Archives for March 2020

Coronavirus: Contact these NGOs for DAILY WAGERS’ welfare

March 29, 2020 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

The deadly Coronavirus has put the entire world into turmoil, including India. The cases and deaths are increasing every day as the country enters the third stage of Covid-19.

But along with those who are affected by Coronavirus, there are lakhs of migrant workers all across India who have lost their jobs overnight after the country went into a lockdown.

Worse, they are forced to migrate to their native places without any means of transport. What is more dangerous is that thousands of people are forced to walk in huge crowds. This has put them under direct threat of being in touch with Coronavirus since social distancing is out of question.

These workers or daily wagers have taken upon themselves to walk hundreds of kilometers to their native. They are short of food supply too.

Coronavirus Daily Wagers — Photo source: IndiaToday.in

As per latest updates, 21 deaths have taken place among the workers who have been travelling on foot. In such a situation, it is of utmost importance to provide them with food and shelter, so that they at least stay alive, along with ensuring that they don’t get exposed to Coronavirus.

Which government or party is to be blamed for this can be thought later. Right now they need immediate relief.

Here is the list of NGOs and organizations who are providing help to the daily wagers:

Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (Delhi)
Contact: 011 2371 2580

Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA) (Mumbai)
Contact: 091520 51717

Safa NGO (Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi)
Contact: 9866174665

International Association for Human Values (IAHV) (Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru)
Contact: 9818150404, 9886660006

Hasiru Dala NGO (Bengaluru)
Contact: 097421 12362

Janta Rasoi (Mumbai)
Contact: 093243 71989

Janta Meals (Gurugram)
Contact: 088000 00358

Uday Foundation (Delhi)
Contact: 011 2656 1333

Goonj Foundation (Delhi)
Click HERE to help the daily wagers

Delhi Youth Welfare Assocation (Delhi)
Contact: 011 2702 8090

Ramesh Raman, CEO of IAHV, which is listed above, spoke to us about their efforts. “We are giving away packets of 5 kilo rice, 4 kilo wheat flour, 2 kilo dal, half litre oil and various condiments like pepper, salt, etc,” he said.

He added, “Ten thousand packets have arrived already. We are doing it while tying up with local municipal corporations and other NGOs. We also have ground level volunteers. They will identify the people and take responsibility for the distribution. We did a similar thing during Chennai floods.”

Inside Edge was once Harsha Bhogle’s show

March 22, 2020 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

Over the last few years, Amazon Prime Video’s original show Inside Edge has been a topic of discussion every time its new season comes up with some liking it while some having an opposite opinion.

Starring the likes of Vivek Anand Oberoi, Richa Chadha, Angad Bedi, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Sanjay Suri and a host of others, Inside Edge is based around a cricket league tournament that focuses on what all happens behind the scenes of such glamorous matches.

But for those who started watching cricket in the mid-1990s, like me, the title ‘Inside Edge’ makes us recall something else.

In that era Star Sports and ESPN were the only major television channels showing world cricket. Harsha Bhogle had entered the cricket scenario in that decade. After he slowly started impressing the audience with his commentating skills, ESPN started a sports show called Inside Edge where Bhogle was the host.

Inside Edge was a weekly cricket bulletin show where Bhogle looked back at the significant events that took place in the cricketing world in the week before. Along with international stuff, the show also gave a good footage to India’s domestic cricket. Bhogle also used to interview important cricket personalities from India and abroad.

As I became a huge cricket fan following the 1996 World Cup, I used to follow the game everywhere – newspapers, magazines like Sportstar and, of course, Bhogle’s Inside Edge show. Despite being aware of the cricket happenings of the past week, I still used to make it a point to tune in each week and would watch intently.

Needless to say, I became a great admirer of Bhogle, his commentary and, most importantly, his passion for this game. I remember being taken aback after knowing that the man hasn’t even played domestic cricket.

Mind you, I am not saying this to demean him. In fact, this increased my admiration for him. To see someone who hasn’t played beyond the university level become an international commentator is an incredible achievement.

