It all ADDS up!

2008-12-30T14:21:00.000-08:00

A dog's life

A dog is a man's best friend, might be cliched, but yet i realized it all over again today. For those who have their doubts about it, see this movie, "Marley and me". It is about the life of a dog raised by a couple. The final scene of the movie sums it up quite well. The couple have just buried the dog and are walking back quietly when the narrator says this:

"A dog doesn't need a car, a house or other materialistic things,
He doesn't care if you are rich or poor,black or white, male or female.
All you have to do is give him your heart and he will give you his.
Now, about how many other people can you say the same thing?"

2008-07-14T05:06:00.000-07:00

Right isn't it?

2008-06-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

My state of mind!

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics
Life's like that!

2008-05-29T00:54:00.000-07:00

This is the news.

Its everywhere. Yes oil is soaring.
The irony of it all is the fact the government of India is still "pondering" on how to diffuse the crisis without impacting the "aam aadmi more than necessary". HELLO! The aam aadmi cant wait to pay Rs 17 odd extra for every litre of petrol. At least, this will make sure that there is petrol available to be bought! The current situation is so bad, that in the very likely event that prices are not raised, IOC, the largest marketer of petro products, will run out of supplies by September, as they cant afford to import any more.
Demand and supply are forces meant to balance each other. In the case of oil, due to gestation period involved in supply, and regular intervening of the governments, this cycle is distorted and takes years before turning around. somebody needs to see that.
It is a shame to see simple economics being defeated with politics time and time again. It is all in the best interest of the nation that prices are allowed to rise and pinch the pockets. It is then that other alternatives will be explored and worked upon to be made feasible. We have pushed it to the point where a crisis is inevitable. Its been like a pressure cooker where the pressure has been allowed to build continuously without any let off and its only waiting to explode. The sooner the heat is taken off the Oil majors, the lesser the impact the aam aadmi will have to face. Mr prime minister, are you listening?

2008-05-04T22:45:00.000-07:00

Piano Man

All those long hours in front of the computers takes it toll on you. Your Winamp playlist starts to bore you and you know its been a while. sleep is a formality you don't feel like completing. It is then that songs such as this, tend to drain away your enervated thoughts and revive your spirits.

Its nine oclock on a saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
Theres an old man sitting next to me
Makin love to his tonic and gin

He says, son, can you play me a memory?
Im not really sure how it goes
But its sad and its sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger mans clothes

La la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da

Chorus:
Sing us a song, youre the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, were all in the mood for a melody
And youve got us feelin alright

Now john at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks for free
And hes quick with a joke or to light up your smoke
But theres someplace that hed rather be
He says, bill, I believe this is killing me.
As the smile ran away from his face
Well Im sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place

Oh, la la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da

Now paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And hes talkin with davy whos still in the navy
And probably will be for life

And the waitress is practicing politics
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes, theyre sharing a drink they call loneliness
But its better than drinkin alone

Chorus

Its a pretty good crowd for a saturday
And the manager gives me a smile
cause he knows that its me theyve been comin to see
To forget about life for a while
And the piano, it sounds like a carnival
And the microphone smells like a beer
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say, man, what are you doin here?

Oh, la la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da

Chorus

2008-03-22T11:56:00.000-07:00

Colours of Life

6:00 am :
It's a gloomy saturday morning. I am up early, because my mosquito friends just didn't let me reach sound state of sleep.

Fast Forward 2 hours
8:00 AM
A group of us are having breakfast at a nearby restaurant contemplating the plan of the day. After hectic discussions we finally decide to aimlessly wander to the nearest MRTS station and catch the first train.
However, on reaching the station we find a bus headed to pondicherry halted outside. There is a sudden change of plans and now we are headed to pondy!
Midway through the journey, the travelling in the bus gets to us and we decide to get off midway at Mahabalipuram. What followed was 4 hours of fun at extremely rough beach near the shore temple, leaving all of us drenched and filled with sand in their pockets!

But this wasn't enough for us, so we decided to get back to chennai, and hop onto the train to catch a movie at the INOX. Oh I completely forgot about lunch! We came back to the city and hogged a full meal at Sangeetha to keep us going for the next few hours. We get to INOX only to realize that there is not a movie worth watching and so we go book hunting at Landmark, and end up spending nearly 2 hours browsing through the entire collection available.

