Murali goes up further, calls it a day

When Muralitharan announced his retirement before the match, there was anticipation whether he would get 8 wickets to get to 800 - as Murali himself said that it was just a number, though it would indeed be nice if he could reach it. Scaling Mount Improbable may not be easy, I thought because Indians usually play spin very well and had in fact played the other great spinner Shane Warne with tremendous, if not dismissive, ease. It is no wonder that

Before his debut, Sri Lanka managed two wins in 38 Tests. Muralitharan has since orchestrated 54 wins, claiming more than 40 per cent of his team's wickets in victories.

and hence not much of a surprise that he indeed reached 800 wickets with his last ever ball in Test cricket.

I think quite a big part of the credit of this achievement should go to Arjuna Ranatunga, under whose captaincy Murali played most of his matches. Arjuna deflected most of the criticism directed at his team and more importantly, kept Murali and his team insulated from the heat of at least the press. I still agree with Michael Holding during his talk on the great Aussie swansong that Warne was a better bowler in comparison. I never understood the chucking part right from the start as I didn't find his action 'strange' and Ian Chappell too seemed to have felt that such hair-splitting is crazy (I too thought that chucker is one who bends the elbow).


Indians, as always, show that they are more prudish than the British. It was disgusting to hear Bedi's comments. Great bowler, he may be, but Bedi's remark that Murali should play cricket for the handicapped was nothing but பேடித்தனம் :( No wonder, Ranatunga compared Bedi to a dog :) I also felt that pace bowlers like Shoaib Akthar will get more benefit out of chucking and was confused how a spin bowler can gain unfair advantage. At best, I can call Murali as 'unorthodox'. It was some sort of a comeback (at least in my eyes) that Bedi calls Murali a good human.

To the dead, the roses; to the living, the thorns.

Jobs today...

Where do you want to go today? I am not sure if slide #20 in Krugman's Nobel lecture was intended for current economic situation, but it refers to

Decline of "good jobs"

Whether today we are in Depression or not, the fact is there are no 'good jobs'. Am I talking of 'high class' or 'low class' in jobs? All jobs are equal but some are more equal than others :P At least in India, there is abundance of jobs for people with less than 5 years of experience. Rest have to sit on the bench AT home or some park. Yes, people with more than 5 years of experience are 'safe' if they had already become 'leader's or if they are 'yes men'! If people like me are more intent on self-esteem and pride, then 'Pulp Fiction' said it

Fuck pride! Pride only hurts, it never helps.

There is, at least was, some talk of 'moving up the value chain' in Indian software industry. It is an easy proof that Indians are/were only 'servicing' what the white man wanted. Desis probably think that they have become 'white' themselves and try to exercise their 'authority' over the 'lesser brown' mortals in India. So they act as if they do 'higher level' jobs and grant 'lower level' jobs to their comrades in India (pun intended of course). The comedy is that even in the 'headquarters', desis seem to play the sycophant. It is no surprise that very few, if not none, desis have really made it 'big'. Desis seem to be content in being in payrolls of someone. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride!

I think the problem is that people are not calling spade the spade. I mean, even in college days, some of my classmates used to look down on 'testing' jobs. There is some truth in this because in some sense, it is like HOTS and MOTS. This is like petty-bourgeoisie - where India itself is thrown some crumbs from abroad and dogs here fighting on who has the sweetest crumb of those. As I always say - நாம புடுங்கறது பூராவுமே தேவையில்லாதது தான்! I don't see any reason why people should do PhD or M.Tech for such low-level job. I came to the conclusion that MBA is the biggest rip-off in entire world, not just India, quite sometime back. This reasoning is what I explained in my 'The limits of schooling' article that was accepted by IEEE Potentials (when will it get printed? :o). Jobs that demand HOTS were done in a 'foreign' country and 'MOTS' was relegated to countries like India (only India?). If it is MOTS, then why pay more to higher experienced people, when 'junior' people can do the same and also 'juniors' will do more to IMPRESS the seniors. If you dont have pride, then even better! I have told atleast two of my managers in different companies

We are working overtime to make ourselves redundant.

The job calls/mails that at least I get, demand 'tool expertise', 'international footprint' etc. 'Tool expertise' indicates that no firm wants to spend on 'training' the employee - rather they expect the employee to know that we are in deep if not edge of the abyss.

One thing’s for sure: The next administration’s economic team had better be ready to hit the ground running, because from day one it will find itself dealing with the worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Before 'recession' set in, tool expertise was unnecessary and in fact, looked down upon, because it was considered that the person is sound on medium rather than the message. Now companies want only medium experts, pun intended. 'International footprint' is mostly valid only for those who studied abroad or who were 'Jakkuboys'. Despite 10 years of experience that too in semiconductor industry, that too in top global companies, it may be surprising that I didn't stay abroad for more than 6 months TOTALLY! In fact, I wouldn't have resigned from my first company, Texas Instruments, if I had gone to US (for just few days) to present MY paper (it had no coauthors!) but my manager said that the company had no money and to rub salt into injury, few 'yes men' were sent to US for 3 months!

