One more blast to add to the tally

    How many blasts would it take, for the government of India to wake up to the reality? Blasts have become so common these days that people have literally stopped talking about them or rather started saying that this time the blast killed only 5 people as if it is okay if the count is in single digits. Have we given up on our government? Can the government really do anything in countries like India? Has the government taken any steps to curb the spread of terror? How many of our places are really safe? Why are we so such a soft target? Do we never learn from past mistakes? Why are we so lax and why do we have a "chalta hai" attitude for anything and everything.
   
    Those days are gone when politicians used to own up to the responsibility and quit on moral grounds. These days the politicians feel no shame in their incompetency and proudly boast about not quitting. The politicians also come out to be very insensitive. Delhi's chief minister, while talking about a murder, instead of saying that she would take immediate action and punish the culprit, said that the lady-who was murdered-should not have gone out at 3 A.M. Politicians, police and intelligence keep pointing fingers at each other as more and more innocents are killed day after day. We keep forming committees for everything but the common man never comes to know about the results of all those committees.

    Yes, it is difficult to govern a country as big as India with one billion population. It is physically impossible to keep an eye on everyone. Even if the government does keep an eye, it would immediately be criticized for invading the privacy. Government definitely has to take tough steps to ensure the safety of people. People would also have to give up some of their freedom to ensure a safe living for everyone. Lets hope for a safe and soaring India.
   

   

Go Green

    These days, going green has become more a fad than a concern. It is the "in" thing. I do not care as long as it helps the environment. At least fifteen years back - my adult years - in India, my family had already taken this initiative, albeit in a small way. I had always seen my mother reuse things, whether it was to use the old cloth material to make cushions, curtains, pillow covers etc, or making a notepad from used paper. Wastage of any kind was strictly prohibited. I imbibed all these things subconsciously and still continue to walk on those lines.

    We would not go out to buy anything without a tote bag. We would refuse to take plastic bags from the shop keepers and would in fact give the ones we had back to the vendors and shopkeepers for reuse. For things like newspaper, bottles, iron etc we used to have people who would come pick it up from the houses based on the weight for each type of item. I remember bargaining with them for the best price.

    Using things judiciously was ingrained in the Indian psyche, at least to some extent, and to a large extent in my family. One reason could be that it made good financial sense, but more important was realizing that it was the right thing to do. One could argue that may be the society was not developed enough so people had to resort to such methods, but if development means more wastage and burden on our planet then we should shun such type of development. Baby steps by each individual in the right direction would bring about a sea change in the quality of our environment. I think it would also make good business sense for the companies. It is a win-win for everyone. We just need some change in the attitude and be conscious of what we do, that is all it requires.
 

In The Greater Good

    "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country", these are the famous words by John F. Kennedy. How much are we really willing to give up of our own, for the greater good of the country and society. This question has always troubled me. If a road construction project goes through a farmer's land, should the farmer give up his livelihood and accept the compensation for the construction of the road. Many of the concerns of the affected groups are genuine, but it is also true that in countries like India most of the protests are politically motivated. The mantra for the new age is, be prepared to change with times or perish.
    I think it is imperative on the part of the government, before starting any huge project, to educate people to see the greater good, to compensate the affected people appropriately and to assure them of job and training in a new sector. A neutral body should look at the merits and demerits of all the projects. I am sure if people are treated fairly and with compassion there would be no such problems. It is only when one side tries to benefit more than the other, that we encounter all these issues. 

Somnathpur Temple

    I have been itching to write this blog for almost a month, about my recent visit to Somnathpur temple near Mysore. Sheer lethargy has kept me away from doing so. We decided to make a trip to Mysore which is around 3 hours from Bangalore. I was browsing for places close to Mysore which are also worth visiting, and came across this wonderful temple built by the Hoysala rulers in 1268 AD just 30 Km off Mysore.

    On the day of the journey, even till the last moment, there was no concrete plan of going to the temple. In fact we went past the diversion to Somnathpur and went to Srirangapatnam and then finally decided to make a u-turn and go to Somnathpur. First few kilometers were fine but after that it was a bumpy ride, and for the last 7 Km there was literally no road at all. I was cursing myself for deciding to take that detour. It took us hour and a half to reach there. But when we reached, it was a revelation.

    The entry fee was negligible at Rs.5. It has been well maintained by the archaeological society of India. The architecture is just awesome. It is even hard to imagine how people in those days managed to build these structures without any of the technological support or advancement of todays times. Carvings are so intricate that it is a feast to the eyes. It was an eye opener for me, as it reminded me of the beautiful and rich Indian history. I remember visiting Madurai Meenakshi temple once, which also has historical significance, but I was too young to appreciate the beauty or the intricacies. I was thinking to myself that I should plan to visit such marvelous gems whenever I can, in my future trips to India.

    People (mainly outside India) know only  about the Taj Mahal when someone talks about India. We have so much to showcase to the world, but we still keep them tucked away in some remote place. Indian government should make an effort to popularize such great historic places and should also make those places easily accessible. We have the potential to be the tourism capital of the world. 

Boogie Woogie

    In the jungle of dance, music programs and reality shows. One program that has stood its ground is Boogie Woogie. It has been going strong for the last 11 years. It was the first of its kind to come up with a dance competition. It has no big names, no hype, no fights, no glamor. It is a simple, decent and entertaining talent hunt. Quality of this show is awesome. Participants are extremely talented. This show still has the innocence which the other shows have lost in the current world of commercialization. This show is devoid of all the judge fights, walkovers, participants crying in front of the camera, which have all become a regular feature in pretty much all of the reality shows these days.
  
    All the judges, Javed Jaffrey, Naved Jaffrey and Ravi Behl conduct this show very decently and with dignity. Javed Jaffrey (he is the main judge) is so soft, nice and encouraging of all the contestants. He never criticizes or demeans anyone. He very nicely puts across his constructive comments. Where are we headed, with the kind of programs we have these days on television ? Why cannot we have more programs with the same kind of simplicity, innocence, decency and talent as Boogie Woogie? 

IPL Captaincy - Nationality or Caliber

Fourteen matches into the IPL and we have hardly seen any great performance from any Indian. It is not unusual we are used to it. But the funny thing is that all the teams have an Indian as the captain, except Rajasthan Royals which has Shane Warne as the captain because there is no Indian in his team who has played any good amount of cricket. Except for Tendulkar, Dravid & Ganguly, I do not think any other Indian player deserves to be a captain of their teams. I understand, that this is Indian Premier League and not Australian League or something, but does it mean that we should be biased in favor of our players, when there are other deserving candidates for the job ?

In the absence of Tendulkar, Shaun Pollock or Jayasuriya could have been made the captain but that was not to be, the mantle was given to Harbhajan (who we now know slapped Sreesanth). Laxman is leading the Deccan Chargers, when he has Gilchrist in his team who is much more experienced and has a better track record, who was the vice captain for Australia and who has captained the Australian team on many occasions. Laxman is not even a regular face in the Indian one day team. Similarly, Mahela Jayawardene should have been the first choice for Kings XI Punjab or McGrath for Delhi Dare Devils. Stephen Fleming (seems like he has not joined the team yet) is a more deserving captain than Dhoni, but Dhoni would have still been made the captain. When we have mix of players from all the countries, should we just look at the domicile of the person to be named the captain ? I do not think it is fair.

Leaders or Cheer Leaders - IPL Cheer Leaders Not Cheering The Leaders

    I expected this to happen. To begin with, I am against cheer leading (from now on I would use CL) in any kind of sport. I feel sports do not and should not need any external stimuli. Sport itself should be the reason why people watch them. I was first exposed to CL in the American sports. I have never seen any other sport which has had CL, other than American sports. Cricket has always been a crowd puller in India and other cricket loving countries. What was the need of the CL to promote the sport ? My feeling is that it is just another example of blindly aping the west. We just want to be USA. We do not have any genuine thoughts, ideas, movies, music.

    Now the politicians are up in arms with CL because of the obscenity. They have, as always, taken the high moral grounds and become the custodians of the Indian culture. They are ready to ban it or at least have some restrictions. My point is, like some other people, that when we can have all the obscenity and vulgarity in movies what is so bad about the CL(although I do feel that we cannot compare them). In fact Indian version of CL is used in some election campaigning. I do not buy the obscenity argument. The Maharashtra government one day wants to ban CL and the next day makes a u-turn and says that CL is alright and should be taken sportively. It needs another post to discuss about some of Maharashtra government's rules and regulations.

