Ameya Paleja

Gambling in India is not uncommon. The rightful of Pandu's sons gambled with their wife and kingdom. Shopkeeper's gamble everyday with what they stock and what should be thrown out. The stock exchanges are sophisticated and to a certain extent calculated gambles, a man makes. Travelling on the footboard of a bus or a train, college youth and even 50 year old uncles, gamble with their lives everyday in India.  Gambling with money, although very common, is a taboo in our country. People, from all strata of the society gamble with money every day. An unverified and therefore inaccurate report states that the ' matka' gambling business in Mumbai has a turnover of about 1000 crores on a monthly basis. This number is inaccurate and the actual figure is very likely to be greater than 1k crores. Indians have gambled on cotton rates in the New York cotton market, then, the-then-called, Bombay cotton exchange, moving to horse-racing (which is legal) and the sport that binds the

Long before the supermarkets made their way into the our economy, the 'baniya' was the man you would trust. Inspite of his tampered weigh-scale and adulterated chilly powder, women (who continue to be the decision makers of the household, irrespective of the times we live in) had this unshakable belief that the 'baniya' would provide the purest form of the item they had asked for. It took little time for the people to move to the mall culture. Big Bazaars and Megamarts struck at the right time and expanded to all major hubs of business in the country. Goods were sold at unbelievable prices and parking around these 'market-places'(It actually is just a big bazaar... someday I will write a page of criticism for the chain) was impossible to find. Shopping bags were now filled with things you bought either to try or because they were ' on-offer '. The essentials were still being sourced from the local store. Major business houses woke from their slumber an

With the election results out, the government has wasted no time to hike the prices of petrol across the country. A commodity that increased once the pace of our life, is now rapidly making a niche for itself in the ' luxury market '. There is no blame game, nor is this a blog to say that the government does not care for the common man. Fuel price hikes are global. I have championed the move of deregulation of prices for quite some time now. Today, when the prices of a litre reaches Rs 71, there is definitely a cause for concern. Common concerns will be the imminent call for a strike from our auto-wallahs, unannounced and unnoticed by the media hike in bus fares, helpless and mandatory deeper holes in your pocket when you fill up your vehicle. But, when I came across the news of the hike today, my immediate concern was the prevalent ignorance of our countrymen and willingness to shell more rather than change habits. No matter how many jokes are cracked about the bicycle bei

Lyrics and Guitar chords for Sona's song.... Abhi Nahi Aana... D A Abhi nahi aana sajana X2, G A Mohe thoda marne de G A Intezar karne de D A Abhi nahin aana sajana Stanza: D G Bhejiyo sandesha A Aap nahin aana D G Thode door rahke A Mohe tarsana E D A Abhi to mein chahun, sari sari raat jagana Abhi nahi anna sajana....... (Chorus) Remaining stanza's go the same way..... Lyrics are below: Ruk ruk aana Dheere dheere chalna Bhoolna dagaria, raste badalna Nahi abhi mohe,garwa nahi hey lagna Abhi na jagaoh Bane raho sapna Abhi san-mukh na lawo mukh apna Abhi to mein chahun, aass lagaye rakhna. Suggestions and comments are welcome.... I will try and reply when I can...

On my way to work this morning, I saw a man, say 30 years old, waiting on the road. He had a back-pack and kept looking at something above usual sight and making notes. While some may think, he was crazy and was counting stars at 10 in the morning, I am guessing he was some sort of telecommunications technician. What was interesting to see, was that he made his notes on a a small, portable computer. From his looks, (probably its inappropriate of me to make these comments but still) he dint look like an advanced programmer or something, but what really caught my attention was the fact that technology has penetrated in our country as a necessity. It is available to the common man and is there to help him in his everyday work. Another example, is the courier delivery person, who came to my house a month ago. Starting early to reach customers before they leave for work, this man must be visiting a good 50-60 houses in his day's work. After handing me my parcel, he pulled out a small ha

After a superb start from Sachin and Sehwag, India had scored 230 runs in their 38 overs, when they decided to take their powerplay. Once again, the batting powerplay proved to be the Indian team's nemesis and batsmen could not even cross 300 in their allotted 50 overs. What is worse, that the team failed to play their quota of 50 overs and Dhoni, the captain, stood there watching his team mates get out in a rush. Teams are scoring 300 odd runs on a regular basis in one day cricket. You can give T20 the credit for this, but what is also important is the kind of tracks being provided for these matches. Most teams have come with 1-2 spinners in their squad to exploit the spin tracks in the Indian sub continent. But the tracks being provided are absolute flat. They might be on the slower side, but most tracks favour batting. So, if you dig your heels in, play some sensible cricket, you might even see someone score 400 in the days to come. To better that, some one might might chase it

After a long time today, I had a chance to watch the Indian team in a 50 over game. Although, I follow the team regularly, with the world Cup coming up, a lot of players were being rested while the others were being tested. The selectors finally picked a bunch and threw them in the ring.... where they face fierce competition while carrying the load of the nation's expectations... The World Cup began a few days ago in Dhaka. Before today's match, India were sitting on a win against neighbours, Bangladesh. Not a comprehensive win, but a a winning start to the campaign never the less. After the Eden Garden's inability to host this match, the match was moved to Bangalore, where India had won their warm-up game against Australia, thanks to the spinners in the team. The team selection seemed fair in the afternoon, when Piyush Chawla was selected in front of our dear Sreesanth. Sachin started slowly while Sehwag attacked the English bowlers. But soon he got out and Gambhir played