News Editors Reviving Colonial Hangover

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

Browse through any of the mainstream dailies in India or watch an hour long news program and you are bound to be served with the hot recipe – the marriage of William Arthur Philip Louis or Prince William and Kate Middleton. This seems to be the most sought after and important story for most of our media honchos. From what would they wear on their wedding day to who are included in the guest list, most of us in India already know it all. The marriage is supposed to be one of the biggest since the marriage of William’s parents Prince Charles and late Princess Diana. Corruption, Elections and IPL – all seem to have taken a back seat till the royal couple walk down the aisle.

Obamas missing the list of invitees, the prince of Bahrain declining the royal invitation, what are the protocols to be followed by the guests during the marriage – we are being bombarded day in and day out. What for? Is it the most important thing that concerns our lives or will we learn to have some self-respect for ourselves and not bow down to the white man. I wonder if Rahul Gandhi’s marriage if and when it takes place will have the same kind of craze in India let alone the entire world. It this marriage more important than the Lok Pal bill? Or the elections happening in five Indian states.

Being the marriage of one of the most powerful dynasties in the world this has gathered the imagination of millions of people in the world. We in India are not too far behind thanks to people who decide what news we read and watch. The colonial hangover is so much so in the minds of our editors that it seems the marriage is taking place in the third Delhi Durbar and Prince William would be the next ‘Emperor of India’ much like his great grandfather George VI. Come on guys the title was abolished 63 years ago by the Britons themselves. For heaven’s sake let these guys get married and live a happy life, they do deserve some privacy as a young couple.

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Did Apple Copy Samsung?

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

 

There is a famous saying in Hindi ‘Ulta Chor Kotwal Ko Daate’ or simply (the thief accuses the cop) but something similar seems to have happened between Apple Inc. and Samsung. And hey! The bone of contention is nothing other than the famous iPhone. Shhhhhhh! but there are rumours that Apple copied its famous iPhone design from Samsung. This might hurt the diehard Apple fans as the phone has a cult following across the world and thought to be a piece of style statement.

The funny part in this entire story is that it was Apple which had initially filed a lawsuit against Samsung over patent and trade dress infringements. It had accused Samsung of copying the iPhone while making its F700. But as it has turned out the Samsung F700 was displayed a good one year ahead of the iPhone’s launch in 2007. Although the phone wasn’t anything close to the iPhone in terms of looks, but a pioneer is a pioneer any day.

Why Samsung faltered with F700? The simple answer was it never considered Apple to be a competition and was busy taking on Motorola and Nokia and developing traditional eight button or 10 button navigation phones. F700 series and other smartphones were in the backburner till the launch of the iPhone. Once iPhone hit the market, Samsung pushed the productions of F700 but it only half ready and couldn’t take on the iPhone even though it had some features which we see on iPhone 3GS.

Some questions lay unanswered. If Apple did copy why did it risk its reputation and file a lawsuit against Samsung? If Samsung did develop it first why didn’t it raise a cry once iPhone made its debut into the market? The answer might lie with LG as it was the first manufacturer which had filed a complaint against Apple for copying designs of its Prada. Now we all know how much of dirty games goes on behind these amazing gadgets.

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Who is better: Dhoni or Ganguly?

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

 

Over the last few years numerous comparisons has been drawn between Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni and their captaincy. The World Cup win has raged the argument even further with some suggesting that Dhoni is the best captain India has ever had. After all he has achieved the No. 1 ranking in tests and ODIs and also has a T20 World Cup under his belt. On the other side the diehard fans of ‘Dada’ still swear by his man management and knack of spotting talent. It was under his captaincy that Indian team started to realise themselves as world beaters.

MS Dhoni

Comparing the two would be comparing between a man who loads a gun and one who fires in a combat situation. Ganguly took captaincy in the midst of the match fixing scandal when no one else wanted the job. He inherited a team which didn’t mind surrendering to the opposition where loosing was a norm. Things like wining a Test match on a green top in Australia, South Africa or England was unheard of those days. Dhoni took the team to the next level where he converted a group of match winners to a champion side

To start with Dhoni, he has been one of the best strategists that India has ever had in the last two decades. He goes more by his calculative moves which have worked wonders for him so far. His decision to play Ashish Nehra in the semi-finals versus Pakistan or promote himself ahead of Yuvraj Singh in the final have been brilliant. He is calm on the field which has earned him the title of ‘Captain Cool’, pressure and nervousness are something which don’t seem to exist in his dictionary. He is candid and doesn’t believe in making politically correct statements which has earned him tremendous respect among his teammates with half the side more experienced than him. 

Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly on the other hand was more of an instinctive captain. He backed young cricketers unlike any of his predessors. Legend has it that he fought with the board to have Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh in the squad. Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag and Dhoni himself are a result of Ganguly’s vision of promoting match winners and supporting them to the core. He didn’t mind being in the bad books of the board and the cricketing fraternity as long as his team won the mnatches. He matched fire with fire and eye with eye when it came to playing tough oppositions like Australia and South Africa. Who can forget how he made a mockery of Steve Waugh’s mental disintegration tactics in the 2001 series.

Honestly it is absurd to compare two individuals who did not compete on the same platform with similar  team composition. One built the team laid the foundation whereas the other glorified it with his own skills.  It would be better to see this as a whole process which was started by Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni taking it to its pinnacle.

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