There are two sides to every coin...

"The highest result of education is tolerance."   -Hellen Keller
"A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a moulder of consensus." - Martin Luther King, Jr.


One morning I woke up and following my routine picked up the morning daily, reading that newspaper was an unpleasant jolt. I was shocked to read a news article that was about parents protesting against the fee hike of the S.N.Kansagra School. The next few weeks this new routine continued. Everyday there would be a new article in the newspaper criticising and maligning the school where I had studied for 13 years. I was angry and frustrated, why were some few parents giving my school a bad name. While reading these articles I would always mumble, "If you have a problem with the school or the fees, just change the school, nobody is forcing you to stay in SNK. As simple as that." 

But everything is not that simple. After the continuous vehement protests by the parents I decided that I should also look at the other side of the coin too. I talked with one of the members of the Parents Association. All his arguments were genuine and correct. Although I personally do not support the means of their protests, but in a democratic country like ours, these kind of protests are common against politicians,actors,cricketers and in this case; a school trustee. This is controversy has been frequently discussed on social media but here I try to place both the perspectives together and discuss every argument point by point. Fortunately there are a few points on which everyone seems to agree upon. 

• The quality of education that TGES provides, the facilities,infrastructure,management etc. are absolutely the best in the region. During the last 33 years, TGES has emerged as the number one educational institute. 
• The above comes at a price, again which no one questions.
• Fee hike is inevitable; just like every other commodities and services, a fee hike is bound to happen.
• The implementation of RTE act by TGES is commendable.

If every one agrees upon the above mentioned points, what are the parents protesting about?

The Parents' Association:

• Explain the need to increase the school fees by more than 10%.The school should come up with actual financial statements so that parents are convinced that the fee hike is genuine.
• The school should explain what happens with the impress deposit money of 8000 thousand students. Where is that money used and what happens with yearly interest.

These are just a couple of points raised by the PA. The deadlock between PA and school management has lead to many other issues regarding uniforms, syllabus etc.

If there is an increase of 10,000 in a student's fee, it amounts to a whooping 8 crore if 8000 students are considered. The parents who are also the stakeholders of TGES have every right to know where this money was spent in the past 1 year. The PA claims that over 2000 parents have joined the association. The management can not afford to ignore the 25% parents who have trusted TGES. 

The TGES Management: 

• The management has always maintained that the fee hike is because of the additional expenses in the past few years. A lot of money has been spent for a world class infrastructure for TGES.
• The management decided that parents who are important stakeholders of TGES, should decide how the institution would be managed in future by a simple process of voting.

I haven't seen any other school that has adopted such democratic and transparent process and given all the decision power to the parents. The TGES call centre has been open to solve all queries that parents may have. The management has also communicated the views of the trustees on its website. Over 33 years, the trustees have managed to run the school smoothly and taken education to a next level. 

The Deadlock:

The Parent's Association is not convinced by the fee hike justification by the management. Kiran Bhalodia who is one of the seven trustees has been the face of TGES all these years. Kiran sir has always explained the TGES mission to all the parents. He is not only the trustee but a role model to all the students. Parents have always trusted Kiran sir and therefore the PA wants to talk to Kiran sir rather than the employees of TGES.
The PA decided not take part in voting because it felt that it had no intention of managing the school or changing the way of management. PA only wants the answers to the numerous questions they had raised. While the PA decided to boycott voting, TGES went ahead and announced the entire voting process. PA went to Gandhinagar and after talks with the government, the government decided to stop the voting process. Subsequently TGES announced that the voting process has been stopped after it received notice from DEO. 

While publishing this article, a new circular has come out stating that the fees could be reduced and the uniform issues will also be addressed.

http://www.tges.org/TGESCircular6JuneAnoteonfeesuniforms.pdf

This entire issue became more controversial as the protests of parents were unacknowledged and hence the media became more active which lead to further outrage and support for TGES. The alumni and students supported the management by their posts on internet while the PA went out on streets raising slogans and sticking posters around the town. When people start taking sides, the rift only widens, one of my motive to write this article is to bridge the gap between the two parties. 

The latest circular from TGES which has been mentioned above seems very promising and looks like the issue will be solved quickly and the new academic year 2015-16 will begin as announced.  

