Posted at Youthpad.

Just the other day, I was discussing exams and results and marks (:-/) with my classmates and I realized that so many students feel that they could’ve chosen something that interests them more as a career option. That is, if only they had got the green signal for it from an early age.

Let’s face it, most parents in ‘present day India’ try and make their kids get into the habbit of studying. And by studying, I don’t mean studying stuff they like. Parents think subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics should be at their kids’ fingertips. From an early age, he/she is shown dreams of an IIT or an IIM. Sadly, we succumb to the dream shown to us by others. It’s only after reaching late-teens do we realise, how we could’ve dreamt of something much better and more interesting. There are students who sincerely want to be good at academics and only academics. They love the challenge that the JEE or the CAT throw at them. But.. what about the large number of children who are maybe getting 99% in class 5th, but have a interest towards other areas which get supressed due the pressure that the education system puts on them? Why aren’t things like sports and music encouraged in India for kids? Why does everyone have to be an enginner or a doctor or an M.B.A?

It’s only because of these reasons that India doesn’t win medals in Olympics. These are the reasons for the absence of Indian bands at Woodstock Music Festivals. These are the reasons for the lack of Oscar winners among Indians.

The solution is simple and it lies in the hands of the parents. Open up more areas for the kids at an early age. Don’t let them pass away their formative years in solely mugging up formulae that they probably won’t understand in a million lives. Don’t force them to curb their natural likings. Who knows, you could be pushing away a future World Champion from your own house.

Posted at Youthpad.

Simple Harmonic Motion or SHM is now one of the more talked about bands in Delhi. I guess, that’s what happens when you start opening for bands like Parikrama within a month of your formation. It’s a very young band which also won a tough contest in their first gig. Seems surprising? Listen to their compositions and you will start liking them soon. They have a unique freshness to their sound. It’s basically a Folk/Alternative band which uses a lot of special effects in their compositions.

This is their ‘myspace’ link (Do check out their self-composed tracks, especially ‘Runaway Child’)

Loads of bands come up every now and then, but there are very few which actually capture one’s imagination. Sadly, the number of Indian bands catching ‘my’ imagination are only a handful. Indian Ocean, Pentagram, Parikrama, Them Clones, Advaita and now SHM. Not that I am trying to compare SHM with the oher biggies, but there is a spunk about them which can take them places. As someone who saw the band Them Clones grow from close quarters, I see SHM going the same way.

Taken from Youthpad.

Three decades ago today, Sony launched the Walkman in Japan. It changed how and where we listened to music and its legacy and name still continue today.

To celebrate the anniversary of the launch, we’ve gathered together 30 facts from the last 30 years of one of tech’s biggest product icons.

1. The idea for the Walkman came from Masaru Ibuka, the founder of Sony. He was a regular user of the 1978 TC-D5 portable tape recorder, but found it too heavy. He and Sony’s Executive Deputy President Norio Oga challenged Nobutoshi Kihara to come up with a simple, playback-only stereo version of the small Pressman tape recorder.

2. Despite initial troubles with batteries and the strangeness of a large pair of headphones teamed with a small device, Ibuka said to Sony’s Chairman Akio Morita “Don’t you think a stereo cassette player that you can listen to while walking around is a good idea?”

3. Over 300 different Walkman models have now been produced.

4. Walkman was chosen as a name partly because of the popularity of Superman in 1979.

5. In early 1979, Morita held a meeting in which he held up the prototype Pressman-derived device and said the product should be manufactured and would be a hit among the young. He gave the engineering team less than four months to produce the model, which needed to launch in June.

6. Due to the short time frame, members of the engineering team had to work through the night two or three times a week.

7. The first H-AIR MDR3 headphones weighed just 50 grams at a time when most headphones were 300-400 grams. They were being developed in Sony’s research labs at the time of the Walkman project.

8. By June 1989, a decade after the original, 50 million units had been shipped.

9. Morita ordered an initial production run of 30,000 Walkman units to be made – double the montly sales of the best-selling tape recorder.

