Mediocre Perspectives

The last twenty minutes were not easy for him. He knew he was to make the most important decision of his life. But never did he realize that it will be this difficult. He fixed his eyes on the biometric microphone lying beside his bed. He will have to say three words – “Yes, I agree”, if he is ready for the procedure which he is to undergo in fifteen minutes. The room was equipped with biotech sensors which have been monitoring him since he entered. While David was immersed in deep thought, his doctor Krishnan entered the room. “So, it seems your mind is still in dilemma Mr. David”. David gave him a wry smile. “Well, when I gave my nod for the procedure, I was excited. But now, the thought of losing my memories is preventing me from going ahead”. Krishnan smiled calmly. “Everyone who signed up for this procedure goes through such mental conflicts Mr. David. You will lose your memories for the last fifteen years but it will also make you fifteen years younger. We are fortu...

When the Cold war ended the USA became the undisputed super power of the world. Today, it is widely accepted that the world is heading towards a multi-polar world with many power centers. But even before the stage has reached the USA has some concerns. That is more than validated by the speculative US policy of ‘Pivot to Asia’. The US plans to station close to half of its troops in the countries of the Philippines, Vietnam and Japan by 2050. A superpower does not take such measures until there is a significant development. Two weeks ago Chinese currency Renminbi (Yuan) entered the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) currency grouping. Currently, USA holds 41.9 percent and China 10.92 percent in the revised SDR basket. SDR refers to the basket of currencies on which a debtor nation could receive loans from the IMF. China has been known as the ‘Workshop of the world’ for its manufacturing sector’s capability. But proceedings in the last few years have cemented China as the nation beyond a...

The recently concluded cricket series between India and South Africa has produced some resilient performances from both sides. Though the Indian side won the series 3-0 the South African have several positives to take back from this tour. The tour rekindled the long standing debate – the importance of the cricket pitch. Perhaps there is no other sport where the performance of the players is affected significantly with change in the battleground. This is certainly attributed to the nature of the sport where the cricketing pitch is involved in every ball bowled. Tennis is probably one other sport where there are specialists for each surface. Cricketing pitches vary across continents. The 22 yards favour swing in Australia, pace and bounce in South Africa and spin in the subcontinent as we’ve seen in the last series. In addition to their inherent nature weather patterns could slightly alter their nature. Pitch preparation which is taken care by the ground staff prepare pitches which...

It would be fair to say that I started watching tennis because of Roger Federer. Tennis was alien to me ten years ago. I didn’t even know that ‘love’ had a different meaning when pronounced on a tennis court. But watching Federer play was enchanting. It felt like poetry in motion. Ten years down the line, I have become an ardent fan of tennis and I realize that I was fortunate to have watched the ‘Big Four’ play in their prime. I am not sure where I read that phrase for the first time but I do know that it suits the four well. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have enthralled tennis fans for a decade. Most sports including tennis see the rise of stars every decade. To quote examples in tennis, there was a decade of John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors. We also had a decade dominated by the likes of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. But the Big four of tennis stand unrivalled due to their contrasting styles and character. I shall rather not go into the...

Procrastination is an integral part of human lives. We rarely miss that trait in people we come across every day. On the macro level, the same character is very much prevalent. It is no different with climate change. The world woke up to the grim reality of human induced ‘climate change’ in the last half of the 20 th century. Since then, there has been considerable progress through mechanisms like the Kyoto protocol with few countries accepting obligations to reduce their green house emissions. But it is well agreed among international organizations that it is not sufficient. If climate change is to have a minimal impact on human lives it is mandatory that world nations reach a concrete agreement in the COP in Paris which has begun yesterday. The convention during the Earth summit in Rio 1992 accepted that climate change is accelerated by human actions. It is accepted widely that the impact on the earth will be minimal if the temperature rise is kept below 2 degree Celsius. Henc...