge opposition unity and will be using the occasion of the inauguration of the DMK party office in New Delhi on April 2 for the purpose. He is hoping not only to have the two ladies present but also a galaxy of opposition figures including the new rising star Arvind Kejriwal, besides veterans like Sharad Pawar. He wants it to be a big political occasion that will set the ball rolling for the 2024 fight against Narendra Modi’s juggernaut. Egged on by poll strategist Prashant Kishor, the West Bengal CM fancies herself as the one who will take the battle to Modi but Stalin is a loyalist when it comes to the Congress and he would like the national party to be in the mix. April 2 might be the next big date in the Indian political calendar
The monk who became the first UP chief minister to serve a full term and, win a fresh mandate bucking anti-incumbency has broken quite a few records even though he wasn’t elected in 2017 to the state assembly before being brought in as CM. It has been more than 40 years since any party was re-elected in UP and where, for the first time in 15 years an elected MLA will be heading the government. Yogi Adityanath proved to be the magical vote catcher along with his boss Narendra Modi. Incidentally, he also shattered the urban legend about Noida being the Waterloo of many UP CMs. The jinx had assumed such proportions that politicos began avoiding the city near the national capital like the plague. What Yogi may have proved is the fallacy of such urban legends that are mere coincidences and have no real relevance to actual events on the ground that are shaped by popular will. There are many such urban legends around the country, including one in Tamil Nadu where it is said that any CM visiting the Big Temple in Thanjavur would be out of power in the next election. This had taken such a hold on the imagination that even a diehard rationalist in M Karunanidhi, who visited the temple, entered through a side entrance. But that didn’t help him either.
Udhayanidhi Stalin has signed up with Mari Selvaraj for a movie titled Maamannan (Emperor) which could be his final serious film role. Once the movie is completed in the next few months, Stalin’s son will move to politics full time, probably by the end of 2022. His father and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin is keen that his line of succession is made amply clear. When Udhaya was first tipped for a cabinet post during Tamil Nadu’s ministry formation in 2021, it did not come about because of his commitment to films, not because Stalin was wary of bringing in his kin into the political mainstream to avoid nepotism charges. With Stalin taking an interest in what happens in national politics for the 2024 general elections, he wants his son to help more with party affairs. Also, the second rung leaders behind senior minister Duraimurugan are not seen as charismatic enough for the family to encourage them to assume party leadership roles. Once he comes into the Cabinet, Udhaya will be the anointed as the successor to take forward the Karunanidhi political legacy in Dravidian Tamil Nadu. His exclusion till now was no concession to niceties as the DMK is very much a family party and, the scion will be expected to take up the responsibility.
The Stalin era in Tamil Nadu’s politics was firmly established, even as the wounded AIADMK tried to make its way back into people’s hearts. Probably, the return of Jayalalithaa’s aide and confidante Sasikala and nephew TTV Dhinakaran are viewed as vital to rebuilding a political challenge in the unending Dravidian narrative of TN politics. So long as former CMs Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and O Panneerselvam (OPS) stood united, the remnants of Poes Garden rule in Sasi and her nephew were disallowed entry to the party HQ on Lloyd’s Road. Breaking that unity was key to the reunion that Sasikala was dreaming of. She was able to force a crack through her old scheming ways, favouritism and heroine-worship based politics. DMK’s success in the recent state assemblies, came after the 2019 debacle when just one MP, OPS’s son, was elected. AIADMK swept the remaining 38 Lok Sabha seats in the state, then also ruling the roost in the state legislature. In the 2021 assembly polls EPS-OPS were not totally wiped out but, local body polls saw a decisive sweep by the DMK, prompting the need for a united AIADMK. That may, however, mean a big loss for EPS, not so much for OPS, who was Chinamma’s choice for acting CM whenever Jaya had to eschew the gaddi.
A fake Instagram post, its origins possibly in India, threatened Australian cricketer Ashton Agar with a message to his partner. It is believed the post was aimed at scaring the Australian cricket team that is touring Pakistan after 24 years and which is scheduled to hold its first practice session on Wednesday (March 2). The social media message was assessed as not credible. The post – “Your children will miss their Father if he comes to Pakistan. Our snipers will blow his head” — was clearly wrong as Agar and his partner have no children. Security agencies analysed it and assured the Aussies that there was nothing to fear. Having lost the New Zealand tourists on the day of their first scheduled international match last year, the Pakistan security establishment will put in place a 4,000 strong police cordon around the Aussies for the 3-Test, 3-ODIs and one T20I series. Pakistan-born Australian Test batsman Usman Khwaja brings a unique flavour to the tour as he visits his country of birth and where he has relatives. But the tour bio-bubble rules are so strict that he may not get to meet them. A successful tour for Australia, known to be very fussy about security in Asia, may generate hope in Pakistan that Team India also travel there soon.
