Khaitan...Bas Naam Hi Kaafi Hai

(From L to R: Khaitan, Anutosh, Me, Bhaskar, Nisheeth, Vikash, Dilip)

"Best Friend" is a loosely used term. Technically, there should be only person that you can refer as best friend. However, when asked about their best friend, almost everyone comes up with more than one name. Anyways, I am not here to discuss the technicalities. I have written all that gyaan as even I have more than one best friend :P

Let me introduce you to Mr. Vikas Khaitan. This guy is one of his kind. He is gem of a person. And he is quite a character. We are good friends even though we are poles apart. Probably thats what makes our friendship so interesting. In the last 8 years, we have had several great moments together. I thought it will be a good idea to jot down some of those moments and record them in my blog. The post will remind me of the great time Khaitan and I have spent together. My readers (if any) can also get to know this interesting character. Here are are the some of the interesting moments we have shared.

Jab We Met

Khaitan and me were in the same section in the MBA institute. But we did not hit off immediately. It was a class of around 60-70 students. I have always been an introvert and it takes time for me to mix up with new people. It was only at the end of the first semester when I first talked to Khaitan. I can clearly remember the day as it was the day on which the first semester CGPAs were going to be announced. I had to score at least 7 CGPA to save my scholarship. I was pretty nervous as I had not done too well (like always). A class was going on and suddenly someone shouted that the CGPAs are out!!! Everyone ran out to find out their result....I did not. I was too nervous to move from my chair. I must have been sitting over there for 4-5 minutes when I noticed that there is someone else in the class as well!!! So, there was someone else who was not too excited to know the result!!! It was Khaitan. His body language was suggesting that he is equally nervous. I went to him and asked him if he has nervous and he said yes. I sat with him. We spent the next few minutes comparing our scores in various subjects (individual subject results were already out and we were waiting for the final CGPA for the semester). After comparing the scores, I started feeling slightly better as my scores were much better!!! I wont disclose the CGPAs but this moment introduced us to each other and brought us closer (strictly in an unromantic manner). In a class, where most were academically superior, we had found our match!!!

Freshers Party

I am not much of a party animal; I feel out of place in parties. And....Khaitan loves to party. We used to...and still have so many arguments over this issue. No points for guessing that the incident that I want to share involves a party. It was the freshers party that my batch had organized for the juniors. Like every party, Khaitan was all gung-ho and .....I did not want to go!! Till the day of the party, I had not told him that I wont be coming as that would have caused the world war III. On the day of the party, Khaitan called me in the morning and told me that he will be coming to pick me up in the evening. I did not want to give him a last minute surprise so I broke the news to him. As expected, he got furious and asked me the reason. I could not think of anything else so I told him that I do not have anything to wear (which was not entirely incorrect). He just said "okay" and put down the phone.

In the evening, all my flatmates got ready and left for the party. I was alone at our flat and was getting bored. Then Khaitan arrived with three shirts and couple of trousers!!! I was surprised...and overwhelmed. I was thinking that why does it matter to him so much; Why do I matter to him so much? Thats Khaitan. I went to the party...but in my own clothes.

Cheating in Class Test

I have mentioned earlier that me and Khaitan were not too great in studies. I used to study only for the mid-semester and end-semester exams....and I cannot comment about Khaitan (as he would kill me). To make our lives miserable, we used to have a class test every other day.

Once there was a class test and Khaitan and I were totally depending on Khaitan's room mate, Vikram Tiwary. In the test, Vikram sat in one corner, next to him was Khaitan and then me. I was not too comfortable with this seating arrangement as I had to depend on Khaitan's writing speed!!! Anyways, the test started. Vikram raced away from his pole position. I was anxiously looking at Khaitan....and there he was......drawing "borders" on his answer sheet. I was shocked!!! Then finally he started writing. He wrote one line....and then stopped. Then he reached out to his bag. Took out a "pink highlighter"!!!! He highlighted the only sentence he had written so far and then looked towards Vikram's paper. By then Vikram had finished one page and was looking at Khaitan with frustration. So was I. But thats the way the entire test went. I learnt an important lesson that day. Dont think I started studying for class tests!! Its just that from the next test onwards, I used to sit next to a studious guy!!

Hawai-Chappal

It was World Cup 2003. I was watching a match at my flat. I was wearing a trouser and a round neck t-shirt. I had written a few slogans on the t-shirt and painted a tricolor on it (please pay attention as this information is important). Suddenly I heard someone honking from the parking on the ground floor.....continously. I looked from the window and it was Khaitan. Well...who else? I told him that I will be down there in a few seconds. I started looking for my shoes but was unable to find it. He kept honking so I wore my bathroom slippers and rushed for the parking. Now, let me tell you that I never step out of the house in my bathroom slippers...something which is pretty common for others. Since I was just going to the ground floor and Khaitan was continously honking....I wore the slippers.

In the parking, Khaitan and I started talking. There was no particular discussion topic and we were discussing anything and everything. He was sitting on his bike and I was standing. We must have talked for around 45 minutes when I started feeling tired. So I went and sat behind him on his bike. Thats when he struck; he pounced on his prey!!! As soon as I sat on the bike, Khaitan pressed the electric start and off we went!!! I kept asking, shouting, begging him to stop but he did not. He took me to the house of one of our batchmates. Thats where I came to know that Khaitan was taking the other guy and his girl friend for a dinner!!! Everyone was dressed-up for the dinner. And there I was, standing in a funny looking t-shirt, a faded trouser and bathroom slippers!!! I told them that that I wont go but nobody listened to me. In any case, I was standing in the middle of a posh residential area without my wallet so I had no choice. I went to the restaurant with them.

In the restaurant, I tried to make a quiet entry. I was walking quietly to our table, hoping that nobody notices me. Suddenly Khaitan, who was walking infront me, turned back.....pointed towards my feet and SHOUTED....."arre, tu chappal pahan kar aaya hai!!!". Everyone started looking at me, my slippers and my tshirt. I felt like I should dig a hole in the floor and bury myself.

Snacks & Treats

Back in MBA days, I used to have very little money with me. I used to ask for only a little sum (something that I changed in the last two semesters and I still feel ashamed of that) from my father. But I had many expenses. It takes a lot of fuel to keep this large engine running. But I do not think that I ever paid any food bill when Khaitan was around. I do not know why he used to do that but he never let me pay any food bill. I owe him for all the emotional as well as financial support that he has provided over the years.

One night on the streets of Howrah

During my summer internship, I took a leave and went to Kolkata. My father was posted near Kolkata and there were other attractions as well. That time, Khaitan was also in Kolkata (Howrah, to be precise) as he was doing his internship with HLL, Kolkata. One night before I was supposed to start back for Hyderabad, me and my parents came to Khaitan's place. There, I decided that I will spend the night over there and catch the train in the morning from the Howrah Station (Like many decisions in my life, I regret that decision as I hurt my parents a lot. They wanted to spend time with me. I wish I could change all that). The primary driver behind that decision was that there was no phone in the army guest house in which we were staying. And I needed a phone for the entire night. Not that Khaitan's flat had a phone but I could have atleast gone to a phone booth.

My parents left after dinner. But then I realised that all the phone booths had closed down for the night!!! Seeing that I am desperate, Khaitan got into action. We went to a nearby STD shop. It was closed. There was someone sleeping outside it. Khaitan woke the poor guy up and asked where does the owner of the STD booth stay. The poor guy did not know about the owner but he told us that one of the staffs stays in the nearby muslim colony.

It was about 1:30 am. We went to the muslim colony and woke up several annoyed people to find out the house of "Salim". People in the colony were thinking that we have come to rough-up Salim and a lot of them started following us. It was damn scary. My presence over there can still be justified but why Mr. Khaitan was there.......is inexplicable!!! We finally found the messiah sleeping on the second floor of an under-construction building. The guy was shocked to hear the reason behind our visit...quite naturally so. We wanted him to open up the booth, put a phone in Khaitan's flat and connect it with the line in the booth....all that at around 2:30 am!!! You think thats surprising? It is but wait for more!!! Whats more surprising is that Salim agreed!!! He came with us, opened his booth and tried all he could......but some technicalities failed us!!! After that, we thanked Salim for his kindness and left for Howrah station...assuming that the station will definitely have a booth. Forget about the booth, the entire station was locked!!! But we found a booth in one of the zillion bylanes around the station. I spent the remaining part of the night on the phone.....Khaitan spent the remaining part of the night in trying to sleep on an uncomfortable chair!!! I cannot think of any other person who could have been with me in that madness.

Finance Courses

Before elaboraing this, let me give some background. Khaitan's family has a "distribution empire" in Asansol (West Bengal) . They have the distributorship of Hindustan Lever, Airtel, Piaggio, Phillips....a chemical business, a detergent factory, an ice factory etc etc. He could have chosen to run his family business but he chose to do MBA and prove himself (did he succeed in doing that? That will be a different blog post). He went against his father, ran away from home and came to Hyderabad to do MBA. He wanted to learn as much as he can and as many different things as possible before returning back to his hometown and family business!!! (the outcome of this endeavour will also be discussed in the same "different" blog post that was mentioned a short while back).

Both of us had opted for hardcore marketing specialization. But some smartass suggested that he should also take-up a few finance courses. Now Khaitan is a guy, who gets easily convinced by people he "admires". I tried to convince him a lot but he had made up his mind (I was not a guy that he admired!!!) He opted for two finance papers in the last semester. His logic was that the knowledge would help him in his family business. Yeah right.....the day his father starts dealing in derivatives, he would look towards Khaitan to run the show!!!

Anyways, finally the mid-semester exams arrived. On the day of the exam of one of the finance courses that Khaitan had taken up, I called him in the morning. I told him that he would anyways fail so its better to skip the exam and watch a movie instead. He refused saying that he has prepared well. I wished him luck and put down the phone. 40 minutes after the scheduled start of the test (first 30 minutes for objective type questions and the remaining for the main test), I got a call. It was Khaitan!!! I do not remember whether we went for the movie or not but we did hang-out somewhere. Thanks to relative grading and Vikas Khaitan, a lot of people got high grades even after scoring low!!!

Relative's Marriage

For the exams in the fourth semester, Khaitan asked me to come and stay at his place. I do not like group studies or combined studies so I initially refused. But then it is difficult to convince Khaitan. So I agreed, packed my bag and moved to his place. On the very evening that I moved over there, Khaitan told me that there is a marriage of one of his distant relatives in the city and we have to go to attend it. For that, I put my foot down and said no. Exams are the only times when I used to get serious about studies. So he went to attend the marriage along with 4-5 other guys from the institute, who did not want to miss lavish and more importantly, free dinner.

Now let me tell you about Marwari marriages. I have been told by Khaitan that a marwari marriage is usually a 4-5 days affair. Everyday there is a dinner. And in the end, they serve hot milk as the dessert!!! Khaitan was invited for the entire ceremony and that means great and free dinner for 4-5 consecutive days!!!

On the first day, Khaitan returned at around 2 am. I opened the door for him and went back to sleep. At around 3 am, strange noises in the room woke me up. I looked around and saw Khaitan rolling on the floor!!! He was holding his tummy and was violently rolling on the floor!!! When asked, he told me that he had way too much food at the party!!! It seems that he and his friend hogged like crazy at the dinner. And just when they thought that now they cannot have absolutely anything more, a good-looking girl came and offered sweets. They somehow managed to fit the sweets in their system....and then each of them had a glass of hot milk!!!! No wonder he was rolling on the floor like that. But Khaitan was not worried about the pain at all. Between all the rolling and shouting in pain, he asked me how will he manage to go for the dinner on the next day!!!!

They went for dinner on all 4-5 days, I studied alone at his place.

ERP

I do not exactly remember the semester but we had a course on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in one of the semesters. Its not that I mastered all other courses in MBA, but this was one subject which was absolutely latin and greek to me....and most others. As most people were clueless about this subject throughout the semester, it was decided that in the exam people will be allowed to sit infront of a computer. All that students had to do was to search the right answer in the ERP library and write that in the answer sheet!!! Wait.....it was not as easy at it sounds. Since most people did not understand the question, identifying the right answer was pretty difficult. However, I somehow managed to get pretty good score in the mid-semester as well as class tests/assignments. Now, all I had to do was to score decent marks in the finals to get an A. For some reason, Khaitan was not liking this at all. He used to tell me that in the finals he will score more than me.

In the final exams, there was a shortage of computers and so it was decided that two people will share each computer. I was sitting with Abhishek Mehta, one of the most studious guys in my class. On next computer, Khaitan was sitting with Pooja Wadhera (when it comes to academics, Pooja is also in the same league as me and Khaitan). I was totally relying on Mehta's ability to search the answers. I must tell you...it was a mistake. All through the exam, Mehta kept getting confused again and again....and again. And all this while, Khaitan and Pooja were giggling and shouting "mil gaya hamein...mil gaya hamein"!!! By the time they finished one answer sheet, I had not even finished a single page!!! And their answers were full of colorful diagrams and all. When only 40-45 minutes were left, I requested them to give their sheet to me to copy. They refused. I told them that now not much time is left so I will be able to write only the text and they will score more as they have also made all those diagrams. That sounded logical to them. They gave the sheets to me. I copied their answers word by word. After the exam, Khaitan and Pooja were dancing in the parking lot and teasing me that now they will score more as they have the advantage of the "diagrams"

Few days later, the scores were out. Khaitan and Pooja, who had identical answer sheets, got 60 out of 100. I got 84 out of 100!!!! One has to understand the diagrams and draw them at the correct places!!!

IQ Test

Though there are several interesting incidents, but for now this is the last incident that I will be sharing. Once Khaitan and I were sitting in the IT lab of our institute. We were checking mails, chatting and all. Suddenly Khaitan became very excited and told me that he has received a link of an IQ test. One had to answer a few questions and the website would give the IQ score. Khaitan suggested that we give the test at the same time but on different computers. I do not like such tests and I was occupied with something else. So I refused. Like Khaitan always does in such situations, he challenged me and commented that I am scared of losing. I agreed to give the test and we started. Khaitan finished a few seconds before me and he submitted his test. He got a score of 139. Now, I am not sure how the IQ scores work and whether 139 is a good score or not but the result mentioned that 95% people score 140 or less. Then I submitted my test. And I got a score of 141!!! Till this date I tease him that he is part of the "masses" and I am among the select few!!!

Those are some of the interesting moments that Khaitan and I have shared together. As the incidents suggest, Khaitan is a great friend and a great companion to hang-out with. But for me, he is more than that. He has always been there for me and I owe him a lot.

Can I use the loo?

Thanks to the amount of travel I do and a phobia that I have, I have used public toilets at every airport I have been to. Let me tell you that in most cases, it has been an ordeal. There is nothing more repulsive than a dirty loo. I am glad that the government has privatized several airports in the country. Now some of the airports (especially Hyderabad, Bangalore, Delhi) have 5-star toilets!!! Mumbai has been a mixed bag. And Ahmedabad is at the bottom of the pyramid*.

Mr. Narendra Modi, I really liked your city. But please clean your loo. Either have more efficient staff in your loos or privatize the airport. For Heaven's Sake!!!

(*Please note that I haven't been to all the airports in India. There could be others which are worse)

Gurgaon, as a place to live

In my profession, there are not places in India where one can move to. The choices are pretty limited. Mumbai, Bangalore, NCR, Hyderabad and Chennai. People rotate around in these cities only. For me, the choice are even less since I did not like Bangalore....and Mumbai is too fast for me. NCR used to always attract me because of the proximity of several tourist places. You can plan so many things for the weekends.....Jaipur, Corbett, Dehradun, Vaishno Devi, Shimla...the choices are unlimited.

I spent the last 4 days at Gurgaon. Was there for an official visit. There, I got the flavor of the real Gurgaon. Let me share what I liked about the place and what I did not.

Things I liked (first impression);

• The city looked pretty spread-out. Though the city has more sky scrapers than most Indian cities, it does not look crowded
• Road infrastructure. Gurgaon has one of the best road infrastructure in the country
• Plenty of malls and shopping complexes
• Several multiplexes
• No dearth of "eye-candies"
• Great food joints

Things I did not like (first impression);

• People. Even the rickshaw wallah thinks he is the Prime Minister. More often than not, you will bumb into a rude and money-minded person
• Public Conveyance. Not everyone likes a ride in a six-seater auto or a cycle rickshaw!!! After a meeting, I spent more than an hour looking for a taxi. Residents agree that public conveyance is a huge pain point. If you do not have your own vehicle, you are in trouble
• Electricity. Not that I faced huge problems, however residents told me that power-cuts are regular phenomenon
• Weather. Too hot in summers, too cold in winters
• Costly

Overall, Gurgaon did not excite me a lot. It is not that I have been totally discouraged and wont consider it as an option. But I will definitely think twice.

A day at the airports

Date: 26 Aug 2009

Time: 1939 hrs

It has been a crazy day. Almost entire day has been spent on the airports. Yawn

0300 hrs: Got up in the morning

0415 hrs: Took the cab for the Shamshabad Airport (Hyderabad)

0500 hrs: Reached the airport

0500-0600 hrs: Sat on the airport, waiting for the flight

0600 hrs: Took the Indigo flight for Mumbai

0715 hrs: Reached Mumbai airport

0715 - 1050 hrs: Sat on the Mumbai airport, waiting for the Jet flight for Ahmedabad

1050 hrs: Took the Jet flight to Ahmedabad

1200 hrs: Reached Ahmedabad airport

1200-1430 hrs: Sat on the Ahmedabad Airport as my meeting was at 1630 hrs

1730 hrs-Now: Waiting for my Indigo flight for Delhi. The flight is at 2050 hrs

I will reach Delhi at 2240 hrs (if the flight is on time, indigo usually is on time).

I am feeling like Tom Hanks in the movie, "Terminal". Yawn

Recently watched Vinod Kambli on the show "Sach Ka Saamna". The particular episode was already making buzz due to the news that Kambli has said something against his best friend and the god of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar. Well, I am not here to talk about that. Though I would say that I am relieved that the truth is out and now everyone knows that Kambli had not said anything bad about Sachin.

I just want to congratulate Vinod Kambli. There was a time when Kambli was my favorite cricketer. There used to be a wall in my room at Ranchi which was covered with paper cuttings about Kambli. I have fought with so many people while arguing that Kambli is better than most and is not getting his due. Now, he does not play anymore. His bank balance is nothing great....as revealed by him on the show. Kambli answered the questions with honesty, showed that he is truthful to his wife....and after winning 10 lakh rupees, he quit the show!!! Thats probably the first time that he demonstrated self-control!!!

I still love you Kambli. All the best!!!

Sach Ka Saamna: Lets Face It!!!

Just can't believe all the fuss about the show "Sach Ka Saamna". I agree that it is pretty bold. I had watched a few episodes of the american version (Moment of Truth) before the Indian version started. When I came to know that the Indian version is starting, I thought that the Indian audience may not be prepared for it. I thought that people wont participate. But to my surprise, people are not only participating, they are actually answering a lot of "awkward' questions. And, it is not the participants who are protesting. Its the "moral police" or the "guardians of Indian culture).....our politicians who are protesting. But why??

I personally do not have an issue with the show. Following are some of my reasons;

• If the participants are okay about answering the questions, who are we to stop them
• Participants are adults and they know what they are getting into. They are asked all these questions earlier and so they do get a flavor of things to follow. They still come and answer the questions. Its their call, isnt it?
• I don't think that the show will have a bad effect on the youngsters as the show comes at 10:30 pm. All kids should be in bed by that hour
• TRP is increasing. That means people are watching it, enjoying it but are pretending that they are not accepting it!!!
• If one finds the show offensive, vulgar etc......please do not watch. Change the channel. That's what the remotes are for
• There are several other shows and soaps which cause far more serious dent on our society. Why isn't anyone questioning them?
• I like the show. Its enjoyment at the cost of someone else. (What a cheapo I am??!!??) I personally would never participate in such a show as I have way too many secrets. And I would like to take the secrets with me to my cell in hell. Its just good to see that I wont be alone in hell!!!

The Gods Must Be Crazy!!!

I am a big time foodie (just look at me once and you will able to make that out yourself). I love having different kind of food. And I must admit that the kind of food I love won’t feature in any dietician’s recommended list. However, as I am facing zillions of health complications, I have been trying to find healthier alternatives. During this search, I have uncovered a huge flaw in god’s system!!!

God made this world. But why did he/she have to make a few things so complicated? Why is it that the kind of food one likes to have is always unhealthy? Burgers and pizzas are unhealthy but having raw garlic is good for health!!! God certainly has a sad sense of humour!!!

If you are confused whether a dish is good for your health or not, just rely on your taste buds. If you do not like the food......in all probability, it is good for you. (Note: Please do not have something like cow dung to prove my theory wrong). There are few things (the list is certainly not too long) which taste good and are also good for health. For example, corn flakes. But one cannot have corn flakes 3 times a day and 365 days a year!!!

You can imagine my frustration as I actually sat down and created a 2*2 metric (see below). One side has the “taste meter” and the other has “health meter”. As it goes with most metrics, the “place to be” is the extreme “north-east” corner. In other words, the items in the extreme NE are the best to have as they are yummy as well as healthy. But whats that!!! There is nothing in the extreme NE corner!!! That is the flaw in god’s system!!!

Open Letter to the Indian Army Chief

Good Evening General,

How are you Sir?

I am writing this letter to you as I have a request. Before jumping to the request, let me give you some background.

My cousin brother recently left the Indian Army and did an MBA “crash course” from a prestigious institute. He never was too keen to join the army at the first place and certainly did not have the initention to serve the army for his whole life. He is not alone. Not that I need to tell you but each year, several officers leave the Indian Army and join a course in IIMs or XLRI to pursue a fat pay package in the corporate world. It is not that I look down upon them. Everyone has her/his priorities. And it’s good that the Indian Army is giving such options to its officers, who realize that they can make a better career outside.

Similarly, cannot we device a mechanism for a “reverse crossover”? What if there is a 29 year old sitting in a cubicle (read: me) in a private office who would like to leave everything and join the Indian Army? He may have a better pay package than army officers of the same age but he still wants to “swap” jobs. He may not be really physically fit to be in the army NOW but can’t he be considered? After all, it’s not that all your officers in the IIMs today are fit to be in the IIMs!!! And he promises to be fit for the army if given an opportunity.

Presently, when you are facing manpower shortage in the army, I would say that you should consider this "reverse crossover" mechanism. Nowadays, some people are joining the Indian Army as they want to serve for a while and then leave for a more glamorous career. Then there are some, who do not have much options. My feeling is that there are not many people who are joining the army as they are really motivated to wear that olive uniform and serve the army for their life. There is at least one such guy (the same 29 year old that I talked about earlier), who has that motivation. He would prefer being at Siachin than sitting in an AC office. Please consider him as he can truly be a role model.

