From & To Sathish #6 - Page 183

A great article that I read which impressed me

R Ashwin's shock retirement announcement actually makes a mockery of Indian cricket. It is tragic that someone of his calibre was struggling to get selected while Kohli kept getting picked without any scrutiny. For all those who want to understand how the utter nonsense that has gone on around Kohli affects a team, they can just look at this instance.

In the same five years where specialist batsman Kohli averaged 32, Ashwin averaged 21.09 with the bat and 20.89 with the ball. A bowling all-rounder who consistently kept his batting average higher than his bowling average (or very close) - to do that over 106 Tests in a 14-year-career (25.8 with the bat and 23.9 with the ball) makes him an all-time-great of the game. But it was Ashwin who was dropped overseas, even in England (where he averages 28 with the ball, so why would he not get picked in June 2025 for the English tour? Jadeja averages 43.5 with the ball in England. Kumble 41. And the great troika? Bedi 38, Chandrasekhar 34, Prasanna 58). Not even once has anyone considered dropping Kohli in ANY conditions (but he, as captain, had no problem dropping Ashwin in England, without any repercussions to his glorious career).

Enough with the "one of India's greatest" copouts from every single cricket commentator and writer (as is their pathetic wont). Let's have the courage (and the smarts) to get more specific. Ashwin is not just India's greatest match-winner, he is the world's greatest Test series winner in history. In January 2017, during the culmination of my Impact Index days, we had identified Ashwin as the highest impact Test cricketer of all time. Please pause on this - the highest impact Test cricketer of all time - this is serious stuff. He had played 44 Tests at the time with a batting average of 35 and a bowling average of 25, which is awe-inspiring on its own. But these numbers were not why. It was purely because of his record in affecting series results. Ashwin had seven Man of the Series awards at the time in 14 series. Just for perspective, Wasim Akram had seven in his career in 43 series, Shane Warne eight in 46 series, Imran Khan eight in 28 series, Jacques Kallis nine in 61 series, and Muttiah Muralitharan eleven in 61 series (at that time). (And in Impact Index, we did not even weigh in Man of the Series awards). Despite Impact Index not existing since 2018, Ashwin's status of the highest impact Test cricketer of all time would not be affected since then, simply because no one else performed with that consistency since then (not even Ben Stokes).

Cued below is a video of Impact Index's book launch where Ashwin was told this (along with the explanation of why he was higher impact than even Bradman) and his reaction, which is rather interesting (there are some other interesting conversations in here too; apologies if it makes you barf at what passes as cricket conversations in the media these days; specifically listen to what VVS Laxman has to say - especially at 39-25).

https://youtu.be/Sa_dw1cUrpE?si=I5vgZ8BYpEvqReuR&t=1011

It doesn't matter how people spin this, it is a tragedy that Ashwin left like this. It was NOT a planned retirement - no one leaves in the middle of a series like this (Dhoni did, but that wasn't planned either, that's another story). Melbourne and Sydney are actually where Ashwin would be in play, more than anywhere else on this tour (he got 5 crucial wickets in his last Melbourne Test in 2020/21, when India won memorably). Fact is, Ashwin deserved the greatest send-off any Indian Test cricketer has ever got - greater than Tendulkar or Kumble. That he didn't get it is one of the greatest failures of Indian cricket. What a shame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rU5JuejykY

Baakiyalakshmi | 19th to 21st December 2024 - Promo

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20241002-singapore-the-worlds-sixth-blue-zone?utm_medium=email&utm_source=pocket_hits&utm_campaign=POCKET_HITS-EN-DAILY-SPONSORED&WRITERAI-2024_10_11=&sponsored=0&position=5&category=fascinating_stories&scheduled_corpus_item_id=4427652e-457e-46a8-be2d-ceb72cd833d7&url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20241002-singapore-the-worlds-sixth-blue-zone

The world's sixth 'Blue Zone': Why Singapore values both quantity and quality of life

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/373076/red-flag-guy-divorce-him-dump-him-relationship-advice-comments?utm_medium=email&utm_source=pocket_hits&utm_campaign=POCKET_HITS-EN-DAILY-SPONSORED&WRITERAI-2024_10_11=&sponsored=0&position=4&category=fascinating_stories&scheduled_corpus_item_id=e5fca17e-cc30-4af9-8a18-2aff18c9b063&url=https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/373076/red-flag-guy-divorce-him-dump-him-relationship-advice-comments

Most men are walking red flags, according to TikTok.

What to make of 2024

A turbulent year has shed fresh light

on some important truths

The Economist, December 17, 2024

Our pages have been full of suffering in 2024. War has raged on three continents: the world watched Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine most closely, but the fighting in Sudan was the most deadly. Storms, tempests, floods and fires have ruined lives, and taken them. All the while, the rivalry between countries siding with China and the American-led Western alliance has deepened, even as America has chosen as president a man whose commitment to that alliance is in doubt.

At first sight, therefore, 2024 has amplified a growing sense that the multilateral order which emerged from the second world war is coming apart. Increasingly, governments act as if might is right. Autocrats flout the rules and the Western powers that preach them are accused of double standards.

However, take a wider view, and 2024 holds a more hopeful message. It affirmed the resilience of capitalist democracies, including America’s. At the same time, it laid bare some of the weaknesses of autocracies, including China. There is no easy road back to the old order. But world wars happen when rising powers challenge those in decline. American strength not only sets an example; it also makes conflict less likely.