The bookmakers’ odds is one barometer to predict poll outcomes. Their dynamically fluid odds are to be taken under extreme caution, changing as they do by the minute depending on inputs or, even the sheer weight of money at stake. Without exit polls in the currently extended election schedules, bookies are the best guide to assess likely poll outcomes. Bookies had tipped BJP as favourites to retain Uttar Pradesh but, odds had indicated a sharp climb down for the ruling party from the 2017 high of 325 seats to a mere 150 wins. First phase polls (two rounds) in western UP, which had the party worried, did not fare as badly as earlier projections said and the BJP now expects to win 225-plus seats. The Punjab odds have changed and expect a closer fight, uncertain of a clear Congress majority, though the party will likely win the Uttarakhand polls clearly, say bookies. Going by the odds, Goa is also too close to call though bookies slightly favour BJP over the Congress while Manipur is yet to vote. The bookies’ assessment may not be crystal clear on sure winners but provide a good enough poll prediction.
The Indian cricket field will soon witness a major turf war of a different kind, a battle for media and digital rights. Amazon and Reliance Industries, two corporate majors locked in a head-on battle for physical shopping space in Future Retail, will also flex their muscles to bid for the 2023-2027 IPL rights. Valuations have breached the stratosphere already with talk of bids reaching $7 billion dollars and, many other giants ready to do battle as well. The previous 5-year cycle that attracted a consolidated Rs 16,347.5 crore from Star-Disney ends with the 15th IPL featuring 10 teams and more matches than were on offer under the 8-team format. Disney-owned Star India may have to reach deep into its pockets to take on the global e-commerce giant Amazon with its Prime Video OTT pay channel, even as India’s industry and commerce behemoth Reliance, with a broadcasting arm in Viacom18, opens up its considerable war chest to bid for what is seen in broadcasting as an everyday Super Bowl with a 2.5 billion worldwide audience. The BCCI may unbundle the TV and digital rights. IPL has probably already factored in its Rs 7,000 crore a year rights earnings, which is believable as cricket is king in India and IPL dishes out magical live sport entertainment.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin would like to be a player on the national scene but, on his own terms. While his ambition to the Deputy Prime Minister’s post isn’t a secret anymore, the Tamil Nadu CM won’t pursue it unless ally Congress fits into the scheme of things. Stalin feels Mamata Banerjee is no national leader, not KCR, Uddhav Thackeray or, Pinarayi Vijayan either. Stalin will only play ball if Congress is in the loop. After openly promoting Rahul Gandhi’s PM candidature before the 2019 polls, Stalin will not abandon him and his party. Stalin looks at Mamata Didi’s national front initiative as a meeting of non-BJP CMs in New Delhi to forge unity for a combined national opposition ahead of the 2024 polls. Stalin is convinced on Congress’ national party status and, cling to its coattails forgetting old grievances against Indira Gandhi for sacking the DMK government and put Stalin in jail under MISA, no more relevant after decades of built-up friendship. He sees no non-BJP, non-Congress front possibly gaining national ascendancy. While he seeks a national role, while placing his son on the TN CM’s seat at Fort St George, Stalin will only do so provided the Congress joins the political front..
The timing was too convenient for it to be a random decision. The moment the polls were over in Western UP where the Samajwadi Party is more popular, all curbs on poll rallies were gone. A BJP insider concedes that it was planned like this so as not to give any ground to SP, which might have been able to gather big crowds at rallies in its stronghold. It would have been bad optics for the ruling BJP if the opposition was seen displaying its popular appeal while the party struggled to get crowds for its star campaigner in Prime Minister Narendra Modi in eastern UP. The moment the vote got over in the first phase of the UP polls on February 10, the Election Commission convinced itself that Covid was no more a threat and that rallies and road shows were allowed in all the five states going to the polls. The BJP, with sufficient pull in the central and eastern parts of UP to be able to match SP in crowd-pulling rallies, was at it again with rallies and meetings taking over from virtual campaigns starring the PM and the UP CM. The party with the biggest funding for elections was back to dominate the scene with a pliant EC back in its comfort zone backing the ruling forces.
There is great news for coffee drinkers, bombarded for years by their brothers and sisters on the other side of the coffee-tea divide and, all they heard was about the health benefits of tea, the cup that cheers but not inebriate. The findings from a large research group of 4.70 lakh people over 11 years suggests that coffee could help you live longer. Scientists not only know how many cups per day of beans to cup coffee are best but have also found out that three cups of ground coffee a day is the best. The findings also suggest that decaffeinated coffee gives almost as much benefit while not so in the case of instant coffee. Moderate coffee drinkers who take up to three cups of ground coffee a day are 12% less likely to die too soon and, 17 to 21% less likely to die from heart disease or stroke, according to a study by the Semmelweis University in Budapest and Queen Mary University, London. The benefits are only partly due to caffeine containing antioxidants while other chemicals play a larger role. The focus of the study was on the effect of coffee on cardiovascular health. But higher coffee intake was also found linked to cause cardiovascular mortality. So, do drink up to three cups a day without guilt.
