YadaYadaYada.....

About being an introvert

2010-10-04T12:00:00.002+10:30

I stumbled upon this fantastic article by Jonathan Rauch which talks about in his own words "The habits and needs of a little-understood group".

I had so many aha! moments when reading this its not funny. I always thought of myself as being a classic introvert and after reading the article I think I am a "textbook case". I really cant give any insights to this strange phenomenon but I can only attest to it.

Do you know someone who needs hours alone every day? Who loves quiet conversations about feelings or ideas, and can give a dynamite presentation to a big audience, but seems awkward in groups and maladroit at small talk? Who has to be dragged to parties and then needs the rest of the day to recuperate? Who growls or scowls or grunts or winces when accosted with pleasantries by people who are just trying to be nice?

Read the rest of the piece here.

Oh no its happening again...

2010-01-05T15:15:00.005+10:30

Yesterday all of a sudden I had a few calls, mails from my family and some mates in India. I could not for the life of me understand what the hoopla was all about. Then I heard the news. An Indian guy was killed in Melbourne. An absolute tragedy. The guy was 21 with his life in front of him. Condolences to his family and friends.

Now the difficult part, was this an racist attack? An extension of the 1000+ "beatings" that have targetted Indians perhaps? Honestly nothing for me has changed, when I last blogged of it here. The media coverage here this time has been a bit more proficient but still seems to focus more on how the Indian media is covering the news rather than the actually covering the story themselves.

In fact I would go so far as to say even if the moron who was probably a druggie did kill the Indian for some "curry bashing" does not in anyway mean you can generalise and say Australia is racist. There are idiots everywhere in the world, learn to accept it. No local walks alone in a park of a dodgy neighbourhood at 10pm and with good reason! Also what classifies as a racist attack? If the murderer turns out to be a guy of ethnic Vietnamese or Lebanese origin is that still a "racist" crime? And the last option is more than plausible.

To me the adjective is totally irrelevant. It was a crime. When we harp on "racist" that to me is just an excuse to diverge from the issue, inviting unncessary and quite frankly some very tasteless debates. And in all that I fear everyone is just looking at the symptoms not the actual problem.

It is a sad fact of life here in Oz that Indian students have become targets of violence because they work hard while studying in tertiary institutions or in their part-time or permanent employment. Some travel late at night, either on public transport or by foot, making them quite vulnerable.

The problems needed to be looked in are teenage alcohol / drug abuse and I think the one of even more paramount importance is efficient policing. In fact the police needs to work very closely with the universities to make sure the international students are educated about things they ought not to be doing or simply put the police needs to show it cares!

An important thing to remember; the international students contribute heavily to the Australian economy (education is the 3rd biggest Aussie export) and they have every right to be treated with the same seriousness as any other person existing in the social fabric and their concerns need to be addressed rather than dismissed. There is a particular problem in Melbourne(more so than others) and it needs to be confronted squarely. To say assaults on Australians have happened in India is ridiculous. India is a land of one billion with more than half of them being poor and/or uneducated. Australia is 20 million and affluent. Australians are not going to India as students. Indians are coming here to study and I am sure Australians want them to come here for the economy else they wouldn't even grant em any visas. They can't take the money and shirk their duty of care.

Worst of all, I am afraid all this brouhaha will only negetively affect the Indian community here. Sigh! So it goes.

Well have to end this depressing blog with a quip a Bulls supporter blurted out in the T20 game on Sunday,
"Why do people in Queensland drink XXXX? "
"Because they cant spell Beer"

Happy new year folks : )

Avatar: My review

2009-12-21T14:38:00.002+10:30

Sometimes when the hype is built up too much more often than not its very hard to live up to. I was really looking forward to watching Avatar. There was almost delerious hype and the talk of the movie seemed to be everywhere. So I was afraid it was going to be a damp squib given my luck with these things. But after watching it all I could say was WOW. I mean the 3D animation, the special effects were amazing!

The plot is really nothing to write home about. A combination of Dances With Wolves, The Last Of The Mohicans to The Power Of One. Plus not mention the heads up given by Eric Cartman in Dances with Smurfs. Its just a simple fairy tale in a kick ass world with awesome huge birds which you are supposed to tame like the cowboys and 6 legged horses with whom you really have to connect, and this is literally speaking! ;) Last but never the least, a kick ass world with very humanly appealing alien princesses who thankfully has picked up American English. Talk about beauty being universal! And the the bad guy is like a villian straight out of the GI Joe clan.

One thing I also have to mention is the movies length. I could swear it was almost 3 hours long. Thats insanely long for an English film. For Indians used to watching long Bollywood movies this is a piece of cake but not sure how the westerners would react to this. To be fair to Cameroon the pace of the movie especially in the latter part really picks up so odds are you wouldnt even think you've been in the theatre with the 3D glasses that long.

Don't go watching it expecting a cinematic masterpiece. But watch it like a fairy tale movie your grandma would make for you if she had half a billion bucks. ;)

opinion on Raj

2009-11-23T10:24:00.003+10:30

I was reading Gaurav Sabnis's post about Raj Thackeray yesterday and couldn't stop nodding my head in agreement all the way through.
After that, since I have been so out of touch of late with Indian and Marathi politics, I saw some of Raj's interviews with the national media. Raj Thackeray is clever and definately more nuanced that Balasaheb. I loved how he spoke in Marathi on these channels; using it as a medium to come across as a saviour again. I can't beleive the hosts of the shows, from Rajdeep to Arnab fell in the trap; trying to ask him the reason why he is not speaking in Hindi, why he hates Hindi etc. Raj's answer is and always has been, its better he talks in a language he feels comfortable in and repeatedly said he has nothing against Hindi and giving examples of other people who do the same ie speaking in their own language thereby shutting up the hosts on that. Another point served with his growing, sympathetic support base, how Rajsaheb stands up for Marathi.

In fact the interview with Arnab Goswami was really good. Have a look here. I can see why Raj strikes a chord with so many people. After reading some of the comments again I see how the national media have blown him up so much that he is the modern day Jinnah apparently! People have to realise that the more stupid and generic anti Marathi statements they make, only contributes to make Raj bigger and bigger.

The actual matter in Raj's statements is what we need to look into I think. He seems to be too busy just repeatedly clarifying himself on issues which I think that even now the national media doesnt seem to get. Eg Chath puja. Celebrating the festival isnt his problem, the problem is the show of "political strength" that comes with it seems to be his main grouch. Same with Hindi, and anti-North India campaign, where he has repeatedly clarified that he isnt against all outsider just UP-Biharis. Still a crappy stance, but every time the media uses the term anti outsiders its just a point to Raj. See how the national media doesnt quote me correctly. Hazar da sangitla tari kahi farak padat nahi.

Most of Rajs logic seems to be like; 5 other people are doing it then why are you only telling me to straighten up. A very juvenile and stupid argument. Take him up on that! Ask him how he will actually do some good for the people and not bring the Marathi asmita into a question all the time. The more airtime Raj gets to justify Marathi and rant about how he has been vilified by the national media, the bigger Raj gets. Expose him on some substance and actual ground issues.

Oh and loved how he shut Rajdeep up in that Thackeray Vs Thackeray piece, when Sardesai kept hammering at Raj wanting an answer if he will go back to the Shiv Sena. Raj tried dodge for a while before shooting at Rajdeep, "Tell me will you go back to NDTV" lol!

Oh my previous blog on this was a long time ago. Sigh its still an issue :(

Me and my Mo

2009-11-14T10:09:00.001+10:30

What is it with Aussies and their Mo? From the time when I was a tiny tot to now, the legend of the Aussies started and ended with their signature Mo. Who can forget big Merv swearing at the batsmen or just commanding the respect of the crowds everywhere. Theres no way he could have done it without the Mo. Same for Boonie, Rod Marsh, Ian Chappel to name a few. In fact in Tassie theres a legend* about Boonie and how he stopped the ball in his mustache.

Why all this all of a sudden? Its Movember people! It's a basic assumption in these waters that men don't like to talk about mens health or charities but growing a Mo for charity; now thats different. Movember is a charity that supports mens health. This year I have shaken off my inertia and have decided to sport a hirsute upper lip.

Australians clearly believe in the power of the Moustache and this November I have decided to do the same. You can go here to support me <http://au.movember.com/mospace/313176/>

*The legend of Boonie lacks any factual evidence and may be a figment of the author's imagination, but has been reproduced here for a noble cause ; )

The List (Cont...) Shot at Gold!

2009-07-20T16:11:00.001+09:30

After the eventful weekend, there was the small matter of completing what was started. Martin had two days rest, when in theory he should have completed the Max challenge ;) Then came Wednesday. There was going to be an attempt for gold. The number 1 item on The List was going to be completed. Martin was prepared (he came with a pack of Kleenex ;) ) and so were we (Nhiem, Kamran and me)

Let me just describe the dish first. He was supposed to eat the Spicy Beef Schezuan. Its mainly beef, chilli and a sauce served in a huge bowl and normally serves 2-4 I think.

The Beef Schezuan was ordered by the time we reached Noodle Kingdom and the sense of expectation was overwhelming. The dish came and well have to say Martin I think they had toned down on the red chilli. And then they brought 4 bowls.
"Thats alright mate, only he is going to finish it.", I try and tell. The dude was well a lil bit surprised to say the least ;)
The came the classic conversation.
M, "Can I get some rice"
Chinese waiter, "Sure"

5 mins pass and the rest of us have got our meagre portions. Martin starts working on the gravy and has some of the chillies until he realises there is no rice yet. So again,
"Can I get some steam rice?"
Waiter: "hmm what?"
"Ricce rice"
Waiter looks blank as hell. A few more awkward glances later,
"Eating rice.RICE.(perhaps a hint of annoyance) 1 serve of it." Giving him the finger. Mmm that sounded wrong. Lets just say gesturing with the index finger to show the one ; )
Waiter: Finally understands and quickly fetched a bowl.

Strangely there was relatively less whinging and he got through half the portion quite fast and easily. And then the fun started. M had gone all red. And well I knew this was going to be interesting. Starts with making all kind of weird faces as he eats the chilli and sauce(which btw was delicious) pleading with us to help him out. Then being good mates, we did dutifully taste a spoonful. Em, make that 5 in my case.

"Oh my mouth is on fire. This is incredible stupid(sic)"
"The water is not helping". This line came out often perhaps 100 times in the lunch time conversation. Sometimes in some minute variations, "This water is not helping one bit" . The concerned staff at Noodle Kingdom were at their best. They have never been as prompt in giving water before! And well they did keep an eye on Martin all through, often pointing and laughing. Ok I made that last bit up, but you get the idea ;)

He made so many weird faces during the remainder of the meal that some customers in adjoining tables were grinning ear to ear too as they realised an interesting lunch was taking place on our table. Oh and of course Martin was breathing fire and just had to exhale in someones direction to fire a round of hot chilli breath! I am sure that drew peoples attention ; ) .

And oh not to mention all the while, the remaining non sufferers i.e. us the audience were having an awesome time and could not stop laughing. Martin must be cursing the time he said that he can eat the Beef Schezuan!

Then he came up with his last plan. "I said I would finish the meat but not the sauce" This was not unexpected and Nhiem and I had made sure we and accounted for this before and Martin then had his classic, "yea right" moments.
And I have to say he almost finished it. But then as he apparently had done with the beer, gave up. Nhiem convinced him to literally "drink" the sauce with a straw. The waitress was amused more than shocked when we told her to get a straw to help him finish the liquidy sauce/gravy.

Well but he did give up. And how close he came to finish it. As a esult of the bet, Martin had to pay our lunch and well had "too much chilli" related problems the next day anyways ; ) An expensive loss indeed.

Oh and btw he had Japanese cake after with us all to round off an awesome lunch! :-D

Martins Bucket List

2009-07-16T16:44:00.019+09:30

Whats a good Australian send off? Well ask Martin. Since he is leaving, he has to complete a certain list reproduced in full in an awesome handwriting above. ; -)

Let just update all you folks on what has happened so far. Martin started acting on the list on Saturday when we were at Nhiem's place. The first challenge attempted being challenge no 3.

Challenge 3 Put a weird status message on Facebook:

This one was a piece of cake really. And well the line chosen was hilarious, “I found a huge boil between my legs”I am sure Jess had something to do with that ;)

The next challenge perhaps appealed to the German in him. So we attempted challenge no 10.

Drink 15 beers and 4 Jägerbombs:

Well have to hand it to the bloke, he completed this more or less honestly, (there was some confusion at the end with 3 beers) but overall a good job. Whats more he even had an extra

Jägerbomb just for good measure. ;-)

After that was a case of basically he was on a roll so next challenges attempted in the night were going to be, number 7, 3 and 2.

Challenge No 7 snort 1 line of castor sugar:

After all the drinks the main character of the blog, Herr Schnorr, was quite confident of this; leaving aside ofcourse the trademark winging!

But when Nhiem lined the sugar he wasn’t sure anymore. Again quite typical ;)

Martin: "Unbeleivable I need more beer!"

And then he starts. Slowly but surely getting it right. And of course all the while winging ;)

Until there was none left. But then I guess he had problems breathing or to quote M , “My nose is on fire. ”

Oh and I think he got to keep the 20bucks for his efforts.

I am sure the more astute readers have already noticed the parrot on M’s shoulder. Lets just have a story on that eh. That was the next challenge attempted.

Challenge Number 2 Parrot on shoulder for a whole night

Honestly the challenge seemed harmless. He has to have the parrot (a fake one of course) on his shoulder for a night. That meant going to a pub with it. And if someone asked “Why do you have a parrot on your shoulder?” , M is supposed to answer, “Why don’t you?” All seemed like awesome fun after a lot of drinks.

