Hari's Corner

To all my blogging friends and the community at large,

My humble request to you is to get off FaceBook, Google+, Twitter and all your other social networking sites and return to blogging proper in 2013. Your blogs were more personalized and interesting to read, far more insightful and engaging than abbreviated FaceBook statuses/shares/likes and tweets. Clicking a "Share" or "Like" button is no substitute for a coherent well-thought-out essay. Besides social networks are more about personal interaction than creative writing.

I, for one, am looking forward to revitalizing my own blog and writing more frequently in the future. Writing (or any form of creative expression) is a good habit to get into and very elusive to get back if you've lost the drive. In 2005, many of my friends blogged regularly and I have a huge list of links on my sidebar. Comments were regularly posted and views exchanged on one another's blogs frequently, sometimes  leading to interesting debates and insights. Today, I have only five blogs linked in my sidebar with just a couple of them updated regularly. I hardly get any comments at all and to be honest it's discouraging to think that most of my online friends have abandoned blogging altogether. I know that life and circumstances cause people to move on from online activity, but for those of you active on social networks, I ask you to consider that they do not provide or encourage the same expressive freedom that a blog or website does.

Thanks and Regards.

Here's a screenshot of the Xfce desktop (Debian) running on my laptop. Long time readers may find it very similar to the screenshot of my KDE desktop I posted years ago, in fact, way back in 2005. In fact, I have gone from KDE to Gnome, back to KDE and finally settled on Xfce as my desktop.

Obviously, I prefer the old style traditional paradigm desktops: those with the start menu with applications organized in groups, status bar and a standard desktop area which allow creation of shortcuts to apps and documents. Sadly it appears that the mainstream *nix desktops are slowly drifting away from simplicity and utility. Gnome has headed in a altogether different direction from the traditional paradigm by trying to force a smartphone/tablet-style interface on a computer, while KDE, always the 800 pound gorilla of *nix desktops, has increased in bloat with each release.

Having tried other lightweight desktop alternatives, I came back to Xfce because it is just a bit more feature rich, mature and stable than the alternatives. For me, Xfce hits that perfect sweet spot between features and simplicity, performance and stability while keeping the code base reasonably light. For obvious reasons I don't like the really lightweight Window Managers: those are too barebones for my needs.

I recently installed Ubuntu 12.10 on to my spare partition. Navigating through the mess that is Unity and the less sucky Gnome Shell, I understood how much Xfce just works for me, as I suspect it works for the average Linux user. To be fair, the Gnome 3 classic interface is traditional enough, but not as configurable as Xfce. Also I believe it is likely to be dropped in the near future, leaving Gnome users no choice but to use the Shell interface.

I sincerely hope the Xfce developers keep their heads amidst all the desktop mania happening in the Linux world and retain the traditional desktop interface that has served its purpose most adequately since the days of Windows 95 and continues to do so. Going by the history of Xfce, I think the hope is justified.

I have no doubt that, having established a habit of keeping accounts, I have consciously and unconsciously adapted my mind to be aware of my cash inflow and outflow over a period of time. But being merely aware is just one thing; actually knowing the amount of cash inflow and outflow over a period of time is where systematic financial accounting scores. There is no guesswork involved. Noting down transactions as they happen let you know not only when, but why you spent and when you earn money.

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Here's wishing all my friends, readers and well-wishers a happy new year in advance.

A shout for 2013 for happiness, good health and prosperity!

Following the horrible performance in the home Test series against England, I think Indian cricket needs to rethink the Test captaincy. To be honest, Dhoni has looked out of sorts in the Test arena for a while, and I have no doubt that a change is needed at the top to infuse a bit of passion and energy at the Test level. Will the BCCI and the selectors be bold enough to take that step?

The recent performances of the Indian Test squad is enough of an indication that the problem is deeper than a mere loss of form of key players or retirement of experienced players. It is true that the batting has suffered a bit due to the retirement of stalwarts like Dravid and Laxman, but the issue goes beyond the standard phrase of "Indian cricket being in transition" as some commentators and experts have suggested. I cannot agree with that assessment. Dhoni has been captain long enough to understand his players. There is enough experience in the team to avoid losing badly in familiar conditions playing to their strengths. Virat Kohli has been around quite a while now and has performed well enough. The bowlers are, in paper, suited for Indian pitches. The two top-line spinners Ojha and Ashwin alone should have been enough to get the English batsmen tied up in knots. Yet, a resurgent English team was good enough to wipe India in the series 2-1.

I think a key factor is that Dhoni, as captain, has been far too defensive in his strategy. The batting failed on good pitches. I think this indicates that the batsmen were too worried about failure to focus on positive play. The bowlers, never having enough runs to defend in most of the games, wilted at the slightest sign of pressure from the opposition and gave away runs a little too freely. Dhoni simply could not infuse that passionate energy required for any team to climb out of a desperate situation and turn it around. Apart from the first match, India did not look like a team that could win a game in the series. It's easy to say this in hindsight, but having watched the matches, it was hard to pick out sessions of play where India were on top. Dhoni simply waited for his moment, but it never arrived. Test cricket, nay, any competitive sport is about grabbing the initiative, not waiting for it. In short, Dhoni kept reacting to situations, rather than leading the side proactively. England were too strong a Test side to allow India a chance once they took the initiative.

I am a fan of Dhoni in the shorter variety of the game, but in Test matches he is obviously at sea as captain. It hasn't helped that his batting hasn't flowered in the longer format. Besides, he has indicated from time to time that he is not all that interested in Test cricket. His excuses for failures are getting tired. He focusses too much on external factors like pitch conditions and too little on the team's performances. The signs are clear. Wake up, selectors! Indian cricket needs a captain who is passionate about Test cricket. Without a rejuvenated leadership, the future of Test cricket in India looks bleak.

A second attempt at drawing Jeremy Brett. I think this time, it has come out a lot better than my first.