Congress, Ambani's, Education & SEZ's

It was a beautiful warm sunny afternoon in January 2004. It was my first and only political rally that I've ever attended so far. The students rally was organised by NSUI at Parliament street to protest against the education policy of the then NDA government. It was in a way also a process where by which the Congress was trying to gather students support in the upcoming Loksabha elections.

The set-up was perfect. There were more student leaders than the actual students attending that rally. the rest of the pupil in the disguise of students were more of the local goons which these student politicias pay to attend these rallies. After all the so called students leaders finished their speeches then came Oscar fernandes who to be very honest is a horror when it comes to giving a fiery speech to even a crowd of 100 people. after his disastrous speech where he pridictably talked about Mrs Gandhi came Shri Mukul Vasnik. He started slowly but soon came to his fiery best accusing everyone who was remotly associated to the government.
In his speech he time and time again mentioned "Hamein apne education system se Ambani's Tata's ko hatana hoga. Padhai ko in lobhi logon ke changul se mukta karana hoga"

After the day was called to rest i started thinking do these people really care about the plight of the education system?? or are they just good enough for giving such fiery speeches only?
Well its been more than two years since that sunny winter afternoon but now i think I've got my answer.The same oscar Fernandes who cheered on the crowd when Mukul Vasnik was at his fiery best is now part of a government which has just given nod to 181 Special Economic Zones (SEZ's) most of which are given to the Ambani Brothers and TATA's. The same Mukul Vasnik is now part of the CWC and one of the states he is incharge of is Maharastra where the Ambani's signed the first SEZ proposal in India.

Im not sure wether these people can actually provide Education to every young boy and girl of this country ( Congress in last monsoon session of Parliament decided not to ever table the RIGHT TO EDUCATION BILL, even though they charge us 2% education cess on every thing that we consume) but what im very much sure of is that we will no longer hear time and time again that so many farmers in the Vidarbha region commited sucide this month because the people who has got the permission to create these SEZ will take away the farming land at dirt cheap prices with the help of politicians. Sprawling malls, industries will replace farming feilds of this region and the media will then never bother to find out what happened to those farmers whose lands were forcibly taken away by the Ambani's, Tata's and the congress government.

A Grand Finale to Martina's Career

Fittingly, the Martina Navratilova era ended with a Grand Slam win.
Playing in the very last match of her illustrious tennis career, Navratilova added to her long list of achievements Saturday in the US Open Mixed Doubles championship at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
She and partner Bob Bryan captured the title by defeating Kveta Peschke and Martin Damm of the Czech Republic in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.
Navratilova, who turns 50 on October 18, retires from the game as arguably the best women’s tennis player of all-time, having won 18 Grand Slam titles and 167 total singles triumphs. She also racked up 178 doubles crowns, with 41 coming in major tournaments (31 women’s doubles, 10 mixed doubles).

While Navratilova’s playing career may be over, the celebration of her legacy will continue on. Prior to the US Open men’s final on Sunday afternoon, Navratilova and Don Budge will be inducted into the 2006 US Open Court of Champions in a special ceremony on centre court. A separate retirement tribute for Navratilova is also planned.

Navratilova won four US Open singles championships during her career, winning back-to-back titles in 1983-84 and 1986-87. She made eight other appearances in finals and compiled a career mark of 89-17 in 21 total singles appearances. As for doubles, Navratilova collected nine women’s doubles championships and three mixed doubles triumphs.

With this most recent victory, Navratilova became the oldest mixed doubles champion in US Open history, breaking the mark held by Margaret du Pont, who won the title in 1960 at 42 years, 166 days.

"I just wanted to keep inspiring people, the way they inspired me, and sort of show people that you can do great things regardless of your age if you just believe and, you know, go for it," said Navratilova after the match.

From the start of the match, Navratilova and Bryan had the backing from those in attendance who were there to witness the historic final match of a tennis legend. But Navratilova and Bryan didn’t need much help as they were in synch from the get-go, earning an early break of serve in the first set to gain the upperhand. Then at 5-2, the tandem broke Damm and Peschke again, as Bryan made a quick stab at a volley right at the net that dropped in for the winner.

Navratilova and Bryan continued to roll in the second set, as the fifth seeds' strong serves kept posing all sorts of problems for Damm and Peschke. For the match, Navratilova and Bryan posted a winning percentage of 94 on first serve and 73 on second serve.

Navratilova and Bryan turned their third break-point conversion at 2-1 of the second set and never looked back. Bryan closed out the win by rocketing an ace, and then hugged a joyous and nearly motionless Navratilova in celebration of the triumphant close of her career.

"Tennis is such a great life," said Navratilova after the match. "It has given me such a great life, but I'm ready sort of to move on. I still will stay in tennis and refocus my efforts elsewhere, but, I was just ready to go.
"I knew I was gonna play great tonight. There was no doubt about it."

Farewell Martina

This year's US open was bid as the farewell open for Andre Agassi, however there was one more player who was playing her last tounament of her carrer. To her accomplishments were not more that 383 titles including 58 grand slam titles.

Martina Navratriloa started her carrer way back 32 years ago when most of the players who are playing this season were not even born. even aggasi was only 3 years old when she started her carrer. In these 32 years not only she managed to win so many titles and fans along the way but she also made sure that women's tennis also reaches to a height that no one ever thought it will reach.

Today at an age of 49 she is still as fit as anybody and can give players even less than half her age a run for their money. watching her play today with Bob Brayan for the Mixed doubles crown was a priveledge. the feeling was even more especial as she was playing her last competetive match.

Bob brayan did everything in his power to make sure that he wins the title for his partner. But just like Bob was on a different plane altogether so was martina. Time and time again she showed her class even chased balls which were almost impossible to chase but she gave it her all just as she has been doing for last three decade.

On this very day in the same venue four years back Another modern day champion Pete Sampras playing his last match of his professional carrer beat Andre Agassi to win his 14th Grand slam title. But martina has acheived what no tennis player has acheived so far. she is the only player in the history of tennis to win Singles, Doubles and mixed doubles titles in all four grand slam.

Martina after today the galaxy of tennis will shine a little less brighter but your admirers will always carry the memory of you which has given them many amazing moments to cherish.