My Favorite Flintoff Moments: Various People Talk

Adam Gilchrist - Former Australia wicketkeeper

A lot of people would talk about 2005 and the effect he had on the series in general. Everywhere I looked in that season he was there everywhere; every time I batted he seemed to bowl and generally I got roughed both in Tests and ODIs; he was on the billboards, he was ever-present in the newspapers; he got inside the mind so much that one night when I went to say good night to my wife I saw Andrew Flintoff! What I really liked about him was his work ethic: in The Oval Test in that series, on the fourth day, he bowled about 14 overs on the trot starting in the first session and carried past lunch. That showed how desperate he was to win. Then I loved the way he celebrated the Ashes victory as I've always been one to celebrate well, too.

Matthew Hoggard - Former England team-mate

My favourite Fred moment came during an Under-19 game in Zimbabwe. We were playing a Test in Bulawayo of all places, and we were struggling to get wickets. At that time, Fred had been told he couldn't bowl because he was suffering from spine curvature in his back, but Bumble [David Lloyd], the coach, told us to put Fred on anyway. He bowled about four overs, got five wickets and he bowled freaking rapid. That was Fred through and through. He wasn't supposed to bowl, he did bowl, and he didn't look back.

Micky Arthur - South Africa coach

The moment for me was the spell he bowled against us at Edgbaston last year - it was phenomenal. For those eight overs he bowled, he captivated the audience to such an extent that it became the Freddie Flintoff show. Only he had the ability to do that. Whenever he bowled you felt something would happen and hence our guys had a huge amount of respect for him.

Sourav Ganguly - Former India captain

The thing about playing against Andrew Flintoff was he kept coming at you. I always felt he was a better bowler than a batsman. I remember the NatWest Series final distinctly where even though we won, we had to actually play out of our skins to get past him. He was young then and kept getting better from there. On the field he was a huge competitor, played with a lot of passion for England, someone who improved consistently since the Lancashire days when I saw him for the first time. My only disappointment is he could have achieved a bit more with the talent he had, but injuries robbed him of that.

Dale Steyn - South Africa fast bowler

I never really played much against him, so I really can't speak much about his skills. But I do remember he was quite a crowd-pleaser. I didn't play the Test match at Edgbaston in 2008, as I had a broken hand but the distinct memory was that each time he turned to ball the crowd lit up.

Michael Henderson - Veteran broadsheet columnist

My favourite Flintoff memory was the final Test of 2005 at The Oval, when he pounded in on that Sunday, determined that England should take a first-innings lead when it seemed Australia might move ahead. It was an act of considerable physical courage actually, with England needing to draw the game to win the Ashes, and he ended up with his second Test five-for. The crowd could sense that here was someone playing with heart and soul, and it reminded me of Ian Botham in 1981. Everyone forgets the final Test of that summer, also at The Oval, when he bowled something like 80 overs in the game for ten wickets, running in and in and in, as if to say 'we may have won the series, but it hasn¹t ended yet, and I'm going to play my heart out until it does.' In both instances, it was the end of a glorious summer.

Stephen Brenkley - The Independent correspondent

My favourite Flintoff moment, and there have been many in England shirts, was actually right here at this ground [The Oval], playing for Lancashire against Surrey, when he hit Alex Tudor several times over the boundary. He finished his innings on 135 not out from 111 balls, and it was then that we realised we had something special on our hands. It took him some time to prove it, but boy did he go on and prove it. And boy, will England miss him. The moment occurred in some half-forgotten quarter-final of the NatWest Trophy. But what isn¹t forgotten is the way Flintoff took on Tudor, who was then England's fast kid on the block. The previous summer he had actually smacked him for 34 in an over in a Championship game at Old Trafford. But this is the performance that sticks in the memory.

John Etheridge - The Sun cricket correspondent

I think my favourite Flintoff moment was when he scored 167 against West Indies at Edgbaston, and one of his many sixes sailed into the stands, straight into the hands of a spectator, who dropped it. Later, we discovered the spectator was Colin Flintoff, his dad, and Fred had great fun at his expense, saying: "He never could catch, he always told me he had a brilliant pair of hands, but that's the final proof, in front of the world, that my dad couldn't catch a cold." So that was great fun, and it summed him up as well as anything. It showed him hitting a six, it showed a bit of humour, and it showed him as a great family man. It encapsulates him perfectly.

Mike Selvey - The Guardian cricket correspondent

My favourite was him catching Steve Harmison¹s first ball of the 2006-07 Ashes, that infamous wide in Brisbane that went straight to second slip. He caught it so nonchalantly, it was almost as if he knew it was coming. Had he been somebody who watched the edge of the bat and not the ball it might have kneecapped him, or hit him straight in the bollocks, which would have been even funnier. Instead he just caught it and threw it away, as if it wasn't a big deal really. It was as if they had worked it out beforehand.