The power of the player lords over cricket. It destroyed the coaching career of Justin Langer right after the team, under his charge, had won the T20 World Cup as well as the Ashes. Pat Cummins’ team won in double quick time and in the third Test, were only a wicket away from imposing another whitewash over England. Cricket Australia was bowing down to player power when it virtually forced Langer to resign. In England, Captain Joe Root kept his job despite the poor Test record but head coach Chris Silverwood, who held sway in all selection matters, got the sack. So too did the director of England men’s cricket, Ashley Giles. The opposite may hold true in Indian cricket when Virat Kohli was forced to throw in the captaincy but, then again, the force behind his ouster was former player Sourav Ganguly, now the influential head of the all too powerful BCCI administration. It may be recalled that Anil Kumble was sacked, on the wishes of the captain and players (just like Langer was), for being too intense with his coaching style. Player power is at an apogee in modern day cricket and signals the complete shift from the old days, when the administration could sack anyone at will. Whether that is good or bad, only time will tell.
The Tamil Nadu political landscape will wear a different look from now on with staunch allies of the post-Jayalalithaa era – AIADMK and BJP – going it alone. The break did not seem momentous because it occurred just before the urban local body polls but its implications are wide-ranging. The cadres of both parties wanted the split to happen with AIADMK party members wishing to test the theory that they would have done far better had they stood alone in the Assembly polls of April 2021 and the BJP cadre believing that they have greater support in certain urban areas that can be brought out only if they stood independent of AIADMK. An insider suggests that the ties will remain politically but will not stretch to elections anymore. This was the Jaya doctrine by which she chose to steer clear of the national BJP in 2016 despite her friendship with Narendra Modi. Her successors had no way of showing such independence as the party bigwigs needed New Delhi’s support to keep clear of any probes into their finances and the BJP needed all the votes they could garner in the Rajya Sabha where they don’t command a majority. The results of the local body polls this month will show where the AIADMK and the BJP stand in the minds of voters.
In the course of a momentous year we broke the story that the former cricket head honcho N Srinivasan was prepared to give up control over Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) as he had other battles to fight. Soon, his daughter resigned as President citing other commitments and it confirmed our story that Srinivasan had given the TNCA reins to DMK for a quid pro quo. In what is a done deal, it is up to TN Chief Minister MK Stalin to decide who will head TNCA – his son-in-law Sabareesh or the young gun in his party who is already in TNCA. In a battle with the corporate raider Radhakishan Damani, Srinivasan would need the help of the ruling party to ensure it is not a hostile takeover of India Cements. What he needs most is the Chennai Super Kings, the billion-dollar baby he always knew would bring him plenty of trouble in cricket because of a conflict of interests and he would like his daughter Rupa to be the honcho there. What makes India Cements ripe for a corporate raid is the cross-ownership of CSK through a shareholders’ trust. There are complications like some residences of top honchos or parts of them in the Tony Boat Club area in Chennai being in ICL’s name. Will the raider not be interested in the exposure CSK would bring him than cement factories? There are interesting times ahead when this story unravels.
It would be most ironic if a businessman of Indian origin were to become the Prime Minister of Britain. A payback for three centuries of rule by the East India Company and the queens and kings of England, some might say. Rishi Sunak, son-in-law of India’s tech czar NR Narayana Murthy of Infosys, and Chancellor during the difficult pandemic years, was the bookie’s favourite to take over from Boris Johnson if the latter were to be called to account by Tory MPs. Sunak, whose image has been taking a beating lately because of runaway inflation and high taxes, was considered to be ahead of Liz Truss, the foreign minister, as he had picked up a reputation for smart management of the economy when he unfurled big spending support when the pandemic raged. But his lukewarm support of his beleaguered Prime Minister during the ‘Partygate’ scandal may not have impressed many. But Liz took off to Australia while Sunak sat by BoJo’s side during a difficult PMQ hour in Parliament. One of the richest MPs whose business links might come in for scrutiny if he vaults into the top job, Sunak is in for a big fight with Liz. An influential Indian origin community in Britain would be rooting for him.
The Rahuls are the ones in charge of transition as Team India moves on from the Virat Kohli era. KL, the opener-captain of the ODI team, and Dravid, the coach, will be ushering in the fresh start. The alarm bells must be ringing in those who were given a long rope when Shastri-Kohli were in charge. Work ethic will have a very high value. There will be no more pampering of seniors and whenever Test matches come along both Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara can expect no more favours. Rishabh Pant may have got a renewed lease of life with his classy century marked by great discipline at the crease but he too can expect none of the old licence with Dravid in charge. Total commitment to the team cause would be the new mantra and anyone fed a false sense of confidence will know that everyone will be on trial from here on. Dravid will be the toughest task master because he was a cricketer who drove himself on in his career and his Karnataka mate Lokesh would know that very well. Committed cricketers will have a better chance as performance will count for more than players strutting about on their assumed potential. A new Team India is in the making.
The sports broadcaster SuperSport of South Africa is in the crosshairs after an “impossible” replay reprieved skipper Dean Elgar when he seemed plumb in front to off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the Cape Town Test. Visiting teams are accustomed to facing hostility from various quarters but a telecaster is an additional one on tours of South Africa. Known for commentators who are cheerleaders for the home team, SuperSport is, however, not in charge of the technology of replays that is outsourced to a technical company and whose feed is made available to the match referee and TV. On an early tour of South Africa, Kepler Wessels shocked the cricket world by swiping his bat across Kapil Dev’s shins after taking his first run. There was a huge brouhaha about it and conveniently, the host broadcaster said it had no replays to show because the cameras had been on the blink. As excuses went, that was the weakest one but the South Africans, rabid supporters of their own, were quite smug about it. It is moot whether the host broadcaster can influence the replays which have predictive elements to them but the Indians let the world know what they thought of it by using the stump microphones strategically. And KL Rahul went the farthest with his cutting comment – “Whole country is playing against 11 guys.” The occasion probably deserved it.