Also read: Who are Duckworth and Lewis and why ICC adopted their method?

For those not in the know, Bhogle started his career as commentator at the ripe age of just 19 with All India Radio in his hometown, Hyderabad. One of his biggest achievements, which I came to know just now while Googling, is that he became the first Indian commentator to be invited by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation during India’s tour to Australia before the 1992 World Cup.

Coming back to Inside Edge, it is highly surprising that there isn’t a single video footage of the show anywhere on the internet, leave alone an entire episode. In fact, I am also unable to find even a written mention about it after searching on Google.

Maybe Mr Bhogle can help us with that if he reads this article…

England also had a Mark ‘Waugh’ who was of Indian origin

March 7, 2020 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

Mark Waugh, as we all know, is one of the greatest Australian cricketers ever. He remains one of their highest run-scorers who was also useful with the ball as an off spinner. Those who followed cricket in the 1990s would have fond memories of him, especially his stint in the 1996 World Cup.

But there is another Mark Waugh who belongs to Australia’s arch-rivals England. He too was a top order batsman. Read on to know more.

Long, long ago a Maharashtrian family from Mumbai, India relocated to England. They embraced their new country after becoming permanent citizens over there. They had a son who showed great interest in the game of cricket.

The lad pursued his dreams and enrolled for cricket coaching. He started mastering the game with the passing years and ultimately got into the Warwickshire main eleven. He became a regular player for his county following his impressive performances with the bat.

This cricketer is named Mark and his family’s surname is Wagh. Hence, his full name was Mark Wagh.

Interestingly, he was called ‘Mark Waugh’ because the people of England found it almost impossible to pronounce ‘Wagh.’ And Wagh apparently didn’t mind that.

Hence, he was England’s Mark Waugh.

Co-incidentally, I happen to know someone who is related to the Wagh family. I got to know his story from them.

Mark Wagh and Mark Waugh — Photo credits: TheGuardian.com and YouTube screenshot

Funnily, there are also people who address Mark Waugh as Mark Wagh. See below: [Article continued after image]

I have vivid memories of early or mid-2000s of seeing him play 1 or 2 times for Warwickshire on TV. From what all I remember, he was a stylish batsman with impressive technique. Those were the days when county matches were regularly telecast in India.

And I remember even the commentators used to pronounce his name as ‘Mark Waugh.’

Wagh played 212 first class matches and scored 12445 runs with an average of 38.80. He scored 31 hundreds with a highest score of 315 against Middlesex at Lords, the mecca of cricket, in 2001. At that time it was only the fourth triple century at Lords. Jack Hobbs, Percy Holmes and Graham Gooch were the three batsmen to do that before.

Later Wagh’s Warwickshire teammate Nick Knight became the fifth player to achieve the feat in 2004 when he scored 303 not out against Middlsex.

And guess what? Wagh also bowled off-spin and was a useful bowler, just like Waugh. He took exactly 100 wickets in first class matches. He had two 5-wicket hauls with his best performance being 7 for 222 against Lancashire in 2003.

Despite a good first-class record, Wagh couldn’t play for England’s national side. He was included in the preliminary squad for the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy but couldn’t make it to the final team.

In 2006, Wagh migrated to play for Nottinghamshire. He was awarded Player of the Season by the county in 2007.

Wagh took retirement from first class cricket in 2011. Interestingly, he then pursued a career in law. [Read more about him HERE and HERE]

If you look up on the internet, you won’t find much about his life except an interview he gave to Warwickshire’s official portal in 2016.

A quote from the interview reads, “I look back fondly on my cricket career but it all seems a very long time ago. I did play club cricket briefly but no longer even do that. When you work reasonably long hours during the week, it’s a stretch to then play club cricket which takes up one of your days off, pretty much 9am to 9pm.”

Also read:

Only time Tendulkar was NOT selected in team India, neither injured nor rested

Yuvraj Singh’s 3 heroic TEST innings that have been forgotten: See videos

When hearing issues stopped India from winning against England