Keep Bleeding: 17th most successful song in the US from 2000 to 2009, on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade

Lyrics:

Closed off from love

I didn't need the pain

Once or twice was enough

And it was all in vain

Time starts to pass

Before you know it you're frozen

But something happened

For the very first time with you

My heart melts into the ground

Found something true

And everyone's looking round

Thinking I'm going crazy

But I don't care what they say

I'm in love with you

They try to pull me away

But they don't know the truth

My heart's crippled by the vein

That I keep on closing

You cut me open and I

Keep bleeding

Keep, keep bleeding love

I keep bleeding

I keep, keep bleeding love

Keep bleeding

Keep, keep bleeding love

You cut me open

Trying hard not to hear

But they talk so loud

Their piercing sounds fill my ears

Try to fill me with doubt

Yet I know that the goal

Is to keep me from falling

But nothing's greater than the rush that comes with your embrace

And in this world of loneliness

I see your face

Yet everyone around me

Thinks that I'm going crazy, maybe, maybe

But I don't care what they say

I'm in love with you

They try to pull me away

But they don't know the truth

My heart's crippled by the vein

That I keep on closing

You cut me open and I

Keep bleeding

Keep, keep bleeding love

I keep bleeding

I keep, keep bleeding love

Keep bleeding

Keep, keep bleeding love

You cut me open

And it's draining all of me

Oh they find it hard to believe

I'll be wearing these scars

For everyone to see

I don't care what they say

I'm in love with you

They try to pull me away

But they don't know the truth

My heart's crippled by the vein

That I keep on closing

You cut me open and I

Keep bleeding

Keep, keep bleeding love

I keep bleeding

I keep, keep bleeding love

Keep bleeding

Keep, keep bleeding love

You cut me open and I

Keep bleeding

Keep, keep bleeding love

I keep bleeding

I keep, keep bleeding love

Keep bleeding

Keep, keep bleeding love

You cut me open and I

Keep bleeding

Keep, keep bleeding love

Bengal politics’ shifting colors

As the CPM-led government has moved to the right, Mamata Banerjee has put to use the same weapons the Left had earlier used

With Mamata Banerjee’s convincing win in the West Bengal civic elections, the writing is clearly on the wall for the state’s ruling Left Front. This is no wind of change; it increasingly looks like a cyclone that is likely to sweep away over three decades of the Leftist rule in next year’s state elections.

But a closer look at the reasons for Banerjee’s victory will remove some illusions. To be sure, after three decades of misrule, the people of the state are fed up with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, led front. It has presided over the steady decline of the state. It has successfully banished industry, so much so that Salt Lake, Kolkata’s posh suburb, looks like a retirement home as the younger generation has been forced to seek jobs in other states and countries. But the tragedy is that the Communists did not even push their social agenda.

Some of the country’s best social sector schemes were first tried out in states that had nothing to do with the Left. Take Maharashtra’s employment guarantee scheme, or Tamil Nadu’s midday meal project. The Communists did push through a radical land reform programme and revive panchayats, policies that fetched them a loyal following. But their long stint in power brought attendant evils, a story told tellingly on TV screens across the country when tribals brought down the palatial homes of the CPM cadre in dirt-poor Lalgarh. Over the years, the exploited had become the exploiters, just as had happened in the Communist countries, just as it happened in Animal Farm. And their long stint in power led to hubris, a hubris that led straight to Nandigram.

To its credit, the government of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee realized there was no alternative to industrialization. The solution he came up with was to move to the right, as they had done in China, with Bhattacharjee casting himself in the role of Bengal’s Deng. Alas, he had reckoned without the anger of the people and without Banerjee. She used the same weapons that the Left had used with such devastating effect—a heady mix of populism and raucous street protests. Banerjee has opposed land acquisition; she refuses to raise prices to reflect costs; she makes no bones about her opposition to the privatization of moribund state units.

Her ambivalence towards the far left Maoists is well known. In short, she projects herself as the champion of the poor against CPM oppression. The tables have been turned—it’s not Bengal that has deserted the Left, it’s the CPM that has moved to the right. Whether her populism will help the people of Bengal, though, is another matter altogether.

Point in case: Check the rallies. One from the past (CPM led). The other recent (Mamata led). Colors have surely changed

Mamta Express

WAIL MANTRI

Like a huge tree growing inside its house, the UPA is unsure if Mamata Banerjee is there with the coalition to provide support or drill a hole through its roof. Is she with the Congress or against it? It’ll be a while before Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi figure that out

Every time they feel a Mamata migraine coming on, Congress leaders look back at UPA I with nostalgia. A hardboiled Communist leader like Prakash Karat was easier to handle than the mercurial chief of the Trinamool Congress. The remark, made with wry humour in a private conversation, came from one of the Congress party’s chief political managers.