Technically, I didn't learn anything new since 2004. The companies use only improved version of tools, which probably gives the illusion to some that we are working on 'cutting-edge'. I had attended a lecture at ICAI (I usually look up 'Engagements' section in The Hindu when I am in Chennai and go for 'free talks' when I am free) - where an ex-bureaucrat was talking on Budget presented a day before. His basic point was - India's administrative machinery has matured reasonably. We don't need brahmas, we need only Vishnus. In other words, we don't need to (cant afford to?) create new things; rather we have to focus on executing the existing machinery. In semiconductor industry, I heard of 'layout factory' in 2003. Basically all 'design' centres are being converted into factories where ANYONE can be replaced. Companies can survive only by making the workers sweat their blood out and more importanly, dispensable. Long hours are now mandatory for everyone, at least in India. Globally, of course companies can only close down as they are Running Out of Planet to Exploit. There is no room/time/money to question anything - we simply have to follow the 'apes in the cage' paradigm. Don't question, JUST DO IT!

Include me out?

Inclusive growth is the only way the society can go on. If 'elitists' propose euthanasia for the rest, then the population of the world will be cut by a good 90% in a day! We have accepted mediocrity as a part of life, though more often mediocrity is celebrated and thinks that it is 'superior' than the rest. Who has to decide who is mediocre and how? All such ridiculous questions can be answered in only one way - RIGHT TO LIVE. I remember Manmohan Singh talking early in his first tenure as PM about 'inclusive growth'. He is just a prime minister and he cant do much other than speaking such anodynes. It has to percolate even deeper and maybe Chief Minister can do something.

Courtesy this Depression, Krugman made a case for 'Fannie, Freddie and You'.

The most important of these privileges is implicit: it’s the belief of investors that if Fannie and Freddie are threatened with failure, the federal government will come to their rescue.

This implicit guarantee means that profits are privatized but losses are socialized. If Fannie and Freddie do well, their stockholders reap the benefits, but if things go badly, Washington picks up the tab. Heads they win, tails we lose.

It may sound cynical but it is the truth. In India, consumers (rather voters) always are gullible but state Government can hardly go to level of monitoring and protecting every family or individual. I feel that Tamil Nadu is probably the most 'socialist' of all Governments in India - centre and state - though we do have stupid communist Governments ruling in West Bengal and Kerala.

A state Government should try to protect consumers against say inflation. Obviously something has to increase revenue somewhere to offset the increase in expenditure. Ideally it should take the route of 'tax the rich and minimize the effect on poor'. It is no wonder that price rise in diesel is more important than price rise in petrol. Though some of my 'pseudo Communist' friends claim that (D)MK is a buffoon who doesnt increase bus ticket prices for 15 years just because of votes! I think in Tamil Nadu, any sensible politician - MGR, MK etc wont mind increasing, say the registration prices for purchase of land or building but (SHOULD) think thousand times before increasing the prices of bus tickets and milk because the effect is wide and immediate. In Chennnai, the point is rise in prices of bus tickets have been the most minimal, if not absent, in ENTIRE INDIA but 'special buses' have been employed with higher ticket prices. State Govt has to earn somewhere. For the under-privileged, they have buses where they can get tickets at the same price. For the rich or wanna-be-rich, they have 'deluxe/AC' buses with higher ticket prices.

In stark contrast is Karnataka (rather Bengaluru), where I have been living for a decade now. I never thought Kannadigas have some grey matter but now have come to the conclusion that they are the most gullible people that I have seen. In democracy, it is the case of Yatha Praja, Thathaa Raja (like subjects, like government). From the design of their buses and the way it operated, I knew that Karnataka has lot of idiotic bureaucrats, who have no clue about its own subjects. Any increase in petrol prices will reflect on prices of bus-tickets and milk IMMEDIATELY. The bus ticket prices have gone up in the route of Rs.8/- in 2006 to Rs.9/- to Rs.10/- to Rs.12/- now. In Chennai, the ticket from Central to Vadapalani is still Rs.5/- :o The Karnataka Govt made a great decision of fixing the property tax at the same price for 3 years! I dont know what sort of governance does the state and more importantly its people want :(

Bail-outs have to be done to

protect the underprivileged, the underpaid and the underfed

and only that can ensure that Government is indeed for the people, of the people and by the people and the 'inclusive growth' is not left to the winds.

The truth is...

I had mentioned about the quest for truth in the P-problem. Some friends of mine have asked me if I am related to 'Film News' Anandan because I often intersperse my normal conversation with references from films. I always say that there is nothing new to be said, nothing new to be done etc. To put in the famous comedy scene (2:57) புடுங்கறது பூராவுமே தேவையில்லாத ஆணி தான்! Whatever needs to be said has already been said. I am not sure of this 'fancy' for 'remix'es of late because people have always been copying old stories. Romeo + Juliet was an example in Hollywood - Shakespeare could still be used, as is, in 'modern and contemporary' context.

Post-p-problem, when some ask 'how do I feel?' - I dont think they are going to visit me, because they cant bear to see 'others suffer' - that was one refrain that was given in 2004! I can say again that books/films have already talked about my current 'situation'. For me the classic scene is always the one from Pulp Fiction and 'moment of clarity' is very apt as well



And without a job, residence, or legal tender, that's what you're gonna be-- a fuckin' bum!

