World Cup Cricket Quotes : Kamran Jokes

Few funny quotes users have sent to cricinfo live coverages. History : In the match Pak vs Nz, Pakistan lost sensationally due to many reasons. However, seems like people have picked Kamran Akmals (Pakistani wicket Keeper) dropped catches as the main reason.

I personally think Ross Taylors superb inning should be given it's due credit, then again he too was dropped by Kamran.... anyway, here's the list : (Names mentioned are those of viewers who has posted those to cricinfo)

Kabira: " I hope that Kamran's wife doesn't let him hold their babies! "

Arpan: "Behind every successful batsman, there is Kamran Akmal"

Brenton: "Kamran's favourite movie: Catch Me If You Can" And his favourite book? "The dropper in the rye"

Asif: "Elton Chigumbura's birthday on the day they play Pakistan .. Good signs for him .. only if Kamran plays as a keeper"

Hari: "Famous DON movie dialogue in Kamran's way "CATCH ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi, Namumkin hey". (someone who is good in Hindi, translate this one for us please )

Naila: Why is Umar Akmal the best batsman in the Akmal family? Because he got the most chance to bat in the back yard as Kamran Akmal kept dropping him."

And why did Adnan Akmal become a keeper? Since too many balls kept going into the bush behind the pitch when Kamran was keeping.

Ali: "After the last match Pakistan team management was found anxiously searching for the Birthdays of Aussies, if there is any on 19th March"

Paras: "Why can't Kamran Akmal be a Pakistani team selector? Because he will keep dropping everyone from the squad!"

vivek: "Kamran could be a good brand ambassador for Save water campaign. "Every drop counts"."

Abadit: "Why did Kamran Akmal have to walk back to the team hotel after the match? Because he failed to catch the bus! :)"

What is Kamran Akmal's favourite pick up line? 'Can I drop you somewhere?'

Note: added few more later. (April 3rd)
Geoffrey Boycott : "I could've stopped 'em better with my coat."

Ian Chappell : "If his batting was as good as Don Bradman's, he couldn't score enough runs to make up for what he costs them with his keeping."


and these are non related to Kamran...

Anas: "Looks like Sangakara has padded up ONLY for wicketkeeping today." (after sri lankan opening batsman having a long partnership going, Sanga is the man next to come, so is waiting all padded up)

Andy Zaltzman: "Team news: Zimbabwe's attempt to kidnap and use Lasith Malinga foiled just as they were trying to squeeze him into Tatenda Taibu's shirt..."

and my pick as the best...

Mickey Arthur : "The monkey's almost become a gorilla now and until we win an ICC event it's always going to be there I'm afraid."
(admits the pressure is piling up on South Africa to break their World Cup jinx)

Let us help him win his life back!

Life is unpredictable and fragile. What happens today to other can happen to us tomorrow....

Let's help this guy (Ilandaariya) to win his life back.


Note : I just measured how long it actually took for me to get into the BOC branch on my way to office, contribute a small amount (it wouldn't have taken a longer time even if it was a bigger amount :-) ), and just continue to office. It took me only 10 minutes!

Most of the time when we think of doing a good deed, either 3 things (at least) influence us negatively.

1) lack of trust on the genuineness of the story.
This is definitely a non issue in here. Almost all in the blogging community in the country knows about him and there is absolutely no doubt about the authenticity.

2) lack of money to contribute in a meaningful way
Again, it is not only you and me alone, so many people are contributing. Whatever amount we can spare will definitely help to make an impact.

3) lack of time to invest on it since our daily routines are almost packed.
As I just measured, it took me only 10 extra minutes!! It might be slightly different in your case, yet... that's the magnitude of it. It is certainly not something which takes an hour even!

World Cup is upon is!

2011 ICC World Cup. Who will win it this time ?

In the last presidential and general elections in SL, I had few predictions but didn't dare publishing them. Ironically, final results came very close to my predictions and I'm determined not to do the same mistake this time.

Besides, there is really nothing to loose by having a go and let the world know what your 'predictions' are. If they work, you may get some attention/recognition/glory/nothing at all or whatever. If not, you will be just like what you are right now. see, nothing to loose at all!