How do you solve a problem like Mamata Banerjee? As her star rises in West Bengal, the enfant terrible of UPA II couldn’t care less about Delhi and its stuffy expectations. Mamata is on a roll and she’s not about to be tamed, not by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, not even by Sonia Gandhi. Sitting in a room full of files in Delhi’s Rail Bhavan is no match for the heady excitement of shrieking populist slogans to a mammoth crowd, like the one that filled Kolkata’s Esplanade on July 21 for the Trinamool’s annual martyr’s day rally.

In the 14 months since UPA II assumed office, relations between the Congress and Mamata have grown increasingly fractious. Once indulged as the giant killer of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls for her stunning victories in Left-dominated Bengal, Mamata is now regarded with suspicion and irritation. She’s the recalcitrant ally, unpredictable, untrustworthy and a law unto herself. Is she with the Congress or against the Congress? The party can’t seem to decide as it grapples with the aggressive and demanding nature of Mamata’s politics. Sheer pragmatism demands that they stay together because they are poised to make history when Bengal votes next year. Yet the Congress cannot shake off apprehensions that Mamata may be a cross too heavy to bear.

There are four main pressure points in the Congress-Mamata relationship. One is the growing gulf between the Manmohan Singh government’s expectations from its railways minister and Mamata’s perception of her role in the Union cabinet. The gap widened some more after the recent train accident at Sainthia, which fetched Mamata (and the government) damaging headlines about an “absentee’’ minister, 16 rail disasters in 14 months and 269 deaths.

The second is the clashes that occur with annoying regularity on policy issues. If the government managed to sneak in decisions to decontrol petrol prices and divest 10 percent of its stakes in two public sector undertakings, Hindustan Copper and Coal India, it was only because Mamata decided she could afford to make a magnanimous gesture to the Congress after she captured yet another CPI(M) citadel in the Kolkata municipal polls in June this year.

This third is her flirtation with suspected Naxalite sympathisers. She has clashed with home minister P Chidambaram on this dalliance several times and another one is looming on the horizon after her vow at the martyr’s day rally to get the Union government to call off its anti-Naxal operations in Lalgarh.

The fourth, and perhaps the most worrying for the Congress, is the prospect of being devoured by Mamata in Bengal as she plots with single-minded determination to wipe out the CPI(M). The exodus from the Congress to the Trinamool is turning into a flood as assembly polls draw nearer with anxious Congress MLAs ready to negotiate any terms with Mamata to secure their political future in the next dispensation. Virtually every local leader of note is now with her. The Congress is left with just two, trade union leader Pradip Bhattacharya and state unit president Manas Bhunia. Perhaps the biggest blow was the exit of Mohua Moitra, handpicked by Rahul Gandhi to lead his aam aadmi ka sipahi team in the state.

The Congress is bracing itself for relations to reach a flashpoint when negotiations on seat sharing begin closer to the assembly elections. Mamata has made no bones about her ambition to lead a Trinamool only government in Bengal, not a coalition arrangement with the Congress, and has already stated that she will not concede more than 40-45 of Bengal’s 294 assembly seats for the Congress to contest.

Party leaders are haunted by fears that the Congress in Bengal will go the way of Uttar Pradesh where the decline began after former prime minister Narasimha Rao sealed an asymmetrical pre-poll arrangement with the BSP for the 1996 assembly elections. The BSP contested 300 seats; the Congress fought just 100 and has remained on the margins of UP politics since. Mamata may prove to be a meaner negotiator than the BSP’s Kanshi Ram and the Congress fully expects her to leverage her position in the Union cabinet to get the best bargain possible in Bengal. If the party gives in to Mamata, it will be a blow to Rahul Gandhi’s plans for a nation-wide resurgence of the Congress. If it doesn’t, the alliance could move perilously close to breaking point and give the CPI(M) an advantage.

Mamata’s mercurial moods make it impossible to predict what’s in store for the Manmohan Singh government and the Congress in the coming months. She blows hot and cold, leaving Congress managers with an annoying feeling of being bested by a mere woman. Mamata seems to revel in being stereotyped and her handlers in the Congress respond with typical patriarchal condescension.

Congress circles are full of anecdotes about Mamata’s erratic behaviour. Like the time she rang up the cabinet secretary at midnight to demand the last-minute inclusion of 10 new projects for West Bengal in the railways budget papers to be approved by the Union cabinet in the morning. She was so insistent that the cabinet secretary gave in. But there was hell to pay at the cabinet meeting with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee ticking her off as if she were a naughty schoolgirl. She burst into tears and one of the ministers kindly offered her a handkerchief to wipe her face. But Mukherjee was unmoved. He told her sternly that he would allow her to announce the projects when she presented the railways budget in Parliament but he could not sanction money for any of them at gunpoint. All 10 projects remain Mamata’s pipedream.