    It is very obvious why the organizers use the CL and what is the USP of the CL. If entertainment is what they argue about, then why CL why not some music or comedy. One cannot be so naive about things. I am not going to be the moral police and I think even the government should not be the one too. My objection to the CL is purely based on the fact that sports do not need sleazy or suggestive acts to attract the crowd. Also I read that some CL received some lewd comments from the spectators. This is bound to happen, as India still is not a matured country when it comes to sensuality, sexuality.  Line between entertainment (as in movies etc) and sports is blurring these days but I feel we should not mix them together. I believe sports, is itself a great entertainer.

Physics of the Impossible

    Anyone even remotely interested in science, science fiction or physics should read this book. One, because it is an excellent book and second because Prof. Michio Kaku, the author of this book, makes it so very interesting and easy to understand. He is one of my favorite science authors. I have read four of his books and each one is a gem in its own way. In fact my blog name is inspired by one of his books.

    This book has been split into three sections namely Class 1, 2, 3 impossibilities. These impossibilities are based on the time by which we can hope to have the science fiction concepts come true. Class 1 impossibilities are those which might come true in the next century but they do not violate any of the known science of today. Teleportation, antimatter engines, certain forms of telepathy, psychokinesis, and invisibility fall under this category. Class 2 impossibilities are those which, if at all they come true, would be in millions of years in future. Time machines, hyperspace travel, worm hole travel fall under this category. Class 3 impossibilities violate the known laws of physics. If these do come true in future, that would mean a fundamental change in the way we understand physics. Perpetual motion machines and precognition come under under the third category.

    Most of the science fiction concepts, as per the author, are possible in a century or so. He starts each chapter by mentioning about some science fiction phenomenon from a science fiction book or a science fiction movie, related to the chapter and then he builds on it from there. It is a great art to make such convoluted concepts easy for the public to understand and Prof. Kaku seems to be a master at it. I would highly recommend this book along with his other books Hyperspace, Visions, Parallel Worlds. Take the plunge with the author into this fascinating world of science and science fiction and I can assure you that you would want more of it.   

Bollywood Obsession

    Why do we Indians and the Indian media have such an obsession with Bollywood or the Hindi film industry ? All the programs in television is in some way or the other linked to hindi movies, if they are not already showing the dumb serials. There is hardly any "news" in the news. Now, even the cricket has attracted bollywood stars. This phenomenon is actually true for tamil television channels also. Is there no world beyond movies ? Why have we let the movies hijack the media ?
 
    Where are the programs like Kirdar, Buniyaad, Hum Log, Nukkad, Mirza Ghalib, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Surabhi, Science program, Quizzes (real good ones, not like kaun banega crorepati) and many many more ? Those were the days when we used to have less programs, but high quality ones. People would actually wait to watch those shows. Programs ranged from thought provoking to good healthy comedy.  Now the program quality ranges from dumb to the dumbest. This is one place where the opening up of the economy has proved to be bad for the society. People have completely lost the power to think. Movies are the opium of the masses these days.

Chak De India - Breaking the Stereotypes

    Chak De India was one of the best movies of 2007. As mentioned in one of my other blogs, this was only the second sports movie (after Iqbal) made in the history of Indian cinema. Iqbal was about the struggle of a hearing impaired boy from a small town to get into the Indian cricket team and Chak De was about hockey that too women's, a far less discussed or written about sport in India, despite being the national game. Chak De had a very subtle theme of patriotism which was not beaten into the audience. It was so refreshing to see that being patriotic was not being anti any country but is rather the harmony between our own people. It also was by far Shah Rukh Khan's best performance till date.

    But above all I think, one thing that touched me was the breaking of the stereotypes. In the very beginning of the movie when the girls come to the hockey academy to register, they are asked about their domicile. It was really refreshing to see, when a girl from Andhra Pradesh is told "oh so you are a madrasi" and she replies back instantly saying no, she speaks telugu (one of the four languages spoken in southern India). It is very true that people from north do consider anyone from down south as a "madrasi". It is also in fact used as a derogatory word, sometimes. This is because of ignorance, no intention of knowing the difference and arrogance of their own culture. Another one was when a manipuri girl is told that "you are our guest" and the girl immediately says that "how would you feel if I call you a guest in your own country". This is exactly what India has done in the last 60 years of independence, treat the north easterners as guests. Northeast insurgency would not have been an issue today had we cared for them and treated them as equals.

