Ricky Ponting – A fine captain but…..

Two years ago in South Africa, Ricky Ponting led a touring party that was as green as the baggy cap to which the new players aspired. When they landed in Johannesburg, four members of the squad were yet to debut, while other newbies were still finding their feet after a home series loss to Graeme Smith’s men.

Throughout that trip, Ponting stood in the umpire’s place during net sessions and monitored his younger team-mates, dispensing advice and encouragement. When the first Test arrived, he positioned himself in the slips with debutants Marcus North and Phillip Hughes on either side of him, where once Matthew Hayden and Shane Warne had been.

Once upon a time, captain Ponting could steer the Australian ship through any conditions and rely on his experienced crew to help him find the way. Now he was teaching a new outfit, and avoiding the icebergs was naturally much trickier.

Winning that series was a wonderful achievement. That Ponting didn’t lead Australia to more successes in the couple of years that followed was not a shock. It would have been a surprise if the victories did pile up as they had when he could call on Warne, Hayden, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist, Justin Langer et al.

Unlike Australia’s other recent captains, Ponting had to deal with two distinct eras of his reign – with champions and without. Will he be remembered for his unrivalled list of achievements as skipper? There were two World Cup triumphs, Australia’s first Ashes whitewash in 86 years, a record-equalling 16 consecutive Test victories, and a couple of Champions Trophies for good measure.

Or will it be the fact that he was the first Australian captain in more than a century to lose three Ashes series? Will the mention of his name bring to mind the acrimony of the Sydney Test in 2007-08, when Australia’s slide was beginning? How will the nine-year, two-stage Ponting era be considered in years to come?

He should be remembered as a fine captain with a wonderful record, though not without flaws. At the end of the 2006-07 Ashes clean-sweep, when Australia farewelled Warne, McGrath and Langer, Ponting had only endured three losses in his 35 Tests in charge. After that point, Australia played another 42 Tests under Ponting and won exactly half.

Compare that to Graeme Smith, whose South Africans have won only 45% of their Tests under his leadership. In their day, Michael Vaughan and Hansie Cronje were highly regarded leaders, the latter’s match-fixing scandal notwithstanding, and they each only won 50% of their Tests in charge.

After the champions left, Ponting’s team became normal. Not terrible. Not substandard. Normal. They could have plummeted into freefall, like West Indies after their dominant era came to an end. Instead, Ponting held them together well enough to enjoy away series wins over South Africa, West Indies and New Zealand, as well as home successes against India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Indies and New Zealand.

And as great as the men surrounding him were in the opening years of his leadership, they may not have achieved what they did without an uncompromising captain, committed to complete domination. It was a trait Ponting learned under Steve Waugh, the master of mental disintegration. But unlike Waugh, Ponting eventually had a team that couldn’t always back it up.

There were times when his on-field leadership lacked imagination. Like a horse wearing blinkers, Ponting was prone to bouts of tunnel-vision. The 2009 Ashes might have been different had he trusted his best bowlers in the final hour in Cardiff, instead of the spin of North and Nathan Hauritz, and in Nagpur a year earlier he had made similar strange decisions by allowing Michael Hussey and Michael Clarke to bowl when a victory could have been set up.

But no captain is without his faults, and Ponting’s team-mates were fiercely loyal to him, the sign of a leader respected by his troops. Australia’s gradual slip from all-conquering to just all right did not happen because of Ponting. The retirement of stars, a decline in the standard of domestic cricket and the selection panel’s poor handling of the spin-bowling stocks were important factors.

Even in the difficult Test times, Ponting managed to keep his one-day international team at the top of the ICC’s rankings, which was no small achievement. It was appropriate that his final act as captain was a fighting century in the World Cup, eight years after he lifted the trophy for the first time as leader, having made a brilliant 140 in the final.

When he announced his resignation, Ponting nominated that 2003 World Cup, when a Warne-less team went through undefeated, as his fondest captaincy memory. Even more remarkable was the way he lifted his men to another perfect World Cup in the Caribbean in 2007, given the poor form his one-day side had displayed in the months prior.

Achievements like that must be remembered. In Ponting’s nine years in charge, Australia’s low points were miserable, but their highs were unparalleled. Like Ponting the batsman, Ponting the captain deserves to be held in great esteem. His successor will be grateful to do half as well.

Tendulkar – A Genuine Match Winner!!!

There have been plenty of murmurs (again) about Tendulkar’s inability to make his runs count towards India’s wins. His two centuries in this World Cup – 120 v England and 111 v South Africa, resulted in a tie and a loss, while his four scores below 50 came in games when India won. A persistent undercurrent exists about Tendulkar making runs when it doesn’t matter. In this post I present some data to question this persistent trope. This has been done before, and people offer lots of statistics to prove their point. Im going to do the same. It is up to you to decide if these stats are self-serving, or whether they have reasonable standing in this argument.

This criticism is fueled by a number of things, including most prominently, criticism of the so-called “Bombay School” of batting’s obsession with personal landmarks. Sunil Gavaskar gets plenty of abuse when he explains why batsmen are careful whenever they approach a landmark. People who don’t understand what he’s saying think he’s advocating selfishness. In a sense he is – Cricket is defined by this tension between individual achievement and collective ambition. After all, every ball is delivered by one bowler and is faced by one batsman. The mistake people make is to equate this type of selfishness with a lack of concern for the team, with a lack of concern for anyone but oneself. I would equate it instead, with the selfishness of the single minded student, who turns down his friends invitations to go see a movie, or play cricket (!), because he has an exam the next day. If batting is about negotiating risk, and the century has some psychological significance, then it follows that as a batsman approaches a century, he must be more conservative in his approach, and not give away the advantage that he has worked so hard to build for his side. Runs from 101-150 are invariably the easiest runs (and fastest) most batsmen make. Moreover, it usually takes a really really good spell of bowling to test a well-set batsman who is past a century.

So people who think that Gavaskar is merely advocating putting self before team are being unfair to him. But then again, being fair tends to be optional in these matters.

Now coming to the numbers….

These two charts (drawn from Cricinfo’s Statsguru) show the records of a number of top ODI batsmen in Wins and Losses against the top 8 ODI teams – India, Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan and West Indies. One of the questions I’ve always had about this allegation against Tendulkar is – compared to whom has he tended to make fewer runs in crunch situations? If the evidence offered in support of such a claim is purely anecdotal – like Lara’s 153 at Bridgetown (in which he was dropped twice, and escaped being stumped once), then there is no scope for any argument, because the original assertion itself is not argued in any serious sense. But I will assume that there is some argument somewhere, which supports the assertion that Tendulkar makes runs when it doesn’t really matter, and makes runs in a way which doesn’t always result in India winning.

First things first. Ricky Ponting, in the above charts, has played in 204 wins against top ODI teams and 89 defeats. Adam Gilchrist’s record is even more impressive – 158 wins and 52 defeats. Mathew Hayden, 91 wins and only 28 defeats. Jacques Kallis has played in 165 wins and 94 defeats. By contrast, Tendulkar, Lara, Sehwag, Ganguly and Jayasurya have all played in fewer wins than defeats. And yet, Jayasurya has a better record in wins than Gilchrist, Lara has a better record than Kallis and Ponting, Ganguly and Sehwag a better one than Hayden, and Tendulkar possibly has the best record of them all. In fact, it seems as though the players who have played in weaker teams (i.e. in teams that have won less) have been more important to their teams winning, than the players who have played in strong teams like Australia and SA.