Unfortunately, Mamata lends herself to the kind of criticism coming her way as a non-performing railways minister. She barely spends a week every month in Delhi and although her aides shuttle between the capital and Kolkata with files, they only carry papers that need immediate attention. So while routine work has not suffered, there’s very little strategic planning on burning issues like safety, upgradation of tracks and equipment, staff recruitment to fill the 95,000-odd vacancies, expansion and raising resources through fare hikes. Senior officials complain that they hardly get to meet her for discussions because even if she is in office, she is preoccupied with political work.

Her list of demands for the Union government is endless. She wants the CPI(M) government in Kolkata dismissed. She wants the assembly polls advanced to November this year. She doesn’t want Union ministers to entertain West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. She has refused to allow the government to pass the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill, thus holding up a slew of projects, including the prime minister’s flagship Dedicated Freight Corridor. She wants the women’s reservation bill amended to include a quota for women from backward castes and minority communities. And her latest salvo is a demand to call off the anti-Naxal operations in West Bengal.

For a reform-minded prime minister like Manmohan Singh, Mamata’s nonchalant handling of her railways portfolio must be frustrating. It’s been left to Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to let off steam on the PM’s behalf. He has written three letters to Mamata already expressing concern on various issues connected to her ministry. In one, he reminded her to pay more attention to safety upgradation measures and advised her to raise passenger fares to meet rising costs. In another, he rapped her for the delay in the Dedicated Freight Corridor project, which has pushed up costs from Rs 43,000 crore to Rs 80,000 crore. Mamata has not replied to any of Ahluwalia’s missives.

But there may, after all, be a method to her seeming madness. Perhaps it needs a streetfighter like Mamata, with almost fanatical devotion to her cause to the exclusion of everything else, to batter the CPI(M)’s Bengal fortress. The Congress failed for 30 years. Mamata, on the other hand, seems poised to succeed. Unfortunately, the Manmohan Singh government may have to pay the price in terms of governance to help release years of pent up anger and frustration in Bengal.

OFF HER RAILS

Mamata Banerjee’s over-the-top populist politics and her obsession with West Bengal often bring her into conflict with the demands of being a member of the Manmohan Singh government and a partner of the UPA. Some instances:

While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described Naxalism as the biggest threat to internal security, Mamata Banerjee told a mammoth rally in Kolkata last week that she will put pressure on the Union government to call off anti-Naxal operations in Lalgarh

The government is keen to pass the land acquisition amendment bill to facilitate the purchase of land for infrastructure, industrial and other projects. But Mamata has refused to even consider supporting the bill till the Bengal polls are over next year and almost walked out of a cabinet meeting to underline the point.

The PM, through Planning Commission chief Montek Singh Ahluwalia, advised Mamata to hike passenger fares in this year’s railways budget and close down non-profitable lines. Fares have not been raised for 10 years. Mamata turned a deaf ear on the plea that she has a social responsibility to the people of India.

After supporting the women’s reservation bill in the Union cabinet, Mamata suddenly changed her mind when the proposed legislation was introduced in the Rajya Sabha. She embarrassed the government by instructing her MPs to absent themselves from Parliament, prompting Sonia Gandhi to wonder aloud in a television interview about Mamata’s volte face. She further embarrassed the government by inviting the main opponents of the bill, the Yadav trio, for lunch to make common cause with them.

Mamata has consistently ignored reminders to get the flagship Dedicated Freight Corridor project rolling, resulting in a huge cost overrun. The estimated completed cost of the project is now Rs 80,000 crore, almost double the original estimate of Rs 43,000 crore. Mamata has declined to make Indian Railways pay service tax for two financial years, 2009-10 and 2010-11. Her excuse is lack of funds. The exasperated finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee, tried hard to persuade her and even offered to take payment in installments. But Mamata stuck to her stand. Ultimately, Mukherjee was forced to waive the tax for last financial year but is still hopeful of getting her to pay up this year.

Despite a phone call from Sonia Gandhi’s political advisor Ahmed Patel requesting Mamata on his boss’ behalf to attend the UPA premonsoon session coordination meeting, she flew to Bengal following the train disaster at Sainthia. That was understandable. What upset the Congress was her failure to send a representative, considering another missing ally, Sharad Pawar, was represented at the meeting by Praful Patel.

As Octopus Ponders Final Choice, Parrot Tips Dutch to Take World Cup

German, Dutch and Spanish television stations are preparing to broadcast live from an aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany, on Friday, when an octopus named Paul, whose handlers claim he can predict the outcome of World Cup soccer matches, will attempt to call the last two games of the tournament.