So I am back to room after spending nearly 11 hours outside, in the rain (Oh did i forget to mention that?). I restart my comp and check Gmail.. and Lo and behold! yet another of those emails lies in wait, which sends a sinking feeling down to your gut. Wow! what a perfect day!
And Yes happy Holi to you.

2008-03-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

Stumbled on this!

I stumbled upon this site http://www.breathingearth.net which displays a simulation of CO2 emissions of each country along with birth rates and death rates.
Here is what I found interesting:
USA
1 person dies here every 5.4 seconds
1 person born here every 12.8 seconds

India
1 person dies here every 25.8 seconds
1 person born here every 3.5 seconds

Gabon ( A possible future destination for me!)
1 person dies here every 2.5 hours
1 person born here every 31.5 minutes

Suprised? And to think that people visualize poverty,squalor, and violence on the mention of Africa... Anyone care to explain this "anomalous" observation?

2008-03-14T12:46:00.001-07:00

Bloody Coffee!

The code is not converging to desired results. Its 125 am on a friday night (or sat morning) and I have just had a hot cup of coffee. The caffeine is making all very fidgety and I need to sit down and streamline my thoughts... and so Here I am on my tiny little virtual acre of space.
Its been a rollercoaster ride for the past couple of months. First there are those applications whose results I am awaiting, some of which have not been the most satisfactory. Then, there is this sentiment of saturation with this place called IIT. There is no other way to say this. I am so full of life here. I need to move out and it better be sooner rather than later. The first year, its all exciting, then you learn to be a part of it, and it reaches a peak after which you find things just plain damn boring!
Nowadays, the day begins by switching on my computer and logging on gmail with anticipations for some news! After that the day just seems to drift, with breakfast, lunch, evening guru snack and dinner somewhere other than the mess being the major highlights.
Hey, but I am not cribbing, life is good in the slow lane. I am just waiting to be out of the pit lane and back in the rat race of life.

2008-01-02T11:09:00.001-08:00

The Road ahead

The automobile industry in India has exploded over the past couple of years. The latest buzz doing the rounds is with regard to rolling out the “much awaited” 1 Lakh Car to serve the needs of the thirsty Indian middle class. The Tata group has promised to deliver on this project within the next year or two. Other major groups like Bajaj are collaborating with Renault to try taking a byte into this rapidly expanding segment. But where is the space for so many cars????

Most of the major cities in the country do not have the road infrastructure to cope with this sudden burgeoning of traffic. Jams are commonplace wherever you go. No city is spared. Statistically it has been found that it takes a person more than two hours to traverse the 20km stretch in the heart of Mumbai!

Economics tells us about the production possibility frontier which represents the manner in which resources are allocated towards production of various goods in an economy given the constraints of technology. Currently, with the present scenario of traffic in our megacities, the government is forced to spend on improving road infrastructure. This lopsided spending is hurting not only the cause of public transport development but also other vital infrastructure projects . Mumbai’s much awaited metro system whose foundation stone was laid by the prime minister a year back, is yet to kick off due to pending settlements which have to be made.

A society allocates its resources in a manner to maximize social benefit. But is it actually happening? Congestion on roads is definitely not desirable by anybody. Maybe a car is. The Car in an Indian context is a status symbol in society. People fresh into jobs purchase cars on loans lasting for 15-20 years. The city of Mumbai alone adds 500 cars to its roads daily. They can’t be blamed, since the public transport in most of our cities is so overburdened, that using it is a struggle most people are not willing to go through. Even in Mumbai, a city whose suburban train system is its lifeline, can’t claim to have a world class standard system. It is designed to handle 1700 commuters at any point of time, but it handles 5000 people!

On their part, the companies are also working on the principle of making profits based on low margins but high volumes. Somewhere, all this overemphasis on making the four- wheeler affordable is going hit a roadblock.

So what is the road ahead if it all there is one?

I am certain it is not the coming of the 1 lakh car!

2007-12-24T22:44:00.000-08:00

It's Over.

You know your time in IIT is running out when you are just back from your Last Inter IIT sports meet!

4 years ,2 Silvers ,1 Gold ,2 broken Bones ......Not bad at all!

This year the experience of being coach/manager/mentor/ non -playing captain all at once and yet not being able to play was a new challenge!

This team has been really special, despite not being able to pull it off in the finals. The manner in which they handled themselves and learned as they encountered various hurdles, under the guidance of their new leader, who lead from the front with his performances, was very pleasing to see.