Thanks and Regards,

The 29 year old

Fly Indigo

I am not a frequent flyer (however I might soon become one...thanks to my new job!!!) but I have done good amount of air travel. I have flown with most carriers and my experiences have never been too bad. Touchwood!!! In fact, I have seldom had very bad experience with Air Deccan (now Kingfisher Red) as well. So you would agree that I have been lucky.

However, till a month back, I had never taken an Indigo Airlines flight. I had heard a lot of stories regarding this airline, especially when it was newly launched. Stories about bad air hostesses (“the” most important criteria for selecting a carrier) and how they serve water in cheapest quality of disposable cups etc. So I used to always avoid this carrier. I had this impression that it the cheapest low cost carrier.

My present job requires me to frequently fly to Mumbai from Hyderabad and as a company policy, I “have” to pick low cost carriers only. On one such trip, I tried Indigo since there was no other carrier that fit my schedule. I must say that I was highly impressed. In fact, I reached the destination before schedule!!! There is nothing fancy about the airlines. They do not have entertainment facilities, no magazine or newspaper, no free food. But they ensure that people reach their destination on time.....more often than not. I think that is what the “day travellers” look for the most. Now I prefer taking Indigo only!!! Great going guys!!!

Beauty on the Road!!!

A few days back, my friend Amit and I were driving around on Hyderabad roads. On a traffic signal, we saw this amazing vehicle right infront of us. It was black and it was two-seater. Thats the two thing that I noticed first. Then I noticed the logo.....It was "Bentley"!!! I was amazed but at the same time, I was thinking that someone has probably spent some money on "modifying" his vehicle and has got a fake logo. Indian mentality!!!

When the lights became green....everyone started crawling. We decided that we will chase the vehicle for a while....just to have a better look!!! This actually continued for around 8-10 minutes. The "fake" Bentley was struggling in the traffic and this was giving us time for our "expert" analysis on the vehicle. Then "the" Bentley saw an opening........and it ROARED!!! Vhhhhhhrrrooooooooooooooom...it vanished.

Later, I came to know that it was a Bentley Continental GT Speed....a 7000cc monster. It was slightly busy traffic otherwise my Santro would have caught the vehicle. Had I met the owner, I would have asked the same two questions that Chris Gardener asks the Ferrari owner in the movie..."Pursuit of Happyness"....."What do you do.....and How do you do it?"

Uncle Tom

Let me try my hand at some fiction (yeah right!!!)

Once upon a time.....(Dude, this beginning sucks!!!). Okay, I will try again. There is this guy called "Tom Uncle". Not from "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and not even the Tom from the "Tom, Dick, Harry" trio. Ok, let me get serious as this is a serious story.

Tom Uncle was younger than most among his circle of friends and relatives and thus was always treated as a kid. He was especially popular among kids. I liked him a lot (I decided to cast myself in this story. After all, it is my story. Do you have a problem with that?) and considered him more a friend than an "uncle".

Uncle Tom used to always sport a smile on his face. He had a miserable personal life but nobody cared to go beyond the smile on his face. Tom Uncle always ensured that everyone had fun. Everyone was happy and satisfied with that.

Tom Uncle always wanted to keep people around him happy. He used to go out of his way to help others. From time to time, he supported everyone in his circle emotionally and more importantly, financially. He gave money for the education of the kids of his friends/relatives, he once organized a grand party on the 25th anniversary of one his friends as the friend was, financially, not doing too well. He helped my father financially on multiple occasions as well. (If you have not noticed, I have included my father in my story!!! That’s the fun of writing a story). These are some of the examples of his good deeds. Overall, Uncle Tom came across as a great guy. Nobody knew what he is really going through in his personal life. Probably no one cared as everyone was happy partying with Tom Uncle.

People tend to take such characters for granted. Similar thing happened with Tom Uncle as well. Due to some incidents, Tom Uncle has become distant from some of his friends/relatives. He has become not-so-popular among the kids as well. His relation with the friend, whom he had helped the most, has become particularly estranged. He does not get along with that friend’s kids as well. Uncle Tom had supported the education of some of these kids!!! He had helped this friend on so many occasions. His friend is doing well now and the kids are well-settled as well. But now when Uncle Tom needs them, everyone is only “upset” with Uncle Tom. Everyone must have their reasons. Uncle Tom could have done something extremely bad, who knows!!!

Even I am not as close to Uncle Tom as I used to be. I have my reasons as well. As I have mentioned that I used to consider Uncle Tom more a friend than anything else, I used to share my feelings/problems with him. Once, I discovered that my feelings were being relayed to others. May be Uncle Tom did that to help me out. But I did not like it as I am not the kind of person who likes to be discussed by others over evening tea. Moreover, as my feelings/problems became public knowledge, it created more trouble for me. So I have my reasons.

Few days back, Uncle Tom sent me a message. His message read “you may be having many grievances with me but I have just one grievance.....”. He mentioned a past incident in which he had asked for my support. Not financial support. He had just asked me to be there with him but I had left him. I was 13 or 14 year old back then. I am not trying to trivialize the incident or his grievance by trying to suggest that I was only a kid. I would like to tell Uncle Tom that I still feel bad about the incident. I would like to also admit that I had not felt bad back then as I had not understood the situation. In any case, I was not in a situation to make that decision myself.

I do have my set of grievances with Uncle Tom. But I owe a lot to Uncle Tom. I can never forget that he has helped my father on so many occasions. Though we no longer share the same friendship, I owe a lot to you, Uncle Tom. My father means the most to me and I can never fortget a person who has helped my father. I will never turn my back on you.

That brings us to the end of this work of fiction. Resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. I know that this story sucks.....but so does life!!!

Blogging is strange

Cannot really comment on the blogging behaviour of other people but here is what I find strange about my blogging

1. Though I do not want others to read what I write, I still choose to write on a “free-for-all-to-read” kind of forum!!!
2. I write as I want to express my true feelings but I refrain from doing that and end up writing things that people would not mind reading. It is not that I lie in my blogs to make people happy. I, sometimes, don’t write a few things that I think will make people go crazy!!!

GF9: Blast from the Past

From left to right: Navneet (Sardar), Anutosh (Anu or Banku), Me (Handsome Hunk), Vikash (Dedh Futiya), Sanjay Bhaiya, Shailesh, Amit and Shailesh's Legs

When Anutosh (Anu or Banku) and I came up with this plan over a couple of drinks, it sounded more like wishful thinking. After all, calling 5 working people from across the country in a room at a short notice was always going to difficult. Then Anu and his deep pockets stepped in!!! Anu offered to sponsor the travel!!! That was very generous of him. Then we started making calls and asked people to come to Hyderabad after 6 days. We planned a reunion of the “GF9” flat mates. Those of you who do not follow the lives of the rich and famous….GF9 was the name/number of our flat when we were doing MBA….ok…PGDBA. There were 8 of us staying together in the three bedroom flat. 3 of them are at Hyderabad (including me), 3 at Mumbai, 1 at Meerut and 1 at Ranchi. For the locals (Hyderabad gang), it was not difficult as we just had to come to GF9 (Anu owns the flat now). Others had to manage their calendars as well as “WAGs” and travel to Hyderabad. To our surprise, everyone agreed at once. This shows that everyone wanted to meet but no one was making a plan!!!

The six day wait seemed like six years. Okk, that was pretty filmy line….but that’s true. We spent the six days making plans for the weekend as well as in planning the logistics.

On 3rd July, we met. Bhaskar could not come as he had to attend some stupid training. Navneet (Sardar) could not reach on 3rd….thanks to Vijay Mallya. No, don’t think that Sardar had too many beers and he missed his flight. Kingfisher flight got delayed and he missed his connecting flight. So he came on 4th morning. He managed his busy schedule and life-threatening gas problems to be here with us. We appreciate that Sardar!!!

The meeting took us to 2001-03 days. We travelled back in time. Everyone was nostalgic…some of us (including me) were getting emotional…and some of us (Read: Amit Kumar Upadhyay) were really high (thanks to the bartender…that’s me). Friday night was submerged in Old Monk, Royal Challenge, Blender’s Pride, Kingfisher Strong and Smirnoff. We had loads of snacks and old memories to give us company. We also went and sat on the Ameerpet Chaurasta. We used to do that all the time.

Saturday morning, we got up early (thanks to the early bird….me again) and decided that we will go and pick Sardar from the Airport. 5 of us went to the airport in Anu’s car…wearing shorts…..pretty interesting ones too!!!! We reached early so we spent the time roaming around Shamshabad Airport. There, we came to know about Anu’s childhood dream of sitting/lying on the road. He did that!!! Shailesh did not miss a chance of getting pregnant…..he puked again….and again. The reunion could not have been complete without this historic event.

After picking up Sardar, we went back to GF9 and had breakfast. First idly, sambar and chutney (real spicy one), to bring everyone to Hyderabad in true sense. It was followed by Jalebi and Samosa. Afterwards, we got ready and went to the newly opened “GVK One” mall. We went to “Scary House” over there. 7 grown-ups (some of them…over-grown-ups) almost shitting in their pants was quite a sight. From there, we went to Hussain Sagar to relive a day from the past. Once, during our “PGDBA” days, we had gone to Hussain Sagar wearing Kurta-Pyjama. We had planned to do the same thing in this reunion. However, some of us did not have Kurta-Pyjama. Anyways, the point is that we did go there again….all of us (ya, Bhaskar was not there) and that’s what matters.

Overall, it was a very exciting and emotional reunion. All of us were under the same roof…probably for the last time. People will get busier and priorities will change. I am glad that everyone managed to come for the reunion. Thanks a lot guys!!! It was truly special.

I am sorry Sports God!!!

I must have done something to irritate the "sports god". These days, whomsoever I want to win, loses. And the people, whom I want to fail, are doing well!!! Here is the list;

1. Nadal lost at Roland Garros
2. Federer won his first French Open title
3. India was knocked-out from the T-20 WC
4. Nadal pulled out from Wimbledon
5. Roddick lost, Federer won the Wimbledon title
6. Paes lost in the finals of the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles
7. Ricky Ponting scored a century and came closer to Tendulkar's record

I hope the list does not get bigger.

There should be a ban on naming public projects, places etc on the name of a person of any political party. There should also be a ban on putting statues of political leaders. A statue of Mahatma Gandhi is okay as he is a legend and known across the globe. But statues of Rajiv Gandhi, NT Rama Rao, Mayawati (for heaven's sake!!!) etc should not be encouraged.

Local politicians use such antics to please their bosses in Delhi. When a state government comes up with a scheme or project, they name it in such a manner that people can attach a party name to the project. For example, Rajiv Arogyasri Scheme in Andhra Pradesh. It is a pretty good scheme that provides health insurance coverage to people in rural areas. As the name is "Rajiv" Arogyasri, anyone can make out that the congress led state government in AP has initiated the scheme. Now, if a new party takes over in the next election, they may either change the name of the scheme or they might not promote it at all. So, even though the scheme is good, it might get into troubled waters in future. The solution to such problems is that no projects, schemes, places etc should be named after politicians/political parties. We have other "true" legends to look up to. If at all we have to name projects on individuals, why not Bhagat Singh, Mother Teresa, Jhansi ki Rani, Vikram Batra, Arun Khetarpal, Sam Maneckshaw etc.

Trip to Bidar

As I have mentioned/complained a zillion times in my blog, there are not many places worth visiting around Hyderabad. Weekends can get really boring. Among the handful of places around Hyderabad where one can go do, Bidar is one place. I have been staying at Hyderabad since last 7 years but I had never been to Bidar. Thanks to the mixed reviews. Some people say that the old fort is amazing and so is the drive but many others suggest that the place is not worth going!!! As I was out of options anyways, I made up my mind that I will go over there…as soon as the weather gods permit. Around two weeks back, I woke up on a Saturday morning to a cloudy day outside. We were immediately on the road.

Bidar is a small town close to Hyderabad. Though it is just 150 kms away from Hyderabad, it falls in Karnataka. The drive was great…the roads are not too bad and there is not much traffic. The weather was good that day. There are plenty of road side dhabas on the way, if one wants to stop for a tea or kaapi. However, don’t expect anything too great or a neat and clean dhaba. They are what they are….road-side dhabas.

The fort is big but there is nothing much to do over there. For the shutterbugs like me, the walls and the huge doors present good opportunities to click a picture or two but again….there is not much. There is a small museum there as well…..but its SMALL

Apart from the fort, there is a famous Gurudwara. We had a hard time locating the place. When we reached there, we did not know what to do. Me and my wife had never been to a Gurudwara before and were confused. So we left quickly.

There is another temple in Bidar. I guess it is in a cave and for reaching the place, one has to cross a “underground pond” (that’s how it was explained to me), which is filled with cockroaches. Moreover, there are bats in the cave!!! Bats…..I don’t like bats. So we gave the temple a miss. In any case, swimming through a pond filled with cockroaches was not too exciting as well.

On the way back, we stopped at an AP Tourism restaurant… “Haritha”. It was pretty decent.

We went to Bidar and came back in 6 hours. Not a bad option at all on a rainy/cloudy day.

Numbered!!!

I never knew what "Tag" means and how does it work. Then suddenly my sister Bompy "tagged" me and asked me to fill my responses. She asked me to write the significance of the numbers 0-10 in my life. It could also be any memory that the numbers bring to the mind. Believe me, it was not easy. I took me a few months to complete it....hummmph!!! Here are my responses;

Zero is what I got in my first accountancy unit test in class 11th. And in second one too!!
One. The number of chance that I want from God to relive my life and to change a few mistakes

Two. The number of cell phone that I carry

Three. The number of digital cameras that I have; soon I will add one more

Four. The number of companies that I have worked in, so far

Five. That’s how much I scored out of 25 in my first English test in class 3. It was my first day in that class (I had joined late) and they took a test!!! I remember the teacher had locked me and a few other low scorers in the class and had threatened that she won’t let us go home!!! After school, I did not know what to do with the test paper. So I hid it in my school bag…..out of all the places. I could have thrown it but I chose to hide it in my school bag. The same school bag that my grandmother used to organize every evening!!! You do not want to know what happened afterwards. Actually I do not want to revisit that memory lane!!!

Six is the present age of my career

Seven is the highest number of pizzas (pan pizzas) I have had at one go (It was a bet!!!)

Eight. I was in class 8 when I committed the biggest mistake of my life

Nine. The number of shooters that I had in my bachelor’s party

Ten ten ten ten ten ten ten ten…..chhutti!!! Finally!!!

What is the ICC upto?

Heard that ICC is thinking about reducing test matches to 4-days affair!!! Twenty-20 has already affected the popularity of one-day cricket and now it seems, that the best form of cricket would also get "corrupted". Test cricket is the ultimate form of cricket as it is the real test of the skills of the players. It tests the cricketing skills as well as the physical and mental strength of the players. The crowd in the stadiums will always be low as people cannot watch matches in the stadiums on weekdays. Moreover, women typically do not follow test cricket so that segment is also not there. But people follow it on TV or at least keep a check on live scores on various web sites. ICC and the various country associations should find ways to market the "product" effectively and to make it more interesting. Night test matches is an interesting idea that is being proposed. But reducing the duration will take away the real fun of test matches. I understand that reduction in the duration will make the game faster...more shots will be played...more risks will be taken and there would be more results. But cricket is not all about going "slam-bang". In any case, one gets to see a lot of that in Twenty-20 and ODIs. A scenario where a team has to bat for one and half days on a turning track to save a test match is also interesting. Isn't it?

Test cricket is like parallel cinema....or "art" film as we call it in India. One dayers are like normal commercial movies and Twenty-20 is like item songs. It seems that more people are liking the item songs and they want to have only item songs. Think about people like me, who still like parallel cinema.

First Clean Your Own Mess, Mate!!!

The attacks on Indians in Australia are shameful and my heart goes out to those who have suffered the violence. The news of the various incidents is there on every news channel and the Indian government is pressurizing the Australian government to take quick and prompt action. In the past month, I must have watched at least 100 debates on multiple news channels about how we treat our guests with respect and how the happenings in Australia are shameful. India is creating a buzz across the globe regarding the incidents. But do we really have the right to point fingers at the Australians? Am not saying that what is happening to Indians in Australia is justified and normal. As I said in the very beginning, the incidents are indeed shameful and unfortunate. But at the same time, I also feel that we do not really have the right to point fingers at anybody.

The Aussies are pissed as we are encroaching into their country. Every year hundreds and thousands of students get into Australian universities. I am not really sure how the system works over there but my guess is that some Australians will be missing out on seats in good colleges…as now Indians are taking them. Same goes for employment opportunities. I have two friends who have moved to Australia. Like them, there would be several others. This scenario must be affecting the employment opportunities of the locals. So they are pissed….anyone would be. But does that make their actions justified? Not at all. I will again emphasize that I am not trying to justify the actions of those Australians who are behind the violent incidents in Australia. I am just saying that we do not really have a right to point fingers. And that’s because we are culprits as well.

Don’t we know about the violence in Maharashtra against North Indians (especially against people from Bihar and UP)? Don’t we know about the growing hostility towards “outsiders” in Bangalore? Don’t we know about the attacks on Bihari laborers in Assam? Don’t we know about the divide between Bengali porters and Bihari porters in Kolkata? When people in India travel to another place within India for better employment opportunities, the “locals” get hostile towards the “outsiders”. There is nothing that can be more shameful. After all, everyone has a right to look for better opportunities. What do people in states like Bihar have? The state has high population, highest poverty, highest corruption…and lowest employment opportunities. Now, if a poor Bihari goes to Maharashtra to drive a taxi or to clean the toilets, he has a right to do that. But “locals” get angry. They beat the poor Bihari and burn his taxi. Is that fair? Not at all. But we let that happen in our own country. So when a poor Indian goes to Australia to drive a taxi or to clean the toilets and gets beaten up……we should not be questioning that.

Jab kisi se koi gila rakhna,
Saamne apne aaina rakhna.

Thanks to the dispute between bollywood producers and multiplexes, there were not many movies that are releasing. Though the IPL is on (and I am a big time cricket buff), it cannot substitute an enjoyment of watching a good movie in the theatre. So when this new movie "99" released, we jumped at the opportunity. It is a movie with "Tier 2" (if not tier 3) star cast and such movies are usually risky. But since we did not have much options, we bought the tickets. And post the movie, we did not regret the decision one bit.

99 is a good movie with a really interesting story. The story did not require stars or the bigger names and that worked well. It is a complete fun movie. Even the violent scenes will make you smile or laugh. Finally Kunal Khemu has picked a decent movie. I am sure there are more people like me who are bored of sitting at home on the weekends and so this movie should work. Go watch it!!!

!!!!

Whats this news?!!? Federer beat Nadal!!! on clay!!!!!! Federer is a great player indeed and he is also a three time finalist at Roland Garros...but still!!! C'mon Rafa, French is round the corner. You cannot let the swiss cowboy get such a morale boost. Get ready and thrash the world at French. All the best!!!

India is the biggest supporter of terrorists

What goes in the mind of a terrorist right before he does something insane and inhuman? What was Kasab and his fellow terrorists thinking right before they opened firing? Dont they think about the outcomes of their actions? Dont they worry about the future of themselves and that of their family members? What do their masters across the border tell them that makes these terrorists forget about the outcome?

I think the primary motivator is the fact that nothing much can go wrong. If they die, they will be called martyrs in their land and their families will get some money. But if they get caught, they can enjoy life in the laps of mother India.

Can someone please explain to me why are we feeding that %$#@...... pardon my language...that mother$%#@&# Kasab? Have we adopted him or what? I understand that terrorists need to be caught so that we extract information from them. But what more information are we looking from him....his sperm count? Why are we even trying to take him to the court of law? What is the message that we are trying to give to the terrorists? "If you bomb us, we will catch you and provide you free food and shelter for the rest of your life". This seems to be the message that we are trying to give.

For heavens sake, put that bastard in a tiger's cage!!! Or hand him to me.

Not that I am a big supporter of Varun Gandhi or believe in his "ideologies" but I want to know how come he is wrong and Pramod Muthalik and Raj Thackeray are not? Somebody told me that Varun Gandhi is in trouble as at the time of elections, such speeches are against the law!!! Not sure whether this is factually correct or not. But if it is then its nothing but a big joke. How come such speeches are illegal at times of elections and okay at all other time!!!! Funny!!!

IPL 2 is back!!!

After so much confusion, finally IPL 2 is actually happening. Cant wait for the matches to start. This time around, Mumbai Indians are looking pretty strong as they have a balanced line-up. But you never know in 20-20 matches. I hope it is as or more exciting than the first edition. Go Tendulkar Go!!!!

Pondicherry: A Laid-Back Holiday Destination

Since last 4 years, I had been making plans to visit Pondicherry. During my a year and half stay at Bangalore, I must have made a plan for each weekend but it never happened. Finally, last year in October, I managed a trip to Pondicherry.

I had heard a lot about the place. A clean and planned town thats pretty "laid-back". People used to tell me that there is not much to do at Pondicherry and its for those who enjoy looking at the sea for hours and walking on the beach. So my expectations were well set. I did not land over there to have a happening vacation.......I found it simply great!!! And I went over there again in December last year.

Pondicherry is three hours drive away from Chennai. The drive itself is pretty enjoyable, given one is taking the East Coast Road. From Chennai till Pondicherry, the road runs parallel to the sea. I wish I had driven the vehicle. The road is great and one can easily drive at 100+ speed. An AC cab from Chennai to Pondicherry costs between 1,600 to 2,200 Rs.

Its a place tailor made for tourists. It presents zillions of options for everything. Be it the food that you want to have or the kind of place you want to stay in or the budget that you have...Pondicherry has a perfect option for you.

The first time we went to Pondi, we stayed at Ashok Beach Resort. It is a hotel with government backing. The tarriff is not low but the standard is. 4K for a room a day wont seem too much but wait till you have a look at the room. The facilities are pretty basic. The rooms do not even have a locker or a cupboard that you can lock on your own. The restaurant is sad as well. BUT....the resort has a private beach!!! Now, one limitation that Pondicherry has is that it has hardly any beaches. Ashok is probably the only resort/hotel that has a private beach. And thats a major plus. The place is outside Pondi (11 kms outside). Stay over there for the private beach and if you have arranged for a vehicle.