Paul the octopus, the Oracle of Oberhausen, has successfully predicted all six of Germany’s World Cup matches so far — after going four for five in the European Championships two years ago. No one knows how he does it, but for a while it made him the most popular invertebrate in Germany, stealing headlines even from the coalition government. He “predicts” by choosing a mussel from one of two possible containers, both marked with national flags.

The only blemish on Paul’s record to date was his prophecy that Germany would beat Spain in the final of Euro 2008, a match the Spanish took, 1-0. Perhaps learning from his mistake, this week the octopus chose not to eat from a box decorated with a tiny German flag when it was lowered into his tank before Wednesday’s semifinal, dining instead on the Spanish mussel.

After the Germans did indeed lose on Wednesday night, a number of Paul’s fellow citizens called loudly for his death, suggesting that he had jinxed the team.

Mr. Tharoor! We are no fools!!!

For the past few days, front pages of all newspapers and headlines of all news channels have been full of Shashi Tharoor. Already famous, he is now more famous for two additional, exciting reasons. One, the news relates to the famous game of cricket and its even more famous T20 version, IPL. And two, the news centres round a gorgeous young lady Sunanda Pushkar, unknown till yesterday, now famous all over, again for two more reasons, not unrelated to Tharoor. One, she has been recently seen in many social functions with Shashi who has admitted that she is his close friend from Canada. And two she has been given — according to the IPL boss Lalit Modi, free shares and according to Pushkar, Sweat Equity — 25 per cent stake through Rendezvous Sports World Private Limited (Rendezvous Company) which is 26 per cent partner of the consortium (Rendezvous Consortium) that owns the Kochi IPL franchise. The franchise was awarded on March 21 last to the Rendezvous Consortium to get which it is Shashi, not Sunanda, who seems to have sweated quite a lot. A more exciting, but unconfirmed, news is that Shashi is waiting for divorce from his second wife to marry Sunanda. This is where the catch is for both Shashi and Sunanda in the Rendezvous affair.

A few facts are critical to know why Shashi and Sunanda are in the news. An Unincorporated Joint Venture (UJV), namely the Rendezvous Consortium, made a stunning bid of $ 333 million to get, and got, the Kochi franchise of IPL. How stunning the amount can be judged by comparing it with the bid of Mukesh Ambani. In 2008, Ambani won the Mumbai franchise for $112 million. The brand value of IPL has since shot up, according to London based Brand Finance Plc, from $2.1 billion in 2009 to $4.13 billion in 2010. So IPL is no cricket affair; it is a huge money spinning game. The person who lost the Kochi bid to the UJV was Gautam Adani, rated as the world’s 13th richest man. But, who is this UJV, which had made this gargantuan bid? The UJV is known by the name of Rendezvous (Rendezvous Company), which is the prime mover and 26 per cent stakeholder in the UJV. From the day the Rendezvous JV won the bid, the intriguing question was who were behind this faceless body. To add to the curiosity, the spokesperson of the UJV officially said that the names of its constituents were ‘confidential’.

Lalit Modi, who was obviously upset at some unknown entity, not his cronies, bagging the bid, announced in public that among others, Rendezvous Company was the main constituent of UJV, which got the Kochi franchise, and that UJV has given 25 per cent of its shares free to Rendezvous Company. That’s where the issue hit the ceiling.

Disclosure of the Shashi-Sunanda connection immediately brought in politics with the BJP and the CPI(M) asking for Tharoor’s head. So what started off as an issue of cricket and big — and bad money — has finally become an issue of corruption and politics, besides sleazy gossip about the personal lives of Shashi and Sunanda.

What I find silly and I vehemently object to the use of the word ‘sweat equity’ to describe the 25 per cent stake which Rendezvous Company got from the UJV. The UJV is an unincorporated body of which Rendezvous Company is a constituent. The UJV cannot issue shares. What it actually did was that it gave, without charging even a rupee, 25 per cent stake in the UJV to Rendezvous Company. Sunanda Pushkar is said to be an 18 per cent shareholder in Rendezvous Company. So she is entitled to 18 per cent of the 25 per cent free shares through her holding in Rendezvous Company. What Rendezvous Company has got is not sweat equity as Sunanda or her associates claim. The law says that sweat equity can be given by unlisted companies but subject only to the rules prescribed by the government.

The general rules are: the maximum sweat equity that can be issued in one year is 15 per cent of the capital; it can be issued not free of cost, but only at a fair value determined by independent valuation; the shares so issued are barred for sale for three years. There are more rules. But this much is adequate here. Being unincorporated, the UJV cannot issue equity first, and so there is no question of sweat equity being issued by the UJV.