Since he started opening the batting in 1994, Tendulkar has made a century in every 6th India win against a top Test playing team, and a half century in every other Indian win. Only Lara comes close – making a century in every 8th West Indies win, and a half century in every other. Tendulkar’s record in India’s defeats (12 centuries, 25 fifties in 138 defeats) is nearly as good as Gilchrist’s record in victories! I have added his record over the last 5 years, just to show that this hasn’t changed recently. India have won more (35-30 in the last 5 years, as opposed to 125-138 over the last 17, when Tendulkar has played), but Tendulkar’s contribution has remained steady. He has had one problem. Of his 12 half centuries, 8 have been 90s. These include 3 scores of 99, a 97, a 96, a 94, a 93 and a 91. Tendulkar has played three tournament finals in the last 5 years, and his scores in those have been 138, 117 not out and 91. India have won all three.

Not the record of one who doesn’t make runs when it matters. The problem of the 90s suggests that Tendulkar would do well to take the great Gavaskar’s advice seriously. I don’t use the word great for Gavaskar in jest, he really is one of the great batsmen of all time. For Tendulkar making 110 is always better than Tendulkar making 95, superstitions notwithstanding.

Compared to the top Australians and Kallis, Tendulkar has had nowhere to hide. Gilchrist averaging 40 has been enough for Australia to win, but for India to win, Tendulkar has had to average over 60. There is no comparison between the top Australians and Tendulkar or Lara. Those two are in a different class.

Tendulkar himself is a modest man. Over the years, the most I’ve heard him say is “One has to keep trying”. That, a fair minded individual free of psycho-pharmacological assistance should agree, is something Tendulkar does better than anybody else.

The London Gun – The largest cannon ever built

In July 1944 Hitler tried to keep a promise to the German people. He promised over and over that his secret weapons would, at last, turn the tide and Germany would win. Of these the V1 Fying bomb and the V2 rocket saw action against London and Belgium. Hitler’s third vengeance weapon the V3 was a giant rocket assisted howitzer. It was capable of firing shells over 90 km to London.To do it he authorized the building of what was at that time the most potentially devastating weapon of the war – THE LONDON GUN!

It was also known as the V3 Cannon after the V1 Buzz Bomb and the V2 Rocket. These massive long range cannons had already been test fired in a remote Baltic sea location. They were big at 460 feet long. Timed explosions along the length of the barrel at angled T-junctions bumped the shell a little faster with each explosion as it proceeded along the barrel. This resulted in a muzzle velocity of over 1500mps (4,921 ft/sec) for a 140kg (308 lb.) shell. They could lob this shell more than 100 miles. By comparison, USS Missouri’s 16″ guns could fire about 20 miles depending on the type shell. So far, it was the largest gun ever built. Fifty of these guns along the coast of France sitting just across the channel near the port of Calais would lob some six hundred shells PER HOUR into London every day.

The fort comprised a 600m. long railway tunnel that went straight through the mountain. Off this a number of crosscuts and inclined shafts were sunk to accommodate the 130m long gun barrels. There were 5 inclined shafts in all. Each shaft had 5 cannon aimed at London. The shafts emerged through a reinforced concrete slab at the top of the hill.

Each cannon had charges placed along the length of the barrel which fired just as the shell passed imparting more energy and speed to the shell. Soon some five thousand engineers and workers (many slave) descended upon a small French town, Mimoyecques, just inland from Calais to build the first battery. These gun emplacements would have concrete and steel roofs 100 feet thick. Only the muzzles would protrude above ground but even they would have 8-inch sliding steel doors covering them until firing. They had their own rail line, their own storage facilities, and elevators to lift the huge shells to the breach. There were to be 25 guns in this, the first battery.

But the French underground soon spotted strange activity near the hamlet. They sent word quickly to British Intelligence. With this and other vital information, they soon deduced the activity and construction was for the LONDON GUN. But what could they do about it? It was built hundreds of feet underground. In late 1943 there was a plan hatched by the Americans and British to deal with the GUN. This plan, in addition to regular conventional and “penetrating bombs,” was very dangerous and had never been done before by the Allies although the Germans had successfully used similar, if smaller, radio-controlled drones – Nazi Smart Bombs. It involved an aircraft filled with explosives to be flown by pilots to a point near the target then flown into the construction by another following behind with radio guidance equipment. One young American Lieutenant named Joseph Patrick volunteered to command the drone until it was ready to attack. It was a B-24 Liberator that had a normal payload of 2,700 to 8,000 pounds. They removed the guns, ammo, crew (except for Joseph Patrick and his copilot) and everything else not nailed down. They loaded it with some 22,000 pounds of high explosives.

In November 1944, Joseph Patrick and his copilot struggled off from a base in Southern England. They were followed quickly by another Liberator. The plan was to get the overloaded B-24 near Mimoyecques where Joe Patrick and his copilot would bail out over enemy territory, making it very likely that they would spend the rest of the war as guests of the Germans – if they survived. The second Liberator using primitive remote control equipment would guide the now unmanned flying bomb into the LONDON GUN being built.

Shortly after takeoff something went very wrong! Something, perhaps a spark from the radio remote control, ignited the 22,000 pounds of high explosives which exploded over southern England. The blast was so huge that no remains of Joseph Patrick nor his copilot were ever found. To this day, results of the inquiry have never been released . . . if indeed there were results. We don’t know why the Liberator exploded.

A young lieutenant named Joseph Patrick had the last name of Kennedy. He was the oldest son of Joe Kennedy, the former ambassador to England and a crony of the wartime President Roosevelt. His father and FDR were grooming Joseph Patrick, known to all as Joe, to be president. He would, after the war, come home as a hero and possibly a former POW. If he had his younger brother Jack’s charm, he would certainly have beaten Nixon in 1960 instead.

Had he lived and become president, would President JOE Kennedy abandon the Bay of Pigs invasion that might have lead to Castro’s downfall in 1961? Would President JOE Kennedy escalate the war in Viet Nam? And finally, would President JOE Kennedy feel the need to shore up his political position with a visit to Dallas in November 1963?

Although the LONDON GUN never fired a shot, it inexorably affected US history, Cuban History, and SE Asian history in ways we will never know. As interesting as the story of the LONDON GUN is, it isn’t the most important part of the story.

One more final, bitter, irony

Before Joseph Patrick Kennedy’s abortive attempt, massive bombings of the site using conventional bombs continued to no avail. Then they used huge 5400kg (5.95 ton) “Tallboy Penetrator” bombs but they too failed to damage the construction until 6 July 1944 (4 months before the loss of Kennedy) when by sheer luck, one found its way into one of the shaft openings. It exploded 100 feet below the surface killing dozens. Work was then abandoned. Allied planners did not know this so the attempt by Joseph Patrick Kennedy went on as planned. They died never knowing that their sacrifice was not even needed!

Best Rock Bands of India

This is in continuation of an old post where I have received a comment on my knowledge of the Rock Bands in India. I did some research and followed quite a few bands on their albums and songs. The final conclusion on the best Rock Bands in India is presented here. Essentially not in the same order but definitely worth their place in my list. The pictures and the information has been collated from various sources, so for any discrepancy I stand corrected.