In the second trip, we stayed at Ginger Hotel. It was December. We went over there on Christmas Eve. So, we did not have much options left. Ginger was one of the few options and it was coming out to be pretty inexpensive. But Ginger truly surprised us. It was our first stay at Ginger. The rooms are pretty nice and clean. They are small but they have most of the things that you would require. Moreover, they do not charge you a fortune. I have this funda that any place you go, you should spend the least on accomodation. Then use all the money to explore the place, buy things, eat and............of course drink. I found Ginger pretty impressive and I recommend it to everyone.

Whenever we go to any tourist place in India that far away from our home, we have to depend on city tour operators/hired cabs to explore the city. Thats never a pretty good idea as one misses out on the true flavor of the place. Pondicherry is one of the very few places in India where you can hire a two-wheeler (bike, scooter, bicycle). A personal vehicle provides the required mobility. In both the trips, we did exactly that. The better bikes are reserved for the firangs as they pay better. So, in the first trip I got a Honda Activa!!!! (poor machine). But in the second trip, I managed to get a Pulsar. That was the best thing that could happen. It made the trip pretty enjoyable and we could visit a lot more places.

Another plus point of Pondicherry is its diverse culture. It is a former French colony and that provides a different flavor. Moreover, the Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry attracts tourists from all parts of the globe. And several of those tourists come and stay at Pondicherry for long periods. One area where this diverse culture has had extremely positive impact is the food!!! You will find some great bakeries, some french restaurants, fast food places, breakfast places....everything. And we tried most of them. If you are at Pondicherry, I suggest you start your day early. Do not have the breakfast in your hotel, even if it is complimentary. Try some of the great breakfast places that they have. Do not expect any lavish stuff....remember "Pondicherry" and "laid-back". There is one place right on the turning for Auroville. (Its right there on the main road and is next to the turning). Then on the Auroville approach road, you will find some small but great places. These are more like shacks. The waiter will also be the cook. the microwave might be right next to your table. Nothing fancy but they give the true flavor of Pondicherry. And one must try the "Bakery Boulangerie". They offer some great pasteries and breads.

There are not many places to see. One should go to Auroville but apart from that there is nothing much. The best place to spend some time is the beach road. Between certain hours, the traffic cops block the entry of vehicles on the beach road. And then hundreds of people come out and walk over there. Even if you are not much of a "Johnnie Walker" (I admit, thats a bad joke), you will still enjoy walking on the beach road. The atmosphere, the sound of waves hitting rocks, everything is simply great. Even driving/riding on the beach road in the late night is awesome. At this point, I will once again emphasise that it is a good place for those people who want to have a laid-back (this adjective keeps popping up and quite naturally so) holiday. It is not for people who want to have a happening vacation.

I dont have much more to write but I am not content. I liked the place so much that I am getting this feeling that I am not doing proper justice in describing the place. But then, I cannot paint that amazing picture with plain words. Go over there to experience the place.

Suryalanka Beach Resort

Where to eat and what to eat

The idea behind this blog is not to suggest restaurants. Usually, I pick a restaurant based on what I am feeling like having. The following list has the details of the places that I regularly visit (Hyderabad) as well as what I like to have over there (you are free to take a cue);

• Fusion 9. I love the lamb lasagna over there. It is a great restaurant with pretty good ambience. The food is slightly on the costlier side but good things never come cheap. Good place for an evening dinner. Not so quiet though.
• Shanbagh. I like the "Tomato Bath" over there. I am talking about the Shanbagh (old one) on Panjagutta circle (between Hyderabad Central and Bajaj Electronics). It is a typical "tiffins" or "meals' place. Great place to have breakfast, given you like south indian dishes. The ambience is pretty basic though. They do have an AC restaurant. Crowd is decent and so one can go with family.
• Paradise. Obviously the chicken biryani.
• Green Park. I go over there for the "Midnight Biryani". I am not crazy about their biryani but its the chicken haleem thats great. I must admit that I have never tasted haleem at an authentic haleem place. I have always tried it at star hotels. Green Park is my favorite
• Tiwary Brothers. I go over there for kachauri, jalebi and...........a dose of bhojpuri!!! It is not a restaurant but just a sweet shop (pretty big one at that) on the Khairatabad junction. You must try the Kachauris and jalebis over there. The staff is from eastern UP or Bihar. Their talks take me back to my hometown. Kabhi Bihar U.P aakar dekho, mehmaan ko hum bhagwaan ki tarah maante hain!!!
• Anji's. Poori-Bhaaji. Don't pull out your hair trying to locate this place. It is just a stall run by a guy named Anji. The place is right on top of Nagarjuna Hills. The stall is right infront of the old building of ICFAI Business School (the place I did my MBA from). I had breakfast/lunch on the stall daily, for almost two years!!! It has an emotional connect as well. Do not know whether it is still there or not. I last went there two years back.
• Suprabhata. Gobi Rice is a must have. Another one of those lesser known "meals" places. Its right there on the Punjagutta junction. Its Gobi Rice is popular even outside Hyderabad. But it is a pretty small place. Suitable only for bachelors. Otherwise get it packed and take it home. Ya, they provide veg curry with gobi-rice. Ask for sambar instead.
• Bombay Blues. I must have had their "Cheesy Chicken Pasta" with beer a zillion times. Their "Sizzling Chilly Chicken" is great as well. Nice restaurant with good ambience. Its in Hyderabad Central.
• Ohri's Gufaa. Talwaar Kabab is simply awesome.

There are several other places that I like and frequent(Tabla, Barbecue Nation, Utsav, Zafraan, Chhatees.....) but there is no particular dish that has appealed to me. I will keep trying!!!

And ya, there is another place that is pretty good for "Chilly Paneer", "Chicken Biryani", "Rajma Chawal", "Chocolate Cake" and several other things. Its my place. (paani mein rahna hai to magar (read: my wife) se bair nahi rakhunga). You are most welcome.

Trip to Car Museum (Hyderabad)

Couple of months back, on a lazy weekend afternoon, me and my wife decided that we should go out somewhere. Enough of sitting at home and having the same routine weekend. But where to go? Hyderabad does not serve many options. Then I remembered reading about a car museum somewhere in Hyderabad. We searched for the address on the net and within half an hour, we were on the road.

The place is called "Sudha Cars" (The name of the owner and the person who builds those cars is Sudhakar). It has theme cars, bikes & cycles. To give an example, it has a "kick-start" Rolls Royce with Bajaj scooter's engine!!! The place has pretty interesting stuff. But it is poorly maintained. The trip was not enjoyable at all. It is a small place and one can see all the stuff in half an hour. Not worth the one hour drive (one way). Moreover, there is not much you can do over there. There is a small shop selling refreshments but it does not offer much. The shop does sell miniature models of the models in the museum. But the quality of those toys is extremely poor (quite an understatement). I hate to admit but I am really fond of toys. Stuff like toy cars really appeal to me. But none of the stuff on sale over there appealed to me.


So Mr. Sudhakar, first of all, let me tell you that you have an exceptional talent. Some of the stuff at your place is very interesting. But you must do something to enhance the overall experience of the visitors. You should try to make the place worth a visit. I agree that people do visit your place. But that is coz there is a dearth of options in Hyderabad and also because the people you take the city tours "have to" come to your place. For starters, make your place clean. It is not very dirty but it is not clean either. Then there should be a bigger refreshment stall, with more options. Improve the quality of miniature models that you sell. Stuff that is sold on traffic signals has a better quality. If it gets better, it will find more buyers (I will definitely be one of them). You can start some rides where people can pay and ride/drive some of your work of art. You can also take orders and make/sell some products. All this will generate good revenue which can be invested in giving the place a facelift, in making new stuff or for simply buying a real car!!!


One last suggestion. Do not ever give up this hobby/passion. You are pretty good at it. Moreover, Hyderabad needs such places.

From the two trips to Pondicherry (Trip diary will follow)

Are we too liberal?

Recently, I watched the movie "Shaurya". It is inspired by the hollywood flick "A Few Good Men" but is not in any manner a loose adaptation. The plot may be similar but the issue is pretty different. The movie shows a Brigadier in the Indian Army who, due to some unfortunate incidents in his life, has developed extreme hatred towards muslims. He is a devoted soldier, a patriot but he wants to kill all muslims. His ways and actions are way too extreme and like most Hindi movies, the truth triumphs in the end, and the Brigadier goes to jail. I am not here to discuss the movie. But the issue that I am concerned about has a close link.

Except those of us who are part of any Hindu extremist party or group, everyone else must have agreed to and liked the end of the movie. Forget about others, I liked the end. There is no place for such radical ideologies in an organization like the Indian Army....or for that matter, anywhere. No matter what had happened to the character in personal life, nothing can justify such actions. In real life, any such actions should be severely punished.

There have been several terrorist attacks on India. Most of those are conducted by muslims. Being a very patriotic person, I feel bad whenever such an incident takes place. But I have nothing against the muslims. I do not generalize. I do not have extremist ideologies and I certainly do not want all the muslims to killed. I feel that they are as much a part of my country as I am. But I do think that we are very liberal towards some of them.

Coming to the point that I want to make, there was an incident that took place in Srinagar on 15th August 2008. In the morning, Indian Tricolor was hoisted in an area (I think it was called Lal Chowk). By the evening, hundreds of people gathered in that area, they ripped the Indian flag and burnt it. They put the flag of Jamaat-e-Islami (which looks like the Pakistani flag). They were shouting the pro-pakistan slogans like, "Jiyo, jiyo Pakistan, hum hain Pakistani" (Long Live Pakistan, we are Pakistanis). I truly wish the Brigadier from the movie was there. Any act of disrespect towards India and Indian flag should not be tolerated. The army/police/CRPF should have opened fire on those bastards and killed each one of them. I agree that each one of them might have a story to tell or a scar to show but nothing....NOTHING AT ALL can justify such actions. Anyone should try burning a Pakistani flag in Pakistan. People will burn the person alive. But, for some inexplicable reason, we are way too liberal.

I do not think I need to state this, but for the record, I have nothing against the muslims or any other community. But, I want all those people who show or have shown disrespect towards my country to burn in HELL. Period.

Wanted to write this since last several months. Feeling slightly relieved but not happy.

Trip to Suryalanka Beach Resort

If you are at Hyderabad and looking for a weekend getaway, you don't have much options. There is a dearth of tourist places around Hyderabad unless you are the religious kind and temple towns are okay with you. I have been staying in Hyderabad since last 7 years and I have already been to most places in and around Hyderabad that are worth a visit. Then I heard about this place called "Suryalanka".

Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation has been aggressively promoting this place. Last December, we thought we will give it a shot. Suryalanka is a beach village (cant be called a town by any stretch of imagination). There is a government resort right on the beach so one thing it can definitely boast of is a good view. The beach is pretty clean as it is far from any big town. One can enjoy a morning walk with a lovely view and a peaceful environment. The sunset is great as well.

Having said all that, let me admit that Suryalanka gave us more negatives than positives(we will come to that)....yet it was a welcome change from a boring and pretty routine weekend at Hyderabad. All we wanted was to forget about the tensions of everyday life, sit on the beach on a lazy evening and have chilly chicken with beer/soft drinks. We got that.

I have already explained the positives (change, good view etc). Let me explain the negatives a little so that you do not kill me if you do make a trip. First and foremost, it is a government resort so service is ..... sub-standard. No two ways about it. The resort has several cottages which are "cheap" (normally I use the term, "inexpensive" but cheap describes it better as the tariff is low and so is the quality). The restaurant is pretty bad as well and they reluctantly serve the food in the cottages. Moreover, one cannot order a sizzler or a lasagne over there. They have fixed menu (little choice) for each day...depending upon the supplies. Ya, you can ask for any special dish. They do try to accomodate your wishes. The restaurant at the resort is the only option that one has. They take ages in bringing food so order around 2 hours in advance. There is not much to do at Suryalanka so DONT plan for more than a weekend. Ya, I am pretty much done with the negatives.

Food takes time to arrive but the taste is not too bad. Do try the chilly chicken, which needless to say, best goes with chilled beer. There are some shops (dont expect a Foodworld or WalMart) right outside the resort. They stock snacks and beer. Beer is available in every shop so thats a major positive.

Suryalanka is best for people from Hyderabad.....as they do not have much options. It is certainly not a great holiday destination but is a pretty okay option if you are looking for a change. The trip wont cost much as well. Okay, let me put it this way....if you are at hyderabad and have run out of options, you badly need a change, you like travelling and are a little adventurous, do not have more time than a weekend and you are not looking for a 5-star comfort....you can try Suryalanka.

(The nearest railhead is "Bapatla", which is around one hour away from Vijaywada. By road, it is around 7-8 hours drive from Hyderabad but thats not really advisable. Go over there in summers if you are looking for ways to commit suicide. Even december was hot. Carry your own snacks. An electric kettle with few cup noodles will be great. There is an Indian Air Force station nearby so one can leverage those connections and stay in their guest house. But in that casem you will miss out on the best part....the view.)

Dental Trauma

I go for a dental check-up every six months as I can bear all kinds of physical pain but not the one that comes between me and good food!!! You go to the dentist to avoid any pain but the check-up can also be pretty painful. Let me share one very painful incident that took place during my last visit to the dentist. It did not cause any major physical pain but it was psychologically painful. It was traumatic. Here is what happened.

I went to the Smiline Dental Clinic in Srinagar Colony, Hyderabad. That is my regular dental clinic and I know the doctor pretty well. I was offered another dentist since my regular doctor was busy with another patient. However, I insisted on meeting my regular dentist, Dr. Sunitha (wish I had accepted the offer). After waiting for a few minutes, I was asked to go to Dr. Sunitha's room. I went there, we said hello to each other and then she started the examination.

After a brief examination, she told me that I have a cavity. No, no...thats not the painful part!!! With the amount of time I spend on brushing my teeth, that was pretty much expected. She told me that she can quickly do a filling. She offered to fill some 'substance' that will match the color of my teeth (remember this part). I thought that is a brilliant idea as no one will ever know about the cavity and the filling. I agreed.

She asked her assistant to bring the substance that matches the color of my teeth. The assistant went away and was back in a minute with a tray. I dont know what was the color of the substance did she bring but the doctor had one look at the tray and shouted....."not this one, bring the YELLOW one!!!!". Ouch!!!

Now I take good care of my teeth.

Postman Postman...Sir Aapki Chitthi Aayi Hai!!!

(Pondicherry, Oct 2008)

Allahabad Trip: Picture taken at Sangam

Spooky

Indian Defense Sector: 10,000 feet view

India recently successfully test fired the BrahMos cruise missile. This is a great step forward and such news does help in creating a sense of pride as well as security. But, in terms of modernization of our arms and ammunitions, where do we stand vis-a-vis the other superpowers of the world? I am no defense analyst and I have never researched upon the defense sector in India. However, having been brought-up in army cantonments, I have seen the scenario closely. Moreover, I have got opportunities to talk to the people who are directly associated and so "I think" I know a little.

I am not worried about the men in uniform. Though it is fact that the enthusiasm towards serving the Indian Army, Navy or Air Force is decreasing (and it is indeed a matter of concern), I am sure that what we have is among the best in the world. What I am more concerned about is the state of affairs when it comes to arms and ammunitions. We do develop guns, missiles etc but the frequency of new product development is very low compared to most other countries. I do not think that our INSAS and SLR rifles stand anywhere when compared to the weapons used by the soldiers of US, Russia, China etc. There is a particular program on Discovery Channel that shows "Future Weapons". Compared to those weapons, the weapons used by Indian Army are like "bows and arrows". So, where does the problem lie? Are we so backward in terms of technology that we cannot produce those weapons? I dont think so. The problem, like all problems in India, lies in the system.

Ordnance Factories in India: Pain Points

I cannot comment on all the ordnance factories in India but I have seen two of them pretty closely. The first one is the Ordnance Factory Medak. This factory makes armoured vehicles. The amount of land that this particular factory covers is enormous. I was told that two factories were supposed to come up on the alloted land however, only one came up in the end. This factory is HUGE in terms of the total area. Another interesting piece of information that I got regarding the factory is that Indian Army is the sole client of the factory and the army is hardly ordering for such vehicles. So that means the factory is not solving any purpose at all. To justify its existence to some extent, the factory works on converting ordinary vehicles to bullet-proof VIP vehicles!!!! I must say, brilliant use of the tax payers money.

The other ordnance factory that I have seen pretty closely is the Rifle Factory, Ishapore (West Bengal). The factory is the largest, if not the only, supplier of rifles to the Indian Army and other defense entities. Now, this factory does produce good rifles but what about the cost? I was told that the factory is majorly overstaffed. To add to the problems, the target given to each employee can be achieved in couple of hours. So the workers come in the morning, finish the work in a couple of hours and then discuss politics, football, mamta banerjee, bipasha basu, ravindra sangeet etc. They work the normal hours and later do overtime as well!!! There was this particular gentleman who could barely walk properly due to his old age and he had problems with his vision as well. Yet, he used to come every morning, sit under a tree and leave late in the evening. This was is daily routine. This guy used to take the normal wages as well as the overtime pay!!! And guess who pays for all this fun Me and you. So, whats the solution of all this?

Possible Solution

I was told that each rifle that is produced in Rifle Factory, Ishapore can be produced in at least one-third the cost by a private player. Privatizing the ordnance sector is a possible solution, if not the best solution. Several global defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon etc (Time to show off my research on the US Aerospace and Defense sector) would love to pounce on the opportunities in this market. Even if we do not want to attract foreign hands, I am sure companies like Tata, Mahindra and Mahindra etc will be interested. We do not know who all will be interested as have never opened that window and looked outside (my guess is Mr. Mallya will be more than interested) but thats not the point. The point is that people will surely be interested to set up manufacturing plants in India and to serve the demands. But we must look at the pros and cons of privatizing the ordnance sector.

Privatization: Issues and Limitations

1. First and the foremost, what will happen to the thousand of workers that are presently working in the ordnance factories across India? But that can be solved. I am sure, a private player can compensate the workers much better than the Indian government presently does. Private players can associate incentives with efficiency. At least the younger workers will be (should be) interested in joining the private players. I do agree that several workers will not like this idea and would not like to work for a private player. Afterall its in us to resist any kind of change. Now, even if those workers or all the workers are asked to stay at home and are paid their salaries till the end of their working career, I think the equation will still work out to be profitable.
2. The other problem could be with the "change management". I am sure there will be several strikes as well as riots, especially when a few ordnance factories are in West Bengal. But that problem will have to be and can be dealt with strongly and strictly.
3. The existing policies and regulations will have to tweaked and going by the past track record, this can take a zillion years

Privatization: Positives (Top of the Mind)

1. Cost will be reduced and hence the defense budget will go down. The savings can be utilized in other sectors or can be used to purchase arms from other countries or can be invested in research and development
2. There will be a better management of resources (especially land)
3. The private players, with their financial might, can invest heavily in research and development. They will ensure results. This can help us in creating better weapons in India itself.
4. If the government permits, the new and better weapons, tools, equipments, vehicles can be sold outside India. These products will be cheaper as India is a low cost manufacturing location and hence will easily find market across the world (depending upon the policies of the countries)
5. Indian defense entities as well as the economy will get stronger.
6. It will give a strong message that "chalta hai" attitude is no longer acceptable

Definitely worth a try, isnt it?

Tata Indicom: Dead Horse

I recently purchased a Tata Indicom "Plug 2 Surf" USB modem. I already have a broadband connection at home but I needed a USB modem since I had some travel plans and wanted to stay connected. High hopes!!!

15 Minute Customer Delight

I called up Tata Indicom customer care to enquire about the offers and plans. I was told about a great offer and was told that an executive can deliver the modem at my door step. I was pretty happy with such service. Didnt know that it was just a bait!!!

The Actual Customer Service Starts

Villain#1 (Sales Executive): The same day, a sales executive came to my place and asked me to fill a form. I did that. Then he took the money and got up to leave!!! I asked him for the USB modem. He told me that someone else will come to verify the address and that guy will give the USB modem. Later, the customer care executive called and asked whether I have received the modem or not!!! When told about what happened, she almost scolded me for not taking the modem from the sales executive. But madam, how am I supposed to know that your executives can be cheats??? I tried calling the sales executive but he did not pick up. This happened for the most part of next day as well. Then I received a call from the customer care. I was told that I will get the modem in half an hour. After waiting for an hour and half, I called up the sales executive and he said that he will be at my place in 15 minutes. After several more calls and a couple of hours, he sent a boy with the modem. The boy knew nothing about the device, laptops, installation process etc. He just told me that he cant help much and my connection will be activated by the end of day.

Late in the night, I tried connecting the modem. Nothing happened. Then, I figured out that there is an installation CD that has been provided. For some reason, this was kept a secret!!! May be they thought that CD has documents related to national security or probably the design details of Tata Nano!!! Anyways, after installing the CD, the modem started to work....at least the signal strenth related numbers suggested that. But there was a "small" problem.....none of the sites were opening. Probably, the Tata Indicom folks thought that I have taken the connection just to check out the signal strength!!!!

I tried calling the customer care(technical)!!!! I was asked for a 10 digit number!!!! More mysteries!!!! I was never provided with a 10 digit number. I went through the manual and realised that the number is actually a phone number. Luckily I have a CDMA phone. I plugged the sim card in my phone and checked the phone number. Later, I was told by the customer care that a technician will come to my place in 12 hours. He almost admitted that someone should have communicated the phone number to me.

Villain # 2 (Technician): The technician came to my place and within 5 minutes decided that I need to format my laptop!!!! Threw some technical jargons to suggest that the problem is with my laptop. How convenient!!! I suggested him that he should try connecting the modem to his laptop. Surprise Surprise!!!! It did not work!!! Then he tried connecting his own modem to his laptop....that didnt work either. Then came the best solution. It cant work at my place so I should go outside my home to use the connection. I visualized myself sitting under a tree outside my home and checking my mails. I almost smiled. I asked him to get out. How rude of me!!!

Villain # 3 (Technical Support Call Center): I called up the technical support and asked them what shall I do now. They told me that the connection may not work at my place. In that case, I can ask for a full refund. But for that, a technician will have to report that the connection wont work at my place. I told them that a technician has already visited and he has told me that the connection wont work in my house. But the customer care exec told me that the technician has reported back that the customer is using his personal modem and there is a problem with the modem!!!! WOW!!! I told the buggers that I have purchased the modem from Tata Indicom only. Then I was told that I can go to the nearest outlet, fill a form and ask for a refund. Finally!!!

I did just that. I went to a nearby outlet but.........I was told that they cannot help me. I called up the customer care and they told me that only the executive that delivered the modem can help me with the refund!!!! And we curse the government for bureaucracy!!!!

I tried calling the executive. For the first 10 thousand times he did not pick up. Then I sent a message to him that I am going to lodge a police complaint against him. In 2 minutes he called up and told me that he was in a meeting. Not even Ratan Tata would be so busy with meetings!!! He came up with another brilliant solution. He told me that it seems that I have not installed the CD properly so he will send someone to install it!!! I told him that it says connected but none of the sites are opening. He told me that in that case, it is a problem with signal and contact technical support. He also told me that in no case will I get a refund. I called technical support and talked to them in the most colorful language that I have ever used. How rude of me!!!

Villain # 4 (Billing Team): In the evening, someone called up from the billing team and said that he can close the connection if I want. I asked that I will be more than happy but what about the refund? He told me that there wont be any refund made. And he told me that I should try taking the modem with me on the trip and it will surely work.

I did that. But, as expected, the modem/connection did not work!!!

I have thrown the modem!!!!

Lessons Learnt:

1. Never use a Tata product as the product and the customer service sucks

2. I was planning to get a Tata Sky connection but now, thats out of question

3. I should try "anulom vilom" and "pranayam". I am a BP patient and I can easily have a heart attack while dealing with customer care executives. I was on the verge of heart attacks several times during this whole process.

4. Tata Indicom has launched a new product. In its promos it shows that race horses to suggest the speed. I beg to differ. I think Tata Indicom is in the business of selling "dead horses"

4. I know solved the mystery regarding vampires and draculas. I know where are all of them now. All of them are working as customer care executives. I think the biggest eligibility criteria for becoming a customer care executive is that you must know how to suck the blood of the customers!!!!

Japanese Brain Damage Trick

Dear Agony Aunt,

Thats the new addiction in my life. I was never into puzzles. But my parents got me hooked!!! I used to feel sorry for "Sudoku addicts" but now, I am one of them. Now, I solve puzzles in my dreams!!! Is there a rehab center that I can contact?

Thanks and Regards,

Distressed Sudoku Solver

Am back after along time. Around 7 months!!! Was not going through the best of times. In fact, the past 3 months have been the worst of my life. And since what happened was not totally unexpected, the period before that wasnt particularly rosy either. It was a horrible time for me and my family. During this while, I wanted to write and share several things. However, I prefered sharing them with myself. But now, when I have managed to scrape through the troubled times, I am back to blogging.

I want to thank first the almighty who has been really generous. I have had several bad phases in my life. Everyone goes through them. But the almighty has always made my life better after every fall. I hope this continues. And I hope I deserve it.

Then I want to thank some people who are more close to me than others. My parents, my wife Roshni, my sister Anumeha, my best friend and my brother Amit Upadhyay. These people have been my pillars of strength.....not only in the past three months but always!!! I am lucky to have them in my life.

There are several other friends, who helped me a lot. All my close friends are part of my morning prayers and I pray for the best for all my close friends. But I have special prayers for all of them now. And, I will be honest and admit that the list has become bigger now. There are several who were not really close to me earlier but they went out of their way to help me out. The least I can do to thank them is to pray for them. And I do feel ashamed that these people were not part of my prayers earlier.

Thank you everyone. Coz of you I managed to get past this ordeal.

Saaqi ne phir se mera jaam bhar diya!!!

A Wednesday on a Saturday Night

Yesterday, I watched the movie, "A Wednesday". It is a classic case of movie reviews going horribly wong.

I had huge expectations from the movie. Afterall it has some great actors (Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher). The movie got great ratings from almost all movie critics. 4 stars out of 5!!! Thats uncommon!!! Not many movies get such ratings. Not that I go by the ratings and reviews but they do play some role in decison making.

On Saturday, we planned to watch back-to-back movies. "Membai Meri Jaan" at 8 PM and then "A Wednesday" at 10:45 PM. When "A Wednesday" started, my expectations suddenly took a hit. Not that I was getting bored or anything. It was just that I had watched a very realistic movie in the previous show and a fictional movie on a similar theme would have been....well....unrealistic. I was thinking that the hangover of "Mumbai Meri Jaan" and my tall expectations from "A Wednesday" will kill my experience.

I was wrong. The movie was simply awesome ("awesome"!!! I am becoming an American!!!). A great theme and superb performances. It was a thriller and had a great message. Anupam Kher has given a splendid performance but.....(I am just stating the obvious).....Naseeruddin Shah is brilliant. It is a must watch movie. And ya, if this movie gets "four stars " then "five stars" rating is fictional. The movie deserves nothing less than five stars and that is why the present ratings and reviews, though close, are horribly wrong.

I am glad that I watched the two movies back to back. Everything was perfect. The movies as well as the sequence. "Mumbai Meri Jaan" reflects "what it is".........and "A Wednesday" shows "What it should be". Go watch it.

I missed writing during and about Olympics. It is not an event which I follow keenly but I do keep an eye on the news channels......in hope. One reason for my low interest in this high profile event is our track record. We send a baraat in Olympics, most athletes perform terribly and then we also create a few controversies!!! I agree that the last three outings had been good (by our standards). Leander Paes, Karnam Malleswari and Lt. Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore made us proud in the last three olympics. But given the population of our country as well as the size of our Olympic contingent, only one medal in each of the last three Olympics was a poor performance. Once a member of the Nigerian team (if I am not mistaken) had commented that "India takes the olympic motto (Winning is not everything, participation matters) very seriously". Shameful but true. We watch the Olympics in hope that we will get to hear the national anthem but we get to hear such comments. This is the reason behind my low interest. But this Olympic was different........

Lets first start with the negative points;

• Padam Shri Sania Mirza. I can not understand why the babe gets so much attention. Afterall, what is her claim to fame. She has won only one WTA event and that too an event in Hyderabad!!! Agreed that she is the only woman tennis player from India who broke into the top 30 ranking. But honestly, WTA tour's impression in my mind took a major hit because of Sania's rise. Entire India follows her matches but most news headlines read "Sania crashes out in the first round". I do not know how she ever made it to the top 30. Hard to believe that there are several more incompetent (read: worse) players on the WTA circuit. Anyways, coming back to the topic, Padam Shri Mirza left her first round match midway, citing an injury. She was posing for photographs on the day before (source: newspapers) and was ready to play the doubles match the next day!!!! Injury? Bullshit!!! She is just an incompetent player who does not want to get exposed. A loss in sports is okay. It should not be taken too seriously. Even Bradman used to get out on zero. What should not be tolerated is wrong attitude. Sania does not look serious. She did not even dress appropriately for the opening ceremony. Such players should get a kick on their rear side and should not be allowed to represent the country. In any case, there is no point sending women tennis players to Olympics. It is a huge wastage of resources.......and prayers.
• Lt. Col Rathore. I do not have any problems with his performance. Any sportsperson can have an off day. No issues over there. But the conduct was inappropriate. Lt. Col Rathore was sporting a beard in the tournament. Agreed, it was not an army event. Yet, he is an army officer and should have behaved like one. I was hugely disappointed by his conduct especially when I am reading the biography of Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw.
• Did not have much hopes from others, however I must say the performances of Gagan Narang and Manavjit Sandhu were disappointing. There were huge expectations from Lee-Hesh but that was just our typical optimism, especially when the guys are not gelling together. And, why do we even send Anjali Bhagwat???
• Support staff. Sania Mirza's mother travelled to Beijing as the manager of the women's team!!! There was a huge uproar. An official of the Indian Tennis Federation explained on national television that he has personally seen Mirza senior taking good care of the team and she is a great manager. Is there anyone who is stupid enough to buy that? I would like to see Mirza senior as a manager of the team when Sania is not playing. I do not think that is gonna happen....ever. Moving on, many other players of the Indian contingent could not take their coaches to the Olympics. Instead, officials were sent!!!! Absurd and Shameful!!!

Ok, enough of negative points. Lets talk about the positives now. There are five main positives. Abhinav Bindra, Vijender Kumar, Sushil Kumar, Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar. The first three have medals to show, however one must appreciate the great performance of Akhil and Vijender. The story of most of these men is inspiring. Apart from Bindra, all of these men come from a humble background. One can only imagine how difficult it would have been for these men to chase their dreams. Nothing to take away from Bindra as well. The guy has all the resources, thanks to a super-rich dad. Yet, it takes hard work and dedication to achieve what he achieved. Other good performances included the shuttlers, Saina Nehwal and Anup Sridhar and the archers.

Overall, we came up with a great performance in this Olympics. We exceeded our expectations. There were several players in the contingent who won the medal and several others who came close. Fair enough. And, this Olympics was special as we got to hear our national anthem. We owe it to you Abhinav!!!

Good Morning Guys. I am back to blogging after a long break. It is not that I did not have anything to express or write about. And I was certainly not too busy to blog. But, for some reason, things never fell into place. I did not want to write just for the heck of it.

But ya, I did miss blogging...especially when there were so many topics. I hope to be regular....till the next hibernation.

RAAAAAAAAFA..................RAFA

Ladies and Gentlemen, Rafael Nadal is the new Wimbledon Champion!!!! He won the championship two minutes back!!!!

Nokia 5610: Just Like Marriage

Marriage

Nokia 5610 is my first, relatively costly mobile set. I am pretty bad with technology and I do not care if my phone has a camera or not (as I carry a camera everywhere) and so I have always used the basic models. But this beauty really appealed me. Though it was much costlier than the other sets that I have used till now, I really did not mind as it seemed worth the investment. I brought it home.

Honeymoon

Initial days were great. Everyone was "wowed". Looks were great. Sound clarity was good. I was really happy and satisfied.....infact "orgasmic"!!!!

Trouble in Paradise

Initial problems started when one fine day, the phone suddenly went dead. My efforts to restart it went in vain. Only after I took the battery off and tried restarting it, my phone came out of the coma. But this became a regular feature. Many of you would think that I have loaded the cell with all kind of junk (pictures, softwares, music) but thats not true.

Recently the slider key on the phone (the one that is used to directly go to the music player and radio) came off. To my horror, I came to know that the part is not covered under warranty. Moreover, it can not be replaced anytime soon since the replacement parts are yet to arrive in the market!!! Going by the other reviews, I understand that this is not a one-off phenomenon and several users are facing the same problem. I have reached out Nokia folks (in-laws) but there is no response yet.

Heading towards Divorce

The USP of this phone is the look. If the part can not be replaced/repaired, I would prefer dumping this one and bringing another one. (But ya, thats is something I wont do in marriage). I wont recommend the phone to anyone.

Who is the boss (on clay)?

Yesterday, Rafael Nadal won the French Open for the fourth consecutive time!!! This is what I had been praying for. Final against Federer, arguably the best ever tennis player, and Rafa's victory. It was a pretty one-sided affair with Rafa dominating all through. Federer did come up with a good fight in the second set (some of the shots were truly amazing) but Rafa was too good. Federer was forced to play an unnatural game but he was not upto the mark. In the end, I was feeling sorry for Federer. No, I am not saying that to glorify my favorite's achievement. Its just that you dont like to see a champion without an answer. Federer is not my favorite tennis player but I still want him to win more grandslams than anyone else. He deserves that as he is the best. But for some reason, I do not want Federer to win the French.....ever. There are several reasons for that. Firstly, I do not want anyone, whose game is not best suited for clay, to win my favorite sports championship. Federer is proving to be a good clay court player (3 French Open finals cannot be a fluke), yet Rafa is way ahead of him on clay. If you find this reason silly, the second one is sillier. If Federer wins everything, it will get really boring. Moreover, there wont be anything for the other guys. So I do not want him to win the French....I wish him all the best for the Wimbledon. He will surely win. For now......cheers Rafa!!! Keep it coming!!!!

Rafa & Roger: The Rivalry

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will meet in a Grand Slam final for the fifth time in Sunday's Roland Garros title match.

Nadal has emerged victorious in the past two years in the Roland Garros final, but during the same period Federer has taken the honors over Nadal in consecutive Wimbledon finals.

Federer and Nadal have played a total of 16 times, with Nadal leading the series 10-6. The Spaniard has won eight of their nine meetings on clay, including both showdowns during this year's clay court swing in the finals of ATP Masters Series events in Hamburg and Monte Carlo.

Here is a history of the duo’s 16 career meetings, beginning with their first match at Miami in March 2004.

2008 Masters Series Hamburg Final: Nadal def. Federer 7-5 6-7(3) 6-3 (Clay)

Rafael Nadal had a score to settle against Roger Federer, who snapped his Open Era record 81-match winning streak on clay in the 2007 final. Nadal was looking to become only the third player since 1990 to win the three ATP Masters Series titles on clay – Monte Carlo, Rome and Hamburg in his career. The only players to accomplish the feat were former World No. 1s Gustavo Kuerten and Marcelo Rios.
Federer started the match strongly with breaks of serve in the second and sixth games for a 5-1 lead, but Nadal clawed his way back by winning six successive games to clinch the opening set 7-5 in 61 minutes. The pair exchanged breaks of serve early in the second set, but it was Federer who moved into a 5-2 lead before Nadal broke back in the ninth game. The writing appeared on the wall for Federer, but the Swiss regained his composure and calmly sealed the tie-break to take the pair’s 16th career meeting to a deciding set.

Nadal secured the crucial break in the fourth game of the third set and failed to convert two further opportunities for a 5-1 lead. Federer kept battling but Nadal was not to be denied as he fought off one break point in the seventh game to record a 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-3 win in two hours and 53 minutes.

2008 Masters Series Monte-Carlo Final: Nadal def. Federer 7-5 7-5 (Clay)

As always seems the case, the stakes were high when Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer met in the 2008 Masters Series Monte-Carlo final. Nadal was looking to become the first player in the Open Era - and the first in almost 100 years - to win four consecutive titles in Monaco. Coming off his seventh career clay title one week earlier in Estoril, Federer was desperate not to fall to Nadal for a third consecutive year in the Monte-Carlo final.

The ATP World No. 1 broke Nadal in the first games of the first and second sets, even racing to a 4-0 lead in the second when Nadal eked out just five points during that stretch. But Federer's inability to hold serve - he was broken six times and saved just one of seven break points - was his undoing, as Nadal embarked on a five-game winning streak of his own before closing out the match 7-5, 7-5.

Since winning his first Monte-Carlo title in 2005, Nadal had won 98 of 99 clay-court matches through his title title run in Monaco in 2008. The victory marked the 21-year-old's 10th ATP Masters Series title and his 24th title overall. Nadal also snapped a nine-month title drought dating back to Stuttgart in 2007.

2007 Tennis Masters Cup Semi-Final: Federer def. Nadal 6-4 6-1 (Hard)
Federer claimed the most lopsided win in his storied rivalry with Nadal to race into the Tennis Masters Cup final in Shanghai. After holding his nerve in a tense first set, Federer blew open the match by winning 13 consecutive points at the start of the second set before closing out a 6-4, 6-1 victory.

Federer produced one of the best serving performances of his career, putting 81 percent of first serves into play and, in the first set, firing four consecutive aces to get out of a 0-30 hole.

The ATP World No. 1 hit with conviction the topspin backhand that has so often let him down against Nadal. He was confident on return, opting for a more aggressive topspin backhand rather than his slice. And he found the time he needed to dance around his backhand and unleash the full force of his mighty forehand.

After his early challenge, Nadal fell well short of his best form. His groundstrokes lacked their normal penetration and he made a number of unforced errors.

Yet Nadal did have a number of chances on the Federer serve in the first set and only gave up his first break chances when he dropped serve to lose the irst set 6-4. Federer then embarked on his 13-point sweep at the beginning of the second set to take a 3-0 lead. During that run he made seven of eight first serves and broke Nadal to love.

2007 Wimbledon, Final: Federer def. Nadal 7-6(7) 4-6 7-6(3) 2-6 6-2 (Grass)
After a draining run to the Wimbledon final for the second consecutive year, Rafael Nadal's mental and physical toughness was on show as he produced the best grass court performance of his career against four-time defending champion Federer. Playing for the seventh consecutive day after rain wreaked havoc with the tournament, Nadal pushed the mighty Federer to five sets for the first time in his 34-match winning streak at the All England Club.

Federer, who had never lost a match at Wimbledon after winning the first set, claimed the crucial first set tie-break despite Nadal's gallant effort to save three consecutive set points at 3/6 in the 'breaker.

An attacking Federer made many forays to the net but Nadal had his blistering passes dialed in, protected his serve and volleyed with confidence. The Spaniard saved a break point in the first game of the third set and then didn't face another break point until Federer claimed the decisive break in the sixth game of the fifth set.

Having seen Nadal save 16 of 17 break points against him to win Roland Garros, ederer twice rallied from 15/40 in the fifth set to avoid going down an early break.

Federer, who clubbed 65 winners - including 24 aces and many cross court backhand winners - equaled Bjorn Borg's record of five consecutive Wimbledon titles. Nadal was attempting to become the first player since Borg in 1980 to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year.

2007 Roland Garros, Final: Nadal def. Federer 6-3 4-6 6-3 6-4 (Clay)
The stakes were higher than ever when Federer and Nadal clashed in the 2007 Roland Garros final. For the second consecutive year Federer was attempting to become just the sixth man in history to win all four Grand Slam titles and to be just the third man to hold all four majors at the same time. Nadal was looking to join Bjorn Borg as the only player to win three consecutive Roland Garros crowns.

Earlier in the clay swing Nadal had beaten Federer in the Masters Series Monte-Carlo final but Federer avenged that defeat with his first clay court victory over Nadal in the Masters Series Hamburg final.
Federer took the fight to Nadal early, earning 10 break point chances over three consecutive Nadal service games in the first set. But the tough Spaniard refused to buckle and scrapped to win the first set. Although Federer rebounded to win the second set, Nadal's ability to fight off 16 of 17 break point opportunities in the match as the telling factor.

Federer returned more aggressively - particularly on the backhand - to try to stop Nadal from controlling points, but, as in past meetings, the Spaniard's high kicking left-handed forehands into his backhand were too much for Federer to handle.

2007 Masters Series Hamburg, Final: Federer def. Nadal 2-6 6-2 6-0 (Clay)
Federer had gone four tournaments without lifting the trophy - the longest title drought of his 172-week reign as ATP World No. 1 - but capped off his week by avenging two years of clay-court torment at the hands of Nadal. He snapped the Spaniard’s 81-match clay winning streak and 16-0 record in clay-court finals, denying Nadal a historic sweep of the clay ATP Masters Series titles as he hoisted the Hamburg trophy for the fourth time.

After a lackluster first set in which he faced break points in his first three services games and lost five consecutive games, Federer changed course and took the attack to his arch rival. He conceded just six points on serve in the second set and seven points on serve in the third set as he hit peak form in his last appearance before Roland Garros.

2007 Masters Series Monte-Carlo, Final. Nadal def. Federer 6-4 6-4 (Clay)
Federer entered Monte-Carlo on the heels of two surprisingly early exits, seeing his career-high 41-match winning streak come to an end with an opening round loss to Guillermo Canas in Indian Wells and losing to the Argentine again in the fourth round at Miami. He regrouped at the year's first clay court ATP Masters Series event to set up a final rematch with two-time defending champion Nadal. But Nadal, who dropped serve just three times in his five matches, proved too much for the top seed in their first meeting of the 2007 season. He broke Federer's serve once in each set and saved all three break points he faced to capture his eighth career ATP Masters Series shield and extend his Open Era record-winning streak on clay to 67 matches.

2006 Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai, Semi-Final. Federer def. Nadal 6-4 7-5 (Hard)

Federer notched his second straight victory over Nadal, ending with a vicious cross-court winner to become the first player to reach four consecutive finals at a circuit-ending championship since Ivan Lendl. He broke Nadal early in the opening set and clinched it with a second break of the Spaniard after 49 minutes. Nadal got out of jail twice on match points in the tenth game from Federer errors, but could not hold off the World No. 1 as Federer wrapped up the win two games later. The Swiss went on to capture his career-best 12th title by defeating James Blake in the final and finished the season with a 92-5 record.

2006 Wimbledon, Final: Federer def. Nadal 6-0 7-6(5) 6-7(2) 6-3 I (Grass)
The pressure was on Federer, as the top seed and three-time defending champion was playing in his favorite surface, riding a 47-match grass court winning streak and facing Nadal in a surface that the Spaniard had not managed to produce good results prior to this year's Wimbledon.

Federer started the match in hot form, breaking Nadal in the second, fourth and sixth games to take the set 6-0. The Spaniard would break Federer in the first game of the second set and serve at 5-4 but fail to close it out. Federer won the second set in a tie-break 7-5 but ended up losing the third set also in a tie-break (7-2). In the fourth set Federer took early control, breaking Nadal at 2-1 and 4-1 and eventually winning the Championships when serving at 5-3.

Federer, who captured his 39th career title and eighth Grand Slam crown, became the sixth man to secure four straight Wimbledon titles.

2006 Roland Garros, Final: Nadal def. Federer 1-6 6-1 6-4 7-6(4) (Clay)

The stakes had never been higher in a Federer-Nadal showdown than when the top two players in the INDESIT ATP Rankings went head-to-head in the Roland Garros final. Playing in his first Roland Garros title match, Federer was attempting to become the first player since Rod Laver in 1969 to win four straight Grand Slam events, and just the third player in history to achieve the feat. Nadal was looking to become the youngest player to defend the Roland Garros title since Bjorn Borg in 1974-75. The Spaniard also was trying to improve his perfect record at Roland Garros to 14-0, his clay court winning streak to 60 matches and to notch his 100th career clay court win.

Federer broke Nadal twice in the first set to race to a 5-0 lead. But then Nadal began to dominate the match with his crushing forehand and Federer struggled with many unforced backhand errors. Nadal did not drop serve again until he tried to close out the match at 5-4 in the fourth set. But he clinched the match soon after in the tie-break. Nadal won his 14th consecutive final (second only in the Open Era to Federer's mark of 24 straight finals won).

2006 Masters Series Rome, Final: Nadal def. Federer 6-7(0) 7-6(5) 6-4 2-6 7-6(5) (Clay)
In May, only three weeks after their Monte-Carlo match, Federer and Nadal were at it again. Federer rested in the time in between the two tournaments, while Nadal went to Barcelona and won the title (d. Robredo). This match was the best between the two warriors yet, lasting five hours and five minutes. Federer forced the action, successfully approaching the net again and again. The Swiss tennis genius won more points than Nadal, just like in Dubai, 179 to 174. But once more Nadal won the big points. Federer had two match points with Nadal serving at 5-6, 15-40 in the final set. But he missed forehands on both opportunities. With the victory, Nadal tied Guillermo Vilas’ Open Era record of 53 straight match wins on clay. He also lifted his career record in finals to 16-2, the best winning percentage in Open Era history. Even after the defeat, Federer had an incredible 2006 record of 39-3, with all three losses at the hands of Nadal.

