I cant stop you...can i ??

Just as I start off on this post, there goes the familiar sms beep on my phone for the thirty-fifth time today..is it. It very well could be as I have already lost count of the number texts that I received today or for that matter any other day. It has become a nuisance.
I do not know if we can call this an invasion of privacy, because maybe I do not think we are left with any. I seriously do not know why such extensive telemarketing us required to sell homes, sauna belts, jyotish predictions predictions you name most unwanted things and you have it.
To cut the long story short, whoever came up with this mass market/bulk sms idea provided a stroke of genius for lots of people. It was a welcome relief to the ailing telecom companies who are trying to get a foothold in the market. They need revenue from somewhere right ? Hence the bulk sms business. I you have ever noticed closely, the sms'es on your phone come with a contact name written as AD-xxx TM-yyy. This AD or TM will help you recognize the operator who is sending the bulk sms. The biggest offender in this regard is Tata Mobile. With the small/non-existent customer base, they have had to move to the bulk sms business to look for revenues.
So let us consider a situation, where you are traveling abroad and you have an international roaming SIM card activated. In the middle of your Nile cruise, you might be interrupted by someone selling houses on the Greater Noida expressway and you are set back by a cool 30 bucks as soon as you recieve the SMS. On an average a user in the NCR region recieves atleast 10 such sms'es in day. That translates to a whooping 300 bucks to your monthly bill multiplied by the number of days that you are travelling.
How do we tackle this ? Mr J.S.Sarma the current TRAI chief has eluded the question for the time he has been in charge. I see only one way to tackle this problem that is to fine the operators for each such bulk sms sent. They could possibly charge the operator 5 bucks per sms recieved. In general they could end up pay fines to the tune of Rs 10000 atleast per sms. Maybe only then would they understand the unnecessary pain and irritation these people cause.
They have nullified the concept of a text. Now when I recieve a text, I generally assume that it is junk and someone is trying to sell me something that I do not need. As a result I miss out on texts which are important every now and then.
I believe that the DND(Do Not Disturb) service which I believe is a filter that is controlled by TRAI is slowing getting more and more effective. Atleast with respect to the tele-marketing calls that we keep recieving selling life insurance and what not. But there is still some way to go wrt the bulk/marketing sms'es.
I read a few days in one of the dailies that Bharti has announced a date for exiting the bulk sms business. I just hope that is the beginning of the end....

Why I did not like Karl ...

Freaky topic for a post, but I just finished Cyrus Broacha's Karl Aaj aur Kal. Started reading the book with huge expectations hoping that it would be a laugh riot considering Cyrus is the most famous funny man in India.

Cyrus on the screen is unbelievable, his comic timing, imagination and the innovation with words that he comes up with is rather good. Few can match him, at least I do not see anyone who is anywhere as good as he is on Indian television. Though he is not a stand up comedian on the lines of a Robin Williams or a Russel Peters at least on screen the genre of fun he brings to the screen is tough to match.

Enough said, alas his book disappointed me. The story is about two boys Karl and Kunal who are langoti yaars. There is sense of camaraderie which they exhibit during their years of growing up. What am i doing here ?? This is not a book review column and no one pays me for reading and reviewing books. So lets the get the facts straight

The books gets off to a nice start, especially the references to Amitabh Bachchan. The part where the boys grow up have been presented in a nice light, something that I have not read before. The Indian adolescent, his obsession with porn, women, cigarettes and bunking classes. The humour is a bit dark in certain places but worth the read.

The book wanes away once these guys go the US of A to some acting school. Maybe Cyrus was under some sort of pressure to meet some deadline form his publisher or he simply ran out of ideas, the chances of the latter being remote. The plot goes haywire from here and their meeting with the famous Bollywood star who take a liking for them, his obsession of remaking a Night at the Opera is rather uninteresting.

