Footmarks of a traveller

13th May 2008

2008-05-13T19:53:00.000+05:30

Well, if I come to think of the tasks that I have to finish before the 23rd, my head spins. I am already juggling between so many to-do things and never in my life have I ever made a to-do task list for every coming day in the week. But, that’s how life is. Somehow, I wish I had 1 more week after 23rd to finish all my tasks....

Skandagiri (Kalavarahalli) betta

2008-01-15T11:35:00.000+05:30

Skandagiri (Kalavarahalli betta)

2008-01-15T11:19:00.000+05:30

Recently, some of us did a night trekking to Skandagiri. The trek was amazing and joy-filled. Sunrise view was breath-taking and made our trip worthwhile...

Spams i get

2007-11-26T13:00:00.000+05:30

These are the kind of spams i get in my inbox. Everyday, scores of people around the world find innumerable ways to cheat the innocent and gullible using email as a medium. Read some of the examples below...

1. I am Mr Gustafson Hamza, suffering from cancerous ailment.It has defiled all forms of medical treatment according to medical experts,I have given most of my assets to my immediate family members.I have decided to give alms to charity organizations.I cannot do this myself anymore because of my health.I have a huge cash deposit with a finance House abroad.I will want you to help me collect this deposit anddispatch it to charity organizations.You will take out 20% of this funds for your assistance.If intrested kindly reply Mr Gustafson Hamza

2.
MICROSOFT PRIZE AWARD DEPT 2007Award Prize DeptP O Box 1010Liverpool,L70 1NL UNITED KINGDOMDear Beneficiary,Your email address just won you 600,000.00 pounds sterlings in Microsoft Annual sweepstakes draws held today 23rd of November 2007.Your email address was attached to:(¡) Batch No: WNTO/7416/VA/ES(¡¡) Ref No: FMLES/2007/FPlease you are to contact our claims agent for your claims:Claims AgentSir Terry Smith,Tell:+44-7045770700Contact email: mr.terry_claimsdepartment@yahoo.it You are to provide your full Names, Sex, occupation, Age, presentcountry, Ref Number and Phone number.ONCE AGAIN CONGRATULATIONS!!!Best regards,Mr.Steve white.Online Co-ordibator Microsoft Word Lottery

Nervous 90s

2007-11-16T10:17:00.000+05:30

For the sixth time in 2007, Sachin Tendulkar, the master blaster, got out between 90 and 100 yesterday- that includes 2 times in the ongoing ODI series between India and Pakistan.
Though the man himself says it’s no big deal as long as he can contribute to India’s win, the jitters in his batting can easily be seen once he touches 90. Yesterday was an exception. An inside edge on Umar Gull’s ball did him in.
If he had completed his centuries all the times he touched Nineties, he would have been sitting on top of 100 centuries.

Long live Sachin Tendulkar! He is not called GOD of Indian cricket for nothing.

9 Kms in gym

2007-11-14T19:29:00.000+05:30

Today was a good day. I ran in gym for an hour at the speed of 9 Kilometers per hour. I felt ecstatic running 9 Kilometers at a stretch. Hope I continue it...

Games Indians play

2007-11-13T09:04:00.000+05:30

Over the long weekend of Diwali, I read V Raghunathan’s ‘Games Indians Play’- Why we are the way we are. This book was gifted to me by KK.

I found it very interesting- his approach to the subject, I mean; the subject itself is nothing to be proud of.

He has tried to throw an insight into problems affecting our country (or countrymen) like corruption, traffic jams, defecating on the roads, jumping queue, pollution, no self- regulation, lack of basic amenities – the list is endless- thru game theory and I think he has been successful in doing so.

You will not encounter any feeling of joy while reading this book not because of the book but because of the hopeless and depressing state of our country. I particularly liked one line in this book, which read, ‘A glorious past is no consolation for the sorry present’.

Except for the application of game theory to understand the psyche of Indians, there is nothing new you are going to read in this book. This book makes one realize the ease with which one accepts the filth spread around, the ease with which one adjusts with the non-existence of any kind of established system in any field in India.

I would say a must read. The author also goes on to stay that we mistake words for action.