I toast to you guys!Cheers!

2007-07-20T04:10:00.000-07:00

"Ka-Ching"

This is the lyrics of one of my favourite songs by Shania Twain:

We live in a greedy little world--
that teaches every little boy and girl
To earn as much as they can possibly--
then turn around and
Spend it foolishly
We've created us a credit card mess
We spend the money that we don't possess
Our religion is to go and blow it all
So it's shoppin' every Sunday at the mall

All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest store

Can you hear it ring
It makes you wanna sing
It's such a beautiful thing--Ka-ching!
Lots of diamond rings
The happiness it brings
You'll live like a king
With lots of money and things

When you're broke go and get a loan
Take out another mortgage on your home
Consolidate so you can afford
To go and spend some more when
you get bored

All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest stor

Let's swing
Dig deeper in your pocket
Oh, yeah, ha
Come on I know you've got it
Dig deeper in your wallet
Oh

All we ever want is more
A lot more than we had before
So take me to the nearest store

Can you hear it ring
It makes you wanna sing
You'll live like a king
With lots of money and things
Ka-ching!

Well said!

2007-07-10T01:19:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not!

In the latest worldwide statistics and trends released by Google, the word "sex" is searched the most by netizens of Chennai ,with Delhi taking second spot.

Something to Ponder over.

2007-06-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Kinaare ki Chai shop..

What is the most common site in all major Indian towns these days? Apart from the maddening traffic , it is the scene of small time tea shops, where hoards of youngsters crowd around, sipping tiny glasses of tea while they enjoy the “pleasure” of their cigarettes.

So what is it with tea and Cigarettes??

It is as though the nicotine or the caffeine was not potent enough individually, that people combine them. Going beyond the superficial, People apparently seem to take ages when they are enjoying the “combo”. I have sat through many such sessions but haven’t really understood the uniqueness of it all. One thing I can tell you is that conversations encompass a whole host of topics and such times are usually very retrospective, where people are deep in thought about some act that they committed or they are going to commit. It’s apparently all part of enjoying the Sutta! Strange…

Personally I don’t advocate the cigarette at all. Ironical it is that while all through the west Smoking has gained a taboo status, in India atleast, things are just the opposite, smoking is looked at the cool dude’s USP. It is just a shame that the majority 700 million Indians who are below the age of 35 advocate to this kind of a thought. Such wrong attitude towards smoking is having subtle impact on the young and healthy of this country. I think there should be intensive campaigns that should dissuade people from taking the drag. There is no point just typing out in font size 8 on the cigarette covers that smoking is injurious health. Celebrities are primarily responsible for this wrong image to be formed and it is their social responsibility to come forward and stop the carnage. There are many celebrities who themselves have given it up (SRK for instance) and it they who should come forward and send the message out to the public in no uncertain terms;

Something on the lines of:

“ I used to smoke. I was a big time loser. I quit now. I have saved my life and the life of many others. Quit smoking. Its not cool.”

Are you listening???

2007-06-18T09:52:00.001-07:00

Yeh hai Mumbai Nagariya!

Well like with all my recent other entries, this one is after a while too. While that’s me.
I was in Bombay (Mumbai) for the past one month and half working for a company.No I am not going to say a word about the work I did. What I really enjoyed, (even more than my work) was exploring the variety and flavours of the city and I have to say … yeh Dil maange more!

The city is defined by its people, and the spirit with which they carry out their day to day activities. The city just hits you like a storm; whether it’s the auto guy or the big CEOs, you can always sense the buzz in their actions and words. And the most amazing part of it all is the nights, because the city never sleeps!
The disparity in the city is as clear as to be clearly demarcated by a road. The western express highway, the lifeline of the city, separates the east from the west. While the east is resided by the bourgeoisies, the west is where the high and mighty flaunt their wealth and health with lavish boutiques and entertainment hang out joint.The pinnacle of this might is the Hiranandani Complex, a region of tall superstructures, with magnificent architecture , taking us back to the roman ages. Go karting, bowling joints, coffee shops, you name it and this place has it. Young Indians (myself included!),with newfound wealth, come to here to splurge and take delight while others do the same.

The most amazing part of that place is the Go Karting which we guys did!It was an exhilarating experience, the closest I will ever I get to Formula 1 .The car is so easy to handle and its literally like a playing a video game, the only difference being that when you make a wrong turn , you go crashing into the tires and it hurts!

