More about BIAL...

The article by RK Misra (Winner of the Times of India Lead India initiative) is a real eye-opener on how the government is just trying to wash its hands off the BIAL controversy...

How govt hoodwinked the public - By RK Misra
Its quite a short article but it will really open your eyes to the fact that how nobody is caring about the needs of the public...

The moment the first round of polls (including in Bangalore) was over, negotiations were concluded the next day at a meeting, without any minutes, and the government announced the closure of HAL airport.

The opening date was conveniently slotted for May 23, which is just after the polls (to avoid the Election Commission’s wrath) and two days before the high court opens after the summer recess. This denies the public an opportunity to expose the negotiation drama and request the HC for an interim stay order.

Surprisingly, no leader is available for comment now. This is our democracy, where the public is being duped by seasoned politicians playing a well-orchestrated drama.

Taking people for a royal ride - BIAL

The people behind the new Bangalore International Airport are taking the public for a royal ride and the city/state administration is doing nothing about it. The new airport opens tomorrow...

Just as a simple example, the cost of the flights I usually take from Bangalore to Bombay will go now up by nearly 65% from tomorrow. There is an user development fee of 650Rs charged to the passenger every time the airport is used, second, the god forsaken airport is 45 kilometers from where I live and apart from the 3 hours it is going to take me to get to the airport its going to cost me about 800Rs to take a taxi each way. So a Bangalore-Bombay to and fro ticket that used to cost me about 4.5 thousand before is now going to cost me around 7.5 thousand rupees. And what do I as a passenger get out of this? Absolutely nothing! Zilch! In fact I pay more and suffer more, on an average, commute time for everyone triples, the airline congestion problem doesn't get solved because this new airport is not equipped to handle even the total passengers that flew from Bangalore last year let alone the 25% increase in the number of people flying forecast for this year...

Seriously all I have to say is WTF!!! Actually scream out WTF...this makes absolutely no sense. The roads to the airport don't finish for 2 more years, the airport still won't save me pain of standing in huge lines and the delay in flights and all it does is increase my commute/flying time and rips me off another 2-3 thousand rupees...

The whole city just needs to stand up and say WTF! Yes we will be dishonouring a contract but so what, the public didn't sign it, some idiot politician signed it and the public was not even aware of these conditions. The Supreme Court itself directed that the airport is monopolistic and unfair on the public and the contract should be re-negotiated, but what happened? The government and BIAL met behind closed doors, the details of the meeting were not made public just the decision to close the old airport completely and open the new one was made. No explanation was given other than the fact that the talks failed. To this I say F you and also show you 1 particular finger of mine. Guess which finger, you dumb a-holes from BIAL and the administration...

Michael Jackson + Bhangra

An extremely entertaining video from a talent show in Britain. Michael Jackson mixed up with Bhangra, you'll see, just wait for the time elapsed to hit 1:15 ;-)

Sreesanth's Antics

Harbhajan's ban is definitely justified and fitting but there was niggling doubt that there was more to the story and Sreesanth the guy who growls and snarls after every ball with or without merit, usually more of the latter, was getting away with something.
Then this article by Anil Dharker caught my eye and it really showed that Sreesanth was no innocent victim that he tried to portray himself as by crying on the field.

In the Mumbai Indians-Punjab match there was clear evidence that the Kerala fast bowler, whose bark is always worse than his bite, had abused the Mumbai team right through its innings, including its captain Harbhajan Singh. We didn’t need secret cameras to see it, everyone could see Sree Santh snarl like a rabid dog again and again hurling four-letter words at Bhajji as well as Musavir Khote, the last Mumbai man out even as he walked back to the pavilion."

Playing for the India A side in the Salve Challenger Trophy, he first sledged Virender Sehwag who had just hit him for four. “You hit like this only in domestic matches. How about some runs in international cricket?” An obvious taunt at a then out-of-form batsman.
A few overs later he had the temerity to go down the pitch and glare even at Sachin Tendulkar after beating him outside the off-stump. The next ball Tendulkar did what he does best: let his bat do the talking by hitting the bowler over his head for a six. But Tendulkar didn’t stop at that. He went up to Sreesanth and said, “Never ever come this close to me again.”

That is why you can believe that no one in the Indian team likes Sree Santh. That is why even the elder statesman of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble are said to keep him at arm’s length once they are off the field and that is why even the young M S Dhoni, the charismatic limited overs captain had this to say in a column about the recent incident: “Before issuing any punishment, I hope the authorities check the actual sequence of events rather than just what the footage shows. It’s a lot like what happened between Zinedine Zidane and Marco Materazzi. What Zidane did was wrong, but Materazzi also was not completely in the right.”

If Dhoni, Tendu and Dravid have this opinion about Sreesanth then there is no way I want him representing India in cricket. First he is not that good that he goes to rile up players like Hayden and Symonds. Second, even if he was good, his behaviour against local players in IPL just puts me off. It was all fine and well the first time he danced on the pitch after hitting Nel for a six, that was good stuff but now set an example, drop him from the team. We need aggressive players on the Indian team but that of the mindset of Dhoni and not the stupid-aggressive type of Sreesanth.

Full article: A slap for Sree Santh and Engineer too?