Everyone seems upset now that India is out of the ODI Tri-series against Australia and Sri Lanka because the Lankans defeated the Aussies in yesterday's match. But I am happy because that means that the best teams are in the finals. It will be an understatement to say that our boys played badly almost throughout the series. Things have come to such a pass that if they lose people say that it isn't a surprise because they are on a losing streak anyways. But if they win, as they did against SL in the last match, then there is talk of 'match-fixing'. And it hasn't been even a year since we won the World Cup. What a shame!

So, if the Aussies and Lankans played good cricket, they deserve to be in the finals and our team deserves to pack its bags to take the next flight home - probably for a soul-searching session on what is going wrong with them. Going by their and BCCI's past record, though, it is unlikely to happen.

On the brighter side, now I can watch the final with a bowlful of potato chips. Thank God for small mercies! :-)

Recently while reading an article in the Marathi daily 'Loksatta' I came across mention of two interesting books:

1. Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States - by Trita Parsi

2.Khomeini's Ghost: The Iranian Revolution and the Rise of Militant Islam - by Con Coughlin

Needless to say, both books are now in my "books for a rainy day" list :-)

Talk The Talk

I have lost count of the number of times I have resolved to learn Spanish. I don't typically make any new year resolutions but learning Spanish is definitely at the top of a very short list that I mentally chalk up, come 1st January. January 2012 was no exception. But sadly, as always, 2 months have gone by and I have made no progress on this front. In fact I had quite forgotten about it when I came across Shekhar Bhatia's "Talk The Talk". I am thinking of giving it a try though the article says that there is a pretty long waiting list. Who knows I might be able to speak reasonable Spanish by the end of this year :-)

Have you read the article on the Outlook Money panel discussion of Indian Insurance industry experts? It was pretty interesting. I felt that they nailed down the problems plaguing the industry pretty well. When the subject of product innovation came up, there was mention of products such as gender specific insurance (I would personally love to have an insurance plan that exclusively caters to women) and Dental Insurance (need of the hour, no doubt about it). Their solution on the problem of inflated hospital bills also seemed bang on the target. But at the end of it all, the million-dollar question still remains unanswered - "Who will bell the cat?" :-(