The weekend of CW 43

2007-10-29T19:59:00.000+05:30

This weekend was particularly different from the monotonous ones that have passed by of late. We played corporate soccer tournament . A team lost against us by a whopping 15-0 and we drew against another finally topping the group.

I also caught up with a friend at Cha Bar in Leela Palace and while we were having our coffee, we sighted the very graceful Simran Bhargava going around the book store glancing at the books. For those of you who don’t know her, she presents a program on NDTV called ‘one life to love’.

Federer wins Wimbledon 2007

2007-07-12T19:26:00.000+05:30

Sunday evening was a feast to eyes seeing Federer win Wimbledon 2007 for the fifth consecutive time equaling Bjorn Borg’s record in the presence of the master himself.

Nadal is closing in on the gap between himself and Fedex. The score read 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2. I saw Federer showing so many emotions in one match for the first time. He quite literally broke down and tears were rolling down his cheeks as soon as he had realized that he had won ‘it’. In between, Federer also shouted at the umpire asking him to shut off the faulty system of showing whether the ball was in or out as he was down 3-0 and it was killing him.

Roger Federer hit 24 aces to 1 by the Spaniard. Federer also commented in post-match ceremony that he has the highest of regards for Rafa and he also told Rafa at the nets after winning that Rafa deserved it as well and that Federer was just lucky that day.
Federer already had some signed mementos inside his bag. Wow! What a confidence!
Way to go Roger..

2007-07-07T14:57:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, I watched this movie called Spy Game on ZStudio. I have watched this movie God knows how many times. The plot is hard to believe because I am sure it is not easy at all sitting in America and trying to stop an execution in a jail in China even if you are a CIA agent working on the last day of your job that too when all you have got are twenty four hours. Despite all this, it makes for an interesting storyline which carries the movie. Robert Redford is charismatic and Brad Pitt is as usual a perfect cut out for such kind of spy movies.

It’s a dark and cloudy afternoon and it may rain but given that we are in Bangalore, it might not rain as well. The last sentence was in no way connected to Spy Game.

Dark Bangalore

2007-06-24T15:27:00.000+05:30

Electricity plays hide and seek most of the times these days- rains and high velocity winds being some of the culprits. Come home to find no electricity, fumble for the torch, tread cautiously in house so as not to hurt yourself, wait for the rains to stop so that you could go out for dinner and then come back and try to sleep early because there is nothing else you can do…That’s how evening are when there is no electricity. Apart from that the weather is enjoyable and very pleasant.

Yesterday, windspeeds in Bangalore were recroded at 90KMPH (data as per TOI) whereas the windspeeds recorded in June were 13.6 KMPH. Some old trees fell down claiming one or two lives in the city. Traffic was blocked on many roads because of such trees, as reported by newspapers. Luckily, I did not get stuck in any of the traffic jams in the city. But, as I was needling through the traffic on the way to the bank, I was reminded of the earlier Bangalore and the earlier me.

How both have changed gradually and how both still remain the same. I also started to think about one of my friends, Sachin, with whom I exchanged mails over the same topic few months ago. He loves Mumbai. That’s digressing from the topic.
Sometimes we remain the same while the circumstances (or nature of things) around us change. My question, though, is do we change substantially over the years? Is it the circumstances that shape a person or is the person who creates the circumstances so that he can change himself.

It’s about twelve noon and the Sun, of whatever was there in the morning, is perhaps hiding somewhere behind those dark clouds, which very likely will pour soon. It makes me think if the decision of washing clothes this morning was a wise one. I had no choice though. The clothes are not on clothesline yet. They are waiting for someone to come and take them out and dry them in the cold air outside, which is not happening because the one who is supposed to do is feeling very lazy.

A chain of thoughts has started me to think that almost everyone has his or her own way of washing clothes. I first wash clothes in clean water for 5 minutes so that clothes become less dirty making it easier for detergent, which is next in line, to act on them. Next, as said, I put the detergent in water and rinse the clothes for 15 minutes. Drain the dirty water. Fill the machine with clean water and rinse the clothes in it again for five minutes and viola, the clothes are ready to cling to the clothesline.

I am going to get up in another 10 minutes and put the clothes on clothesline. The Sun is trying hard to come out of clouds while I am watching this strange movie called 'Marie and Bruce' on zstudio. It stars Julianne Moore. I can’t recall the name of the hero.