Many say India and Sri Lanka are the favorites. Really one doesn't need to be genius or an expert in cricket to say that, it's just obvious. India and Sri Lanka has to be among favorites, beside rankings and recent form, most of matches they play will be on their home grounds!

However, here is my prediction on India.

1) India will not be in Finals!

There, I said it...

Reasoning ? well, it's not a difficult one either if one look into history. India is not well known for putting up with the extra large pressure and expectations put up by billions of Indian fans. If one looks at their current team, it has many stalwarts at key places on whom the team relies upon. Tendulkar, Sehvag, Dhoni, Harbajan, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj etc. These players were the backbone of many Indian teams before this tournament, unfortunately, they don't have a good track record of (while offering a mild apology to Tendulkar) putting up with the pressure put up by home crowd. There is simply more chance for the same things to happen again.....

On the record sheet and statistics India are on top. psychologically, billion fans and billion expectations (and the little bit of extra pressure generated by the knowledge that their houses will be stoned and burnt by the 'loving' fans in case of poor performance) would be too much for them.

hmm.. what about Sri Lanka ?

Champions in 96, semi finalists in 2003, finalists and runner up in 2007.. although that look good on paper, Sri Lanka has had a little problem of winning big matches since late 90's. apart from above mentioned 2003, 2007 campaigns, they lost another worldcup final (20-20 format, against Pakistan). I think Sri lanka will come to finals but I'm not putting my money on what will happen in the finals. It could be any man's game at that stage....

2) SL will be in Finals

Dark Horse : it is funny to see the Kangaroo as the dark horse. After all, AUS are the current champions and number one ranked, continuously champions since 2000! Still, not many are rating them among hot favorites considering their recent form and subcontinent conditions. However I think AUS are pretty underrated. If one compare the current squad with the winning squad in 2007, many faces are still there. Ponting, Clarke, Hussy, Lee, Watson are players who can win matches.

3) AUS will be in Semi Finals (at least, and a likely candidate for finals)

SA has acquired a reputation as a side haunted by bad luck in world cups. However, there is an end to everything, likewise this haunting too has a place it should eventually end. Mr Smith has a very competent side with him which recently managed to mauld India.

4) SA will be in Semi Finals. (at least, and a likely candidate for finals)

Many rate ENG as a top side in world cricket these days. Indeed their fast ascend in the ranking ladder and the recent results are very impressive. Yet, I'm not totally convinced. Their recent drubbing at the hands of out of form australians in australia reminded us of old England. More importantly I feel this England team is not tested enough in subcontinent pitches yet. (despite noting that they have a world class spinner in Swann) Also, most of their team members havnt proved them selves in the subcontinet. (yet)

5) ENG will not be in Semi Finals

One last prediction :

6) BA will be in Quarter finals! (this is the riskiest prediction yet and I think as the one which is most likely to backfire on me, yet I will say this) most probably, at the expense of WI.

Let's see how many of these will come true!

I guess most of you have already figured out which team I'm supporting my self.

Go Lions !

The New Blog

Today I started a new blog to dedicate to my long term hobby, Artificial Intelligence in games and puzzles.

This blog will discuss on gaming theory, algorithms and my experiences of developing games. More than theory, the blog will attempt to discuss individual puzzles/games and the challenges in solving/playing them.

It will also concentrate on winning strategies for AI engines. While I intend to share some of my code/algorithms to facilitate discussions among developers, the blog will mostly for anybody who has an interesting in solving puzzles, programmers or not.

see you there... !

Value of Miracles

A little but true (as recorded) story...

Once Lord Buddha had to cross a river on his way to some place. As usual he was traveling with Ananda, whom is mentioned as possessing an amazing memory and later helped to document and store every single thing which he witnessed while being with Buddha.

Now, on this particular day, Buddha was waiting peacefully on the river bank for the ferry to arrive. Ananda too was waiting very respectfully and attentively to his teacher as he was used to for many years. For our luck, (to satisfy our need for a story) at this otherwise boring time, a series looking person with a long beard and long hair turned up at the river bank. He had the air of a holy man who possessed many mental skills and the ability to perform few miracles of his own.