What we didn’t actually take into consideration is how much M would actually like the parrot. I mean he didn’t keep it off even when we were at Nhiem’s house!

And well just reproducing one of the pictures that captured the love ;)

Now by the time we reach the city. M is pretty much gone, dancing and has totally forgotten about the parrot. Then when he does take it out, he fumbles and the parrot falls amongst a crowd of pretty young girls and I am sure one of them stomped on it and it broke and boy did they freak out.

Random Girl: “Wtf was that man!”

M: “My parrot” with a sad face

By this time the parrot was broken into 2 pieces and I am sure the girl didn’t realise it was fake.

Random Girl: “What?! Nooo way..” a very concerned face, probably wondering if the liquid on the floor was blood and not just “harmless” alcohol.

But then Jess, the good girl that she is, explained the situation and Martin got half of his parrot back.

Which reminds me mate, what did the vet say about the parrot?? ; )

After this the working week starts. And well he did go for number 1 and boy was that hilarious too.

Lets keep that for another time shall we?

I just don't get it

2009-06-03T10:33:00.001+09:30

Ok I am sick and tired of relatives in India calling up to ask if I am fine in Australia. Yes I am! Australia is NOT a land full of racists. There are idiots everywhere in the world, learn to accept it. Which brings us to the events. Pardon me if this all just seem like brainstorming notes.
I am sure everyone has heard of the incidents where the Indian students got bashed up. It is interesting to note here that this news wasn't covered in the Australian media at all when it happened. The Indian media on the other hand reported it to death. I mean they have whipped up such a frenzy that I am sure if I would have changed my mind about coming to Australia if I was thinking of it now. As a result we have two extreme at ends of the spectrum. By the time the Australian media woke up, the coverage seemed to be more of how the events have been covered by the Indian media.
My major gripe with all this is exactly that. Why didn't the Aussie media give any importance to these events, when they happened. I have heard people say that education is the 3rd biggest export of Australia so perhaps they don't want to demean the sector. I disagree with it totally. I can safely say that an average potential international student would read/listen to the local media and definitely not be up to speed with the Australian media. So no logic for it not to be covered here. If anything it would have made the people aware and alert. That is after all why the media exists.
I think it is ridiculous that I have to read an Indian newspaper to find out what is happening in Australia! Thank god mum and dad were in Australia itself when that happened, so they at least know what the real situation is.

Hell on earth

2009-02-12T11:31:00.004+10:30

Another really random blog. Things that I have been mulling about.

The fires continue to burn in Victoria. The toll is supposed to cross 300 it seems. The stories you hear and the amount of destruction caused is overwhelming. The mere fact that some of them may be arsonist's work just fills me with disgust. When I went to the cricket on Tues it was so heartening to see the people generously donating and the mere fact that the Adelaide game raised 7 million shows the compassion that people have. I hope the goodwill continues up in Brisbane.

Now the cricketers have visited the victims as well as the PM and other "VIPs". The cynic that I am, I just wonder how much this helps the affected people. The cricketers I guess help to take the mind off the tragedy a bit. Not too sure of the politicos. Though have to say Rudd looked really sincere when he was talking with the people. I just hope these people know the real work will be when the rebuilding begins. The hearts need to mended as well destructed properties. Will people return? I wonder if I would go back if I was in the situation.

The important thing to consider after the fires have been put out are the lessons learnt. What can be done to stop it from happening again? If two fires would merge it will cause untold destruction. So is there any way to stop that if it comes to it?

Food for thought. Have a great day! :-)

My Mumbai she burns

2008-12-03T11:21:00.003+10:30

Well my 0.02A$ worth.

Time for India to put up a brave and "united" face but it is only like a PR exercise I feel. The real issue needed to be looked into is how do we stop terrorism or more to the point can we stop terrorism. I beleive the answer to this lies within the Muslim community all over the world itself, more so than any other. How many times have we heard after every attack the oft repeated cliche, "Not all Muslims are like that". Something I know for a fact but for someone who has lost a loved one it may sound as bull crap.

Lets just take the case of terrorism against India. Of all the terrorists caught attacking India how many were Muslim. My guess: 99.99%. The community has to help root out these idiots from amongst them because well its only going to bite them in the arse(religious profiling etc) if they dont.

Can rattle on but well this should suffice for now ;).

Please read Tarun Vijay's articles in the otherwise abonimable Times of India, (I know I have been guilty of reading it ;-) ).

Esp this article India battles to win.

A proud Marathi?

2008-04-09T14:26:00.001+09:30

Every time I read current stories from India, regarding the Thackeray-marathi manoos things, I feel really uneasy. Wrong signals seem to be sent in every direction. This post is just my attempt to write down things going on about the issue in my head. So well there is a high chance that the output will be muddled.

The question that needs to be contemplated is this.

Is there unrest amongst the Marathi population regarding "outsiders".
The extent and possible reasons/solutions.

By Marathi, I mean people who are born, brought up in Maharashtra and speak-understand Marathi. The unrest is there, sad to say. Is it widespread? Not really. But when politicians want to brandish the parochial sword, there is real danger that the unrest will spread.
Simple example, these were the times when MNS wasn't formed. Advertisements for the Mumbai postings for Indian Railways weren't given in any of the local Marathi newspapers, but all the Bhojpuri-Hindi dainiks carried the news, (supposedly). No doubt this created unrest in the local population. Raj Thackeray wrote about the issue, managed to inflame people further, and then causing the infamous Sena backed ransacking on Railways Mumbai Office.

Why is the unrest there? Aren't we one nation? Well the demographics of Maharashtra, Mumbai in particular have changed a lot in the last 10 years. People will react when language that is different to the commonly prevalent ones, keep falling on their ears. I can state the example of my beloved Pune. I could not imagine a place in Pune where I would hear anything other than Marathi. But now like Mumbai, there is high chance that two strangers starting conversation, won't do it in Marathi. This is not a bad thing at all, but it sure as hell is different. And most people as a rule are resistant to change.

I know so many individuals who after spending their lives in Pune have picked up the language. In fact it's assumed that they will. But I doubt we can make those assumptions any further.

Marathi or Hindi? Hindi is our national language. I think most people in India know the language. I think Marathi people in general don't mind the rashtrabhasha, but I think people may be peeved when, the "outsiders" don't take up Marathi even after staying here for 10-15 years. It can't be Hindi at the cost of Marathi.

Anyways, in this global age how important these things are is debatable. For me I am glad that I know, have learnt English. Because ironically, I think that is the only language that truly binds our great nation. To each his own I guess.

why is the IPL bad?

2008-03-30T00:37:00.001+10:30

I just keep reading articles after articles in papers here or on Cricinfo. Then I read this today and thought ok thats it. I had to shake off my extreme inertia and blog.

I don't understand why papers in Australia, UK and even media in general are so quick to react negatively to the IPL? Why is the Indian Rupee that bad for cricket? And here I would like to make clear that this post is only focussed on the IPL and not ICL.(which btw I also dont understand why is being made out as the black sheep)

I read Harsha Bhogle's views on the IPL and that I could not agree more with. Has anyone from overseas thanked India for giving them opportunities to ply their trade here? Another brilliant read on the topic was Amit Verma's piece on Cricinfo. If this doesn't shut the negetive vibes nothing will.

The fact is the IPL deserves a chance. Its a concept that is going to take cricket in exciting directions. Who is to say the future is necessarily bad?Who knows because of the franchise/league like concepts, cricket may make headway in regions like US or other countries thus expanding its reach. Why shoot it down before it takes off?

The cricket world needs to understand that the dynamics of the game are changing. And it would be fair to say, so would the tastes of the audiences by and large. Simplest example, the T20 match at the MCG this summer;close to 85000 people came to see it. Thats footy like audiences. Compare those figures to any attendance figure in the tests or ODIs here and you would definitely get the answer.

For some reason statements like these
"
...the true lovers of cricket, and of Indian cricket more especially, must
hope that the IPL will fail as a commercial proposition. It offers,
arguably, a degraded form of cricket; and it will promote, certainly, a
degradation of character..."
that Mr Guha, whose articles on cricket I really like (normally), has used here, really pisses me off. I always thought of myself as a "true" lover of cricket, but I guess I cant use that tag anymore since I have unabashedly brandished my support for the T20 format.Damn!!

Am I a true Indian cricket fan then. Hmm lets see. The IPL gives the Indian audiences a chance to see the big names turning out for their cities. See their performances up close with more frequency than normal. Imagine Shane Warne coaching a leggie in Jaipur, whilst he is there on IPL duty. Oh that would be horrid for Indian cricket wouldn't it! So yes IPL is evil, the very fact that Indian audiences can watch Warne, Kallis, McGrath, Lee, ... is not going to be good for Indian cricket. So I guess I can peacefully sleep knowing I AM a "true" Indian cricket fan. Yes I am hoping the IPL fails Mr Guha.

Its all happening Down Under

2008-01-10T16:12:00.001+10:30

The incidents that have dominated the media here in Australia have been, not surprisingly, to do with the Sydney Test match. Umpires copped some stick as you would expect. It's the other stuff that has dominated post-match news more. I just think because of the insane amount of coverage this issue has got, there are opinions flying around left, right and center. This has only made matters worse. It would be far to say the "media" went overboard.

What the Aussies just don't seem to understand:

1> This is not Bucknor at his worst for the first time against India. He has a history, clearly given here by the GreatBong in his post.

2> With the Harbhajan issue, the Indians feel their word was not taken into consideration, and what more, as Procter says, "one set of players was telling the truth". This has made it a question of honour. So the situation so far is this, 3 Australian players heard Harbhajan say it, umpires did not, stump mics did not, and well if I add,Sachin did not. So there is no evidence. How then did Procter ban Harbhajan? And if he has any other source of information, share it with the public. Can't help but think the ICC is gagging all the parties involved, and this in fact has escalated this issue.

The grouch with the Aussie team is that they seem boorish and arrogant in their behaviour. The naive "pact" was not followed by Ponting and the Indians feel aggreived. Rightly so.

In the interview with Channel 9 Current Affair the day before, Ponting says about the post-match conference fiasco, that he did not expect any question about the Dhoni dismissal and so was taken aback. He claims he did not see the replay till untill later. Well that to me is symbolic of what all that is wrong with their attitude. He hasn't seen the replay for that, so one would expect the captain of a nation to say he hasnt seen it so no comments, or something along those lines. But no Ponting is aggressive and rude towards the media guy.

Ponting is a fantastic batsman, and his team is the best as far as playing cricket goes. If they want to be liked they have to start and accept, they are not liked and respected like the previous great teams from the Carribean etc. As Geoff Lawson has said,"Whether the team themselves think that is another issue, but I can guarantee you the rest of the cricket world certainly feels that about this cricket team".

All this said and done, I definiely think that Ponting shouldn't be sacked for sure but needs to realize that something is amiss and rectify it for the future at least.

I think the Steve Waugh and Border theories of cultural differences seem even more relevant to me now. An excellent article here by Waugh. Read these "neutral" articles as well. 1. 2. 3.

A balanced view from the blogosphere.

In the Australian media, the reaction have been more or less balanced, compared to the Indian counterparts. The Channel Nine site, the Australian also has some pretty clearly pro-Aus biased articles. You have to go see them. The Nine one had this video on the site yesterday, saying WWS team has dug up a gem from the past. Also today they have these videos of Dhoni claiming Peiterson at Lords, and Harbhajan refusing to walk. What timing! Coincidence?

US dollar collapsing??

2007-06-27T13:59:00.001+09:30

I have limited knowledge of economics and the finance world ;) but chanced upon this article the other day which was a rather alarming read. Would love to hear peoples views on that.

The 12th Man

2007-06-17T12:40:00.001+09:30

Hearing an Australian icon in action is "Marvellous". Ok I am talking about cricket commentary here and by that I don't mean the great Richie Benaud. The person I am referring to is Billy Birmingham, who does kick-ass impressions of the Nine commentary team, most famous for doing Richie Benaud, Tony Greig, Bill Lawry impressions. :-)

After hearing some clips of the The Twelfth Man, I am hooked on to this stuff. The last album Boned seems hilarious as well.

Catch some here especially Marvellous 2006. :-)

October Sky

2007-06-14T15:57:00.001+09:30

Am blogging about something after a long time. Since I last blogged a fair few things have transpired in the world of cricket; India pounded Bangladesh as expected, Lara retired from international cricket and as usual the BCCI have screwed up. :-)

On a more personal note, have started watching South Park again.;-)

Also saw lots of movies,thanks to my house-mate Bhargav. Lots of great ones like Momento, Se7en. One of the long list is "October Sky".

I had never heard about the movie before so was a little skeptical about watching it. Well the movie is simply amazing. The plot very simply put, is about a young 17 yr boy from Coalwood, a small mining town in West Virginia, who becomes fascinated with rockets after watching the Sputnik in the October sky. It's based on a true story by Homer Hickam himself.

The performances are mind-blowing. The confrontations between Homer, played by a young Jake Gyllenhaal and his dad, played brilliantly by Chris Cooper are something special. Also the student teacher interactions in the purest form and the small town setting and way of life is beautifully encompassed. The strong undercurrent of family ties and bonds that flows throughout the movie is superb as well.

Do watch it fellas, it is awesome. :-)

Why blame the bowlers

2007-03-30T12:48:00.001+09:30

Well India are out of the World Cup. Thankfully there haven't instances of violence directed against the players yet. Now the whole Pandora's box has opened with people calling for the heads of all the seniors and Chappel.

