Shoaib Akhtar - The Author

Shoaib Akhtar named his book aptly “Controversially Yours”, and more importantly the book did live up to its name. Entire India is very angry because of the things he wrote about Sachin Tendulkar. He also wrote terrible things about Rahul Dravid, Shah Rukh Khan, Wasim Akram and may more for that matter. In fact he went to the extent of proclaiming that ball tampering were a common thing in International Cricket. But what everyone is speaking about and more focused on right now is “How could he say such things about Sachin Tendulkar?”
The interesting thing to observe here is how everyone has reacted to it. People are angry for obvious reasons. Sachin Tendulkar is considered god. And Shoaib Akhtar’s comments were equivalent if not more offensive than M.F. Hussain’s paintings of unclothed Durga and Saraswati. There could be many reasons why Shoaib Akhtar wrote what he wrote. First in them could be because he wanted to create controversy and sell more books. Another could be he is an Idiot and really believes in whatever he wrote. Or maybe he was under the influence of some banned substance while he wrote it.
Whatever be the reason, the country has reacted very negatively to it. If you want to protest, don’t buy the book, don’t read it. If you want to do something more buy the book and read it, then personally email Shoaib on why you think he is “unsuccessful” in life, in spite of having so much talent. That would be right way to protest. Burning an effigy of Shoaib Akhtar, will only help him in selling more books.

Mumbai Auto Rickshaws - "Right to Cheat"

Auto Rickshaws are undeniably one of Mumbai’s favorite possessions. If Train services are the backbone, the rickshaw services should be considered kidney or maybe liver. While Autos went into strike last week, only Mumbaikars know how much they suffered. Whats important is to notice the reason for the strike. The reason was RTO was raiding and punishing rickshaws with tampered meters.
Now going for a strike is every individual’s right, every group’s right and every organization’s right. The surprising part here is the reason for strike. Its like saying, “You are taking away my right to cheating my client, so I go on strike.” Sounds absurd, isn’t it? Of course these people didn’t have the support of Mumbai Rickshaw Union. Which sane person support such a cause?
That brings me to the fact that there was one sane man. Not sure about his sanity, but nevertheless that not our point of discussion. Abu Azmi, came out in support for honest rickshaw drivers. He did a march to RTO office in Andheri with hoards of Rickshaw drivers, causing huge disruption to already bad traffic, but who cares, they were fighting for “the right to cheat”. What amusing is the fact that Abu Azmi is going against the other citizens. Now only Rickshaw drivers cannot make him win the elections and his effort will definitely not be appreciated by others.
Then again, Abu Azmi is a seasoned politician. He knows what he does (Hope So). Coming back to Rickshaws, the Auto Union Chief finally came up with an amazing (BAD) formula. He suggested to remove the meters as whole and put in places shared rickshaws. Its such an absurd idea that its not even fit for discussion.
This whole problem has a very simple solution. Autos with tampered meters should not exist at all. Punish the offenders. Let them fall in line. Don’t Discuss anything with anyone. The law is in place. The problem is even the law cannot protect itself, against the rogue elements in the society.