The holy man paid little or no attention to the Buddha or Ananda, more interestingly, not much even to the river! for he started performing one of his favorite skills then and there and proceed to promptly walk across on the surface of the water! Soon he reached the opposite bank and walked away. Buddha with his limitless wisdom and compassion, stood calm, happy and peaceful with himself as he always was. Ananda (who was not yet an Arahath), however was little bit taken aback.... To think that the great lord Buddha who is second to none on mental prowess was made to look like a child in front of many people was bit too much for him.

Buddha still silent, calm, unmoved. Ananda has even started to look apologetically at the people around him. (for failing to entertain them as much as the holy man did) Finally the ferry arrived and all got the the other bank. Ananda was relieved that they are finally alone and away from on lookers.

Buddha spoke first, "is something bothers you Ananda ?"
"Yes Sire", came the brisk reply. "Couldn't we have done the same.. I mean err, without waiting for the ferry like the holy man did ?"

Buddha had a pleasant smile, one coming from a limitless compassion and wisdom. Even Ananda was made to feel at ease.

"Ananda, What was the fare you paid to the ferry man ?"
"Oh my lord, just 2c... regular fare."
"Aha Ananda.... so you now know the exact value of that skill" !!

A Poem

Such emptiness, heartache ....
and no one to stretch out a hand in comfort
when storms overtake us.

year after year,
all our best years escape us.

To love, but why should we ?
for a while it's not worth the strain.

And life,
if you look around with cool headed attention,
is empty
and rather a second rate joke!

-- Mikael Lermentov ---

කවියක්...

යන්තම් හය හත වන විටම මැර සලෙල කළුවර
යහනට අඩ ගසයි ලඳ බොලඳ අහසට
එවිටත් ඉරී ගොසින් රිවි කිරණ ඇඳි වත

පෙනේ වලා පැල්ලම් අතර තරු ලප
තුරුලුව ඒ දෙදන ඉන්නා අයුරු දැක
සපත්නිරෝශයෙන් පෙලෙන මහ මුහුදු ලඳ
උමතුව සල සලා තම නිල් පටසලුව
පොලොවත් අතැර ඈතට දුවයි බැන බැන

නිදා සිටින විට කළුවරට නුදුරුව
අහසට මතක් වෙයි කල් ගිය පැරණි පෙම
මැවී පෙනී පොලොවේ පෙම්වත් මුහුන
උපදියි සිහින් සිරි පොද කදුළු සිරි පොද

පොලොව තමයි මහ බඹු මැවු මට උරුම සම්පත
කළුවර හොදයි අර වස පාලු මුහුදට
සිරවී සිටින මුත් කළුවරෙහි ලොම් වල
සඳ දියනිය එවමි පොලොවෙ මෙහෙවරට

උනු කොට වගුරුවා වැසි ලෙසට ප්‍රේමය
අකුණු විදුලි සරයෙන් අහස කියන එබසට
එවසුම් නැතුව රැලි නියවන මුහුදු ලඳ
පවසයි අදත් තමනට මේ පුරුදු දොස

ලුනු රස වුවත් මගෙත් අඩු නැත ප්‍රේමය
පොලොව පවා හොද හැටි දත් දෙයකි එය
මට දී මගෙ පෙම්බර කුමර කළුවර
ගනින් නුඹ නුඹේ මහ ලොකු මුඩු පොලොව

අහස, මුහුද විරසක නොවව් ඔය ලෙස!
ඔහොම තමා හිතුවක්කාර දෛවය
පැතූ අය එසේ නොලැබෙයි කිසිවකුට
නොපැතූ අයම එති සෙනෙහසින් ලුහු බෑඳ...


---- සති අන්ත පුවත් පතකින්. නම නොදන්නා කවියෙක්ගෙන් ---

We need better observers!

Some thoughts I had after reading this news article on TN parliament members visit to IDP camps. Interestingly some guy commented as "Sri Lankan IDP camps are better than the Indian shanties (huts). That's why the Tamil Nadu delegation have expressed satisfaction. So for them this is like heaven." There was a nice photo too, one of TN MP is offering a traditional gesture of friendship to the president. (Now, who would have thought of this few months ago!)