For the past one month I had the company of a couple of guys and gals from other IITs. And to be honest, I gotta say to it was really nice getting acquainted with their respective lingo’s and attitudes towards life. Of the few common threads that I found amongst all of us, the most evident was the fact that all of us work exactly one night prior to the deadline! Barring a couple of them, I am not sure if I will ever get to spend such quality time ever with all of them, and therefore I sign off this post raising a toast to all the good times we had:)

Cheers mate!

2007-05-05T12:26:00.000-07:00

High times

Ah, the its been a while had a sound night's sleep. First it was the exams and then yesterday it was the fact the they were over, that i decided to stay up all night. I had to catch a flight for home today morning and little did i know that once i got here, all my drowsiness would vanish away! its been 12 hours since i am home and i am yet to hit the sack.
Well this post is not about those 12 hours, but the hours preceding to my departure from chennai.
We were at this pub called "high time",in the City's most lavish hotels, the GRT. All the "wingers" were there and as time went by people started oupouring their heartfelt thoughts. Quite a few dark, deep desires of people came out and so did their strong opinions on various issues(as is normal when you take a drink too many!).All that was said shall not be revealed, but for the following opinion of a certain "middler" , He said ,"Macha, G3W (Ganga 3rd wing ) rocks da."
Stay tuned to know why.....

2007-04-29T05:17:00.000-07:00

The Inside stuff

The following article has made some observations, which I hope will be seen in the right context and I request nobody to take it personally.

The long and possibly most exhausting semester of my time here is drawing to a close. (It’s still not over!) I have had a pretty eventful semester. Well for one I just did not manage to find the time to RELAX! Suprising isn’t it? Well I am sure you would get a similar response from quite a few people around. After the blowing of the Saarang Bubble (Ya I found it boring!) and the drab period of February, one gets sucked to the plethora of activities that happen in campus. It also doesn’t help if one decides to contest in the institute elections. Yours truly thought he could do it all. However, elections, I realised were not meant for people like me. You got to be willing to do things which might not be morally right or seen as the right thing to do. I decided to go all alone on this one and not surprisingly I ended coming out of it empty handed. What I realised is this: Elections is never about the deserved candidate winning.( Okay I am not whining here!) I can now safely say that I was NOT the “right candidate”, I just thought I was.

A “right candidate” should in my opinion be:

- One guy who can converse in various languages (and consequently befriend the various networks)

- Should not worry about bunking classes (big factor, It cost me!)

- Should have a very good information gathering system (because nobody will tell you on your face that they are not with you!)

- Should be willing to play “dirty” ( I cannot elaborate on this, because I did nothing!)

-And finally should be never believe that he is winning until, the actual results are out.

I might have lost the elections, but it did give me a whole new perspective of the “other side” of campus life. I got to meet a lot of new people (M.Tech students in particular) and just realised how apathetic they are to the cause. You have people who don’t give a horse shit about who is going to win. In fact most people in campus fall under this category. It is only a handful of people, who having something at stake, that think about picking the “deserved” candidate.

I had heard from people that if you had a practical and well thought out manifesto and if you were able to put it across in a convincing manner, you would win. However, things are not that straightforward in this place.

At some level I feel the whole process of elections is screwed up. Over a period of five days, one is expected to meet and convince 5000 odd people, and at the same time carry on with the other activities of campus, like Schroeter and coursework.However that is not the most infuriating part of the whole thing. Here is the WORST part of it all: The “Soapbox”, an official public forum where contestants are given an opportunity to present their manifesto and hopefully woo people towards their side, is held in one of the most remote locations in campus: At the corner most hall in the fourth floor of the library! The whole point of the holding such a gathering is lost, when in fact there is no gathering!

I thought I would be able to manage my academics during that period. However I found very difficult even to make it to classes, leave alone completing assignments. During the whole period of the election I got the feeling that this was not meant for me and the thought that the whole system was tilted in favour of those who, cared just a little less about other stuff happening in campus, kept running through my head. The victors were those who put their mind, body, heart and soul (and god knows what else!) in seeing it to the finish line first.

