Sunday, March 11, 2012

The 'Best' Cricketer

Rahul entered his home and tried hard so that he is not noticed by his mother and brother. He went to his room, opened a book and pretended to study. In his book he could see himself a few hours ago when he was playing cricket with his friends in the gully near his home.

Sachin: Khelna nahi aata toh cheating toh mat karo
Rahul: Hey, mujhe cheater mat bulao, ha
Saurabh: That's what you are. Cheater. Cheater, Cheater
Rahul: Saurabh, mujhe cheater mat bulao
Sachin, Saurabh and the other kids started in chorus: Rahul is a cheater. He is a cheater. He is a cheater.
Rahul: Cheater nahi
Sachin:  Cheater (Screamed so loud that other voices couldn't be heard)

His brother came to his room. Rahul got back to the present. Rahul's heart started beating faster. His mind started racing with thoughts. He was wondering why was it necessary to score runs in cricket? Why was it necessary to take wickets? According to him cricket was a game. And like any game, it was a game to have fun. Just then his brother interrupted him.

Brother: Rahul, when did you come back?
Rahul: Just a few minutes back.

His brother started searching for something in his cupboard. Rahul's mind started wandering again. He started questioning, should the team scoring the highest run be winner? If the purpose of the game is to have fun, shouldn't the team enjoying the game the most be the winner? The team which plays with what's called the sportsmanship, with integrity and having the most fun be the winner? Suddenly his heard his brother's

Brother: Have you seen my The God of Small Things?
Rahul: No.

His brother continued his search. Rahul thought, perhaps the game is designed to keep the players fit. Then, shouldn't the team which exercises their muscles the most be the winner? Perhaps the objective of the game is to instill team spirit among the players. Shouldn't then, the team with the best team coordination win? Rahul considered 11 years as too young an age to answer such questions. He was still not sure what was the purpose of the game. Was it having fun, exercising or instilling team-spirit? Or a combination of these factors. If so, how does the run scored or  wickets taken indicate how well the purpose of the game is fulfilled.

He got out without making any runs today also. Despite knowing that he got out, he didn't agree. He stood on the crease until his friends Sachin, Saurabh and others started calling him a cheater. He left the game and came up. He was feeling bad. Today was not a one off case. He generally gets out for lesser runs and feels bad about it. He dreads his brother and other family members asking him - 'how many runs you scored today'? or 'how many wickets did you take?' He wondered why they never asked him - 'did you enjoy the game today? or 'was today's game exercising enough?' or 'What did you learn about team spirit from today's game?'

His brother shut the cupboard with a bang. He had 'The God of Small Things' in his hand.He turned around and asked Rahul

Brother: So, how many runs did you make today? How many wickets did you take? Did you make the highest run of did that Sachin made the highest run today also? I think he was on his 99th century in the gully. Could he make his 100th today or did you take his wicket before that?


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Raj was a little sad today. He had not be able to get that dance step correctly. He had not been selected in the dance troupe. Raj loved music and dancing. However, he wasn't a good dancer. He had been trying to hide this news from him mother. He tried to keep himself busy. He was searching for 'The God of Small Things', the book he had started reading when he was in 10th standard but couldn't complete it till now when he's is the final year of his under graduation. He found the book in his cupboard, had a casual chat with his younger brother and went towards his study room silently.

He wondered, if the purpose of dancing is to have fun then why isn't the person who enjoys the dance the most considered the best dancer? Why is knowing difficult steps considered important?

On the way to his study, he heard his mother's voice:

Mother: So, did you get selected in your college's dance troupe?


Monday, March 5, 2012

South Asian Good News Contest

The objective of South Asian Good News Channel is to spread happiness – to spread the news about good things that are happening in the SAARC region.  South Asia is a beautiful region where each country can get inspiration from other South Asian country. We want to spread this message in a play-way though a contest.

[For those who don't know, SAGNC is a social media channel which shares 'good' news from the SA region. Check out the Facebook like to get an idea about the channel -  https://www.facebook.com/SAGNChannel]

Objective: To post an article on the SAGNC wall about good things happening in the SAARC region

Rules:
1.       The post should be a link to a news article or a blog post or a website
2.       The news should be ‘good news'
'Good News' are news about:
a.        Grass-root development and innovation
b.       Citizen’s initiative
c.        Acts of kindness
d.       Inter-community harmony
e.       International peace initiatives
f.         Green initiatives
g.        People welfare

'Good News' shouldn’t be about
a.        Criticizing other nation, community, religion
b.       Calamity, Accidents, Death, Riots, terrorist attacks
c.        Corruption
d.       Anything that is offensive
e.       A film star dating another one.
3.       Go through the SAGN Facebook Page to get an idea of what constitutes ‘good news’. An example of a good news post:

SA GOOD NEWS CONTEST: Dhanam, like millions of rural women across India, is a housewife first and bread-earner second. And just like those other women, making some extra money after finishing the housework would greatly improve her family’s lifestyle.
For this 38-year-old living in the outskirts of Coimbatore, the low-cost sanitary napkin maker designed by A Muruganantham is a boon. Working for a comfortable 6-7 hours daily, Dhanam makes close to 400 pads, supplementing her family income by Rs 3,000 per month, which is going towards her daughter’s college fees.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/TamilNadu/An-entrepreneur-helps-women-stay-free/Article1-819048.aspx
4.       We understand that there is a lot of subjectivity involved and there is a huge ‘grey’ area – in the definition of ‘good news’. But there, definitely, are clear ‘white’ areas – news that are definitely good. We are looking for those news items only
5.       You may write explanatory text giving a brief about the news article in the post
6.       The post should start with the following phrase - ‘SA GOOD NEWS CONTEST:”
7.       The news posted will be moderated. Links that are not ‘good news’ articles will be deleted by the moderators without any intimation
8.       The decision of the moderators will be final
9.       You can post more than one good news article. There is no upper limit.

Submission:
Go to
https://www.facebook.com/SAGNChannel and like the page. Only participants who ‘like’ the page will be considered for the contest 

Selection Process:
1.       For each participant a ‘score’ will be computed as the sum of ‘shares’ of all the posts posted by that person
2.       Person with the highest score will be the winner.
3.       For e.g., if you posted 2 articles through two different posts such that the first article was shared by 20 people and the second was shared by 36 people, then your total score is 20+36 = 56. 

Deadline:
1.       The contest is open from 5th March till 20th March 2012 23:59:59 IST
2.       The score for each participant will be computed for his activities till 15th March 23:59:59 IST
3.       It is advisable that you post the link to the good news articles as early as possible to let your friends and theirs and theirs enough time to share the news.
Reward:
1.       The person to win the contest would win so because his posts have been shared (and possibly read) by the highest number of people. This spreading of happiness in the form of good news is the biggest reward.
2.       A customized goodie! (Only if the winner is based out of India)

In case you need any other information please feel free to contact us at sagnchannel@gmail.com
Let’s show the world and more importantly start believing ourselves that our SAARC region is amazing and there are a lot of good things happening!


  © Blogger template 'A Click Apart' by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP