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Malay Desai

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Malay Desai

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Malay Desai is a feature writer with a penchant for travel, food and test cricket. But as none of those pay his credit card bills, he runs the content firm Punchlines.'

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Last man standing: Why it’s easy to feel sorry for Misbah

Jun 17, 2013

Sympathy for a Pakistani cricketer, especially a batsman, is a novel emotion for those of us coming from the 90s. We hated the guts of Saeed Anwar, Basit Ali and Salim Malik as they thrashed our clueless Srinaths and Prasads with habitual ease. The disdain was a garb for respect, #Champions Trophy #Cricket #CT 13 War Room #Misbah-ul-Haq #OnOurMind #Pakistan #Sports
Longevity? No thanks, IPL was always about last night’s game

May 28, 2013

Folks with grandparents, you’d know this. Most seniors are able to vividly recall an incident from 1942 about one cranky neighbour with the nasal twang who had his door painted blue on a warm May afternoon... but ask them what they had for lunch this morning, and they’d be clueless. #Cricket #Indian Premier League #IPL 2013 #IPL 6
A cynic’s view of the Yuvraj inspiration…

Nov 28, 2012

He is no more just a dashing Indian cricketer liable to brickbats, comparison to peers or his old self or to criticism on form. These are things faced by any non-Sachin cricketer of this generation, and legitimate for someone in the first innings of his career. After a debut in the #Cancer #Colors #InMyOpinion #Yuvraj Singh #Yuvstrong
Resume of a freelance cricketer

Aug 31, 2012

Dear Sir/Madam, Please find attached my resume, which may be considered for the position of all-rounder in your cricket team for the upcoming league. I possess a wide range of on-field and off-field skills required to deliver winning performances in your esteemed league. I hope you find my versatility worthy and warrant #Chris Gayle #Cricket #IPL #Shahid Afridi #ThingsWeLike #Twenty20
IPL and the great Indian ‘timepass’ syndrome

Apr 15, 2012

The Mumbai Police Gymkhana, a rectangular ground a sixer away from the city’s Wankhede stadium, hosts corporate and local-level cricket tournaments on its lush carpet, many of them under lights. On such evenings, dozens of passers-by on the adjoining Marine Drive promenade, mostly men, linger to watch the proceedings attentively, #Bollywood #India #Indian Premier League #IPL 5 #IPL Expert
WSH manages the frenzy but lacks quality

Mar 21, 2012

Every day, moments before local trains chug in to Churchgate station, the final stop of the Western line in Mumbai, dozens of men on their footboards glance at the silver outsides of the Wankhede cricket stadium preceding it, some customarily, some for longer. Then, just as they’re done peeking in #hockey #JustSaying #Mahindra Stadium #Sports #Wankhede Stadium #WSH
Down Under Trauma Disorder – do Indian cricket fans have a cure?

Mar 5, 2012

If you’re an Indian cricket fan, chances are that you might not have heard of the above dysfunction. But then, most victims of it have failed to detect it early. As custodians of your well being, dear readers, we are publishing this public service message, which, if read in the #Cricket #India #JustSaying #Tri-series Down Under
Jilted lover, rogue flirter: Sahara & BCCI’s Valentine’s Day drama

Feb 14, 2012

Just when I was deleting unopened press releases peddling 'Valentine Day packages' and frowning upon the prospect of there being no striking spectacle this February (I nearly booked tickets to Karan Johar's rom-com film), I was hit by the most tumultuous love story of recent time. There it was, on #Board of Control for Cricket in India #JustSaying #Lalit Modi #Sahara Pariwar #Subrata Roy
Sore, jaded, giggly – Memogate reveals Team India’s candid moods

Jan 31, 2012

It is half time in a series which seems like it will never end, and Team India has taken to some self-introspection in long-ish lulls in-between defeats. Our source Down Under, who has been following the boys and befriending the housekeeping staff at the hotels they’re staying in, has revealed #Cricket #India vs Australia #MS Dhoni #Sachin Tendulkar #Sports
Why I’m not waking up at 5 am for India-Australia series

Jan 9, 2012

For the few Test cricket devouts here, an India tour of Australia is pilgrimage time. Having witnessed Australian men dominate our boys in the ’90s and then India fighting back on various occasions in the 2000s to create a new rivalry, we began soaking in every Indian tour to Australia, #Bill Lawry #Harsha Bhogle #Ian Chappell #India vs Australia #Richie Benaud #ToTheContrary

The best from the blog

Need your self-esteem shredded? Come on a makeover show in India

Sep 6, 2012
We don’t have the stomach to watch Tendulkar fail

Sep 6, 2012
Why Mumbai’s prime office rates are rising in a depressed mkt

Sep 6, 2012
Does a disrupted Parliament mean electoral reforms are in the offing?

Sep 7, 2012
Was Arsenal’s win over Chelsea down to sheer luck?

Oct 31, 2011

New bloggers

Mid-wicket Tales

S. Giridhar is Registrar and also the Head of the University Resource Centre at Azim Premji University. V J Raghunath retired as CEO of Addison Paints and is now a senior training consultant. Both share a great love for test cricket. Both have combined to
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Sugandha Dubey

Sugandha Dubey has over 18 years of work experience in marketing, sales and brand management for iconic brands like Tanishq, Gillette, Group 4 and Getty Images. She turned entrepreneur in 2008 and launched SIBSA Digital Pvt Ltd, a total photography solut
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Editor's picks

Lok Sabha polls 2014: Back to basics for Congress and BJP

With the playing field level, from now on it will be a battle of strategies for the Congress and the BJP
Chidu's 'Ferrari' of reforms has an autorickshaw engine

A slew of economic reforms has been promised this month, but one should not expect anything more than fancy footwork from the FM.
From a fed-up, die-hard fan: An open letter to SRK

Forget all this surrogacy business. The reason we love Shah Rukh Khan is that he’s been one of Bollywood’s smarter actors. But of late, SRK’s been a bit disappointing, complains a fed-up, die-hard fan.
Dhoni has Ganguly's touch but with a difference

Rohit, Kohli, Raina, Jadeja, Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar, Umesh – that’s the core of the Indian team today and perhaps it wouldn’t be wrong to say that they are Dhoni’s boys.

Vajpayee, Advani, Modi: Every leader has given Hindutva a twist

From Vajpayee to Advani to Modi –the Sangh Parivar has come a long way, presenting before India every few years a Hindutva face rendered presentable through a shrewd makeover
Why Nitish 'really' dumped the Modi-led BJP

While prima facie it might seem to be a clash of two strong personalities i.e. Modi and Kumar, there is much more to the split than that.
3 Indias at war: Sensex India, Maoist India, and Bharat

The current tensions in India can directly be traced to three visions of India – one of which will involve breaking the country
Last man standing: Why it's easy to feel sorry for Misbah

Sympathy for a Pakistani cricketer, especially a batsman, is a novel emotion for those of us coming from the 90s.

Fear of the unknown grips the BJP in Bihar

Although the party is maintaining a brave face, the eventuality of a split has left many leaders on tenterhooks.
In Mamata's Bengal: Zero tolerance for rape or protesting against rape?

Bengal tops the list in violence against women. There have been several reports of gang rape in the past few weeks. The Mamata government has taken quick and stern action – against the women protesting the rapes in front of the CM’s residence.
Food security: For poor’s sake, jholawalas must speak up

The subsidy to the rich accounts for more than 7 percent of the GDP while that for the poor, with the food security act, would account for 1.1 percent.
Patients get HIV in Assam hospital after blood transfusion, panic spreads

Many patients who were administered blood from the same blood bank fear the worst.

Why a BJP-JD(U) split will be good for India

Neither UPA nor NDA is an alliance. And the BJP and JD(U) were mere power-sharers, not allies. To grow, alliances have to be built around principles not just power-sharing
Chidu takes comfort in Fitch upgrade, but where are real reforms?

At a press conference, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, however, did not reveal any concrete steps but promised more reforms by August. He said the rupee’s decline is in line with that of the currencies of other countries with high current account deficit like India.
Why cutting interest rates will have little impact on industrial production

The index of industrial production (IIP), a measure of the industrial activity in the country, grew by a meagre 2% in April 2013, in comparison to the same period during 2012. The index was expected to grow by around 2.4% (source: India: Weak growth and sticky retail inflation. Sonal Varma and Aman Mohunta, Nomura). In [...]
Why 'Sir' Ravindra Jadeja is a people's genius

If one was simply to go by numbers, young and jolly Jadeja is on course to be a great. That’s not overrating him — it’s the simple logic of statistics one cannot argue against.

The Aurangzeb factor: 5 lessons from Modi-Advani tussle

Political parties need to have a process for electing leaders. This problem relates more to cadre-based parties such as BJP and CPM.
Why 55-60 to the dollar may be the new normal for rupee

A drop in the US dollar index does not seem to help the rupee; this shows that the Indian currency seems to be marching to its own gloomy beat.
Critics split on Apple iOS 7: Hideous, unoriginal or a thing of pure beauty?

The new design has sparked debates over whether Apple stole the design from Android or Windows 8 or just created an unholy union of the two. We take a look at what the critics are saying:
Is Putin the Salman Khan of international politics?

Is Vladimir Putin the Salman Khan of world politics? Our new columnist, stand-up comedian Gursimran Khamba pontificates.

Advani wins: No free hand for Narendra Modi just yet

What was the senior leader’s specific problem? Well, one is the indecent hurry in which Modi’s is being shoved down the throats of other leaders in the party.
Obama's second innings? As a junior engineer in govt service in India

Is Barack Obama about to sit for an exam for a junior level engineer in India? A man in Rajasthan says he’s got an admit card with Obama’s picture on it from the Staff Selection Commission. Actually on second thought that might not be such a bad second career for the President.
How US industries are trying to use 'treaties' to arm twist India

US companies are blatantly violating international agreements or purely lying, when they accuse India of using TRIPS flexibilities. Americans have spoken the same language against other countries such as Brazil and Thailand, but failed.