I side with Gavaskar when he said that there is no reason to replace Dravid. He's 34 and probably at the peak of his career. India could consider moulding a younster under him, ala Sri Lanka, where Atapattu was dropped as captain between the 2003 WC and this one.

Again and again there are people calling for changes in the bowling attack. Drop Agarkar, drop Harbhajan. Very frankly it was not the bowling that let us down in the WC. It is arguable weather Pathan should have played instead of Uthappa, but the bowling did not lose us any match. Even after the Bangla debacle we decided to make only 1 change in the team. Drop Kumble and get in Harbhajan. Agarkar has been steady thru the World Cup. In fact against Sri Lanka he was at the receiving end of some harsh LBW decisions, including Jayasurya first ball. All said he finsihed with decent figures.

AB Agarkar (India)

28.0

112

3/38

28.00

4.00

42.0

(Stats courtesy Cricinfo)
You really can't blame and axe a bowler for that.

In all the games it was the batsmen that lost the matches. Full Stop. Against Bangladesh we just did not bat well, repeat that for Sri Lanka as well.

It would be naive to think that there would be less changes after the debacle. We always tend to over react. I hope the people in charge understand what component did not deliver and tinker with that rather than finding scapegoats in other departments.

Nostalgia

2007-02-07T23:02:00.001+10:30

The routine has been set. Six days work and one day for relaxing. That unfortunately is the story of life currently. The uni has not started yet, and the feeling that the break between two semesters is just too much keeps crossing my mind again and again.

have managed to keep myself occupied by doing lukkhagiri on the net. Orkut, loads and loads of crap movies and Simpsons are generally sufficient to spend time. Just last week managed to have a look at the Rajshri site. I was elated to find Malgudi Days on there, which I think is one of the best series on Indian television. Plus theres Fauji, on of SRK's early successes. And then of course theres Mahabharat. What do I say about this epic series. I still remember Mahendra Kapoor crooning MaHaaaaabhaarat... Ah nostalgic bliss.

It seems you have to pay is you want to download the stuff, but you can watch it online for free. Thanks to my ADSL2+ connection watching streaming stuff is manageable.

So have to get back to Harish Bhimani's, from the "main samay hoon" fame, recitals. So long guys...... :-)

Warnie calls it quits

2006-12-22T11:37:00.001+10:30

Amongst the speculation, the great man has finally announced it officially. Shane Warne is set to retire from cricket. I loved to see him in action ,having a go at the batsmen, always having fun. I think he has chosen an appropriate time for his last bow. The Aussies have got the Ashes back and are heading for a white-wash.

My only grouch against Warne has been his poor figures against the Indians, who are the best players of spin. I was just having a chat about this with my Aussie friend the other day. It all starts with "Mate that guy was the best bowler in the world". Best in Australia, YES! But definitely not best in the world for me. For him to be called the best, he should have performed against all teams and in all conditions. His bowling figures against India are not too flattering, and those in India even more so. Have a look at this. I know there have been several questions asked about the inability of the Indians to play abroad and therefore they are not rated as the "best" by people. For me same should apply for bowlers as well. Warnes biggest test yet was bowling against the Indians and he hasn't done well there has he? But who cares about not performing against India, as long as you get to play more against the Poms and the Proteas.

If Anil Kumble had played as many times against the English and South Africans, I am sure he would have been near to Warne. Wanna bet!! ;-)

The Simpsons: Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore

2006-12-21T11:18:00.001+10:30

I hope you guys have seen the episode Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore. If not watch it asap. It is easily one of the funniest episodes for me. It's got an awesome sarcastic take on outsourcing. The best part of it though is the song sequence at the end. Watch it. It's too good. :-)

In the country

2006-12-21T11:00:00.000+10:30

Had gone for a week down in the country to Port Pirie. Was absolutely thrilled to watch the Flinders ranges stretching parallel to the road. I was almost scared to travel here. There were miles and miles without a living soul. It's like there is no civilization in the interim. The country people are really friendly and surprisingly knowledgeable. One of the things that I love about the Aussies is the love for sports and the importance given to it. In a pub at Pirie there was an excellent collection of memorabilia starting from the 1948 Invincibles signed photo to Don Bradman's bat to Rossi's signed photo.
I saw some emu on the way back to Adelaide and a roo as well. According to my Aussie friend we were lucky that the Kangaroo did not veer to our path. These blokes are huge and do have a tendency to topple a few cars. ;-)
I really am starting to enjoy the vacation here. Lots to look forward to as Christmas and New Years approaches.

The favourite game

2006-12-21T10:31:00.000+10:30

Its been awfully long since I posted anything on the blog. I won't bother with the lame excuses either. I was just too busy ;-) . Lots of cricket stuff to talk about.

*************************************************************************************
Starting with the Ashes. The build-up to the series was just too much. As the Brisbane test got closer people just were bugged about the ads and wanted the bloody thing to start. And start it did. England lost the first test comfortably. The atmosphere in Adelaide for the second test was phenomenal. The Barmy Army descended in huge numbers. There is a sizable British population living in Elizabeth and some other suburbs of Adelaide. So England actually had equal if not more support at the oval. After the first four days, with a draw looming large, day 5 began slowly. The way England batted that morning was just stupefying. They somehow managed to lose that game. For the last session, since there were plenty of seats available, the gates were thrown open for the public. Australia pulled off an unbelievable victory.

England lost both the games because they did not field the best team. Monty should have walked in the squad. How Giles can ever be preferred over him only Fletcher knows. He still claims that he has the respect of the squad after all that, then I guess the Poms are pretty forgiving in nature.

************************************************************************************

India's tour of South Africa started poorly with a defeat in the warm-up game. Not surprisingly India lost the ODI series. Not for one instant did they look like they could win a game. To be fair to Team India they really had no time to acclimatise. Probably by the time they did the series was already dead.
The first test was won by India convincingly. Shreesanth was easily the star. The way he bowled was fabulous. And of course the war dance or whatever he did after hitting Nel, was something that will never be forgotten. :-) Handy innings from Tendulkar, Ganguly in the first and Laxman in the second molded the Indian victory. I am glad Ganguly is back in the Indian colors and playing well. He has plenty to offer to Indian cricket especially in Yuvraj's absence.
The series now is one to look forward to unlike the Ashes.

*************************************************************************************
One of my favorite batsmen Damien Martyn retired after the second test. He was highly under-rated batsmen. He has won games for his country in all kinds of conditions. If there is someone to be brought in ,automatically it seemed like Martyn would get the axe. I really admire him for taking the decision when he did. He could have easily stayed on the squad, handled the urn, but he took the last bow with his head held high. I hope he has a good life after cricket.

There is talk that McGrath and Warne may call it a day at the culmination of the Ashes. That will be the end of an era for sure.

It's all lop-sided

2006-10-09T16:51:00.000+09:30

I have enjoyed myself in the last couple of months. Have not felt out of place here in Oz at all, except of course when people start talking about "footy" ;-).

Saw Lage Raho Munnabhai the other day. I loved the movie. It is simple and I think if it is successful in getting people interested in the Mahatma, it's good enough for me. I never was a "Gandhigiri" expert and never will be. I think it's upto the individuals to see how much of that they can inculcate in their own life. Anyways, this was good to read as well.

Was in for a surprise when I saw some road block near the main city square. I thought I saw Priyanka Chopra.It was the last place I thought I could catch a Bollywood "celeb". And sure as hell it was Priyanka Chopra. Some Bollywood movie having her is being shot here.Well ok, heres a surprise!! So Adelaide will now be treated to the sight of Bollywood dancing, action, emotion. Hoorray!! I wish a Katrina Kaif movie were to be shot here! ;-)
On a more serious note the the coverage the production is getting here in the local media has been quite good as well.

The shocker came yesterday,though when I read this. What the hell is happening in the world! I guess Pune is on the world map. I wonder if this is a valid reason though!!:-(

Anyways, guys see Pandora if you already haven't! :-)

An update. FINALLY!!!

2006-08-25T23:08:00.000+09:30

A lot has transpired since I last wrote on the blog. Things just happened in a blur. I had my first plane flight in the interim. That too a gruelling journey, where I stopped at Singapore, Jakarta and Sydney before coming here to Adelaide. Kinda a half-way around the world
;-). Some interesting experiences there. The Air India air-hostesses from Mumbai to Singapore were horrible. But the replacements at Singapore were rassaaa as Kunal S would say. Again from Jakarta, the Qantas flight and service was top notch. No complaints whatsoever.

Adelaide is a beautiful city. Not a big metropolis by any means, but still has a charm of its own. I think theres an uncanny resemblance to Pune 10 yrs back; similar climate, nice greenery, quiet , content place. The Uni campuses are good so are the services offerred. My general perception about Indians abroad has really undergone a drastic change. Will blog about that later for sure.

Another drastic thing to adjust to , is the method of teaching here. It's just too different to what we(atleast us MESCOEites) have experienced. Its a very informal method in the tutorials where the one on one interactions are expected and the lectures are given by people who know their subjs well, unlike in MESCOE. ;-)

I hope I can regularly post stuff from now on.

A part of life??

2006-07-13T02:35:00.000+09:30

Of all the bakwaas on TV luckily found a discussion going on NDTV about the Mumbai blasts. One of the members in the discussion was Rahul Bose. I wrote here how I liked the way Amir defended himself. Well hearing Rahul Bose speak was also interesting because he made some remarkably precise observations and generally made sense.

One of his statements was ,it is next to impossible to preempt a terror attack for any government. I agree. It's not been done before and there is no 100% guarantee that an attack can be stopped. I mean even US could not prevent 9-11 neither could the UK. Take Mumbai's example. A huge city, with one of the highest concentration of population. The density ie population per km is also high, roughly 30000. How many people can the police stop to check? Maybe it's just possible to check a persons movement in the open. What if he boards an overcrowded local? There are thousands of people in the train. How will anyone ever pin-point that so and so person has a bag and looks suspicious? I think it's impossible to tell in that situation. Very frankly the police had no chance to stop the attack. Only a suspecting co-traveler could have, but again in a jam-packed local that's next to impossible. Intelligence is the only thing that could have stopped the attack. And the odds of that happening are similar to finding a needle in a haystack.

So where do we go from here. We have to accept first of all that terrorism is very much a part of our life and it will happen. The chances of it happening are more than the chances of it stopping. A cynic that I am, this is my view. We have to be practical about it. Move ahead. Live our life. Thankfully that's what most of Mumbai seems to be doing.

Tags: Mumbai, Rahul Bose

Its all about profit

2006-07-12T20:39:00.000+09:30

Saw Corporate the other day. As I liked Page 3, I went to the theatre with some high expectations. And returned with most of them fulfilled.

After putting the glam&gilitz world under the scanner, Madhur Bhandarkar turns towards high profile Corporations. I think the story of the movie is average at best. The movie does get predictable and an intelligent viewer can surely guess what happens next. So that is a big downside.

Performance wise I think the movie scores. Kay Kay is superb again in the movie. Raj Babbar, Vinay Apte and Rajat Kapoor are also good. In fact Rajat Kapoor has given a stupendous performance, in what is probably the best role ever offered to him. Bipasha Basu is strictly OK. Nothing great. She has a long way to go before she can be called at par with Tabbu and Konkona Sen. Minissha Lamba offers some eye candy and does well with whatever little her role was. I really don't know what Samir Dattani was thinking when he signed the movie. The extras have more role than him. ;-)

None of the characters is all white, i.e all goody goody. There are only shades of gray. It's a philosophy I believe in, so I could accept the way the characters are picturised. But in our world of Hindi cinema, where theres only good and bad , I wonder how the movie will fare..

Tags: Corporate, Madhur Bhandarkar, review, Bollywood

In the aftermath....

2006-07-12T14:49:00.000+09:30

Yesterday this happened. 174 people feared killed. Madness! Thats what the terrorists wanted anyways.

I am always fascinated by Mumbai's reactions in face of comman tragedy. Right from the problems during the rains last yr, to yesterdays blasts. The human face of this otherwise labelled as "commercial" and "superficial" city comes to the fore. The Mumbaikars may not be the most couth of their fellow "major" city brethren, but when the time to help comes, they surely aren't behind anyone.

TV channels covering the event were pathetic. The news articles and some online reports were more precise and factual. I hope Sharad Pawar's advice about VIPs not making a beeline for the affected areas does not fall on deaf ears.

I just hope and pray that Mumbai does not stop today.

Some helpful links for people who want info about the status on Mumbai.

Mumabi Help.

Also do look at this wiki.

Tags: Mumbai, blasts,

Whaat!!!

2006-07-08T03:33:00.000+09:30

Well got this link courtesy Kapeesh. And by god, the results were unbeleivable!!
Thank gawd I ain't going to the US. ;-)

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

UPDATE:

I took the test 2 times:
Once I was Hiter and the other time I was Abe Lincoln!!! Things only get weirder. ;-)

l

Krrish...

2006-07-06T23:15:00.000+09:30

Well a few days in Miraj imply a lot of movies. Saw Krrish there.

For starters, I think Rakesh Roshan needs to be commended on this effort. I thought it was an admirable and rare attempt at sci-fiction from a Bollywood guy. If not anything else, the movie at least guarantees that you are seeing something out of the comman faltu stuff dished out by Bollywood.