Recently I was reading a piece written by the Middler on the extent of the extra curriculars in campus and I could not agree with him more when says there is just too much to do and too little people doing it. His point that there is just too much happening in campus for one to handle is well made. I mean, at the end of the day, we must all ask ourselves this question, why are we here? Is it to go and win Schroeter(which btw, Ganga under my leadership managed this year) and then LitSoc and if that’s not enough try and win TechSoc (and if you are still hungry for more… try the elections, followed by a coordships and ah.. the coreships!)? How do you expect people to have the time , energy and motivation left to do some academic work done when they are constantly being pushed from one extra curricular to the other. I think the whole calendar of campus life needs to be reviewed. The cynics would say that one has to cater for every taste in terms of activities and it is an individual choice to take part in whichever activity one feels like. But more often that not, one sees the same set of people doing most of things, while the rest are happy doing nothing. THAT is the root of the issue which needs to be addressed. Enough has been said on this and it is time something is done about it.

2007-01-02T05:10:00.000-08:00

2 007
Well, 2007 has arrived. Its amazing what a big deal is made out of a mere turn of the clock. Phone calls, SMSs, emails, scraps, (I don’t know of any other form of communication) are full of happy New Year wishes. I just totally hate those custom happy New Year messages which I receive from people, whom I can barely recognize
All you come to know from those messages is the exact number of people who have your number stored in their phonebook.
Oh btw, Happy new year.

2006-12-25T00:56:00.000-08:00

December Diaries-2
As the inter IIT sports meet began, the action started to unfold on the pitch. Day 1 saw very well contested matches between all IITs.But IIT Madras contingent stood out in terms of its vocal ( or shall i say "expletive") cheering of its teams, which lead to it being noticed by the disciplinary commitee and appropriate warnings beings issued.

The IITM cricket had a bad start ( as usual!), with Kharagpur giving us an 8 wicket drubbing.
So we were back to the familiar situation, wherein which every match was like a knockout; there was no room for mistakes left.
So after all the build up to the Bombay game, the game finally began. We won the toss and decided to field after learning from the previous days horrifying experience batting first. Things went to our liking for a change. (Yes! this team had not seen victory for two years.. so anything remotely positive is always exaggerated!) Thanks to an excellent bowling performance from our spin trio , we were able to bowl out Bombay for a meagre 106 in 25 overs.
The bowlers had done their job, now it was time for the batsmen to stand up and be counted. However, that was not to be. Within the next hour, from being in a position of strength, we were practically out of the match at 65/8 first at and subsequently 69/9. The captain for some strange reason,( which later he claimed was part of " team strategy") kept pushing me down the order untill there was noone left to send but me. It was a familiar situation for me, having been in a situation similar to this on two earlier occasions,both of which i ended up being on the losing side.I was not thinking of that; I still dont know for sure what actually was running through my head when i walked in to bat.My captain whispered to me his desperate hopes as in walked in.One thing was sure, I was in a defiant state of mind. The first few balls i faced, i never thought of the target in mind.( which at that point of time was 39 in five overs)I was just trying to connect the ball and stay calm while the bombay fielders were barraging me with their "words of wisdom".
Me and my partner somehow managed to spend three overs there without getting out and soon we got to the situation where 26 runs were needed of two overs. I still never thought we could make it, but i did not want to get out and that kept me going. A leg spinner was to bowl the penultimate over. He had been bowling an extremely tight line and the wicket was assisting him with a lot of turn and bounce.Despite this,My partner and me decided to chance our arm against him,since the bowler at the other end was far more difficult to slog against. So off the very first balll i danced down the track and hit him straight to the fielder on the boundary,who let it slip through his legs to cross the ropes! The pressure was on the bowler now, and he panicked and fired a ball down the leg side to get a stumping, only to find that the ball beat the keeper and go for a boundary! Suddenly we needed 13 runs from 8 balls, and the bombay team was getting all jittery and nervy on the field. we managed another four runs of the over and brought the equation to 9 runs required of the last over.
We applied enough pressure on the bowler to make him panic and thanks to some absurd cricket from bombay(overthrows, wides, misfields) we brought the match to within shooting distance( three runs of one ball). It was only then that i started to believe that we could actually win the game. I was at the non striker's end and told my partner to hit straight no matter what the ball was. Just before the ball was going to be delivered i stopped the bowler on the pretext of tightening my shoelaces,in an attempt to piss the bowler off and make him do something stupid.Then the final ball was bowled. Well what happened still baffles me, as Bombay committed harakiri by literally gifting us three runs for a shot which deserved no run! We ran the first run and then two runs off an overthrow and i cannot explain the feeling that was running through my head. The next few minutes were the best moments in my life. I had for first hand witnessed a miracle! My teammates came running after me, but i just wanted to keep running and running. The adrenalin rush subsided and i finally lay on the ground, when all on my teammates pounced on me in celebration. Those scenes of ecstasy and joy are still running through my mind as though it was just yesterday.
That victory changed it all. It gave us the confidence to go on and win every match after that, and eventually win the cricket gold, which led IIT Madras to beat Bombay in the overall championship by two points! Yupp, it was redemption for the Madras cricket team and me personally after the disappointments of last year.