Guess, I have written enough for the day.
Adios

Star Mahiya

2007-06-14T22:45:00.001+05:30

This video has become very popular of late. This video features a Pakistani singer Annie singing in one of IIT's festival. She has also sung this song in the movie 'Awarapan', which comes from Bhatt camp.
Check it out n njoy...

Nadal wins French Open 2007

2007-06-14T11:35:00.000+05:30

Federer bauji lost French Open on last Sunday and we lost in the finals of Sportz Village Inter Corporate soccer 5-a-side. We lost by 1-2 against Infosys BPO.

The only good thing to have happened to Fedex afterwards was that he was still upbeat about his tennis. He said if there is anyone who could beat Rafa, it was him and that loosing French Open has only brought more challenges for him and will make him do better.

Rafa was at his best in the match. It was his third consecutive win at the French Open making him only second player in the world to do so after Bjorn Borg (if I am not wrong : -)
The first set went on for 55 minutes, second for 50 min, third one was around 40 minutes fourth one must have been around 30 minutes or so…Rafa won 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4…

I think Federer plays against Rafa as he plays against any other opponent. It’s high time Federer treats his nemesis a little better and tries to play his best against Rafa…(look at who is advising No. 1 Tennis player in the world :)

French Open 2007- Federer Vs. Nadal

2007-06-09T14:39:00.000+05:30

Federer defeted Davydenko in the semifinals of the French Open to book a berth in the Finals. The most interesting part of this match was the set that Federer lost by 6-1. Davydenko made Federer looked mortal. But as soon as this set was over, Fedex regained breath and was back at being the best…

Nadal beat Novak Djokovic in the other semifinal. Nadal slugged it out against Djokovic for the first set and it was only stamina and a loss of little experience on Djokovic’s side that made him gave in.

Final is all set for Sunday where No. 1 and No 2. will fight it out for French Open Men Singles Trophy. Just before this tournament, Federer managed to beat Nadal on the clay court in Germany.

My favorite is Fedex though I wouldn’t want it to be straight set win. It will be nice to see Rafa trying to give Federer a run for his money. Fingers crossed!

A quote from 'Alice In Wonderland'

2007-05-14T11:30:00.000+05:30

`When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'
~ Lewis Carroll

Kakuro

2007-04-12T13:03:00.000+05:30

Click on the figure to see it properly...

My recent fixation is Kakuro. It is the second most popular newspaper game after Sudoku in Japan (I read it somewhere. Don’t quote me on it :) and is published in many newspapers and magazines around the globe. TOI also publishes it every day along with ‘Sudoku’ and ‘Loop the Loop’.

I chanced upon ‘Loop the loop’ while I was idling away my time at home. I found it interesting but unfortunately it is very easy to solve. Another interesting puzzle published alongside was Kakuro. I was bought.

I find it more interesting than Sudoku (not that I am good at sudoku).

As you can see, the numbers mentioned indicate the sum total of the numbers below (or to right/left) them. A number can’t be repeated for a particular sum. For ex, 16 can not be equal to 8+8. It should either be 9+7 or 7+9.

Yours truly at Besant Nagar beach

2007-04-09T10:00:00.000+05:30

A short trip to Germany

2007-04-07T12:21:00.000+05:30

Last month, i went to Germany on a short work assignment. I flew from Bangalore to Frankfurt and return journey from Frankfurt to Delhi. I stayed in Delhi for over a week to fly back to Bangalore.

While I was in Germany, it was snowing and raining making it too cold out there. Bus number 41 ceased to exist and so one morning I had to walk in snow to office. Thankfully, it was not snowing too much and so the walk from Guesthouse Scheurmann to office was all the more enjoyable.

In fact, number and timings of all the buses from Heidelberg to Walldorf have also changed. I had to take a train from Heidelberg Hauptbanhof (main railway station) to Wiesloch Walldorf. Incidentally, there was a bus service from Wiesloch Walldorf to Hauptstrasse (main street) even at night.