Pentagram

Randolph, Shiraz, Papal and Vishal came together in 1994, with a strong need to play individual, original, unique music. Pentagram is one of India’s biggest rock bands playing rock/ electronica. Pentagram has released 3 original albums. Their album, “It’s Ok”, “It’s All Good” spent 6 weeks on the Planet M national charts, a first for any Indian band. Pentagram were the first Indian band to play at Glastonbury Music Festival in 2005. (http://pentagram.in)

Parikrama

It is but a way of life for these six, going this way ever since that summer afternoon in Delhi, 17th June 1991. They named it PARIKRAMA… literal hindi means revolving around… encircling etc. Parikrama is amont the oldest and most popular Rock and Roll bands in the country. They have several live performances and original songs to their name. “But it rained” is one of their most popular songs and is dedicated to the kidnappings that occurred in the Kashmir Valley during the nineties. (http://www.parikrama.com)

Avial

True to their name, Avial (a mixed vegetable Malayali delicacy) blends Malayali poetry with contemporary alternative rock music. With elements of Indie rock and folk music and an underlying electronic feel, Avial’s music has overcome language barriers drawing fans across the sub-continent. Their self-titled debut album. released by Phat Phish Records, speaks candidly about the band’s views on the political scenario in the country. At times idealistic, at times rooted in reality. Avial transcends genres, coining the term alternative Malayali rock. (www.myspace.com/avialmusic)

Raghu Dixit

The Raghu Dixit Project, founded by Raghupathy Dixit, is an open house for musicians and artistes from different genres to come together, collaborate and create a dynamic sound and expression. Raghu Dixit released his highly acclaimed debut album in February 2008 through the Mumbai based record labels Vishal & Shekhar Music set up by the popular Bollywood music duo Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani in association with Counter Culture Records. (http://raghudixit.com)

Mrigya

An Indian band in a global village. Mrigya’s music is sans geographical barriers, yet represents the vibrant face of a new India, where tradition coexists in harmony with modern philosophy.(http://www.mrigya.com)

Advaita

Advaita is an eclectic music group from New Delhi. They borrow their name from an ancient philosophy, which translates to mean Non-Duality. Since the  group was formed in 2004, Advaita has steadily grown to become one of the most respected acts on the Indian music scene. Their sound is a melange of the styles, moods and textures taken in from different cultures and different music systems of the world. (http://www.advaitaonline.net)

Swarathma

Swarathma is a Bangalore based Indian folk fusion band that represents the sound of today’s India, rooted in traditional values while being open to the best of what the world has to offer. Blending Indian and Western influences effortlessly, their songs have themes as varied as personal journeys to socially relevant ones like the Cauvery dispute and religious hypocrisy. With a UK tour and album on EMI under their belt they are on their way to becoming one of India’s premier live acts. (http://www.swarathmwa.com)

Punkh

PUNKH – A cult outfit, combines energy in sanctimonious harmony, having a phenomenal range, of doing flying, bluesy tracks to hip new metal rap, all in one breath… PUNKH features Deepak Nair a.k.a Dean on Lead Vocals, Robin Joseph on Raps, backed by Yanger Sangir on Guitar and DJ Kunal Shourie on Groove Boxes and Turn tables. PUNKH describe their highly popular ballad “Yunajaa” as an anti-suicide track written in 2007 for their self titled debut album out on EMI music. (http://www.punkh.de)

Para Vayu

The rock band VAYU was formed by their guitar player, Ravi Iyer way back in 1997. VAYU started off as a classic rock band, with influences of the vintage classic rock sound and now is popularly known as PARA VAYU, which has evolved with a contemporary sound that caters to a wide range of generics from Blues, Funk, Jazz, Rock, alternative et al. (http://www.vayu.co.in)

Something Relevant

Something Relevant is a Mumbai based band with an eclectic seven member ensemble. After a whirlwind tour of Indonesia and South Korea in the summer, the band got into YRF studios with producer Shantanu Hudikar to record and release it’s first album, “Feels Good To be Live” 2009. (http://www.somethingrelevant.org)

Thermal And A Quarter

Variously described, widely admired, often imitated and never confined to the limitations of genre, Thermal And A Quarter (TAAQ) is a pioneering Indian Rock Band. TAAQ has independently produced four albums and their last album was “This Is It”, mixed at A.R. Rahman’s studios by Grammy winner Jeff Peters, was released at the Java Jazz Festival (Jakarta) in 2009. (http://www.thermalandaquarter.com)

Soulmate

Inspired by the roots and groove sounds of the Blues, Blues-Rock, Soul, Rock ‘n Roll, Funk and R&B, SOULMATE came together in Shillong in February 2003 playing their first concert at the “Roots Festival” at the Water Sports Complex in Umiam. Since then the band has performed many concerts all over The Northeast as well as in different parts of India. Internationally, they performed at the International Jazzmandu Festival in Kathmandu for two consecutive years 2004 and 2005, and they were the only Indian band who played at the International Blues in Memphis, USA, 2009.  (http://myspace.com/soulmateshillong)

Junkyard Groove

Over the years the Indian Sub-continent has been brewing quite a few underground rock bands and in the summer of 2005 Chennai gave us Junkyard Groove. Ameeth Thomas, Siddharth Srinivasan and Craig Maxworth got together almost randomly and realized that they had something to contribute to the world of Indian Rock and Roll. (http://junkyargroove.net)

Menwhopause

Internationally acclaimed as one of India’s most original bands, Menwhopause is perhaps one of the better known faces of New India in the music arena. With a career span of nine years packed with three international tours, one concept album and numerous awards, the band has been credited as being one of the forerunners in the new wave of Indian contemporary music. Menwhopause’s first major release titled “Easy” hit the stores in 2009 on EMI-Virgin Records. (http://www.myspace.com/menwhopause)

Medusa

Medusa is a live alternative electronic act from Mumbai. The band comprises of – Rakshit (Vocals/ samples), Rahul (Guitar/ samples), Siddharth (Bass) and Vinayak (Drums). Medusa uses drums, bass, guitars, vocals and samples to make songs that lat for 3 minutes or infinity.(http://www.myspace.com/hellomedusa)

Indigo Children

Indigo Children is a Delhi based band known for its well-crafted compositions. The band has generated a buzz in the Delhi rock scene, no doubt catapulted by their success as the winners of the 2007 edition of Channel [V] LaunchPad. Some of the bigger competitions they won over their first few years include Campus Rock Idols in 2005 and the Great Indian Rock Festival 2006. They were also one of the four bands chose to record with the world renowned producer John Leckle as a part of the British Council’s Soundpad. (http://www.myspace.com/indigochildrenmusic)

Them Clones

Them Clones were created sometime in 2000. The name reflects the general attitude of the band which was to look after their stage personalities as clones of their selves. They were the chosen ones at Channel [V] LaunchPad in 2005 and also got voted as the “Best Band” at JD Rock Awards twice in 2006 and 2007. (http://themclones.com)

 

Dum Maro Dum – The album has “Dum”

I got this album – Dum Maro Dum with a lot of expectations. The USP of the album being the hype created and surrounding around it. Ever since this Rohan Sippy-Junior Bachan starrer film was announced and went on floors, there was a lot of news and talks about the kind of sound track the film would offer. Music Director Pritam who (though has a knack to “get inspired” by foreign tracks) has a reputation for giving some of the amazing tracks in the past and lyricist Jaideep Sahni were expected to create wonders and they stood up to the challenge. This in addition to one of the most recognized cult classics of modern hindi cinema  – the original “Dum Maro Dum, Mit Jaaye Ghum” in a new package made me more excited to check out what really is in the store!!!. The film is pipped to be a crack pot thriller with the likes of Deepika Padukone, RaNa Daggubati, Bipasha Basu and Prateik Babbar, expectation on the album is also on the same lines!!!

The album opens with a lot of anticipation with the song “Mit Jaaye Ghum” (“Dum Maaro Dum”). Well I felt the song to be “different”. Comparing to the likes of “Munni Badnaam Hui” and “Sheila Ki Jawaani” would be gross injustice to this song. Well, once you get into the groove, the song is nothing less than scintillating and one is likely to repeat the song in the player again and again. Such is the feel in the song. I have played the song like a million times so far in my car stereo!!! Right from the arrangements to the lyrics to the way it is sung to an overall treatment; “Dum Maaro Dum” (with original lyrics and music by Anand Bakshi and R D Burman) is indeed different.

This is one song in fact which should have come with an ‘adults only certificate’ and though a section of moral police may go about calling it as cheap/vulgar/crude, the fact is that ultimately it is the choice of a listener to grab it or ignore it. One can be rest assured though that this effort by Anushka Manchanda behind the mike and Deepika Padukone on the screen would definitely make heads turn. As for its popularity, rest assured it is going to be the talk of the town for the next couple of months at the least and would burn the dance floors.”