2006 Masters Series Monte-Carlo, Final: Nadal def. Federer 6-2 6-7(2) 6-3 7-6(5) (Clay)
Between the Dubai match and this one in April, Federer went undefeated, winning Masters Series events for the third year in a row at Indian Wells (d. Blake) and the second year in a row at Miami (d. Ljubicic). Nadal, meanwhile, reached the semifinals of Indian Wells (l. to Blake) and fell in the second round at Miami (to Moya). But Nadal regained his footing at Monte-Carlo. He took the exciting match in 3 hours and 49 minutes and overcome a 0-3 deficit in the final tie-break.

2006 Dubai Tennis Championships, Dubai, Final: Nadal def. Federer 2-6 6-4 6-4 (Hard)
Federer came into the pair’s first encounter of the 2006 season undefeated, having won the title at Doha (d. Monfils) and the Australian Open (d. Baghdatis). Nadal was just getting his groove back after suffering an ankle injury at the Madrid Masters Series event in October. Dubai was only Nadal’s second tournament since suffering the injury. He opened the year with a semifinal showing at Marseille in February (l. to Clement). This was the first match between Federer and Nadal with the Spanish superstar holding the INDESIT ATP Ranking of No. 2. Nadal won the encounter despite winning less points: 71 to 78. They each broke serve three times, but Nadal won the points that mattered. The win represented his 10th straight victory in finals. Nadal’s victory also broke Federer’s Open Era record of 56 straight match wins on hard courts.

2005 Roland Garros, Paris, Semi-Final: Nadal def. Federer 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-3 (Clay)
Theirs was the most eagerly awaited match of the tournament. Federer was already No. 1 in the world and fast-rising Nadal was at No. 5. Nadal came to Roland Garros on the heels of clay-court titles at the ATP Masters Series events at Monte-Carlo in April (d. Coria) and at Rome in May (d. Coria again). Federer, meanwhile, was fresh off of his second straight clay-court crown at Masters Series Hamburg in May (d. Gasquet). Federer evened the score by winning the second set, but after that his form fell, while Nadal kept the pressure on, ousting Federer in four sets on the way to winning the Roland Garros title on debut.

2005 NASDAQ-1OO Open, Miami, Final: Federer def. Nadal 2-6 6-7(4) 7-6(5) 6-3 6-1 (Hard)
Federer was primed for revenge. Again he came into the Miami event with only one loss for the year (to Safin in the semifinals of the Australian Open) and fresh off a title in Indian Wells (d. Hewitt). Nadal was a year older and wiser, already having won three ATP titles. The balls were flying at Federer from Nadal’s exploding topspin groundstrokes, and the Spaniard was running down every ball in sight. Before he knew it, Federer was down 5-3 in the third set tie-break, two points from defeat. But he rallied back, and leveled the head-to-head series at 1-1

2004 NASDAQ-100 Open, Miami, 3rd RD. Nadal def. Federer 6-3 6-3 (Hard)
Federer came into the ATP Masters Series event on a roll, having won the Australian Open final over Marat Safin in February and the Pacific Life Open (also a Masters Series event) in Indian Wells over Tim Henman just before coming to Miami. He had lost only once in 2004 prior to this match (in the quarterfinals of Rotterdam to Henman). Nadal, the youngest man in the tournament at 17, was just starting to emerge as a force on the ATP circuit and hadn’t yet won a title. He breezed by Federer in only 69 minutes for the best win of his career at that point. The Spaniard said after the match that it was probably the best he had ever served.

Source: ATP (June 6, 2008);

Link: http://www.atptennis.com/1/en/2008news/federer_nadal.asp

Go Rafa Go

What to do?

IPL is over and there is nothing to do in the evenings!!! I know quite a lot of people who are in a similar state of confusion. It was great fun but now it is over, much to the relief of my wife. She likes cricket but she had an overdose. We almost bought another TV so that we satisfy our separate TV viewing needs!!! I heard someone talking about two IPL seasons in a year. C’mon, I want to hear more!!!

Stand Corrected

I was too quick to judge “One Night @ the Call Center”. I was finding the first half comparatively boring but the second half is interesting and to a great extent…..filmy. But overall it is an intelligent book. Anyone reading the book will be able to identify with one character or another. Everyone has had a boss like Bakshi at some stage in life. So the story appeals to most. Interesting read.

Two Point Someone

If you have read Chetan Bhagat's "Five Point Someone" and also know about my academic feats, you might be tempted to think that I am talking about my CGPA from MBA. It was close but it was not that low. But ya, it is related to Chetan Bhagat and his writing. I am not an avid reader. I hardly pick up books as I am a slow reader and do not have the patience. If I am interested in a story, I want to know "what happened next" as soon as possible. But it takes ages as I read slowly, visualize things, read a paragraph again and again....and in the end I get frustrated and lose interest. I know that’s weird but that’s me.

Once someone had asked me how much time will I take to finish the book "The Sixth Commandment" (I do not know why I was reading that crap just like you are wondering why you are reading this crap). I had replied, after a long pause for calculation, "two months"!!! Everyone was surprised/shocked as they were wondering how can someone take so long to finish a book and that too a mystery. I have not told anyone but honestly, I was thinking that probably people are shocked as I have underestimated the time!!! My father and sister still laugh at that incident. I am that bad at reading.

Recently someone suggested "The 3 mistakes of my life" by Chetan Bhagat. I had heard a lot about Chetan Bhagat's style of writing from several bookworms (including my wife) and some others who purchase books regularly (but hardly read them) to impress themselves (like my friend Vikas Khaitan). I had also watched a play based on Chetan's (hunh, “Chetan's”!!!! as if he is my “chaddi-buddy” (langotiya yaar)) book, "Five Point Someone". It was organized by a group called Evam in association with Madras Theatre Group. The play was brilliant, simply brilliant. That had got me interested. So, to cut the "already very long story" short, I decided to read Chetan's (there I go again) latest book "The 3 mistakes of my life".

I finished the book in a day and half!!! Then I picked up "Five Point Someone" and finished it under two days. And now I am reading "One Night @ the Call Center". I am half way through (I must say, it is not as interesting as the other two). Two and a half books in less than a week and that is why the title, 2 point someone. I am finding Chetan Bhagat's style of writing pretty interesting and I am developing an interest in reading. That should mean more than a Booker for Chetan (“Chetan”!!! That’s a hattrick!!! For me as well as him).

Até a vista Guga

If you are wondering, the title of this blog means "Good Bye Guga". Guga is how Gustavo Kuerten is popularly known as. I live in a cricket crazy nation and cricket is my favorite sport, however French Open is my favorite sports tournament. French Open is different. It shows the "class" of a tennis player. Other surfaces are all about boom-boom tennis but one cannot win the Roland Garros with just a bazooka serve (of course, Roger Federer is an artist on any surface). One has to "serve and rally" and really fight for each point on the clay. Over the years, most of my favorite tennis players have been good clay court players.....Carlos Moya, Marcelo Rios, Thomas Muster, Sergi Bruguera, Guga and now Rafa.

In 1997, an unknown player from Brazil (at least I was seeing him for the first time though it was his second appearance in the French Open) came to Roland Garros. He was different....he had curly hair, a thin frame, was dressed in yellow and blue (Brazilian football team uniform).... honestly he looked more like a drug addict than a tennis player. But he could play. He had killer ground strokes. He used to go for every ball even if it looked impossible to reach and surprisingly he used to reach them!!!

Armed with an infectious smile, it was very difficult to dislike Guga. I started liking him and wanted him to win. Guga did not let me down and he won the French Open!!! If I am not mistaken then he was ranked 66th in the world at that moment!!! After winning the grand slam, Guga came to the stage and shyly said, "Now the toughest part.....talk..."

Guga won two more French Open titles in 2000 and 2001. He spent 43 weeks at the top of the ATP rankings. His game was suited for the clay courts and he hardly won anything on other surfaces, except a couple of tournaments here and there on hard court. His career was plagued with injuries and his career virtually ended after the right hip injury and subsequent surgery in 2002. (Ya, he did beat Roger Federer to reach the quarterfinals in 2004). This year, he came back for his farewell tour....a farewell that he deserved. He might have lost in straight sets in the first round but this loss ended in a standing ovation. A tribute to a champion player and a great personality. We will all miss you Guga.

Who let the dogs out?

Seems India has recently developed three hobbies; IPL, watching the news of Khali (pardon me, I mean "The Great Khali") and bashing one Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. Around 50% Indians are interested in Khali, around 70% are watching IPL (or the cheerleaders) but whats astonishing is that all the "extra-successful" Indians (the achievers) are bashing Mr. Bachchan. Take, for example, the Golden Globe winning director, Anurag Basu. The director recently criticized Amitabh Bachchan for the kind of roles he is doing. Basu believes that the whole magic of Mr. Bachchan has gone now and he should gracefully retire!!! Coming from such an acclaimed director, the opinion should be taken seriously.

Then there is Khalid Mahmud, reknowned film critic and award winning director (his extraordinary collection of work includes Oscar winning movies, Silsilay and Tehzeeb, which are considered the benchmarks for direction). Khalid recently wrote an open letter to Mr. Bachchan suggesting that Mr. Bachchan should go back to the film institute for a refresher course!!!! Another achiever talking against Mr. Bachchan!!! Thats strike two!!!

There are several other prominent and legendary personalities who have come forward to bulldoze Mr. Bachchan but no one is as important as the man who transformed Mumbai into Shanghai....the man who solved Mumbai's poverty, pollution, population, drainage etc problems. It is one and only.....Raj Thackeray. This leader of masses has one and only one agenda and that is to remove the biggest problem that an average Mumbaikar is facing today.....Amitabh Bachchan. He does not care about other issues as they are not "hot" enough. I am not updated....by any chance, are the elections round the corner?

The fact is that pointing finger at Mr. Bachchan is a ticket to instant fame. Mr. Bachchan is a global personality. If he sneezes, it will be a news.....if he laughs, it will be a news.....if he is bitten by a blood-sucking mosquito, it will again be a news and the mosquito will be discussed by a billion Indians across the globe. The blood-sucking mosquitos discussed above know this "marketing" strategy and are playing their cards well. But it is good to know that Mr. Bachchan is not keeping quiet and is replying through his blog. Mr. Bachchan, I may not matter, but I am with you. Kitne baazu kitne sar ginle dushman dhyaan se......haarega woh har baazi jo khele hum ji jaan se!!!

Most em"bare"ssing moment of my life

Let me share with my trillions of readers (scotch has gone to my head) the most embarrassing moment of my life. Or should I say the most em"bare"ssing moment of my life.

It was 2006. I was staying on the outskirts of Hyderabad (a lot of my friends will find this an understatement). It was a Saturday morning. A friend, who had stayed at my place in the night (stop your imagination), was about to leave. I asked him if he could drop me to my office as I wanted to spend some time in the gym (my marriage was a few months away and I was trying to shed those extra kilos (read quintals)). The plan was that I would spend some time in the gym, take a shower over there and then directly go to a mall where the same friend would meet me for lunch. I got ready and we started on my friend's bike. Now lets discuss some facts;

1. The bike was a Hero Honda CBZ (nothing important over there)
2. The bike was low on fuel (important information)
3. The helmet was hanging behind the bike in such a manner that if anyone had to sit behind the rider, he had to lift his legs really really high to clear the helmet (keep that in mind; extremely crucial to the story)
4. I was not wearing the gym cloths and they were in the bag, along with a towel and a bottle of water (keep that in mind)
5. I was wearing a black trouser (not important, however now I wish I were wearing a "lungi")
6. The trouser was slightly tight (keep that in mind)
7. My house was on the outskirts (Thank God!!!)

Midway in our journey, the bike ran out of fuel. We were in the middle of nowhere and the nearest petrol pump was 6-8 kms away. We started pushing the bike. We must have pushed it for half a km when my friend suggested that we try tilting the bike, shaking it and starting it. Sometimes it works...for a short while. But that is better than pushing the bike. He tried that and bingo!!! It started!!! I jumped on the back seat and we started again, hoping to make it to the petrol pump. Just when we hit a comparatively busier road, the bike stopped again. We had covered only about a quarter of a km. It was a hopeless situation and we decided that one of us will take an autorickshaw, get petrol in a bottle and come back. We did do that but later (Why God???!!!!Why!!!!).

As I was about to leave to get an autorickshaw, my friend tried to kick start the bike again. And the damn thing started!!!! I got really excited and lifted my leg (really high, remember fact 3) to get on the bike. Just then there was a roaring sound (Charrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaakkkk) that was followed by a real nice, breezy feeling on my legs....thighs and above!!!! I wondered what caused that sound and then I looked down on my trousers. It seemed as if a nuclear device was tested on my trouser, it had exploded.......believe you me, I am not at all exaggerating it. Why would I exaggerate anything like this. The only piece that was holding my trouser to my body was the strip around the waste where one puts the belt. Below that strip, the trouser was "hanging" in four different parts, not attached to one another.

There I was, standing on the roadside with four pieces of cloth hanging to my belt!!!! No wonder I was feeling brrrrrreeeeezy!!!! I went numb and was about to faint. Just then I remembered the gym bag on my shoulder. I immediately took out the towel, covered myself and put on the trek pants......all that on the roadside, much to the amusement of the passers-by. And how can I forget....during my ordeal, my so-called good friend was busy recording all this on his mobile camera (thankfully he lost the video)!!!!

Till now, whenever I think about that incident, it gives me goose flesh. What if I was not going to the gym, what if it had happened on a busy street......I would have probably killed myself afterwards.

Based on a true story

Flashback # 1: The year is 1995. I am in class 10th....standing in front of a heavily built teacher....looking at my not-so-clean shoes....and....listening to some heavy-duty "gyan". Some of my friends are standing behind a pillar and are giggling. The teacher is telling me that one day I will regret everything. She is predicting that most of the people I hang out with will end up being "no one" but they wont regret it as nobody has any expectations from them anyways....however, if I fail, I will regret it, and so will everyone who knows me...as I have the potential......blah blah blah followed by some more blah blah blah.

I am thinking that it is just some crappy useless advise which teachers....and parents....are supposed to give!!!! Otherwise they will not be called good teachers or good parents. But ya, I agree with her on the "I have the potential" part. Remaining part of that gyan is absolutely boring bullshit.

Flashback #2: The year is 1999. I am in second year college. I have met a classmate from class 10th. He is working with a courier company as a delivery boy!!! He is telling me about the others from the gang. I come to know that one guy is running a small time grocery shop in the outskirts of Ranchi, another one is simply doing nothing (ya, he is doing drugs but for discussion sake, let us not count that!!!), one guy is a member of an extortion gang and to top it all....one guy is in jail for attempted murder!!!! I get a shock and I am thinking that now it is high time that I get my act straight or else I will join this elite list. I resolve to get serious about my life.

Scene 3: It is April 10, 2008. (Oh c'mon!!!! don't think that I became really really serious after the incident in "Flashback # 2", became immensely successful and made tonnes of money!!!! This is not a script of a bollywood potboiler in which a zero turns into a hero. But ya, I did recover well enough to rejoin the race).

Coming back to the scene.....I am sitting in a movie hall.....watching an emotional scene about an old and helpless father and a son who does not care. I am realising that I am not doing enough for my parents. I want to do so much for them but I am not doing anything. After that I become very very emotional.

Cut to the present moment. Here I am, writing my feelings....hoping that no one reads them....yet for some strange reason, am writing on a "free-for-all-to-read" kind of space.

I have seen so many people who have all the resources but they do not do anything for their parents. And then there are people (read losers) like me who want to do so much for their parents but are not able to do much. Not that parents expect anything materialistic from their children...at least not mine. All they look for is love and affection. I do try my best to make my parents feel loved but I want to do so much more. I want to give my parents all the happiness. I want to give them the life they could have led if they did not have the constraints....and much more. Thats the destination, the ultimate milestone. But right now I do not have the fuel that will take me there....in fact, I am not even close!!!! I am trying my best and will do all that I can. But sometimes, like today, I go back to "Flashback # 1" and regret everything.

Thanks Orkut!!!

Unlike several people I know, I am not really crazy about Orkut. I do not use it for "making" new friends, however I find it pretty useful for locating old friends. I have located several friends from my school days. Today, I had another hit as I managed to locate my best pal from class 5th!!! It has been around 18 years since we last met and I had never imagined that I will ever be able to find him. I am really happy today.

For heaven's sake someone stop the "unstoppables" from losing

I am back to writing about cricket. With IPL going on, no one can escape the excitement and above all .....the discussions and analysis. Unlike most people, I do not have a favorite team in IPL. All the Indian cricket stars whom I like are scattered in different teams. I want Sachin to do well but have no attachment with the Mumbai team. I want Viru to do well but do not care about the Delhi team. But there is one team.....with whom I am bound to be a little attached. And that team is Hyderabad, aka Deccan Chargers!!!

When this team was picked, everyone (including yours truly) was of the opinion that it is one of the strongest teams. It has some great strokemakers, essential for the 20-20 format of the game. Deccan Chronicle spent crores for creating the team and a quick glance upon the squad suggested that we have a winner!!! And then the tournament started. Deccan Chargers have played three games till now and......hayeeelaaaa.....they have lost all three!!!!

The owners of the team probably did not realise that there is a cap on the number of foreign players playing in a game. There cannot be more than 4 foreign players in the playing eleven. That makes it very crucial that the remaining 7 Indian players are pretty good or atleast...up to the mark. That is where the Deccan Chargers are struggling. They have big names like Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist, Shahid Afridi, Herschelle Gibbs, Chaminda Vaas, Scott Styris, Nowan Zoysa and Chamara Silva but they can play only four of them. Apart from these big guns, Chargers have players like Venugopal Rao, VVS Laxman....and some legendary unknown fellas!!! I like Laxman's batting but in test matches. He should not even step on a cricket ground in colored uniform. 20-20 is a game about power-hitting, slogging, keeping the momentum going.....there is no place for "class". I could not even believe my eyes when in the first encounter Venugopal Rao opened with Gilchrist and then Laxman came on number 3!!!! The game was lost there itself!!!! The strategy was wrong and thankfully they tweaked it in the third game by dropping Rao. But it was not sufficient as Laxman promoted himself to the opening slot. Chargers will do their campaign a world of good by promoting Shahid Afridi to the opening slot. Look at the Delhi team. In the two matches that they have played so far, the number four batsman has not batted. In a 20-20 game, you have got to start with your best players and there should not be a need for your number 5 or 6 batsman to come to the crease.

Apart from making errors in the selection of the playing eleven, Laxman has also been far from impressive as a captain. In the first game against Kolkata, Laxman did not try to stop the singles. In a low scoring match, Laxman should have attacked the opposition. In the end, Kolkata trotted home quite easily. Then in the third match against Jaipur, Laxman made a blunder by giving the last over to Symonds. The opposition requires 19 runs off the last over and you hand over the ball to a bowler who had been taken for 28 runs off 2 overs. Moreover, Symonds's bowling had contributed to it's loss against Kolkata and he gave 30 runs in an over (Viru Zindabad) against Delhi!!!! Such historical events will make anyone apprehensive but not Laxman. Laxman was riding on complacency and that gave the Chargers the third loss in a row.

There is still a lot of cricket to be played in the tournament but if the Chargers have to do something worthwhile, they will have to sort out several things. Hopefully, they will be able to turn things around in time.

Night stay at Rangamati

Last week I visited my friend Ajit's village (Rangamati, Jharkhand). I was very excited about the trip as this was going to be my first visit to a village. The village is around 55 kms from Ranchi. The road to the village is mostly good. It was a nice ride to the village.

Everything about the place is so fresh. Fresh air, fresh water, fresh vegetable, fresh milk....everything. Moreover, the life is so simple (at least it appears that way). I had a great time over there and I didn't want to come back from the place at all.

Sarhul Festival at Ranchi

My trip to Ranchi coincided with the festival, Sarhul. It is a tribal festival in which tribals worship the Sal tree to seek the blessings of their spirits. The festival is marked by extensive dance and music programs. In Ranchi, groups from all parts of the city assemble at the Main Road area and from there the procession starts.

I was there and my friend suggested that we should take pictures of the procession. Now, I am always game for taking pictures but this time around I was a little apprehensive. I had heard several stories of people getting drunk and creating nuisance. During the festival, drinking heavy duty "haria", which is a local brew made of rice, is a common custom. I wanted to avoid any damage to myself and above all my camera. We decided to give the procession a miss. Just when we were about to leave, we saw the procession approaching. I got really excited and starting clicking. I was changing places to get good shots. Soon I realized that I was right in the middle of the procession and was drawing a lot of attention. There was this heavily drunk group which was staring at me and my camera. I started looking for a way to get out of trouble. Just then, one of them shouted "press wallah hai!!!" (He is from press!!!). Afterwards, the group posed for pictures and even made room for me to get into desired places to take shots. Having a big camera has its positives.

One interesting fact is that during the festival, women wear male cloths and gears and hunt for animals. The hunting process continues for entire day and they can kill any animal....wild or pet!!!

Finally....the numbers matched!!!

If you have ever bought a lottery ticket then you know the anxious moments one goes through while checking the winning number against the number on his/her lottery ticket. I have gone through such anxious moments quite a few times as my grandma used to buy lottery tickets for us. Needless to say that I never won as in that case, right now I would have been sitting on the Miami beach…watching babes get tanned. I would not have been here writing this stupid blog.

Hmmmph….anyways…the point is that the number on my ticket never matched with the winning number!!! I used to pray for the number to match but my prayers always went unheard….all that changed last Saturday!!!

I was anxiously looking above at the large digital board when it flashed the message. There was the number. I looked down at my ticket….and….it…MATCHED!!!

The ticket in my hand was my train reservation ticket and the message on the large display board said that my train had been postponed from 10:20 pm to 2:15 am!!!! I reconfirmed and the train numbers did match. Mr. God…I meant the lottery number and not just any number!!! But ya, that was a good one that you played on me. No hard feelings.

When two people have differences of opinion, it is not necessary that one of them is wrong. Both can be right. Do you agree?

Vizag Trip

After several weekends me and my wife were getting a weekend off. Neither of us were working on a "high-burn" project and so we decided that we will take off to some place outside Hyderabad. Since Hyderabad does not present many options for weekend trips, we picked the most commonly used option...Vizag.