2006-12-17T01:19:00.000-08:00

December Diaries -1
As part of my annual schedule, december is the month which takes me touring to a new IIT. So here i am, in the far east, at Guwahati(actually 45 mins from the main city in a place called Malegaon). The campus is scenic, with mountains,lakes, and the mighty Brahmaputra flowing very close to it. It feels as though you are in the english countryside,with all the natural beauty around you. But with that stops all the praise about that place!
The place is deserted, with absolutely NO LIFE around campus. Inside campus, the story starts and ends with the word CONSTRUCTION. There is just so much being constructed, that it hardly feels like a college campus. But i guess, one has to expect that considering the fact that it has been only a decade since its establishment.

The IITM contingent was here two days prior to the start of the event, so we got sufficient time to acclimatise to the conditons. The weather is just perfect, hot during the day( a day which turns to night at 5 in the evening!),and chilly during the nights. Let me just say that the weather was very romantic!The sporting facilities for all sports are pretty good with the exception of the cricket ground, which according to the director of IITG, was made by filling a swamp 3ft deep with mud. No wonder you get that sinking feeling now and then!
Thats part one of my diaries, More about the actual action later.....

2006-10-02T09:20:00.001-07:00

I'm back!

Well, finally I have tasted victory on the field!

Yes, after countless number of attempts at trying to emerge triumphant in a match, IIT Madras has finally won a match. The last time I was part of a winning eleven, I was, a naïve young boy, finding my feet in the team, and all I cared about was to see to that I don’t make any mistakes. Things have changed significantly now, (indicative of how long it has been since this victory!) with me having become an integral part of the team.

I am expected to keep the spirits high even during tough times and my performances tend to play a significant role in match outcomes(although today despite my non performance, we emerged victorious; that’s why they say, “ There is no I in a team”) Moreover, when I made my debut, I was purely a bowler coming at No.11 to bat, while now, I am looked at as a bowler has can contribute a quick 20-30 to the side and keep the scoreboard ticking over.

All these are just the superficial changes. At a deeper level, the game has taught me a lot of lessons. Yes, I might be sounding all philosophical and all, but It is true. I have learnt how to handle setbacks, both in sport and life, in a more sedated manner. During the course of the last year, I suffered a fracture of my thumb, which sidelined me from the game for half the year. That period was extremely frustrating. Sport has been an integral part of my life from a very young age, and this was the first time that I was in a situation where I had to stay away from the field for such a long time. Initially I found it difficult to divert my energies towards other aspects of my life and learn to live a life without sports. It was during that phase of a wavering mind that I developed a very good friendship with two people, whom I count today amongst my closest friends. It was as if they were my guiding light during that phase of my life. Both of them inspired me to look at other aspects of life and widen my horizons. I have learnt a lot from both of them, and friendship with them has been one of my biggest gains of life. Due to the sudden void that had developed in my daily schedule, I suddenly found time to do a lot of “other” things. I found that I could spend time with my academic work and suddenly I developed this great desire to learn more from each one of my curriculum subjects. I discovered the abundance of wealth of knowledge that was present in the library, of which I had absolutely no idea until then.

One of the close friends I talked about earlier, kept me constantly fit, by getting me to start running. Running, contrary to popular opinion, is more a challenge to the mind than to the body. Like they say, “If you think can or if you think you cant, you are always right.” When you get tired after running for a while , your body wants you to stop, but you have to tell your mind to step in and take charge and push the limits of your body.

It taught me to keeping increasing my pain threshold and to still keep going, while enduring the pain. I learnt to enjoy the pain beyond some point and suddenly no distance seemed insurmountable.

Thus, today when the winning runs were scored, all what had taken place during this long time period started to hit me in my head. This spontaneous emotional outburst was at some level due to the magnitude of changes that had taken place in my life over this period. All the losses have made me wiser and more mature. Truly a momentous victory!

