LIFE, UNIVERSE & EVERYTHING

Happy Birthday Blog

2012-02-14T23:20:00.004+05:30

This blog completes 3 years today. And I miss it many times. I don't post as often as I would like to. Seems like I have lost the touch (which probably never was there in first place :) :P). I write but don't post it. Keep it safe as drafts because I myself don't feel like reading it. I hope that I rediscover my desire if not touch to write...and this blog survives...

Just like I am trying to.

Addiction

2012-02-09T04:33:00.000+05:30

If not anything..it lets you know how strong you are...
Me...I am still fighting it..

Who Am I?

2012-01-27T08:39:00.001+05:30

Am I travelling, or just sailing??

Hero

2012-01-03T22:48:00.002+05:30

Are you your own hero? Look at yourself, at what you do and ask yourself what your hero would have done had he been in your place.
A lot of questions get answered if we ask ourselves this question at each and every step.
What follows is inner peace :)

Let's Get Started (Again)

2012-01-01T09:46:00.002+05:30

A new year; again !! I will begin it by thanking a friend who cared enough to find out and tell me what I had been looking for past many years. A few days back I received a comment on my Sanjay Manjrekar post which had the link for his album Rest Day. I had been searching for this album and had given up all hope that I am ever going to find it.
This is the link for the album.
It is difficult to find people who would do something for you for nothing in return. It really is!! Gaurav is a scientist working at ISRO who loves reading and watching movies. He cared enough to find out the link and post it on my blog. Thank you my dear friend. It means a lot to me. It really does. I treated Fazal and Mitul when I saw the comment and listened to the songs. At 2 am in the night in the library :)!!!. Wanted to write this post there itself but did not do it because of paucity of time (my exams were going on). But better late than never :).

Happy New Year :)

P.S. Had written this post on 1st itself. Don't know why I did not post it

The 3 months

2011-12-21T20:40:00.006+05:30

It's been 3 months since I posted something on this blog. I did not have much to share with the rest of the world. A lot happened, but probably it held no relevance to world outside. Life was hectic enough, and was confined to the world inside the IIM. It seemed that I was just sailing through time and things were happening around me. Did horribly bad in academics, did not win any quiz or any other competition, got into Aircel (an ok type company for summers), organised Harmony Cup (for Bhavishya) participated in Index, a disguised marketing research fair organised by IIM L (non MBA junta, if you don't understand it, don't fret too much about it; I don't understand it either :D) and some more.

These were strange three months. They flew by, just like that. When I reflect on what I did in these months, I can hardly think of anything to which I applied myself truly. Oh, by the way, I got selected into Quizzing Commoners (the quizzing club of IIM Lucknow) as well.

I had new experiences wherein I learned more about myself and others. Not all of them can be called pleasant though. They did provide some valuable insights, taught me a few things here and there. I understand a few things I could not fathom earlier.. more on that some other time.

I missed some people, close friends, my room mates at Noida, but somehow was not able to get in touch with people. Life in these three months did not give much time to think, to reflect or even to talk. There was this constant urge to run away to some place where I could not be found.From what, I don't know. But, every time there was some pending task to be done, some deadline to be met, some assignment to be completed. I lost my cool a number of times, shouted at a few batchmates, avoided talking to some friends (for reasons even I am not sure about), hardly replied to non-official mails, and made a lot of friends and family members angry(for which they are totally justified). I am not sure what I was doing, but a lot of that should have been avoided. Maybe, I was trying to do too many things at the same time, and in the process I stopped enjoying my life.

3rd term will begin in a few days from now. I hope to rectify mistakes I committed in these three months, and be a little more sensible. A lot of things need to be done, a lot of decisions need to be taken, a lot is yet to be learned...and a lot of life is yet to be lived...

Kaun Banega Crorepati

2011-09-15T21:52:00.002+05:30

KBC, I guess was launched way back in 2000. It's been 11 years now and it's good to see a show that has been going for such a long time . Those who have been following it reminisce about old contestants. They still remember Harshwardhan Nawathe (first person to win 1 crore Rupees). They talk about the guy who had won Rs 50 lakh and came crashing down to Rs 3,20,000 because he attempted the Rs 1 crore question.

They go back in time when Amitabh Bachchan did his Vijay Dinanath Chauhan gig for Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar (yes!! I can't help but bring him back to this blog again and again :P ).

In between came Shahrukh Khan, who brought his charisma and style to the show. It was said that he won't be able to fill Amitabh Bachchan's shoes and would be soon written off. But he held his own. He was funny, spontaneous, witty and created his own fan following of the show. He got better when contestants tried to undermine him. I remember the episode in which the teacher who tried to insult him ended up making up a fool of herself. Too bad, he did not return as the host and instead did "Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas se Tez hai", a very crappy show indeed.

And I saw the show today after a long long time and disappointment would be a small word to describe my feelings. Amitabh Bachchan is as good as ever, and it's always a delight to listen Hindi in his deep baritone voice. But has he hired Bappi Lahiri as his fashion designer??? or probably his designer is inspired by Mithun Chakraborti and Govinda's movies of the '80s.

There's too much emotional drama that goes on the show. It looks more like the irritating Indian Idol minus the voting. Probably they will introduce that too...who knows?? Why the hell should I care if the person sitting on hot seat earns only Rs 115 per day, or that he lost his limbs in an accident, or that there is only Rs 100 in the savings account of the contestant. The number of questions have reduced, their quality deteriorated, and strange life lines have been introduced. Worse, they have introduced the fake laughter and applause from the audience. Similar to the kind that we used to have in crappy comedy shows of the yore. That was the last thing one could have done to the game show.

Today, Ranbeer Kapoor came on the show for the promotion of his movie and for some shitty charity campaign which basically aimed at endorsing Pepsi...PEPSI for Charity???? Sounds like an oxymoron or an irony...which ever way you want to look at it.The 45 second clock that keeps ticking has hardly succeeded in making the show exciting. And who designed the sets of the show???? I am losing respect for Siddhartha Basu with each passing episode.....

Watching TV, especially Indian entertainment channels like Sony, Zee etc. has become an ordeal now. Where are the great quiz shows like (BQC, India Child Genius, University Challenge etc.), programmes like Chitrahaar, a decent half an hour news bulletin like Aaj Tak (remember Surendra Pratap Singh...Ye thi khabrein aaj tak; Intezaar kijiye kal tak?????).Males comprises at least 50% of Indian population.Have these entertainment channels (Sony, Zee, Star Plus)stopped making shows for them???? I seriously hope that some day I'll enjoy watching a TV show with family. I look forward to that day...And my heart keeps on singing the song..

Aaj bhi hai baandhe ummeed ki dori...don't lose hope is the moral of the story... :)

Say 'Friend'....

2011-09-09T14:50:00.003+05:30

and enter......

---From LOTR

2011-09-04T02:03:00.009+05:30

Why do people in relationships think they are unique...more or less they face the same kind of problems...same issues regarding family/ religion/ ego/ past/ present/ future....only the names and contexts change... and yet they look at me with condescending eyes .....and that I won't understand since I have never been in one....

To me they all appear same...who more often than not, confuse affection /lust /infatuation /crush/ pleasure with love...and they talk big about it...had it not been the case, most of them would not have faced break ups...for if you are in love...do you ever "break up"?????

Game, Set and Match :)

2011-08-28T15:55:00.005+05:30

So eventually, it has come to this....a close friend of mine is expected to get married sometime in February....can't spill the beans because I have been asked not to...but I can't help myself from writing this post....for I know the couple and feel extremely happy for them....

I still am not the marriage and commitment types...still very much happily single and no plans to change either, but to some extent I realize what a good partner means for people. Maybe, because in past few days I have seen people suffering because they are not able to be with their loved ones, for one reason or the other, some because of their family pressures, some because the other person does not feel the same and a few because of the ego hassles...

I wonder, sometimes, how great it must be to find someone with whom you can spend your life, with whom you can share a good talk, with whom you'd like to have your food, someone who would care for you and your feelings, someone who would stand by you....and very importantly, someone who would respect your family as well....can love be more than that??? I don't know what love is, but for me that suffices..

and thus I feel happy for my friend, who will be married to someone he loves...who fulfills the criteria mentioned above, and probably some more...

So dear friend, I know you will read this...and I pity the girl who fell for you...girls are dumb after all, this marriage reaffirms my beliefs :D ...don't let her go because you are the lucky one, and even though I haven't been in one, I have seen relationships fall because of stupid reasons... you are wise enough to know that :)

My best wishes for both of you :D

A different Independence day....

2011-08-18T20:59:00.006+05:30

All my life, almost, I cribbed mostly about situations and conditions around, I was unhappy with my surroundings, with the opportunities, with my failures etc. etc....and when I look back, it was definitely not bad, in fact even good...one learns to appreciate one's life a lot when one realises what others haven't got...

We visited Rajkiya Bal Griha, an orphanage where mostly juvenile kids stay and it was a reality check, at least for me....we have lived in such comfort all our lives that we fail to appreciate our fortunes, the people around us...

It was raining cats and dogs on 15th August....and the situation was as bad inside the rooms at Rajkiya Bal Griha as outside...it was difficult to find a place where you could hide from dripping water from the roofs...the kids there sleep on wooden planks...most of them don't even know where they are from...many of them retarded mentally...with no one to accept them...wearing torn clothes...it was difficult not to get overwhelmed with emotions....

And they were happy...to see us...to find people who at least for one day in their lives cared for them...brought them good food, toys to play and most importantly time to spend...many of them cried when we were leaving.....

I wonder why we went there...probably most of us would forget the day...when we did some CSR...to put it in b-school terms...a CV point maybe..or a story to tell...but I hope that we will find some reason to reach out to them...not for just one day....

I don't pity them...honestly...because I found them with smiles on their faces, with a lot of enthusiasm....I rather pity myself and people like me around...who choose to forget them, and crib because their pay packages are only 15 lakhs per annum and not 20...who are not able to appreciate simple gifts in life...which are luxury to many...

It's important to be grateful...and love life...

Something worth Thinking About

2011-08-05T20:24:00.004+05:30

Why I am an Atheist?

--By Bhagat Singh

Hoping and Waiting

2011-07-21T02:27:00.003+05:30

India will play England today at Lord's in the 2000th Test Match. Some 4 years ago, when India toured England, India drew with England at Lord's in the first test match and went on the win the test series. Sachin Tendulkar, then 34, was just beginning to emerge from one of the worst patches that he had seen.

He got out cheaply in that test match. I remember saying to my friend, "He missed a century at the Mecca once again....and he won't get another chance since this is his last test match at Lord's...even Agarkar has one there".My friend, a little less enthusiastic about cricket asked me.."Why is this his last test match...he can obviously score a century later.." I chose not to answer the question....It would have been difficult to explain to him that Sachin was almost at the end of his career and probably touring England for the last time. And the next tour was in 2011. Now, here we are in 2011, at Lord's again, Sachin continues to play and defy the odds at the age of 38. I am hoping and eagerly waiting for the 100th century...and the occasion can only be second to scoring the 100th one at the World Cup finals...My fingers are crossed....

A walk to remember...and some more..

2011-03-21T18:22:00.008+05:30

Sachin Tendulkar walked...finally....and as expected people hailed the great man for the gentleman gesture of his...But did they forget that he never "walked" earlier, even when he knew he was out and always waited for umpire's decision. The only reason I believe is the presence of UDRS. He probably knew that West Indies will challenge the decision and instead of embarrassing himself the way Ricky Ponting did the other day, decided not to waste time on the field. But we Indians have to eulogize anything and everything associated with the "GOD". Can we please let him be human and, for a change, give other players their due credit...

***********

Saw "The Bridge on the River Kwai". I am on a "IMDB Top 250 movies" watching spree, you see...:)..It's an excellent movie, though it appears absurd at times. I got confused by the actions of the protagonist a number of times but understood the concept by the time movie ended (have to admit that the reviews helped a great deal as well :)). The highlight of the movie is the cinematography and the acting of Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness) who deservedly won an oscar for his performance. The pace of the movie is excellent, even though it was made around 50 years back (I can definitely vouch for that, especially after watching "Seven Samurai"). Though based on World War II, it is not a usual war film. The movie revolves around the conflict between Colonel Saito and Colonel Nicholson. The greatness of the movie lies in the fact that the director makes the viewer understand the predicament of Colonel Saito who, though on the wrong side is not the devil as portrayed by Ralph Fiennes(playing the character of Amon Goeth) in Schindler's List.
I wonder why such movies are not made in Bollywood. I don't even need fingers to count good Hindi movies released in the past two years.

