Sapience!

I have recently joined a new start up called Sapience Analytics. As luck would have it, they have a very active and widely followed blog. So I have jumped at the chance and have written my first post for it and hope to write more in the near future. For practical, logical and marketing reasons, I will add links of my posts published on the Sapience blog here. Do vote and share the blogs as you please. You can comment anywhere - here, there or email. Happy Reading!

1. Zone out the distraction
2. The Right Time
3. Mauka Mauka!

Tatkal!

It was that time of the year decade again when I had to renew my passport. Thank God it's not every year. I don't even remember how it was the last time I went for passport renewal. I remember the date of issue very well on account of writing it so many times - 11th March 2005. But I don't remember other details. There is a vague recollection of going to the police station with my father but that's about it.

Since the renewal was in 2015, I started thinking of biting the bullet in early 2014 but obviously I kept procrastinating. After all, who likes dealing with government machinery. But an exciting trip to Turkey got planned in November and that left me with no choice since my passport has to be valid for 6 months in order to get the visa.

I had heard and read quite a bit about the new and improved passport office. I knew it had become more streamlines and was being run by TCS. But there had been mixed reviews. Local newspapers kept on reporting delays, problems and exhaustion of booklets. The travel agent planning the Turkey trip offered to 'help' with the passport renewal without any extra charge and like a fool I agreed. My friend did tell me there was no need but again the fear of a government machinery crept in. Eventually though I did everything myself as the agent asked for a pretty large amount just to get the appointment!

I first went to the website and was sufficiently impressed. The unnecessary photo of Salman Khurshid was replaced by the unnecessary photo of Sushma Swaraj but the site had a decent FAQ section, documents required section, required annexures etc. I would have preferred a live chat too so that questions can be answered by the appropriate people thus reducing dependency on agents. I filled the online form with the site cooperating and tried going the normal route to try my luck. But the earliest appointment available was in September which would have been too late. So I tried to change my existing application to tatkal but disappointingly this was not allowed. Hence I had to later fill the entire form once again with a different email address for applying through tatkal. Anyone filling this form in the future, make up your mind about tatkal before filling the form because you can't change it later.

Once the tatkal was final, I was told by the agent and everyone else that I had to get a Verification Letter a.k.a Annexure 'F' from a gazetted officer. This is the biggest obstacle in the tatkal application since you need to know someone who fits the criteria. Luckily I knew someone in the Army who was kind enough to oblige and I got to visit NDA as well because of it. NDA is amazing beyond words and anyone who has a chance to visit it should jump on it. I was lucky to get this letter because I heard some stories about agents charging around 20,000 rupees for getting this letter! If you don't know anyone who can give you this letter, I would advise renewing your passport well in advance and avoiding tatkal altogether. After getting the Verification Letter, I found out that I need to get a notarized affidavit too. That's called Annexure 'I'. You need to print the affidavit on a 100 rupees stamp paper and get it notarized. 

Now that I had all the documents and was feeling mighty proud of myself for getting them, I went to my agent. She gave me two shocks. One was that I had to get not one but TWO original Verification Certificates and I had to pay 3,000 rupees so that their connection in the passport office would get the appointment. She said I can try my luck with one copy of the VC but getting an appointment online is very tough. I told her I will try my luck with that at home using a decent internet connection.

I went to the passport site around 1 PM and tried to get the tatkal appointment. Everything worked really smoothly. I was able to pay with my Visa Debit Card and got an appointment for the day after next. I had to pay 1,500 rupees online and had to take 2,000 rupees cash to pay at the Passport Seva Kendra (PSK). The passport fees are available on the website via a fee calculator. They will vary depending on new passport / renewal / number of pages you want etc.

I left at 11.30 AM for my 12.30 PM appointment at the PSK in Mundhwa, Pune. There was a decent Pay & Park available for 30 rupees. After showing the appointment print out at the gate and a standard on-paper security check, I was ushered inside. There was quite a crowd but a separate queue for tatkal. The man at the counter checked if I had all the documents. I had got literally everything. Aadhar, Ration, PAN, License, Passport, Birth Certificate, SSC, HSC, B.E. Degree, Marriage Certificate and the Annexures. He asked only for the originals and photo copies first and last 4 pages of my passport and my marriage certificate (since I was adding my wife's name on the passport). I suspected the other documents will be required later. At this point he told me to go to counter C-5 and gave a brown file in which he put the relevant photo copies. The confusing part was that he was giving token numbers to some people and told me to go to a counter directly. 