What Rendezvous Company has got is a quarter of ownership free of cost and not shares or sweat equity in an incorporated company, which comes at a cost and has a totally different meaning and character in law. For Rendezvous Company to get the 25 per cent free shares (poorly morphed as sweat equity) from the UJV, the alibi given by its director Pooja Gulati is almost a joke. She says that it was “in exchange for the management services rendered by it”. But not a word on what management service it has so far rendered or is capable of rendering in future, or on what experience or expertise Rendezvous or any one behind it, had in the field of cricket or IPL franchising. No one associated with the UJV including Rendezvous claims or proclaims any prior experience of IPL or cricket management. One need not exert any further.

Obviously the UJV got the Kochi franchise because someone behind Rendezvous had ‘sweated’ to get it for them. This is where Shashi Tharoor’s name comes in. He is the self-acknowledged, and the proclaimed, mentor of the UJV. He is also the close friend of Sunanda, who gets through it 18 per cent of the free ownership and her share of the cake is said to be Rs 70 crore, all free. That she is the close friend of Shashi, the mentor of the Kochi franchise, and she gets shares worth Rs 70 crore free, make it a square. Then, is it Shashi’s sweat and Sunanda’s equity?

Why towns are saying 'Try Me' to Google

Communities across the country are going gaga over Google.

With hopes of becoming a test bed for the online search giant's ultra-fast Internet network, Topeka, Kansas, temporarily changed its name to Google.

Duluth, Minnesota, created a spoof YouTube video mocking Topeka's effort, pledging to rename every first-born male Google Fiber and female Googlette Fiber.

Highlands Ranch, a suburb south of Denver, is gathering community members to form a human "We Love Google" sign at a local high school football stadium.

"We know we have to do something unusual to get Google's attention," said Jamie Noebel, community-relations manager for Highlands Ranch.

Google announced plans last month to a build a fiber-optic network that would offer residential Internet speeds of 1 gigabit per second - about 100 times faster than the speeds available to most Americans today.

Put another way, users would be able to download a high-definition movie in less than a minute, compared with more than an hour on speeds currently available.

The company said the service may reach up to 500,000 people and asked communities interested in becoming a trial location to essentially submit an application by March 26. Google says it will weigh factors such as "community support, local resources, weather conditions, approved construction methods and local regulatory issues."

The test community or communities will be selected this year.

Google has long had a testy relationship with traditional broadband providers, battling over issues such as "network neutrality" - an effort to prevent companies such as Comcast and Denver-based Qwest from offering tiered pricing for access to their networks.

Google doesn't necessarily want to be an Internet service provider. It's using the "experiment" to show that faster broadband speeds can be offered by companies other than cable and telecommunications firms.

"We'll manage our network in an open, nondiscriminatory and transparent way," Google states on the project's Web page.

Google will have to dig up roads and connect fiber-optic cables directly to homes, similar to the network upgrade Verizon has undertaken in its local phone-service territory.

By working directly with local governments, Google can cut some of the red tape that often slows such buildouts, such as right-of-way issues.

And city officials across the country are showing they're more than willing to work with Google.

Longmont in northern Colorado is quick to note that the city owns its own electric utility, giving Google easy access to infrastructure it may need to roll out the service.

"There's a lot of hype out there, but once you get through the hype, we've got a lot of attributes," said Tom Roiniotis, director of Longmont Power & Communications.

He said the St. Vrain Valley School District is planning a YouTube video contest to promote Longmont, which also owns an 18-mile fiber-optic ring that Google can tap into.

Permalink: http://www.ndtv.com/news/world/why-towns-are-saying-try-me-to-google-17530.php

Time magazine on Sachin Tendulakar's journey as a cricketer

When Sachin Tendulkar travelled to Pakistan to face one of the finest bowling attacks ever assembled in cricket, Michael Schumacher was yet to race a F1 car, Lance Armstrong had never been to the Tour de France, Diego Maradona was still the captain of a world champion Argentina team, Pete Sampras had never won a Grand Slam.

When Tendulkar embarked on a glorious career taming Imran and company, Roger Federer was a name unheard of; Lionel Messi was in his nappies, Usain Bolt was an unknown kid in the Jamaican backwaters. The Berlin Wall was still intact, USSR was one big, big country, Dr Manmohan Singh was yet to "open" the Nehruvian economy.

It seems while Time was having his toll on every individual on the face of this planet, he excused one man. Time stands frozen in front of Sachin Tendulkar. We have had champions, we have had legends, but we have never had another Sachin Tendulkar and we never will.

