Venkat Ananth @venkatananth
Journalist @livemint. Other interests - Foreign affairs, @ManUtd, North Korea, Indian politics & WTFs. Views personal. Email: venkat.a@livemint.com
Recent quotes:
The Secret Culprit in the Theranos Mess | Vanity Fair
The system here has been molded to effectively prevent reporters from asking tough questions. It’s a game of access, and if you don’t play it carefully, you may pay sorely. Outlets that write negatively about gadgets often don’t get pre-release versions of the next gadget. Writers who ask probing questions may not get to interview the C.E.O. next time he or she is doing the rounds. If you comply with these rules, you’re rewarded with page views and praise in the tech blogosphere.Johan Cruyff: father of modern game who also shaped Dutch culture | Football | The Guardian
Cruyff was argumentative, arrogant, dominating and brilliant. He prized creativity over negativity, beauty, originality and attack over boring defending. Several generations of players therefore developed the same characteristics.Stop the comparison with Sachin and relish Kohli’s game - The Hindu
I’ve never understood how two shades of pink lipsticks can be different. But I have seen women preferring a ‘blush pink’ to a ‘bubblegum pink’!On public discourse and the trend of breaking news - The Hindu
First we had news. Then it became a news cycle, then an outrage cycle, and now we have nested, recursive outrage cycles. There are cycles within cycles. Public discourse is fast spiralling into unknown territory. It is now mostly a grotesque drama of screaming anchors, shouting talking heads, hyperventilating reporters, partisan commentators, opportunistic cheerleaders and online hordes of the self-righteous, all venting outrage against their respective devils of the day. To not stone the devil is to invite association with him.Nobody’s listening, Modiji
In the BJP, Vijayvargiya is regarded as more powerful than many cabinet ministers. He is said to be so close to Shah that the perceived proximity has become a source of anxiety for Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh from where Vijayvargiya hails.The Price We Pay for Sitting Too Much - WSJ
For every half-hour working in an office, people should sit for 20 minutes, stand for eight minutes and then move around and stretch for two minutesFrank Tyson obituary | Sport | The Guardian
“What power there is in bowling fast! What a sensation of omnipotence, and how great the gulf between this sublime sensation and ordinary, mundane everyday existence!”The trouble with Foodpanda - Livemint
This is also the story of a start-up where the culture seems to be: screw processes, screw ethics and screw the company, too; let’s just have a party.Joining the cult of Bikram Yoga
Choudhury has made yoga, a 5,000-year-old tradition, into something that can be deftly monetized, like coconut-infused water, or a Lululemon sports bra.How Ashley Madison Hid Its Fembot Con From Users and Investigators
The Ashley Madison con may have played on some of our most ancient desires, but it also gives us a window on what’s to come. What you see on social media isn’t always what it seems. Your friends may be bots, and you could be sharing your most intimate fantasies with hundreds of lines of PHP code. But there’s something else to consider, too: We aren’t just witnessing the birth of a new kind of scam. We are also, if companies like Google are right, living through the prehistory of artificial intelligence. Tomorrow’s sentient bots may remember where they came from, and future generations will have to grapple with what we’ve done here, in the early twenty-first century, to manipulate each other with fake beings.Hardik Patel: The 22-year-old at the forefront of the OBC quota stir
“Hardik is very ambitious. He took this opportunity and see how it has changed his life today. Some of his suppoters call him Hardik Kejriwal, while some call him the new Modi,”[…]'He's the worst reverse-sweeper I've ever seen' | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo
We've all made fun of his accent. Especially when he goes overseas and speaks to people he gets that strong accent. When he's in Sri Lanka talking to us, it's not like that at all. But as soon as he goes to England, Australia or somewhere else and starts speaking to someone, that strong accent comes out. I would always point that out to him. Even if you speak to his family, they're all quite normal when they speak. But in Sanga the accent comes out strongly sometimes.Match report: Manchester City 3 Chelsea 0 | News | Official Site | Chelsea Football Club
A Ramires goal incorrectly ruled out for offside with Man City a goal ahead changed the complexion of this early-season Premier League fixture.Chappell calls for revamped domestic system | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo
"Every time I hear people say the batting is better now, I nearly throw up, because the batting is not better. The hitting is better, but the batting is not better. We've seen that with Australia. The art of survival is on the way out fast. I don't blame the young guys.Beautiful Stuart Broad swings it for England
Broad brought agony to all of Australia. It is an agony that will live forever in the history books for it has almost certainly changed the course of their writing.Dav Whatmore: 'We experienced what Barack Obama might go through' | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo
"[We] probably got to experience what Barack Obama might go through, or any visiting head of state. I counted at least 24 vehicles in front of the bus. We always travelled in a convoy, and there were three buses - one like a decoy bus. Similar [number of vehicles] at the back. And then two on either side of us. And all the streets were just shut. And we had two helicopters as well. You'd be looking around during training and you could see them flying over.APJ Abdul Kalam: The president with wings of fire
How will history remember Kalam? History is not a beauty contest. But when India’s presidents are viewed dispassionately, they fall into two types. There are those who got the presidency because of their role and position in the political system. Then there are those who went to Rashtrapati Bhavan because they symbolized what India has stood for: secularism, intellectual achievement or something else. Kalam defies easy classification. He is, of course, the only scientist/technologist to occupy the exalted office. But he is also one the few who remained in constant touch with a wide number of citizens without making a fetish of that quality. It is these apparently ordinary qualities that made him a rare and inspiring president.
Some news ‘goes viral’ on social media. Therefore, if we monitor social media, filter for what most people are talking about right now, and make sure our headlines and stories are ‘on point’, we will gain ‘social media traction’ and deepen the engagement of our audience.
Sounds brilliant, when the ‘theory’ is presented in power-point form by the newly hired Social Media Editor. Now try putting that in plain language: News is not news unless people already are aware of it and preoccupied by it. In other words, the media no longer sees its role as reporting on what is happening in the world, but merely as amplifying what people are talking about. Snake, meet your tail.
Players watch videos to find mistakes, I watch to enjoy my boundaries: Virender Sehwag | The Indian Express | Page 99
I am not bothered about the crowd. People come to watch me. They are coming with a risk. Before they reach the stadium, Sehwag might have gotten out and gone into the dressing-room. It happened many times. Why should I bother? I didn’t invite them.
Sarkar, a regular in Bangladesh's XI, couldn't speak to The Telegraph in person (thanks to restrictions placed by the Bangladesh Cricket Board), but he did send a message to this Reporter.
The message from the 22-year-old Sarkar read: "I'd often watched F1 races on the TV, absolutely fascinated by the high speeds...
"Fortunately, I got an opportunity to watch a race live and I just couldn't let go the chance...
"I was at Albert Park throughout the race and, while I don't have a favourite driver, Lewis Hamilton was quite incredible. He seemed to fly...
[Hamilton is the reigning F1 champion.]
"There's something very special about F1. I had the experience of my life."
My Year Ripping Off the Web with the Daily Mail Online
[…]the Mail's editorial model depends on little more than dishonesty, theft of copyrighted material, and sensationalism so absurd that it crosses into fabrication.
Yes all of us voted the jhadoo (the broom, AAP's symbol). Our leaders think nothing of us, they never wish us, let alone meet. We know of general secretaries and MPs who have to wait for several weeks before getting an appointment with Shah," a worker said.
The savage attack in Peshawar demonstrates the futility of attacking one group of jihadis while leaving others in place. But there is still no sign that Pakistan will give up its policy of embracing some jihadis for regional influence against India and Afghanistan while fighting others.
Times Of India | Blogs
This is a constipated economy, not a healthy one. Optimists say Modi’s enema will unclog the constipation within a year. That’s possible but not certain.
“I got it wrong man. I got it totally wrong. It’s a monumental fuck up. A total mess. The biggest fuck up of my life as a coach.”
"I loathe all that passing for the sake of it, all that tiki-taka. It's so
much rubbish and has no purpose. You have to pass the ball with a clear
intention, with the aim of making it into the opposition's goal. It's not
about passing for the sake of it."