Poor initial response and sales

10. The first TPS-L2 model was shown to the press on 22 June 1979. Journalists were driven to a park, given a Walkman and were told to walk around while listening to an explanation of the Walkman in stereo.

11. However, initial press responses were very lukewarm. They believed it wouldn’t take off.

12. By the end of the first month on sale only 3,000 units had been sold.

13. Retailers weren’t keen on the product as they didn’t think they could sell something that wouldn’t record.

14. Yet, the word of the Walkman spread quickly among the young in Summer 1979. So much so that Marui Department Store placed an order for 10,000 units – even though major Japanese retail was still ignoring it.

15. The initial batch of 30,000 units sold out by the end of August and Sony had problems fulfilling orders for the rest of the year.

16. A worldwide launch was planned for six months after the Walkman’s Japanese launch, but Sony subsidiaries didn’t like the Walkman name.

17. Other proposed names were Soundabout in the US, Freestyle in Sweden and Stowaway in the UK.

18. But Morita went on a business trip and in both France and the UK people asked him when they would be able to get a Walkman. The name was already set in stone.

19. The latest Walkman line is the X-Series portable video player.

A complete success

20. To emphasise the nature of the product, the 1979 launch event was held outside with Walkman demos in the form of people roller skating or cycling while listening to the device.

21. 100 million units were shipped by 1992.

22. In 1986 the name Walkman was included in the Oxford English Dictionary.

23. Many at Sony initially felt that the Walkman should be able to record, but Morita was determined to produce a playback-only unit.

24. Again, due to the short time frame, the development team was told not to worry too much about what the original Walkman looked like.

25. In the UK, the first Walkman in the UK came with stereo and two mini headphone jacks – even though it only had one pair of MDR-3L2 headphones.

26. Sony does not like Walkman to be pluralised in the traditional form – either as Walkmans or Walkmen.

27. The first Discman was launched as early as 1984 – the D-50 or D-5. Later models included ESP for shock protection.

28. 1992 saw the launch of the digital re-recordable, MiniDisc Walkman.

29. The Sports line of waterproof players was introduced in 1983.

30. Incredibly, Sony still manufacturers cassette-based Walkman players today.

Posted at Youthpad.

When Monty Panesar dived at the batting end to bring about England cricket team’s equivalent of ‘The Great Escape’, many cricket fans would have had a common question in mind : “Is this Australian team actually Australian?” By the first instance of the word “Australian”, I mean players wearing the baggy green and coming out to play with a truckload of tradition behind them. By the second instance, I refer to the people with a killer-instinct which would send shivers down the toughest of spines. For example, the Australian cricket team from 1999-2007. Mind you, many players of the current ’somewhat cold’ Aussie team had played crucial roles of maintaining the near-invincible aura of their teams. Ricky Ponting, the current captain, was a key member of the ICC World Cup’99 winning team. People like Brett Lee and Simon Katich came soon after, to be joined by Micheal Clarke and Mike Hussey. Brad Haddin was always in the shadows due to a certain bloke called Adam Gilchrist. Same for Nathan Hauritz because of Shane Warne.

Surely, a team led by Steve Waugh would’ve gobbled up the nervous Monty within 5-10 minutes. Even a Ponting-led team with McGrath and Shane Warne would’ve done the same. But the present team, has everything but the killer instinct. And with the others, Ponting seems to be losing it too. I mean, why on earth would you take off your best bet for a wicket (read Ben Hilfenhaus) and replace him with a bowler who is totally out of form (read Mitchell Johnson)? This period, which has been lasting since India beat them at Perth in Jan 2008 and will continue till we don’t know when, will probably go down as a transition period for Australian cricket.

For now, this Ashes looks to be heading towards the English.

Recently, we heard Kapil Sibal, the Union HRD Minister, speak about how he wanted to get rid of the class X Board exams, and have just one nationwide exam, i.e. Class XII Boards. Mixed reactions came. While some people believed in Sibal’s thinking that this would reduce the pressure on students, some thought that this would probably kill competition.