The England Test cricket captain Joe Root has decided to stay in the job beyond the Ashes series till he can groom a successor, it is learnt. His resignation was thought likely after his team lost the Ashes 3-0 in double quick time halfway during the third Test. But he has thought it through and believes he has to put up his hand to ensure he passes on the baton to the right player. Ben Stokes, who was being groomed for the captaincy, does not want the burden. He is a multi-format cricketer who is in great demand in IPL. He is also just back from a break to tend to his mental stress problems and would much rather be the star all-rounder contributing to the team cause rather than bearing the additional responsibility of leading the team. Root, like Virat Kohli, is a committed Test cricketer who had an extraordinary year of success in 2021 when he became Test cricket’s third highest scorer in a calendar year after Mohammad Yousuff (1,788) and Viv Richards (1,710) with 1,708 runs. He also had reason to somewhat celebrate his team’s escape in Sydney when they were nine down while managing to draw. He has declared his intention to keep facing the challenge of Test captaincy after the final Ashes Test in Hobart this week.
The world’s greatest tennis player Novak Djokovic is holed up in an immigration detention hotel in Melbourne that is famous for serving maggot-infested food and mouldy bread. The experience of being hauled through the coals for his beliefs may not, however, knock any sense into the Serbian who has been susceptible to all kinds of quackery in his life. He believes that his breathing trouble from gluten intolerance was solved by a quack who held slices of bread on his stomach and used kinesiological arm testing as a diagnostic tool. A great believer in alternative medicine, he once copied a page from Chinese traditional medicine that said – “Each organ in our bodies is undergoing repair in roughly this order: Lungs 3-5 am, Large intestine 5-7 am, Stomach 7-9 am…” The lover of nature and seeker after truth considers a Brazilian fig tree in the Fitzroy Park near Tennis Australia as his best friend in Australia. He once supported a quack on his Instagram Live Channel selling bottles of Advanced Brain Nutrients for $50 a bottle. It is curious that a professional athlete of his standing would believe in such mumbo-jumbo but not trust science enough to take a Covid vaccine that is doing so much for public health around a world beset by a coronavirus pandemic for more than two years now. “No vax, no entry” might be the verdict in his case.
The reasons for Rupa Gurunath’s resignation as President of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) run deeper than the BCCI resolution citing a conflict of interest. This is one of the battles former BCCI and ICC chief honcho N Srinivasan is fighting to retain control over his billion-dollar brand — CSK. Earlier, Radhakishan Damania of DMart fame picked up a nearly 20% stake in India Cements. Was it to wrest control? Currently held by Indian Cements Shareholders Group Trust, CSK would become vulnerable if Srini is unable to ward off raids on India Cements. His plan is to move daughter Rupa to a key post in CSK after restructuring its ownership so that the IPL franchise stays in the family, regardless of developments in India Cements’ shareholding pattern. There is still a lot of fight left in the old cricket lover and corporate czar who once fought a pitched battle to wrest back control of the cement company with the help of Murasoli Maran. But if the tide turns against him, Srini would rather keep CSK in the family and leave the TNCA presidency to the DMK first family. V Sabareesan, the son-in-law of Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, is one of the frontrunners for the post after it was found that son Udhayanidhi was ineligible as he holds public office as an MLA.
Some of the sharpest questions are being asked by one of their own but the BJP will not move against Varun Gandhi unless and until the big two take it up. To have a Gandhi name in the party was seen as a prized trophy when Maneka Gandhi, the estranged daughter-in-law of Sonia Gandhi, moved over to the saffron camp. While she has taken to staying off the limelight her son is making up for various insults to his mother by speaking up boldly on issues. His question on the paradox of polls in pandemic times contains such logic as to defy retorts. He asks if it is not ridiculous to impose curfew at night in Uttar Pradesh, one of five States heading to the polls in 2022, while rallies comprising thousands of cadre, party workers and the general public are attending poll rallies by day. With Covid cases going up in the State which has the most impact on who may get to rule in New Delhi after the general elections of 2024, UP has hit upon curfews to try and stop its fragile healthcare system from being overwhelmed. The EC is to take a call soon on polls in 2022 but word is it will only ask for a special vaccination drive in the poll-bound states where Omicron cases are still in very low numbers. Meanwhile a young BJP Gandhi is proving to be a cat among the pigeons.