**********

I was recently reading a blog, a post on which criticized men for everything that is wrong with women in the world. It smelled both of hatred and a "female" chauvinism...And I wondered, isn't this the way of life?? That the powerful will always dominate and the weak will always suffer. We see this everywhere...don't we ?? Politicians make the common man suffer, big bully always has his way in school and BCCI twists the arm of every cricket playing nation to have its way...Instead of generalizing and hating them, can we try to make ourselves stronger, to face the difficulties in a better manner??? Too idealistic and too theoretical, I agree, but won't the world be a better place if such were to happen...

A book, a world cup and some movies

2011-03-16T23:33:00.007+05:30

Kungfu Panda is one of the best movies that I have seen and I keep watching it over and over again. The beauty of the movie lies in the eternal and yet so easily forgotten message that it conveys. That of believing in oneself....

Probably that is the reason we find children so happy. They are not bothered about what happened a few days back and are not concerned about what future has in store for them. They look forward to the evenings when they can go out and play....everyday....two month summer vacations or the festivals like Holi, Sankranti etc is the maximum they look forward to. And don't we get the same message from self help books and religious teachers. To live in the present and enjoy moments that we so often consider insignificant.

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

Saw some highly acclaimed movies in the past few days...Seven Samurai, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's nest, The Graduate, Amelie, The Girl in the Cafe, Wall-E and a few more. Of these I enjoyed only Amelie and The Girl in the Cafe. You can laugh at me for my terrible lack of understanding of "good Cinema" , of being a simpleton and not appreciating the rest..but I can't help it....and I can assure you that most of the people don't understand/like them either. But since one would be a fool not to praise them, and it will look odd they will pretend that they thoroughly enjoyed these movies. (yes...I am expecting reactions like "Kya bakwas kar raha hai!!!", "you are an idiot", "you don't have a proper taste","how can you say like that (which basically translates to Kya bakwas kar raha hai!!!)").

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

World cup is going on and strangely I am not missing watching matches at all (we don't have tv and we mostly watch matches in which India is playing by live streaming). Sometimes, I miss the old me which used to go crazy over everything and anything related to cricket. All my heroes (except Sachin) have retired and are either sitting in commentary boxes or in news rooms analysing the present world cup. It was so much fun to watch them in action in older days. And then I realise, it was them whom I loved watching and not the game of cricket itself. Don't things of past always look glorious?????

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

Completed reading "India After Gandhi" by Ramchandra Guha and thoroughly enjoyed it. For all those who consider Nehru a villain;Indira Gandhi an Iron Lady and Rajiv Gandhi, the maker of modern India should read it. For it will clear most misconceptions by citing the events in a fluent and lucid manner. Though this book won't improve your life in any manner, it will definitely make you more knowledgeable about our very own existence, as to how we managed to survive as a Democracy, how we are still a secular society even when the odds were heavily against us. And probably you will admire the far sightedness and patriotism of the founding fathers of this country as well...

Happy Birthday

2011-02-14T23:15:00.004+05:30

This blog completes two years today...:)...
Isn't it amazing that it has survived two complete years and is still alive despite being authored by the laziest person in the world :)
Happy Birthday my dear blog....

P.S. Thank you dear anonymous for reminding me...

Mirror mirror on the wall...

2011-01-22T23:15:00.005+05:30

Newspapers are full of stories about scams these days viz Sukna Land Scam, 2-G scam, Commonwealth Games scam, and yes Bofors Scam (now that court has given its verdict on Ram Mandir, BJP has nothing better to do than dig old graves). We just love big numbers,...1.76 lakh crores in 2G scam, 70k crores in CWG...it's difficult to sate this appetite, isn't it. And we criticize, we keep doing that ...all the time.
It's tax time of the year and we just submitted our proofs for tax savings . I form the second lowest rung of hierarchy in my company. Of the total annual salary, I get around Rs 84k as house rent allowance. The tax on this amounts to around Rs 8.4k per annum. How to save this amount??? Simple!!! Just produce fake bills showing a healthy amount as house rent. Nobody cares as long as this amount does not exceed Rs1.5 lakhs. Add to that fake medical bills, fake leave travel allowance bills etc. etc. Recently I learned a new method; just donate the taxable portion of your salary to some charity by cheque and get cash in return. This would serve two purposes:
a) You would save a hell lot of money on taxes.
b)This would make the black money of the charitable institute white.
A classic example of "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine". You can't even get caught. Because you donated the money with best of your intentions to a charity authorized by government itself.

Now, just imagine the population of the country which earns enough to pay taxes, and we'll come to a figure that would put to shame the likes of A. Raja ,Suresh Kalmadi, Abdul Kareem Telgi and every tom, dick and harry whom we call corrupt.
We don't even feel ashamed about it. It's our hard earned money after all. Why should we pay government for it?? Anyways it's going to end up in a minister's pocket or in some anonymous Swiss bank accounts.
I went to a marriage last year where I saw a lady advising her nephew, a young college student , to prepare for civil services because that is where one can earn the real money. All the pride that I carried in my heart for our 'great' value system evaporated then and there.
Don't get me wrong. I am not writing this to stop anybody from doing this, because I can't. I just want to make one request: Stop criticizing the ministers, the bureaucrats, the officials for siphoning money off the top. Because, deep down we all are as corrupt as any Kalmadi, A Raja , Lalu, Yediurappa, Ramalingam Raju and any other name that one can think of. Because had we been in their places, we would have done the same. Because we do it with all earnestness during the one month in which we get our chances. Because... we can at least try not to be hypocrites....

Fact for the Day 13

2010-10-16T15:38:00.007+05:30

Part 1
Some time back I was troubled by a strange problem. My keyboard started behaving in a strange manner on which a number of keys got interchanged, most notably the "@" and the " (quotes) key. I thought it was due to some software problem since the Windows version I was using was a pirated one. I tried to find a solution to this problem but in vain, and sometime later got used to this "different" keyboard. A few months later, the computer was formatted and now Windows XP was installed, but after some time the problem appeared again. I was confused as to why it was happening because I was the only one amongst my friends who had faced such a problem. I asked a few of my "geek" friends the reason for this anomaly but even they were clueless.

Part 2:
I have always been fascinated by British English and prefer to use it over its American cousin. It always irks me when I see people using "color" and not "colour" or when I see a red line appearing under "defence" while using MS Word. Probably it's the way I have learned it and don't want to change.

Now my room mate Anurag uses a Linux machine instead of a Windows one and falling for my obsession of using British English, I changed the language settings of this computer from English (U.S.) to English (U.K.).

Lo & Behold!!!!!!

The problem in Part 1 appeared again. I immediately wiki'ed for different types of Keyboards and got my answers immediately. You can read about it here.

Random Musings...

2010-10-02T00:43:00.006+05:30

As a child I always used to believe that nothing bad can happen to me. In the end, I'll be successful, that I would fare better than others and that eventually it would be a happy and comfortable life. Come what may, I'll be a winner in the end. That belief, is now shaking. I've come to realize, that I will have to "make" those things happen. And to "make" those things happen, it would require a lot of effort. Now, I actually am the Master of my own destiny. I know these thoughts sound very cliched. I've read similar stuff all my life and never gave a second thought to it. But only now I feel the depth of these thoughts and understand what they actually mean.

*****

India plays Australia, and like many other Indians, I want Sachin to score those two centuries as soon as possible. I hardly care about anything else regarding cricket these days. India will tour South Africa sometime in December, and again the only thing I want is that Sachin, Dravid and Laxman should play the best innings of their lives there. I might be sounding unpatriotic, but I am not concerned with India's win or loss anymore. Sachin should be ahead of Ponting, ALWAYS...Dravid should retire on a high, so should Laxman...My passion for cricket will retire with these greats...

******

So much has been said and written about Commonwealth Games. And we were supposed to feel proud about them. In my case, they have made me feel the exact opposite.

******

Time seems to be running out very fast right now. Few of my friends(both college and school) have got married, a close friend, Prashant will marry in January next year, so would Jyoti and Shivpriya. Gaurav Dugar has already fathered a son. Another friend Shashank has set up a business in USA. Most of my batchmates from school have completed their studies and are all set to lead a well settled life. They have laid down the road map and are all set to build upon it. People have been places and here I am, still considering myself a kid, fully uncertain about my goals and aspirations, questioning about Life, Universe and Everything, doubtful as usual, indecisive, perplexed, confused....

*******
Babri Masjid case has arguably been decided in favour of Hindus, in spirit if not in name.If communal forces like RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal etc. are happy about it, then it's a cause for worry. I don't know every nitty-gritty of the case, but if a Judge can rule in the high court about the place being the actual birth place of Lord Ram, I can't help but question the credibility of the appointment procedure of the High Court Judges. Was he in the right frame of mind when he made the ruling???? He seems to be talking as if in his previous incarnation he christened Lord Ram himself. Maybe he really did....I am waiting for a detailed report on India TV.

*******
ESPN Cricinfo has come out with the concept of an All Time XI Test Team. The jury will decide on that but you can make and vote for your own team. You can check it out here ...

My team is

(openers)
Sir Jack Hobbs ,
Sunil Gavaskar ,

(middle order)
Sir Don Bradman,
Sachin Tendulkar,
Sir Viv Richards,

(wicketkeeper)
Adam Gilchrist,

(allrounders)
Sir Garfield Sober s,
Imran Khan ,

(bowlers)
Wasim Akram,
Shane Warne and
Curtly Ambrose .

Given a choice, I would have kept Brian Lara as my twelfth man and Imran Khan as my Captain. What would have been your team??

Happy Gandhi/Shastri Jayanti by the way :)

Guilty

2010-08-08T00:49:00.000+05:30

Do you ever feel guilty for being more privileged than others????

Purity...

2010-08-08T00:43:00.002+05:30

can be a religion in itself.....

Narcissists all around

2010-06-06T01:34:00.001+05:30

Do we love anybody else more than ourselves?? Or for that matter, do we ever really love anybody else ...
Mothers....well, they are an exception :)

An anniversary of different kind

2010-05-19T22:21:00.007+05:30

Today, it's 19th May, a day which is somehow difficult to forget.
Today I spent almost 12 hours in my office, doing something I am not very good at, devoid emotions, just working like a machine, completing the task at hand. A day, just like the other days I have gotten used to. A year back, around the same time I had made 3 trips to the railway station, taken food at two restaurants, and bid farewell to 6 very good friends of mine.
Mayuri, TP, Mishra, Bansi, Malli and Chuggi, all left within a span of 24 hours. Jain, Goutam, Prachi had already left earlier, but this day almost marked the end of college. I returned home almost at midnight, after Ankush left.
A year has passed and time, literally has flown by. A lot has changed in the past one year. A number of batchmates (both from school and college)have got married or will be married in the next few months. A few of us got committed, some tried, but failed...:).
Howsoever hard we may try, but now we are distanced from each other, a distance, which unfortunately, will only increase...
Something was gone, that will never come back.

Dhanno, La Poderosa and Rampyari
Together for the last time... 18th May, 2009.

Ambitious

2010-05-08T09:05:00.006+05:30

Why are people Ambitious???

After a lot of thinking, applying my super duper analytical and observation skills and wisdom acquired through experiences of life, I could think of four possible reasons...

1. They love what they do. The ambition is not to get anywhere but to remain immersed in the work they do. They work not for themselves but for something they love doing, kind of selfless service. In the process, they move ahead and inspire others. The most suitable examples I can find are those in the field of art.

2.Because they are ambitious. There don't need or seek motivation from external sources. They don't care where others are and just want to move ahead for their own selves. Great businessmen belong to this category.

3. They have to survive. If they don't move ahead, they will cease to exist. Most common of them all. They can be found everywhere around us.

4. They don't want to be left behind. It is not a survival problem but a fear that their contemporaries will move ahead of them. If asked, they'll cite above three reasons for being ambitious.Given a choice and an ideal scenario(for them, that is), they will continue to lead their life in present condition.

I believe most of the people belong to the last two categories and I, specifically fall in the last one..:) . It's those in the first two categories who actually create something beautiful and leave a mark. The rest....well they are just a part of the rat race.

PS. I had nothing to do and this is just an example of one of the stupid things I do to kill time....

The Atheist

2010-04-24T20:07:00.004+05:30

He is a brave man...

for he does not place his fate, his success and most importantly, his failures into the hands of the unknown..

A very very Late Realization

2010-04-12T02:33:00.001+05:30

There is absolutely no fear bigger than the fear of FAILURE.

The Saviour

2010-04-03T22:38:00.003+05:30

He does not switch off the lights when he leaves the room.

He leaves a lot of food on his plate once he is done with the lunch.

He drives a big car to the office a couple of kilometres away.

He keeps the tap running in the bathroom when he shaves/brushes.

He spits on the streets while taking a walk.

He litters the streets with empty plastic bottles and wrappers.

He takes unnecessary print outs from the office printer.

He leaves his desktop on sleep/hibernation when he leaves the office.

On 27th March, 2010 he switched off the lights at 8.30 pm , went to sleep, woke up at 9.30 pm and updated his orkut/facebook status message that he had done his bit in "saving the earth".

Un-Wiki'ed

2010-02-27T19:46:00.008+05:30

I did it some days back and though I should be feeling happy about it, I am not. I am talking about Wikipedia. Last week I edited a page on it where I found a mistake and then I found some more mistakes on it and edited it more, even added some stuff. Now the very purpose of my visiting Wikipedia is reduced to finding mistakes on the page and correcting them. I want to get out of this obsession.

Moreover, this has shaken my belief in the authenticity of the content posted. Though I always knew that wiki pages were editable, I had never done it. Now that I have, it seems like there can be a lot of pages with plenty of mistakes. Moreover, a person can edit the existing content and make it look entirely different from what it initially intended to be. Wiki has the features of 'discussion' , 'edit' and 'citation needed', but I really doubt if majority of people pay attention to them.

Where to go in such a scenario?? Earlier whenever I came across a fact, I used to verify it from Wikipedia. Many times, it turned out the facts were lifted from Wikipedia itself. On one particular occasion when I wanted to counter check the fact, all the other sites quoted essentially the same content as on Wikipedia and gave its reference as well. What if the content on Wiki is wrong in first place?? Wikipedia authorities should come up with a solution where the content which is authentic and is not going to change in future can be made uneditable. For the rest I guess, people are doing a good job and modifying the content wherever and whenever necessary(for this I give myself a pat on my back...:) :P ;)).

Happy Birthday :)

2010-02-14T11:19:00.003+05:30

So here I am again, Single and not yet ready to mingle on this yet another Valentine's Day. Another year has passed at the end of which I find myself still searching for the same goals as last year. Still trying to find a place for myself both in and out of me. A few disappointments, some joys, a new life and a new world have marked this year. Though I find myself learning many things a little late on every frontier, not all of which can be put down into words (at least not by me). And love or a relationship is certainly not a priority on the list. And I am quite certain that by the time it becomes a priority, I will be late for it as well. I wonder if it ever will be.

On a serious note, I for one, never found the need for a relationship a very compelling one. Don't we have our friends and family to love already??? And why forget old relationships for new ones. I simply detest those who do it. Not all are guilty of this crime but I have lost some very good friends because of "Pyar vyar and all that". Love grows as we spend time with those with whom we like to be. So why raise such brouhaha over getting into relationship with a member of opposite sex and call it commitment/love etc. Aren't we all already committed to preserve the relationships and friends we already have. I thought I was in love once. "I thought" because I am not any more now, neither was I then.Though I must admit that it felt great at that point of time, living in a dream world. It was infatuation that came and went. Love stays. And I don't understand why people who want to get into relationship are so offended when someone says that "I love you but as a friend". Isn't friendship one of the greatest forms of love. Besides, I seriously wonder that people who constantly jump from one relationship to another are ever in love. I believe they are insecure, insecure of being alone, insecure of being devoid of attention,always seeking assurance that someone is there for them. I may/may not find a girl with whom I would like to spend the rest of my life. But I know one thing for sure, if I do find her,she is going to be a great friend above anything else. I do hope I find such a girl :) :P.

By the way, my blog celebrates its first anniversary. I remember writing my first post on this blog on 14th Feb 2009, when I had come back from a quiz, a little sad for not clearing the written rounds, suffering from mild fever and wondering if the number of entries would cross single digit. Well, here I am, writing 61st entry on this blog, special thanks to all those who cared to read and comment despite it being full of horrendous grammatical mistakes and absolutely meaningless posts.

Happy Birthday My Dear Blog and Happy Valentine's day by the way :) :P

Fact for the Day 12

2010-02-12T19:53:00.002+05:30

The most beautiful city in the world i.e. meri apni Jaipur was founded in the year 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. The names of the rulers of Jaipur is preceded by the title Sawai. This tradition began with the founder of Jaipur, Maharja Sawai Jai Singh himself.
At the age of 15 he defeated Marathas in a war in the year 1701 and captured the fort of Vishalgarh. Thus Aurangzeb conferred upon him the title 'Sawai' which means that he was a quarter more than a man (Sawa= 1.25). Sawai Jai Singh was a patron of Science and Astronomy and he went on to build the observatories called Jantar Mantar at Jaipur, Delhi, Mathura, Benares and Ujjain.

Game, Set , Match...

2010-02-06T07:53:00.005+05:30

As a kid, I always used to wonder why in a pack of cards, the Ace values more than a King. I mean, it always seemed illogical to me that why in should '1' have more significance than a king. I got my answer a couple of days back.

The word Ace comes from latin word 'As' which means 'a unit'. In earlier times, the ace had the least value. Then something happened. This something gave birth to the ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. "Something" established the rule of the peasants over the ruling class. The ruled became the Ruler. This "Something" was The French Revolution of 1789.

Quoting Wikipedia "The lowest number card was changed to the highest card in the deck ostensibly to represent the victory of the common man over King Louis XVI(citation needed)"

A French Revelation indeed....:)

The Idea of Indianness

2010-02-04T22:23:00.006+05:30

It's a strange world out there. Somehow, everybody seems to be there for his/her personal gains, caring for nothing whatsoever. And still one person stands out.....Shahrukh Khan. I am not a huge admirer of Shahrukh Khan the actor or Shahrukh Khan the businessman. But I like this guy as a person. If not anything else, this man is at least honest. There might be some arrogance in this honesty but there is no hypocrisy for sure.

So it was nice to hear him say that he won't apologize to Bal Thackrey/ShivSena for backing Pakistani cricketers. What he said might be for his own motive, for his own gains as an owner of IPL team. But he refuses to back down from something he stands for fully aware of the fact that this could cost him and his upcoming movie heavily. At the same time one wonders, why are Marathi people not coming out in support for this man. Why can't we see actors like Ritesh Deshmukh, Nana Patekar voicing the same opinion as Sachin Tendulkar did a few days back??? Or probably they have sold the sense of National pride along with their souls.

And then we have people like Amitabh Bachchan. He might be a great actor but somehow I have lost all my respect for Amitabh Bachchan, the person. He does not seem to be affected by the plight of artists or his fellow actors in Mumbai. Instead he praises the biggest goonda who virtually rules Mumbai with an iron hand. He was only affected when Raj Thakrey was coming out all guns blazing against him. But since he is friends with probably the most influential family in Mumbai, he won't utter a word against them, even though they are doing almost similar to others what had been done against him a few months back by a relative of theirs. Probably...probably the fact that now he has lost his backing in Samajwadi Party (Amar Singh is now thrown out of party) has forced him to show the true colours of this "farmer". Seems like he himself is playing the role of Jai Malik(his son in Rann) in real life.

It's strange that the central government is not taking any strict actions against these goons. How long will they keep on running from such issues remains to be seen. Democracy does not mean letting loose people who are a threat to countrymen just because they have a backing of a minuscule percentage of population. It's amazing that a man(Manohar Joshi) who used to occupy an extremely prestigious position of Speaker in the Lok Sabha opines that Mumbai is only for the Marathis. How low can one stoop for petty gains???

I remember in my school days, we had a teacher who used to say that if our country follows what Bal Thackrey says, we would be on top of the world. Fortunately we didn't pay much attention to her (the fact that we didn't pay attention to anything else taught in school ever otherwise is a different story) I wonder if she thinks the same now.

Somehow all this was going to happen someday or the other. First we'll hate people of other religion, then of other state, then of other caste/community, then of various sections of the same caste and then we'll hate our neighbours. It's high time that we stop being patriotic only when it comes to cricket matches or publicly bashing Pakistan. We are bringing about nothing but our own downfall. Let's be Indians first and everything else later...Time to wake up fellow countrymen....All RISE

Fact for the Day 11

2010-01-04T21:02:00.005+05:30

Execute the following steps.

1. Go to Google.

2. In the search bar type 'recursion' and press Enter.

3. Observe

4. If you don't understand, read the first comment on this post.

5. Enjoy :)

And We are back....

2009-12-30T22:12:00.002+05:30

Ok...so the year 2009 is going and I am coming back to the world of blogginng....I am not saying that I was away or anything...but somehow the urge to write had gone...or for that matter the urge to do anything...I have stopped doing all the good (at least I thought so) things I used to do..for absolutely no reason at all... I have stopped blogging, reading, quizzing, chatting and what not...I haven't watched tv for quite some time, neither have I read newspaper....NO ..I haven't been busy at all..in fact my job is as cool as it can get giving me ample time to do whatever I want to ...somehow I have just stopped doing these things...and it's not good...

When I sit back and think about it, most of my fellow college bloggers have stopped blogging... I haven't read a post from Mayuri since ages, Chetna writes a couple of lines once in a month, Rohit's most posts are password protected; so for most of the lesser mortals like me, it is as good as nothing at all. Balanisisred is dead, nobody is concerned about Burinazarwaale, Pradyot last blogged in August, I can't even recall the address of Anuragi's blog, some other blogs I used to follow earlier (and are not in my blog list) are not as active either as they used to be some months back....Wonder what happened to all.... :(

There has been a new development though...Goutam has finally started penning down his thoughts here...I hope he doesn't stop.

New year starts tomorrow....I don't want anything new. Just want to be the old Aviral in this new year....

Happy New Year to all :)

Jerusalem by William Blake

2009-12-02T22:01:00.003+05:30

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold;
Bring me my arrows of desire
Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my chariots of fire.

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land.

Mujhe Pyar Hai Tumse

2009-11-26T22:14:00.005+05:30

He he ...don't get any ideas from the title of the post. This is another song which I used to love. The song was sung by Pankaj Saraogi some 10-12 years back. I loved the song then, and I love the song now. The song also features Manav Gohil, who acted in some shitty soap operas and is the husband of Shweta Kwatra. The girl who plays the lead role in the song has a tooth missing and whenever she smiles, she tries to cover her face. (This is the actual reason why I am posting it here...he he )

Enjoy...:)

Another List

2009-11-22T14:44:00.004+05:30

I wrote my last post some 12 hours back and here I am writing again. Just writing for the heck of it since I don't have anything better to do. Was thinking about all the songs which I used to listen again and again. Here's a list of songs I was very crazy about, so much that sometimes one of them was the only song in my playlist and was played no less than 50-60 times in a day

1. Maahi Ve (Kal Ho Naa Ho)

2. O Humdum Suniyo Re (Saathiya)

3. Maahi Ve (Faakir Mantra)

4. Chandni Raatein (Partners in Rhyme)

5. Dil Jo bhi Kahey (Title song)

6. Kitni Der Tak (Delhi Heights)

7. Kabhi Kabhi Aditi (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na)

8. Dhoom (Euphoria)

9. Dhani (Strings)

10. Mera Bichchra Yaar (Strings)

11. Phir Dekhiye (Rock On)

Kuchh Angrezi ke Nagme

1. It's my life (Bon Jovi)

2. Learning to Fly (Pink Floyd)

3. Drink Up me Hearties Yo ho(Pirates of Caribbean)

4. We Didn't Start the Fire (Billy Joel)

5. American Pie (Don Mclean)

6. The Man Who Sold The World (Nirvana)

7. Heaven (Bryan Adams)

8. Black or White (Michael Jackson)

9. Tubthumping (Chumbawamba)

Chandni Raatein

2009-11-22T00:06:00.009+05:30

Some ages ago when I was still in college and shared a room with Ankush i.e. Mullad aka hamaare hone waale bhateeje ka baap(ya maa :P :)), I was in love with this particular song called Chandni Ratein. I still am, though to a lesser extent. I kept on playing the song on his comp and kept on agonizing him. He was tired of it, once even removed it but somehow I got it back. Recently while visiting a blog, I found this song again. I never knew that this song was a remix version of an old song, done by Bally Sagoo. And and and ....believe it or not, as I write these lines it is playing on my desktop (it's not intentional, it's there in the playlist...funny that it should start playing as I write this post). Here is the original song, sung by the great Noor Jahan herself.

Speaking of Noor Jahan, I am reminded of a story that when she was about to leave for Pakistan, Dileep Kumar tried to persuade her for the whole night to stay in India but in vain. It was after her departure only that Lata Mangeshkar rose to heights that are virtually unscalable now. Here is the Wikipedia link on the Mallika-e-Tarranum.

Two other such songs which forced my sister and my friends to bang their heads against the walls are this and this. Hope you enjoy them both :).

P.S. I came across this song here.

The Difference

2009-11-19T00:03:00.002+05:30

Biggest difference in my college life and today: I don't laugh that often....

A Memory and More

2009-11-01T21:58:00.004+05:30

Long back I had written a post about India vs Zimbabwe match in 1996 World Cup. This match was the predecessor of a great match, something etched in the memories of all Indian cricket fans alike. I am talking about India vs Pakistan at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. It was only the second time India was meeting Pakistan in World Cup and the atmosphere was intense like never before. Wasim Akram, the captain of Pakistan team in this edition of World Cup pulled out of this knock out match as he had suffered an injury and handed over the captaincy to Aamir Sohail, who at that point of time was one half of the then best opening partnership in the world(with Saeed Anwar). The match started in a dull fashion, with Sachin Tendulkar after a slow start got bowled to a relatively unknown bowler Ata Ur Rahman( I remember that instance distinctly because after that I had gone out to play). Much had happened by the time I came back. Navjot Singh Sidhu had made 93 runs, Azhar and Kambli had chipped in with useful 20s but the greatest blow to Pakistan came from the Man of the Match of the previous match, Ajay Jadeja. He blasted 45 runs off just 25 balls and plundered them mostly off Waqar Younis, who gave away 40 runs in his last two overs. India finished its innings at 287/8. Now the match seemed in India's pocket because such high scores were rarely chased then.

But Saeed Anwar and Aamer Sohail had different plans. They ripped Indian bowling apart in the opening overs scoring 84 runs off the first10. The required run rate was barely above 5 and Saeed Anwar and Aamer Sohail were playing like a T20 match. Then Srinath struck getting Anwar out, but Pakistan were still cruising with Aamir Sohail probably playing the most important innings in his life.

After completing his 50, he came down the track to hit Venkatesh Prasad for a boundary at extra cover. But, then he did something he shouldn't have done. He pointed his bat towards the region mocking Venkatesh Prasad, probably because prior to that delivery, Prasad had moved a fielder from that very point. The very next ball he tried to pull, but this time Prasad got better of him. Sohail was bowled. The house erupted like anything. Never had I seen such jubilation and celebration, be it at the crowd or at my home. Here's the video clip.

Pakistan never recovered from the Prasad jolt. Ijaz Ahmed and Inzamam departed early. But the forever nemesis of Indian team, Javed Miandad was still at the crease. My father kept on reminding me of his famous last ball six off Chetan Sharma at Sharjah. With him in the middle, anything was possible. He got run out at a score of 38 and was the 8th wicket to fall. This match turned out to be his last in international cricket and a career spanning 3 decades came to a halt at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. No doubt, one of the best batsmen of world cricket deserved a better goodbye.

All did not get over with the match. Effigies of Wasim Akram were burnt for allegedly throwing away the match and not playing. In Pakistan, a 22 year old first shot his TV and then himself after watching the match. Miandad blamed Akram for handing over the captaincy to a relatively inexperienced player (Aamer Sohail) and not to him. The party for India got over very soon as well. A few days later, India lost in the Semi Finals to Sri Lanka in a match every Indian would like to forget. If this match was the zenith of the '96 World Cup, the semi finals was the nadir for India in this tournament, all symbolised by Vinod Kambli's tears.

Religion

2009-10-18T15:37:00.003+05:30

There are questions that have troubled me over the years and I need someone with a sane head who can talk rationally and explain them to me. One of such things is why people change their religion. How do they rate one religion over another, so much so that they convert to it. I am not talking about the villages where allegedly Christian Missionaries spread the name of God and force people to convert to a so called better faith. They do it by giving some incentive...let's not get there, it's a different territory altogether...

I am talking about people who WANT to convert to some other religion. The list includes celebrities like Madonnas, Michael Jacksons, Muhammad Alis, and many others. I assume these people are mature enough to decide what to follow and what not to follow. It's completely a personal opinion and I have absolutely no right to intrude into someone's private life. But I fail to understand the REASON behind it. WHY do they have to do it??? Aren't the teachings of all religions essentially the same. Don't we all know what we need to do and have our conscience to guide us for that. There are people who say that this religion is bad because it dehumanizes women, while this is better because it gives them complete freedom. Bull Crap. Being educated individuals, we absolutely know our positions in society. And how does it matter if we are born in a Hindu family, or a Christian family or a Muslim one. By changing the religion, can we change the people around us, their mentality and their perceptions. I really doubt so. Good people can be found everywhere, so can be said about the bad people. How these converts are able to connect to the Almighty in a better manner by doing so is beyond a mortal like me. And as far as personal freedom goes, it's more about the culture and society in which one is born rather than the religion that one follows. I am a Hindu and proud to be so..but does that make me better or worse than a Christian or a Muslim?? The question answers itself. How can a religion change a man...it's only a road, which one has to follow, and all roads lead to Rome..don't they :)

सबकी एक कहानी

2009-09-24T19:10:00.004+05:30

बटोरने चला हूँ साज़ो सामान जिंदगानी का ...
वक़्त मिला तो कभी ढूँढ लाऊंगा खुदको भी

Blessed are those who know what they seek in life.......

PS: The above lines are not mine. Said by a senior colleague in office.....

My Current Job

2009-09-22T23:26:00.002+05:30

Hello Hello...Testing Testing ...123...123.....Mobile(Samsung) testing...

A question on Failure

2009-09-02T18:18:00.001+05:30

Why do people find it so difficult to acknowledge their failures and give weird reasons for the same?

2009-08-30T08:24:00.001+05:30

Home is where the heart is :)

New Life, New Universe, New Everything

2009-08-22T20:06:00.002+05:30

Tomorrow afternoon, I will leave Jaipur, my home for the past 23 years.....and I am going to miss each and everything related to it. My life has been great and I have been a really lucky guy so far, I had all the luxuries of life, went to one of the finest schools in Jaipur, studied in a very reputed college (at least in Rajasthan :) :P) ; but most importantly I had a great family and some excellent friends one can only dream of.

I really thank god for all that He has given me. Many people are not so fortunate as I have been. Speaking of friends, I think I am very very lucky. I met some people who were real gems from the heart. Be it joy or misery, they were always there to hold my hand, to support me, to guide me. They laughed with me when I was happy, celebrated my success as if it was their own, supported me when I was down, scolded me when I did something wrong and, even shouted at me when I did not share my sorrows with them. I count myself amongst the blessed ones. Some others, even though they can't be classified as friends, really made a mark upon my life, influenced(positively) it in more than one ways.

From tomorrow onwards, most of it is going to be left behind. I'll begin a new life, meet new people, make new relations, work in new conditions. I hope that I'll meet as good people I have met so far, if not better. I hope that I'll enjoy with them as much as I have enjoyed with my friends from school and college. I hope that I'll be able to fulfill some promises I had made to myself, my family and friends. I hope......

Swades & Shahrukh Khan

2009-08-17T22:36:00.007+05:30

There are some movies that over a period of time I have watched over and over again. One factor common among them all is that they all have been really very simple, nothing larger than life in them, have an excellent presentation of a very simple story(one you can relate to) and yes ....none of them have been major blockbuster hits.

Swades is one such movie. I normally don't watch Shahrukh Khan movies, simply because the basic story revolves mostly around his 'lover boy' image. The sole motive of the movie and Shahrukh Khan remains mainly(and quite simply) to earn as much money as it can, making young and not so young girls love him through his mannerism (often wrongly labelled as his charm and charisma). Swades is one big exception.

Shahrukh Khan, portrayed as a scientist working in NASA, comes back to his motherland in search of himself. The movie carries patriotism as the message it is trying to convey(read sell). But it is done in a very subtle manner. No shouting slogans like those in Sunny Deol movies or long emotional dialogues (akin to Manoj Kumar's movies) are there in the movie. He is not fighting terrorism or some corrupt politician (jisne chand chandi ke sikko ke liye apne desh ko bech diya ho). In fact, he tries to counter the basic problems that still plague the society even after 60 years of independence. He comes back to India to fulfil his duties towards Kaveri Amma, his nanny in his childhood. It is here that he realizes what he can do for his country and his people, trying to bring an improvement in society through education and by empowering the lower sections of society.

The greatness of the movie lies in its simplicity. No extrovert display of patriotism (or love for the girl) is used by Ashutosh Govarikar to deliver the message. Music is amazing as is expected of A R Rahman (Udit Narayan actually won National Award for Ye Tara! Vo tara!)The hero does not need to do dhishum dhishum with any villain, does not dance in the rain (or for that matter otherwise as well) doing stupid moves with his girl. He is a very common and simple man, a young guy who went abroad to study, worked there and in his adulthood realized his love for his motherland. Unlike other patriotic movies, he does not come back to village and takes farming as his occupation, rather becomes a project manager at Vikram Sarabhai Space Research Center.

Shahrukh Khan is undoubtedly the most popular man in India. But, unfortunately he is NOT a great actor. He is a good actor alright, but not in the league of Dileep Kumar, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Amitabh Bachchan and among his contemporaries Irrfan Khan. But that is how he is. In the past decade or so, Shahrukh Khan the businessman has taken precedence over Shahrukh Khan, the actor. He does not experiment with his roles, works with the directors/production houses of his choice, in the process makes crores of rupees strengthening the image of Lover Boy that he carries and now even runs an IPL team full of stars but unfortunately is a bunch of losers.

In Swades, he tries to achieve the greatness that eludes him. But regrettably, falls back to a pathetic movie like Om Shanti Om which, to the misfortune of Indian Cinema, is the biggest money making movie ever (I actually became a huge fan of SRK after this movie. Jo aadmi aisi movie ko super hit kara sakta hai, vo desh me kuchh bhi kar sakta hai). It is really disappointing that Swades did not become a block buster hit. But Indian cinema goers still love Masala more than the main ingredient. The generation ahead of us will probably remember Shahrukh Khan as the most popular man(and definitely not as a great actor) India saw in the two decade of '90s and '2000s. I would like to remember him for Swades and Chak De! India...

HUMILITY

2009-08-14T19:01:00.004+05:30

People sometimes call me humble...I know I am not...People confuse 'not bragging' with humility and probably that's where I think people make a major mistake. I know my limitations and many a time I get irritated when people think I am better than what I actually am. But does 'not bragging' make one humble..I don't think so...

I have failed many times in many things that I have tried. Biggest among them have been not getting through JEE and CAT as of now. There can be many reasons why I failed and probably the most important one is not preparing well enough. Putting in long hours is way different from hard work.

Some time back I met a friend of mine who had scored better than me in CAT. I know that he was not as passionate and enthusiastic about CAT as I had been, neither had he put in as much effort. But the end result for both of us was pretty much same. 'Not Selected'. We laughed about it when me met. I remember his exact words....'Dekh yaar! prepare tune bhi nahi kiya aur maine bhi nahi!!! ye to hona hi tha...agli baar prepare karke denge to badhiya hoga aur call bhi aa jayegi".

To him it did not make much of a difference since it was not something he had seriously tried. But to me it did. And that was precisely the time when my ego took a hit. Had he said the same thing again or had repeated it in some other way, I would have definitely told him..."Mujhe tera nahi pata...maine to bahut mehnat ki thi". I did not say that but I would have for sure. That would have satisfied my ego even if it was for a very short moment. But probably he had said a bitter truth I had refused to accept. Had I been well prepared, I would have got through at least one entrance exam among many that I wrote. It was not him that I was trying to convince. It was me all the way.

I know people who would not utter a word about their achievements. Humility reflects in their attitude and behaviour. They don't need the world to know who/what they are. Humility is about being brave and accepting the truth. More importantly it is definitely not about self deprecation. To me, Shahrukh Khan is more humble than Amitabh Bachchan. It may appear otherwise, but that is what I feel.

Random Bakwaas

2009-08-13T21:25:00.002+05:30

Sometimes in life, when we try to get too close to some people, we push them far away...

Pyar Wyar and All That

2009-08-12T15:19:00.004+05:30

There are people who want to let the world know that they are committed, that they are in love. They'll put up weird status msgs on social networking sites. They'll pen poems about love and write them in the "Notes" section of Facebook inviting everybody to read. Some even upload their pics together, not one or two pics but a whole album of just the two of them (sadly in the backgrounds, generally there is nothing else to see). I wonder if they really are in love or it is the feeling of insecurity that drives them into doing such things. Can't they be discreet???I may be wrong. But, is love for display??

