protest against balbharati-paud link road

This post is in strong protest against the construction of the proposed Balbharati-Paud link road. I feel very strongly about this issue so please bear with me if I sound like a pain.
The Pune Municipal Corporation has sought to sanction the construction of the Balbharati-Paud link road. This proposed road, which, mind you, was never part of the Corporation’s ‘Pune Development Plan’, will cut a swath through the lush forest cover that our hills have been blessed with. The veritable and venerable lungs of our city will be depleted by at least 10,000 fully grown trees to clear the way for this link road. The road will skirt ILS Law College and ARAI on its way to Paud, thereby forever damaging the green heritage and silent nooks and crannies of this comely hill range. My stand on this issue is clear. Any compromise of the green cover of any place in untenable. In fact, we all should be pitching in to increase the green cover as well as improve what we already have, not destroy what already exists. In the rarest of rare cases, a compromise of the green cover of a city can be made only if it is the absolute last resort and when all other options have been exhausted. In the present case, most definitely this compromise cannot be made, not just because it is wrong to compromise our quality of life for the perceived benefits of better connectivity and potential de-congestion of Law College road but also because this explanation does not stand to logic. In the crisp words of Enrique Penalosa - the ex-mayor of Bogotá who transformed the city from a crime invested depressing place to a vibrant ‘community’ city - ‘Trying to address traffic jams by building road infrastructure is like putting out fire with gasoline." Quite a few Puneites support the construction of the link road because they believe that this road will provide the benefits mentioned earlier. However, many studies in Europe and elsewhere have established that building new roads is not an answer to traffic congestion. Building new roads will only encourage people to use more private transport and within no time, we will see congestion on the new road as well. This will also result in traffic related delays, thus nullifying any perceived benefit of making this link road. This vicious cycle of more roads, more vehicles, more pollution (noise and air), more accidents, more stress etc is very comprehensively documented by Dr. Adhiraj Joglekar here. So, not only will the road destroy Pune’s green heritage, which is alredy under threat but will also not serve the purpose that it is purportedly being constructed for...a double whammy against the construction of this road, if ever one was needed. Also, the thinking behind the construction of this road suggests that we are in imminent danger of being sucked into the limited thinking trap of measuring our progress by the 'number' of roads we have and the number of vehicles we have on those roads. Again, I quote Penalosa and no one says it better than him - 'Children are a kind of indicator species. If we can build a successful city for children, we will have a successful city for all people.'
The alternative solutions are drawn from the realisation that building more roads does not solve traffic problems. The most effective way in solving traffic problems, amongst other things, is by first creating a good mass transit bus system for the public, incentivising its use and disincentivising the usage of private vehicles. A good synopsis of the issue, including some photographs can he found here. Please sign the online petition provided on this page. This page also has another link that will give you the name and phone number or your area corporator. Please take some time to sign the petition. If you are in Pune and if you genuinely feel as I do, please call your area corporator to register your protest to the construction of the Balbharati-Paul link road. MORE POWER TO US!

six drown in Falna

In India, there are so many instances of incidents that cause you to pause in incredulous shock, disbelief and anger. One such took place yesterday in the small town of Falna near Jodhpur. Five members of a family were trapped on a bridge across Khari river when the river overflowed. Within seconds, the bridge was submerged under three feet of water and the family climbed on top of their car in a vain attempt to keep themselves above the water line. As the water levels rose, the panicked family started calling for help. However – and this is what is most shocking – most of the people just stood around and gaped. More incredulously, among those looking was Rajasthan’s forest minister, Laxmi Narayan Dave. Two military officers tried to rescue the trapped people but the river current was so strong that one of the rescuers was himself drowned. I presume that the minister, in his exalted capacity had the political clout and the wherewithal to get in touch with someone from Jodhpur who could then have gotten the rescue machinery kicking and sent a helicopter to save these people. However, none of that happened. It took eight hours but the river finally took all five and their bodies were found in a decomposed state in some far-off village.
This makes me very angry and I am sure it does you too.
Laxmi Narayan Dave, I need scarcely remind you is the same minister who was arrested in 2004 for stopping a train and disrupting the railway schedule, presumably to suit his convenience.

How to bowl the fastest ball in Test cricket

Some more gyan on bowling fast on Brett Lee's official website.

bowling fast - injury free

One of the questions I get asked a lot is how one can keep injuries at bay as a fast bowler. In my opinion, there are various aspects to being able to bowl fast without injuring oneself. Essentially, they come under four headings:

1: body type
2: action (run-up, stride and delivery action)
3: practice
4: preparation for bowling

BODY TYPE: This may sound a bit harsh but I believe that one has to have the body structure to bowl fast. That is the first pre-requisite. Not that one can’t bowl fast if one is not physically designed to but it becomes much tougher to sustain high speeds without injury over a long period without the right physique. If one does not have the body structure to bowl fast, it is best to change one’s trade. Anil Kumble is a shining example of how one can become a very successful spinner even after spending most of the formative cricketing years bowling pace. The right physique starts with height (ideally not less than 6ft.), which enables one to release the ball later, a lean musculature and preferably not splay footed (pigeon toed is ok). The splay footed preference may seem bizarre but is easily explained. While I haven’t seen many studies on this, I have experienced that people with splay feet tend to fall over in their delivery stride. This is not to say that bowlers without splay feel do not fall over. However, with them, this fault is much easier to correct.
Besides the right body type, it is important to build strength in the right muscles. The core body muscles (back, stomach, glutes) have to be strong enough to sustain the stress of fast bowling. In addition, the legs and shoulders are very important. Remember though, you are NOT a body-builder...think lean muscle...the upper body of a swimmer with the lower body of a sprinter.