Budget Highlight 2010

Poor Monsoon – affected Rabi and Kharif crops

India weathered the crisis well

Supporting and delivering services and not giving directly to the citizens

2009-10 – Challenging year attributed to 2008-09 Q3, Q4

GDP

FY 2008-09 - GDP 6.7 % Substantial fiscal expansion

Q1 2009-10 – GDP 6.1%

Q2 2009-10 - GDP 7.9%

Q3 & Q4 – expected higher than 7.2%

Hope to reach 10% GDP shortly

Negative growth in agriculture

Renewed growth in Manufacturing – Dec 2009 – 18% (highest in past 2 decades)

Since Dec 2009 – food prices transmitted to other non food items

Budget to reflect Govt’s vision for development

Ensure better management of Food security

Move towards Fiscal consolidation

Make growth more broad based and ensure demand supply are better managed and matched

Need to review the public spending, mobilize resources

Exit strategy from Expansionary fiscal stance in past 2 years

Fiscal consolidation

Explicit reduction in Domestic Public Debt FM to come out with a report

To introduce Simple Tax system which includes Voluntary compliance

Direct Tax Code (DTC) – To be in a position to implement DTC from 1-April 2011

GST – To finalize the structure of GST and implement by 1-April-2011

Disinvestment program – PSU

Oil India, NHPC, NTPC, Rural Electrification Corp; NMDC, SVJN

Raise Rs 25000 Cr in FY 2010

Proceed to utilize Capex for social sector for creating new assets

Unlock value for all stakeholders

Adhered to fiscal roadmap

Simplify FDI regime

Defined indirect investment by foreign companies in Indian Companies

Automatic route – Payment for Royalties etc

Clarity and predictability for FDI policy

Banks

To extend geographic coverage of Banks

RBI considering additional banking licensing to Pvt Sectors and NBFC (if meet RBI eligibility criteria)

Rs 1900 Cr as Tier I capital in 4 Pub Banks infused

Rs 16500 Cr infused to maintain min 8% Tier I Capital Ratio in Public sector banks

Increase lending to rural economy

Interest subvention of 2% preshipment export credit – extended to 1 more year (handicraft, handloom, carpet and SMEs)

SEZ

– 127% growth

Ensure continued growth – boost export and employment

AGRICULTURE

Rs 300 Cr – Rashtriya Krishi Vikas yojana

Need greater competition, need to take a firm view of retail trade

Extend period of repayment of loan from Dec 31-2009 to June 30

Additional 1% interest subvention who repaid Crop loan in time increased to 2% (effective rate of 5% P.A

.)

Infrastructure

Rs 1.73 Lakh crore for Infrastructure (46% of plan allocation)

Allocation to Road Transport increased to Rs 19,894 Cr

Allocation of Rs 16,752 Cr for railways

Freight corridor (Del-Mum)

IIFCL authorized to refinance

Rs 48000 Cr for Bharat Nirman

Rs 5400 Cr for urban development

Pollution levels

Development of clean energy

Establish National Clean Energy Fund; Funding for research in clean energy technology

Rs 20 Cr one time grant for Zero liquid discharge; Hosiery exports Tirupur, TN

Rs 200 Cr to Goa – tourism, increase green cover

Mission clean Ganga – double allocation to NGRVA in 2010

Competitive bidding for coal block for Power

Draft food security bill ready

Education

Rs 31,036 Cr for primary school

Plus states to access 3675 Cr for elementary education

Rural Development

Rs 66100 Cr for rural development

NREGA allocation stepped up to Rs 41000 Cr

Rs 22300 Cr for Health Ministry in FY 2011

Rs 10000 for Indira Awas Yojana

To create a slum free India at the earliest

Rs 1.38 Lakh Cr for social sector spending

Khadi reform program with ADB USD 150 million signed in Dec 2009

National social security fund for unorganized sector Rs 1000 Cr (initial allocation) weavers, rickshaw pullers etc

Health insurance cover to below Poverty line 1 Cr smart cards have been issued. Extend to all such MG NREGA beneficiaries who worked for more than 250 days in last year

New Pension scheme –

Govt to contribute to each NPS account Rs 1000/month

Min contribution Rs 1000, Max Rs 12000

Available for another 3 years

Allocation Rs 100 Cr

To benefit 1 lakh NPS subscribers

Appeal St Govt to contribute similarly

Skill development

Target 50 Cr skilled people by 2022

Now 15 Cr

21 high growth sectors

Create 10 lacs skilled manpower

Textile Ministry to train 30 lac person over 5 years

Empowerment of women

Improve female literacy rate – sakshar bharat

Allocation of Minority welfare Rs 2800 Cr

Financial sector legislative Reforms Commission to be set up to reform the Financial Sector and govt organizations

350 recommendations have been implemented and 450 under review.