    It was good to see the representation from Jharkhand. Importance of punctuality was very well shown as was the feeling of being an Indian rather than living in our own state wells. Team was shown as the ultimate, not individuals or seniority. I hope people become more understanding and compassionate about other's culture rather than ridicule it. I thought these were some very strong statements made in the movie which I hope, people would have taken notice of and would act on.

IPL and Communal Harmony

Indian cricket has come up with a new gig, the Indian Premier League(IPL). Would it be successful, may be. I have my own reservations against the whole process, at least in the Indian cricket context. I am very much opposed to the players being auctioned like commodities (for any sport). Indians are used to seeing the Indian team as one national team and do not necessarily have any regional allegiance. Regional cricket (e.g Ranji Trophy) is not popular at all in India. Regional tournaments are held to have a pool of players, mainly for the selectors to choose from.

Now with IPL, players of all nationalities (cricket playing countries) are mixed up in one team. Now would we be able to  split our allegiance ? I might belong to Delhi but my favorite Indian player might be playing for some other team. Or lets say Ricky Ponting (Australian, assuming is playing for my state) thrashes my favorite bowler who plays for another state. Who do I support, in these scenarios ? As it is in India, tempers run high when it is cricket, imagine what would happen if it becomes regionalised. Would it change the communal balance of India, it remains to be seen. 

IPL itself was a knee jerk reaction by the BCCI to put up something against the Indian Cricket League (ICL) which was thought of by the Subhash Chandra of ZEE TV. BCCI threatened the players of a life ban if they played for the ICL. ICL now has all the unsuccessful players or retired players.

IPL has all the big names attached to it like Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Mukesh Ambani, Vijay Mallya etc. None of the players came up against this whole thing of auctioning players (Dravid briefly mentioned in a press conference about his about his reservations against it), may be it is lot of money to just pass up. I detest the fact of someone owning the team. I know it is common in soccer, football, basketball etc, but even there I am not very comfortable. I for one feel that Sports, Arts, Music, Mathematics, Science etc should be done for its own sake. I am not opposed to making money, but it should not be the be all and end all of everything.

Would IPL bring camaraderie and understanding between players of different nationalities (given we have so much sledging on the ground) or would it flare up the passion and emotions attached to cricket and bring regionalism among the Indians, remains to be seen.

Tamil Movies - Reality vs Reelity

Movies depict both reality and fiction. They do not have to be completely real as long as we can differentiate the real from fiction. You can make films like, Back to the Future knowing very well, that it is a fiction. If you show something in movies repeatedly, then it should have at least some element of reality to it. Overall trend in the Indian movies has changed in the past, people have started to experiment with different and bolder subjects, which is good and healthy for the movie industry. It has also become very common to have sexual innuendos in songs and dialogs and to show actresses in skimpy clothes, especially when it not required at all. Not sure if that is really healthy.

I have no objection whatsoever about all that, my objection is, the way actresses are shown in Tamil movies versus the reality there is, in the society. My point is not to censor movies, rather to be an open society so things do not seem unreal. Tamilnadu, though a giant in many respects, is very conservative when it comes to dressing (especially women) or issues related to sex. Dress, which would be very common in any western society or even in some Indian cities like Delhi or Mumbai, would be a no-no in Tamilnadu. I do not know if it is a coincidence, but most of the actresses in Tamil movie these days are from northern India. It could be because they have no reservations doing such roles. Hindi movie actresses dressing up in bold attire does not look that artificial because it is not uncommon for affluent people in northern India (including Mumbai) to wear such dresses.

Few days back there was a big hue and cry about the way one of the actresses dressed, in a 2007 top grosser. It was wrong to single out one actress when the whole industry is doing the same thing. Another yesteryear lead actress Khushboo, was in trouble when she spoke her mind about premarital sex. There is nothing wrong in showing sensuality or sexuality if the film demands it. It should not look forced upon or unnecessary (this is actually true for Indian movies overall). Do not show it just to titillate the audience. Why shun something in real life when it is shown as part of the culture in every movie. Either make believable movies or be an open society. Don't have double standards about it. We got to be more open about things, if we want to move forward.