The second song after the scintillating start is the love song – to have been shot with RaNa and Bipasha is “Te Amo” meaning I Love You in Spanish. The feeling of you loving the song sinks in your senses with amazing voice credits by Mohit Chauhan and Sunidhi Chauhan. There is an original, two individual solo versions by Sunidhi and Mohit and a “remix” by Ash King. The song is just so amazing like silk. Pritam has produced a superb song in the lines of “Bheegi Hote Tere” (Murder). This is the only love song –duet in the entire album. But again, it turns out to be one of the many such melodious urban compositions that Pritam has composed in the past as well which means ultimately it settles down as a good track, though not memorable. “

‘Jaana Hai’ which follows next is again a solo track with vocal credits to Zubin Garg who renders it. A situational track, it has a decent tune but the impact is not as strong as it could have been, courtesy the way it is sung. I have a feeling that Zubin Garg is stillcaught in the ‘Ya Ali’ (Gangster) mode and he has tried to bring in a similar feel here as well. Hence while one would have expected something which was indeed high voltage here, it doesn’t turn out to be the case with ‘Jaana Hai’, despite it’s potential of being a little better, turns out to be barely average. Not that the song is bad, but then well, one expected more here.

Thankfully these expectations are much more than just met with ‘Thayn Thayn’ turning out to be a rocking track. A rap number rendered by Abhishek Bachchan, it makes a statement on the socio-political state of the country though in a much lighter vein. Also, the tune and the overall arrangements are such that it hooks you on totally within one listening itself. Ayush Phukan and Earl are the supporting vocalists behind the mike but it is Abhishek who leads the show all the way. After his ‘Ek Main Aur Ek Tu Hai’ (Bluffmaster), this effort by him is all set to be chartbuster.

Newcomer Papon sings ‘Jiyein Kaun’ which actually starts off in a way that makes one believe as if it as a jamming session amongst college students in progress. Jaideep Sahni’s lyrics too are plain, simple and conversational that only makes one wonder that how does a love song like this indeed fit into an edgy thriller Dum Maaro Dum. However, as the song progresses, it starts picking up tempo and eventually half way through, it totally changes track. This is the time when ‘Jiyein Kaun’ takes a turn for the better and gets into an Atif Aslam zone where passion and intensity rule. Expect the song to make a better impression when seen on screen as it has a situational appeal to it.

The Verdict:

Dum Maaro Dum has two potential hits in the form of its title song and ‘Thayn Thayn’. Though one expected at least one more chartbuster here to give an all around popular appeal to the album, one is still reasonably content with what Dum Maaro Dum has to offer. Now it has to be seen that with these two tracks in hands, how far do the makers and the music company go to unleash them in the biggest possible way and make Dum Maaro Dum an album that would make the best use of a relatively open season ahead.

I would give it an Impressive Threeand a half out of ‘Five’ stars.

My Picks from the album: ‘Dum Maaro Dum’, ‘Thayn Thayn’, ‘Te Amo’

Chernobyl – treading on a new path!!!

After the continuous news feeds on the radioactive fallout from Fukushima Daiichi following the containment failure and reactor meltdown, this is a special blog on the last known nuclear disaster that took place at Chernobyl, Ukraine in former Soviet Russia. This post is the first in a series of stories from Chernobyl that Charles Q. Choi has written for Scientific American. Choi is a frequent contributor to Scientific American. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, Science, Nature and Wired, among others.

“The face mask and three radiation monitors I’m wearing are grim reminders that I’m at the site of the worst nuclear accident in history. On April 26, 1986, 1:23:44 A.M. local time, explosions destroyed reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, releasing approximately 400 times more radioactive fallout than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Now, almost 25 years after the disaster, the Ukrainian government has officially opened the area up for tourism. But just how safe is the zone now?

Radiation

After the explosions, it was unclear how contaminated the surroundings were, so the authorities declared an arbitrary 30-kilometer distance from the reactor off-limits, and roughly 115,000 people were evacuated from the area. This “exclusion zone” is now open to tourism.

I drove to Chernobyl with health physicist Vadim Chumak at the Research Center for Radiation Medicine at the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine and his colleagues. A car shuttles there every week to collect stool samples from workers to test for any plutonium they might have accidentally absorbed. (Science, like journalism, can be a dirty job, but someone has to do it.)

The world is normally bathed in a low level of radiation. In Kiev, where I started my trip, one normally receives 0.1 millionths of a sievert every hour. This is pretty much the level of radiation we saw on the road on the roughly two-hour, 150-kilometer drive into the exclusion zone, but readings on our dosimeter temporarily climb up to 4.76 millionths of a sievert per hour when our car passes through the old path of the radioactive plume from the destroyed reactor.

How safe this area is now after the accident depends on what radioactive material was released and where it went. There are four kinds of radionuclides or radioactive isotopes that are of special concern at the site. Iodine-131 is rapidly absorbed by the thyroid gland and increases the risk of childhood thyroid cancer. Cesium-137 mimics potassium inside the body, seeking out muscle. Strontium-90 acts like calcium, attracted to bone. Plutonium-239 and other isotopes can stay in the body indefinitely, irradiating organs.

These four materials escaped from the explosions to varying distances, given factors such as their mass and melting points. Iodine-131 and cesium-137 were both very broadly transported hundreds of kilometers, while strontium-90 remained in dust just 30 kilometers from the power plant and plutonium traveled only four kilometers or so.

Iodine-131 decays rapidly, and was virtually gone from the environment after only three months, Chumak says. However, cesium-137 and strontium-90 both have approximately 30-year half-lives, meaning they each take roughly three decades for half their material to decay, and plutonium-239, one the main isotopes in nuclear reactors, has a half-life of more than 24,000 years.

After the disaster, both emergency workers dubbed “liquidators” and natural forces helped to reduce airborne levels of radiation. The liquidators sprayed detergents and latex-like binding solutions from helicopters and automobiles to bind contaminants. The roads were paved to cover radioactive dust, while ploughs flipped soil over to bury polluted soil. Meanwhile, rain helped contaminants migrate down into the ground.

The exclusion zone was possibly safe for tourism “about five years after the accident,” Chumak says. Still, just because one can tour the area does not mean everywhere here is safe to tread. There are hot spots that remain highly contaminated, especially in the path of the radioactive plume. Where tourists are allowed to go and how long they will be allowed to stay will be strictly controlled to keep their risks of exposure down.

And there are some places here that remain too dangerous for tourists to go, such as the sarcophagus.

Inside the sarcophagus

Soon after firefighters extinguished the blazes from the explosions at Chernobyl, workers quickly built a structure of steel and concrete technically known as the Shelter Object but commonly known as the sarcophagus to entomb the remains of the damaged reactor and keep any more contaminants from escaping. It remains one of the most radioactive areas in the zone.

Nowadays, workers here maintain the corroding sarcophagus, monitor the radioactive material inside, and decontaminate what they can. To enter the structure with them, I strip down to only my underwear in a “clean room” and walk in a hospital gown and slippers into a “hot room,” where I put on the pure white outfit given to everyone on site—scrubs, a jacket, trousers, a scrub cap, socks, gloves and a mask with the highest-grade filter available for dust. On top of that I don an overcoat, a hardhat and crusty boots. In addition, I am carrying the radiation badge I had when I entered the 30-kilometer exclusion zone, a second radiation badge I was given when I entered the area of the plant, and a personal electronic dosimeter to tell me exactly how much radiation I am receiving.

(The workers don’t normally wear lead shielding, and neither do I. Although lead can protect against radiation, it slows you down, thus increasing the dose you ultimately receive.)