A debate and some disagreement

2009-08-09T20:40:00.005+05:30

Recently Ricky Ponting crossed Allan Border as the highest test run scorer for Australia. My congratulations to him. He has been a prolific run scorer for his team and has won a lot of matches single handedly for his team. Undoubtedly he stands alongwith Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Jacques Kallis as one of the best batsmen of this era.

A nice article was written about him on Cricinfo. You can read it here. However, what followed was a nasty debate between the australian and Indian cricket fans as to who has been a better batsman over the past years. Heated arguments flowed from both sides. Some Australians and to my shock some Indians as well went on to say that Ponting is the greatest batsman of this era and Sachin Tendulkar is the most over rated batsman world cricket has seen. He has been hyped by media and is no more than a flat track bully making runs against the weakest of opposition like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

I'm not going to provide any statistics, neither am I going to compare the three. But I just want to ask these people how can they be such poor judges of batmanship. Even if we agree that Sachin has been hyped by media, he would not have been lauded by the greatest batsman of all time, Sir Don himself; by the greatest spinner of all time, Shane Warne; by some of the greatest fast bowlers of modern era, including Allan Donald and Wasim Akram. It is one thing to sit in commentary or press boxes to scribble articles heaping praise/criticism on a batsman and it is another to have a first hand experience being out there in the field playing alongside/against him. People may have difference of opinion regarding who was the best, was it the maestro from Mumbai or was it the prince from Trinidad& Tobago and it is appropriate as well. But to label him as a flat track bully makes one wonder if these people really follow cricket or are fully loaded with prejudice.

Again, it is not his records or centuries that make him the greatest batsman (he is for me, if not for anybody else), it is the humility and the grace with which he has carried himself over the past 20 years or so. To live under the eyes of media, carrying the expectations of millions and still be able to maintain the composure is something which is quite unheard of in the sporting world.

Honestly, after Tendulkar, it is only Brian Lara and Mark Waugh whose batting I have enjoyed watching on TV. Ponting may have won more matches than Sachin or Lara did for their respective teams. He may go on to make most centuries and become the highest test run scorer. Ponting is undoubtedly one of the best batsmen of this generation. Nobody can take that away from him.But he failed to win one important thing which both Tendulkar and Lara won in plenty.....hearts of spectators all over the world.

Confusion Confusion

2009-08-08T21:47:00.004+05:30

In a few days from now, I will be embarking upon a new journey. The long awaited 'joining date' as arrived. It had been postponed from July 14 to January 4 and now it has been preponed. When I got the news I was not sure if I should be happy. I am still not sure. If there is one thing that I have dreaded in my engineering, it has been coding and this is precisely the thing that I am going to do as job. Unlike my some other friends, I was not highly affected by the delay in joining because somewhere deep in my heart I never wanted to be a software engineer.

Being the lazy person I am, how am I going to survive in the competitive environment, remains to be seen. I am not sure if I am going to last long in this job, even if they increase my salary significantly. 23 years have passed and I still don't know what I want from my life. Money is important but so is the time needed to enjoy it. Money is important but so is ego. Money is important but so is peace of mind. I wanted to do MBA from a good college as soon as I graduated from my college. But it was more of peer pressure I guess and more importantly a long cherished dream of studying in an elite institution. Why MBA, and why me??? I am still searching for answers. I don't think many people know the answers either but they 'Just Do It'. Because this is what we're supposed to do. This is what leads to high paying jobs, isn't it?? And in our present society money means both success and security. kya karte ho ye chhodo, kitna kama rahe ho????

A friend of mine did only what she wanted to do. Undeterred by everybody(including me) who told her otherwise. Amongst all my friends, she is the only one who always seems to be enjoying, always with a smile on her face. She was the topper of her college, won gold medal for the best allrounder, but chose to go in a field which is full of struggle, in which money and recognition comes very late(If it comes, that is) until and unless you are very lucky or have loads of money or have great contacts. It's not money that she's after, nor recognition either. It is the satisfaction that she gets from her work that always leads to a smile on her face. Lot of times, I read and heard that it is the fear of failure that is the biggest hindrance in a man's success. I realise now what that means. We are too afraid to break away from the well trodden path, too afraid to come out of our comfort zones. I wish I had my friend's guts.....

Fact for the Day 10

2009-08-03T16:52:00.002+05:30

In our childhood the boys mostly used to read Hardy Boys by Franklin W Dixon while the girls used to read Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene. However, no person by the name of Franklin W Dixon or Carolyn Keene ever existed. There were a number of authors who used these as pen names, both for Stratemeyer Syndicate. Read more here and here.

ek chhoti si list....aur bahut saari yaadein...

2009-08-02T19:34:00.006+05:30

Walkman/Xerox

Cosco

Bisleri

Maggi

Luna

Good knight

Flotters

Aspirin

Scooty

Ranger Cycle

Surf

Rin

Kachhua Chhap

Pilot pen

Rasna

Vim

No explanations for whatever is written above. This list was compiled by Ankush, Chetna, Mayuri and yours truly in canteen with a single but highly valuable input from Anirudh Jain (Gujju).

Much hue and cry was raised when this list was lost because it was written on a very important piece of paper. Reminds of the good old times, actually the best days of engineering while working(read not working) on project. Missing all the friends today.

Happy Friendship Day

Tolerance and Success

2009-08-01T23:23:00.003+05:30

Our will of not tolerating Rakhi Sawant is far outweighed by her will of making us tolerate her.

Isn't this the secret of success....."To have your way, come what may"

Useless Fact for the Day 9

2009-07-30T21:34:00.001+05:30

Just came across something..As usual ..it is a useless trivia but interesting nevertheless...

I hope the readers recognise Chetan Hansraj..the actor who appeared in good for nothing Ekta Kapoor serials and some other shitty soap operas...He appeared as a child artist in the greatest TV serial in India, Mahabharat as Balram, the elder brother of Lord Krishna...

Here are the two pics...

Liar Liar

2009-07-29T23:34:00.002+05:30

I lie...a lot. No hypocrisy there. But mostly I try not to get caught. I mean, what is the point of lying if you are getting caught and what can be worse than getting caught immediately.

People mostly lie to escape from uncomfortable situations and sometimes to satisfy their self bloated egos. Just the other day I met an acquaintance from school who happened to be preparing for CAT as I am. A mock test had taken place and the results had been declared only a couple of days ago. However, this time the results were not put up on the notice board. I asked this guy what his result was. He replied 'just as a matter of fact' that his percentile had been 99.58. Now this is something I was never able to achieve and needless to say I was impressed; not surprised though, since the guy was a really brilliant student even in school days. The guy complained though, said that had he got the marks that he had calculated for himself, he would have scored 100 percentile. After exchanging a few pleasantries, the guy left while I stayed at the institute for some work.

A few minutes later, the results were put up on the notice board. This guy had in fact scored some 96 percentile in the test. Now come on man, what on earth was there to lie about. Throughout he carried this "I am so intelligent yet so down to earth" attitude.You are not going to lose an admission in any bschool on account of performance in a mock test. And if you are so much obsessed with proving your brilliance and intelligence to the world, at least lie with some conviction, where the person you are trying to bluff may not catch you red handed. I don't know if this brilliant student was trying to impress me or intimidate me, he only ended up losing his credibility and respect.

Please don't lie to me, unless you are absolutely sure I'll never find out the truth.

Fact for the Day 8

2009-07-20T19:19:00.003+05:30

Some years back in 1978, a couple went out to eat in a Japanese restaurant. The man liked the sound of steak that they ordered so much that he decided it would be the name of their son.

A few months later, on 23rd August,1978, the legendary basketball player 'Kobe' Bryant was born.

Fact for the Day 7

2009-07-17T13:14:00.003+05:30

Antarctic was named so because it was opposite to the Arctic....

Anti-Arctic or rather just ANTARCTIC.

Fact for the Day 6

2009-07-14T23:45:00.002+05:30

Mohammad Rafi and Kishore Kumar are inarguably the two best male singers Indian Cinema has seen and the debate about which one of them was better has been going on for ages now.

However, one interesting fact that gives Mohd. Rafi an edge over Kishore Kumar is that Mohd. Rafi gave his voice as many as 6 times to the songs which were performed on the screen by Kishore Kumar. You can read more here.

P.S. I have grown up listening to the songs of both these maestros and adore both of them equally.

Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar

2009-07-13T18:40:00.002+05:30

Long long ago a war took place in which Pandavas emerged victorious. The greatest warriors of the age, Bhishma, Drona, Karna and Duryodhan were all killed by treachery on the battlefield.

Isn't it possible that just the war took place and all that happened before it was shown in a different light than it actually was.

After all, isn't HISTORY ALWAYS WRITTEN IN FAVOUR OF THE VICTOR?????

Fact for the Day 5

2009-07-07T23:30:00.003+05:30

Martina Hingis, was named after the legendary tennis player Martina Navratilova. Her parents, both from Czechoslovakia(the original country of Navratilova before she defected to USA), were professional tennis players. She would have achieved far more, had the injuries not affected her career....

30 games in a set!!!!!

2009-07-05T23:41:00.004+05:30

And Federer won 5-7 7-6 7-6 6-3 16-14. Clearly, it went down one of the best finals in the history of Wimbledon. It's amazing that Federer, who was hardly challenged in the whole championship was pushed to such limits in the final. My heart goes out for Roddick and at the end of match, I was unable to decide whether to feel elated for Federer or sorry for Roddick. It was probably one of the times when one understands what "Mixed emotions" actually mean.

However, last year's final still stands as the best in the history. This year's did stretch for a long period of time, but somewhat lacked in the quality. Service was broken only thrice in the match. That is fine, but even otherwise there were hardly any games which were stretched to 'deuce'. It was a match which tested to limits the service of both the players. None of the players seemed to have answer to the other's. Federer hit more than 50 aces in the match while Roddick hit around 30. It would have been more, because most of the time Federer either barely managed to touch the serve or took it on his body. In the second set Federer conceded ony 5 points on serve, with Roddick not far behind with seven. Just goes to show, how powerful both of them are at their services.

Make no mistakes, I totally enjoyed the match. It was a fitting end to the best championship on earth. If last year's final was the longest final in terms of time, this one saw the longest 5th set in the history of the championship.After last year's final, I had not thought that I would witness another such action packed and exciting match again. I was wrong!!! Next year, I would like to be proven wrong again....

Fact for the Day 4

2009-07-05T11:44:00.003+05:30

The word Google comes from the word "googol" which means 10 to the power 100 i.e. 10¹⁰⁰.

Googleplex is the name for the corporate headquarters of Google in California. The word Googleplex also comes from the word "Googolplex" which means 10 to the power of a googol i.e. 10^10¹⁰⁰, or 10^googol

Fact of the Day 3

2009-07-04T15:03:00.003+05:30

Chaminda Vaas's full name is WPUJC Vaas.

Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas.

Certainly can give complex to any south indian... :)

BOYS vs GIRLS

2009-07-03T08:46:00.004+05:30

I recently read the book 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' by Khaled Hosseini, also the author of 'The Kite Runner'. It's a good book, but somehow I didn't enjoy it as much as I had enjoyed The Kite Runner. The author has written the book on somewhat similar lines, and if one has read The Kite Runner, I wouldn't recommend it to him. For me, it was a let down. However, I did enjoy it in bits and pieces, especially a quote on friendship, something I have felt over the years and very aptly put by the author.

"How many times had she, Hasina and Giti had said the same three words to each other, Laila wondered, said it without hesitation, after only two or three days of not seeing each other? I missed you, Hasina, Oh, I missed you too. In Tariq's grimace, Laila learned that boys differed from girls in this regard. They didn't make a show of their friendship. They felt no urge, no need for this kind of talk. Laila imagined it had been this way for her brothers too. Boys, Laila came to see, treated friendship the way they treated the sun; its existence undisputed, its radiance enjoyed, not beheld directly. "

A Random Thought

2009-07-01T21:55:00.001+05:30

Who says Gods are immortal??? If for some reason, someday, people who believe in Him cease to exist, or vanish from the face of earth altogether, will it not cause His death as well??

Fact for the Day 2

2009-06-20T20:27:00.005+05:30

Werner Heisenberg's epitaph reads

"He lies somewhere here..".

So much for the Uncertainty Principle :)

RANDOM FACT/THOUGHT/GYAN FOR THE DAY

2009-06-19T11:54:00.005+05:30

As I don't have much to write and I have been posting pathetically boring stuff on my blog, I am now going to start posting here whatever interesting piece of fact/thought/gyan I come across. It will be very short and won't take more than a minute to read. Needless to say, I am doing this to increase the number of hits on my blog :)

Fact for the Day: Amitabh Bachchan was originally christened as Inquilab Rai Shrivastava as he was born at the time when Quit India Movement was in full swing. Inspired by the slogan 'Inquilab Zindabad', the legendary poet, Harivansh Rai Bachchan gave him the name.

A Joke

2009-06-07T20:03:00.008+05:30

India beat Bangladesh in its first match in T20 WC. As was expected, the news channels loyally devoted their whole day showing the highlights of the match. The footages of Yuvraj Singh hitting his sixes and Pragyan Ojha scalping 4 wickets were shown so many times that it seems as if news channels are gearing up to give Star Cricket a run for their money. After all, who else can make a superstar out of someone who played his first match and was awarded Man of the Match for the same?

On the same day, a little earlier, the doubles team of Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy won the French Open Title. This was Leander Paes’ 9^th Grandslam Title. I’m afraid to say that the news channels and newspapers did not care to devote even a fifth of the time they dedicated to this cricket match. The media always blames the government for showing lack of interest in sports other than cricket. But isn’t it doing the same? The fact of the matter is that Government does not show interest in any sport. It only spoils whatever goes into its hands. The media, sadly, comes to the fore only when it finds cases which would increase the TRPs and all the blame can be put upon the government. These hypocrites dedicate a full page of newspapers to cricket, while other sports have to console themselves with a few headlines.

For me, and for probably any other sports enthusiast, the French Open title is far much bigger than a match where India beats a minnow and which is being given so much coverage as if India has won a world cup itself. Spare a thought for the likes of Leander Paes (9 Grandslams), Mahesh Bhupathy (11 Grandslams) and Vishwanathan Anand (multiple times world champion) who have brought more laurels to Indian sport than cricket. Unfortunately, Indian tennis has become synonymous with Sania Mirza, who makes more headlines because of the controversies surrounding the length of her skirts as compared to her performances. No wonder, the future of Indian tennis looks bleak once the two torchbearers (Paes & Bhupathy) of the sport retire. Government killed Hockey; media is doing the same to other sports, albeit in a different manner.

Animal Farm

2009-05-27T19:51:00.010+05:30

I recently finished reading the book “Animal Farm” by George Orwell and it gave me some sense of satisfaction of having done something significant after finishing off with college.

Anyways, the book is excellent and it feels really good to know that one has read a book that has been highly acclaimed by critics world over (at number 31 in the Time magazine’s list of 100 best English language novels from 1923 to 2005). The book is a satire showcasing how the ideals of socialism and communism were distorted by its leaders and for this purpose the author has chosen the animals of a farm (the Animal Farm) to depict the proletariat class. A little knowledge about the rise of communism and its prevalence in USSR greatly helps. One can actually relate to the animals in a sense that how leaders (represented by pigs in the book) are corrupted by greed and power, how they manipulate public (the other animals on the farm) and how they justify all their wrongdoings by either refuting their earlier promises and ideals or by crushing any voices that are raised against them. Like Panchtantra, the book does not need a particular period of time or the race/nationality to convey its message. Probably that is what makes it stand out.

The book is very short and the vocabulary used is also very simple (two factors which greatly inspired me to read it :) ). Unlike some of my friends who over the years have given me complex over the number and the quality of books read, I am not an avid reader, neither am I able to do the analysis like they do. Wikipedia and Shelfari really help a lot in such cases and this time it was no exception either. Here's the wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_farm

The creativity of Orwell and his unique style to portray human nature make it a wonderful book to read.

Will miss you a lot...

2009-05-25T09:07:00.005+05:30

People without whom this journey of 4 years would not have been beautiful...

....

2009-05-20T17:39:00.008+05:30

"Aviral!!! Aviral!!!...Baahar aaa saale.."

I woke up with a start. Varun was still sleeping on the mattress on the floor. I ran out of the room to the balcony. Rohit was calling my name, the way he always did, probably to call me for playing cricket, for going to department or for something else. My eyes searched for him. He wasn't there. His room was locked, so was everybody else's. The lawn was empty.

Realization dawned upon me. I myself had gone to railway station the other day to see him off.

My little sister's notebook...

2009-04-25T19:52:00.015+05:30

We were all made to do strange things in school. Things which did not seem weird in those days but now they certainly do, especially if one is really bad at them. I always had a terrible time in the Art and Craft classes, singing, card making, getting newspaper cuttings and sticking them in a scrapbook, story writing, basically everything that has got anything to do with being creative.To make matters worse, we were also awarded grades for such stuff.

Anyways, very recently I came across something in a notebook of my younger sister. I had been using it as a rough copy since her exams got over.Rohit drew my attention to a page in the notebook on which something had been scribbled by her. This was probably some assignment given by her teacher or some essay kind of thing. What I am posting here is the rough draft which was faired out later by her.

VAMIKA THE GREAT

Vamika Shrivastava is full of wonders. No one can challenge her. She is the type of creature who is full of power. She has a faith in god. She is one of the beautiful and wonderful girl. She is full of miracle. Her goal is to attain the goal. Vamika is great that is my नारा. She only loves god, education and parents. She is full of talent and skills. But her writing is ridiculous (सुभान अल्लाह). But she is full of power and attitude. We all admire her.Because we can't live without admiring her. you don't know anything about her but the fact is that she is full of talent. have you ever seen such a wonderful girl in your life. No so you can see Vamika now. है ना अच्छी?
हिम्मत सिर्फ़ एक इन्सान के पास है। guess करो..अरे यार उसका नाम है Vamika the Great.
She is a general knowledge.You can ask any complex question and she is ready with answer. जब तक सूरज चाँद रहेगा vamika का नाम रहेगा। Be as cool as Vamika. This is also known as अपने मुंह मियां मिट्ठू बनना.

ही ही ही

she is a good joker and makes you laugh. Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!

I later learned from Chachi that in this assignment one had to praise oneself in such a manner that others may laugh and she didn't disappoint.She even received a "Good" in this assignment of hers. I seriously want to go back to the days when we could have written such stuff and worse, even get it checked by the teacher without feeling embarrassed.I want to go back to my school days again.. I want to be innocent again...

PS. Please don't judge her by the post above. She is an excellent poet who writes at will and is excellent at drawing.Also special thanks to Rohit, Jubin and Puneet Pamecha.

College Farewell....

2009-04-13T20:16:00.000+05:30

अलविदा तो अंत है...
और अंत किसने देखा...
ये विदाई तो मिलन है...
जो हमने है देखा...
हम लौट आयेंगे, तुम यूँ ही बुलाते रहना...
कभी अलविदा न कहना...
कभी अलविदा न कहना...

Random Bakwas...kuchh bhi...

2009-03-31T17:38:00.000+05:30

ho ho home home home Home TV...

chic chic chic ..Chiclets

duniya ye duniya Tufan Mail..

HOME TRADE- Life means more!!

mango ka maza asli ye goli mango wali..Mango Bite,Parle Mango Bite..

RAJDOOT- ek shandar sawari, ek jaandar sawari..

freedom to be...azaadi dil ki...

"I'm cool" chains....

Yakku!!! & Shivdatt ko shaq nahi...

guchchha hai bhai guchchha hai..kahaniyo ka guchchaa hai...

kahani le lo..bin daanto ki daadi amma...---kahani le lo..

guchcha hai bhai guchcha hai....

bhari bharkam ek kahani kele ke chhilke pe fisli,

ek kahani halki fulki ud jaye jo banke titli,

khatti ho to namak laga ke, gale me atke pani le lo..

guchcha hai bhai guchchha hai...

whenever we go for tea on the day of the test match, everybody asks for tea..I ask for TATA Cafe..

bharat hai hamara

hum hai SAHARA

aao milke dekhe aao milke dekhe...

kaun hai kiske next...

yahi hai yahi hai..

ALL THE BEST..ALL THE BEST

Taro: Ek dragon ka beta!!

Take it Take it

bahu khaye to saas na roke

take it take it

maharani ban ne se koi na roke toke..

take it take it..

homework karo..

take it snappy...

papa beta ..dono happy ..

maar khake villain bole..take it take it..

heroine ke sang dole

ole ole ole ole ole ole

joote me hai light..

la la light ..vo bhi shoe me kaisa hai ye system

Action ka hai ye light system...

PS: I don't drink.

Special thanks to Rohit Mishra, Chetna.

आजकल

2009-03-30T18:10:00.000+05:30

आजकल हर शाम ऐसा लगता है...

ये दिन इतनी जल्दी क्यों बीत गया!!!

2 Questions about Human Nature...

2009-03-26T21:41:00.000+05:30

Is not being bad equivalent to being good???

and can vice versa be seen in the same light...???

Sensible Memories...

2009-03-19T21:08:00.000+05:30

We all know Sanjay Manjrekar the cricketer, the commentator, the writer and the show host. Does anybody remember Sanjay Manjrekar the singer? Way back in mid 90's ,before the rise of Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, when he was an integral member of Indian side, he came out with an album called 'Rest Day'.

Long long back cricket test matches used to be of 6 days. 5 days were for playing while a day in between these playing days was scheduled as a 'Rest Day'. On this day, no cricket was played and cricketers took rest...(I wonder why they rested!!! Cricket was as it is very slow during those days..)

Anyways, I come back to Sanjay Manjrekar the singer. I don't remember much about the album though. The highlight of the album was that Sanjay Manjrekar had sung the favourite songs of all the then Indian Cricket team's players. Only one cricketer apart from him had sung his favourite song in his own voice. That was Indian Cricket's biggest talent lost...Vinod Kambli. I can't recall any songs but two from this album. Anil Kumble's favourite was "Chalte Chalte mere ye geet yaad rakhna", while that of Sanjay Manjrekar was "O Rahi! O Rahi!", both originally sung by legendary Kishore Kumar.

I have searched for this album for quite some time now but in vain. People don't even remember that such an album existed. Many years back I visited Planet M at Ansal Plaza,the then biggest music store in Delhi. I asked the store owner if he had the album.With a puzzled look on his face he asked, "Sanjay Manjrekar को team से निकाल दिया तो उसने गाना शुरू कर दिया क्या???". I couldn't help but smile.

I sincerely request the readers to kindly inform me if they have any idea about the place or website from where I can get the songs of this album. I would be highly grateful.

Have a 'Rest Day'. :)

WHO WON???

2009-03-13T20:09:00.000+05:30

11th Standard...one day on way to home while in the bus.....

Vikram: Kinhasa kaha ki capital hai..?

Aviral: yaad nahi aa raha...shayad Zaire ki...

Vikram: oh!!!Theek hai...

after a while...

Vikram: yaad aa gaya...Kinhasa Belgian Congo ki capital hai...history book me padha tha 10th me

Aviral: Nahi yaar...Zaire ki hi hai...7th ya 8th me chapter tha Zaire par...

Adrenaline has started rushing now...

Vikram: Kinhasa Congo ki hi capital hai...shart laga le...

Aviral: Laga le yaar...Kinhasa Zaire ki hi capital hai...

Next day I get a Manorama Year Book(the Wikipedia of yesteryears...) to prove that I am right...

While flipping through it, we come across a page

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...and the laughter continues...

The page had the list of names of cities and countries which were earlier known by some other name...

Zaire was earlier known as Belgian Congo and is now known as Democratic Republic of Congo...

Who won???? :)

Senseless Memories Part 2

2009-03-10T10:50:00.000+05:30

March 1996..Two grade 4 kids(that's me and Vikramjit by the way...) talking about a cricket match that took place just the other day. Here's the link for you

http://content.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/engine/match/65184.html

For those who don't want to go into details..

It was India vs Zimbabwe, Group A match. World Cup 1996. India batted first.

Sachin, Manjrekar and Azhar were out very cheaply. Navjot Sidhu scored 80, Vinod Kambli scored 106(his second and last ODI century) and Ajay Jadeja scored 44*. Jadeja was the man of the match eventually. India won the match by 40 runs.

Vikram: Tune match dekha?

Aviral: haan dekha tha!!! (with a sad look on my face)Sachin keval 3 run par out ho gaya( ...yes!! I was an avid Sachin fan even in those days..)

Vikram: (with an air of someone who knows it all)Abey, vo isliye kyoki kal India match haarna chahti thi.

Aviral: (with an astonished look) pagal hai kya? Zimbabwe se haarenge?

Vikram: Abey isiliye to Sachin, Azhar, Manjrekar itni jaldi out ho gaye.

Aviral: match kyo harna chahenge?

Vikram: Agar match jeet jate to Pakistan se khelna padta naa Quarter final me...(watching India beat Pakistan was a rare sight in those days....it remained that way for a long time)

Aviral: Fir jeet kaise gaye?