The lady at counter C-5 was very pleasant. She explained very patiently to another applicant that he needed to get the Verification Letter and Affidavit or else he can apply through the normal process. This made me tense since I had only one original (yes, you read that right) certificate. When my turn came, she just checked my passport and marriage certificate and confirmed if my address had not changed. I took out my Verification Certificate and Affidavit and she says "That's not needed" !! I told her that I was applying through tatkal but she said since mine was a simple renewal where the address hadn't changed it was not needed. So anyone applying through tatkal please confirm if you really need these documents or not. You're lucky if you don't :)

At this point, I was asked to go back to the first counter and get my token. I took it and even before looking at the screen I was ushered to the 'B' counter. My photo and fingerprints were taken and relevant documents were scanned by the man at the counter. Details were also shown to me on a duplicate monitor which gave me a look at the TCS software too. It was quite decent with useful workflows shown on top. Once all the steps in the workflow were completed, I was told to go to the last counter - 'C'. 

It had been just 30-40 minutes since I came inside and I was really impressed. I was dreaming about completing the entire process within an hour. But it was too good to be true. There were many people waiting for the same counter. Some desks were empty which I assume was due to the upcoming long weekend. All the seats were taken and hence I had no option than to stand and keep staring at the screen showing the token numbers and counter where you had to go. After standing for 15 minutes, it was time for the 30 minute lunch break which extended by 10 minutes. For some reason only 1 counter was processing the tatkal applications so eventually I had to stand for close to 2 hours till my token was displayed. Again, some people were without token which is very strange. On a lighter note, people were so sick of waiting and ever so thrilled when their number came that I was reminded of The Chinese Restaurant episode of Seinfeld :)

The last counter was over quickly in spite of the lady at the counter being quite surly. But she probably had had a long day and there was indeed a lot of rush. After this I just had to get the acknowledgement which took 10 minutes because Murphy struck and the computer hanged at the moment that my turn came. It was eventually restarted and I got the acknowledgement, ending my 3 hour stay at the PSK.

Overall, I was quite impressed by the process. Maybe my expectations were very low. But the PSK was quite clean and it didn't get hot at all in spite of the surging crowd. There were refreshments like sandwiches, samosas, wada pav, tea, coffee available. Drinking water was clean and free. I didn't try out the loos. There were sufficient number of screens and one poor guy calling out token numbers and names throughout the day. The confusing token system can be improved definitely. They also need more space because the seating is definitely not sufficient. The confusion regarding the annexures needs to be cleared and a helpful call center will go a long way in reducing the business of the agents. 

I apologize for the long post but hope it will be useful to you in the future when your once-in-a-decade time comes!

Bit by a 'keeda'

Unemployment seems to be doing well for my blogging. The frequency of my posts has increased though they are now on different platforms. While I am trying to replicate notes written on Facebook on this blog, it isn't possible for all platforms.

I have been selected for the Sportskeeda Global Online Sports Journalism Internship. I need to write and publish 14 articles in 2 months on their website. I will also be mentored by a senior writer who will give me feedback on my articles. Since it is better that those articles be viewed directly on their website, I will be posting links to my published articles in this post. Do read them and give your rating and comments on the post itself.

Internship Articles:-

1. IPL may have its controversies but it still has more good than bad
2. Rahul Dravid: More than just a wall
3. IPL 2014 Match Preview - KKR v/s SRH

Happy Reading!

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Due to a combination of various factors, I was unable to write more articles for the internship. I will have to contend with writing blog posts without a time limit which might suit me better. I will continue writing on this blog hoping as usual to increase my frequency of writing. Thank you!

Walk a mile in his shoes

*** Added as a note on Facebook on 9th April ***

A very good friend and a fellow foul weather fan of the Indian cricket team recently coined a term called AICF&M which stands for "Average Indian Cricket Fan & Media". Among many irritating qualities of the AICF&M is an extraordinarily short memory and a tendency to forget that the Indian Cricket team players are actually human beings.