I was just sitting here drinking my coffee, eating my muffin, playin' the incident in my head, when I had what alcoholics refer to as a "moment of clarity."

What's goin' on?
Looks like we got a vigilante in our midst.
Shoot 'em in the face!

Sounds like a shit job.
Funny, I've been thinkin' the same thing.

Now this is the situation. Normally both of your asses would be dead as fuckin' fried chicken. But you happened to pull this shit while I'm in a transitional period. I don't wanna kill ya, I want to help ya.

There's a passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."

I been sayin' that shit for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just a cold-blooded thing to say to a motherfucker 'fore you popped a cap in his ass. But I saw some shit this mornin' made me think twice. Now I'm thinkin', it could mean you're the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. .45 here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or is could by you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. I'd like that.

But that shit ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin'. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd.

'P' for ...

I dont recollect (I also dont think I would have) learning a word for every alphabet (in English of course) in the lines of - 'A' for apple, 'B' for bat, 'C' for cat etc. Every letter stood for many words - for instance, 'A' for both 'Amma' and 'Appa'. Maybe this 'knowledge' at the age of 4 prompted the school to 'double promote' me from LKG to 1st std :P Anyway, my usual weekend visit to Chennai extended to more than two weeks because I almost learnt 'P' for pain, piles, pills etc.

I sort of take pride in an 'inbuilt' warning system on my health. I often say that I never suffer for one day or two. If I am sick, I am really sick. My biggest health fears are not about typhoid or jaundice or fever or cough, but headache and weariness! I dont remember great pains, when I had fracture on my right arm during my childhood (period when I wrote in left hand and still scored 100% in Maths!) or when I had my first stitches due to an injury while playing cricket or even the recent accident in 2004, when I was hospitalized for nearly a month. Well, during 2004, I dont remember the august presence of anything!

Anyway, the weariness coupled with diarrhea in early July indicated that I cant return to Bengaluru so soon and I cancelled my ticket. I didnt expect to be diagnosed with piles but once diagnosed, I didnt want to waste a single moment in agreeing for an operation immediately. Such things should be nipped in the bud, so I thought. Courtesy my brother-in-law, who is a dermatologist, I got the reference of a good doctor who agreed to admit me for a piles operation after a day of observation. It was a strange operation because I didnt feel anything below my waist. I was later told that this is the same injection that is given in spinal cord for caesarian delivery in pregnancies. The pain during pre and post operation would easily qualify as the biggest pain that I had ever faced till now.

I didnt understand what was meant by 'inima' and thought it was probably a tablet that will induce diarrohea to clean the intestines before operation can start. I didnt expect such a pain (part I). Maybe it was more painful since I had piles. This was 'short' and I expected hollowness in my entire body (I lost atleast 2.5 kgs in that!). I was in a stretcher since then till atleast 6 hours, after the operation! I dont know, definitely didnt see, what they did during the operation though I was fully awake, seeing the ceiling and listening to the minimal talk between nurses but after the operation, nurse showed me what they had cut and it was a bloody mess. Not that I am likely to faint at such things, I was curious if they 'sewed' up anything because I didnt hear any related conversation during the operation, forget such sensation.

The doctor who gave the injection in spinal cord said that the numbness below the waist would go in 6 hours but it didnt go for 11 hrs! I wondered if that young guy screwed up by giving an 'overdose'! After 11 hrs, I realized that it was fully intentional for the pain that had no parallels before in my 'history' (part II). In official circles, we often joke about PITA (Pain In The A$$) though I used to wonder why 'itching' should be referred as 'pain'). Now I really knew what is PITA, though I still suspect if non-Indians would ever suffer from piles since they dont eat anything that is 10% hot as what we eat. I was also sore that Telugus who easily eat 10 times 'hotter' things dont seem to get piles. I am hardly known for my infatuation towards 'chillies'. Infact, in my childhood days, I had a problems of (tape)worms in my intestines, which was attributed to my love for 'sugar'.

As always, my body regroups very fast and I was walking within hours of operation, which probably convinced the doctor to discharge me the very next day morning. I did face 'peak' 1-3 second pains four/five times every hour or so (this is REAL pain), but by the end of day, frequency reduced and fully disappeared at the time of discharge. The doctor was confused about one thing. Have I lost my 'pain' sensation? He believed that I should have faced excruciating pain in the anus for atleast a week before operation. The problem as always is in adjectives. What is 'excruciating' for one may be 'unbearable' for some and 'manageable' for some like me. As it goes in 'Apocalpyse Now'-

Pain is easy to handle -- but nobility.. the nobility of a man is judged by how much truth he can handle.

Now, I came alone to Bangalore to see if I can manage alone. The 'western commode/toilet' in my Bangalore flat could also be helpful. Let me see how much truth I can handle!

Update: 18 July 2010

Ok Ok I know that chillies may have nothing to do with piles! I referred to the usual refrain, atleast in India, that eating 'hot' food is the reason for piles and also the doctor advised me to be cautious (atleast for some time), especially those with 'hot' ingredients.