Vikram: Abey jab Azhar out ho kar jaa raha tha to usne Sidhu se kaha ki yar Pakistan se haare to koi baat nahi, but Zimbabwe se haarenge to bahut beizzati ho jayegi..Isiliye Sidhu ne 80 aur Kambli ne 106 run banaye..

Aviral: Oh...aisa tha kya!!!

(I nod in agreement. I got his point. I am convinced, Vikram is satisfied )

3 days later India went on to meet Pakistan in quarter finals and beat them at Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore. That match is a legend, something for the history books. Will write about it some other time.

My first B school interview

2009-03-04T15:44:00.000+05:30

I faced my first interview for MBA at IIT D. I was the last ranker called for the interview(lucky me!!)..I was asked to report at 12.30pm. The interview began at some 5.45pm. I was tired as hell, feeling extremely hungry and sleepy at the same time. Here are some excerpts from the interview. Kindly neglect the absence of punctuation marks. It was getting very tedious.

I entered the room. 3 people were sitting on a sofa(selection couch????) I sat on a chair placed in front of the man who seemed to be the leader of the interview panel. He was some big shot, an ex CEO of Emami group and presently the faculty member at IIT D. I could see his legs between the end of his trousers and his socks(do they dress like this all the time). Some Rs 20 notes lied on the floor beside him. My all expectations of a B School interview being highly sophisticated came down crashing.Another member in the panel was some prof who sat to my left and a very old lady wearing a cap to prevent the cold.

Q. So Aviral, tell us something about your family..

Told them. Said my sister was in Bombay and corrected it to Mumbai.

"Mumbai! I see."

Q. You are an Electronics and Communication engineer in your final year. Which subject do you like most?

Microprocessors, Sir.

Q. What did you study in Microprocessors?

Told them something.

"I see."

Q. What is Nano Technology??

(Now where did that come from??? What made him ask about Nano technology when I said I liked Microprocessors.) Anyways, I said some shit any Tom, Dick & Harry would have said. Then I said "That's all I know, Sir."

"I see!"

Q. What is Six Sigma?

Blurted out something I had heard from a friend and read long back. Gave them the example of Dabbawalas in Mumbai.

Q. So what is the efficiency of six sigma??

Sorry Sir. I don't know.

Q. How many errors are allowed in one million?

(Was he not listening? I said I didn't know.) Sorry sir.I don't know.

Q. Then do you know about 3 Sigma?

(6 Sigma to dhang se pata nahi ...Ab ye 3 Sigma kis chidiya ka naam hai?? ) Sorry Sir. I don't know.

Q. What is the efficiency of 3 Sigma?

(Had ho gayi yaar....) Sorry Sir. I don't know

Q. Ever heard about Paul Krugman?

Yes sir. I have read his articles in The Hindu. Though I must confess that I don't understand them all.He writes for New York Times. He won Nobel prize for Economics for the year 2008.

Q. Did he predict something?

Told them what I knew about his predictions about current recession.

Q. Have you read his book?

Sorry Sir.

Q. What is the name of his book?

(yaar...i am an engineer...). Sorry Sir. I have not read his book.

Q. Ever heard of S%&!?*##... (he was some economist whose name started with an 'S')

Sorry Sir. Never heard of him

Q. What are your other interests in life?

Sir, I like quizzing, and reading Mahabharat. I also like following cricket.

Q. What is the philosophy of Mahabharat?

Some random crap.

Q. Why do you like Mahabharat.?

Some crap again.

Q. Who is your favourite character in Mahabharat?

Karna Sir. blah blah blah.

Q. Is Karna the only person you take inspiration from?

No sir. Blurted out some philosophical stuff I don't remember.

Q. Did you not learn anything from Gita?

Sir Gita is just a part of Mahabharat. The underlying teachings of Gita are different. It talks about the philosophy of Karma. Karmanya Vadhikaraste Ma Faleshu Kadachan.

The old lady smiled. Said something about Gita & Mahabharat to which I nodded. I don't remember what.

Q. What do you do in your spare time?

Sir , I pursue my hobbies. I like Cricket.

Q. Do you play cricket?

Yes sir. Sometimes.

Q. What do you do?

Sir I bowl.

Q. Is it the fast bowling, or medium pace?

Sir sometimes medium pace, sometimes Off spin.

Q. Have you ever measured the speed of your bowling?

(Abey gully aur chhat par khela hai cricket. Speed gun kaha se aayegi??)Sorry sir.Never measured it.

Q. Who has bowled the fastest ball?

Shoaib Akhtar, Sir. In 2003 World cup.

Q Is it? he looked at the prof sitting on my left. Whom I had forgotten even existed.

The man nodded.

Q. What about the record of Hall & Gilchrist?

(Andrew Hall aur Adam Gilchrist kya?? inka to speed records se door door tak koi naata nahi hai. Ek bar socha poochhoon Peter Gilchrist kya??Then remembered that Peter is a billiards player). Never heard of it, sir.

Q. Have you read any books on Cricket?

yes sir. I read a book on Sachin Tendulkar.

Q. Who was the author?

Sorry Sir. Read it long back. Don't remember the author.(Actually had read only few pages of the book)

Q. Ever heard of someone called Ramchandra....?

Yes sir. Ramchandra Guha. He is a famous cricket historian.

Q. What all books has he written?

Sir, "Wicket in the East". He has also authored some quiz books also.

"I see."

Q. What else do you do in your spare time?

Sir, I like reading novels. I have read some . Told them the names of a few authors whose books I had read.

Q. (Now it was the chance of old lady)Why does a man work?

(kya chahte ho yaar...kya ajeeb ajeeb sawaal poochh rahe ho). Ma'am, he has to fulfil his social responsibilities. He has to support his family. He needs to keep his mind busy.

Q. (Old man again)Suppose a man has a lot of money, has fulfilled all his social responsibilities, has supported his family well. Will he work?

Yes sir. He can't sit idle. Khali dimag shaitan ka ghar hota hai. He needs to do something to keep his mind occupied.

Q. Suppose he writes 3 poems in a month. Is he working??

Sir, if he is doing productive and quality work, and is not doing that just to spend time, he is working.

Q. Another person is writing 10 poems in a month. Is he working more??

(kyo chaat raha hai yaar. chahta kya hai??) Sir that depends on the quality of work. If the quality of work of a man writing 3 poems in a month is better, he is working more.

Q. Don't use so many ifs in your answer. Is he working more or not???

Can't say, Sir.

Q. Suppose there is an ascetic doing meditation in Himalayas thinking about the welfare of human beings and the world. Is he working?

(bahut ho gaya yaar....bas kar ab)Yes sir. If he is satisfied with what he is doing, he is working.

Q. Is there any definition of work, given in a book, which says if a man is working or not?

Sorry Sir. I don't know.

Q. What was the definition of work you studied in your class 10?

Sir Work= Force* Distance(Should have said force*displacement. wanted to correct it. I didn't get a chance.)

Q. What is the unit of work?

Joule, Sir.

Q. What is the unit of heat?

Joule, Sir.

Q. How can they be same? Heat can be converted into work. Then why are their units same?

(ye kya ajeeb sawal hai). I don't know sir.

Q.What is the unit of force?

Newton, Sir.

Q. That is only one unit. Newton is in MKS system. What is the unit in CGS & FPS system?

Thought for a while. Then said Sorry Sir. I don't remember.

"I see!"

Q. What is Pascal's law?

Said something I remembered. gave example of Hydraulic Lift & Hydraulic Press.

Q.What is Avagadro's Law?

Said something again. Gave value of mole.(i.e. 6.023*10exp23)

Q.I think the value is 10 to the power 24.

No sir. It's 10 to the power 23.

"I see!"

Q. What is the combined form of Chales' Law and Boyle's Law?

Sir PV=nRT. This is ideal gas equation.

Q. What is R?

Sir, R is universal gas constant. Its value is 8.314

Q. Do you have interest in Indian political scenario?

A little bit, yes Sir.

Q. Who was C Subramaniam?

Sorry Sir. I don't know.

Q. Who was the first Finance Minister of India?

Sorry Sir. No idea.

Q. Who was the first president of India?

Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Sir.

Q. Who was the second?

Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, Sir.

Q. During which years was he the president?

Sir, 1962 to 1967. Dr. Rajendra Prasad was from 1952 to 1962.

Q. Who wrote Discovery of India?

Jawahar Lal Nehru, Sir.

Q. Which book was written by Mahatma Gandhi?

"My Experiments with Truth", Sir.

Q. Have you read it?

Sorry Sir. I haven't read it.

"I see"

Q. Tell me about your two good qualities and two bad qualities.

Said some shit again. Stereotyped answer. Said procrastination in bad qualities.

Q. (Old lady) So do you procrastinate because you are overconfident.

No Ma'am. blah blah blah...

Q. The old man asked other two panel members if they had anything else to ask.They declined and asked me to leave.

Thank you , Sir. Thank you Ma'am.

At the end of it I realised that I had spoken the word "Sorry" more than I had done in my whole life. My interview had lasted some 40 minutes while everybody else's got over in 7-8 minutes.

Lessons of Life

2009-02-26T21:11:00.000+05:30

Here is something I found on 'about me' of a person's orkut profile. All of it is so true.

As I grow old I learn lessons.

I have learned that when you love someone, love unconditionally.
I have learned that you may consider someone special but other person need not.
I have learned that if you do not get goodness in return of yours it is your problem.
I have learned that when people say they do not have time, they mean they do not have time for you.
I have learned that not always people speak what they think of you.
I have learned that people often do not think correct about you.
I have learned that it is comfortable though not intelligent to neglect what people think of you.
I have learned that image is not an insignificant thing to be neglected.
I have learned that if you think you know a person who understands you, then either you are foolish or very lucky.
I have learned that danger of being nice is that you will be taken for granted.
I have learned that when you want to cry pillow is the best mate.
I have learned that time once past has past, being sad, happy, proud, arrogant about it does not help.
I have learned that circumstances, or luck, or whatever you want to call it, has more role to play in life than you would wish it to play.
I have learned that small things can throw you off the track, what you call small is your intellect.
I have learned that food and sleep are more basic necessities than what I considered them to be.
I have learned that life teaches many more lessons than what can be penned down.
I have learned that even if I know all this for quite some time I find it hard to implement them.
I have learned that I find it hard to implement them because I am a human being.

It happened yet again

2009-02-22T23:32:00.000+05:30

Right now I am sitting in Varun's room, using his laptop for this post when I should be studying for my IIT Delhi interview scheduled to take place on 28th of this month.

I had written in my earlier post about winning the quiz at LNM IIT. Well, they had promised Rs 2k as prize money. A couple of hours ago, Anurag called up and told me that they had in fact given only 1k and some cheap Rayban bag(that too, only 1, for 3 of us) as the prize. Bloody Kanjoos. One can always expect such things to happen in MNIT, but the representatives of Mr Laxmi Nivas Mittal should not have done so. A few days ago, we(MNITians) had done something similar to the guys of Arya College who were runner ups in our quiz. We gave only Rs750 instead of promised Rs1000. (In MNIT,we were given cold shoulder by the person who had the authority to distribute prizes when we asked why this was done). "This was the prize money we had sanctioned. You should have confirmed it before announcing in the quiz." ,we were told by the guy handling finances of Blitzschlag 09.

We have been through this earlier also. Last year, I and Anurag had won the Chemical Engineering society quiz in MNIT. We had won Rs 1000 as prize money. After repeatedly and shamelessly asking them for the prize money for six long months, finally we were refused and were handed a certificate as a consolation.

But hum to besharm hai. MNIT me koi nayi baat to hai nahi.Har saal hi kisi naa kisi ka kat jaata hai. Aur LNM waale.Izzat bech di unhone 1 hazaar me Laxmi Mittal ki. I would like to remind the readers that Laxmi Mittal had spent 60 million dollars on his daughter's wedding and had bought a house worth 125 million dollars.Such cheap behaviour(not giving the promised prize money) is not expected from a college owned by a man of such stature. I really hope Mr Laxmi Mittal will read this blog, make a personal enquiry about the incident and fire the guilty persons involved. :) :)

Had promised treat to a few friends after winning the quiz. The loss is theirs, not mine...:)

Param Vir Chakra

2009-02-21T21:28:00.001+05:30

I recently read a book Param Vir by Major General Ian Cardozo. The book was about the Param Vir Chakra awardees of India. It was an excellent book and gave a hell lot of knowledge about the real heroes of our country.

The PVC was designed by Savitri Khanolkar.

So far 21 people have been awarded PVC and out of 21, 14 have been posthumous. The first person to receive it was Major Somnath Sharma in the 1947 war against Pakistani kabaylis. The last person in the list of the men of extraordinary courage and valour is Captain Vikram Batra who was awarded PVC in the Kargil War posthumously.