One measure of democratic resilience was how the year’s elections led to peaceful political change. In 2024, 76 countries containing over half the world’s population went to the ballot box, more than ever before. Not all elections are real—Russia’s and Venezuela’s were farcical. But as Britain showed, when it turfed out the Conservatives after 14 years and five prime ministers, many were a rebuke to incumbents.

Elections are a good way to avert bad outcomes. In India, in a raucous festival of democracy, the increasingly illiberal government of Narendra Modi had expected to enhance its dominance. Voters had other ideas. They wanted Mr Modi to focus less on Hindu nationalism and more on their standard of living, and they steered him into a coalition. In South Africa, the African National Congress lost its majority. Instead of rejecting the result—as many liberation movements have—it chose to govern with the reform-minded Democratic Alliance.

In America the year began amid warnings of election violence. Donald Trump’s clear victory meant America escaped that fate. That is a low bar, but Americans may now not face such perilous circumstances for many years—in which time its politics will evolve. The fact that so many African-Americans and Hispanics voted Republican suggests that the Democrats’ divisive and losing politics of identity has peaked.

The enduring nature of America’s power was visible in the economy, too. Since 2020 it has grown at three times the pace of the rest of the g7. In 2024 the S&P 500 index rose by over 20%. In recent decades China’s economy has been catching up, but nominal gdp has fallen from about three-quarters the size of America’s at its peak in 2021 to two-thirds today.

This success is partly thanks to pandemic-inspired government spending. But the fundamental reason is the dynamism of the private sector. Along with America’s huge market, this is a magnet for capital and talent. No other economy is better placed to create and profit from revolutionary technologies like biotech, advanced materials and, especially, artificial intelligence, where its lead is astounding. Were it not for growing protectionism, America’s prospects would be even brighter.

Contrast all that with China. Its authoritarian model of economic management will have fewer admirers after 2024, when it became clear that the country’s slowdown is not just cyclical, but the product of its political system. President Xi Jinping has resisted a consumer stimulus, for fear of too much debt and because he sees consumerism as a distraction from the rivalry with America. Instead he instructs young people to “eat bitterness”. Rather than have his country’s disappointing economic performance on display, he has preferred to censor statistics—though flying blind leads to worse economic decisions.

The failings of authoritarianism have been even clearer in Russia. It now has the advantage over Ukraine on the battlefield, but its gains are slow and costly. At home inflation is mounting and resources that should have been invested in Russia’s future are being wasted on war. In a free society Vladimir Putin would have paid for his ruinous aggression. Even if the fighting stops in 2025, Russians seem stuck with him.

Attempts to change the world by force are hard to sustain, as Iran has affirmed. With Russia, it spent billions of dollars to keep Bashar al-Assad in power in Syria after an uprising was about to topple him in 2011. As Iran’s economy buckled and sentiment hardened against its foreign mischief-making, the mullahs in Tehran could no longer afford to prop up a dictator whose subjects had rejected him. The victory for people power in Syria came after Hamas and Hizbullah, both Iranian proxies, had been crippled by Israel.

Democracies have vulnerabilities, too. This is clearest in Europe, where the political centre is crumbling as governments fail to grapple with Russian aggression and their weakness in the industries of the future. If Europe fades, America will also suffer—though Mr Trump may not see it that way.

And many questions hang over Mr Trump. Iran’s retreat and the promise of a ceasefire in Gaza give him a chance to forge relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and even to find an accommodation with Iran. He could also oversee a peace that gives Ukraine a chance to escape Russia’s orbit. Yet risks abound. Markets have priced in Muskian deregulation and ai-propelled growth. If Mr Trump becomes mired in cronyism, or pursues mass deportation, persecutes his enemies and wages a trade war in earnest rather than for show, his presidency will do grave harm. Indeed, those risks were worrying enough for The Economist to endorse Kamala Harris. We still worry today.

Assume, though, that Mr Trump opts against self-sabotage. In 2025 and beyond, technological and political change will continue to create remarkable opportunities for human progress. In 2024 democracies showed that they are built to take advantage of those opportunities—by sacking bad leaders, jettisoning obsolete ideas and choosing new priorities. That process is often messy, but it is a source of enduring strength.

https://psyche.co/guides/how-to-practise-curiosity-and-see-the-humanity-in-anyone?utm_source=Psyche+Magazine&utm_campaign=76dd4e2ecc-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_12_13&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-a9a3bdf830-838120577

Practising a form of ‘deep curiosity’ can help you connect with yourself and others, even if they’re on the ‘other side’

https://psyche.co/ideas/late-autism-diagnosis-its-a-relief-but-whos-behind-the-mask?utm_source=Psyche+Magazine&utm_campaign=76dd4e2ecc-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_12_13&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-a9a3bdf830-838120577

By the time an adult learns they’re autistic, they have often been covering up for years. A period of self-discovery awaits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvvMUA9kdOQ

Baakiyalakshmi | Episode Promo | 20th December 2024

https://www.businessinsider.com/mirror-life-biology-research-risks-2024-12

Mirror life (also called mirror-image life) is a hypothetical form of life with mirror-reflected molecular building blocks. The possibility of mirror life was first discussed by Louis Pasteur. Although this alternative life form has not been discovered in nature, efforts to build a mirror-image version of biology's molecular machinery are already underway.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/scientist-working-create-mirror-life-013650643.html

Creating "mirror life" could be one of science's greatest breakthroughs, but some researchers who began the effort are now calling for it to stop.

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20241219-12-of-the-most-striking-images-of-2024

Olympics surfer to Donald Trump: 12 of the most striking images of 2024