Now for the movie. Here we have Krishna running faster than a horse, climbing huge trees and flexing huge muscles in a very secluded village in northern India. The boy has an exceptionally high IQ, but still is fooled by the para-glider, which he assumes to be a kite!! Anyhow, it's fate. ;-) Priyanka Chopra is the asmaan se tapki heroine. And she does look hot in the movie. Another plus.

Well the usual story unfolds and Hrithik is persuaded to come to Singapore to meet his lady's maa. There the bad guy, Naseer comes into the main story Then comes the action. Append Batman+Superman+Matrix. stunts to the storyline. And then the final twist in the tale. Oh yes there is a twist.

I thought Hrithik does do well in the movie. Naseer as the bad guy gives a good performance as well. I personally got bored with the part involving Rekha. Instead of the traditional maa it's dadi maa . Some really corny dialogues between the two.

All in all a watchable affair.One time see. I hope the Roshans recover their money with this one.. As I mentioned earlier a creditable effort.

Oh and before I forget, whats with the in-movie advertising!! I mean for every possible scene they've advertised 1 brand or the other. An example, Priyanka Chopra is watching some stuff on the TV, munching Lays, with the brand name turned towards the camera for the viewer's benefit. There were many products which were advertised in this way.Some examples which I clearly remember Tide, Great Bombay Circus, Hero Honda.

Tags: Krrish, Hritik, Roshan

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Nostalgic moments

2006-07-04T14:57:00.000+09:30

It was a lovely morning. It was drizzling ever so slightly. The bus left the stand. It took me one hour to get out of Pune. Reason: Some work going on in the Katraj tunnel. I take a sigh as I leave the city. I see familiar territory retreat. I see Sangli go by. I see Vishrambaug on the Miraj-Sangli road pass by. I watch with keen interest the changes that these places have undergone since I was a tot. Some very happy memories are associated with these places.Now the bus enters *Miraj.

Screeech....the bus came to a halt suddenly. I craned my neck to see the reason for the stoppage. Well it was a gadhav (donkey) !! Now it felt like I was in Miraj. I remembered how I used to tease my cousins about the abnormally high number of the beast in their town. I got down near the stop, and hired a rickshaw.

I saw the famous Mission Hospital, the library pass by.This was where I started to read books. Memories, one after another, start refreshing themselves. The rickshaw moves through Brahmanpuri, and stops at the destination. I get down and look around. I see the changes that have taken place. Big buildings have come up. My grandfathers vada thankfully remains. The huge verandah, the garden up front, the huge coconut tree. I am so glad that some things never change. :-)

I spent three days there. Spent quality time with my relatives , doing nothing in particular. Chattering away, lying idly, roam around. I tried to soak up as much of Miraj as I could.

Finally the day of leaving came. I sat in the bus. I saw these places fall behind. I felt overwhelmed by that barrage of memories, maybe even slightly choked up. I did the only thing that could calm me down and put the memories into text. Probably the only thing that could let me savour the memories of yesterday without making my today and tomorrow seem unsavory. I wonder how I'll feel when I leave Pune!!

Enough of the sad stuff!! Did you know that dogs are turning veg? No? Eh! Pick up yesterdays Pune Times. So much meaningful stuff. ;-) It really feels good to be back in the city.

*Miraj :- A major rail junction. A small town. Now part of the Sangli-Miraj-Kupwad Corporation. For the quiz-zically inclined, Miraj was the place where Balgandharva first performed. The hall is just 100 mts from my Grandpa's house.

Tags: Miraj, Sangli, personal

Hardly a beautiful game!!

2006-06-26T14:03:00.000+09:30

I love football. I really do. Where else can you find a combination of kick-boxing, fighting, face butting, pathetic acting?? If you don't believe that, my suggestion would be watch the game , Netherlands vs Portugal which was played on Sunday night.

It was a "color"ful game. Where else would you see flashing of red and yellow with that regularity. Trust me it was worth staying up for the game. ;-)

On a more serious note, I wonder what FIFA needs to do to stop the game from becoming a farce. I think referees flash the cards just to show the players who is in charge. Sometimes that leads to needless bookings. Last game in the first 3-4 mins itself the Dutch had 2 yellow cards. I agree that there was a lil bit of needling between the opposition, but it should not have been as ugly as that. I mean there were 4 red cards!! Whoever said football is a 11 man game....

Tags: Football. Netherlands, Portugal

An interesting analogy

2006-06-20T14:21:00.000+09:30

I always thought the English football team and the Indian Cricket team make a very very interesting analogy.

Both suffer due to high expectations. In both countries the players are subjected to intense media snooping. Both have been under-achievers in the respective games.Both have won the World Cup only once. Both have a foreign coach ;-).

Wat say people?

Tags: English Football

Phir nahi hera pheri, please...

2006-06-12T22:26:00.000+09:30

Saturday 10th June was the saddest day in my life. Ok on second thought the second saddest. I did see this movie too you know. :-( Was suffering from the after-effects of watching Phir Hera Pheri for 2 days. ;-)

I was really excited, about seeing the movie, as I quite enjoyed the first one. There was some drama, from which the comedy sprang. The eccentric, alcoholic house-owner and his interactions with his bhadekaroos were funny. PHP starts well enough, with Nana Patekar, just updating us on the characters but loses its way immediately. I will not give away the story, unfortunately because there is none. Hence no spoiler alert..

Imagine after watching Hera Pheri, you made a list of all things that could have gone wrong, but thankfully didn't. After watching Phir Hera Pheri, you will actually find, that all those things have been done in the sequel. ;-) Repetetive jokes, unnecessary physical farcical comedy, to name a few.

The movie sucks!! It really reminded me most of some Marathi comedy flicks of Lakshmikant Berde, Ashok Saraf, where you tend to feel that the actors, director has just gone overboard with the comedy. The movie can best be described as "dheemagh ghar pay chhod kar jaane ka ." kind!

The movie ends in such a way, that they have kept a possibility of another sequel. Hopefully, Priyadarshan can direct that one and gives us something better than this.It's not very hard to beat this effort, trust me..

Tags: Phir Hera Pheri

Double standards

2006-06-08T14:25:00.000+09:30

Sehwag was found guilty of excessive appealing. He was reported to the match refree by the same umpires who did not find sufficient evidence to book Lara!!!

I don't know why the ICC makes statements like uniform disciplinary code, etc when they clearly can't implement it. Sachin gets booked for ball-tampering, when he is actually cleaning the ball in SA, while Michael Slater gets away with indecent, contemptuous behavior at Mumbai in the infamous Dravid catch claim. In the same game as Sachin, 5 other players are booked of excessive appealing, while Shaun Pollock in the same game got away with it.

Then the ICC promises again it will curb indiscipline. But then again Ricky Ponting is seen arguing with the umpires, nothing happens. Ricky Ponting makes the third umpire change his decision in the game against Bangladesh, still nothing!!!

I was really looking forward to hearing Simon Taufel talk, the day after the Dhoni fiasco. I think he very subtly hinted that the decision was the third umpire's. I agree with him. Then he spoke of following standard rules to ensure uniformity in implementing the decisions. Again well said. But then it becomes clear, that Lara is not going to be fined inspite of his behavior!! The reason given, Lack of evidence!!! I mean what freaking more evidence do u need? I have really lost a lot of respect for Simon Taufel.

It's extremely clear that the ICC is rampant with double standards. If anything the umpires, all three and the match refree have got disrepute to the game. Any provisions to take action against them ,ICC?

Very refreshing

2006-06-06T15:46:00.000+09:30

India are doing well in the test at Antigua. After the first couple of days, the wicket seems to have got better and is now seemingly behaving like a typical Antigua track, which produces tall scores.

Wasim Jaffer's innings was a pure delight to watch. The man is the typical wristy, silken Indian batter, and watching him play the back-foot cuts, drives is fantastic. The man seems like elegance personified. Like VVS Laxman, he is pleasing on the eye while batting. Well done!!

Another refreshing thing was seeing Dhoni do what he does best, SMASH the ball!! His innings contained some "typical" Dhoni shots along with the unique Dhoni follow thru, which is impossible to describe, with the bat almost completing a full circle...

There was some controversy regarding his method of dismissal though. The fielder seemed to have caught the ball very near to the fence. The decision was referred to the Third Umpire. The replays seemed inconclusive. Absurdly,.the Third Umpire did not make any decision and seemingly told the on-field umpires to make the call, something that is even more hard to fathom.

I don't see why Dhoni should listen to Lara. He might have accepted Lara's word if Lara had taken the catch. But why should he take Lara's word regarding someone else. What was Lara thinking!!! The third umpire should have made the decision and avoided all the confusion.

Tags: Wasim Jaffer, Dhoni dismissal

How stupid

2006-05-29T01:00:00.000+09:30

It was very heartening to see Amir Khan defending himself on TV. It just shows that he is not going to be cowed down and that is worth respecting. He reiterated his stand in public, and generally talked sense, which unfortunately the BJP representative in the debate did not , and neither did the Congress rep , Singhvi, who simply talked like a typical lawyer.

Some pertinent points. Amir has every right to make a statement. In this case, he simply took a stand for the rehabilitation of the displaced people, something which even the Supreme Court has done. How is this anti-Gujarat and anti-development? I think this is an embarrassing time for the BJP. I hope the top-brass, if they have recovered from the "Maha"jan shock, act on this. And hope they take a reasonable stance on the issue. In fact I am really surprised no statement has been issued by the BJP. The Congress it seems is playing a double-game. Initially their youth-wing was also involved in the anti-Amir propaganda. Official statement was made only 1-2 day ago. And in general they have kept quiet. So has the film-fraternity.

I seriously think that the BJP has done itself great harm because of this incident.This was their chance to talk sense, when the middle-class seemed to be anti-UPA, but they have floundered it. They made a big issue from a non-issue.If the people of Gujarat are hurt and angered by Aamir Khan’s stand as the party claims, then why would they pay upwards of hundred rupees to watch the film voluntarily? Would they not be able to show their disgust without need for such bans? Unbelievably dumb!!

Tags: Amir, Fanaa

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The Pune Slimes

2006-05-23T17:53:00.000+09:30

In between all the brouhaha, The Pune Slimes celebrated it's ninth anniversary. Kapeesh has a brilliant post enumerating all the ways in which PT has contributed to a Punekar's life. ROTFL stuff.

Tags: PT

Frustration

2006-05-23T14:22:00.000+09:30

It was a sadistic delight to watch Karan Thapar tear Arjun Singh apart on the Devil's Advocate on CNN-IBN, You can catch the interview here . I say sadistic because I know even if it is proved that the guy is acting an idiot, there is going to be no change in his stance, i.e it's of no use. The minister had absolutely no idea about the facts and figures. Yet he makes up his mind on the issue. It is really shameful that such people get to decide our future.

Also depressing to note was Arjun Singh's response to the demonstrations, where he just terms it as hype!! Of all the nerve.. Well seriously what then would make this man rethink the decision. Apparently nothing. The decision has been taken and no-rollback possible, were his words.

Another blow, though expected was Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment's comments. It really is the biggest blow as far as the Corporates go. They are here to make profits and are not Social Service organizations. They might help with putting up infrastructure, etc required for the lower sections, but this!! Why should they compromise on quality. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, they after all want the best person for any position. The worst thing will be if the software cos decide to shift base outside India. Once the software bubble bursts the results would be horrendous. And the government by giving them a 2 yr deadline might just make sure that these guys will have sufficient time to get out. :-)

The one man I am most disappointed with is Dr Manmohan Singh, our esteemed PM. His unclear stand only proves that he is but a puppet. The nation showed faith in the Congress for more than 50 yrs, and this is what it's given us. They will win the elections, no doubt about that. After all the "Upper castes" are only 25% roughly, and really insignificant as far as vote-banks go. If the post sounds depressing, well guys I truly am depressed.The frustration is because most people know they can't do a thing about this. It's a classic "Rob Peter and give to Paul". If Paul is getting everything on a platter why the hell will he complain.

Anyway Salil has another method to bug the minister here. Though what purpose it will serve ,I don't know. :-(

Ramanand in his unique style writes about the interview here. Brilliant!!

Tags: Reservations, private sector, Arjun Singh

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Almost 18

2006-05-22T14:05:00.000+09:30

Yesterday India lost by the narrowest margin possible, 1 run. Yuvraj hit 2 fours in the last over , the second one seemed to really bring about the memories of Klusner's exploits in the 99 semi-final. There was one more thing in comman. Tragedy!! So near yet so far!! Yuvraj played beautifully. While Sarwan was extremely lucky during his stay, Yuvraj really played an inning devoid of blemishes.Well almost. He did get out didn't he? ;-)

India's brilliant run-chasing streak has culminated at 17, but the contest was beautiful to watch. As Dravid said, he knew the streak had to end but not at chasing a moderate score...

In the 1st game, Indian bowlers bowled poorly up front, but the batsmen responded, while in the 2nd game the bowlers were superb but the batsmen weren't. Lets hope Indains get both things right in the remaining games.

Tags: Cricket

The best text-book

2006-05-20T15:19:00.000+09:30

We keep on hearing of some sort of fallacies, mistakes about NCERT text books all the time; that students don't like to read text books.Just made me wonder if there was any text-book I actually enjoyed. The answer was simple. Fourth Std History.

I really have not come across any better school book after that. Even our Jr College text books weren't that great. I am sure all of the students who have done their SSC will remember this book , which is quite an achievement in itself.

History was never that interesting again. The way the book was written you just felt like reading on and on. It caught the interest like none other.It was like reading a story book. Teachers in tenth always wondered why History is the most dreaded subject. Well the answer might be simple, it was never presented in the way it actually should have and the level raised in IVth was never matched again..