It's all about how you perceive things and in the end everything is relative.

Do IDPs having a good life out there ? you bet not. Then again with what kind of a situation you can compare their situation with ? Can you compare that against Tsunami camps we had once ... or should we compare it against (as some would like to suggest) Hitler's concentration camps? Can we compare their situation with ordinary village life and come to conclusions, or should we compare this to any other refugee camp in the region ? Whatever it is, it is very important to identify and categorise the situation correctly and select proper comparable situations to compare this event with. For human beings always perceive events by comparing or in relation to some other events. If we choose incomparable events, we may easily come into wrong conclusions.

There is another angle to this, our conclusions are also relative to our own personal experiances and standards. A homeless guy living on a street may call a welfare center a heaevn but a top diplomat who lives a luxury european life may even find even the normal urban life in Chennai or Colombo as appaling!

So there are already two obvious factors which look as useful considerations when forming conclusions on events and situations. First one is that we should try to compare that with similar situations (as close as possible), then the observer should be in a similar perspective or having a closer outlook to the ones who are actually involved in with the situation. If we are in a complete different background, we should try our best tp get in the shoes (get a feeling of the culture, standards of living in similar situations in the region, specific challenges, limitaions etc) of those who are really involved in the situation and try to make our conclusions with the perspective relative to those people.

Now, let's take the scenario of IDP camps and various Europeans, NGOs commenting on the living condition in those. Do they sereisly consider that the Sri Lanka is a 3rd world country which is struggling to cope (financially and resource wise) with 250 000 of displaced people just after a bloddy war in a economic recession? Do they understand the standard of living in poor parts in this region ? Do they understand the devastation happended to these areas and people in 3 decades of war and put that into the context ? Finally, Are they aware of how these very same people had to crowded up in a narrow beach front against their wills by LTTE and amidst a war under horrific conditions, how they ran into government lines risking their own lives (braving LTTE fire) just to escape from that situation..

In the case of Tamil Nadu politicians they are at least very aware what the normal life standards are in usual refugee camps in the region, How the living standards among poor parts in the region and among people who has to undergo various hardships for decades. Above all they are having first hand experiance about their own refigee camps in TN housing SL refugees fleeing the war. In this context it is not surprising at all that the delegation finds the situation at camps are not so appaling as the western media and diplomats have reported! True, we are struggling to cope with the large crowd and to attend their needs, but we are trying. Good freinds would be (like India in this case) helping us to cope with the immense task.

This brings us to an interesting question : Just what we can expect from letting more and more western media and diplomats into these camps and letting them interpret the situation relative to them ? On one hand, there is the unpleasant case of organizations/individuals/lobbyists sympathetic to LTTE or to Ealan course using the situation as a spring board for their propaganda activities. On the other hand there is the situation of some angry western powers trying to teaching a little lesson to the SL goverment on it's 'failing' to act accordign to their advices/wishes/interests while wiping out the LTTE in the final battles. Isn't it much better and sensible to instead have organizations/individuals from our reagion to inspect these camps and come up with their own suggestions/interpretations for improvements ?

We could let Indian, Bangladeshi or pakistani observers/social workers to visit these places and to come up their thoughts/ideas on how best we can improve the situation and how best our friends can help us in this. Our regional friends will understand lot better on how to compare this situation with similar situations in the region and would know better how to define words like 'appaling', 'life threatening', 'acceptable', 'adequate measures taken' etc... It wouldn't do us any bad to have some constructive criticism in the name of helping these people while making their difficult stay in these camps as short as possible.

Rain

It's raining hard (as in tropics) and dark outside. What a show of force the rain is... It makes one feel so humble against the power of nature, yet at the same time it make one feel full of awe and respect towards it.

All your plans, schedules, are forced to get re arranged. Like our ancestors we too have to submit to the nature and allow it to go along it's wonderful ways. For a moment we become (or rather forced to) just an observer of this amazing display.