The recent target of the AICF&M is Yuvraj Singh. The man who was the most critical player in the last two World Cup triumphs of the Indian cricket team had a forgettable outing in the 2014 final against Sri Lanka. He scored 11 off 21 balls at a crucial stage in the innings and deprived Virat Kohli of the strike. Now anyone who has played and watched cricket knows about its 'glorious uncertainties' as the commentators like to call it. Who knows, Virat might have got out when given the strike or MS Dhoni who scored 4 off 7 in the last 2 overs would've struggled more or India would have collapsed and scored even less. Even if India had scored 20-30 runs more, Sri Lanka were more than capable of overhauling the target.

As it turned out, Yuvi's slow innings played a hand in India losing the final. Was it as bad as Chris Gayle's 3 of 13 and Marlon Samuels' 18 off 29 in the semi final of the same tournament or Mike Gatting's reverse sweep in the 1987 World Cup final or the collective failure of the Indian bowlers in the 2003 final? Maybe, but the main question is that do we really need to punish the man so heartlessly?

No one is denying that Yuvi played badly. He had a bad tournament definitely and should be dropped from the team too. He will also be the last person in the world to ask for any kind of sympathy even though he has come back so admirably from a life threatening illness. But this is no reason for the AICF&M to ring the death knell on his career. If he does perform in the IPL and domestic tournaments, there is no reason why he cannot make yet another comeback in the team.

They say that you will never understand a person until you walk a mile in their shoes. Anyone who has played team sports competitively should be able to empathize with Yuvraj. I remember two instances in my school days vividly. We were playing an inter school two day test match tournament called the Fram Irani Trophy. As is the case with domestic tournaments in India, the first innings lead was of utmost importance since there was a big chance of the match being drawn. We had batted first and hadn't scored much but our bowlers bowled magnificently. The last wicket was at the crease and both teams were trying desperately to get the vital first innings lead.  I was fielding at cover when the batsman drove uppishly. I got my hands up in time but inexplicably the ball went through my fingers, triggered an over throw and we lost the vital first innings lead. I was distraught to say the least. My team mates and coach were livid and it was the most horrible day in my life ever. The second incident happened during a handball tournament. I was the goalkeeper and we were playing against a really good team with great forwards. They were really accurate and come what may I couldn't even get my hands to touch the ball let alone stop a goal. We lost by a huge margin and I was extremely depressed.

In both the matches, there were hardly any spectators on the ground. There was no press coverage whatsoever. No television and whatever came in the local newspapers was limited to a score summary with horribly misspelled names. So why did I feel so distraught? It's because in a team sport you know you have let your team mates down when you don't perform well. You know you have let yourself down when you make silly mistakes. If you have been in the same situation or somehow understand how I must have felt, just multiply that 10,000 times and you may get a sense how Yuvraj Singh must be feeling. This was a World Cup final played in front of at least 30,000 people and watched by more than a billion people around the world. Yuvi is an emotional person who plays with his heart on his sleeve. One look at his face after the match told you everything he was going through.

It is a harsh world we live in where news travels so quickly. Maybe 15 years ago Yuvi's performance would've been dissected and judgments would have been passed in prime team news and the print media the next day. People would've met the next day to discuss his future. But in this day and age the jokes started circulating around the world on Twitter and WhatsApp even before the presentation ceremony started. Some of them like the ones comparing him to Laakha in Lagaan were ridiculous. Some people who met him at the airport passed snide remarks. The most deplorable incident was the stone pelting done at his house.

There is no point in bringing up Yuvi's awesome debut against Australia, his Natwest innings, man of the series winning performances in the World Cup 2011 and his six sixes against Stuart Broad. It should not be because he played well earlier that he should be treated with respect. I wouldn't want even a debutant to go through the treatment meted out to Yuvraj right now. As a sportsman representing India, Yuvraj deserves our sportsman spirit, respect and humanity.

---

P.S. God was kind to me after both my disturbing incidents. In the Fram Irani Trophy, I took a simple yet crucial catch in the second innings of the match which we won outright thus negating the first innings deficit. In the succeeding handball tournament I was able to save a few goals in final match as well as the penalty shootout which gave us the championship. I hope and pray that Yuvi will also make a fantastic comeback soon!