I wonder if anyone shares my views though :-)

Tags: Musings

Really sad!!

2006-05-15T15:30:00.000+09:30

The anti-reservation demonstrations and stuff related to that , the discussions, etc are all that is seen these days on TV. After the utterly despicable way in which the police beat up the protesting students there was a huge public outcry. And why not? These were not comman goons on the street, these were students!! They were protesting in a non-violent manner. Was that the way to treat them?? I wonder if even the "mavalis" or thiefs , thugs get the same treatment.

It was really sad watching Arjun Singh's reactions to the whole thing. The only person who can change this shitty resolution, it seems is the PM [or "Madam" :-)] .If this thing goes thru the cabinet meet, then I think this is yet another instance where the Congress has really pulled the nation back. My views on the Congress remain the same ,only now I can't realistically see any alternative to the Congress.The reservations are just a big front to just strengthen their vote-banks

It's been along time since reservations were introduced in the govt. jobs. What has happened is that a very small portion of them actually utilises these benefits. A hypothetical example. A SC/NT/OBC boy. He studied in the same school as me. I got 85 in Xth, he got 60. Yet we land up in the same Jr College.It turns out, he also gets admission for the vocational courses ,which i [the small "i" is intentional] was denied. Then i get 92% in XIIth , while he gets 70. He gets COEP Entc , i have to opt for a lesser college, or a lesser branch. I am sure many of u people have seen such examples, where a person who has had education at par with yours go ahead only because he was from a "category".

Then there was an even bigger shock in my Engineering, It seems those guys have fees for something like 7000 ,for the free seat ie . On top of that they get a scholarship of 10,000. Which means that they are actually paid to learn and complete their engineering and do a "service" to society.

OBCs in our country are all the traditional businessmen , people who practice certain occupations sonar, lohar, tailors, etc . So basically everybody except the the Brahmins, Kshatriyas/Marathas. So basically economically they are in fact well off or at least at par with the "higher castes" .

It would be pig-headed to say that everyone gets equal opportunities in India. Poverty is rampant all over India. I believe the only way fwd is that the government should provide scholarships or reserve seats for the economically backward ideally. Give them concessional loans. If they show aptitude for the subject they will progress in it on the basis of the merit itself.

In one discussion I saw on TV, there was a CEO of a big comapny (sadly don't remember his name) was asked why isn' the pvt sector not employing backward class people, his answer was something like "I dont care if ur from Jammu or Kanyakumari, whether ur a brahmin or a shudra , if I think u are best suited for the job u will be selected!!!" So true. The only jobs which ask for your caste are government jobs! Has anybody seen a pvt company ask "Are u from the open category? " Laughable. :-)

Well I guess the government surely can do whatever it wants with government offices, etc. But how can u bring reservations in the pvt sector? What right do they have to force people to hire a particular group? Really pathetic, if that is implemented. It would not be surprising if all the companies just shifted base then.. It would be like killing the golden-egg laying hen..

So really after this do the politicians have any moral authority to make statements like "Brain drain must stop...." etc. Unfortunately there is nothing moral about our politicians.They are very smart. Really. They know that the doctors's std in our country will go down bcos of the reservations. So they opt for the foreign specialists. :-)

Another interesting add-on

2006-05-09T03:31:00.000+09:30

Finally this is here. For an Orkut freak ,who uses Mozillla, it's quite decent.

FRIENDS getting back?

2006-04-26T13:31:00.000+09:30

Tags: FRIENDS

Whats this now???

Getting used to the Times

2006-04-26T02:36:00.000+09:30

During my school days we used to subscribe to the Indian Express.My dad who had spent some time in Mumbai made it perfectly clear, once the Times is printed in Pune, we are going to take it. It hardly made any difference to me then , as all I was interested in was Cricket and related news . I was assured that the Times had better coverage of cricket. Nothing much has changed since I first subscribed to the Times.

The sports section of the main paper rocks. So do the other parts of the paper on most days.The supplement the Pune "Slimes" as I prefer to put it ,is very sad the less said about it the better. If me, a person born and brought up in Pune, doesn't find anything that concerns me in the paper, well then frankly there's something very wrong with the paper.Read the blog , Cruel Waste of Forests and some of the comments in the earlier posts.

The one thing that bugs me the most is that the TOI always uses it's paper to advertise other entities of the Times Group. Be it Filmfare, Femina Miss India. The most recent case was during the launch of the Times Now channel, they used to carry interviews with their anchors etc. All this is simply pushed on the reader. They simply have their finger in every pie, so the paper always has some pretty biased views.

Recently before the release of the movie Being Cyrus, for almost everyday in the week, they had something or the other about the movie. in the main paper or PT. It seems that the movie was produced or marketed by the Times Group!!! Simply another case of using it's space for adverts.

The thing is as long as the Sports coverage of the Times is good, I will keep buying the paper :-) . Pune Newsline is better that PT, but the main edition of the Express doesn't quite compare with the TOI main edition. An ideal combo would be TOI main edition+ Pune Newsline. Sakal captures the essence of Pune quite brilliantly. Want to read the Herald. Would love hear some opinions of it.

Justice at last?

2006-04-11T15:09:00.000+09:30

Finally Salman Khan was sentenced this week. The reactions of the people published in the media, though expected were really ludicrous. One guy actually said something like, Salman is great guy with heart of gold, yada yada..... Now I wonder if this really has anything to do with the case. :-) Another view point was Jessical Lal's murderer got away free, but here u are arresting Salman. The entire handling of the Lal murder case was sad. But surely this does not mean that everytime anyone is sentenced as guilty u simply say "arre Jessica lal's murederer got away, my violation is minor to that??Y cant i be pardoned" That fact remains justice was not meted out in that case, but why object if and when justice has been done? Another popular notion is Salman is being targeted. Well as for that,there can't be any smoke without fire. This is the same man who ran over 4 people,not with his feet but with his car. This is the same guy who was absent in the earlier hearings for the hunting case.Once the reason given was that he had some hair treatment to do, that y he could not show up!!!! Unbeleivable! Celebrities are mistreated? Well the fact remains they are always under a microscope. That places more responsibiltiy on their shoulders. As a celeb ,if u do something good u get publicity, u do somthing bad u get worse publicity.Fact remains if u want the adulation u should also be ready for the brickbats. The thing is simple. if he is guilty , then he should be punished. What difference does it make if it is a celebrity or not!!

Simply unbeleivable

2006-04-04T21:56:00.000+09:30

Yesterdays Goa ODI had 2 of the most bizzare peices of action, I have ever seen. Both involved Dhoni.

The first was when he incited Geraint Jones to knock down the stumps. Jones obliged. Dhoni scampered thru for an overthrow as the ball just rolled near the stumps .Jones was still on the ground. So Dhoni simply took off for the second, when the ball was actually just a couple of feet from the keeper, and he made it. 2 runs taken ,when the farthest the ball went was to the keeper. :-)

The second was the Dhoni six, in the same over. If the previous incident was not bizzare enough, this shot certainly was!!! I cannot describe the shot in words.Only if u actually see it ,would u beleive it!!!! Stunning!!!!

Another post-mortem

2006-03-24T15:51:00.000+10:30

India were thrashed. Thrashed by a huge margin. Thrashed by a team that some pundits had labelled,rather unfairly, as a "B" Team. A 213 run defeat is too big to overlook.

It's time for retrospection for guru Greg and Rahul. His decision to bowl first was poor to say the least.But the Indian team composition was such, that Dravid thought batting first might prove risky, India remember fielded 5 bowlers, so as a result were a batsmen short.
India in the past have managed to draw games because they did not have 5 bowlers, but ironically they have lost one because of that. Also Dravid should remember that he has to utilise all 5, because invariably one bowler gets underbowled example Chawla, Harbhajan, Pathan in various innings during the series.

India though have some positives to take out of the series. For the first time in India, you almost felt that a fast bowler would provide the breakthrough.Something which traditionally has been the spinner 's dept in India.Kunble in his own style pegged away. Harbhajan to me was the biggest dissappointment. He needs to take some time off. Get some wickets at the domestic level , get his confidence back. He somehow never looked like getting a wicket in the first 2 games. In Mumbai he suffered a bit due to India's pathetic catching.

I beleive somehow India should stick to it's 5 bowler strategy. It is going to win them games. But they should remember that of the 5 batsmen atleast 3 should be in decent knick at the time. Otherwise it might be fool-hardy. Thats why I beleive there was a case for 6 batsmen in the Mumbai test. Sehwag, Sachin, Yuvraj were not in the best of forms. That left only Jaffer and Dravid. I beleive that India could afford going in with 6 batsmen, because the were 1-0 up in the series.

And a word for Freddie Flintoff. An outstanding performance by him. He just looks so relaxed leading the side. His field placings are rt on the money because he is a bowler , and the added responsibility has made him a calmer, responsible batsmen. A lethal combo.

Heres to the ODI's..

An accidental quizzer

2006-03-07T13:48:00.000+10:30

Hello people. Yup thats me.

The year 2003. I am in TE, first semester. It's an inter-college quiz,IEEE(I think), in MESCOE. I along with Kartik decide to go to the quiz as it will save us from the misery of attending a certain "tiger"'s lecture. We ended up doing well in the elims and got on stage. Hurrah!!! The second quiz of my life and I go on stage! "It's like scoring a century in my 2nd innings" , I grin to myself.

Well as things turned out, it was anything but a "century". Pitted against possibly the best college teams , needless to say we struggled to a fourth position. At the same quiz met a few (would be) friends for the first time. Salil, Dani , Ganesh. In fact the funny thing is Salil and Dani I think did not even get off the mark in the entire quiz, thus commencing the famed "Curse de MESCOE " thing for Dani. That was till his TE.This year he has finally managed to win a quiz in MESCOE.

Anyway coming back ,we were thrilled at having made it that far. It was not till , Inquizzition 2004 , that I went for another quiz. There watching the BEST teams in action was exhilarating.

I never knew of BCQC before that. I never knew we had a Mastermind winner amongst Pune quizzers. I never knew quizzing was FUN.

Udas and Shriniwas teamed up together for the first time. I was with Neel , another "casual" quizzer. But since then, I really got hooked onto quizzing in a big way. Shriniwas was an excellent quizzer in school, what with his NIE exploits,and none of his panache for quizzing was lost. Udas also it seems was involved in quizzing in school. Here I was at a greater disadv , because I never quizzed during school days. [Actually took part once , but as a substitute quizzer, a sad story for another time ] In 11th and 12th, I was in SP College. That would .pretty much give u an idea about my quizzing ,in my pre-engineering days.

But then on I participated for 2 years in most quizzes, In the world of college quizzing , I think every quizzer will have their day, some good victories , and guaranteed many 2nd-3rd place finishes, thanks to certain gentleman, on whom I am sure the IT dept is keeping tabs .

I was lucky that I had, the great Sudarshan Purohit as a partner for one quiz , the Music Quiz in VIT 06, which BTW proved to be a dud. It was an experience nevertheless.

I have attended 5-6 sessions at the Boat Club Quiz Club. The informal nature of the meetings is very pleasing. All people assembled there are genuinely into quizzing. My first session at BCQC was rather horrid though. I had no inkling of what was going on. There were some "sitters" that were answered , even before the question was completed , and in 1 distinct case , a quizzer actually corrected , then went on to complete a question and then,not surprisingly went on to answer it,

I actually wonder how many of the quizzers at the Boat Club are like me, someone who has no pre-BE quizzing experience. I know Meghashyam is also a relatively new quizzer , I have no idea about the others.

In Open Quizzes I have hardly done anything till now. But what the heck, I like quizzing and will continue to participate whatever be the result. The thrill of thinking and working out an answer is irreplacable. To quizzing!!!

The Comic Project

2006-01-29T02:59:00.000+10:30

I was searching for some stuff about the good old Indrajal Comics characters for a long time. Stumbled on The Comic Project. There are scanned versions of the comics put up on the site. Right from Mandrake, Phantom to a very underrated character Rip Kirby , of whom I was a big fan in my younger years.

Obviously the image quality is not that great, what with it being scanned and all, but an effort worth appreciating , methinks. Anybody who grew up on these , will definitely find it worth visiting. Please check it out here .

"The Wonder Years" , indeed!!!

2006-01-25T00:05:00.000+10:30

Well time for some nostalgia people. Managed to catch the first 3 seasons of "The Wonder Years" , last month, courtesy the big PIG . Back in my school days the series used to come on Star,and sadly school times made sure I never caught it on TV. But I did manage to watch the series now and It was refreshing to say the least. Venturing off the topic a bit, does the series still come on Star World or Zee Cafe?

Anyways,coming back , I think The Wonder Years is an authentic look back into adolesence, where we saw young Kevin Arnold explore the world of friendship, hate,denial and love. I think it just has the perfect depiction of life as a young teenager. The hardships with school, friends,elder sibling troubles, and the childhood sweetheart; these are all realistic struggles and very easy to identify with, add to that a series of family values and life long lessons and surely , we have a winner here!!!!

Even though it depicts the typical American family of the late 60's , the isuues touched are timeless and easily identifiable for us here in India. I simply loved the depictions of the "growing up" Kevin and his interactions with his mom/dad. You might almost say "That happened to me too" at some point in every episode.

In the day and age of reality/"new" and "improved" programs, where channels are really cashing in on peoples emotions directly and indirectly, for me The Wonder Years probably gives the best depiction of the "real" world through an adolesent's eyes.

"Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One day you're in diapers, next you're gone. But the memories of childhood stay with you for the long haul." Amen!!