Nobody wants this controversy to continue but if still the issue remains unsolved, then the parties would have to solve this matter in court. We all hope that this issue is not dragged to the judiciary but if it is then 'Truth Alone Triumph' . #BeWithTGES or #SupportThePA ........ #SatyamevJayate 

The Importance of Indian Captains in IPL

There is a reason why IPL is spelt with an 'I'. The big stars are roped in, the celebrities make an entry and the cheerleaders try their best to drag our attention away from the action. At its core though, it still is a platform to let local players mingle with the big stars from other countries. India's international commitments have made it impossible for their top players to participate in the Ranji Trophy. The IPL ensures that local players get to share the dressing room with their idols - cricketers whose posters have adorned their walls in their formative years. An Indian captain for each IPL franchise would have been the icing on the cake. That hasn't quite transpired, though.

Rajasthan Royals, because of their lack of resources, handed the reins to Shane Warne, a tactical genius, an astute student of the game and a charmer. Soon, Kings XI Punjab followed suit, handing Kumar Sangakkara the baton, a move that perhaps adversely impacted Yuvraj Singh's returns in the IPL.

IPL 2013 has an interesting mix. Chennai, Rajasthan, Kolkata and Bangalore went for Indian captains. Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Punjab went for foreign options. The message was loud and clear from the team owners: local players don't possess the tactical nous and ability of the foreign players. Interestingly, the Indian captains have outperformed their foreign counterparts. Mumbai Indians turned it around midway with Ricky Ponting dropping himself, allowing Rohit Sharma to take over. Coincidentally, the team has responded with three wins in four games. Delhi, Pune and Punjab are languishing on the wrong side of the table. The results perhaps don't say much about the abilities of the respective captains, but there are a few points worth delving into.

One reason why captaincy is an important consideration is the mix of players - four foreigners and seven Indians per XI. Most squads have a huge Indian contingent, so you'd expect communication channels to work far more smoothly with an Indian at the helm. Given the professional grounding that the foreign players already have, they would find it easier to work with an Indian captain compared to local players having to deal with foreign captains. Players will always respond better to a captain who can pronounce their names perfectly, no offence given or taken.

All the teams have huge contingents for man management and planning. In such a scenario, the captain's job doesn't really imitate the pressure-cooker situation of international cricket. The IPL is a great opportunity to groom leaders, and a wonderful testing ground of their maturity. Bangalore did that by handing Virat Kohli the captaincy, instead of taking the easier option of going with AB de Villiers. Perhaps, a lesson was learnt when Anil Kumble swung their fortunes around after a disastrous start to the 2009 campaign under Kevin Pietersen. Kohli commands the respect of his team on the strength of his batting and fielding. What he lacks in experience, he makes up in flair and passion. De Villiers and Chris Gayle aren't too far for a quick word either. Surely in years to come, the heir-apparent to Indian captaincy will ruminate upon the lessons learnt in the IPL.

Mumbai took a bold step with Rohit at a crucial juncture and it seems to have paid off. Had Ponting been more successful with the bat, we wouldn't have seen Rohit in this role. Mumbai have got into a winning run under him, and Rohit's batting has also blossomed.

With Shikhar Dhawan back from injury, perhaps the Sunrisers should've considered him as a captain. Neither Cameron White nor Kumar Sangakkara has consistently figured in the playing XI. With Angelo Matthews standing down as Pune captain, it might be a good idea to give Yuvraj another run to see if he can rediscover his batting touch. Of all the teams, Delhi is the only one that probably has no choice, Virender Sehwag being reluctant to lead.

The IPL is at an interesting point in its evolution. The third auction will initiate a new round of shuffling, with players changing colours and loyalties. What the IPL has lacked so far is the long-term fan loyalty that is seen in football. Chennai and Mumbai have the most loyal fan following - helped by the fact that they retained more players than any of the other franchises in the first reshuffle. Perhaps there's a message there for the other franchises.

An Indian captain will find it easier to get the best out of the Indian contingent, and will also get the crowds going. Additionally, he will definitely fuel fan loyalty. Even if one wants to be a die-hard fan of the Delhi, for example, it is hard to not support RCB led by a Delhi lad when pitted against Jayawardene's Daredevils.Krish Sripada, India

Why the IPL can't be much more than a launch pad?

In recent days I have had the opportunity to watch Ashish Reddy, Hanuma Vihari, Manan Vohra, Rahul Shukla and some others whose existence television only sporadically acknowledges. If you've looked at scorecards of domestic cricket, you know the names, but you probably only know them merely by the numbers they generate. The IPL allows you to see them, it gives them a platform, and that is one of the reasons I look forward to it every year.

A couple of years ago Saurabh Tiwary told me that he scored a lot of runs for Jharkhand but nobody knew him. He made a couple of thirties for Mumbai Indians and suddenly he was being talked about. It put him in the Indian squad and in the IPL auction. He may have had a financial windfall but it didn't do too much for his future in Indian cricket; he remains, at best, a fringe player. At least at this stage. It tells you a bit about the IPL.