I, am seriously against Mr. Sibal’s proposal. I feel that it’s on the basis of class X marks and performance, that a student chooses his/her stream for higher studies. If we don’t have the Class X Boards, students will still be confused about what to choose. There are very few students, who know what they will do for 10+2, and don’t waver. I have seen many of my friends changing their thoughts and lines based on their performance in class X. My next point is, if the class X Boards are scrapped, how will schools segregate among students for admission in class XI. Most students change their schools after class X as they want to do their 10+2 from a good, reputed school. So far, class X marks have been the criteria for admission in top schools. What will be the criteria if the new plan is implemented? Another big factor to take into consideration is, after attempting class X Boards, sitting for class XII Boards becomes way easier from the mental and emotional pint of view. Most people feel nervous when they go to give their first Board exam. Slowly, by the end of class X Boards, the nervousness vanishes. Now, a student of class XII will have many things in his/her mind. Admission, career options, alternatives etc are all dominant thoughts in the mind of most class XII students. I don’t think that adding the anxiousness of the first Board exam in life to it, will reduce any kind of pressure on the students.

If you are a student of class X or below, listen up. The board exams in class X are probably the guides to your career. You will know what you are interested in and what you are ‘good’ at. Trust me, it helps people immensely in choosing their streams. It will make attempting class XII Boards much easier for you. This will help you focus on your entrance exams and not get worried about ‘Boards’. I can say this as I have gone through the phase.

This is my appeal to you readers, don’t take this as just a blog post. Talk to your family, friends, acquaintances, anyone you want to. Don’t just sit back and think you can’t contribute. Of course you can. Spread the word. Don’t let class X Boards to be removed.

No.15! But not an easy one by any length of imagination. Anyone who saw yesterday’s final knows that halfway into the match, there were more chances of him returning with the plate for a second consecutive year than breaking Pete Sampras’ record in front of the legend himself. Andy Roddick, for a good 4 and a half hours, was the better player. If quality of tennis played could be a measure, then probably Roger would end up second best. And I am not saying this because Andy Roddick is my favourite or something, I am saying this based on what I, and many many more people worldwide, saw.

En route to the final, Federer had dropped only 1 set , and Roddick had dropped 6. Honestly, Federer looked in murderous form. He looked a calm man. His disposition of Robin Soderling and Ivo Karlovic were ample proof of the comfort level he was in, at the Center Court here at SW19, London. Roddick, on the other hand, had been dominant, but not breezy. He had a few stutters. His match against Lleyton Hewitt was an epic. But overall, he was looking good, strong, and a much better player than the one who played against Federer in the 2005 Wimbledon final.

Coming into the match, right from Game 1 of the first set, Roddick was on top. His blistering serves and ground-strokes were proving to be a bit too much for Federer, who played some his brand of tennis to keep up with him. And as if this wasn’t enough, Roddick tough a leaf out of the 5-time Wimbledon champion’s book and played some delightful passing shots which left Federer stranded in the middle of the court. 5-5. Federer had 2 break points. Roddick serves 3 bombs, and breaks Roger’s serve to win the set 7-5. In the second set, both kept their serves and it took a tie-breaker to decide the winner of the set. Roddick was leading 6-2 in the tie-breaker at a point. He squandered all his set-points to hand Federer the set. The third set saw another tie-break and Federer won it 8-6. Fourth set; Roddick blows away Federer to win it 6-3. 4 sets of tennis so far, and Roddick hasn’t been broken. It was getting tough for Federer, but he kept showing his class to actually send down double the number of aces than Roddick. Every time he was in trouble, he would hurl an ace. The fifth set was absolutely epic. Both players played their best tennis of the match and nobody gave the other an inch until it was 8-8, and Federer was serving 15-40. Roddick had the chance to land a big, big blow, but Federer served some more aces to make it 9-8. Roddick kept serving with tremendous pace until it was 14-14. Federer then kept serve to make it 15-14. More than 4 hours of tennis, and Roddick’s serve still hadn’t been broken. This was the game that changed it. Federer broke Roddick, and won the Wimbledon. One couldn’t help but think, this bloke had served at an average speed of over 130 miles per hour, and astonishingly, kept his serve for 4 hours!! One bad service game, and it was over. Oh.. sport can be so cruel sometimes!

