World cup and India

India 's showing in the world cup so far does not inspire confidence even to their die hard supporters. Their bowling, fielding and running between wickets is abysmal compared to other countries. In bowling, only Zhahirkhan looks like taking wickets. Harbhajan singh is more keen in containing batsman than in taking wickets. With such a poor bowling attack, even total above 300 cannot be defended. Given the size of the country and population, it is surprising that we are unable to develop half a dozen genuine fast bowlers while Pakistan has a good crop of fast bowlers. Even in batting, only first 4-5 batsman have come good and 6 and 7th have been a total failure. Our tail enders are not even able to last 5- 6 balls. Inspite of building good score in 40-42 overs we were short by 30-40 runs from the target. The coach and caption are responsible for guiding the players under such situations. the players should be asked tobide their time by taking singles and twos, keep the wickets in tact and go for ambitious strokes only after 47th over. Dhoni has been a failure in batting, captency and team selection.The selectors and coach should be made accountable for team's performance. BCCI should stop promoting IPL, as it kills the skills in a cricketer and lays more emphasis on money making. Instead it should put in more time, money and efforts in devloping genuine fast bowlers, wicket taking spinniners and improving fielding to world standards. Only then we can aspire to win world cup.

Free items to Citizens

Dear Editor:Free TVs and rice at Rs 1 per kg, and many other items are offered to citizens by DMK in Tamil Nadu under the pretext of welfare to people. These schemes are however financed from the development fund allocation and therefore such disbursal severely hampers the development of the state. Apart from that, such largesse fosters laziness and acts as a deterrent to hard work . Instead, the government should strive to improve employment opportunities, improve living conditions by making available water, improving sanitary, health-care, uninterrupted power, improve efficiency in government departments, Municipal corporation and better education. If at all any item like TV is to be given, some voluntary work should be extracted from the person for at least one year, like cleaning the road of debris, help traffic police in overcoming traffic jams,helping handicapped persons/senior citizens in crossing the roads , organising queue in bus stops, festivals, and a host other activities where manual help is sourly needed. Legislation should be immediately introduced in parliament and state assembly to ban disbursal of free items to citizens from state's funds

Travails of middle class in Chennai

Chennai is the only metro in India where autos do not flag down the meter and charge as per the same. Charges are decided by negotiations, heated arguments and usually in favour of auto driver. For the same distance, varying rates are charged by different drivers. Most of them are rude and impolite and mock at the passenger who negotiates for a reasonable charge. POLICE AND RTO DO NOT TAKE ANY ACTION AGAINST AUTO DRIVERS WHO DO NOT USE METER. Auto charges in Chennai are 25- 30 % higher for the same distance compared to Mumbai and Bangalore. There no taxis (black and yellow type) on the roads and only call taxis are available. Call taxis charge a minimum of Rs. 150 for distances below 5 km ; again no action by RTO/Police. In the bus, conductor sits in a chair at the back and if you enter the bus through front door, you have to wade through crowded passegers to get a ticket. This is arduous for Senior citizens and disabled. Two seats in the front of ladies row is reserved for senior citizens and handicapped but ladies who occupy this seat do not give this seat to the senior citizen standing nearby and conducter does not bother to tell them In Mumbai where buses are longer, conducter patrols from back to front to collect money and issue tickets

IPL auctions

It is highly disgusting to see huge amounts, running into crores, on the auctions of cricketiers. This amount could be more usefully spent in creating sporting pitches at various venues, develop genuine fast bowlers by adequate training at various centres, develop stadiums in rural areas and improve the lot of Ranji trophy players. Retired and aged foriegn cricketiers should be barred from this tournament. Young promising players should be encouraged. There should be a limit on the auction amount. The auction amount should justify itself by the improement it makes to the game and the country.