It’s nostalgia time as the splendidly made movie 83 starring Ranveer Singh recaptures the spirit of India’s greatest cricketing achievement, which was to dethrone the two-time World Cup winners West Indies at Lord’s. The 83 World Cup team members, with only the departed Yashpal Sharma absent, gathered to celebrate the great moment again ahead of the film’s release on December 24. The one unanswered question that remains about the morning of the match against Zimbabwe in Tunbridge Wells is about why Kapil Dev chose to bat. Recalling the day, journalist R Mohan who was the only reporter from India who watched all the India matches in that World Cup, said he was the most nervous person at the picturesque Tunbridge Wells ground in Kent because he had spoken to Kapil before the toss and may have unwittingly prompted the decision to bat by speaking of how the Net Run Rate might improve if India got in and put up a 300-run total. Kapil, who said the wicket was wet – “thoda geela hai” – still chose to bat and soon was in with the scoreboard reading 9-4. It was soon 17-5 and he went on to craft one of the greatest fightback innings in limited-overs cricket history with his 175*, India’s first ever ODI century. That innings transformed the team into believing it could achieve anything and it went on to beat the world champs within a week beating Australia, England and the mighty West Indies.
The firebrand Navjot Sidhu is on the warpath again. He has seized upon the two incidents of sacrilege and subsequent lynchings as his ticket to dominating the Punjab poll scene. Amid the silence of Punjab’s political faces over the two lynchings, Sidhu is demanding public execution for those accused of desecrating religious texts. Sidhu knows this is a topic on which opposing political parties can tread only softly as they can’t be seen justifying lynching in a civilized country. The space is thus open for the Congress chief Sidhu to exploit the emotions that are attached to anyone playing the fool with religion and attempting sacrilege by attacking the holy text. Sidhu is alleging a “conspiracy against one community” and that fundamentalist forces are trying to disturb peace in Punjab. He had made an issue of the inaction over past attempts at the desecration of the Granth Saheb against which the government had not acted in time with due prosecution. Sidhu made it his plank against the then Congress CM Captain Amarinder Singh and dethroned him and got Charanjit Singh Channi installed. The CM has slammed the alleged sacrilege attempts but, chosen to remain silent on the lynchings. Sidhu has no qualms about it. He is virtually giving a license to the public to go after sacrilege while giving lip service to making laws stringent with a death sentence for sacrilege.
After raiding 69 premises linked to P Thangamani, a former AIADMK minister of Tamil Nadu, the Directorate of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption (DVAC) revealed that the minister, his son, and kin had made huge investments in cryptocurrency. This must be a first in India in the world of investments from ill gotten money. While it is common enough for I-T raids to unearth huge investments in gold and properties across the State, assets in newfangled cryptocurrency, Bitcoins, and the like which have been unearthed lends a new dimension to the sophistication of those who find themselves showered with new riches. Tamil Nadu has always been suspected to run openly corrupt governments in which ministers and their offspring have made huge money from deal-making and fixing contracts for government contractors and suppliers. It is no secret that TN regimes led to many Dravidian politicians making quick money, as is evidenced in huge properties and assets being taken over by ED or I-T after raids on politicians once they lose power. Protests hinting at revenge politics in DVAC raids by succeeding governments mean little because disproportionate assets are in black & white and show a trail of corruption. It is suspected to be even more so in electricity purchases to make up for the deficiency in production because the kickbacks every summer are said to be huge.
Justice Krishnaswamy Chandru is in the limelight after the critically acclaimed movie Jai Bhim, based on the human rights abuse case that he handled to expose police brutality in Tamil Nadu, is not popular with the judges of the Andhra Pradesh high court at the moment. A division bench of the AP high court was up in arms about comments made by the outspoken retired judge who is championing public causes in his speeches these days. Speaking at an event in Andhra recently, Justice Chandru had said, “We need judges who will protect the rights of the people. Now, what do we see in AP? Today, an elected government is fighting for survival not from rivals, not from political rivals or mass movements, but from the judiciary itself!’’ He had gone on to say that the judiciary, whose duty is to defend the rights of the people, “is doing something different, which is not expected.” The AP HC chief justice blamed the celebrity without naming him, saying remarks made against the judiciary were just to be in the limelight. Why should a judge from another state come to Andhra and make comments on the functioning of the court, the CJ asked. He explained that contempt of court proceedings are not being contemplated now in consideration of the judge’s contribution to the judiciary in the past.
Word is out already that Virat Kohli is ready to step down as Test captain at the end of the tour of South Africa. He is disappointed at the way things have turned out as he was stripped of the ODI captaincy, which he wished to retain. He had given up the T20 captaincy of his own volition but without realising that was signal enough for the selectors to split the captaincy and empower Rohit Sharma with the white ball captaincy. The aura around Kohli was lost after India was wiped out of the T20 World Cup after losing to Pakistan and New Zealand. He was no more the Kohli who was in command along with Ravi Shastri when taking India into the World Test championship. Losing that was bad enough and the abandoning of the England Test series meant he could not even claim victory there though India was leading 2-1. This is a judgment call by the selectors. Kohli just can’t read the white ball game quickly enough to make a difference in fast-paced games when mental agility is called for. The laidback Test match format might be more his cup of tea but in a world moving on to the instant delights of T20 there is no patience left. Kohli’s reign was great in some ways, but it has ended with no ICC trophies in the bag.