BOWLING ACTION: DELIVERY ACTION: This is one of the most important things to get right. Broadly-speaking, there are three types of delivery actions – side-on, front-on and mixed. While side-on is the classical action (Kapil Dev, Mc Grath, Brett Lee), front-on is ok as well (Harmison, Ntini, Flintoff, Srinath) as long as it is the natural tendency of the bowler. However, a ‘mixed’ action WILL, in the long term result in stress injuries. Get someone knowledgeable to look at your action (in case you are not able to video record it) in the nets to determine if it is mixed or not. If it is, then I strongly recommend that you switch over to side-on or front-on, depending on your natural proclivity as well as your stock delivery. For example, if your stock delivery is the out swinger, the side-on action is most suitable to get the required shape on the ball with minimal muscle stress. The RUN-UP and STRIDE – any coach will tell you that the run-up should be just long enough so that you hit optimum speed a few strides before the jump. I will add that the run-up should be just the right speed for you to be able to comfortable jump and turn naturally into the side-on delivery position (in case you bowl side-on). I cannot overstress the importance of the jump for a bowler bowling side-on. It is absolutely crucial to get the jump right to allow the body to turn naturally into the side on delivery position. An inadequate jump WILL result in a mixed action, with disastrous consequences in the long run. BALL RELEASE - The later one releases the ball, the better. This allows for maximum shoulder rotation behind the ball, as well as allows the body to get into the optimal upright body position at delivery. The release is most effective and allows for maximum ball rotations (facilitating swing) post release if the wrist is cocked. Another important point is to complete ones action. It is here that the leading arm (the non-bowling arm) comes into play. The leading arm not only guides the entire action but is invaluable in getting torque and shoulder speed from the bowling arm. Completing the action, with the leading arm ending up behind the body after release eases the body into the follow-through.

PRACTICE: is an obvious essential in getting the body ready for bowling correctly. What is important is to practice ‘smart’ instead of ‘hard’. The better you practice in the nets, the better your ‘muscle-memory’ becomes. Fast bowling should become second nature to you.

PREPARATION FOR BOWLING: warm-up is essential. Warm-up is to get the blood flowing to the muscles and the heart pumping blood adequate blood for this. Your warm up should not tire you out. Also, warm-up is NOT the same as stretching. Stretching should be after your work-out/bowling session.

And finally, get your hands on ‘The Fast Bowler’s Bible’. Additionally, a good coach is a huge advantage. When I was in Pune, I had the great fortune of training under Mr. Anwar Shaikh, himself one of Maharashtra’s best fast bowlers and in my book, one of our best fast bowling coaches. And oh, how can I forget...get the right equipment. Don't skimp on this expense. It could cost you your career. I can cite many examples where faulty or inadequate equipment has resulted in serious injuries. If you are unsure on the right equipment, try and get a senior player to accompany you on this buying trip.

why i could never make the cut as a fast bowler

From my earliest cricketing memories to my adolescent cricketing fantasies, I have always dreamt of bowing fast. Now, I’m not at all physically built to bowl at speeds approaching the 90/100mph mark but I was adamant. Quite a few people dissuaded me, trying to get me to bowl left arm spin instead, most notably Balwinder Singh Sandhu (now one of India's top coaches but best remembered for his banana delivery to Greenidge in the 1983 WC finals) who tried twice to get me to change from pace to spin, once when he was coach at RCF in Mumbai and the other time when he was the coach of the Maharashtra Ranji trophy team, of which I was a member. On both occasions, he told me quite bluntly that I did not have it in me to become an international standard fast bowler and I would be better off bowling spin. Apparently, he had watched me bowl spin during practice on a couple of occasions and thought that I had ‘real promise as a finger spinner’. However, I was too enamored by the glamour associated with fast bowling to consider taking up spin. As an all-rounder, I was well aware of the kind of terrorized awe batsmen held fast bowlers in when they – the fast bowlers – were on song and I craved that sort of awe. I worked very hard on my bowling and become good enough to be called a genuine all rounder at the national level. But of course, even in my most megalomaniacal moments, I could never call myself a ‘fast’ bowler.
In hindsight, I feel that Ballu was correct. Bowling fast requires a certain body structure which I don’t possess. Besides the lack of height – I stand at 5’8” – I now realize that I don’t and never had the musculature to get the kind of torque that is so essential for fast bowling. Also, I was a self taught bower. During my time, we did not have any good bowling coaches in Pune/Mumbai and whatever coaching methods that were employed were crude at best. Even so, I do not believe that I would have become a genuine fast bowler even if I would have had access to superior and more sophisticated coaching methods.

Fikraty (my idea)

The Road Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai has come up with a novel idea of soliciting ideas from residents on ways to improve the traffic situation in Dubai. As an incentive, ideas that help the RTA save money will be rewarded in cash. God alone knows that the Dubai traffic system is due for a serious re-look. The population of the emirates has nearly doubled in the past 4-5 years with the bulk of this increase coming from the Dubai/Sharjah belt. This has understandably put an enormous strain on the transport systems. If you have any bright ideas, share them with the RTA. You never know, you might just be lucky and win something.