The maximum dose of radiation that workers here are generally allowed on a daily shift is 0.1 thousandths of a sievert, the level of radiation one gets from a 90-minute transatlantic flight or from four hours watching a plasma screen television, says Vladimir Malyshev, chief safety officer at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. When I am standing right in front of the sarcophagus, the readings leap up to 0.12 thousandths of a sievert per hour, or 1,200 times that seen in Kiev.

After passing an electronic checkpoint—one of a half-dozen or so that I stopped at—I find myself in the dark, gutted remains of the control room for reactor No. 4. Here engineers made the fateful errors that poisoned the Earth.

After returning from the sarcophagus, I leave everything I wore outside in a locker in the hot zone and take a mandatory shower to wash away any potential contamination. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be clean more in my life.

Life and wildlife

Although Chernobyl might be safe for a day of tourism, living there is another question. The Ukrainian government did allow people who originally lived in the exclusion zone to resettle on an individual basis. For instance, some areas within 30 kilometers of the explosions are relatively clean, and the elderly would probably not absorb unhealthy levels of radiation in what time they had left, Chumak says.

However, some places remain too dangerous for resettlement. “People might be allowed to live in the 30-kilometer zone, but I don’t expect anyone to live within the 10-kilometer zone, ever,” Chumak says. “There’s some plutonium there.”

Officials there did say I should look out for wildlife in the zone. “A mad wolf attacked six people here recently,” Malyshev says.

The disaster’s impact on wildlife in the zone remains hotly contested. For instance, radiation biologist Ron Chesser at Texas Tech University in Lubbock and his colleagues suggest the area is thriving with life now that humans have left, finding that the wild boar population there has grown 10 to 15 times than what it was before the accident, and that other fauna are often seen in the area, such as wolves, rabbits, red deer, black storks and moose. Their genetic work suggests that any effects of radiation are subtle enough to not lead to any mutations passed down across generations, with the animals perhaps acclimatizing to any damage by boosting their genetic repair mechanisms. As bad as the radiation is, the effects of humans on the environment might have been worse, Chesser concludes.

On the other hand, biologist Tim Mousseau at the University of South Carolina at Columbia and his colleagues have found that species richness of forest birds was reduced by more than half when comparing sites with normal background levels of radiation to sites with the highest levels in the exclusion zone, and the numbers of bumblebees, grasshoppers, butteries, dragonflies and spiders decreased too. Analysis of more than 7,700 barn swallows in Chernobyl and other areas in Ukraine and Europe suggested ones from in or near the exclusion zone had higher levels of abnormalities such as deformed toes, beaks and eyes or aberrant coloration, and recent work also suggests that birds living in areas with high levels of radiation around Chernobyl have smaller brains.

Both teams stand by their own work and suggest the other made errors related to geographic variability.

Tourist attraction?

So what can tourists see at Chernobyl? One can often see and feed giant catfish in the 22-square-kilometer nuclear power plant cooling pond, although during cold weather, the pond is frozen over and covered in snow. In the distance, one can also see a giant radar grid roughly 150 meters high—taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza’s current height—once meant to track any nuclear missiles launched from the United States. “It needed a lot of power, which is why it was near Chernobyl,” Chumak explains.

The city of Pripyat, abandoned after the accident, is frozen in time, with the Communist hammer and sickle still adorning streetlights here. Nature is reclaiming the area, with white birch and green pines hiding many of the blocky Soviet buildings and animal tracks fresh on the snow still covering the ground here in the first week of March.

By a dock near a riverside cafe in Pripyat, the scientists I traveled with started gathering pussy willows, completely unbidden. These flowers bloom under the snow, and the men want to bring them back for International Women’s Day on March 8. “These mean spring,” says physicist Vitalii Volosky at the Research Center for Radiation Medicine in Kiev.

Despite the official announcement, tourism to Chernobyl is nothing new—trips have been going there for about a decade. The recent publicity regarding tourism may have its roots in the economic impact of Chernobyl—even two decades after the disaster, roughly 6 percent of the national budgets of both Ukraine and Belarus were still devoted to Chernobyl-related benefits and programs, according to a 2005 report from the Chernobyl Forum, comprised of eight United Nations agencies and the governments of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. “There is this motivation there to do what can be done to return some of this land to productive use,” Mousseau says.

Among those who lived through the disaster, the idea of tourism to Chernobyl brings up strong emotions, just as it might for New Yorkers dealing with 9/11. “If we are wise, we will make Chernobyl a museum for humankind just like Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” Chumak says.

Among the younger generation in Kiev, there is real interest in visiting. “My son really wants to go, as do a couple of young students here,” Chumak says.

Still, for others, tourism to Chernobyl holds no attraction. “Personally, every trip I make there is not a positive one,” says physicist Elena Bakhanova at the Research Center for Radiation Medicine in Kiev. “It was a human error, a sign of human foolishness.”

Images: Charles Q. Choi in the control room for destroyed reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant; Health physicist Vadim Chumak at the Research Center for Radiation Medicine at the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine in Kiev. He is wearing a respirator mask with the highest-grade filter available against aerosols, to protect against airborne contamination; The entrance to a “hot room” at the facility where workers at Chernobyl change their clothing. In the “clean room,” I took off all my clothing except my underwear. In the hot room, I was given clothing to wear in the sarcophagus; Visitor’s badge and radiation badge. The visitor’s badge has a microchip scannable at electronic checkpoints. The radiation badge is a dosimeter that measures my exposure to radiation—the silver disk on the badge measures the radiation my skin received, while the black bump measured the levels deeper tissues experienced; This giant radar grid relatively close to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was once meant to track any nuclear missiles launched from the United States. It is roughly 150 meters high, taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza’s current height.

Favorable winds over Japan carrying radioactivity out to sea

An article published by Dr. Jeff Masters, PhD, Director of Meteorology  of the The Weather Underground Inc. indicates that the current weather pattern existing over Japan and the Sea of Japan favors the reduction in the radioactivity fallout. The opinion presented is of Dr Jeff Masters’ and I have not verified the authenticity of the study.

“If there is going to be a major nuclear disaster with massive release of radioactivity into the atmosphere from Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, today would be the best day meteorologically for this to occur. The low pressure system that brought rain and several inches of snow to Japan yesterday has moved northeastwards out to sea, and high pressure is building in. The clockwise flow of air around the high pressure system approaching Japan from the southwest is driving strong northwesterly winds of 10 – 20 mph over the region. These winds will continue through Thursday, and will take radiation particles emitted by the stricken reactors immediately out to sea, without lingering over Japan. Since high pressure systems are regions of sinking air, the radiation will stay close to the ocean surface as the air spirals clockwise over the Pacific. The contaminated air will remain over the ocean for at least five days, which is plenty of time for the radiation to settle out to the surface.

The above Surface weather map for 8am EDT today, taken from the 6-hour forecast from this morning’s 6 UTC run of the GFS model. A high pressure system to the southwest of Japan, in combination with a low pressure system to the northeast are driving strong northwesterly surface winds over the country. Image is from our wundermap with the “Model” layer turned on. The lines are sea-level pressure (blue contours, 4 mb interval) and 1000 to 500 mb thickness (yellow contours, 60 m interval). Thickness is a measure of the temperature of the lower atmosphere, and a thickness of 5400 meters is usually close to where the dividing line between rain and snow occurs.

Thursday night and Friday morning (U.S. time), the high pressure system moves over Japan, allowing winds to weaken and potentially grow calm, increasing the danger of radioactivity building up over regions near and to the north of the nuclear plant. On Friday, the high departs and a moist southwesterly flow of air will affect Japan. These southwesterly winds will blow most of the radiation out to sea, away from Tokyo. Southwesterly winds will continue through Sunday, when the next major low pressure system is expected to bring heavy precipitation to the country. Beginning Thursday night, the sinking airmass over Japan will be replaced a large-scale area of rising air, and any radiation emitted late Thursday through Friday will be carried aloft towards Alaska and eastern Russia by this southwesterly flow of rising air.