This is where the book loses out though the way he presents the politicians love for glamour is rather humorous, the book for some reason cannot keep you glued to it for a very long period of a time. It is more like a sine wave with a very short time period. As soon as you reach the crest, he takes you on a downward spiral and then picks it up again. I would say that he tends to be good in paragraphs.
Enuff now this book had the potential of being an Indian comic classic considering the way he delves into the darker comic side every now and then. Sigh, I hope his second effort would be infinitely better.

Group A -- Les Blues take the early flight home.

So the month long razzmatazz is over. I thought I would collate my thoughts on what I liked and what I did not from this quadrennial showpiece. I would rather stick to the general who dunnit and who didnt as of now..

Lets get going with the teams that got this started, the ones from Group A. This according to me was the veritable group of death, I mean how can you not call this one when you have France, Mexico, Uruguay and South Africa.

France, yes have had the occasional hiccups as in the 2002 edition and the 2008 euros and not much was expected from them this time considering that they Raymond Domenech as the coach. Too many reports of players not on nice terms with each other too did not help their cause. This team has immense potential, but the environment in the camp did not give too much hope.

The squad selection too left much to be desired, Viera should have been in the squad even if he did not start and Benzema too was an absolute must. The starting lineup put up by Domenech for the first game was surprising, playing anelka as the lone stiker through the middle is never a great option and the rich vien of form that he carried forward from last season in the Premiership with Chelsea was mainly due to playing down the right and having a strike partner in Didier Drogba.

The problem was that they never got their combination right, a draw against a nervous Uruguay was the only point that managed to garner in the tournament. This was followed by a 0-2 loss to Mexico whose impressive movement in the first game against the hosts finally materialized into goals in their second game. Will get back to Mexico later, but can you give me one good reason why you not get Henry on and get Gignac on instead. Anelka played the worst 45 minutes a striker can play and maybe the worst freekick taken in this tournament. Aye sad but what followed this game completely erased whatever mathematical chances they had of making it.

The off field fracas that followed was a shame to French football and the game in general people striking calling names ensured that their captain Patrice Evra would sit out the last game that they would go on to lose 1-2 to the hosts and ultimately take an early flight home.

Ribery I think has always been an overrated player to say the least, his claim to fame the 2006 World Cup was plain lucky playing off the creativity of one of the greatest players of all times, Zidane. Since then he has been part of multi million dollar transfers and interests from all the big European clubs, alas no show i would think as far as his performances are concerned. He never sticks to a club for too long, and yes he has this great ability that he gets people sent off, maybe this could be an asset with his current club which boasts of players with similar skills as Van Bommel and Arjen Robben :-). The stats for Ribery are alarming, the pass completion rate stands at a measly 59%, again this percentage looks much better than it actually is, no telling final balls, that tells you the story. He was a sore to the eye. Enough Ribery bashing.

The playing eleven selection was again the biggest concern. Florent Malouda comes off a super season, and he gets on in the 75th minute in the first game are you joking guys ?? Ask a left winger to play through the centre, Ribery plays through the left by the way. They were a team with far too many left minded wingers when all of them should have had a start in some other team. Sidney Govou was a joke on the right wing, playing a Ribery would have been better.

The French defence left a lot to be desired, Willam Gallas question marks were there on this fitness before the cup, he was clearly left in the lurch in the game against Mexico. No pace no positional coverage and dos santos hernandez and vela and for that matter the the grand old man blanco had a ball against him. Bakary Sagna had an okayish world cup. Patrice Evra looked tired and jaded, not his usual self.

Abou Diaby for me would be their best performer this time around. Good play in the midfield. Gourcuff playing from the centre of the midfield had no support from his teammates, people unwilling to pass the ball to him. There are pages that we can write on this, as to why domenech preferred Gignac to Henry in the half time substition against Mexico, why Gourcuff saw so little of the ball from hos teammates. I would like to draw the line here.

France in the World Cup of twenty ten never arrived, they were never there. Alas a good team who could have gone much further never made it past the first round. Is it Henry;s hand ball to blame ? ..maybe..we will never know