I have been to the Vizag beach several times. It is a peaceful beach and is usually not very crowded. What I like most about the beach is the water is more violent compared to most other beaches I have been to. At Vizag we stayed at Palm Beach Resort. It was recommended by a few friends but since the tariff was not-so-high, I had my share of doubts. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. The resort is very nice and is right next to the beach. There are a couple of good restaurants over there. Moreover, it has a massage parlour and a swimming. Overall, the place has all the facilities that anyone would require to make the stay enjoyable.

There are quite a few places of tourist interest in and around Vizag (Borra Caves, Araku Valley, Kailash Hills etc). Since we were really tired after so many weeks of slogging in the office, we decided not to be too adventurous and spent most of our time either on the beach or in the resort (We did go to the Kursura submarine museum, which was pretty close to the resort). For a weekend trip, that was a sensible thing to do as we did not want to reach Hyderabad feeling even more tired. However, we would like to go back to the place if we get a 3-day weekend and then we would love to explore all the great places that Vizag offers. I would recommend Vizag and palm beach to all the weekend travellers.

They dont really care about us!!!

Yesterday, I saw a news item about the Indian cricket team…how they are made to work so hard round the year and BCCI does not even care!!! Nothing new about the story as everyone knows that and I am sure most feel sorry for the team. While watching the story and looking at the tonnes of statistics, I was thinking, "poor guys….they work so hard….they were either playing cricket or were on a tour for almost 300 days last year…they may be making millions but they are not getting much time with their family (just around 70 days last year)...WAIT.... that’s not so bad!!!!". They make good money, they can take their family on tours, they can afford great lifestyle and luxuries.......but what about me??? I spend my life in the office, work day and night, usually do not get weekends off, am scewing up my health, do not get to spend much time with my loved ones, do not have any time for my hobbies and……do not even get paid well!!! No one is feeling sorry for me. I am in a much worse situation….How come I am not a primetime story?!!?

Read somewhere….

“The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways but narrower viewpoints. We spend more but have less, we buy more but enjoy less. We have bigger houses but smaller families, more conveniences but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge but less judgment, more experts yet more problems, more medicines but less wellness.

We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom and hate too often. We have learned how to make a living, but not a life. We have added years to life but not life to years. We have been all the way to moon and back but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We have conquered outer space but not inner space. We have done larger things but not better things.

We have cleaned up the air but polluted the soul. We have conquered the atom but not our prejudice. We write more but learn less. We plan more but accomplish less. We have learned to rush but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information and to produce more copies that ever but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast food and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses but broken homes. It is time when there is much in the showroom window but nothing in the stockroom.”

The writer, like a billion other Indians, knows the problem. Anyone who is not facing these “problems” is probably unemployed, a lazy bum or in coma!!! Point is that everyone knows this…consciously or subconsciously but is there anyone with a solution? I guess not. No one likes to screw his/her happiness but everyone has expectations to manage and constraints to play with. The writer wasted time in writing all this and probably made his/her life even more miserable. The readers wasted their time and are running behind the deadlines even harder to compensate the loss in momentum. I topped them all by reading it and then writing this nonsense!!!

Pssch!!!

When we started the journey, we were alone......then others joined us on the road....and soon there was a traffic jam!!!

(Happens to me every morning!!!)

Aaaaaa (Yawn)!!!

I think there is some conspiracy going on a global level. In the night when you go to sleep, in 15-20 minutes someone presses the "sunlight" switch and a new day starts!!! I feel that all the time. Don't you agree? And the guy is particularly harsh on Monday mornings. I guess we need a new janitor up there.

That is how I am feeling right now!!!

Supermodel in the pic: Subasizz Sahoo;

Photographer: Me (Roaring Applause)

Two of a kind

Looking back at the journey so far, I do not think I have made too many friends. A reason could be that I was too involved with my family and my priorities. Though I wanted to be a happening guy and mix up with a lot of people, my constraints and priorities prevented me from doing so. I remember one incident from MBA days. There were 7 of us staying in one flat at Hyderabad. Once we had this session when everyone had to talk about another person and bring out the negative qualities. Almost everyone was of the opinion that I am selfish. Not that it hurt me yet I thought that I am misunderstood. I had some constraints and I was living with them. Those constraints prevented me from doing all the things that others used to do and so I used to say "No" quite often. I did not have any options.

In the same discussion, another guy was branded as selfish. And he had similar reasons….I understood that. Amit (From the picture, don’t think that he is my domestic help) and me have a lot in common. To name a few, we are not outgoing types, both of us put the family first and we are very emotional.

Amit and me were class mates at college. We hardly talked during the college…we just knew that the other exists. I think we talked for the first time outside a movie hall. I was standing in the ticket queue and was fourth or fifth in the line. That is when Amit approached me and asked if I could buy two tickets for him and his friend. Having asked for a favor, for the sake of courtesy, he started talking to me. Then we came to know that both of us were interested in doing MBA and he had joined a coaching center. Before we could talk any further, the counter opened and inspite of being so close to the counter, I did not manage to get the tickets. Waiting for your chance in a queue is not really a bright idea at Ranchi.

Then I joined the same coaching center. Afterwards, we got the call from the same management institute….we travelled together for the interview….we stayed together at my cousin's place…both of us got the Hyderabad center and then we stayed together during MBA days. After an year of completing MBA, I moved to Bangalore. Amit's company brought him to Bangalore and we stayed together at Bangalore as well. Though we had spent a lot of time together before that, our stay at Bangalore really helped me understand this guy. He was with me when I was going through a very tough phase of my life and he was very supportive.

Amit is a gem of a person. He is a great friend to have and is very caring. We have shared a lot of memorable moments with each other. Though we do not have this melodramatic "yaari hai imaan…" kind of friendship, we still are very close. We know and understand each other's priorities/ contraints and respect them. I may not have many friends but with a friend like Amit around, I am definitely not complaining.

:)

Yesterday, after so many days, we talked to each other and we talked like old times.

I am not too close to my extended family. There is enough drama to inspire a telesoap...similar to the lines of the Ekta Kapoor serials (If you do not know about these serials then you are lucky. They can trigger brain haemorrhage). Having said that, I confess that I am no saint myself. I come with my own set of manufacturing defects. I can be a shade selfish at times....sometimes a little egoist...and eccentric. Moreover, I sometimes lose my cool (Ladies and Gentlemen, the award for the understatement of the millennium goes to....yours truly). Do not want it to sound like a sob story but some of the incidents in my personal life and in the lives of some of the people who really matter, have made me a little bitter towards people and life in general. I totally admit that I did my bit to cause the drift between us....but she played her role too. Looking into the history books, I think timing was the main issue. May be the behavior/actions were trivial but the timing could not have been any worse.

Normally, in such events, I shut all the doors/windows. Infact, I did just that but somewhere deep inside, I wanted the things to change. Though I was never too close to her but she is indeed one of the few whom I like. Though I wanted to bridge the gap but I was not sure how to go about it. I did try calling her up on the New Year's eve but was almost relieved when she did not pick up the phone. Afterwards, we exchanged a few messages but it did not really take us anywhere.

Yesterday, I was surprised to receive her call but I am glad that she called.

Trip to Nandi Hills

यह तो बड़ा अच्छा है!!!

I did not know that blogs can be written in hindi as well. पता नहीं की मैं कभी use करता की नहीं लेकिन चलो यह option तो है!!! Pretty cool. जय हिंद!!!

Wishing someone good luck for a new business/ endeavour can get a little tricky. My father-in-law recently added an "ICU" in his hospital!!! Now, for that endeavour to be financially successful, a lot of patients will have to require intensive care treatment!!!

I wished him all the best but I just hope it saves many lives. :)

Main na kahta tha!!!

I kept saying but no one was ready to hear. Then, Virender Sehwag had to intervene to give me some support!!!

We simply cannot afford to have a player of his calibre sit outside. We did that and may be paid the price for that. Opening partnerships or the lack of them hurt us pretty badly in the first two games and who know....Sehwag's inclusion could have changed all that. Anyways, thats history. I am happy that Sehwag is back with a bang. He helped us win a test match and draw one. Now he has to help us win the one day series. Cannot wait to see Tendulkar and Sehwag open the batting for us. Thats some mouth watering stuff....not for the bowlers though.

Star Appeasement at its best

Recently heard that Shahrukh Khan won the Best Actor award for his role in "Chak De India" at "Nokia Star Screen Awards". That is not a news as Shahrukh Khan has won several awards in his long illustrious career. What surprised me was that Aamir Khan was adjudged "Best Supporting Actor" for his performance in Taare Zameen Par. I do not know about others but I felt that it was pretty ridiculous. Was Aamir really a supporting actor in the movie? In that case, even SRK was a supporting actor in Chak De India since the movie was about the girls in the hockey team.

Taare Zameen Par (TZP) did revolve around the kid but that does not make Aamir a supporting actor. The kid was a victim and Aamir was the hero who saved the kid.

If the logic is that Chak De India was a movie about SRK's character; how he suffered and then used the Women's hockey team to find glory then going by that logic, Sanjeev Kumar was the real hero of Sholay. The movie revolved around Sanjeev Kumar's character and how he used two "supporting actors" to take revenge. The organisers can go to any extent for star appeasement!!! Funny!!!

"India's victory at Adelaide" has been added to your wishlist

- MightyLordOnlineShoppingNetwork

Quote of the day

"He is so laid back that I am surprised that he is so bald"

- Sunil Gavaskar on Virender Sehwag

Just to let you guys know....I had predicted on the second day of the Perth test that Sehwag's bowling will prove to be more than handy. Nawab saab did not let me down.

Jeet gaye bhai jeet gaye!!!

Not many would have expected this result on the "Devil's Track" at Perth. Indian team showed immense grit and determination to pull off a victory, which brought smiles on over a billion faces.

It was a fight for pride and we won.

New kid on the block

Ishant Sharma has stunned everyone with the growth and maturity he has displayed in the last two tests. He has been bowling exceptionally well. I do not know about others but at least I was not expecting such a performance from the Delhi lad.

When Ishant arrived on the international scene (Test match against Bangladesh in 2007), he gave the impression that he is not quite ready for the grind. That was expected as the guy was just 18 years old!!! Honestly, I was disappointed at his inclusion in the team for the Australian tour. I thought someone like Agarkar would have been a better bet. But I am glad that he proved me wrong. The deliveries he produced to dismiss Ricky Ponting in both the innings of the Perth test were outstanding. Infact the entire spell he bowled in the second innings (in which he eventually gor Ponting out) had the touch of brilliance. He troubled Ponting all through the spell.

The conversation between him and Kumble was classic. Pretty similar to Raj Singh Dungarpur and Md. Azharuddin conversation ("Miyaan captaani karogey?").

After he had bowled 7 overs on a trot, Kumble thought of giving Ishant a break. Sehwag suggested that Ishant should bowl another over as Ponting was on strike. Kumble asked Ishant "Ek daalega?". Ishant replied "Haan daalunga". And he got punter out the very next ball!!!

My biggest stress buster....Calvin and Hobbes!!!

Jumboooo....Jumbo Haa Haa Ha

When one thinks of spin bowling, the two names that immediately come to mind are Shane Warne and Muthiah Muralidharan. They have conquered such great heights that no third name comes in mind. But there is another man, who has quietly been filling his bag. The man is Anil Kumble.

Jumbo recently bagged his 600th wicket!!! Not many would have expected that he will cross even 500. When the whole world was busy looking at Murali and Warne, Anil was covering milestones after milestones with stealthy footsteps. He is a quiet person, he has been far from controversies (unlike Murali) and he is anything but a showman (Unlike Warne). There is no glamour attached to his personality and so not many noticed his approach towards the milestone.

He comes across as a person with a strong mind and high determination. Nobody can forget the sight of Kumble bowling in West Indies with a broken jaw. Probably, captaincy came to him pretty late in the day. He is a man of few words but he is definitely a character whom young cricketers can look upto.

In the press conference after the second test match at Sydney, Kumble showed the world that he is a no-nonsense person. In his deep voice he said "Only one team played in the spirit of the game". That was unlike the Kumble that we have all known but that is what the situation demanded....and like always in his illustrious 17 year career, he stood up to the situation. Thats the way to go Jumbo!!!

Bold decision or "Bowled" decision

So much was being said about the pitch at Perth. It was being called the "Devil's Track". It is green and has plenty of bounce. All the experts were of the opinion that the team winning the toss should bowl first.....but surprise surprise, India won the toss and has elected to bat first (I think Anil Kumble holds some personal grudge against Sehwag or Jaffer). There is something that the Indian team management knows about the pitch that the experts do not know about. Whatever it is, I hope it makes sense and pays off. Jeetega Bhai Jeetega, India Jeetega!!!

Knock Knock

2-0 down in a four test match series, the Indian team management must have been looking for some divine intervention. The "ever-formidable-on-paper" Indian batting line up has so far failed to hold together. Moreover, unlike the previous tour, the opening partnerships are nothing worth writing home about.

Just when the situation was looking pretty grim, Virender Sehwag knocked on the door....or should I say.....ripped the door apart!!!

With a 73 ball century, Sehwag has strongly put forward his claim for an inclusion in the playing XI. That must have surely eased out the pressure a little for the team management. Sehwag must be singing "kiska hai yeh tumko intezaar....main hoon na".

He should have been opening the batting from the first game. He is too good a player to be left out. Moreover, you can never bring down the Aussies with defensive play. It requires a knock out punch and the Nawab of Najafgarh can surely pack a punch. C'mon Sehwag, beat the shit out of the kangaroos!!!

Aamir Rocks!!!

I recently watched the movie "Taare Zameen Par". Being a huge Aamir Khan fan, I was eagerly waiting for this movie and wanted it to do well.

You seldom like a movie that you are excited about or eagerly waiting for. At least it happens to me more often than not. That is because "I create" so high expectations that the end product rarely satisfies me. For instance, it happened to me when I watched "Guru". Before its release, I was very excited about the movie and really wanted it to do well. I was a touch disappointed when I watched it for the first time. The whole movie hall was applauding but I was quiet. I was thinking that "kucch kam hai". Since then I have watched the movie several times and I love the movie now. I own the DVD as well!!! Its just that my expectations had killed the experience the first time around.

I am glad that the same did not happen when I watched Taare Zameen Par. It is a beautiful movie and it totally surpassed my expectations. It is not glamorous, there is no masala, no item song, no raj malhotra, no bauji....in fact it is very emotional, deals with a complex subject and has a strong message...yet everyone is loving it!!! That is coz the story has been packaged in an interesting manner and everyone in the movie has given splendid performance. Yet, the two performances that clearly stand out are those of Darsheel....and Aamir (I am not biased, I did not like him in Fanaa).

Kudos to Aamir's direction (please excuse me if you think that I am going out of the way...actually I somewhat agree. he he he) as he has brilliantly treated the story. Without proper treatment, the movie could have easily fallen into the category of "parallel cinema". It is a must watch for all the parents and the people who would become parents at some point (ahhaaaan.....that actually means almost everyone....I guess I should get something for promoting the movie. If at all people were visiting my blog.......).

Whats unusual about the Australian team's behavior?

Whats the fuss all about? Why are we talking so much about the behavior of the Australian cricket team? What is unusual? Australian team has always been an arrogant and rude bunch on the field. They have a long and colorful history of sledging and misbehaving. So whats new?

We should only be complaining about the umpriring decisions and the judgement of the match referee. The umpires took the match away from us. Wrong decisions helped the Aussies and costed us dearly. Australia would not have managed a big score in the first innings, had some decisions gone in our favor. Even after that, we could have managed a draw but Bucknor and Benson did not allow that. The dismissal of Ganguly was classic. Benson could have gone to the third umpire but decided to give his arms some rest. I would not blame Michael Clarke for claiming the catch as sometimes it is difficult to make out such catches. In similar circumstances, Dhoni had claimed a catch on the last tour of England. It is not the fault of the player but the umpire should have gone to technology. Instead he decided to take the help of the lord....Ricky Ponting!!!

I wont even blame Australians for excessive appealing. We do not have the right as we are the industry leaders. Australians were desperate for a record equalizing win and it showed. I don't think there is anything wrong with that as everyone does it.

The icing on the cake was the Harbhajan Singh trial. I do not have much faith on the judicial system in India and so I think that Mike Procter can be an excellent judge. He said on camera that the umpires did not hear anything. He decided to ignore Sachin Tendulkar's statement and decided in favor of the Australians. I do not know whether Harbhajan said something or not....though he does come across as a character who can do that. Point is that there was not enough evidence. How did Mike Procter reach that decision totally beats me.

It is good to see BCCI backing the players....for once....for whatever reasons. That is a rarity. BCCI and the Indian team should put its foot down on the Harbhajan Singh issue and ensure that his ban is lifted.

Couple of people who will be relieved are Yuvraj Singh, Wasim Jaffer and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Their abysmal performance in the series so far is not being talked about at all. If I were Anil Kumble, I would be mentally preparing Sehwag, Pathan and Karthik for the third test.

Boss kaun hai maalum hai na!!!

Finally....it came!!!

I was on the verge of a heart attack during the entire time he was in the 90s.

2007 was jinxed, now we hope that 2008 will make up for that!!!

Thats how the world looks like from the top of a Yak....or should I say a very angry Yak carrying more than 100kg weight!!!

Baba Harbhajan's Mandir

Around 60 kms away from Gangtok, near the Nathula pass, there is a mandir of Baba Harbhajan Singh. He was a soldier with Punjab regiment of the Indian army. The legend goes that Baba Harbhajan Singh was declared a deserter after he mysteriously disappeared in Oct 1968. There is a belief that he appeared in the dreams of the commanding officer of his unit and told the exact location where his body and rifle can be found.

His body and rifle were recovered from the exact location. Baba Harbhajan Singh had slipped and drowned in a fast moving stream. Later, his unit constructed the mandir, which is frequented by army personnels as well as civilians.

Trip to Darjeeling

Last December, we went to Darjeeling for a short trip. We had heard so much about the place and were pretty excited about the trip. I would say that we returned from Darjeeling a touch disappointed. That may be because we went over there after a trip to Gangtok and so the benchmarks were high. Another reason could be because we did not spend much time at Darjeeling so may be we missed out on the real beauty. Moreover, we reached Darjeeling on a Thursday, which happens to be the day on which the markets remain closed. Whatever may be the reason, we did not enjoy the trip as much as we had expected.

We found Darjeeling pretty commercialized. If you land up there with no reservations/bookings, you are in for major trouble. Not that getting a hotel will be a problem but you will have to deal with zillions of agents. So we did not find Darjeeling very "user-friendly".

At Darjeeling, you would like to take a ride on the famous toy train. Please keep in mind that the trains run only in the first half. Almost all of them start between 9-10 am and if you miss them, you will have to wait for another day. There is a train at 12 or 1 pm but for some reason it is reserved for the VIPs!!! George Bush should have a toy train ride in his itinerary for his next India visit as there is a VIP train!!!!

Another attraction, much to the agony of my wife, is the sunrise at the Tiger Hill. In December, you have to start at 4 am to watch the sunrise at around 6:15 am!!! Not that the hill is pretty far off....you have to be there early to get a decent seat!!! Actually on the top of the hill, there is a big house. They sell tickets for each floor. The top floor obviously commands the highest rate. If you plan to go over there, ensure that the you get the tickets for the top floor in advance as it usually runs out of stock pretty quickly. We reached Tiger Hill at around 4:45 and the sunrise was expected at 6:15. It was already crowded when we reached there. Sleepy souls were waiting for the sun to show up. The main reason people go over there is because Kunchenjunga (or Khandchengzonga) range falls towards the western side of the hill. So when sun comes up, the range turns into golden in color which is quite a sight. But to watch that sight, you have to pray for a clear sky.

Around 6:15, when the sun reluctantly came out, it was welcomed by a huge applause....the kind of roar that you hear when Sachin Tendulkar steps out of the dressing room to bat!!! People were cheering the sun!!! I took several pictures and was pretty excited about the beautiful landscape. Then around 7 am I turned around, with a big victorious smile on my face, to check where my wife is.....and there she was....standing in a corner with an expression on her face which said, "NOW, can we return to the guest house?". I did not take any more chances and like an obedient kid, I quietly went and sat in our cab.

While taking a walk in Darjeeling, we saw St.Paul's high school. That was the place where the movie, "Main Hoon Na" was shot.

Apart from that there is not much to do at Darjeeling. Tea gardens are good sight but I do not think anyone would like to spend a day looking at the tea leafs. Of course, we did not get to explore the town much. It would have been a lot better had we managed to get a bike.

Locals suggested us not to have food outside as the water can create a lot of problem for the tummy. Moreover, we were suggested not to do any shopping at Darjeeling as the same products can be bought at much cheaper rates at the market in Siliguri, which is pretty close to the nearest railway station (New Jalpaiguri) and airport (Baghdogra).

Having said all that, I would still admit that Darjeeling is pretty beautiful. Its just that the heavy commercialization has made the town portion a little dirty. The authorities should do something about the place as it has huge tourism potential.

A monk is playing cricket at the Rumtek Monastery at Gangtok. This shows the popularity of cricket in India.

I miss Veeru

India lost the first test match on the Australian tour. The last time around, we had done pretty well and had come pretty close to winning the series. I would be surprised if something like that happens this time around. The team does not look quite the same. The big guns are still there and Sachin, Sourav and Laxman are in good form. Yet, something is missing.

Looking back at the batting performance on the previous tour, two things stood out....Rahul Dravid's performance and the opening partnerships. Both look shaky on this tour. Dravid, for reasons unknown, is not his usual self. He is opening the batting and clearly not enjoying it. For me, Dravid is the backbone of the Indian test batting line-up and losing him early in the innings means being on the backfoot from the start.

We had done well on the previous tour because of steady starts given by Sehwag and one Mr Akash Chopra. The guy got a raw deal. Though the guy never went on to hit a century on the tour but he used to ensure that we do not lose wickets early on. That used to give confidence to the other batsmen. Anyways, thats past. On this tour, we are trying the combination of a Jaffer and Dravid. To me, both have pretty similar batting styles. Jaffer does go for his shots but still they are not the kind of batsmen who can dominate the Australian bowling attack. And in Australia, if you go on a defensive, you are digging your grave.

I think that India should have gone with Sehwag as one of the openers. He is indeed short of match practice but still Veeru is the kind of batsman who, on his day, can dominate any bowling attack. We need such a batsman in the side. I am surprised that he did not make it to the playing eleven even for the second test. His batting technique (technique!!! can we use that word for Sehwag's batting style?) was questioned on the last tour as well. He answered all doubts with a breezy 195. Thats the kind of innings that we need.