The Secularist's Conundrum

On Monday, 7th April 2014, India will begin it's longest and according to many people the most important election since Independence. The pre-election opinion polls have confirmed the 'Modi wave' and the lotus seems to be blooming. 

There is no doubt in my mind that from the point of view of development, economics, jobs etc. BJP is the best party for India. The Congress, AAP and Third Front don't even come close. Narendra Modi's Gujrat model, track record and proven credentials as mentioned very nicely in this article cannot be doubted. Sure there are questions about health, education, inclusive growth etc. but there is no doubt regarding the development. People who have been visiting or staying in Gujrat since the last decade and dealing with its extremely efficient bureaucracy say the same things. Unlike Rahul Gandhi who is just talking and that too sparingly and Arvind Kejriwal who is only interested in activism, Narendra Modi has shown his merit time and time again. It is not easy to win 3 elections on a trot. I think that the Indian voters are quite clever and they always support development. I'm sure people of Gujrat wouldn't have voted for Modi unless there was a reason even leaving aside the polarization of votes. Even Modi haters (and there are many) need to appreciate these facts just like Modi lovers need to appreciate the fallibleness of their beloved leader. So the real and only question which remains is whether you can forgive or ignore or brush aside or neglect the incidents in Ayodhya 1992 and Godhra 2002? And that is the big conundrum faced by the secularists.

I have thought a lot about this and have gone back and forth, but I don't think I will be be able to just blank out the pogrom of 2002 and horrible riots of 1992. Recently Cobrapost released videos of a sting operation about the Babri Masjid demolition in '92. Basically, it proved what was known all along that BJP, Shiv Sena, VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders had planned the demolition and it was not a mob gone crazy as they claim. While BJP has cried foul over the timing of the sting, Pramod Muthalik is confused why BJP are denying their involvement and says the sting is completely true. Sanjay Raut has defiantly said that the fact that Shiv Sena and BJP had conspired to demolish the mosque is nothing new. Some of the details really shocked me, like the fact that there was a training cum brainwashing camp a month ago and they wanted some Hindus to die at the hands of the police so that it will prove to be a catalyst. Apparently Shiv Sena were planning to blow up the mosque using dynamites if petrol bombs and other techniques failed. More than 2000 people died in the resulting communal violence. This does not include loss of property and the tremendous blot on communal harmony. The 1993 bomb blasts were also done as a revenge to this incident.

Godhra and the resulting communal violence is another issue. It is true that the SIT appointed by the Supreme Court haven't been able to prove anything against Narendra Modi yet. But the fact remains that Modi has not shown adequate remorse nor did he take adequate action to stem the riots. It was a political move to polarize Hindu votes or worse a planned revenge. There has been a sting operation by Tehelka on this too where in people have confessed saying that the state helped them and supported them. Maya Kodnani, who was convicted and sentenced to 28 years in prison was till 2009 the Minister for Women and Child Development of Gujarat in Narendra Modi's BJP government. Whatever be the situation, the 2002 riots will be a huge blot on Modi's efficient governance.

India does not have a direct democracy so let's take Modi out of the picture. So the real question is whether you want to vote for BJP or not. My stance is that I am not willing to vote for BJP even though I think that they are the best party for India at this moment. The reason is that I cannot bring myself to vote for a party which came into prominence and power based on planned communal violence and a publicly anti-secular policy. Leaders who instigated the violence like L.K. Advani and Uma Bharti are still very much active in tihe BJP. Their ideology and hunger for power has cost thousands of innocent Indian lives and a double digit economic growth is not enough for me to forget that fact. Shiv Sena who came into prominence by beating up innocent South Indians, planned to blow up the Babri Masjid and have done everything they can to spread communal disharmony in India are the long term ally of BJP. There is no way I can vote for these kind of parties whatever be the big picture.

So what're the options while going for voting? Congress is definitely not one. Their shamefulness while dealing with scams, only populous moves and "convenient" secularism is not worth voting for. Plus, they have also actively contributed to the pogrom of Sikhs in 1984. The AAP is the biggest disappointment of the year. For me in Pune, the only option seems to be the People's Guardian Party whose candidate is Arun Bhatia. A clean and incorruptible guy who gets things done.

