In defence of indian test team

Congratulations England on becoming the no.1 test team in the world. They deserved all of their recent victories at home. I believe they belong there ..for now ... till south africa rightfully claims the spot. I have nothing bad to say about this england team.

However now all the myopic English pandit's are making an argument that India Did not DESERVE to be no.1 in the first place!!!! I have a big problem with this notion. Let me prove it otherwise with numbers. I'll exclude Bangladesh because they really don't count. Both teams have won all their games against B'desh.

Let's start from 2008-09 season.
HEAD TO HEAD: India V England in India. Winter 2008.
India won the series 1-0 with the stunning run chase of 387

Here are both teams performances against same opponents
Sri Lanka (home) ... India won 2-0(3)... England won 1-0 (3)
South Africa (Home) .. India drew 1-1 (2)... England LOST 2-1 (4) at home!!!!
Australia (Home)... India won 2-0 (2) .. England won 2-1(5)

On home soil India has not lost since 2004/05.,, where as England have lost to both India And South Africa in 2008 .

Let's check away series.

Australia (away).. India yet to play... England 3-1(5) commendable result
West indies (Away) .. India won 1-0 (3) ... England lost 0-1 (3) (including a shocking collapse for 51 all out)
South Africa (away).. India drew 1-1 (2) ... England DREW 1-1 (4) With england hanging on for dear life in 2 of the tests with 9 wickets down and surviving due to tailenders fight along with bad light

Only Away series England has won since losing against india in india in december 2008 are Bangladesh and lacklustre australia in 2010. They have LOST in Windies. DRAWN in South Africa.. India in the mean time has WON against Windies in Windies .WON against NZ in NZ.. Drawn South africa both Home and away (in shortened 2 match series)... So there's no Reason why India shouldn't have been no.1 ...

England have played 2 great seasons of test cricket.. Nothing more nothing less.. India has been consistent for several years. India has not lost a home series since 2004/05 australia tour. Whereas England has lost to both India and South Africa at home since then,.. plus struggled to draw a test series in South Africa.

interesting

Asimov, Isaac (1920-1992) b. Petrovichi, Russia. (With reference to a correspondent) The young specialist in English Lit, ...lectured me severely on the fact that in every century people have thought they understood the Universe at last, and in every century they were proved to be wrong. It follows that the one thing we can say about our modern "knowledge" is that it is wrong. ... My answer to him was, "... when people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together." Isaac Asimov,The Relativity of Wrong, Kensington Books, New York, 1996, p 226. (1)

I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind
You could have done better but I don’t mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don’t think twice, it’s all right

A fascinating article

Yes, I understand some people feel sad when they see a figure they were taught as a child to revere – whether Prophet or Pope – being subjected to rational examination, or mockery, or criminal investigation. But everyone has ideas they hold precious. Only you, the religious, demand to be protected from debate or scrutiny that might discomfort you. The fact you believe an invisible supernatural being approves of – or even commands – your behaviour doesn't mean it deserves more respect, or sensitive handling. It means it deserves less. If you base your behaviour on such a preposterous fantasy, you should expect to be checked by criticism and mockery. You need it.

Read the rest of the article
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-pope-the-prophet-and-the-religious-support-for-evil-1923656.html

Look around,Where do you belong

Don't be afraid,You are not the only one

Don't let the day go by,Don't let it end

Don't let a day go by in doubt,The answer lies within

Life is short, so learn from your mistakes

And stand behind, the choices that you made

Face each day with both eyes open wide

And try to give, don't keep it all inside

Don't let the day go byDon't let it end

Don't let a day go by, in doubt,

The answer lies within

You've got the future on your side

You've gonna be fine now

I know whatever you decide

You are gonna shine!!!

Don't let the day go by

Don't let it end

Don't let a day go by, in doubt

You re ready to begin

Don't let a day go by in doubt

The answer lies within

wonderin'

In this ocean of hours I'm all the time thinkin'
Who am I helping, what am I breaking
What am I giving, what am I taking
But you try with your whole soul best
Never to think these thoughts and never to let
Them kind of thoughts gain ground
Or make yer heart pound
But then again you know why they're around

Religion is dangerous

I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent.

-Thomas Jefferson letter to Francis Hopkinson, March 13, 1789

Religion is a dangerous drug. It's effect lasts forever. It makes people irrational. It makes normal, law abiding citizens to do irrational acts of violence. But Why? What is religion based on? What is the purpose of religion? Everyone has forgotten the purpose of religion and only use it to decide which team they are on!

