How Clean am I???

The Central Vigilance commission is the apex vigilance institution of the country and naturally is trying its best to demonstrate the necessity of vigilance for the country's good, to curb corruption. The vigilance awareness week will be celebrated this year from 26th to 31st October under the theme, "Preventive Vigilance as a tool of Good Governance." There is a joke that runs in the streets of Lutyens Delhi that the Prime Minister's Office even knows the amount of ink left in a cabinet minister's pen! But Mahati knows that the common man is no different when it comes to vigilance. She told her friend, "Even Facebook, a website that began as an alternative to the conventional slambook, now monitors the authenticity of the names of its users. Such is the heights to which vigilance on even common public rose to. Jeez, so much for chatting and sharing general information."

"Ofcourse, we cannot blame Facebook, can we?" wondered Mahati. "Do we not see every other day in the news about ISIS or Al Qaeda recruiting terrorists by posting provoking stuff on Facebook? It has become a platform for terrorist recruitment. How many times a week we hear about guys with fake profiles luring and cheating girls(vice  versa too), fake companies, fake tenders, fake organisations, events, pages. Cheating. Cheating everywhere. How, then can we blame Facebook for being careful about people misusing social networking? It is all about how clean we are! Before criticising others or even supporting or justifying the action of others, we should think that one thing. How clean am I?"

Mahati and her friend are students in a central university. She started by pondering on what possible scams that an average university graduate might be capable of. She should then begin with herself. Though she graduated and no longer is a student of the university, she is staying "on the campus" until she finds for herself an internship and subsequently accommodation. She then wondered, a bit shamefully, how many hundreds of more students possibly might be staying illegally for years, on the campus! In the class, there are hardly ten students whereas the register mentions atleast twenty five!
But hey, when there are teachers who bore the students and take loads of extra hour classes, what else can one expect
? How clean am I? In the mess, for every meal, there are double the number of students, no, people eating than the number that is supposed to be eating. She again, is one of them. "Well, should I justify my wrong doings by arguing that the mess secretary by the end of his one month tenure earns enough dirty money to buy a laptop and a motorbike? Of course not, its all about how clean am I. In the library, the computer center, printing, scanning, in the laboratories and everywhere. Not forgetting the examination hall. HOW CLEAN AM I?? Only once I check myself, does my blood attain the qualities required to boil looking at wrongdoings in the society."

As a government sponsored student, Mahati felt that one must realise that close to a million rupees are spent on them per annum, only to give quality education! How clean am I?

Finally, to be clean is just not enough. Keeping oneself in check and being clean is when responsibility comes into picture. We cannot individually stay clean and not bother about others. That would be selfishness. It is equally important to speak up against those doing wrong things. Feeling this as a duty and being responsible for ourselves and the society is the meaning of vigilance. For more information about the Central Vigilance commission, see this http://cvc.nic.in/

Zak of all trades!

Nothing is more annoying right now in Indian cricket than the shoulder of Zaheer Khan. Well, except for the Indian team itself, nothing is more annoying. Clearly, the performance of team India in the recent past shows how much we need Zaheer. Now that he announced his retirement, we know we are doomed. We should start our SESI (Search for Eternal Seamer in India).

The generation I belong to would have started watching cricket feverishly from the 2003 one day cricket world cup. Of course, that is the tournament which set stage for the introduction of this mighty bowler. That match versus New Zealand at the Supersport park in Centurion, when the might of Astle, McMillan and McCullum fell like dried leaves, clueless to Zaheer's seam. His unending injuries did not stop him from being the prime bowler for India whenever he played. As Akash Chopra writes, the period between 2007-2012 has been his best, when he picked all his 'man of match' and 'man of the tournament' awards in test cricket.
Even though Yuvraj played his part and picked a lot of man of the match awards and eventually the player of the tournament award in the 2011 one day world cup, there is little doubt in who played the crucial part with the ball. The match India played against England in Bengaluru in the tournament is the best example. He came back in his second spell only to turn around the entire match. Even though the match ended as a tie, the fact that India managed to not lose is because of him. Of course, his great role in the world cup final, probably the most important match for any player is inordinate.

That ZAHEER'S celebration!!

The reason behind the title of the article is definitely his batting. The Indian tail is never strong. For eons, the average Indian fan switched off the television once the sixth wicket fell. It was in that match, against New Zealand in early 2003 that Zaheer proved that even when eight wickets are down, tail enders can win matches, that too with neat, big hits. Zak as been there, supporting Sachin, as the batting legend made his highest test score. Zaheer's monumental 75 helped Sachin achieve this feat. The present Indian bowlers should probably go to Zak for tips in batting too maybe.

There is no doubt about the huge influence Zaheer has, on Indian cricket. Sadly, it has been hazy, thanks to his body, his injuries. He definitely deserves a better farewell, but everyone knows that had he been healthy, he will always be the prime bowler for India, ever. His farewell suggestion to young bowlers to bowl as fast as they can when they are young needs to be pondered upon. Indian cricket can use this 'engineer's' services to cricket somehow or the other in future too.

Its time for Viru now
!