"Vinda" boli

2006-01-15T03:52:00.000+10:30

I don't know how many of u guys have watched "Nakshatranche Dene" on Alpha TV Marathi. For people genuinely interested in listening some great compositions of Marathi poets/authors you should not miss the show.

Today happened to catch the recitals from Vinda Karandikar himself , on the show. I am quite at a loss of words to express the versatality this great has shown through his works.I think he might be possibly the most fearless poet, he has touched so many issues, themes and really is not averse to experimenting.

There was a particular recital of a poem he composed during the "Sanyukta Maharashtra" struggle on the death of a 103 people. There was a line that went something like ".... and the land for which u laid ur lives will not forget u!!" Quickly adding the line "That is unfortunately the most stupidest line i've ever written" and the continued the recital. A quick jab at the current generation.

Visibly full of emotions he said the struggle was still not over, obviously refferring to the Belgaum, Karwar issue.

I really wonder how relevant "Sanyukt Maharashtra" struggle is for my generation. I agree people have died and killed. Blood has been spilled. But then ultimately we are all Indians, rt? What difference does it make if Belgaum is in Karnataka? I guess people living in Belgaum will have a different opinion. For them it's the issue if their existense. I mean as I write this, I know I will never be able to convince my dad(who by the way has spent a considerable part of his life there) to change his stance on Belgaum. But sometimes I think it makes sense to just let go and not open old wounds.

It has to be said that the Karnataka Governments over the years have really stiffled the populace there, and 50 years could not stop the discontent.Still clashes on this issue take place there. Recently when all the local bodies in Belgaum made a collective call to cede to Maharashtra, the Belgaum Corporation was dissolved. Such oppressive steps only makes things worse.

I hope the issue is sorted out NOW , mainly because Congress is ruling/part of the ruling in Maharashtra,Centre and Karnataka. If it is not , well it is another BLOT on the Congress as far as I am concerned.

After incessently rambling on I wonder how from Nakshatranche Dene , I landed up on this. . But I am glad I did as I managed to blog on this issue, finally.

Warney ,at it again

2006-01-07T18:44:00.000+10:30

The Kangaroos have trashed the Proteas 2-0. To be fair to the South Africans they really played some competitive cricket and the scoreline might not reflect the effort.

Pre match verbals were flying thick and fast , and who else but 'Hollywood' taking charge about the Aussie side. Warney, predictably stated that he was going get the Proteas again, attacking Smith's captaincy. The Juatin Kemp incident in the Perth test was rather funny. Warne gave Kemp a big verbal blast when he found out that Kemp was just not pickin him. "They are called Leg Breaks...",he said,"Leggg Breaks??" and for good measure, "Daryll???" obviously referring to Warney's favourite bunny, Daryll Cullinan.All said and done ,it would be fair to say that this time around the Proteas actually handled Warne well, both on and off the field.

During this period he also made some pertinent points here and here. mainly regarding the fact that he has not taken many wickets against Bangladesh and Zim. Obviously he was targetting Murali this time around, who has taken 34+ 89 wickets against the above mentioned teams. Arjuna Ranatunga in turn blasted Shane here . I actually think Warne made a fair enough point, because wickets against better teams are obviously more dear to any bowler.

In Murali's defence , he plays the schedule which his Board decides, and really playing which team ii not a choice thing. The Aussies always rest their seniors against the weaker teams, something Sri Lankans have not done. And also Murali does not have the quality pace attack of the Aussies on his side.
Murali also raised an important point against Warne. Shane has really struggled against the Indians, who are the best players of spin. In fact that, for me personally , remains the only "blot" (if u will), on Shane's record. In comparison though Murali has done slightly better against the Indians.

Wonder what 'Hollywood' has to say to this.

Trust Warney to come up something, always!!!

Is this right???

2006-01-03T01:47:00.000+10:30

Had the extreme misfortune of travelling in a PMT bus , the other day. The bus was one of the "new" ones and decent, but SMALL. I mean on a route which has so many passengers, why would u make the size of the bus smaller. At least increase the frequency if not anything more. But that's not even the point.

Now there is a new law, wherein the entire left side of the bus is reserved for women. Yup you read it right, the ENTIRE left side of the bus. The bus pretty much got full on the 2nd stop itself. There was a vacant seat in the women's section.An old man, sat on the seat. Some women then took objection about this , and the poor guy had to stand,

I am actually acquainted with the PMT and its whims , as I was entirely at the mercy of the 24 No Bus for the first 2 years of my Engineering.

I don't remember a single time, when I was in the bus , and a lady carrying a child, old people were not offered a seat. In fact invariably people gave them place to sit. I really am not a supporter of reservations at all. I mean here we talk of equaltiy of sexes, and then we give them reserved seats, + they can totally make themselves comfortable in the "mens" part. Talk about Woman's Lib!!!

Dada o Dada

2005-12-16T15:20:00.000+10:30

Sadly Ganguly was excluded from the Indian team for the 3rd test.

I think the situation is this, in the second test there was only 1 opener in the 11. Now to get the second opener in who do u drop?
Laxman has been good in the tests, Dravid,Sachin obviously make it .
I think it practically came down to Yuvraj and Ganguly. And the selecters-team mngmnt wanted Yuvraj.Now I think the decision the selectors had to make was this, "keep Ganguly out of the playing 11 but in the squad" or "Simply drop him".

It seems they chose to do the latter. I wonder what is sadder for Ganguly sitting in the dressing room or sitting at home.

I just think he deserved the decency that the Board atleast ask him what he was most comfortable with.

Another interesting Cricket related link

2005-12-12T20:53:00.000+10:30

Guys catch all the video h/ls of our matches here.

Absolutely breathtaking

2005-11-29T14:30:00.000+10:30

I always make it a point to tell people[can't explain why] about the distance I have to travel daily to go to VimanNagar. Well the one thing that more than makes up for the travel are the awesome fighter palnes I get to view.I really was never too keen on them before, but during August, there was a Jaguar[I think] doing somersaults in the sky, daily for probably a week.It was very exciting and since then [admittedly like small kids ] me , Udas and the others always made sure that we were always had our ' tea/coffee break' during the time .

Today again there were 8 Suryakirans doing their stuff , formations, colors, et all . It was simply marvellous. A friend of mine captured some of it on his camera phone. The video doesn't quite make justice to the experience ,and may seem like more of a publicity video of our campus/VimanNagar but definitely worth the patient watch.All u Fighter fans out there[MIG-24 Shah , Anish ,Kunal, Dhaps, etc] you can find the clips uploaded here.

As good as it gets

2005-11-16T17:00:00.000+10:30

Well people came across this today. The new Yahoo Cric Graphix thing is quite superb. This just has to be the best possible way to "virtually" watch a cricket match. A boon for us working guys, addicted to Cricket. :-)

Check this out

2005-11-09T15:47:00.000+10:30

For all u Tom & Jerry fans out there , check this out. Awesome tp. Worth playing at least once.
:-)

Hat Tip : Neel Tiwari

Guess who "blogs" too???

2005-10-19T19:48:00.000+09:30

Today guess whose blog I came across
here.

Rediff news had a peice from the blog.Dunno if Bips really writes it.
'She' writes of her experiences while filiming Apharan, which also starrs Ajay Devgan and Nana Patekar.

In her own words,
"

What you will find here is my experience of working with a wonderful director called Prakash Jha in a very interesting film called Apharan.

"

Wot say people?It's a new advertising gimmick methinks. So blogs have become a relevant advertising medium finally. I don't know any Hindi film which had blogs dedicated to it. Seems like our Bollywood wants to utilise the blogosphere. Hmmm...

UPDATE: Speaking of celeb blogs here are a couple Peter Townshend and Intentblog , which has quite a few celeb contributors.

Hat tip: Anish Bhatt

Finally some sense

2005-10-15T14:03:00.000+09:30

Rahul Dravid was named as captain for thee series against Sri Lanka and South Africa. Finallly something sensible from the BCCI. It was making so many spineless decisions that this one, though right, was unexpected. Sometimes hard decisions have to be taken. The selectors felt that Rahul Dravid would be a better choice considering the World Cup 07.

Now for me, this move is good for both Dravid and Ganguly. Dravid because he gets an extended run as captain. something he would have personally always wanted, and Ganguly because taking away the captaincy will let him focus on his batting. Now Saurav as a captain has been great for Indian Cricket. As batsman also , he has been good. But now, after the extended slump and stupid controversies,he needs to get his batting right to remain in the 11. The loss of captaincy will help him in this regard. So I think, it is upto Saurav to cash in on this. His supporters also should realise this and give him some time.

So let us wait and watch how "Team" India performs!

Hats off to u mate!!

2005-10-11T15:25:00.000+09:30

Today had possibly the most bizzare and sad news I have read on the blogosphere. A blogger who I admire, Gaurav Sabnis a senior quizzer form COEP, apparently is resigning from IBM. The reason being some post of his on IIPM. Read this. Then they[IIPM] served him a notice. Then he took a princpled stand on the issue and decided to quit IBM.Read this .

In a country of free speech , it seems that anybody can be pressurised by people/organisations. Actually wonder what we , the bloggers can do on the issue? Well Desi Pundit seems to tryin to fight back. Kaps has issued a call of action here.

Have to wait for turn of events now!!

A man who made sure he got into the history books

2005-09-30T22:11:00.000+09:30

A pathetic blog post title? Probably yes. But then there is no perfect term to introduce Nathuram Godse, is there. I mean he will be in the history books inspite of any government at centre/state. :-)
{ Yes , probably the play 'Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy' has influenced me to post something on the issue] .
I wanted to post something like this for sometime ,now.

His is one name everybody in India has heard. He will definitely not find too many people who beleived in his cause in India, except in Maharashtra probably. From all possible evidence, Nathuram Godse was an educated man,against untouchability , against partition. Now I definitely am not a RSS supporter or anything of the sort. When Gandhiji actually went on a fast and demanded that India give 55 crores to Pakistan, it was the most stupid thing to demand. The then Indian government actually gave in. That was when Godse actually decided on Gandhiji's assassination.

The thing is , it should have been obvious that Pakistan was going to use that money against India [what with the war in Kashmir et all] . The demand was just not practical. As an educated person ,taking an unbiased review of the situation then,[without mentioning the forbidden R word], I simply feel that I could not side with Gandhiji on this issue at least. There are many things I respect Gandhiji for ,but the fast thing I hold it against him. I am actually intrigued. Did the government actually pay the money after Gandhiji's death???

It's extremely difficult to take sides in a situation where , 2 individuals are keen on following their own path. Nathuram Godse killed for an idealogy, Gandhiji died for one. The choice is yours to make!!!

G vs G : Round Two

2005-09-26T14:39:00.000+09:30

After Saurav's disclosure about apperent differences between "Team" India , Greg Chappell played it safe. He did not go to the media. Did not wash dirty linen in public. Accepted truce for the time being, in the interests of the "team". Now after the test he wrote a private mail to the BCCI president,Mahindra. Now the BCCI itself was in media spotlight during the AGM. Somehow the letter leaked out. The media then was in a frenzy. Lots of opinions, "inside infirmation" added to the feud. It may be said that after all this it will be naive to think that Chappel and Ganguly can work together.

To top this reports suggesting alls not well in the dressing rooms are also there. Check this ,and this out. Here , Bhajji is the first player to openly speak out on this issue.

So who should go? Unless the wily BCCI patch up [highly unlikely event] things between G & G ,it is obvious that one of them has to go. Now Saurav had taken India to new heights, under his leadership. As captain his recrord is superior. But for the past yr or so , his record as a batsman has been abyssmal. That is just not what we expect from international batsmen. With Yuvraj , Kaif waiting in the wings, it is going to be a struggle for Saurav to hold his place in the team. And if we look ahead, ie for World Cup '07 then there is only one answer for us, Ganguly has to leave.

In fact he should not have waited for all this. That is why I always respected captains who leave on a high, Taylor, Hussain being the most recent examples. As Gavaskar had rightly said "When a player retires people should ask "'Why" and not "Why not?"". Saurav deserves a respectable exit , though he himself is responsible for the mess and so might be dumped.

If it does come down to making a decision , heart says "Saurav should stay", but the logical verdict should be "bye bye Saurav.." . Hope the right decision is made , though we Indians are notorious for thinking thru the heart..

The fallen prince....

2005-09-19T19:54:00.000+09:30

Saurav Ganguly has a lot on his mind right now. His outburst, in the media is definitely not good news for Indian Cricket. Whatever his current form, for a captain to actually say all those things publicly is ridiculous. One would have thought , an experienced captain like Saurav should have understood that. I have been a fan of Saurav's captaincy over the years, and still think he is an excellent captain. But still going and stating dressing-room talk in the media is despicable.

               One man who must be bamboozled by the entire affair, is surely Greg Chappell. We can safely say that he has learnt his lesson on "How Indian Cricket works.." the hard way. Agreed ,even he has been having a horrid run as coach of "Team" India and the"Commitment to excellence" seems far from fulfilled.

               It would be naive to write off Greg as a bad coach, just after 1 series. His biggest challenge remains , to get the team together now. Ganguly's outburst has not made things any easier for anybody. His form has been abyssmal. Even though he did get a century, it took him forever to acore those runs, against an attack which is below-1st class level for sure. As a player , on current form, I doubt if Ganguly can get a place in any team other than Zimababwe, Bangladesh and of course INDIA !!!

             I beleive that once a captain has been selected for a tour, he should be backed through the tour ,otherwise don't take him in squad in the first place. So Ganguly's frustration can be justified ,but I really don't think it justifies ,telling thise things to the media.