Ground-level releases of radioactivity are typically not able to be transported long distances in significant quantities, since most of the material settles to the ground a few kilometers from the source. If there is a major explosion with hot gases that shoots radioactivity several hundred meters high, that would increase the chances for long range transport, since now the ground is farther away, and the particles that start settling out will stay in the air longer before encountering the ground. Additionally, winds are stronger away from ground, due to reduced friction and presence of the jet stream aloft. These stronger winds will transport radioactivity greater distances. I’ve made trajectory plots for the next three days assuming two possible release altitudes–a surface-based release near 10 meters, which should be the predominant altitude in the current situation, and a higher release altitude of 300 meters, which might occur from an explosion and fire from a Chernobyl-style incident. Given that the radioactivity has to travel 3000 miles to reach Anchorage, Alaska, and 5000 miles to reach California, a very large amount of dilution will occur, along with potential loss due to rain-out. Any radiation at current levels of emission that might reach these places may not even be detectable, much less be a threat to human health. A Chernobyl-level disaster in Japan would certainly be able to produce detectable levels of radiation over North America, but I strongly doubt it would be a significant concern for human health. The Chernobyl disaster only caused dangerous human health impacts within a few hundred miles of the disaster site, and the distance from Japan to North America is ten times farther than that.

The above figure is a five-day forecast movement of plumes of radioactive air emitted at 10 meters altitude (red line) and 300 meters (blue line) at 18 UTC (2pm EDT) Wednesday, March 16, 2011 from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The plumes spiral clockwise around the high pressure system to the southwest of Japan and stay near the surface. Images created using NOAA’s HYSPLIT trajectory model.

The above is a five-day forecast movement of plumes of radioactive air emitted at 10 meters altitude (red line) and 300 meters (blue line) at 18 UTC (2pm EDT) Thursday, March 17, 2011 from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The plumes initially spiral clockwise around the high pressure system to the southwest of Japan and stay near the surface. By Saturday, though, the plumes get caught in a southwesterly flow of air in advance of an approaching low pressure system. Ascending air lifts the plumes to high altitudes, where winds are stronger and rapid long-range transport occurs. Images created using NOAA’s HYSPLIT trajectory model.

The above is the five-day forecast movement of plumes of radioactive air emitted at 10 meters altitude (red line) and 300 meters (blue line) at 18 UTC (2pm EDT) Friday, March 18, 2011 from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The plumes get caught in a southwesterly flow of air in advance of an approaching low pressure system. The plume emitted near the surface (red line) stays trapped near the surface, but the plume emitted at 300 meters is lifted to 3.5 km altitude by the rising air associated with the approaching low pressure system. Images created using NOAA’s HYSPLIT trajectory model.

The source of this publication is http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/article.html?entrynum=1764 by Dr. Jeff Masters.

“India Rocks” – An album that truly Rocks!!!

So, there is marginally no investment in the production of desi rock albums, mainly due to two reasons – Lack of money that labels wish to put in; and Bollywood!! But then again, looking at the increasing number of gigs taking place, one can safely say, a large following of the desi culture has somewhat arrived. Apart from the biggies who have somehow managed to grab some record labels or have managed to catch the eyes of producers, there really hasn’t been a way to promote this music as such – except of course, free downloads and giveaways, piracy and Myspace.

For psychedelics and headbangers like me, there has been hardly any decent compilation of Indian Rock songs for quite sometime, until I bumped into ‘India Rocks’! Released by EMI, ‘India Rocks’ is a cool collection of seventeen of the hottest Indian Rock bands that will surely leave you asking for more. The album boasts of big daddies of Indian Rock such as Parikrama, Pentagram, Thermal And A Quarter, Menwhopause, Indigo Children and Them Clones to name a few. These finest bands in the circuit enthrall you with their adrenaline rushing and soul stirring music. Get ready to Rock and Roll!

‘India Rocks’ opens with Pentagram’s ‘This is for My People,’ an eclectic composition by Randolph, Shiraz, Papal and Vishal that sets the mood for a Rock fest! A true blend of Rock/Electronica, ‘This is for My People’ is an energetic number that swallows you straightaway into some real action!

The second track is Parikrama’s ‘But it Rained,’ one of the most popular songs from one of the oldest and the most popular of all Indian Rock bands. The song is dedicated to the mindless abductions that took place in a terrorism struck Kashmir Valley during the nineties. Powerful music and soulful lyrics are the essence of this number. Complete with anthemic riffs and solos, this number is an all time favourite among Rock aficionados.

The third number of ‘India Rocks’ ‘Nada Nada’ is taken from Malayali band Avial, which blends Malayali poetry with contemporary Rock and a dash of Electronica – quite true to its name! A fast emerging name in Malayali Rock, Avial transcends genres with its unique sound space that transports you to a different level. Exquisite bass works, powerful hooks and electrifying solos with effective vocals are the underscore of ‘Nada Nada’ – a metalhead’s delight!

The fourth song includes Raghu Dixit’s ‘Khidki,’ a Hindi number with a Bluesy feel. Essentially a love song, ‘Khidki’ is a sweet number that narrates the yearning for a loved one! Well, after a heavy dose of Rock, let this mellifluous romantic ballad do its magic!

The fifth number ‘Ganga’ is taken from Mrigya, an Indian band that represents a global village sans any boundaries. True to its identity, in ‘Ganga’, Mrigya composes a unique song that blends East and West. A song that harmonized Western Rock and Indian ragas in a soothing fashion, the cadence of ‘Ganga’ is truly inspiring.

The sixth track of ‘India Rocks’ ‘Ghir Ghir’ is taken from Advaita, an upcoming band from New Delhi that has become one of the most respected acts in the circuit. ‘Ghir Ghir’ essentially is a mélange of various textures, styles and moods that beautifully evoke the magic of dark clouds and monsoon which all of a sudden stirs up the pining for a beloved. ‘Ghir Ghir’ is truly a wonderful song that infects you with its positive energy.

The seventh song is Swarthama’s ‘Pyar Ke Rang,’ a Folk/Rock number that is a smooth blend of Indian and Western influences. Celebrated for its electrifying live acts, Swarthama’s ‘Pyar Ke Rang’ will instantaneously pull you out from the shell of despondency, making you jive to the sound of music, breaking a smile on your face.

Eighth number is Punkh’s ‘Yunajaa’, a Bluesy Hindi number that opens with a stirring solo work and a whiff of metal rap. The band described ‘Yunajaa’ as an anti-suicide track written way back in the year 2007. Bordering on hope and faith, ‘Yunajaa’ is just about okay.

The ninth track of ‘India Rocks’ is Para Vayu’s ‘Rush Hour’, a song that brings back the classic Rock sound and merges it with Blues, Funk, Alternative and Jazz Rock. Essentially a guitar piece, ‘Rush Hour’ sets the tempo with a clean riff that breaks into an amazing heavily distorted solo of great legerdemain.

The tenth number is Something Relevant’s ‘Aha.’ A seven-member Mumbai based band, Something Relevant’s ‘Aha’ is funky Jazz number – a groovy ballad to which you can let your hair down, even while its music grows on you.

The eleventh song ‘Words and Pictures’ is from Thermal And A Quarter (TAAQ). A melodious Jazz number, ‘Words and Pictures’ gradually takes control of your senses, while its steady pace and foot-tapping rhythm works its wonders!

The twelfth number ‘I Am’ is a popular song from Soulmate, a Shillong based band whose inimitable sound space is heavily inspired by Blues, Soul, Rock and Roll, Blues-Rock, R&B and Funk. ‘I Am’ instantly takes you into the zone with its contagiously hip Blues-Rock intonation while setting the pace for an enthralling experience. Enjoy the thrill!