The wind is constantly blowing hard and you can hear the rustle of trees only to be interrupted time to time by a gigantic thunder. Suddenly there is light in the middle of the night! but only for a short fleeting moment of time. Once again the regular noise of the downpour against the roof and the wind against the trees take over. Despite it's magnitude and the monotone, what a enjoyable moment! Sometimes it feels so good just to surrender and observe the mighty nature.....

How small are we really when pitted against this... slowly the rain changes our mental mood as well. One instinctively get an inkling to cuddle under a sheet and to be on a comfortable bed. Just how lovely it would be to sleep right now... Inside the house it is dry yet there is overall mental feeling of wetness. Or can we actually feel a mist ? tiny little water drops somehow finding their way inside mixing with the air ? It's chilly. cold and lonely. Even if there are people around, it is as if you are alone with your self. Rain is doing all the communications. Only it does the talking, all other sounds are insignificant...

Once one get accustomed to the music of the rain, one identifies components within it. Water smashing onto the roof tirelessly, water then dropping down from the roof, flowing on the ground as it forming into little springs.. The wind howling into the dark night. Trees swaying around, rustling it's branches and leaves... Whole world has stop it's activities and had given way to the rain to have it's say. For now, it has total domination of every thing.

One eventually get reminded of similar past experiences hidden in the forest of past time.. Everybody has at least one clear memory either in childhood or in adolescence on rain. About a particular time one was as helpless as now and being reduced to an observer in front of the rain. Yet, once one totally surrenders to it and after stopping fighting against it, the experience become almost a pleasure. Relaxing and listening to the chore and its symphonies... How the wind, trees and water get their act together and become parts of one integral act.

Its a gift! nothing less, how fortunate are we to have an event like this visiting us once in a while to remind us of our littleness in the vast nature.

The rain in a cold damp night!

A theory on the conspiracy theories on UFO's

Well, actually the content of this article may not be as sexy as the title suggest.

Just wanted to say few things on one fascinating observation. First of all, let me say that I'm not an obsessed UFO fan or someone who believes there are aliens before actually seeing one. I also do not belongs to the opposite group. Ok, here we go :

There are so many conspiracy theories on governments (mainly the US government) trying to cover up evidence on aliens, or trying to make us believe that there are no UFO etc. Now, UFO fans are taking these theories pretty seriously while others are well... ridiculing them. I belong to non of these categories, yet there are many valid reasons as to why a government may actually try to cover up stories (or 'evidence' as the say) on aliens and UFOs if they exist!

Now, don't get carried away! just because someone having a good reason to not like the idea of public believing in something does not mean that thing actually exist (or do not exist for that matter). Still, this is quite interesting.........

Think about the religion. There are loads on this earth. Let's take 3 main ones. Christianity, Islam and Judaism. (In alphabetical order and apologies for Hindus, Buddhists and Flying Spaghetti Monster followers etc) Now, all main 3 has one thing in common : yea you guessed it right, The God. He is omnipotent, the one and only one and the creator of everything. Also, he has created this universe, our earth and (this is little important in here) made the man out of his own image. On the other hand there are atheists who believe that there is no God.

Again, it is not the intention of this article to discuss about the religion or to make sides. Like mentioned earlier, just pointing out an observation which I find as fascinating....

Now, let's just imagine for a second that UFO, aliens and little green (or any other color) 'men' actually do exist! This will have some series implications for most of religions wouldn't it? How can we suddenly face up with the prospect of there is some other race (not human) which is far superior (from the simple fact that they found us before we found them) to us? After all we are supposed to be the preferred race created by god's own very image, and there can be only one almighty god as well! For the creationism in general, something like this has the potential to become the hardest hit after theory of evolution and/or the finding that the earth actually goes around the sun and not the other way around. Let's think about this scenario a bit... it (presence of another race superior to us) will shatter lot of things in our belief systems.

If the UFO's are true and aliens do exist... will the Vatican be eager to accept that fact? Will they like to see rest of the world believing that the aliens do exist? Most countries on earth have tight relations with religion as majority of people (specially politicians) are firm believers. So we should not be surprised to see US or some other government decide to silence things down even if there are evidence for the existence of aliens. Like it or not, organized religion do help towards controlling the masses and there by making things easier for the governments. Also, there are religious lobbyists with money....