UID numbers

To meet 1st set of UID numbers in FY 2011

Allocated Rs 1490 Cr to the authority

A SYMBOL for Indian Rupees (just like Dollar, Japanese Yen, Pound Sterling, Euro)

Allocation of Rs 147,344 Cr for Defense (include Rs 60000 Cr for capital exp)

Law and order and security – under control

Recruit 2000 youth in paramilitary forces

Gross Tax receipt Rs 4.76 lakhs

5.5% Fiscal deficit target in FY 2011 [Rs 3,81,408 Cr]

(7.8% in 2008-09, 6.9% per revised estimate)

4.8% Fiscal deficit target in Fy 2012

TAX PROPOSALS

Sound Tax admin

Tax reforms is a process and not an event

Saral II Form for salaried tax payers – simple format of only 2 pages

Income Tax (Personal)

Rs 1.6 lakhs to Rs 5 lakhs – 10%

Rs 5.0 lakhs to Rs 8 lakhs – 20%

More than Rs 8 lakhs – 30%

Additional Deduction of Rs 20,000 for an LT Infrastructure bonds

Contribution to Central Govt health scheme –

Surcharge reduce from 10 to 7.5%

MAT increased to 18%

To encourage R&D – weighted deduction on in house R&D from 150% to 200%

Deduction for payment to National Lab, Research associations, College etc for scientific research of 175% (from 125%)

Weighted deduction – approved research – social 125%

Profit linked deduction – changed to Investment linked deduction

Boost tourism sector –

Investment linked deduction – for 2 star hotels and above

Housing and Real Estate

– pending projects to be completed within 5 (from 4 years) to claim deduction from profits

Tax Audit

40 lacs – audit required – increase to 60 lacs

Receipt exceeding Rs 10 lacs increased to Rs 15 lacs

Presumption tax

Small tax payers increased to Rs 60 lacs

TDS - Rationalize

Allowed if tax is deducted at any time

Increase interest on tax deducted but not deposited from 12% to 18%

LLP

If converted Pvt Companies – not subjected to Capital gains tax

Revenue loss of Rs 26000 Cr in a revenue year

INDIRECT TAX

3 fiscal stimulus package – helped improve significantly

Partially roll back rate reduction of Excise and enhance non petroleum products

Partial rollback in Excise Duty 10% from 8%

Petrol excise duty increased by Rs 1 / lt

Excise duty on Large Cars, SUVs Cars increased to 22%

Restore 5% duty on Crude petroleum

Restore 7.5% duty on Petrol and Diesel

Raised excise duty on all non smoking tobacco

Raised import duty on Gold and Silver

Dearer: Refrigerator, TV, AC, Cigarettes, Jewellery, Cars, Petrol, Mobile Phones,

Cheaper: Toys, Latex, Medicines (16% - 10%), CDs,

Service Tax rate unchanged at 10%

Rev Gain Rs 20500 Cr

Tweets by Tweeple on Sachin: Only few

yuvsingh09: Sachin Paaji..I remember ad where that little kid is playing with the car and his father tells him: "Bas Kar" and the kid replies...

juniorbachchan: SACHIN, YOU GIVE US INDIANS A GREAT REASON TO BE PROUD. AND THE REASON IS YOU!!!

ShashiTharoor: Had a v busy day &cldnt tweet earlier, but thx to Parl adjournment caught more than few glimpses of Sachin's magnificent 204*. What a champ!

udaychopra: So heard about Sachins double century...wish I could have seen it...but anyway I decided to celebrate by dedicating my breakfast to him...

ShashiTharoor: Gave 15min Asianet interview in Malayalam on Sachin's accomplishment. At age when ppl assumed his stamina was flagging,he makes his highest!

juniorbachchan: SACHIN. Master, idol, LEGEND!!! Congratulations!!! What an innings.

priyankachopra: Oh my god!Just read about sachins double century!Mannn!I slept thru it!! :( feel so proud to be born at a time when I can witness greatness!

kjohar25: His name is TENDULKAR and he is a LEGEND!!!

vivek_oberoi: I've always said...."if cricket is a religion....sachin is god!"

Riteishd: HISTORY has been created by d Master . In future people will always remember where they were when SACHIN scored 200* runs. Atyanth abhimaan.

realpreityzinta: Sachin ! You are my hero ! You make us so proud :-) Team India rocks because Sachin shocks the opposition !

anandmahindra: On my way to ndtv Indian of the year awards.But wonder if any other indian matters tonight after sachin's double ton...

LalitKModi: Sachin - the greatest ever Player ever - without any doubt.

warne888: yes yes yes !!!!!! well done Sachin my friend ... congrats and well done !!!!! awesome ...

kapoorkkunal: I finally know what god really looks like!! He is about 5"5, maharashtrian and plays cricket!! Tendulkar bapa morya

There were millions, I picked few....Phewww

Belated Happy new year

Sorry for being late. Happy new year 2010 to all of you. God bless.