What the tournament does give you, and give you better than anything else in international cricket at the moment, is a stage and an opportunity. It doesn't give you too much more, but if you are a young man, you should be willing to give anything for that much. Some take the opportunity, others don't. Some believe the opportunity is the pinnacle of all they ever wanted to do, others think it is the beginning of life in another world. But it doesn't guarantee you anything, often not even a spot in the Ranji Trophy, as Paul Valthaty and Manvinder Bisla discovered. And as Tiwary now knows, the reputation you acquire in the IPL doesn't count for too much in the Ranji Trophy either.

And an IPL match is like an episode in a long-running soap. You don't want to miss the action as it unfolds, but people remember only bits and pieces thereafter. You can therefore trend on Twitter for a day, maybe be talked about for another week, but that is it. Arun Karthik knows it well. A six off the last ball for the Royal Challengers in the Champions League made him an overnight hero but that was it. It isn't like being in a feature film, where a blockbuster performance is remembered for years - that is the equivalent of a Test hundred.

The reason I am saying this is that people either give the IPL way too much importance or seek to get noticed by trying to knock it off its pedestal. Neither is right. The IPL is not a certificate of performance in other forms of cricket. We saw that with Swapnil Asnodkar, with Valthaty, with Manpreet Singh Gony, with Siddharth Trivedi. It is merely an opportunity that you have to take again and again. It doesn't make you a good first-class cricketer - that is a different game. It makes people look out for you, but that is about the only advantage, even if a significant one.

It helped cricketers liked R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, because they used the stage to draw attention towards themselves. They didn't make it in first-class cricket, and thereafter in Test cricket, because they were good in the IPL. They did it because they bowled hundreds of overs when very few people were watching, and perfected their craft. They became ready elsewhere and used the IPL as an opportunity to announce themselves to the world.

That is how I believe the IPL must be seen. As an event that celebrates a specific ability and at a specific moment in time. People who cannot, or are unwilling to, put in the hard yards in four-day or five-day cricket remain IPL specialists. This isn't only true of those like Mayank Agarwal or Bisla but of others like Tirumalasetti Suman, and for that matter, Munaf Patel.

As the IPL gets a greater share of national sporting attention, and as sponsors eye the various price points available to them to claim association, I hope young players don't look at it as the only cricket in their lives. They could do that if, like European football leagues, the IPL ran for six months. But it doesn't and so I hope they use it to draw attention to their skills. If they play four-day cricket, I believe they will extend their T20 career. If the shortest form is all they play, it could lead to a short career.

-Harsha Bhogle for ESPN

Mr Cricket-N Srinivasan

Well,I'm not talking about MSD, Mr.Cricket here is referred to Narayanswami Srinivasan, the President of the BCCI(Board of Control for Cricket in India), and also the owner of India Cements which owns the most successful team in IPL.After Srini was appointed the President,Within seven months, the BCCI constitution was amended to change the clause that had stipulated that no administration or member should have any commercial activities of the board..Chennai Super Kings has performed exceptionally well in the past tournaments, 4 of India's National team also represent CSK.The captain of the indian team is the vice president of india cements. The owner of CSK and the President of BCCI is the same person,this makes the scenario smell fishy.

Tamil Nadu Government has banned SriLankan cricketers in Chennai.So instead of moving home games away from Chennai, no SL player will play in Chennai.Chennai have just two SL players who are not their lead players, but for other teams SL Players are very important.
No Malinga vs MI, No Mahela vs DD, No Dilshan vs RCB, chennai will have pretty easy home games.This decision will affect other franchises more than Csk.Let us not forget, the actual problem is of CSK but other teams will suffer. This is pure injustice and maybe it is the Srinivasan effect?

Chennai Super Kings out of IPL 6 ?

The most successful team of the Indian Premier League - Chennai Super Kings has many Srilankan cricketers(Nuwan Kulasekra,Akila Danajaya) and the other teams too have Srilankans in their sqauds.The inhuman treatment to Tamils in Sri Lanka has caused great protests in Tamil Nadu agaisnt Sri Lanka.The DMK MPs have resigned from the UPA Government.The protesters are wanting to stop the entry of SriLankans in Chennai and have asked the BCCI to prevent the entry of Srilankas in Chennai or the CSK's home matches could turn violent.BCCI is thinking to change the venue from Chennai to Ahmadabad and Rajkot.But the insiders say that the CSK team is reluctant to change its home ground.If there is deadlock between CSK and BCCI, we may not see Dhoni and his Boys on the field, which is very unlikely because President of BCCI is the owner of CSK.There has already been the controversy between Rajasthan Royals and The Rajasthan Cricket Association, and other controversy regarding the name of the Pune Stadium. IPL6 is controversial even before its grand start on 3rd April at Kolkata. 