My opinion is that India should go with Jaffer and Sehwag as openers and Yuvi should sit out. I really dont think that Yuvi is the right choice for Australian conditions (he can prove me wrong at Sydney as the pitch usually is pretty flat over there....I will be more than glad if he does that). If the team management is adamant at playing Yuvi, then they can as well try the combination of Sehwag and Dravid on the top. If Sehwag clicks, that will atleast take the pressure off Dravid.

I seriously do not think that we have a chance in this series but like always, I will be praying for a miracle.

Gangtok: Burrry Burrry Cold!!!

Am back from a trip to Gangtok and Darjeeling. We had been planning for a "year end special" vacation since last several months and had considered several locations, including Mauritius, Malaysia, Lakshadweep and Kerala. Finally, we zeroed upon Gangtok and Darjeeling as we really wanted to go to the eastern part of India.

For the people who bunked the geography classes, Gangtok is in Sikkim. Fans of Indian football (endangered species) would know the place as Baichung Bhutia comes from there.

If you are planning to visit Gangtok, do not go over there with expectations of a happening holiday. It is a quiet place but is a must if you want to get away from the noise of the bigger cities. It is a small town but very neat and clean. The best thing about Gangtok are the people. They are very friendly and respectful (another endangered species). For the shutter bugs, Gangtok is a paradise as it presents a breathtaking landscape.

Interesting places at Gangtok are Rumtek monastery, Hanumantak, Tsomgo lake (pronounced as Changu lake), Nathula pass and Baba Harbhajan ka mandir.

Now to tally the balance sheet, let us talk aout the liabilities (weak points). You should have the legs and more importantly the lungs to really enjoy Gangtok. Everywhere you go, you will have to hike or climb stairs!!! People pay money to test the tolerance limit of their lungs!!! I must have climbed a billion stairs over there.

Getting a vehicle is not difficult but getting a motorbike or a vehicle sans a driver is not possible. Now, that is a big limitation. You cannot enjoy Gangtok from the passenger seat of a Taxi. You must have your own vehicle so that you can stop wherever you want to and take pictures or simply enjoy the beauty.

Another problem is that Gangtok is not connected with other cities through rail or flights. The nearest airport is Baghdogra, which is 124 kms away and it takes close to 4.5 hrs to reach Gangtok. Nearest railway station is New Jalpaiguri which is equally far.

If you do not manage to get a vehicle for yourself (without a driver), two days are sufficient at Gangtok. You can cover a "10 point" tour which includes a few monasteries, a botanical garden, couple of temples and a ropeway ride. On the second day, you can go to Nathula pass which is around 56 kms from Gangtok but is much colder since it is 14,400 ft above the sea level. It is the India-China border. Nothing much to do over there bit it still is worth a visit as the landscape is beautiful and the journey is amazing. You can see the Chinese post and the roads, which are much better in shape. On the same day you can go to Baba Harbhajan's mandir and Tsomgo lake. At this time of the year, the Lake remains frozen. We also enjoyed the Yak ride near the lake. Quite understandably, my yak was not in a very good mood as my weight must have been close to his!!!

You can spend another day at Gangtok to pick some souvenirs from the market but you will get bored if you spend anything more than three days over there. But ya, if I would have got a bike, I could have spent a month over there!!!

Please note that Gangtok remains very cold in December and January. A few small pegs (huhahahaha) of vodka really helps. Needless to say that the more the better!!!

Happy New Year 2008

I am writing a blog after a long time. We had run out of sponsors!!!

Seriously, I was missing writing blogs. So much was happening and I wanted to express so many things but was really tied up.

I chose a good day to return as this is the first day of 2008 and is also my birthday (That was to remind you guys that you owe me some gifts).

I wish all my readers (Man, I am seriously losing it!!!) a very happy new year.

How somethings change post marriage?

After the finals of the T-20 World Cup, I was thinking about how somethings change in life. I went into flashback and went straight to 2003. It was the World Cup and India had won an exciting match against Pakistan. I remember, me and my friends took out the bikes and we went to Tank Bund (Hyderabad). It was a festive atmosphere over there and there were people in thousands dancing on the roads. We danced for several hours, shouted all kinds of slogans against Pakistan and came back only in the morning!!!!!

I came out of the flashback and was thinking....today, India has won a World Cup.....beating Pakistan in the finals....much bigger achievement than the 2003 win.....but I am not on the streets!!! I am not bursting crackers!!! I am not even dancing!!!! So where am I?

I am here.... doing the dishes!!!!

Everyone contributed to the win....even my wife!!!!

India is yet to recover from the hangover of the T-20 World Cup win and understandably so as wins do not come every day. Everyone is busy singing praise for the Indian team. Dhoni's captaincy was exceptional, the stand out performances came from Yuvraj Singh and RP Singh but everyone clicked in one match or another and it was a total team effort.

BCCI is showering the team with prizes and cash rewards, the state cricket boards and state governments are coming forward to announce cash rewards for their players. But amidst all this, there is an unsung hero......or I should say heroin. And thats my wife.

During the tournament, I developed this superstition that whenever my wife watches the match, we start playing badly. In the first match against Pakistan, she went to sleep when India lost three quick wickets. After that India pulled off a victory. She was watching the New Zealand match and when India got into a miserable position, we went to watch a movie instead. She went to sleep in the match against England when they were cruising. India won. She was watching when Yuvraj hit six 6s.......Yuvraj must have played those shots doubly well. She did not watch the matches against South Africa and Australia. But she wanted to watch the finals!!!!!!!

She came from office a little late and till then we were playing pretty well. As soon as she entered, Yousuf Pathan was out!!!!! I gave her a dirty look and she did not watch the rest of the match!!! She wanted to but she did not. I would not have done that. Looking back, I feel bad about it since it was a stupid superstition. BCCI should give some cash reward to her also.

We are the World Champions!!!!

The T-20 World Cup win did come as a surprise. I would be honest in saying that I did not expect the Indian team to do so well in the championship as we lacked the experience. Going into the tournament, we had played just one T-20 match earlier!!!! But.......Dhoni and Co. surprised the opponents and more than a billion fans.

Each and every match was full of excitement. The first match against Scotland was washed out but the second match against Pakistan was as good as one can ask for. It had enough twists and turns to take me to the verge of a heart attack. India started off on a disastrous note with three wickets falling quickly but recovered well afterwards. They took quick wickets at the start of the Pakistan innings and had the match in their grip till Misbah-ul-Haq started to fight back. The match was very much in Pakistan's lap till Sreesanth bowled his last two deliveries. They were not unplayable but were tough to negotiate. Thankfully Misbah-ul-Haq crumbled under pressure and it resulted in a tie. That led to the first bowl-out!!!! It was great to see the excitement on the faces of the players. Bowl-out was a clean sweep for the Indians and they won the match.

After losing to New Zealand in the first match of the Super8 phase, Indian team played amazingly well to qualify for the semi-finals. India beat England in a nail-biter. The highlight of the match were the six 6s that Yuvraj Singh hit of Stuart Broad. That was breath taking stuff and me and my wife were jumping in our living room giving high fives to each other!!!!

India beat South Africa or I should say South Africa lost to India. They have this knack of choking in crucial matches and this match was no exception. India, surprisingly, beat the Australians pretty comfortably in the semi-finals. The match was heading for a close finish and the Aussies required just 30 off the last 3 overs, easily achievable in T-20. Harbhajan Singh came up with a deadly over conceding just 3 runs and he took a wicket too!!! RP Singh followed that up with another good over with only 5 runs coming from it. That left Aussies with 22 to get in the last over......but the bowl was in the hands of Joginder Sharma. Sharma bowled sensibly and India won by 15 runs!!!! That was no small achievement.

Then came the big one.....the big daddy of all battles......India vs. Pakistan....in a World Cup final. It simply does not get any better than that. Like the match against Pakistan in the league phase, India once again started off with a weak start. Wickets kept falling on regular intervals and India could manage a score that was far from a good score.

At the half way mark, the match looked totally in grasp of the Pakistanis. They were also off to a shaky start but Imran Nazir was blasting everything in near vicinity. Some good bowling and sharp fielding brought us back in the match. We were pretty much in control when Misbah-ul-Haq (once again!!!) started hitting everyone for sixes. Sohail Tanvir too hit couple of lusty blows to take Pakistan to the brink of victory. Pakistan needed 13 off the last over and the bowl was in the hands of Joginder Sharma!!!! Sharma had gone for some heavy duty beating and no one was sure about this decision. He started off with a wide, followed that with a near wide and then was hit for six. Once again, I was on the verge of a massive heart attack. But then, Misbah-ul-Haq tried a cheeky shot which did not come off as desired by him......and ball landed in the waiting hands of Sreesanth.....and then a billion people back home went berserk!!!!

After a long time!!!!

I am back after a long time. So much has happened in between and I missed out on so many opportunities to contribute to the world of blogs. India lost the ODI series against England, the much awaited Ram Gopal Verma ki Aag released and bombed....and India won the inaugural T-20 World Cup!!!! Work took away a few weeks of my life and I could not concentrate on anything else during that period. Now I cannot go back and write about the England series and other happenings during the past few weeks but I would definitely write about the T-20 World Cup. My blog won't be complete without it!!!!

Nothing to say about this picture. I like it.

Eklavya

I do not normally miss an Amitabh Bachchan movie but Eklavya was an exception. It was released during a time when me and my family was not going through the best of times. My father was to undergo a critical surgery and watching a movie was the last thing in our minds. I missed watching Eklavya in the theatre and for some reason I did not watch it till yesterday, almost 7 months after its release.

I had heard mixed opinion regarding the movie. Some people found it great, some found it boring since the pace was slow....some thought that its not worth watching in the theatre since it is a short movie (1.47 hrs).

I watched it yesterday and I found the movie simply great. (I do not think that my words are doing justice to my feelings). Amitabh Bachchan was simply superb. He had few dialogues in the movie yet he created an amazing impact with his expressions. When he was silent, his eyes did the talking. Every budding actor should see this movie to learn how to emote through the eyes.

Eklavya is a crisp film in which everyone has come up with good performances. Vidhu Vinod Chopra's direction is great as it always is. It is a simple short story and Vidhu Vinod Chopra has treated it beautifully. Not even a single scene or song that are there just for the heck of it. A small, simple story so a small, simple movie. We have to give the credit to the director for that. I don't think the other, more famous and successful Chopra would have taken up this subject but just in case he had, I am sure the duration of the movie would have been the usual three plus hours, with 14 songs!!!! I hope that Vidhu Chopra directs more movies from now on.

I would like to share a funny incident attached with the movie. Me and my wife were watching the movie on TV in our living room. There is a scene in which Amitabh Bachchan is going to hug Saif Ali Khan. It is an emotional scene since Amitabh Bachchan, inspite of being Saif's father has never hugged him. Several times in the movie, it is shown that Amitabh wants to hug his son but he could not. That made this scene pretty emotional and I was absolutely glued to the screen. But just when Amitabh steps forward to hug his son, I heard a strange voice in my living room. I was surprised and turned back to see what made that sound.....and there was my lovely wife, rubbing her eyes and yawning. The sound was actually the sound created by a huge yawn!!! I was like......how can you yawn in such an emotional scene!!!!!......but amidst all this...I missed the hug!!!!

Duracell Ad

This video was shot when me and my friend Amit bought new cameras and were shooting all kinda crazy videos. This one is called the "Duracell Ad"

High time they start the use of technology

India won the second match against England and the series is now level at 1-1. The victory will give a boost to the Indian plans but the margin of victory was too narrow for comfort. India, after posting a total of 329 won by 9 runs. England started brilliantly with Matt Prior and Alistair Cook giving the English a dream start. Two quick dismissals led to a loss of momentum but the English never gave up the chase. They fought till the last over. Kudos to Dimitri Mascrenhas for a spirited performance in the end.

Earlier in the day, India started well with Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly looking in good nick. Later on, Sachin pressed the accelerator and came up with an innings that reminded us of the Sachin of late 90s. He was simply brilliant. He got out on 99.....once again due to a misjudgement by the umpire. Sachin missed out on a century twice in the recent series against South Africa, then he got out in the 90s in the second test against England and now he once again got out in the 90s in the last match. Though, at least couple of those dismissals were due to umpiring errors yet its very unlike Sachin. ICC should look into these matters and should bring in the usage of technology for controversial decisions. Like in tennis, players are given three calls for technology intervention in each set. Something of similar sorts shall be brought into cricket as well.

After Sachin's dismissal, Yuvraj and Dravid took control of the proceedings. Dravid came up with an uncharacteristic knock of 92 n.o off 63 balls!!!! Usually Dravid is technique personified but more often than not in his innings, he was cheeky. He was declared the Man of the Match and very rightly so.

Overall, it was a good win for us and it ensures that we are still in the series.

Prachi's Fall from Grace

The video was shot at Bheemeshwari Fishing camp when my friend Prachi was trying to lie down on a hammock.

Poor show by the Indian Team in the first One-Dayer

India is one down in the seven match ODI series against England and they have to sort out more than one thing if they want to come up with better showings in the remaining matches. Dravid elected to field first, which seemed a very good decision as the weather was overcast. We started well with the seamers bowling decent line but all the soon fizzled out. Apart from the three seamers, India had picked young Piyush Chawla as the spin option. Chawla is indeed a promising spinner; he flights the ball which certainly is a rarity these days, but he is short of experience. Plus the pitch had nothing for him. Ramesh Powar would have been a much better option but that's okay as picking Chawla was not a real bad decision. What India really missed was the fifth bowler. We relied upon Ganguly, Tendulkar and Yuvraj to do the job for us but there was nothing in the bloody pitch. It was a complete batting paradise and I think that Dravid made a wrong decision at the time of the toss. Agreed that we all thought that it was a good decision but hey......I am not as experienced as Dravid is. Plus if one has to make bad decisions and play the way Dravid did, then why am I not playing instead of him? I don't mind the job if it pays so well!!!!

If our bowling was bad, our fielding was pathetic (I have already used two adjectives, now I have to come up with another suitable one for our batting). We gave away two runs when the batsmen should have been restricted to a single. In one-dayers, that makes the difference between winning and losing.

After conceding 288, if was always going to be difficult for the Indians especially with the demons in their heads. We started off with a disaster. Can you imagine.....MONTY PANESAR....out of all the people, Monty Panesar ran Ganguly out. Panesar is an embarrassment on the field but he found his match or we should say he proved to be better than Ganguly!!!!

Sachin looked to be in good touch and was middling the ball pretty well but England did not let me to get off with some good field placements and fielding. India were soon trailing at 34/4.

After that, some senseless cricket followed. Not that there was much hope afterwards but the way Dravid and Dhoni played can not be explained. It seemed that they were trying to save the one-dayer and force a draw!!!!! When the asking rate was around 7, the "management" was scoring at 2-3 an over!!!

Dravid eventually top scored with 46 runs. If you look at the records, Dravid as top scored in many such games. It gives an impression that he was trying but he could not get support. At least I do not agree. In such matches, others get out trying but Dravid on the other hand keeps blocking and nudging. Ultimately he ends up with the highest score of the innings but what's the point of scoring at a strike rate of 50-60 when the asking rate is well above 6 an over? I have always maintained that Dravid is not the kind of player who can win us One-Day matches. He always needs someone to hit quick runs on the other end. Such matches expose Dravid but still get away with a "Captain's Innings" prize!!!!

Let us all hope that India comes up with better performances in the remaining games.

Lot of ho-hulla is going on about Indian Cricket League (ICL), termed as the "rebel cricket league". It is indeed rebel in the sense that it is a step away from the normal. Board of Control for Cricket in India has been managing the cricketing operations in the country and will continue to do so. In a cricket crazy nation, the board has easily managed to become the richest cricket boards in the world.....but what has it given back to the players, the fans and more importantly to the game?

The board may take pride in saying that India has the highest number of cricket stadiums in the world but what about the state of these stadiums. Whenever there is a match in India, majority of the seats are taken up by the members of the concerned cricket association or as go as passes to VIPs. A normal cricket fan has to either pay a fortune to get a decent seat or has to spend the day in the sun. I have not tried often but once I wanted to watch one day of a test match between India and Australia at Bangalore but I changed my mind since the tickets were for 1800 Rs for a day!!!!!

With the kind of bank balance that the board has, it should do something about the stadiums. The spectators should get value for money. Why can not we have good stadiums with good facilities, not only for the spectators but also other facilities like good pitches, big screens, good drainage systems, super-soakers, proper security etc. Why can't we have a good indoor stadium like Australia has? With the popularity of the test matches and the one-dayers going down, such acts will make watching a match an enjoyable experience for a spectator and will help in reviving the longer versions of the game.

Now, all that is something that the BCCI should do regarding the stadiums and the spectators. But with the state of affairs in the board, I don't see all that happening in a long long time.....if at all it ever happens. Apart from all this, BCCI owes a lot to the players as well as the game. The players should be properly remunerated and BCCI should do something to promote the game in India and to identify and groom new talent. Since BCCI was not doing it, ICL came into the picture. BCCI will continue to be "the" cricket body in India but ICL is coming up with formats "intended" towards identifying and grooming new talent. In a population of over a billion, we struggle to find talents like Tendulkar, Kumble, Muralidharan, Warne, Lara, Mcgrath etc. Indeed these are great players and it will be very difficult to find players like them but the fact is that the board is not doing enough to identify new talents.

Today, the criteria for selection in the national team is performance in the domestic cricket (well.....at least officially that is the criteria!!!!). Whenever a youngster is picked to play for the national team, more often than not he struggles to find a foothold on the international arena. The reason is the sub-standard level of domestic cricket. The pitches are far from international standards, they do not use the cricket balls used in International cricket, there is hardly any training provided to them and they are paid pretty badly. The remuneration in domestic cricket should be sufficient for a player to continue playing cricket and make a decent livelihood. That is not the case at present and that is exactly what ICL is "trying" to change.

ICL "intends" to make a pool of promising young cricket players, provide them adequate training and coaching, make them play and learn in company of International players and pay them much more than what they are getting in the BCCI raj. What more can a player ask for?

Having said all that about ICL, I have my share of doubts. Firstly, the kind of International players that are coming up to join ICL are mostly the ones who have retired or are on the verge of retirement from International cricket. How much can they offer is questionable? Now, that can still be accepted as at the end of the day the youngsters will get a chance to be with and play in the company of these "former" greats. But the major concern is that the whole idea behind ICL is getting defeated. The intention of ICL should be to groom young talent so that they can play for the country in the future. ICL may have that vision but that depends upon BCCI as the selectors appointed by BCCI select the national team. If BCCI and ICL are on the loggerheads and if anyone joining the rebel league wont be getting any kind of benefits from the cricket board then it means that the "groomed" players of ICL will play only in ICL!!!! ICL will make money with these star studded cricket matches, BCCI will continue to make money with the International matches, spectators will get to see more cricket……only loser will be the Indian cricket.

Already a lot of domestic players have left their sides to sign contracts with ICL, putting a question mark on the future of domestic cricket. We can not blame them. If they were not making enough money and if they were feeling that with the present state of affairs, they hardly have a chance to play for the country then why not ICL!!!! Certainly not a bad decision by the players. But the quality (if there was any) of domestic cricket will go down. Moreover, if the players of ICL do not have a future in International Cricket then it is nothing put a money making mechanism for the players, the organizers and Subhash Chandra. ICL can not do anything about it…..BCCI has to realize that it is something that they should have thought about instead of the elections, players’ contracts and endorsements. BCCI will have to soften its stand and join hands with ICL. That is the only way Indian Cricket will be benefited.

Tricolor hoisted in England...just before Independence Day

It was an admirable performance by the Indian Cricket Team to defeat England in their backyard. Though I personally do not rate the English side very highly but the fact that Indians are not very good tourists and the English side had been having a good run at home makes the series win something to cheer about. Moreover, as the series win has come after a gap of 21 years, it is special.

The Indian team started poorly at Lords but the weather gods came to our rescue. Nothing to take away from a fine knock by Dhoni. But after the Lords performance, the Indian team recovered pretty well and dominated the last two test matches. At Trentbridge, the Indian batsmen came up with some fine performances, the english fielders came up with some childish performances and Simon Taufel came up with some forgetable decisions. But one man who was truly outstanding was Zaheer Khan. "Khan Dost" bolwed with his heart and was truly magnificent throughout the match.

In the third test, at The Oval, everyone in the much talked about Indian batting line up came good and that helped us post a mammoth total infront of the England team. Then India bowled well to be in a position to enforce a follow on.....which we did not!!! Dravid came under heavy criticism for that decision but for once......I am behind Dravid. Dravid did agree that if he would have been a spectator, he would have been disappointed about the decision. That is exactly what happened to most of us but later the decision made a lot of sense, at least to me. Agreed that we bowled pretty well to bowl out the english side cheaply in the first innings but there were no monsters in the pitch. What if we had enforced the follow on and one or two of the english batsmen had come up with long knocks? (They actually made decent runs in the fourth innings) What if England had taken a lead of 150....I am sure India would have been in deep trouble afterwards. Dravid may be saying that he thought that his bowlers are tired. I do not agree with that. Dravid simply played safe and there is nothing wrong with that. Isnt it common in football and hockey games that a side after taking a lead just keeps passing the ball among themselves to kill time? That's what Dravid was doing. We had the series in our pocket and Dravid was ensuring that it stays there. 20 years hence, no one will talk about whether we won 1-0 or 2-0.....but people will remember that we went to England and won a test series. Now thats not very common. Bravo Captain!!!

Another reason why this series was special is that everyone came good. After a long time, the Indian team "played together". Whenever that happens, it automatically becomes special.

Champ

The "A" on the top stands for Animesh. It is a picture of a bowling scorecard. I won it and its there for all to see. I am good...am telling you...I am good

Munnabhai in Jail

On 31st July 2007, after a wait of 13 years, the verdict was finally out on Sanjay Dutt. He was handed with a six-year jail term in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case by a special court in Mumbai. That led to mourning across the nation. My mom called me up, her voice choking with sorrow, to give me the news. I too felt very bad.

What followed was thousands of hours across channels on television, questioning the judgement. People have mixed opinion about the issue but majority is feeling bad. Now that is natural. If a person known to you is going to jail then you will always feel bad about that. I will not want it for anyone. After all depriving a human being from freedom is the worst punishment that one can give. The person in question over here is Sanjay Dutt. He is a public figure and everyone knows and loves him.