Padma Awards - Is there a North-South divide?

Is there really a bias against southern India, while dishing out the padma awards. I thought about this, when a few days back I got to know that one of the greatest actresses of the Indian cinema, who is also a Guinness world record holder for the maximum number of movies, and to my knowledge the only real female comedienne in Indian cinema, Ms. Manorama (Tamil Actress) was awarded a Padmashri only in 2002. This is, after working in 1,500 movies for almost 50 years. It is a shame that she has been recognized after such a long time where as Madhuri Dixit gets an award after may be 20 years of work. It is not that Madhuri Dixit's body of work is far better than that of Manorama. Do not mistake me, I am a big fan of Madhuri Dixit. I am just not comfortable with the unfair treatment meted out.

On further digging I found that Ilayaraja, the maestro in music, has still not been awarded a single Padma award, it is a shame for the country. Ilayaraja has been recognized internationally. How can I forget our very own Rajinikant, even he has not been awarded any Padma award yet. Shahrukh Khan has already received one. What is the criteria that Shahrukh Khan satisfied but Rajinikant did not? I feel it is just because of the larger audience and a greater exposure for Hindi movies and the marketing that is done for such movies. If iconic status was the reason, then Rajini had it before Shahrukh and still continues to have it. Do you see a pattern emerging here.

Similarly, Mani Ratnam, Semmengudi Srinivas Iyer, S.P.Balasubramaniam had been ignored for a long time before they got their Padma Shri awards a few years ago. All these people I mentioned are stalwarts and are not in any ways dependent on any of these awards, but this definitely points out a flaw in the way the awards are decided. These artists are and would remain great forever, irrespective of the awards. I am glad that at least artists like KamalHassan, A.R.Rehman were felicitated, at the right time, and not ignored.

I know some artists have vented out their anger at the system in the past and have in fact returned the awards back to the government of India for not recognizing their talent when it should have been. I think this is a part of a bigger problem, of not recognizing our talent in due time. It took a G.H Hardy, a great mathematician, a British, to recognize Ramanujam's mathematical genius. I hope we learn from our mistakes and are balanced in our treatment towards anyone and everyone.

Chak De India or Check De India

Chak De India, as per me is by far one of the best movies made, if not in the history of Bollywood film industry, in the recent past. I also think that it was the best performance by our King Khan. Patriotic theme was nicely woven into this movie. This is the second sports movie, after Iqbal, I know of in the history of Indian films which was completely about the game. It was all the more refreshing to see that it was about our national game which is seldom talked about.

But this is not what this blog is all about. This is about what Shah Rukh Khan said in the media before and after the release of the movie and his actions that followed that. Shah Rukh claimed that he has always liked hockey and that he has played it during his college days and such. Also that he would like his kids to take up sports and how much respect he has for the sports persons and all that. All this is fine, except that you would think that a person showing so much passion towards a game, would do something to elevate the status of the game in India and elsewhere (India has not even qualified this time for the Olympics, first time in the last 80 years). But that was not to be the case.

Instead Shah Rukh poured in money into IPL (Indian Premier League - Cricket), which has no lack of funds, if required. He has shown that, he is just another business man who knows where to put his money. Cricket already gets the maximum media coverage. Cricket does not need big names attached to it. I have nothing against cricket, in fact I am a big cricket enthusiast myself. But I just feel that other sports in our country should be encouraged and promoted more than what is being done, if not giving the same status as cricket.

I have always felt that celebrities can and should exploit their stature in positive ways for the betterment of the society. I am not saying that they do not do charity, I am sure many of them do. But more than charity if they attach themselves with a noble cause, that would go a long way into the future. At the end of the day charity and social work cannot be forced, it has to be voluntary. I just feel that Shah Rukh could have had a real "Chak De Phatte" moment, had he really done something for hockey instead of cricket.

This Date That Year

March 14: Pi Day

I didn't know until I read on Mar 14, that it is celebrated as a Pi day because of 3/14. I, having done my Bachelors in Mathematics, have always been fascinated by this number. I have seen the movie and also read several articles and books on the subject. Movie is very disturbing though.

I just thought I would share it with everyone, since not everyone knows about this day. We celebrate so many days why not this. At least to me it is just a way to celebrate the association with mathematics. It also happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday.

