November 10, 2003
 

Politics

To most of us, a weekend is something to look forward to. However if you talked to someone from the opposition in the TN assembly, the media, trade unionists or just about anyone else who matters and criticizes the Jayalalitha government (regime?), a weekend is the last thing they look forward to. Why? Very simple. The modus operandi of the TN government to secure revenge over its critics is to arrest them on a Friday evening so that they, with no legal recourse over a weekend with the courts being on holiday, will be kept behind bars for nearly 3 days. This is exactly what happened when the former CM M Karunanidhi, his son MK Stalin, union minister 'Murasoli' Maran and other former DMK ministers were arrested well past midnight/early hours of a Saturday, shortly after JJ took over as CM.

If I had to offer Jayalalitha (and her regime) some advice/ideas, it'd be to wait for long weekends before she lets loose her administrative and police machinery on her critics. That way the arrested persons would spend 3 or more days in prison rather than just 2 during weekends. I wonder why she didn't put the Deepavali long weekend to good effect. Do folks know what's the next long weekend coming up for TN? If I were on the JJ regime radar, I'd be very wary of being visible around Christmas. December 25 is on a Thursday and if the government ended up declaring Friday to be a holiday, it'd be a 4 day weekend ... and that's mighty dangerous in these circumstances.

Cricket

Dear Mr. Fleming

It doesn't matter if you win the toss or lose the toss. It doesn't matter if you bat or bowl first. What does matter is how your bowlers bowl and how your batsmen play. That is really the bottom line and I hope you've realized it after yet another inept performance, this time at Guwahati. First your bowlers couldnt find their radar for 4 overs, giving away nearly 8 runs/over. Contrast that with the discipline from the Aussie bowlers at Faridabad and Pune. When the bowlers managed to figure out where to land the ball did, the Aussie batsmen were too bored playing shots all around that they gifted their wickets away. Then when it was your turn to bat on a pitch which had eased out nicely and batsmen could really thrive, they didn't have the ability to last out the first few overs. I've done a study of what actually sucks when New Zealand play, and no it isnt the pitches or the toss. Your top order is wiped out either before your team reaches 100 or by the 15th over. New Zealand is typically 4 down by the 15th over or before reaching 100 and this has happened 14 times in the last 25 ODIs you've played. The numbers get even more skewed when we consider only recent games. 6 times in the last 10 games and 9 times in the last 15 ODIs, including a game against Canada at the World Cup when you were 19/1, 31/2, 32/3, 97/4 and 114/5 (chasing 200).

Paraphrasing Cassius in Julius Caesar (with due apologies to Shakespeare), I hope the loss at Guwahati has convinced you that the problem lies not in the stars or in the pitches or in the toss, but in yourselves, your batting and bowling are crap.

Sincerely

S Jagadish

Rambled @ 4:51 PM

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