All religions try to tell you some weird stories which you would never believe if they weren't forced upon you. Christians laugh at mormons for having ridiculous beliefs but the only reason most of the mormons are following it is avoid being thrown out of their society. It's an easier way out than declaring your opinion about religious beliefs being idiotic. The result of which is being shut out of social circles for being a non-believer.

I mean yeah.. Mormon beliefs, Scientological beliefs all sound funny to others and so on but I find the story that Jesus Christ died and came back.. turned water into wine.. was born to virgin .. all of this is fictitious too. These myths were created by people, who turned a good man into god and built huge churches and Vatican city with the money they collected from naive followers.

In hindu beliefs/superstitions you get a huge amount of literature. Ramayan, Mahabhaarat are all great Stories and that's what they are..."STORIES" ... How the protagonists of the stories became gods is a good question to ask. I mean worshipping raam/krishna it's like worshipping Harry Potter/Batman/Superman to save you from your troubles. Just because the stories were written a long time ago doesn't make them true.

People say events in Ramayan actually happened. The setu between India and Sri Lanka is a proof of that. But why can't they consider a ‘possibility’ that maybe the poet saw the geographical formation between India and lanka and conceived a story of ram building a bridge. That's what authors/poets do. They are creative and imaginative. Minds of people are so closed that they think they know everything.

Let’s say Ramayana really happened. So What? Even in the story he is only human. He made his mistakes, had his downfalls. Why would praying to Ram protect you?

If Mahatma Gandhi had lived 2000 years ago, his story would be told as follows “There was an evil ruler who ruled India. He had no weakness except salt. Nobody was allowed to touch salt. But then came a messiah called Mohandas. He marched across thousands of miles and picked up the magical salt. That destroyed the devil”. Thus summarizing the Dandi March.

Then question is who converted these characters of fiction into gods? People did!

These so-called “God-people” who were smart enough to take advantage of such naivety of common folk made a business out of it.

Even today, Christians believe that evolution is false. The world was created by god in 7 days. Adam, eve and the talking snake and so on. I mean Come ON! They are trying to stop evolution from being taught in schools in USA. Is that stupid or what? 2000 years ago everyone believed earth is flat. They don’t teach that in school. 3000 years ago eclipse was thought to be a wrath of gods. Millions of people still do stupid things during eclipse even though we know better.

There are millions of people who don’t believe in the religious practices. They just don't come out and join a club because thats not an option. Religions are dangerous because they make people think they know the answers, even when doubt is the only rational approach to life. The anti-religionists should quit being timid and take up the cause of shutting down religion in the world. But instead they stand in the shadows and ignore the dangers of religious cults. If we don’t create the doubt in minds of people, the religion-caused apocalypse will surely be imminent. There’s no other way to put this in words. It scares me when decisions are taken on the basis of religious superstitions by world leaders.

What good is a religion if it stops women from leading a normal life at par with men? What good is a religion if it issues death threats against a person who expresses his/her views about religious injustice and irrationality? Why is concept of heaven and hell required for people to obey the law? Why should carrying lethal weapons be allowed because it is prescribed by religion?

Some scholars say religion helps build morality of community at large. Do you mean to say that if people didn’t fear going to hell they would start shooting each other? Is it only because of the desire to go to heaven that people do good things in life? Can’t the morality be spread without having to perform pooja, drinking holy water, praying 5 times a day and such stupid superstitious stuff? These things were invented to earn money. If you really want to please ‘God’ . Why don’t you just do good things to other people? What good is saying shlokas and mantras going to do? How is putting flowers on stone idols going to help?

More deaths have occurred in the name of religion than it has prevented. The crusades, the holocaust, the killings in Kashmir, The killings of Palestinians,Israelis, the religious riots in Mumbai and Gujarath , Killings of Christian missionaries in North India.

If everyone had no religion, people wouldn’t be misled into the idea of killing in the name of god. The preachers of religion justify the killings to save the religion. If we follow just the law of the nation, no killing can ever be justified except for capital punishment. Which is the way the society should be ! One law for everyone. Justice and freedom for all.

It is time we realize what is rational. Stop being a puppet in the hands of selfish holy-men trying to provoke violence. Think for yourself what is right and what is wrong. Not because someone says so but because You know so.
Mark Twain once wrote "surely the ass who invented the first religion ought to be the first ass damned" on the margin of a newspaper report about an earthquake in Italy and how people were fleeing into churches and then the building would collapse in aftershocks killing the followers.


Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.

-Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia, 1782

A religion that takes no account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them is no religion.

-M. K. Gandhi