2006-08-10T02:05:00.000-07:00

“Kya Ye Dil Maange NO more?”
Yes, that’s the question everyone is asking, ever since the pesticide story resurfaced in the media last week. The media is pouncing on the government for not having taken measures to improve safety standards among soft drink bottlers, as recommended by a parliamentary committee overlooking the matter. A variety of opinions have come out; some calling for soft drinks to banned while others asking for a statutory warning to be put on soft drinks, as it is done for cigarettes. Soft drink companies, Pepsi Co. and Coke, are on their part trying their best to contain the spread of this bad publicity by coming clean regarding their production processes. Yes, everyone it is known that pesticides are all around us, whether it be in the vegetables we use or the Pepsi we drink. But the important point here is whether the quantities present are meeting world safety standards or not.
Banning soft drinks is not even an option in this whole controversy. Vegetables are known to have much higher levels of vegetables than soft drinks, so why not ban them too?? In a country where cigarettes are sold openly, despite the fact that almost everyone is aware of the harmful side effects it has, banning Soft drinks can only be called as an prejudiced act on the part of the government. I am wondering that maybe this is the “left” of the government speaking out their jaundiced minds.
Over the past couple of months a number of incidents have made me to think that someone doesn’t seem to be happy with the kind of open and free society we have. First it was the blog incidents, then the proposed bill to curb the media’s reach, then the RTI act being scrapped of its effectiveness, and now this sudden outrage against soft drinks!
Jaswant Singh talked about a mole who was leaking secrets to the Americans a decade ago. Well, from the look of things, the mole is back; only this time he is trying to pull the plug on most cherished right in this country: FREEDOM!

2006-07-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

WHY??WHY???
“I just witnessed the most outrageous piece of skill from zizou.It has spurred me on dedicate a piece on my blog for this great legend of football. It was his bald head which sprung him to fame in 1998, when as a youngster he was part of the French world cup winning side, contributing in part with his two goals against brazil. 8 years on, he still has the fire burning in him, and I am sure anyone who saw that chipped penalty over buffon, would agree with me when I say only a player of zidane s class could have done that.”

These were my instant thoughts after seeing Zidane score the penalty in the World cup final against Italy. Little did I know that, what was to follow would be even more dramatic and leave us all dumbfounded. And yes it was bald head again in the thick of the action!With ten minutes left on the clock, a rush of blood through Zidane makes him go head first into Materazzi’s abdomen. An act of utter frustration, he saw red and brought an abrupt end to his illustrious career No wonder they say sport is unpredictable. Within a spate of 100 minutes, the genius went on to being a lunatic..

A true ambassador for the sport , Zidane represents the success of Algerian immigrants in modern French society. His success represents the success of this community. He is also a UN ambassador and has been known to a very philanthropic person.

Sadly though, despite whatever he has achieved and done for club and country, “Zizou” will always be remembered for his last act………..THE ZIZOU!!

No wonder they say in cricket parlance “you are as good as your last innings”.

This is to toast to one of my favourite footballers!

2006-07-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

The history of chokers

There are certain cultures which are born to be winners. This seems quite a sweeping statement to make at first, but I have noticed this too many times for it not to be a valid hypothesis. Germany Vs Argentina, the penalty shootout and you just knew that the solid germans would not crumble under the pressure. The way they were walking to take the penalty said everything. The captain, despite carrying an injury, stood up to be counted and delivered the vital kick. Historically, the Germans have suffered humiliation a number of occasions and this lead to their developing a very tough generation of germans which has been carried to this day and age.

In February of 1999, Chennai played host to what I reckon has been the toughest day in any Indian cricket fan s life. India, thanks to a superlative century from Sachin, were on the verge of scripting a historic win against arch rivals Pakistan. The tension in the air was palpable. And , succumbing to that pressure, within a spate of 3 overs , the Indians wound up shop and bit defeat from the jaws of victory. I think somewhere deep within us, is embodied the Gandhian spirit of non aggression, which prevents us to go the full distance. On the other hand, the Pakistanis, are by birth used to fighting for everything, whether it belongs to them or not. This spirit manifests in every action of theirs and sports is no exception.

Another very hard and aggressive culture is that of Australia. A nation, which until recently accepted the queen of England as its ruler, the Australians know how to play and play hard. No wonder, Australian teams are so successful at the international stage In various sports.i attribute their fighting instinct from the nature and terrain of their land. The continent is barren to a great extent, and considerably sparsely populated. In such situations, survival needs one to be tough both physically and mentally. It would make an Indian go bonkers to not see another soul in sight for miles, but not an aussie, born and brought up to live alone and face the wild.