DMK leader Kanimozhi has found her voice again. She upbraided the Centre for inequitable distribution of taxes from the central pool while pointing out that the system was blatantly unfair to southern states, particularly Tamil Nadu. Since share of taxes is linked to State population, the progressive southern States, which promoted family planning and controlled the population for five decades from the 1970s, is suffering, she said. This was an unusual outburst as the DMK has been taking the pragmatic line that it will not be openly antagonistic of the Centre. It has told leaders below the top deck to go easy on political criticism and stick to elaborating any charge with facts and figures. Even in Parliament, the DMK, while being very much part of the UPA alliance led by the Congress, has been playing it soft. During the ruckus that saw Congress take on the ruling party in Parliament in the winter session, the DMK was not unduly demonstrative but joined the walkout whenever the alliance required it. Unlike the TRS MPs who were prominent in the well of the House, DMK members were content to stay seated while scoring debating points. Kani’s criticism does of course follow the release of the findings of the national family survey which proves the point about fertility rate and fall in population in the South.
Rumours are flying thick and fast that Udhayanidhi Stalin might be in the running to head the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA). It might be a long term plan as elections are only in the 2022 summer but heading a cricket body is a route that many young politicians have been known to take to gain popularity and a bit of national prominence. Remember both Narendra Modi and Amit Shah were presidents of the Gujarat Cricket Association and Shah’s son has gone further to become the all-powerful BCCI secretary. N Srinivasan is not one to give away such a prized post that remains now in his family with his daughter Rupa heading the TNCA. He is very close to the DMK top brass after years-long association with ‘Murasoli’ Maran. But, after years of fighting a losing battle with the Supreme Court, NS had to give up the BCCI presidency, formal ownership of Chennai Super Kings as well as step down from TNCA. To cement his position as South India’s leading cement manufacturer, NS might loosen his grip on TNCA to allow the CM’s son an entry into the glamorous world of cricket with its Bollywood and corporate links. After all, Udhayanidhi’s grandfather M Karunanidhi was a keen cricket fan who never missed a Pongal Test at Chepauk in the old days.
Lionel Messi won a record seventh Ballon d’Or to add to further his reputation as one of the world’s greatest footballers ever and young German Robert Lewandowski was runner-up. The highly regarded Oscar of football was a prize Messi thoroughly deserved this year after having led Argentina to the Copa America title. Having believed the 2019 prize could be his last, Messi said he was, however, not surprised after Argentina’s victory over Brazil in the final. Messi’s contemporary, long term rival and five-time winner, Cristiano Ronaldo was also the centre of attention. He made public his feud with Pascal Ferre, the editor-in-chief of France Football whose organisation oversees the star-studded ceremony. Ferre had told the New York Times in an interview that Ronaldo’s only remaining ambition was to win more Ballon D’Ors than Messi. Ronaldo contested the claim that he had told Ferre so. He reiterated that his only goals are to do with his country and club and to be a good example for all those who are or want to be professional footballers. Ronaldo signed off saying he likes to win for himself and his teams and not win against anyone. He also resented Ferre’s suggestion that Ronaldo did not attend the event because of quarantine rules. He conveyed sportingly his best wishes to the winner.
Tamil Nadu would like to believe it is the home of white ball cricket. Ever since MS Dhoni took up residence here in 2008 with the advent of IPL, the State has picked up the glamour formats as its favourites, with T20 taking the pride of place. But when chasing 152 to keep the title, the defending champions had fallen behind in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final. That was when they found a hero in Sharukh Khan, not of silver screen fame but of the ‘last ball six’ club. Needing five, the 26-year old batter moved his front foot out and made room to clear square leg and Tamil Nadu became the first team to win the T20 trophy thrice. Another chapter in the reputed Karnataka-Tamil Nadu rivalry had ended on a dramatic note in New Delhi but it appeared Karnataka had the upper hand when 16 were required off the last over bowled by seamer Prateek. It was up to another “finisher” in Dhoni fashion to settle the issue and bring another trophy home to TNCA which had just finished celebrating Chennai Super Kings’ victory in IPL 2021 with a grand public show at its Chepauk Stadium and the CM MK Stalin in attendance as well as Kapil Dev, Krish Srikkanth and Ravi Shastri from the World Cup winning team of 1983.
Ravichandran Ashwin has a lot to say within his circle. He can be vociferous at team meetings because he loves to discuss things and dissect ideas. But he is best when he lets the cricket ball do the talking. Which is what he did in the first T20i when he starred with the white ball in a match-changing over taking out New Zealander’s Mark Chapman and getting the dangerous Glenn Philips to scotch the visitors’ hopes of a 170-plus total that could have challenged Team India. What Ashwin’s deeds with the ball have done since he was reluctantly brought into the side as an afterthought in the T20 World Cup after India had been virtually eliminated was to expose the prejudiced view of Virat Kohli towards off spin in general and against its leading proponent Ashwin in particular. Having decided that wrist spin was the answer to counter the big hitters in T20 cricket, the Kohli-Shastri duo had dumped Ashwin four years ago from white ball cricket and then simply refused to admit they could have been wrong even after the novelty of wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav had worn off. It is a tribute to Ashwin that he never gave up on honing his white ball skills. It is his good fortune that Team India is making a fresh start with a new captain and coach.