Check this out, you would get all the information about Pi here,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi_day

March 19, 1474: Venice Enacts a Patently Original Idea

First known written law to grant and protect patents.

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/03/dayintech_0319

Powered by Qumana

Indian movie awards and the obsession with english language

I have often wondered, why most of the people getting a Hindi movie award, not speak in Hindi at the award functions (which is the language for which they are being given the award). I have been wanting to write about it for sometime now. In fact in this year's star screen awards, Sajid Khan mentioned about this issue in one part of the award. 

Let me make it very clear that I am not against any language, in fact people are free to speak in any language they feel like. I am in fact writing in English. My only point is, if you can make or act in a Hindi movie then what is so shameful about speaking the same language when it comes to award functions (although I can understand people like Rehman, Mani Ratnam speaking in English because they do not know Hindi or know only broken hindi). I do not know, are we trying to impress the western world, who hardly think very highly of our movies or hardly watch our award functions.

Hindi speaking belt has often accused southern India, especially Tamilnadu, of not speaking Hindi, the national language. But then where is the passion for Hindi when it comes to the most prestigious film awards. Is there a possibility that they want to cater to the southern India (especially Tamilnadu), I doubt that. 

I think that there is an obsession with english language in India. Speaking in English is considered hep and perceived as being intelligent but they might just be talking crap. In this English speaking race, what happens sometimes is, people do not convey what they have to, and end up making fool of themselves. I remember once my uncle's neighbor was worried that his two year old son has still not started speaking in English. 

Speak whichever language you are comfortable in, but do not feel shy or bad about speaking your own language. 

Super Bowl XLII

This past weekend I saw my first ever football game. I never got interested in football but nevertheless I watched it, because I had my friends watching the game with me. So I thought it would be a good time to sit and watch with a big group and have a nice time. This way I would also get a chance to understand the game. 

I chose the best day to watch it as it happened to be the Super Bowl, and it was our home team New England Patriots vs the arch rivals New York Giants. Game was really close and I should say that I liked it and enjoyed it (might be because of my friends), but in the end it was the Giants who came out triumphant (New Englanders are still in a state of shock). 

But this is not what I want to write here. What really made me write was the end of the game. During the prize distribution ceremony I saw the owner of the winning team walk up to the podium to receive the trophy, then the trophy was handed over to the team coach, and finally the team. 

I was really surprised that those who actually sweat it out on the field were given the last importance. I thought it to be so different from other games where players would receive the recognition in the form of a trophy or medal. I am so very uncomfortable with the whole idea of corporatizing sports, having an owner for the team who gets all the recognition besides making all the money. I think when the team wins, it is the team's time to hog the limelight and that privilege should be given to them. 

I guess even players have never protested against this act, which is why it is still going on. I do not mind the owner (if at all we have to have one) making money, but at least the final recognition should be given to the players. Money should not be the be all and end all of everything. 

Sports Obsessed Nation

I often wonder why US is so obsessed with sports, mainly Football, Basketball and Baseball. Everyone talks about it at work or social gatherings. I am amazed to see them being obsessed about sports which do not even have an international presence or have a negligible international presence at best. 

Everyone seems to have knowledge about these games and has an opinion about it. Even the schools would let you leave if you want to watch the "World Series" and in most cases schools would themselves leave the class early. People would cheer for their state teams would wear their T-shirts and would do tailgating (I have still not come to terms with the tailgating concept). Everyone talks about it from common man to a politician to a movie star to academicians, one and all. In a way it feels like it binds everyone but on the other hand it seems like people are just split into factions, just supporting their own state team. 

I have not seen people talk so much about sports in which US really has an international presence like Tennis, Swimming, Soccer etc or which are truly international. May be most of the sports in which US has done well in international arena are individual sports and I guess people find the team sports more interesting.

I cannot talk about other countries, but as far as India is concerned I have hardly seen people talk about any sport other than Cricket and that too only the truly international matches. But even for that, I do not think people would go to watch a game or their favorite player in extreme weather conditions with their new-born or little kids.

There are some questions that have been troubling me for quite sometime. May be I would find answers to some but for some there isn't one. Why is the baseball finals called a world series when it just involves US? Why is football called footbal when it is hardly played using the feet? Why are these sports not played in other countries? Why are there no real international matches?