The reality is that Arun Bhatia won't win. I think that he will get even lesser votes than last time when many young voters voted for him and his campaign was really active. There is almost a certainty that the BJP and its present and future allies (new ones always come up after the results) will form the government. I am optimistic that the Indian media, the opposition and our leaders in and outside politics will keep the BJP in check. They might have no other option than showing inclusive growth and development to ensure that their government stays in power. So all is not lost. But in the end your vote is your choice. You have to make the choice whether you can forget the deeds of BJP in 1992 and the pogrom of 2002. If yes, go ahead with BJP. I cannot.

TINA

I will clarify the title of this post before wild theories start emerging. TINA is an acronym for There Is No Alternative. I have often thought about it during election time when all the candidates are not worthy to be voted for but you have no choice but to choose the best among the worst. This time during the General Elections, voters will have a NOTA (None Of The Above) button available but sadly those votes will only be omitted from counting. Even if NOTA votes are a majority, the candidate having most number of votes will still win. There is definitely some more tweaking required in terms of NOTA.

This post though is about (surprise, surprise) Indian Cricket. More specifically about the possible future captain of the Indian Cricket Team. It is in that context that TINA becomes completely applicable. You cannot use NOTA as an option because you must always have a captain and in cricket, unlike most games, he is extremely vital. As I write this, India have just lost another series abroad and that makes it 4 series and 12 matches without winning abroad. As always after a series defeat, the knives are out. The vultures have started swooping. MS Dhoni's captaincy is on the line and for once I agree that it is not entirely wrong.

MS Dhoni has always been a defensive captain. Every captain has a particular style, which in my opinion is a combination of the captain's personality and the quality of the team. Some are ridiculously aggressive like Michael Clarke who I think might be the most aggressive captain in the history of the game. Some are conservative like Alastair Cook. Dhoni's style and method is like that of a python rather than a Cobra. He doesn't make a lethal strike but believes in slowly crushing the opponent by cutting off their supply of runs. It works fantastically in ODIs where slowing the run rate causes batsmen to throw their wicket. It also works great in Test matches at home where an in-out field along with a turning pitch and confident spinners is a potent combination. However it doesn't work in Test matches abroad at all. One of the main reason is a lack of a quality bowling attack. This contributes greatly to Dhoni's style of captaincy.

Much as I hate to admit it, I don't think that MS Dhoni should continue as India's test captain in the long term. He is definitely not the only reason why we have not won the last 12 matches abroad but the defensive tactics are not helping. Obviously it's not possible for him to be Michael Clarke because Clarke has the luxury of having 3 extremely good fast bowlers with 1 of them being in the form of his life (Wait till India goes down under :P). But cutting the losses is not helping. We're not only losing matches but also not winning some which we ought to. With a more aggressive captain we might continue to lose but we will also win some matches abroad which will give confidence to the team.

Now comes the TINA problem. Who will be the captain if not MS Dhoni? Let us look at the choices:-

Virat Kohli - The best batsman in world today tied with ABD. Good captaincy experience with Under-19, RCB and Delhi. Definitely the most likely successor but do we really want to put him under pressure so soon? Knowing his temper, the chances are high that Ishant Sharma will come under a barrage of abuses, verbal as well as physical. It will be much better to wait for Virat to mature a bit and let the batting order settle down before making him the captain. Plus it will be good for him to start with a home season as captain rather than away in England and Australia so that he gains some confidence rather than being scarred immediately.

Cheteshwar Pujara - Very good batting form currently but doesn't have much captaincy experience.

Rohit Sharma - Good captaincy experience with the Mumbai Indians but is a long way from absolutely cementing his position in the batting order unlike Kohli and Pujara. Telling him to lead the side right now will definitely be unfair.

R. Ashwin - Seems like an intelligent cricketer but has no captaincy experience and is not sure of his place outside of India just yet.

Let's not even go into the fast bowlers. With injury and form you don't know if they will play the next series let alone captain the team.

Hence the ideal solution right now is to let Mahi continue as the captain in his own unique way. Let him weather the storm in England, Australia and lead us into the World Cup. Once we're at that stage, Virat will be more mature and Rohit will most probably have cemented his place in the team or begun another comeback. Either way we can have one of them as the captain. Or maybe in England and Australia we will see an aggressive Dhoni, Ishant of 2006, rejuvenated Zaheer and hence we won't need the discussion again :)