Virat Kohli leaves behind a stirring record as captain in international T20 matches but without a single IPL win with Royal Challengers, Bangalore. His record in bilateral series is quite phenomenal and he won away T20i series in New Zealand (5-0), Australia (2-1), England (2-1) and South Africa (2-1), besides countless series at home and in Sri Lanka. The blot on his record book is to do with there being no ICC event victories under him. This may denote not only Team India’s failures in these high-profile events but also Kohli’s inability to inspire his team in high-pressure situations when the bowling intensity of opposing teams is far higher. Kohli’s prejudices as captain in selection situations abroad when his sway in picking the playing XI is highest tended to tell but more relevant was his tactical failures in tricky match situations in which MS Dhoni excelled with his instinctive decisions. For instance, in his first big final in the Champions Trophy of 2017 his bowlers lost control to Pakistan batsmen in the early overs and fell to heavy defeat. The story was to repeat in the chase in the 50-overs World Cup of 2019 and the World Test Championship final in both of which India lost to New Zealand. Best to say, critics won’t be sorry to see him relinquish the white ball captaincy.
The selfless ways of thousands of workers who rose to deal with the emergency created by a couple of days of extraordinary rainfall in Chennai came in for high praise. This was a redeeming feature of life as the Tamil Nadu capital was inundated incommoding the lives of lakhs of people. The one who stood out as thousands of relief workers toiled to take on the conditions rendered extremely difficult by the rain and water-logging was Police Inspector Rajeshwari. She saved a man in a cemetery who was injured by a falling tree by carrying him on her shoulder and running to the road to try and hire an auto rickshaw to ferry him to a government hospital. She became an internet sensation as her response to a situation beyond the call of duty was recorded on a mobile and made it nationally. Known to be committed to social service while working in the police force, she had been awarded medals for her dedication. There were also many a nameless worker who waded into the water to rescue people, handle electricity problems and outages, man row boats and dinghies to offer help to the stranded and strove to bring back a semblance of normalcy so people could manage to live through a city in the grip of a crisis caused by a natural disaster.
The head honchos of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been collaborating on keeping the alarmists at bay over the Mullaperiyar Dam issue. The States are at loggerheads over the permissible height of water storage in the dam with Kerala wishing to build a new dam and take the 125-year-old dam out of the equation even as TN insists on its water rights from a perennial treaty. Alarmists are having a field day spreading rumours of impending disaster even as the opposition AIADMK is whipping up a campaign on TN’s water rights. The CMs are seeing reason in a tense scenario. The Supreme Court may have said the dam is safe and water can be stored upto 142 feet. Taking into consideration the fear of Keralites living below the dam in Idukki district, TN is keeping the water level only at 139 feet or less. The irrigation and drinking water needs of TN’s southern districts may be great but they will not be met by endangering the safety of a dam that stops a west-flowing river to take the water eastwards through giant pipes from the dam built by British engineer Penniquick who pledged his wife’s jewels to complete the work on his limestone masterpiece that has stood the test of time.
Team India is facing the classic do-or-die situation in the T20 World Cup. Failure to beat New Zealand in Dubai on Sunday (October 31) would mean elimination as other results are expected to go by the form book. A couple of changes in the playing XI are bound to be there for the key game. India is grappling with two major problems in its bowling. The woes go beyond how flat the bowling looked against Pakistan because of the heavy dew factor. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was seen to be too ineffective, so too the mystery finger spinner Varun Chakravorty. An interesting thing to look out for would be whether the team would be wise enough to accept its bowling failures and reinforce the attack with Shardul Thakur coming in for Bhuvi and Ravi Ashwin for Varun. It may be time for skipper Virat Kohli to keep aside any prejudices against Ashwin and play him in the hope that his cleverness can help get over the conditions if Team India are forced to defend a total again at night. And then the question of bringing in in-form batsman Ishan Kishan remains but will the team dump Surya Kumar Yadav and play Kishan? Hardik Pandya’s place can’t be assured if he can’t turn his arm over.
Indian Premier League (IPL), an estimated $7 billion property, became richer by close to $1.5 billion as the bids for two new teams touched Rs 12,715 crore. Kolkata-based Sanjiv Goenka, who had owned the Pune IPL team for two years, bid a phenomenal Rs 7,090 crore and chose the AB Vajpayee stadium in Lucknow as his team’s base while CVC Capital, a US firm which was running Formula 1 racing till recently, got India’s biggest stadium in Ahmedabad. Annually, the new team bids would fetch an additional Rs 1,200 crore to BCCI for next 10 years. But does shelling out so much money as a team’s franchise fee make business sense? Goenka thinks so, though industry estimates put prospective losses at around Rs 350 crore per year for the Lucknow franchise even if the team gets Rs 350 crore from the IPL central pool. IPL figures show that teams are currently earning around Rs 200 crore a year from central pool, Rs 100 crore from gate collection besides sponsorship and merchandising. The profitability prospects for the teams are likely to brighten with the next IPL media rights auction – and they could be big winners in the valuation game with individual IP teams rated as high as $1 billion. But, experts hold that the new teams may have to withstand losses even if the future share of central pool revenues is higher when the new IPL bidding cycle for media rights kick in.