For once the PRINCE OF CALCUTTA has fallen in my eyes , and probably in many a fans' eyes...

Unfair comparisons??

2005-09-19T16:22:00.000+09:30

I was not going to post anything unoriginal on my blog. But this email, which I am sure most of u must have received from one source or other, really intrigued me. I wonder if it is fair to compare.
Anyway this is the mail

inches of rain in new orleansdue to hurricane katrina... 18
inches of rain in mumbai (July 27th).... 37.1

population of new orleans... 484,674
population of mumbai.... 12,622,500

deaths in new orleanswithin 48 hours of katrina...100
deaths in mumbai within 48 hours of rain.. 37.

number of people to be evacuated in new orleans... Entire
city..wohh
number of people evacuated in mumbai...10,000

Cases of shooting and violence in new orleans...Countless
Cases of shooting and violence in mumbai.. NONE

Time taken for USarmy to reach new orleans... 48hours
Time taken for Indian army and navy to reach mumbai...12hours

status 48hours later...new orleansis still waiting for relief,army
and electricty
status 48hours later..mumbai is back on its feet and its business is
as usual

USA...world's most developed nation
India...JUST A DEVELOPING NATION..

Well this was pretty much the gist of it.Would love to view ur take on this , guys!!

This happened to me

2005-09-14T14:50:00.000+09:30

There is a nice empty concrete road in front. It is not raining[for once!!]. Very little traffic.I was on my bike. Some idiot, who was ahead along with a pillion, suddenly decided that he wanted to take a left turn. Now the person was on the right side of the road , and when he simply swerved left, we were on a collission course. SCreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech......... I braked. The front part of my bike barely touched the guy's vehicle.There was a crack on my headlight glass. Could not help it.A couple of rickshaws braked inches from my vehice.
Now ,the pillion fell off the vehicle. There was a ganesh pandal just next to the road. The karyakartas of the mandal came running ,shouting at the guy. The rider of the bike panicked. His friend was sitting on the road on his bum.... The rider simply took off without his mate. The guy just stared incredulously at the vision of the moving bike , and more importantly at the vision of his being injured bcos of the mob which gathered.:-)
I remembered the good old story of the bear and 2 friends. I will not go into details of the story. I remember the moral of the story clearly "A friend in need is a friend indeed,....." Corny eh!! :-)
Coming back to the tale ,I just kept staring at the poor guy. He was alone.Stranded.Facing a mob.His "friend" was ,I suppose safe and sound. The people were holding the guys collar. Threatning with police cases ,et all.I could see where this was going. I decided I had to do something for the guy. I mean why should anyone be angry with the pillion! I just went told the mandal guys that, the man will pay me and thats that. I did not wish to pursue the matter further.
The guys reluctantly agreed to leave the fellow.
When the crowd dispersed I just told the man to slap his "friend" once and if he was smart really don't have anything to do with the guy again.. I can't help but laugh at the experience. How people react under such conditions is really what defines their character..

Dada's predicament

2005-09-08T13:40:00.000+09:30

My first attempt at some dry ,typical faltu humour on my blog.Also shows my frustration as a cricket fan :( --

We all know the corny Sardarji joke
"What will a Sardar say when he sees a ''kele ka chilka' ?"
----> "Arre aaj fir se fisalna padega!!!"

Similarly what will Saurav Ganguly say on the day of a final featuring India
---->"Arre aaj fir se haarna padega!! "

The bad run of India in finals continues !!!! :-(

The Super Challenge--- The Ashes

2005-09-01T19:53:00.000+09:30

"One hand on the Ashes.... "

proudly proclaims a leading daily in England. Football for once has not been overshadowing cricket in that country. Well the sudden spur in passion about cricket has come about because of the current Ashes series.

What a spectacle!! It's been exhilarating to watch all the tests. A treat for any cricket buff ! England probably are playing the cricket of their life, and Australia are not.

When India was playing well down under , I remember Sunny Gavaskar making a comment, something like " Australia were never really tested under Steve Waugh". Now that is interesting , as Steve Waugh's Australia won 40 out of the 44 odd test he captained. A whopping victory per cent. The only time in that period , the Aussies were really pushed hard was , once in India [the Harbhajan-Laxman-Dravid series] , when New Zealand came to Australia[Shane Bond splashed on the international scene],and again when India played Australia in Australia.

Of these , Australia lost against India , barely managed to draw the other 2 series. Now the thing is the Aussies always try and outplay the opposition from ball one. They will give it all they have. If the opposition ,say India, performs with its full talent , the Aussies have no answer to that.In this case the opposition is England . Gaurav Sabnis make a similar point here.

Though the thing to see is if England have it in them to play consistently at their peak for a considerable period. If they do manage to beat the Aussies, they will have to prove that they can play like the best for years,a la Aussies.

Though one thing is for sure, Aussies won't give up. Last test comin up people!! Don't miss it!!!

Big Sad Man has jumped on the blogosphere

2005-08-24T15:19:00.000+09:30

BigSadMan[read Aditya Udas] has finally decided to give in and jump on the blogging bandwagon.Read more here.

The TV Serial MEME

2005-08-23T18:16:00.000+09:30

Hi everybody. This is the first time I have responded to a tag for a meme. I generally don't like this, but this one is on Shriniwas's insistense.

// Comedy - Sitcoms - etc
Favorite Comedy (Hindi) : Jee Mantriji
Favorite Comedy (English) (FRIENDS not Allowed ;) ) : This is horrible. Why isn't FRIENDS allowed,dhaps? Well "The Drew Carrey Show" then..

// Soaps Reality Action etc etc
Favorite Show (Hindi):    The Great Indian Laughter Challenge [I think the show is hilarious]
Favorite Show (English): The Contender

Favorite Cartoon(s) (no comments on language ... huh)
Simpsons

//Movie time
Favorite Hollywood Movie seen on TV only (Be honest) :    Snatch

Favorite Bollywood Movie seen on TV only (Be honest) : Saraansh Jaani Dushman [awesome movie so bad that it becomes extremely entertaining] :-)

Favorite DD program (National or regional) (Chitrahaar excluded) : Surabhi [used to watch it long time back. Don't have any current DD viewing experience :-)]

Most Enjoyed Sport on TV : Cricket

Favorite News Anchor : Barkha Dutt
Favorite Talk Show anchor/hostess : Jay Leno

//Extra
Your Wishes/ opininons about the following channel groups (At least 2) :

Star Movies, HBO, Zee Studio:   Decent movies .I suppose the English film buffs will have a lot to complain about these channels.

Cartoon Network, POGO, Nickelodeon: Don't watch it now.

Discovery Channel, Travel n Living Animal Planet, History, NGC: History Channel is particularly good. Some excellents coverage of historic events,personalities.

Channel [V], MTV, ETC, ZeeMusic: Cool!

Star World, Zee Cafe, Hallmark: Star World ,Zee Cafe cover some excellent ,albeit old, shows between them. Never watched Hallmark.

Sports: ESPN_STAR is the best.

Others:

ICC Subscribers can Curse Krackjack (Razzaq) Here (optional):
Am a Hathway subscriber so no comments.

I Tag:
1)Shriniwas Kulkarni

2)Neel Tiwari
3)Aditya Udas

How can JOEY be improved??

2005-08-03T22:03:00.000+09:30

I have had enough of the rains.A new day without rain has arrived. A post about something which I really like.

JOEY will start it's second season from this September.

After watching season 1 of JOEY there is no way a FRIENDS fan will be a satisfied person. First of all, the characters in JOEY are not something that you will adore. JOEY suffers from being too monotonous. Accepting Joey's stupidity stops after a point.It is alright if the storyline involves the side characters more once in a while.
Another thing I feel JOEY lacks is a guy friend for Joey. I mean someone who he hangs out with. The Howie guy is really pathetic.They should have a proper actor fillling that void.

Another touchy question, "Should they have FRIENDS come on the Show?" .Well as far as I see it is not the right time for FRIENDS to arrive on Joey. The show needs to get it's viewer base in place first. Another viewpoint is that if the FRIENDS don't make an appearance quickly there may be no viewer base left, seeing how Joey's ratings are going down. Rumours are flying thick and fast about the FRIENDS appearing.
Nothing has been confirmed till now.

I know there won't be too many people interested to read this.But what the heck.This is my favourite topic.

My World this week

2005-07-30T16:37:00.000+09:30

My World this week

The Good part:
Last Saturday & Sunday were awesome. Had a great time at my Grandma's place in Miraj.Saw a barrage of movies :

Bunty Aur Babli
Virudh
Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya [maine yeh movie kyun dekhi !!! :-( ]
Waqt

to name a few. Yeah as u guessed saw just about any movie I could. :-)

Joined in IdeaWings Pvt Ltd [the same comapany where Udas is working] from Monday. The first couple of
days went nicely. Learned quite a few things. Also learned that I don't know a thing :-) .

The Bad part:
Reports started coming in about the disaster in Mumbai. Every year there are atleast a couple of days in Mumbai when the locals , life in general is affected . But this time the magnitude was something which none imagined. The guys at work were worried[quite a few of them are Mumbaikars]. The mobiles n/ws etc down meant people were unreachable. Was worried about all my relatives as well.

         Next day conatct was possible [thankfully]. Heard first hand the accounts of some relatives. People walked 20 kms braving the natural elements. Read some blogs as well.

Udas went to Mumbai as his house was submerged. All furniture, electrical appliances ruined. No lights, phone[landline] dead. In general a pathetic situation.

The future looks grim though. All the threats of   disease,etc .looms large. Plus more rains forecast .

Seeing the general determination of the average Mumbaikar, Mumbai will come thru this as well.

Read some first hand experiences here.

A worrisome Saturday and Sunday awaits...

A relevant film

2005-07-16T05:17:00.000+09:30

I had decided not to post anything on my blog till I get a job. Will come to know next week for sure. The only reason I couldn't resist posting something on my blog was that I happened to see the most relevant film for our generation today "Saatchya Aat Gharat" .

Tonight while switching thru channels came across the movie on my Cable Channel. This was a movie I wanted to see for a long time.Thank god I was lucky that it was the start. The movie ,as is probably well publicized, is about the infamous incident [that of the rape of an outstation girl by a man posing as a policeman].

The protagonists in the movie are a typical "mod" college group. The typical college talk, affairs,etc is what is talked about as the gradual build up to their characters begins. We have

a sheltered,rich girl in Kartika Rane[I think];her boyfriend , some Telegu dude ;an activist's daughter who wants to do something about the situation; a middle class girl who tries hard to match her well to do friends,;a 'gavcha local politiciancha natu'; and of course the unfortunate couple. The story mainly involves these people and their families as they are caught in the situation.

The movie deals with the trauma that the rape victim.her friends, her boyfriend as well , families ,etc go thru bcos of the incident. The movie discusses every pertinent issue that this generation faces. Right from the moral police and their work on Valentines Day , to the general loss of identity or values that the generation is going thru.

Where the movie scores is that it has managed to present both sides of the coin on every pertinent issue without being judgemental. I really was almost frightened to ask myself what I would have done in such a situation. Personally was glad to come across a movie where the "hero" does not have all the answers. I think this moive is as good as a Hindi film as there is almost 70-30 tilt in favour of Hindi than Marathi. Again convincing given the protagonists and their characters.

I generally don't feel this way about movies but somehow "Saatchya Aat Gharat" made me feel like this could happen around me in Pune. A must watch even if u understand very little Marathi , and if you are staying in Pune or any other cosmopolitian city.

A confused Indian

2005-06-27T22:42:00.000+09:30

I was reading Nikhil's post on the Congress's role in the freedom struggle here the other day. Some pertinent points raised in the post.

As far as the Congress goes well there are a couple of things I can't forgive it for :

1> The whole Kashmir problem :

I believe after all the material I read , the Kashmir problem could have been tackled in 1947 itself had it not been Nehru's "vision" to be the "messenger of peace" .

2> Loss in the 1962 Indo-China war :

The less I say about this the better. A big blunder in foreign policy . Nehru backed China's permanent security council seat (which India might have got and strangely something which we want now ).The whole "Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai campaign" and the horrible aftermath. The War. The war for which we were not prepared , the war for which we strangely did not use the one thing we were better with , The Air Force (Would love Mihir's view on this) ,the war which we lost horribly and the war which somehow filled the Indian psyche with distrust when it comes to anything that looks Chinese.

I remember during the last election there was a heated debate between us first time voters in College. There were people who thought Congress was filled with hypocrites , some pooh-poohed the BJP and some simply refused to vote for Arun Bhatia saying "You know he is not going to win. Why should I waste my vote?". An appalling stand to take. The general consensus of the whole discussion turned out to be this Congress sucks but unfortunately so does the BJP. Voting for the fringe parties like NCP is something that should be avoided. This is simply because we do not know who they are doing to side with once the poll results are out.

The verdict was "Pick the lesser evil" . Because of the above mentioned reasons I would never pick the Congress in such a situation (at least currently). I believe AB Vajpayee's government

was better than the current UPA (which includes the Left).

Whichever party comes to to power should not think , it was their mandate that got them the power but it was the mistakes made by the previous government. This I am sure will repeat till the foreseeable future.

Mr and Mrs Rambo ???

2005-06-23T04:48:00.000+09:30

Saw Mr. and Mrs Smith with some friends the other day. An extremely ordinary movie with ordinary acting, Angelina Jolie looks brilliant throughout the movie. But unfortunately that is not exactly everything that is needed to make a movie click.