The thirteenth song is Chennai based band Junkyard Groove’s ‘It’s Ok.’ With ‘It’s OK’, Ameeth Thomas, Siddharth Srinivasan and Craig Maxworth create a good old Rock and Roll song. A sprightly number, ‘It’s Ok’ is a catchy and hummable song that oozes with warmth and zest for life.

The fourteenth track ‘Fly Away’ from Menwhopause opens with a drum roll and rhythmic guitar effects. An exceedingly spirited number, ‘Fly Away’ is packed with punch that incredibly suits Rock and Roll addicts. And hey, don’t forget the awesome guitar shredding at the end of the number that simply blows you away!

The fifteenth song is Medusa’s ‘I Become I.’ A Mumbai based live Electronic act that mainly uses vocals, drums, guitars, bass and samples to create the magic of music, Medusa’s ‘I Become I’ is a short and breezy track.

The sixteenth number is Indigo Children’s ‘Irresistible.’ True to its name, Indigo Children’s ‘Irresistible’ is truly an enticing number by the Delhi based Rock band renowned for its deft compositions. ‘Irresistible’ offers unique experience with its Rock and Electronic feel. ‘Irresistible’ is one of the popular numbers by Indigo Children and a must listen track!

‘India Rocks’ album ends with a wonderful track, ‘The Bomb Song’ by Them Clones. Written by Gucci Singh and music by Them Clones, the song is a heady mix of profound lyrics, anthemic hooks and soul stirring vocals that reverberate with ‘Long Live the Dead!’ while you gasp for breath; in all, a great number to end this great album.

Overall, the album is a great compilation and a much-needed one – for those who love Indian Rock and those who wish to know more about them.

So, does India Rock? Oh yes, it does.

What Happens in Vagueness Stays in Vagueness – The decline and fall of American English, and stuff

This is an article by Clark Whelton,who was a speechwriter for New York City mayors Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani. I came across this article in the web and I cant remember where. To increase the effect of the pun as well as the fun, I have retained the actual text without any modifications. So read and enjoy…….

“I recently watched a television program in which a woman described a baby squirrel that she had found in her yard. “And he was like, you know, ‘Helloooo, what are you looking at?’ and stuff, and I’m like, you know, ‘Can I, like, pick you up?,’ and he goes, like, ‘Brrrp brrrp brrrp,’ and I’m like, you know, ‘Whoa, that is so wow!’ ” She rambled on, speaking in self-quotations, sound effects, and other vocabulary substitutes, punctuating her sentences with facial tics and lateral eye shifts. All the while, however, she never said anything specific about her encounter with the squirrel.

Uh-oh. It was a classic case of Vagueness, the linguistic virus that infected spoken language in the late twentieth century. Squirrel Woman sounded like a high school junior, but she appeared to be in her mid-forties, old enough to have been an early carrier of the contagion. She might even have been a college intern in the days when Vagueness emerged from the shadows of slang and mounted an all-out assault on American English.

My acquaintance with Vagueness began in the 1980s, that distant decade when Edward I. Koch was mayor of New York and I was writing his speeches. The mayor’s speechwriting staff was small, and I welcomed the chance to hire an intern. Applications arrived from NYU, Columbia, Pace, and the senior colleges of the City University of New York. I interviewed four or five candidates and was happily surprised. The students were articulate and well informed on civic affairs. Their writing samples were excellent. The young woman whom I selected was easy to train and a pleasure to work with. Everything went so well that I hired interns at every opportunity.

Then came 1985.

The first applicant was a young man from NYU. During the interview, he spiked his replies so heavily with “like” that I mentioned his frequent use of the word. He seemed confused by my comment and replied, “Well . . . like . . . yeah.” Now, nobody likes a grammar prig. All’s fair in love and language, and the American lingo is in constant motion. “You should,” for example, has been replaced by “you need to.” “No” has faded into “not really.” “I said” is now “I went.” As for “you’re welcome,” that’s long since become “no problem.” Even nasal passages are affected by fashion. Quack-talking, the rasping tones preferred by many young women today, used to be considered a misfortune.

In 1985, I thought of “like” as a trite survivor of the hippie sixties. By itself, a little slang would not have disqualified the junior from NYU. But I was surprised to hear antique argot from a communications major looking for work in a speechwriting office, where job applicants would normally showcase their language skills. I was even more surprised when the next three candidates also laced their conversation with “like.” Most troubling was a puzzling drop in the quality of their writing samples. It took six tries, but eventually I found a student every bit as good as his predecessors. Then came 1986.

As the interviews proceeded, it grew obvious that “like” had strengthened its grip on intern syntax. And something new had been added: “You know” had replaced “Ummm . . .” as the sentence filler of choice. The candidates seemed to be evading the chore of beginning new thoughts. They spoke in run-on sentences, which they padded by adding “and stuff” at the end. Their writing samples were terrible. It took eight tries to find a promising intern. In the spring of 1987 came the all-interrogative interview. I asked a candidate where she went to school.

“Columbia?” she replied. Or asked.

“And you’re majoring in . . .”

“English?”

All her answers sounded like questions. Several other students did the same thing, ending declarative sentences with an interrogative rise. Something odd was happening. Was it guerrilla grammar? Had college kids fallen under the spell of some mad guru of verbal chaos? I began taking notes and mailed a letter to William Safire at the New York Times, urging him to do a column on the devolution of coherent speech. Undergraduates, I said, seemed to be shifting the burden of communication from speaker to listener. Ambiguity, evasion, and body language, such as air quotes—using fingers as quotation marks to indicate clichés—were transforming college English into a coded sign language in which speakers worked hard to avoid saying anything definite. I called it Vagueness.

By autumn 1987, the job interviews revealed that “like” was no longer a mere slang usage. It had mutated from hip preposition into the verbal milfoil that still clogs spoken English today. Vagueness was on the march. Double-clutching (“What I said was, I said . . .”) sprang into the arena. Playbacks, in which a speaker re-creates past events by narrating both sides of a conversation (“So I’m like, ‘Want to, like, see a movie?’ And he goes, ‘No way.’ And I go . . .”), made their entrance. I was baffled by what seemed to be a reversion to the idioms of childhood. And yet intern candidates were not hesitant or uncomfortable about speaking elementary school dialects in a college-level job interview. I engaged them in conversation and gradually realized that they saw Vagueness not as slang but as mainstream English. At long last, it dawned on me: Vagueness was not a campus fad or just another generational raid on proper locution. It was a coup. Linguistic rabble had stormed the grammar palace. The principles of effective speech had gone up in flames.

In 1988, my elder daughter graduated from Vassar. During a commencement reception, I asked one of her professors if he’d noticed any change in Vassar students’ language skills. “The biggest difference,” he replied, “is that by the time today’s students arrive on campus, they’ve been juvenilized. You can hear it in the way they talk. There seems to be a reduced capacity for abstract thought.” He went on to say that immature speech patterns used to be drummed out of kids in ninth grade. “Today, whatever way kids communicate seems to be fine with their high school teachers.” Where, I wonder, did Vagueness begin? It must have originated before the 1980s. “Like” has a long and scruffy pedigree: in the 1970s, it was a mainstay of Valspeak, the frequently ridiculed but highly contagious “Valley Girl” dialect of suburban Los Angeles, and even in 1964, the film Paris When It Sizzles lampooned the word’s overuse. All the way back in 1951, Holden Caulfield spoke proto-Vagueness (“I sort of landed on my side . . . my arm sort of hurt”), complete with double-clutching (“Finally, what I decided I’d do, I decided I’d . . .”) and demonstrative adjectives used as indefinite articles (“I felt sort of hungry so I went in this drugstore . . .”).

Is Vagueness simply an unexplainable descent into nonsense? Did Vagueness begin as an antidote to the demands of political correctness in the classroom, a way of sidestepping the danger of speaking forbidden ideas? Does Vagueness offer an undereducated generation a technique for camouflaging a lack of knowledge?