The electric car maker and space enthusiast Elon Musk is on course to become the world’s first trillionaire. Analysts at investment banks are going gaga over the prospect of a trillionaire on earth as Tesla raced to a record quarter with revenues of $13.8 billion and profits of $3.7 billion despite a global chip shortage cramping car production. The potential of Musk’s rocket company SpaceX places Musk in pole position for gathering wealth to a stupendous trillion dollars. Thanks to its surging share price which went up by 18% just this year, Tesla is still the main driver behind Musk’s wealth whereas SpaceX comprises only around 17% of his $241.4bn fortune, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index. While SpaceX comprises multiple different companies, from earth observation and space infrastructure to deep-space exploration and other industries, his satellite communications business Starlink is behind a $200-billion valuation estimate. It is almost like Star Wars now as satellite broadband market players are launching satellite constellations that will blanket the earth with high-speed connections. Tomorrow’s broadband is likely to come down to earth from satellites, replacing expensive optic fibre cable laying. The race for number one ranking on the personal wealth index is loaded in favour of Musk who has made so many sunrise industries viable, most of all the Tesla electric car that the world laughed at when it made its debut.
The de facto head honcho of Chennai Super Kings summed it up all by saying “Dhoni is CSK and CSK is Dhoni.” That is how much Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain with the magic touch, has captivated the IPL franchise as well as its host city. Dhoni might appear to be well over the hill but T20’s short duration gives him a chance to keep himself in the thick of action as wicket-keeper and a batsman who can finish a game with just his experience and the awesome power of his willow when he connects. Dhoni would love to have an emotional farewell season at CSK as a player and the team is willing to use its first available retention card to keep him out of the general auction pool. It’s only the lack of clarity on player retention for IPL-15 that keeps the guessing games going. In his 12 seasons with CSK in which time he led them into nine finals winning four, Dhoni has become a fixture of the franchise and the host city where his once famous night rides on super bikes kept cops on tenterhooks. Chennai’s favourite son will be seen in canary yellow as a player again and we have the word of vice chairman & MD of India Cements, N Srinivasan, for it.
Not for nothing is he known as Captain Cool. CSK coach Stephen Fleming said that Dhoni had that look in his eye which said: “I will take this on.” In the match against Delhi Capitals on October 10, Dhoni went out to bat with that intent when 24 were needed off the last two overs even if he wasn’t in the best of nick. That didn’t mean anything though as Dhoni dispatched the ball to the fence whenever it was within his sight and reach. That sight and reach may have dimmed or shortened but it didn’t matter as Dhoni made 18 off six balls and miraculously led his CSK into a ninth final in just 12 seasons — Remember his team was banned for two years. Dhoni never explains what he does at the batting crease. There were several revelations: “I wasn’t thinking too much. If you think too much while batting then you mess your plans up.” Also, Dhoni revealed a Sehwag-like code to batting, “My plan was simple, see the ball, hit the ball.” Dhoni can make that Sehwag plan seem even simpler while captaining too as he backed his bowlers even on a hard day when the ball was flying all around like when Hetmeyer and Pant were batting. But nothing is beyond Dhoni, the magician, not when it comes to the finish.
TRENDS & VIEWS
Editor’s Note: Big Punch In Small Pack
It is the Third Anniversary of Short Post and as a news media startup launched during the Covid-19 pandemic it certainly feels better than good to find ourselves where we are today. Here, I must cite the unstinted support of our seasoned contributors, all senior editors in the country, who brought a great degree of maturity and sagacity to the Short Post newsroom. But for them, our tagline “Authentic Gossip”, an Oxymoron, would not have matured viably. Our user numbers may be small but our stories have created the desired impact among people who matter — decision makers and influencers. We offer a big punch in a small pack and Short Post with its 225-word stories has been punching above its weight category. Having posted close to 3,000 stories in the last 36 months, Short Post, I feel, is an idea whose time has come.
And this is vindicated by our two marquee advertisers – IDFC FIRST Bank and ICICI Lombard. Both believed in our story and have supported us from Day one. A big thank you to both.
If you look at the media landscape – print, TV and digital — it is a mixed bag. There are job losses as some outfits have closed down while a lucky few were bailed out by large corporate houses. Yes, there is a lot of action in the digital space. However, the entry of corporate houses has raised the question of independence of news media outfits. Sadly, there are just a handful of independent media outfits in the country that are highly respected for their neutrality. At Short Post, our credo is not to take sides, prejudge issues or be biased but, informing readers of behind-the-scenes happenings. In essence, Short Post strives to be a neutral editorial platform — neither anti-establishment nor pro-establishment.
As I said last year, disruptions in the media world are moving at a fast and furious pace. Technology is playing a very big role in how content is generated and consumed. But, we are neither alarmed nor perturbed as it is all a part of the evolution process. What gives us comfort is that AI is unable to create original gossipy content. And that is the news arena where we have achieved a distinction.