Why Iphone still dominates?

You've seen the specs: a 5-inch screen with 441 pixels per inch, 1080p display, a quad-core 1.9GHz processor and a 13-megapixel camera. Feature for feature,Samsung's next-generation Galaxy S4 has the iPhone beat.

But just two days after the S4's launch, Apple released a webpage explaining why its flagship smartphone is better than the competition.

"There's iPhone. And then there's everything else," the page's headline blares. Apple goes on to cite all the reasons why its phone is "unlike anything else," some of which are listed below:

• The iPhone has received eight consecutive J.D. Power and Associates awards for customer satisfaction with consumer smartphones.
• Only the iPhone and other Apple products have Retina display.
• The iPhone has a long battery life — including up to eight hours of talk time — while maintaining a "thin and light design."
• The iPhone has "ultrafast" wireless and LTE.
• Only the iPhone and other Apple products have access to the iTunes Store and the App Store, which offers over 800,000 apps. What's more, they are all reviewed by Apple to protect against malware.
• Only the iPhone has Siri, the intelligent personal assistant.

Is there some magic left in Sehwag yet?

In many ways, it was inevitable, and yet it hits you like one of his many shots over the years. Looked at coldly, devoid of emotion and without looking at the past, Virender Sehwag's omission was predictable. The runs had dried up, the rope he had been given was long enough. But the realisation that the thrill you felt within as he walked out to bat will be absent creates a longing. Sehwag kept you on the edge of your seat, he made you look forward to the next moment. He was good for cricket and he was good for India, and we don't know if he will play for India again. He has been a mighty cricketer and he will stroll easily into a room reserved for the greats of Indian cricket. Without a doubt.

-Harsha Bhogle for ESPN

But hang on, is this starting to look like a retirement tribute? There is a part of me that wishes it isn't, and there is another that fears we may not see him again. There is much stacked against him. Over the next 24 months India visit South Africa, New Zealand and England, against each of whom he averages under 30, and Australia where fifteen months ago he scored198 in eight innings. India play away more than they do at home in this period. Of not inconsiderable importance is the fact that among the youngsters tried out in recent times, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have all shown acceptable levels of promise and performance. Now Murali Vijay has got a big hundred too. The temptation to look at a younger man has been rendered stronger.

His chances of being picked for Mohali and Delhi would have resided in the hope that India's selectors wouldn't want to change a winning combination. I have heard that thought expressed many times and, quite frankly, have been baffled each time. It suggests that if the team is winning, it should be happy to carry along those that are not good enough anymore. No team should ever be picked on such a basis, for in the course of time everyone will then be entitled to be selected, even if they aren't delivering. Sehwag had to be picked based on his performance and not on that of the rest.

I suspect this omission is also an indicator that Sehwag will not be opening the batting in South Africa this November. If he was to, he had to be retained, but quite clearly the thinking is that the next in line must feel at home playing for India before playing an away tour. In logic, it is sound. But sadly for Sehwag, it is a tricky time to be dropped because the domestic season is over and there will be little Ranji Trophy cricket by November. To force his way back he needs games and those are not available in India.

So if it seems that the opening berth is now sealed (remember Gautam Gambhir will be in line for a comeback too), is there another option? And here the picture seems a touch rosier. Sehwag hasn't ever held back from saying that he wants a spot in the middle order. A couple of years ago, when he was in peak form, I interviewed him after he received an ESPNcricinfo Award. "Surely you accept that you are now an opener?" I asked. "No, I am No. 4…" he started. "But No. 4 is not leaving in a hurry," I said with a smile, eager to see his reaction. "No problem, I will wait." he said.

We don't know how long "No. 4" will play, for fitness will become a concern as time passes, but if for some reason Sachin Tendulkar is not on the flight to Johannesburg, India may not have a single batsman in the top six who will have played more than 20 Tests (on the assumption, of course, that Dhoni will be No. 7 on those tracks). Sehwag at No. 5, below Pujara and Kohli but above Ajinkya Rahane or Manoj Tiwary or another at No. 6, might be tempting for the selectors.

Much, of course, will depend on Sehwag's will to continue; and its translation into a rigorous fitness regime. Players like Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid and Michael Hussey were extraordinarily fit as 40 loomed, and VVS Laxman's great discipline and skill kept him going. Can Sehwag recall the hunger, and that extraordinary ability for hard work, again?