Quality wise, this match was way way better than last year’s final between Federer and Nadal. Andy Roddick probably played the best 4 hours of tennis of his life. Roger Federer became the best ever to play this game by becoming the man to win most number of Grand Slams with 15 titles to his name.

At the end of it all, it was the ever-so-familiar sight of the yellow-clad Brazilians celebrate. They beat the USA 3-2 in a superb match to retain their Confederations Cup title. What is it about these men in canary-yellow jerseys, that makes them so ruthless in major competitons?

After breezing through the group stages, where they beat USA 3-0, Italy 3-0 and Egypt 4-3,  they met hosts South Africa in the semis. The team from the Rainbow Nation held them for 88 minutes before Dani Alves put Brazil through to the finals.

The USA, however, had a tough group stage. They came through ahead of Italy on goal-difference. In the semis, they met Spain, and shocked the world. 2-0 against a team which hadn’t lost in the 35 matches they’ve played since November’06 and was on a 15 match winning streak. Out of those 35 matches, Spain kept 25 clean sheets.

In the final, they seemed to be presenting the world an even bigger shock. At half-time, they were leading 2-0! As play resumed in the second half, Luis Fabiano scored immidiately to make it 2-1, and he scored again in the 70th minute to equalize. Brazil now had all the momentum, and Lucio used it to crush USA hearts in the 84th minute, when he put his header past Howard into the net.

Kaka got the Golden Ball (Best Player), Fabiano got the Golden Boot (Top Scorer) and Tim Howard (USA) got the Golden Gloves (Best Keeper).

Micheal Jackson. MJ. King of Pop.

These names felt familiar to all of us throughout the 80s and 90s. The name meant energy. The name meant extravagance. The named meant Dance. The name meant Music. The name was the equivalent of Elvis Presley and The Beatles in this era. Everyone loved the name. This was the era of Micheal Jackson. The new millenium dealt a sad blow to this name. The stories of child-molestation and bankrupcy started to spread. The image and the goodwill started coming down and it plummeted so low that there were a large number of people who used to hate tim to the core… and probably, a lot of them had danced to “Thriller” and “Beat It” till a few years ago. Then came the failed plastic surgery… and things couldn’t get any worse.

This July, he was scheduled to make THE comeback. 10th July would see him go back on stage. Everyone was excited to see him again. 25th of June, he got a heart-attack… and in a few hours, it was all over. Probably the most charismatic superstar of this generation died.

R.I.P. Micheal Jackson, your music will play on forever.

The Pakistan cricket team made sure they got back at the cricketing fraternity for the isolation of their terror-struck nation by winning the ICC World T20 title in quite an amazing fashion. Kudos to them for the way they played and kept their spirits up even after being thrashed by India in the warm-up games and England in the group stages.

In between all the IPL and fatigue excuses, drunken brawls, frenzied media hype et al, in came a man who didn’t play serious cricket for about 12 months and changed the fortunes of this team. The name is Abdul Razzaq. The veteran Pakistani all-rounder was away from the national recognition for 2 years due to his participation in the Indian Cricket League. He has to credit BCCI for loosening their rigidity on the rebel league, as that helped him make a comeback. The second big factor was Shahid Afridi (Man of the tournament in the previous edition in 2007). His bowling had improved vastly in the last few months and his batting came good in the semis and finals.

It was a keenly contested tournament with some hyped teams like India and Australia doing poorly and some less-fancied teams like the West Indies playing well.

I think Steve Waugh summed it up well for India when he said

The honeymoon period for MS Dhoni is over. His real test begins now.

Well, the WordPress bug for me has finally given in. I was having some weird problems with my wordpress account for the last 30 days, resulting in missing out on quite a lot of important updates and reviews.

Anyways.. since the problem is finally resolved, we will have some new posts now.