Its amazing how a football match can lead to such a fascinating line of thought!

2006-06-03T04:57:00.000-07:00

THE PITCH BATTLE

The world cup of football has many facets to it. One of them is football! Another latent but major battle is between the where multinational companies trying to gain the most out of this sporting extravaganza. Consider the ADIDAS and NIKE fight. Nike, who until a decade back was an unknown quantity in the European stage, is now claiming to be a world leader. On the other hand you have the German giant, Adidas which after its acquisition of Reebok has become the largest sports apparel company in the world.

The world cup is a stage where the world will be watching, and neither of the two major players wants to miss out on the action of the pitch.

As per FIFA regulations, Adidas is one of the official sponsors of the tournament. This in theory, should give Adidas a tactical edge over Nike. But does it actually?? The answer lies in the extent of ambush marketing that takes place during the period of the world cup.

Ambush marketing – a term often hissed in industry circles – occurs when one brand(Adidas) pays to become an official sponsor of an event and another competing brand attempts(Nike in this case) to cleverly connect itself with the event, without paying the sponsorship fee and, more frustratingly, without breaking any laws. Ambush, or guerilla, marketing is as undeniably effective as it is damaging, attracting consumers at the expense of competitors, all the while undermining an event’s integrity and, most importantly, its ability to attract future sponsors.

We saw ambush marketing at its most effective during the 1996 WILLS cricket world cup , when Pepsi, which had lost out to Coca Cola for the official sponsorship, came with a “there is nothing official about it “ Ad line starring Sachin Tendulkar which literally left Coke lost for words.

Even this year, the message from the American brand is front and center, and the sunshine bright: "Joga Bonito." The phrase is Portuguese for "play beautiful," and it's a double-edged dig at Adidas. It reminds us 1) that the world champion Brazilians are a Nike squad, and 2) that Brazil plays a creative, dazzling style of soccer that makes the more conservative, bruising teams (ahem, Germany) seem passionless by comparison.

But Adidas, has been equally aggressive in its “impossible is nothing “campaign, showcasing stars as ordinary mortals who have achieved “the impossible”.

The official ball of the tournament, made by Adidas, is where it hopes to make most of its gains from. The predicted sales figures of the ball are estimated to be around 15 million, for which Nike has no answer.

Another major setback for Nike has been the bad publicity it has received ever since the metatarsal injury to Wayne Rooney, causing him to be doubtful for the world cup. Stories having been doing the rounds, claiming that the Nike boots which Rooney was wearing at the time of the injury were partly responsible.

If you thought the pitch was the only battlefield this summer in Germany, then think again, because the showdown between these two brands is guaranteed to generate a lot of heat, and as a consumer, we have the best seats in town to witness this battle!

2006-05-20T04:36:00.000-07:00

A uneventful afternoon
picture this : you go to a movie hall to watcha flick and to your dismay ,there no tickets available. dejected, you would go back home or land up and at some eating joint and curse all those people who are in the comfort of theatre , staring into the screen. well , a similar thing happened to us(Me and vendy) today. but then we decided why not try our hands at bowling for a change....
So we went to this bowling joint and started playing...
first rolls :: both of us fail to hit a pin!!! nice start.. guess things can only improve..
Then Vendy the man who claims to have played this game many a time before, comes up with his first points .
At this point i am thinking of just getting the ball to drop atleast one pin...so i take short run leave the ball and let it glide..and whoa!! i drop all the ten !! not bad for my second ever roll!
and then the rest as they say his history.....
i somehow manage to come up with two more complete strikes (dont know what the exact term is for that..)and our dear vendy also manages to to completely miss all the pins on two more instances!
ah! i was congratulating myself at an extremely well deserved victory,when vendy suggested that we try out the real life version bumper ball called ..hmm.. i dont know..some hockey!
you ae given to knobs with flat bases to slide a puck around a board .

GAME 1
i make a liverpool style comeback from 2-6 down to win the game 7-6 in the dying moments of normal time!
GAME 2
Vendy at his clinical best 6-2 victory, courtsey 4 own goals from yours truly..
GAME 3: the decider
the game is very fast paced, vendy scores early , but i reply back instantly and then disaster strikes as i score 4 back to back own goals to seal my fate!
buoy! that was a lot of fun....