But I have two very different opinion about all this. I am usually bad with numbers but i think there were around 100 who were charged and 94 of them have been convicted. Do we know the story of all of them? No body is questioning the judgement against the rest 93 of them. I am not saying that we should set all of them free. They must have done something wrong but so had Sanjay Dutt. All of us are saying that Sanjay Dutt has learnt his lesson in last 13 years but what do we know about others. At the end of the day, the statue of justice is blindfolded and the justice should be the same for all. Now thats one way of looking at it. Going by that, at least I am okay with the judgement against Sanjat Dutt.

But there is another way to look at it. There was a sub-inspector (Vijay Patil) who was guilty of taking bribe and letting the arms get into Mumbai. These were the arms that were used in the Bombay blasts. I am not very sure but I think he got a lifer for that crime. Now compared to Sanjay Dutt's crime, the enormity of Patil's crime was much bigger. In my opinion, he deserved a capital punishment. Then, if you look at our beloved political leaders, they get away with scams worths hundreds and thousands of crores. Do we know of a single "national level" politician who has been convicted and put into jail? May be Shibu Soren is one but what happened to other cases/scams? Compared to all that, Sanjay Dutt's crime was just a mistake. Seems justice is not same for all!!!!

Federer manages to crawl home

Boy, what a match it was. Wimbledon 2007 Men's Final and the top two seeds battling it out for the crown. Federer the King of Grass and a 4 time champion against the "Spanish Stallion" and King of Clay, Rafael Nadal. They had met in the 2006 finals too but that looked more of a flash in the pan for Nadal. Nobody had given him much of a chance to reach the finals, including yours truly. But not only did he prove us wrong by galloping to the finals but nearly won the championship too!!!! Nadal displayed his allround game in the finals and gave the champion a run for his money. The match was a spectators delight with all the twists and turns one can ever ask for. Nadal did well to stretch Federer to 5 sets and in the fifth set, he had the championship in his pocket but full marks to Federer for not giving it up. Federer was constantly under pressure in the deciding set but as soon as he saw an opening, he went for it.....and won the championship. Everyone in the Nadal camp, including me was disappointed but now we know that Nadal has an allround game and he is not just a King of Clay. If he continues to play like this, he will win the Wimbledon pretty soon. As far as Federer is concerned, Congratulations for the fifth Wimbledon trophy mate.....now you have everything you want....no wait.....French Open is still missing. Oooops!!!!! Now that is gonna be tough for you. Anyways.....see ya next year at Paris Mr. Federer....if at all you feel like coming. Go Nadal Go!!!!!

Is everything alrite with the Indian Team

India played pretty well under pressure in the last two matches of the Future Cup against the South Africans. Indian team, 1-0 down after the first match, put up some great performances to win the series 2-1. Now the whole India is ecstatic. The team, the spectators and the fans, the media...everyone is going gaga. And they have reasons to do that as this series victory is first against the South Africans away from home. And the fact that it came after the World Cup debacle makes it even more sweet.

I do not want to sound pessimistic but is everything alright with the Indian Team? I do not think so. All the three matches went down to the wire and they could have gone either way. One big problem that I can see is with the batting. Though a couple (Tendulkar and Yuvraj) came up with some good performances with the bat, others were found wanting. (I am not including the performances in the match against Ireland). Against the South African bowling attack, Ganguly and Gambhir struggled with the bat. Ganguly's front foot seemed nailed to the crease where as Gambhir did not apply himself enough.

I believe the biggest problem is with the captaincy. Dravid allowed the South Africans to trot to the target in the first game and in the last game, his bowling changes were not up to the mark. That helped the opposition to build a fighting total. His captaincy is lacking the aggression that is required in such crunch games. Though he scored 70 odd in the first game, his batting is also not what it used to be. He is not giving the full face of the bat to the bowl, instead he is looking to work the ball on the leg side. That is making him look very tentative and is affecting his strike rate too. Moreover, the way he has been getting out is also a concern. He was bowled in the first (there was a time when it was a rarity but now it has become a common phenomenon), he was caught and bowled in the second (he was neither on the front foot nor back foot while playing a rising delivery) and he was run out in a stupid manner in the last. The way he was run out in the last game reminded me of Virendra Sehwag's dismissal in the last game against the Lankans, before the World Cup. On that occassion Sehwag was heavily criticized. I wonder why is the media quiet this time around. This dismissal could have cost us the match.

Having said all that, I agree that Dravid is a great player. Infact, one of the best that India has ever produced. (Its a surprise that he was not included in the "All Time Indian Test Team", which was selected by a few former captains.) It is just that we have an important series against England ahead of us. We will require good form of Dravid the batsman and Dravid the captain in that series. All the best to Dravid and the Indian Team for the series.

For now, let us enjoy the moment of glory!!!

Am Happy!!!

Today I took some time out to look back at my life. Me and Roshni had just returned after some heavy duty shopping and I was thinking that how happy I am...at least on the personal front. I have someone who is more a friend than anything else. We enjoy so much together and the fact that our likings match, does help a lot. I know guys tend to run away from marriage thinking that it will bring too much responsibility. They think that their wings will be chopped off and there would be someone at home constantly telling to be systematic!!!

Well, thats not entirely wrong. My wife DOES tell me to be a little systematic at home but its not that my wings have been chopped off. Its just that my idea of fun has changed. Pub-hopping, biking...etc have been substituted with candle light dinners and shopping. But I am enjoying all this!!! I did not have to make any changes in my life style. It comes naturally, if at all you love the other person and want to make her happy.

But I nearly missed all this. I had said no to marriage and had decided that I will spend my life alone as that would be a different kinda fun and there wont be much responsibilities. Thank god that for once, I subordinated my preference to my parent's wishes. I had lost all hopes from my life but she changed everything. ".....saaqi ne phir se mera jaam bhar diya.....". Thank You. I am happy once again....we all are happy once again....Touchwood.

Sachin will definitely cherish this one.

My colleague Yoges is a big time fan of Saurav Ganguly. He simply can not listen anything against Ganguly. I know, at this stage what you are thinking. No, Yoges is not a bengali, infact he is a tamilian. When Ganguly was "rested" from the national side after WC 2007 for the one-dayers against Bangladesh, Yoges cried his heart out!!!! If Ganguly is criticized, he will say its politics and favorism; if any other player plays well then he will say the match was fixed....point is that he can come up with zillions of crappy and meaningless excuses to save his dada. And he hates Sachin Tendulkar. At least, he pretends that. I think he is one of the biggest critic of Sachin and that has caused several heated arguments between us. But after the second game against the South Africans in the Future Cup, this is what Yoges had to say:

"I really liked the way Sachin played yesterday. My wish is that he should continue to play in a similar aggressive fashion. Having said that Dada is not far behind. He may not be a gifted stroke player like Sachin. He might not have the same variety of stroke play like Sachin. But still he too is a great player. The fact that he did not compete with Sachin in scoring runs in yesterday's match and rather concentrated on building a partnership with Sachin shows his maturity as a player."

He started with prasing Sachin but ultimately ended-up defending Ganguly. In any case, Sachin should cherish this one all his life!!!!

Congrats Sachin!!!

Sachin Tendulkar is back in news. He is among runs and has become the first batsman in the history to score 15000 runs in One-day Cricket. What’s good is that he is back at scoring runs against good bowling attacks and in difficult batting conditions. In the last two outings, he scored 99 and 93 respectively against the South Africans.

Sachin was not his usual self in the first match against SA. Over the years he has "mellowed" down and now he tries to build his innings rather than stamping his authority on the bowling attack. May be age or his senior position in the team has brought this change. But the first innings was too slow and calm even for his new avtaar. He missed the century by a “few inches” and was run out on 99 (143 balls)!!!! India eventually lost the match and a number of people attributed Sachin's slow batting to the loss. I was not surprised at all as bashing Sachin has become India's favorite pass time. His strike rate was in the late 60s, may be 69. Dravid who scored 70 odd in that match had a strike rate of 73....now, was that a lot better? I do not think so. Saurav Ganguly who scored 60 odd against Ireland had a strike rate in early 70s in that match. Then how come only Sachin is being questioned. These days, no matter what Sachin does, it seems his innings leave more questions than answers!!!

The first match was pretty close and it could have gone either way. Chawla was the surprise package and I think India could have won the game with some aggressive field placements. Dravid is a great player but his captaincy lacks the aggression that is required in such games. India let the South Africans take singles at will and that took the match away from us.

The last match was a treat to watch. Though he missed out on a century again but Sachin did score 93 runs and in the process completed 15K runs in ODIs. More than the number of runs, the way they were scored was appealing. He seemed like the Sachin of yesteryears. Trademark square cuts and cover drives were flowing from his blade. At one point in the innings, Andrew Nel beat him a few times and then followed that with smiles and stares. Sachin’s response? Bang!!!! Andrew Nel was asked to shut up with a pull yielding the maximum!!!! He even danced down the track to hit young off-spinner Tshabalala for a straight six. The fact that his innings helped India win and level the series must have given extra satisfaction to him.

Congratulations Sachin. Keep going.

Canon: Customer Delight

It was just about two and half years back that I felt that I should buy a camera. Back then, I had limited knowledge of these equipments (I would like to believe that it has changed over the period!!!!) but I had a strong desire as photography had always intrigued me. I bought a Canon A75 camera as I had used my sister's Canon A70 and was pretty familiar with the functioning.

The camera was my soulmate for around two years but just when I got married, it decided to make way for the new soulmate. It developed some problem and it's LCD blacked out. I thought that I have lost my camera forever :(

Around 20 days back, I decided that I will try and get the camera repaired. I stepped out of my place to take the camera to a Canon Service Center but on locating a Canon dealer on the way, I took the camera him. The guy told me that the problem was with the CCD and it will take 21 days (nothing more and nothing less) and 3,500/-INR to get the camera repaired. I was like....WOW!!!.....I was thinking that it will cost me much more, if at all a repair was possible. The "21 days" timeline did surprise me. After all, we all are pretty used to hearing "time lagega, sir" in such cases. But I thought that Canon, being such a huge name in camera space, must have set time for various types of repair. I felt pretty bad to leave my beloved camera behind. I still did that thinking that it will be worth it as my camera will make a recovery and come back to me.

On the 17th day, I gave the dealer a call to enquire whether I will be getting back my camera on the 21st day. I was pretty excited about getting my camera back. To my surprise I got the answer that I had expected initially..."time lagega, sir". I was told that it would take at least ten more days and in some cases it takes three months also!!!! Now, if I say that I was pretty pissed on this answer then it will be a huge understatement!!! I had plans to use the camera on a vacation in July. I asked for the owner and questioned him that how come I was not communicated. He did not have an answer to that but he simply said that in such cases, it takes time. Dude, if it takes time, you should at least let the customer know. May be I would not have given the camera for repair at all!!!!

I made up my mind that I will file a case in the consumer forum....supreme court....take the matter to the media...the President....American President and anyone who can help. But I started with filing a complaint on the Canon website. While doing that I noticed a customer service call center number. I gave them a call and explained them my problem. I was immediately asked to have a talk with the India Customer Service Head and the Andhra Pradesh Customer Service Manager (I stay at Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh). I had a talk with the AP Manager and I was told that in half an hour I will be given the status. To my surprise, in 10 minutes the dealer (!!!) called up and said that he will deliver the camera on the next day (a good three days short of the initially communicated delivery date)!!!! Post that, I received a call from the AP Manager and some other official too and they apologized for the mishap. They suggested that for any customer service related issues or repairs, one should reach out to Canon Service Center. I was very happy with the quick response from Canon. But it did not end there. They delighted me by telling me that I would not be charged anything for the service and the dealer will bear the expenses!!!!

I saved 3,500 Rupees and got my camera in time simply because I dont have the "chalta hai" attitude. A lot of people would not have made all that effort and would have accepted the dealer's bullshit. But in the process, I came to know that Canon not only makes super cool cameras but also provides super cool service to its customers. Kudos to Canon!!!!

Confession

Okk, I confess I have been watching cricket!!!! After the World Cup debacle, I had made up my mind that I will never watch cricket and will never write about it too. But I simply can not stay away from cricket.

It does not stop here. If you have been following this blog then you will make out that I was a huge fan of Sachin Tendulkar and considered him the GOD. I was very disappointed by India's disastrous showing and Sachin's performance at the WC and I wrote that it was "Death of a Devotee". I confess that it was rash behavior on my part and it was not true at all. This behavior reminds me of one of my cousins. He is a religious person and keeps a picture of the Hindu god "Hanuman" with him. He prays in front of the picture everyday......but whenever things are not going his way, he takes the picture and puts it outside his room!!!! He gets angry with the GOD!!!!! I used to find that pretty hilarious but my behavior was similar. I badly wanted Sachin to score as many runs as possible and guide India to its second WC victory. When that did not happen, for some time I lost my sanity and wrote what I wrote.

I confess that pretty much like the pre-world cup 2007 era, I have watched each and every game that Sachin played after the WC. I can not stop worshipping the man (read: The GOD) who has served Indian Cricket for so long. He is still the best in the world though he needs to get a little more consistent so that he consistently slaps his critics. Sachin, I still love you and I owe you an apology.

Beggars

If you are staying in India, you are familiar with the sight of beggars "attacking" a vehicle on a crossing. Children, men, women, old people...all kinds of people are there, begging on Indian streets. Even if you feel the urge to give something to a beggar, you stop yourself thinking that may be the beggar is part of the "begging industry" and there is a begging "mafia" running the show. It is thanks of the "realistic" cinema (Madhur Bhandarkar types) that we are aware of such unfortunate truths of our times. Such movies show the true picture of our society and they are indeed very helpful in forming an opinion.

Everyday I encounter at least 50 beggars but I dont feel like giving something to each of them. Its the old ones who move me. Many a times I have stopped myself thinking about the "industry" but I have felt sorry after driving past the signal. What if the old man on your car window is not part of an industry and really needs food? May be 9 out of the 10 times you end up funding the industry but for me, that one occassion is worth it.

Know what, one day I want to give a 100 Rs note to an old beggar woman, just to see the reaction. And if it brings a smile or any expression of joy on her face, I will be glad all my life.

Planning to buy a camera

" Look, I am not an intellectual - I just take pictures"

-Helmut Newton

(German Photographer, 1920-2004)

I am very fond of photography. The hobby was always there...even when my parents had the basic "Hotshot" analog camera!!! Camera rolls used to be costly so taking the camera everywhere and taking as many pictures as I wanted was a problem. But whenever my parents used to get film rolls, I used to be in charge of the camera.

I did not have a good camera till I became 25. At that time, my sister bought a digital camera, Canon A70. That was the first time that I used a digicam and was exposed to its great functionalities. The biggest benefit is that you can take as many pictures you want not worrying about exhausting camera rolls. I borrowed my sister's camera for a trip and used that extensively to understand its functionalities. That helped me make my mind and I bought a canon A75. That was a major investment (I don't think I got a good deal on the camera) but it was worth it. The camera remained with me, everyday for almost two and half years. I used to take that camera everywhere. Couple of months back, the camera developed some problem and now I have sent it for servicing. It is really funny that when I was leaving my camera behind at the service center, I was feeling really bad. I had kept that camera like a baby and now I was leaving it behind, in the hands of the technicians. :(

I have used several cameras..Canon A70, Canon A75, Sony DSC-L1, Canon IXUS 65...but I found the a75 most user friendly. It is a little heavy but I have this opinion that cameras should be a little heavy, otherwise your hand will shake while taking a picture. Though I still love my camera and I will always keep it with me, I have decided to graduate to a more advanced camera.

My colleague Balaji Bondili*, who like me loves photography, recently had bought a Canon EOS 350D. I got the opportunity to use it once and I was amazed by the power of the camera. It is a Digi SLR camera and it helps solve the problem which I find most irritating in normal digicams or compact cameras.....and that is the lag time. A normal digicam has a lag time and you can not take a picture exactly when you want it. Unless you have a great timing and you are extremely lucky, you wont be able to take a picture of a bird as it is preparing to take off. But a Digi SLR has no such problems. I really really want to buy that camera but I still decided that I wont!!!! At least, not now.

Canon 350D is an expensive camera. The usual price in the Indian market is around 45k (You can get it much cheaper if you buy online or get it from US) but it would require a lot more investment. If you are really keen about photography, you will have to buy additional lenses which will cost another 25K for the basic one!!!! Now that's too much an investment for me. I will have to risk my marriage if I plan to buy that camera as my wife is against such an investment. On a serious note, I don't think I have enough knowledge of photography and lenses to best use a DSLR. So what should I do now? I have to buy a camera!!!

So I decided to consult a few professional photographers and some experts. I even consulted the Editor of the "Better Photography" magazine. What I am looking for in a camera is option to attach external flash/lenses, zero lag time, decent mega pixels and kick-ass zoom. Most of the experts were of the opinion that I should go for "Canon S3IS". That's a camera which is available for around 25K in the Indian market but will cost half that price if you are getting it from US. It has 6 mega pixels and a killer...12X optical zoom and 48x digital zoom!!!! Though it does not solve the lag time problem but its still good enough for me!!!! Now a word of caution for anyone planning to buy this camera.......buy it only if you are really serious about photography. It is a bulky equipment and you wont be able to lug it everywhere. Consider buying it only if you have another camera for the day-to-day use. If you want a camera with more mega pixels then you can buy the Canon S5IS. It has 8 mega pixels but it is not yet available in the Indian market. So you will have to wait for a while.

In my case, I dont think mega pixels matter much. Since other functionalities in S5IS are same as the S3IS, I have decided to buy the Canon S3IS. Say Cheese!!!!

* (http://www.flickr.com/photos/atheistbishop)

You can judge the output of the S3IS camera by looking at some of the pictures in www.flickr.com/photos/nehavish. The pictures were taken by Neha Vishwanathan, a friend of my colleague and she uses the Canon S2IS. So S3IS will only be better. But ya, do not start thinking that you will be able to take pictures as good as the ones in the link. Neha is a damn cool photographer and those pictures say a lot about her skills than just the camera she uses.

Want to hide somewhere

For some reason, feeling pretty low today. Why is it that when I am working hard to achieve something, things go wrong at the worst time possible and ruin my chances. Like a mirage, the destination disappears. This has been the sad story of my life. I dont believe in astrology but I was once told that I will have such problems in my life.......shall I start believing in astrology now?....coz thats what has been happening.......

Nothing is clear yet...may be I am getting unnecessarily concerned....may be not....may be things will be alright tomorrow....may be there wont be a tomorrow......This uncertainty is killing me....I know I have worked hard and deserve what I am expecting....yet, I do not know whats in store.....I know I need to fight to protect my chances but not today....may be tomorrow...today I just cant feel the strength inside me....Today, I just want to hide somewhere and prepare myself for the battle tomorrow.

Rafael Nadal: The King of Clay

I was pretty nervous when the French Open started. The reason being, I am a huge fan of Rafael Nadal and he lost to Roger Federer in the finals of the Hamburg Open, the tournament before the start of the French Open. You may ask why did I get nervous after just one defeat but this defeat mattered a lot as it came on clay. Moreoever, the defeat broke Nadal's record winning streak on clay. Federer is an artist on a tennis court. If the surface is fast, he is almost impossible to defeat. So for Nadal, clay is the best chance to win tournaments and French the best chance to win a Grand Slam. With a win at Hamburg, Federer made his intentions pretty clear.

But, Nadal once again proved that he is pretty tough to beat on clay. He met some pretty strong players in route to the finals, including his idol and mentor Carlos Moya. The final was pretty exciting with Federer giving a tough competition to Nadal. Moreover, Nadal's nerves did not help him in the initial part of the match. But once he settled down and started going for his shots, he was a sight to watch!!!! Man, did he crush Federer's confidence and dreams to win the French.

Federer is a champion player. He is so good that a lot of people are losing interest in tennis tournaments as they know the outcome!!!! But.....for some reason, he finds Nadal pretty tough to handle. Nadal has an envious 8-4 record against Federer and if we include the exhibition match on the half grass-half clay court, its 9-4 in Nadal's favor (Being a great Nadal fan, I would definitely include that). Now that record says everything regarding the way Nadal has dominated Federer over the years.

Unfortunately, in all likelihood my party will be over soon as Wimbledon is starting from the coming monday. Now, thats a surface where Federer is God. But I will be keeping my fingers crossed as Nadal, very surprisingly, did manage to reach the finals of Wimbledon last year. Though he did lose to Federer but he managed to take a set away!!!! Now thats a rare accompalishment against Federer on grass. So I will definitely be praying for a better performance this time around. Go Nadal Go!!!!

Alankrita: Nice Getaway from Hyderabad

If you are at Hyderabad, I am sure every weekend you wonder what to do and where to go. Hyderabad is a nice city (Infact, I consider it the best in India to stay at) with nice infrastructure. There are several shopping centers and a few multiplexes but still shopping and watching movies is not what you want to do every weekend.

I have been staying at Hyderabad since almost 6 years. I am a person who has travelled quite a bit and I like to go to new places. For a while, I have stayed at Bangalore too. Now, Bangalore is a place with quite a few malls, shopping centers and multiplexes but infrastructure and traffic is a huge concern over there. You think several times before leaving home. And on the weekends, whole Bangalore comes to Forum. But unlike Hyderabad, Bangalore has many tourist places close by where you can go on the weekends. During my stay at Bangalore, I visited several places to quench my thirst of travelling and photography. Bangalore gave me that bad habit and now at Hyderabad, I keep looking for such places outside the city...but there are hardly any. There is Srisailam and Nagarjuna Dam but there is hardly anything over there to excite me enuff to drive 160kms.....one way!!!!

Last month, after getting tired of looking for places, me and my begum decided that we will go to Alankrita Resort, which is on the outskirts of the city. We decided to spend a day over there just to get out of the "routine". We did not make a mistake. Its a nice place with lush green lawns, a swimming pool, lot of recreation facilities like table tennis, badminton, billiards, etc. Moreover, there are three restaurants over there out of which, I found one of them (the main restaurant) pretty good. Another one is a veg restaurant and so we did not even step in and the third is an open restaurant called the "Well Side" or something like that. I did not like the food over there.

There are several kinds of rooms...from normal rooms to cottages and are suitable for any kind of budget. The basic room (Standard) is also good but I would recommend the Deluxe Cottage to everyone. I have been to Alankrita twice now and have stayed in both Standard room and the Deluxe Cottage. Though the charges are a little higher for the Deluxe Cottage but believe you me, its worth it. Having said that, I would like to caution anyone who is planning a trip to the resort that I have noticed that the room sizes and the facilities differ from one room to another...even if they fall in the same category. It means that one Deluxe Cottage can be different from another Deluxe Cottage!!!!

But overall, Alankrita is a nice getaway from the city......to spend one day, not more than that.

Trip to the National Defence Academy

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