Phew! lucky aliens have not appeared on TV yet!

Now, once again ... this of course does not constitute an evidence for the existence of the aliens. It is not even an argument for conspiracy theories, since it does not making the claim that governments are actually holding the truth. It only says that governments do have a good enough reason to cover up evidence 'if there are any'.

Come to think of it, there can also be reasons as to believing in the existence of aliens. Think of an atheist who like to prove (once and for all) that there is no god. Well, for such a cause, a little green man (has to be a little green creature in this case!) would be a nice gift indeed....

Are there any surveys or polls done to investigate the religious beliefs of UFO fans ? Or the beliefs of non UFO fans ? Can it be possible that there is a co-relation.....

what do you think ?

10 proven steps to get into the first page at Reddit (cool video)

Hi all my fellow good souls @ reddit, (well, it's an easy guess that u arrived here via Reddit)

Here are the steps you were dying to know. These are tried and proven. (explained later). Have a look and enjoy!

1. Use a title like 'Top 3 reasons why men hate cooking' or ' 5 steps to write a good article' or '10 steps to improve your code'

Note the similarity: they all claim to give you easy to read, point format, no nonesense list. This attracts people, looks like readers automatically assume the claimed item list is fool proof, like some kind of a law. Wierd but it works........

2. Make sure your list of points are on something a typical user would really interested in reading.

like the subject here, 'How to get into the first page at reddit' . Since Reddit is mostly read by techies, Anything on Software, beer, technology, gadgets etc would do

3. In the title, be bold and ambitious on your claims. Bit of exagertion, over emphasizing, use of exclamation marks, etc.

All help win attention. No one wants to spend time reading something ordinary. So make it look like something extra ordinary. You should sound confident about what you have for them in your article.

4. Keep in mind the 'Resume Rule'

When we write a resume or CV, we are adviced to keep to a single page or at least present a short attractive summary. For good reasons too. If the Resume is unable to catch the readers eye and make him interested in the first 5-10 seconds, chances are that he will not even read the rest of the resume. Same goes for links. You have to grab the users attention and make him click on your link. This decision happend within first 5 seconds of reaing your title and readers have lots of links to view so you better fight for every gram of attention (how else to measure attention ?) you could get.

5. At the end of the title indicate that you have a cool video or an image for them to comfortably view.

This is self explanatory. People like to lazily look at a video or an image or to listen to a track rather than reading. It would be nice if you really have a video or an image for them as promised. :-)

7. In the article, leave some intentional mistake for attentive users to notice.

Hopefully this will encourage them to write a short comment pointing the mistake you have put there for them to 'catch'. I bet reddit ranking engine will look at the number of comments an article has. Can you spot the mistake in this article ?

8. Of course ask few of your friends to click on your submission once it appear on reddit 'new' items and ask them to write few comments as well.

May be you can try that on this article itself and see the difference. (see whether the reddit rank moves up noticiably after you ask few of your friends to click on this link)

9. Number of steps you mention in the title has to be a sexy number.
For istance, no one would be that interested on "7 steps to.... " or a "9 reasons why..." on the other hand 10, 3, 5 are 'good' numbers.

What this also mean is: it is not necessary that you have exactly 10 points in your artcle as promised. 9 would do as long as the title says something like '10 proven steps to..."


And how do I say these steps are proven?

Well, the mere fact that you are now reading this is the best proof that these steps work. You got attracted by the title of this article when you saw it on reddit havn't you ? So, at least as far as you are concerened, steps are 'proven' :-)

On terrorism : The newest 'strategy' of combating terrorism

According to the Indian security expert B Raman, who is also a high ranking official in RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), India's equivalent of CIA or Mosad, you could combat terrorism by allowing their leaders to retire.

Since this a very innovative approach to outsmart terrorism, it warrants some attention. Mr Raman says : " If the Sri Lankan Tamil problem is to be solved, and unrest in Tamil Nadu prevented, LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran should be made to retire and not killed." and "... The best option, is for the moderates in the LTTE to persuade Prabhakaran to retire and had over power to them." etc..