Here's the link on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Param_Vir_Chakra

The book is excellent as it as been written by someone belonging to army himself. The writer explains the techinicalities of war and ammunition used in the war. He talks straight like a soldier would and refrains from exaggeration that certainly would have been the case had it been written by some other author having the sole motive of increasing the number of copies sold.

The heart goes out for the soldiers who did not care for their lives in the face of danger. The pride of their nation and their regiment was at stake and they did not let them down. These were the men of honour. I loved reading about Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal(1971 war against Pakistan) and Major Shaitan Singh(1962 war against China).

Many years ago a serial was shown on tv titled, Param Vir Chakra. The serial was directed by Chetan Anand. I don't remember all the episodes but I do recall a few. Some eminent actors of the time payed their tributes to the soldiers by playing the characters. Below are the few names of the PVC awardees and actors I remember who appeared in the serial.

Major Somnath Sharma- Faroukh Sheikh

Naik Jadunath Singh- Puneet Issar

Lance Naik Karam Singh- Vijayendra Ghatge

Company Quartermaster Havildar Abdul Hameed- Naseeruddin Shah

Major Shaitan Singh- Pankaj Dheer

Lance Naik Albert Ekka- Anu Kapoor

Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon- Kawaljeet Singh

We forget our heroes very soon. I wonder if people even remember the names of Captain Vikram Batra, Sanjay Kumar, Manoj Pandey and Yogendra Singh Yadav, the men who won PVC in the Kargil war. A pension of only Rs 1500 per month is given by the central government to the widows of PVC awardees(as of March 1999). Is this the way we pay our homage and respect to the men who save our country??? Their contribution to the country cannot be measured in terms of the amount of money or the petrol pumps donated. But a lot more can and should be done for the men who display an act of courage and self service beyond the act of duty.

Probably there are a lot many who could have been awarded PVC or other medals for bravery and courage in face of danger but probably nobody survived to narrate us the stories of these heroes. My salute to the unsung and true heroes of INDIA.

Something to Cheer about....finally...

2009-02-21T20:07:00.000+05:30

In the academic year when everything that could go wrong has gone wrong, I had something to cheer about. Yesterday on 20th Feb we(Anurag, Abhishek & myself) won a quiz at LNM IIT's fest Vivacity.

We cleared the elimination round with flying colours. (Out of 80 teams we were first in the elimination round. scored 21 out of 25.) The credit goes definitely to Anurag and Abhishek. They answered the tough ones which probably mattered most. After the round when I was going through the question paper, I realised I alone would have got only 13. The number looks good but they were mostly the simple questions all the teams would have got right. So basically, there's nothing to boast about.

Next we had the main round of quizzing. Four teams made it to final round. The second team was Arya College and two teams were from LNM IIT. After a good elimination round, the main round was a huge let down. It seemed as if all the energy and time had been devoted to elimination round only. The main round had only 32 questions in all. It would not have taken more that 15 minutes for the quiz to get over (The elimination round was of half an hour).

Hardly any preparation had been done for the main quiz. The questions were like those asked in school quizzes and mostly very very simple. The quiz master seemed to be fascinated with Slumdog Millionaire. A total of 3 questions were asked from the movie in some form or the other.

In the end we won with a score of 55 with second team on 45.

The first runner up, Arya College were a very good team. They scored 19 in elimination. We were actually scared of them (for they sat in such a manner that they would have got all the passed questions). They were the runners up in Blitzschlag 09 as well. That means a lot because for the past three years hardly any team from other colleges have cleared the elimination rounds in the quizzes of our college. This team would have given any team of Jaipur a run for their money and in short quizzes like the one in LNM IIT one can never be sure. It was just a matter of luck that we won and they didnt. One question could have decided the fate of quiz and they could have taken away the first prize. My congratulations to the Arya team.

In the end I was very relieved. I was a part of teams that could not clear the elimination rounds in Maharani college(with Anurag & Abhinav) and Tata Crucibles(with Abhishek) while both were pretty easy ones. Besides, Anurag & Abhinav had been the runner ups in Tata Crucibles and Abhishek& Abhinav had won the Blitzschlag 09 quiz organized by me and Anurag. I was the only one in the team who had not cleared any elimination round so far in this semester. I really thank Almighty for helping us win. In the end, something to be happy about. :)

SENSELESS MEMORIES

2009-02-15T19:16:00.000+05:30

I'm not good at words. Was thinking about the oldest memory of any Cricket match I have. As it turns out it was some ODI in which Kapil Dev was adjudged LBW. I don't remember anything apart from this fact.

A blurred memory I have of the end result of a match was the one in which India lost to Pakistan. Another thing I remember about this particular match was that Manoj Prabhakar was the person who remained not out in that match while India was chasing. These two hints helped me find a particular match satisfying both conditions.Here's the link to this match

http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/engine/match/65929.html

This match was played in 1989 at Eden Gardens Kolkata. I would love to believe that this is the match I was looking for. I may be wrong and the match I think i remember could have been much later.But I hope this is not the case and my love for Cricket goes back to 1989.

This post has been another instance of my joblessness when I sat in front of computer for a long time to search for a particular match. I really doubt if anybody would be interested in this particular instance. But ....who cares...

MY IDOL

2009-02-15T09:21:00.000+05:30

Sachin Tendulkar......The man who has entertained us all for so long. For me Cricket is synonymous with Sachin Tendulkar. Some call him God. Undoubtedly he is the most worshipped cricketer of his generation or probably of the entire cricket history. No player has come even closer in matching the respect and awe he generates.

There have been lot of comparisons between him and the greatest batsman ever i.e. Don Bradman. I don't think they can be justified though. Don Bradman played in an era when the pitches were uncovered. In an era when batsmen faced bowlers ,without helmets, in an era when the number of bouncers in an over were not limited. He faced Harold Larwood in the infamous Bodyline Series. And then he managed mind boggling stats. 6996 runs in 52 tests at an average of 99.94 and 29 centuris. It is highly improbable that any cricketer would even come closer to matching these standards. Sachin is no exception.

Why do I and 100 crore people of India love him so much?? It's because he has entertained us for almost 20 years without stopping. More than half of his life has been dedicated to cricket. And he has done it with perfection. Starting as a kid of 16 years and 205 days he faced some of the most feared bowlers of his generation, Waqar Younis, Imran Khan and of course the legendary Wasim Akram. He faced them with the bravery, audacity and valour quite uncommon to the then Indian Cricket Team. He refused to leave the field when a ball from Waqar Younis hit his nose and his shirt got covered with blood all over. He then came up with a century at Old Trafford against England and saved the test match for India at an age of 17 years and 112 days. His heroics at Perth and Sydney on the tour of Australia proved that we had a Superhero in the making. He became the first foreign player in the 100 years history of Yorkshire Cricket Club. Well, this was just the beginning. He has never looked back since. He was the lone torch bearer of Indian cricket for almost a decade and the whole Indian team revolved around him. This pressure got somewhat lessened when he was joined by Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman and we had probably the best middle order in the world.

I won't delve into statiscs and the incidents related to Sachin Tendulkar. We all have read them and lived them all our lives. He has enthralled my generation that followed cricket. For the past 20 years he has been compared with the greatest batsmen of his times. Lara, Ponting, Kallis, Inzamam have all been there at different points of time. Only one name remains constant in this list. SACHIN TENDULKAR.

He has been accused of the fact that he is not the player he once was in the mid 90's. True. But then he has aged over the years and his responsibilities have changed in the team. He has taken blows and injuries all over his body. But he comes out all guns blazing after he recovers.And then we can still compare his record with other batsmen in the past 8-9 years or so. He beats them all. Somebody rightly said that Great People are remembered more for their Failures rather than their Success. Same holds true for Sachin Tendulkar.

He has been accused of the fact that he has not won enough Test matches for India. True. He accepts it. Have we ever seen him deny this fact? But we can still compare his record with others in the test matches India has won to his record in the tests India has lost. We'll get our answers. Lara and Inzamam have done it better in pressure situations. No doubt about that. But did they do this consistently? Lara was the most graceful batsman of his times. The dancer in the crease, the Prince of Trinidad could not handle the pressure of success after he scored his innings of 375 and 501* forcing him to take a sabbatical. And he had his disputes with all his team members, the team management and the opposition. He was followed by controversies all through his career.

It's not the records that stamp Sachin's greatness. It's his calm demeneaour, his ability to handle the pressures of success, keeping his head on his shoulders when a population of 100 crores would do anything and everything for their hero, and his consistency on the field that proves his mettle. He accepts the controversial decisions of the umpires with the grace unseen and unheard of. He respects every bowler he faces. Have we ever seen him involved in Sledging?????? His politeness, his respect for India, his team, the opposition and the former players is something difficult to find in our times. He has always faced the criticism, challenges and verbal abuses with a smile and has always let his bat do the talking. He was the only player spared by Manoj Prabhakar in the infamous sting operation of the match fixing. Shane Warne has put him at the top in the list of players he has played against. And this is not because of his heroics on the field but because of the pressure he has constantly faced over the past 20 years. No player can be compared to the great Sachin Tendulkar.

Indian team has had new successes since Dhoni has took over captaincy. He occupies the top rankings in the ODI ratings of best batsmen. Sehwag is said to be the biggest destructor of opposition. Yuvraj is said to be amongst the most talented in the world. But none of these players comes close to Sachin in the grace and beauty he brings to his game. Every shot played by Sachin is a delight for the purists and the youngsters alike.Barring VVS Laxman and Damien Martyn, nobody apart from Sachin has made batting look so easy in an age when we have grown up witnessing the rise in stature of Cricket from just a game in India to a religion.

I personally feel that sometimes he is lauded too much for his centuries and criticised too much for his failures.We have at least one hour review on every news channel of both the century or the duck he scores . Probably Rahul Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly got overshadowed by the glory of Sachin Tendulkar and did not receive the credit they rightly deserved. But that's part and parcel of life.

He has had his share of controversies. The ball tampering incident in South Africa, the waivering of duty on Ferrari, his disputes with Greg Chappell, declaration of Rahul Dravid when Sachin was on 194, and the latest Monkey Gate incident with Andrew Symonds . But they still seem less in a career spanning two decades. I personally feel he should not have asked for waivering of duty on Ferrari. Apart from that it would be unfair to criticise him of his involvement in these incidents.Much hue and cry was raised when he said he was disappointed when the declaration came when he was only 6 runs short of a double century. But then who would not be???He only spoke against Greg Chappell when his integrity was questioned. And of course, we can't expect the Aussies to be truthful and honest. We all have seen what happened in the last India vs Australia Sydney Test. He has not lost his respect from anybody at any point of time. After the Monkey gate, in the India England test match, when he overtook Brian Lara for maximum runs in Test Cricket, Andrew Symonds sent his congratulations saying, "To Sachin Tendulkar!! The man we all want to be." Do we need any other proof of his greatness?? I guess not.

Sachin Tendulkar is no God. He is only human, but an ideal one. A perfect role model for everyone. My blog has been just been one of the many articles written about him over the years. I wanted to begin my blog dedicated to man I have respected, admired and loved over the years . I still switch off the tv when he gets out. I still relive his great innings. I still get overjoyed and excited like a kid at each and every milestone he crosses. He is my inspiration. He is my idol.

HE IS SACHIN TENDULKAR. THE MAN WE ALL WANT TO BE.

THE BEGINNING

2009-02-14T22:04:00.000+05:30

Hi Guys....

Here I am starting my own blog. Today is Valentine's Day (though that has got nothing to do with my starting this blog). Wanted to do this long time ago...but the procrastinator in me avoided it for too long. I don't know why am I starting it even now. Probably inspiration from the blogs of a few friends (Gaurav Bhaiya, Chetna, ECE blog balanisisred etc. etc.) , nostalgic feeling about leaving the college and a few other quizzing blogs has helped me to start it. Or the other reason could be the joblessness surrounding me right now. Have to kill time and of course something in me wants to write, so here I am...

This blog will be about whatever crap comes to my mind. I sincerely request the reader to please bear with me. As of now I want to write my feelings about the people I admire (and those I don't). I will at least start with it. Then probably I want to write about my experiences, my friends, the books I've read, the movies I have seen, the situations I have come across and of course, Quizzing.

I am a huge fan of Sachin Tendulkar. I will start the blog with him. Readers are requested to leave a comment if they find appropriate to do so. I will try to reply. I am beginning my journey and I am afraid that the procrastinator in me won't let it continue for long. Please pray that it doesn't happen.