In 1991, I visited the small town of Bridgton, Maine, on the evening that the residents of Cumberland County gathered to welcome their local National Guard unit home from the Gulf War. It was a stirring moment. Escorted by the lights and sirens of two dozen fire engines from surrounding towns, the soldiers marched down Main Street. I was standing near the end of the parade and looked around expectantly for a platform, podium, or microphone. But there were to be no brief remarks of commendation by a mayor or commanding officer. There was to be no pastoral prayer of thanks for the safe return of the troops. Instead, the soldiers quickly dispersed. The fire engines rumbled away. The crowd went home. A few minutes later, Main Street stood empty.

Apparently there was, like, nothing to say.

Japan – A Country After Devastation

The pictures below are sourced from various online publications including National Post, NASA, DigitalGlobe. This is an attempt to showcase the spirit of the Japanese while facing the biggest earthquake in Japan in 140 years and the aftermath following the disaster. There are pictures of survival and disaster. Parental guidance is advised to watch these images.

A Self Defence soldier smiles as he holds a four-month-old baby who survived the recent tsunami with her family at Ishinomaki city in Miyagi prefecture on March 14, 2011

Police lead rescue teams in the search for survivors amongst the damaged buildings and tsunami debris in Rikuzentakada, Iwate prefecture, Japan, on Monday, March

A boy walks through the rubble in Rikuzentakata, northern Japan after the magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami struck the area, March 14, 2011.

The foot prints of rescue workers are seen in the mud as they search for victims in the rubble in Rikuzentakata, northern Japan after the magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami struck the area, March 14, 2011.

Otsuchi town, Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan, after an earthquake and tsunami struck the area, March 14, 2011

Japanese rescue team members transport a body in the town of Watari in Miyagi prefecture on March 14, 2011, three days after a massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami devastated the coast of eastern Japan

A man comforts a woman as she cries in front of her damaged home in the town of Watari in Miyagi prefecture on March 14, 2011 three days after a massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami devastated the coast of eastern Japan

The damaged containment structures at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

A woman looks at messages posted on the wall at an evacuation center set at a gymnasium in Kawamata, Fukushima Prefecture in northern Japan, March 14, 2011, after an earthquake and tsunami struck the area

A technician in protective gear looks out of an automatic door with signs reading "No entry except for those with permission" at a makeshift facility to screen, cleanse and isolate people with high radiation levels in Nihonmatsu, northern Japan March 14, 2011

A fuel tanker sits submerged in water next to tsunami damaged buildings in Rikuzentakada, Iwate prefecture, Japan, on Monday, March 14, 2011

A man walks as he looks for the remains of his house, destroyed by the tsunami, at Watari town in Miyagi prefecture on March 14, 2011

Japan Self-Defense Forces officers search for victims in Higashimatsushima City, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan, after an earthquake and tsunami struck the area, March 14, 2011.

An emergency worker throws disinfectant powder in an area affected by an earthquake and tsunami in Miyako, Iwate prefecture, March 14, 2011

A man walks past a Japanese Air Self Defence Force plane pushed into a hangar by the tsunami at a base in Higashimatsushima in Miyagi prefecture three days after a massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami devastated the coast of eastern Japan.

Oil leaks from ships swept by a tsunami in Fudai Village, Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan, after an earthquake struck the area March 14, 2011.

Residents buy food at a temporarily opened supermarket in Sendai, northeastern Japan, March 14, 2011. The supermarket set a limit on buying items at five per person.

Containers are strewn about in the port of Sendai in Miyagi prefecture three days after a massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami devastated the coast of eastern Japan.

Vehicles sit on three-storey buildings on March 14, 2011, illustrating the devastating effects of the March 11 tsunami that hit the town of Onagawa in Miyagi prefecture.

Schalke 04's Atsuto Uchida poses with a jersey after their German Bundesliga soccer match win against Eintracht Frankfurt in Gelsenkirchen March 12, 2011. The words read, "Dear friends in Japan, in the hope that many lives are saved, let us stand together!"

White smokes rises into the air in the badly damaged town of Yamada in Iwate prefecture on March 12, 2011 a day after a massive 8.9 magnitude quake and tsunami hit the region. An explosion at a Japanese nuclear plant triggered fears of a meltdown on March 12, after the massive earthquake and tsunami left more than 1,000 dead and at least 10,000 unaccounted for.

Local residents walk past debris, including an overturned fishing boat, in the town of Minamisanriku in Miyagi prefecture on March 12, 2011.

Burned-out cars are pictured at Hitachi Harbour in Ibaraki Prefecture in northeastern Japan March 12, 2011. Japan confronted devastation along its northeastern coast on Saturday, with fires raging and parts of some cities under water after a massive earthquake and tsunami that likely killed at least 1,000 people.

These images released by NASA, show the northeast coast of Japan before (top) and after (bottom) the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami. The "flood" tag on the maps is a reference point showing the extent of flooding caused by the tsunami wave.

Officials in protective gear check for signs of radiation on children who are from the evacuation area near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Koriyama, March 13.

Officials in protective gear stand next to people from the evacuation area near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, in Koriyama, March 13, 2011. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano confirmed on Saturday there has been an explosion and radiation leakage at Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

This satellite image, obtained March 12, 2011, shows post earthquake and tsunami damage at the Kengaya Bridge (lower left) in Japan March 12, 2011. Japan confronted devastation along its northeastern coast on Saturday, with fires raging and parts of some cities under water after a massive earthquake and tsunami that likely killed at least 1,000 people. Japan scaled back its tsunami warning for much of the country on Saturday.

Rescue workers look for missing people in houses destroyed by a tsunami in Yamamoto, Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan March 12, 2011.

A woman looks out over the landscape from the roof of an elementary school after a tsunami and earthquake in Sendai, northeastern Japan March 12, 2011.

Japan Self-Defence Force troops walk atop a wall to get around a car tossed by a tsunami and earthquake in Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan March 12, 2011.

People wait to be rescued atop a building with the letters "SOS" after an earthquake in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture March 12, 2011.

People wait to be rescued atop a building with the letters "SOS" after an earthquake in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture March 12, 2011.

An electric organ is overturned after an earthquake and tsunami in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan March 13, 2011. Strong aftershocks continued to shake Japan's main island as the desperate search pressed on for survivors from Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami. State broadcaster NHK said more than 10,000 people may have been killed as the wall of water hit, reducing whole towns to rubble.

Damaged ships are seen after a tsunami and earthquake in Kesennuma City in Miyagi Prefecture March 12, 2011.

A ship is swept by waves after a tsunami and earthquake in Kamaishi City in Iwate Prefecture March 12, 2011.

Debris cover a large area in Natori, near Sendai in Miyage prefecture on March 13, 2011 after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

A patient is evacuated from a destroyed hospital after a magnitude 8.9 earthquake and tsunami hit Otsuchi Town, Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan March 13, 2011. Strong aftershocks continued to shake Japan's main island as the desperate search pressed on for survivors from Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami.

A woman looks at the damage caused by a tsunami and an earthquake in Ishimaki City, Miyagi Prefecture.

Cars washed inland by the tsunami sit in debris-covered water outside Sendai in Miyage prefecture on March 13, 2011.

A woman takes care of her children at a shelter for earthquake affected people in Sendai on March 13, 2011.

Rescue workers check the remains of a tsunami devestated house for people in Natori in Miyage prefecture on March 13, 2011

Japan is scrambling to avert a meltdown at a stricken nuclear plant on Monday after a hydrogen explosion at one reactor and exposure of fuel rods at another, just days after a devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 10,000 people.

Helping hands are better than praying lips!!! Please donate and please help the Japanese!!!