Very interesting and creative thoughts indeed! perhaps U.S should consider allowing Bin Laden to peacefully go into retirement as well (the guy has achived enough in his life time anyway) and let Al Quida be run by a 'moderate' terrorist so that they could avoid unrest among his fans all over the world. It is bit confusing how one could define a moderate terrorist though. One who would kill less number of people and bomb smaller buildings may be?

Anyway, talking about LTTE and it's leader Prabhakaran, this fellow has definitely contributed a lot for world terrorism, that the least we could do is to consider him for a retirement scheme. He too, like Mr Bin, has achieved a lot in his life time and well deserves a break. his list of achievements are second only to Bin Laden himself (don't be surprised if his fans argue on this point).

record include :

• killing the Prime Minister (Rajiv Gandhi the son of Indira Gandhi and the grand son of great Javahallal Neru) of world's largest democracy, India.
• Killing a democratically elected executive president of a country (R. Premadasa, president of Sri Lanka)
• Killing number of government ministers and politicians.
• Responsible for deaths of thousands of innocent civilians including almost all of Tamil leaders (whom he is supposed to 'liberate' from the state) who did not agree with him.
• bombing of world heritage sites

Among others.

Any terrorist leader will envy Mr P and find it pretty 'challenging' to beat that list! Come to think of it, this whole thing is not a bad idea at all. By allowing the worst leaders to retire early, you discourage them from continuing the destruction they would otherwise happily continue. If the 'moderates' who will follow them get more ambitious and try to beat the records, perhaps you should 'allow' them to retire as well. These people were mainly busy for the most part of their lives creating mayhem and may be they don't have earned enough to lead a decent retired life. So perhaps we can consider them for a government pension too.

Few problems though, Mr P is wanted for the Rajiv Gandhi killing by Indian high courts. Perhaps Mr Raman can arrange some workaround for that, but it's still not clear how he could 'allow' Mr P to retire. Not sure whether Mr P has applied for a retirement scheme from Mr Raman so that he could readily 'allow' him one.

Anyway, if implemented, this newest combating strategy will increase the job value of being a terrorist by a great deal. (rather than an ordinary crminal who are not immune from the judiciary system and law enforcement authorities) Now it even includes retirement after making a name for oneself!

On Chess : Kramnik should offer Kasparov a return match

Well, sounds like it is too late for this now since Kaspa is well into retirement. However, Kasparov did try hard to get a return match after he lost to the then challenger Kramnik. As has happened in many times in the history of chess, new world champion was reluctant to do so.

Situation has changed now. Kramnik is no longer being treated as the world champion or as the strongest player in the world. Kasparov was dissapointed (he tried to participate in a match to regain his crown for about 4 years and finally gave up) and retired with his number one ranking in the rating list when he is still the world's strongest player. This is not good for chess. We havn't seen much of Kramnik at all after his brilliant performance in the championship match and now we don't see Kasparov in action either. Only good thing around is that Topalov plays brilliant chess at the moment. Needless to say, Topalov deserves to be theworld champion and he is the worlds strongets active player and also posseses the highest rating among active players.

It's a pity that Kramnik and Kasparov has this unfinished business between them and more so since Topalov havn't had an opportunity to play with either one of them on his way to winning the crown. All we know is that a very recent initiative for arrenging a 're-unification' match between topalov and Kramnik has failed.

I think if Kramnik now offers a re-match to Kasparov we still have a chance to salvage this sad situation. Kasparov has reasons to accept and come out of retirement. (I'm sure he still has fight in him to come and take his opportunity to win back the crown he tried so hard to regain) On the other hand, this is a very good way for Kramnik to come to the lime light again, at the moment he stands a very little chance of competing in a world championship match in the near future.

Hopefully, this will lead to a Topalov vs winner of Kasparov/Kramnik match which will have the potential of being the most exciting match since Fisher-Spassky.

All this is assuming, Kasparov will change his mind and come out of retirement if he is given a shot(I for one, think he deserves it) at the crown. Come on Kramnik, u offered a match to Topalov, why not one for Kasparov? show your generosity and the chess world will love you for it!