You don't need a description of the plot here .If you have seen the trailers , you have seen the best parts of the movie + you did not have to waste a couple of hours.

I can't find out any technical faults in the movie. I mean nice lighting, terrific sets, clever camera movement, sexy actors. It's a slick movie without even a basic humane storyline. There is absolutely no substance in the movie.

So you have John and Jane Smith , a typical urban couple ,but one which leads surprising secret lives. Both are top agents of 2 different competing Secret agencies.

Well the movie claws ahead and our lead couple destroy their house, and some buildings,elevators while fighting against each other. Then they decide to join hands ,kill 2-3 dozen more people and come to know of the Agencies plot(?)

[ I dunno if there were some cuts introduced for the movie in India, but I for one could not find a satisfying explanation for the Government Agencies coming after them]

And then again in the climax some "eggzelent" team display as the Smiths enable "GOD Mode" and kill 4-5 dozen "agents/goons". Absolutely laughable.

I really thought their names should have been John and Jane Rambo instead of John and Jane Smith. Only way people could have bought a flick like this.

So lets (not) hear it for Mr & Mrs Rambo ,,,ahemm Mr & Mrs Smith everyone.....

MESCOE ke liye OK bolo

2005-06-15T16:58:00.000+09:30

"Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd today announced that Mr Saurabh Jain and Mr Gaurang Sinha from MES College of Engineering, Pune, have won the Indian leg of the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2005."

Read the complete article

It is really worth appreciating that students from colleges other than the top brass (read VIT ,COEP,PICT) have achieved this.

As far as achievements from MESCOEites are concerned , we had Amit Dhurandar who had won at MIcroMouse thing at Powai 2 years back and then won again at Concepts alongwith Kartik Shankarnarayan and his group. Plus quizzing was always popular in MESCOE as well.(Any other?)

Not bad for a "young" college at all.

To Sauabh and Gaurang

Go ahead and give it your best shot. You have done MESCOE proud.

Is Sonu Nigam in the Kishore-Rafi league yet......

2005-06-09T04:36:00.000+09:30

Hi guys exam time over.

My blog is being updated at last.

I have deliberated a long time on this question.

Is Sonu Nigam in the Kishore-Rafi league yet.......

Well I am sure there will be uproar like

What the....

How can he compare with them?.....

Kishore - Rafi ... U must be bonkers

I think Kishore Kumar and Mohd. Rafi will remain the ultimate benchmark a singer can be compared with. It's like whether u are comparable to Bradman? What I think has happened is that we think no one can beat these greats.

TRUE.

None can ,"but unfortunately no one even compares with them" is the general perception.

New songs are forgotten quickly? .....New songs lyrics? R there any??

Typical reactions to the general fresh stock of songs which comes in the market. If u take the golden era (50s-80s) the "Lyrics", the "Music" and the treatment on screen was good.

Contemporary songs except for a few from Javed Akhtar , Gulzar have absolutely forgettable lyrics. The music very often is "inspired".

All this is actually no fault of the singer's ,is it?

I mean on pure singing talent Sonu Nigam can atleast come close (than the rest of the current flock )to those greats IMHO.

What ultimately works for the song will be a combination of lyrics,music,et all ..

Some of Sonu's songs like

Har ghadi badal rahi hai......

Yeh dill....deewana......---(from Pardes)

will always remain personal favorites.

Would love to have some feedback on this hurriedly written post......

2005-05-14T15:42:00.000+09:30

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Unfortunately all my earlier comments are gone. :-(

Strange coincdences

2005-05-11T17:29:00.000+09:30

Hi all just got this e-mail from my friend Kevin,
This one is interesting!!!

Have a history teacher explain this if they can !

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost a child while living in the
WhiteHouse.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head.

Now it gets really weird.

Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in
1808
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in
1908

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born
1839
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born
1939

Both assassins were known by their three names.
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

Now hang on to your seat !

Lincoln was shot at the theater named "Ford."
Kennedy was shot in a car called "Lincoln" made by
"Ford."

Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their
trials.

And here's the "kicker":

A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe,
Maryland.
A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn
Monroe.

and Lincoln was shot in a theater and the assassin ran
to a warehouse.
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and the assassin ran
to a theater.

Just plain bad luck or a Quirk of fate

2005-05-09T13:56:00.000+09:30

The Blues rule the EPL.

Headlines in this regard and the pics of Terry and Lampard and Co. were splashed on every TV station,newspaper ,etc. No one can doubt that Chelsea played like Champs this season.

Their talent,enthusiasm and the no nonsense approach inculcated by Jose Mourinho is there for everyone to see. It was however sad that they failed to make it to the Champions League Finals this year.A bad decision and I definitely think it was a poor decision cost Chelsea the spot. But it must be said they looked a tad too defensive against Liverpool.

Well it will definitely be a farce if Liverpool beat AC Milan in that finals. This is because then there is every chance that Liverpool will not be able to defend it next year.

Now there are two takes on this issue.

1> Well how can there be a tournament without it's defending champions. Now for the World Cup Brazil are the team which automatically qualifies for the next Cup,why can't there be a similar thing for the Champions League?

2> A club team which does not even feature in top four clubs of their country does not deserve to be in the Champions League. The league was put to showcase the best of Europe in a competition. If Liverpool fails to come in the top four in EPL they do not deserve a place in the Champions League. Play consistently all season and then expect to be one of the best in Europe.

I subscribe to the second view actually. I mean here we have a team which is not performing in the EPL upto the standards and who does exceedingly well in the Champions League. Well anyway all this is just speculation anyway. I give Liverpool a 40-60 chance of coming thru against a quality AC Milan side in Istanbul.

For Jose Mourinho and Co. at Chelsea it was heartbreaking I am sure. Well but if Liverpool win the finals they definitely be on Cloud No 9.

Comments welcome.

Whose "fault" is this anyway?

2005-05-03T13:55:00.000+09:30

A saga which has it all. The weeks events unfolded and really I could have anticipated that the some political party will take advantage of the boiling discontent against the MSEB (i.e recollecting the good old long form) Monday to Sunday Electricity Band "pan fakt char tas roj" .

This is an experience which I had

*Starring the MSEB

We were supposed to have 3-7pm on Saturday as the' light band' period but a supposed "major fault " forced the electricity to come only at 8.30. To make things worse I had my practical exams the next day morning.As if all this was not enough the lights used to come and go after every 5 mins after 8.30pm and actual uninterrupted power supply only returned after 9.15pm. Imagine my condition 3-9 no lights that too a day before a practical exam(I am by the way a Comp Eng. Student) .

Well actually I consider myself lucky that when I called the MSEB office actually found that the phone was not engaged and that I got an answer from the veej-daata's office. A "major fault" was all that the poor fellow could muster against my verbal onslaught(obviously I was not going to let an opportunity like this waste.) When else would I find a MSEB phone attended(It is always band like the electricity ,well that is my experience anyway).

Something is very wrong somewhere . Obviously we Punekars should accept the fact that load-shedding is going to take place(sadly) whether we like it or not . It is the extra power cuts i.e power cuts apart from the regular hours that actually angers me really. Sunday is actually the day that we (my area) were supposed to be exempted from load-shedding but the lights went anyway. Now that we had an almost 2 hours power cut on Sunday is the MSEB going to exempt us of load-shedding on a regular power-cut slot? This is where I think anger,frustration against the MSEB is going to come out. I really anticipated that some political party will take advantage of the boiling discontent against the MSEB.(which the Shiv Sena did eventually)

I know what the MSEB should do though:-

First and foremost :proper maintenance of the lines and other related things is must if it has to recover the public's sympathy.
Put off the huge Neon lights after 10pm(even if the Advertisers oppose)
Maybe alternate street lights could be switched off

I really am not at all an expert on this issue but these are some of my simple observations .

Well the blame of this for me falls on the policy making of the state government as well. The last Congress government for me should have handled and anticipated this problem . The icing on the cake is surely that the current state government is giving FREE POWER to farmers.Well here I go again

THIS HAPPENS ONLY IN INDIA or should I say MAHARASHTRA now.

Latest additions on the Blogroll

2005-04-26T03:23:00.000+09:30

I would like to welcome

Kunal Sawardekar ---- Fellow quizzer and the great money earner of the Pune quizizng scene :---) .Hope he has got rid of his beard by now.

Ganesh Hegde ----- Another fellow quizzer from VIT(new to blogging like me).

Everybody loves Joey Tribbiani

2005-04-24T18:31:00.000+09:30

Hi junta am reposting this in a better format.

Picture 2 Joey & the gang Picture 1 Andrea Anders as Alex

When I first saw F.R.I.E.N.D.S. I never knew that I would be so hooked to it. So much so that after watching all the episodes I was simply looking forward to the JOEY show .
I must admit I was disappointed when I saw the first few episodes featuring Joey and the gang.
The gang here is
Gina ,his sister
Michael ,the genius nephew
Alex ,the nosey (cute) neighbor
Some extra characters like Bobby his agent are thrown in with the plot. I should say this though don't make the mistake of thinking that you will enjoy JOEY as you would have enjoyed F.R.I.E.N.D.S. as you will be very very disappointed (as I was) . Unfortunately we have gotten used to Ross, Chandler, Rachel, Phoebe and Monica so much that the characters in JOEY don't live up to our expectations.Matt Le Blanc puts on a good show though and Andrea Anders as Alex is good as well.
So all in all watch it as if you are watching a new series and give the characters a chance to grow and maybe you will like it.

This happens only in India

2005-04-24T05:15:00.000+09:30

Yet again shamed by the incidents in Gujarat. Am writing this post more out of frustration than anything else.

Laloo Prasad "rules" yet again. Politics and the Blame-Game are played wonderfully by this "mahaan" Bihar ka "saviour". You had to be shocked to see the media covering intensely the flare-up between Laloo and Narendra Modi instead of giving importance to the tragic train accident.

I neither read nor saw any comments of Laloo regarding the train accident victims. Mud slinging among politicians is common for us Indians but what comes foremost is the tragedy,the reasons for it ,avoiding such things in the future.I don't expect Laloo to give up his "kursi" a la Lal Bahadur Shastri but the least he can do is not let meaningless things like personal ego escalate the situation.

I am no fan of Modi's but let's just say I "like" our Lalooji more.

Well as the Govinda song goes,

"This happens only in India....."

New additions to the blogroll

2005-04-24T04:34:00.000+09:30

I have added

on my blogroll.

2005-04-24T03:42:00.000+09:30

Netaji

Fw: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero

2005-04-24T03:37:00.000+09:30

Shyam Benegal is trying his hand at making a Biographical movie yet again. Remember

"Bhumika" about actress Hansa Wadkar and "Antarnaad" on social reformer Pandurang Shastri Athavale and I think "Making of the Mahatma" was also by him .I heard that the movie is very long 222 minutes. But to cover the multifaceted life that Netaji led you have to make a long movie. Knowing Benegal's style of cinema we can(hopefully) be assured that the film will do justice to Netaji and the extensive research that Benegal put in will not go waste.

Another part of the controversy was that Sachin Khedekar, the renowned Marathi actor was selected to play the part of Netaji.

On asked why he chose a lesser known face ,Benegal replied "Stars would have come in the way. Besides, I didn't know a single star who looks like Netaji or can be made to look like Netaji. I auditioned so many people, including two nephews of Netaji, who offered to play the part, but none fitted. I wanted the actor completely captive to me for the whole length of the shooting, which would not have been possible with a star." Sachin Khedekar looks remarkably like Netaji IMO.

Plus there is there is a AR Rahman treat in the offing as well. I heard some songs and liked them a lot.

Guess this is one movie I can't wait to watch.

My first post

2005-04-23T04:07:00.000+09:30

Well junta I will try to post stuff as regularly as I can .
This is to just satrt off.

YadaYadaYada.....

About being an introvert

Oh no its happening again...

Avatar: My review

opinion on Raj

Me and my Mo

The List (Cont...) Shot at Gold!

Martins Bucket List

I just don't get it

Hell on earth

My Mumbai she burns

A proud Marathi?

why is the IPL bad?

Its all happening Down Under

US dollar collapsing??

The 12th Man

October Sky

Why blame the bowlers

Nostalgia

Warnie calls it quits

The Simpsons: Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore

In the country

The favourite game

It's all lop-sided

An update. FINALLY!!!

A part of life??

Its all about profit

In the aftermath....

Whaat!!!

Krrish...

Nostalgic moments

Hardly a beautiful game!!

An interesting analogy

Phir nahi hera pheri, please...

Double standards

Very refreshing

How stupid

The Pune Slimes

Frustration

Almost 18

The best text-book

Really sad!!

Another interesting add-on

FRIENDS getting back?

Getting used to the Times

Justice at last?

Simply unbeleivable

Another post-mortem

An accidental quizzer

The Comic Project

"The Wonder Years" , indeed!!!

"Vinda" boli

Warney ,at it again

Is this right???

Dada o Dada

Another interesting Cricket related link

Absolutely breathtaking

As good as it gets

Check this out

Guess who "blogs" too???

Finally some sense

Hats off to u mate!!

A man who made sure he got into the history books

Blogroll Expansion

G vs G : Round Two

The fallen prince....

Unfair comparisons??

This happened to me

Dada's predicament

The Super Challenge--- The Ashes

Big Sad Man has jumped on the blogosphere

The TV Serial MEME

How can JOEY be improved??

My World this week

A relevant film

A confused Indian

Mr and Mrs Rambo ???

MESCOE ke liye OK bolo

Is Sonu Nigam in the Kishore-Rafi league yet......

Strange coincdences