One night before I had to leave, four of us (myself, Sesh, Rampi and Suresh) enjoyed dinner and drinks in a Spanish restaurant named ‘La Tortuga’. We ordered Sekt (Sparkling wine) and Tequila. For food, we ordered something called Tapas. It was very delecious and it consisted of Garlic bread with a mixture of different kinds of dry vegetables and salad like olive, cheese etc.

When the plane landed in Delhi after midnight, it was around twenty seven degrees outside. That one week at home, as always, was relaxing and laid-back. I didn’t feel like coming to Bangalore…Work, though, brought me back here :)

Chennai

2007-03-13T17:55:00.000+05:30

Last Tuesday, we (myself, Manish and Arvind) went to Chennai to attend Vijai’s marriage. We took the evening air deccan flight to Chennai which was on time.
Vijai had booked a lodge for us in T Nagar and the venue where the ceremony was taking place was also nearby.

So, on Tuesday evening, we met Vijai. It was equally pleasant to meet his parents. There, we met a German guy (Chris) who was once Vijai’s colleague. We took him along and four of us went to a hotel to drinks some beer. At around midnight, we hired an auto-rickshaw to go to Marina Beach. As soon as we reached Marina beach, police came over and requested us not to visit the beach at that time as it was risky. We paid heed to the advice and headed home.

Next morning, Vijai’s marriage kept us occupied. It was the first south Indian marriage that I attended in my last seven years of stay in the South. The couple really looked happy and Vijai was trying to talk to us and wave at us and his other friends as and when possible.

Breakfast and Lunch were delicious though I had to use my hands for eating. At noon, we went back to the lodge and dozed off…

As the evening set in, we headed off to Besant Nagar beach. Besant Nagar is one of the upmarket areas of Chennai. After shooting some balloons and an half an hour walk on the beach while our Romeo (Arvind) was on phone with his fiancé, we went to some café bang opposite this beach.

Our flight back to Bangalore was at 21:30. As soon as we arrived at the airport, we came to know our flight was 3 hours late. It finally flew at 00:15 on 8th March. I also bumped into Jaggi (from Aditi Technologies).

What I liked about Chennai was its well constructed neat roads and pavements though people were driving rashly. I somehow can’t explain but I liked the city.

I will upload the pictures later…

Infinitea

2007-02-28T08:55:00.001+05:30

Last week, after attending a talk by Mr. Vint Cerf, father of Internet, we made our way to Infinitea- a tea bar on Cunningham Road. This ambience of this place is soothing; the price of eatables is not so much. But you don’t go to such a place everyday!

They have made well use of the space and it never felt too crowded despite many people being there. At the same time, I doubt if it can accommodate more than thirty people at a go.

You will have a hard time choosing the tea because there is plethora of choice on the menu. You can have it with milk or without milk, have it hot or have it cold, have it with bunch of tea leaves inside your cup or without them, have it with sugar or without it.

You can find funny quotes everywhere- on walls, tea-coasters and perhaps also on tissue papers lying on table.

We went for a sandwich which was priced at around 135 Rupees and believe me it was worth the cost. Masala tea, though, was priced reasonably at around 50 Rupees a pot, which could serve two people.
The crockery was amazing and breathtaking. As they say, ‘Devil lies in the details’, attention is paid to every aspect of drinking tea here.
Try it out…

We (Myself, Manish, Suresh and Vijai) cracked lots of jokes and had lot of fun and after about an hour or so we headed home.

Oscar and Felix

2007-02-26T08:59:00.000+05:30

On Friday, some of us from office went for an Evam’s play (An odd couple) to Rangashankara. There was so much of traffic that it took us an hour and a half to reach the venue and at one moment I just wanted to jump out of the car to convince myself that I could also use my legs for walking and jumping and not just for changing gears and accelerating.

All in all, we reached there well in time. The play was hilarious and is difficult to describe in words. The story rotates around two friends- Oscar and Felix: Oscar is happily divorced and stays in an 8-room apartment all by himself; Felix, on the other hand, is in the process of getting divorced to Francis (his wife). They also happen to have other common friends who come over for Poker or Friday nights.

Felix moves in with Oscar and talks all the time about his wife and how good she was. Felix who happens to be a cleanliness freak irks Oscar often with his fixation on cleanliness and Francis. Time passes by (I guess six months) and Oscar gets an opportunity to invite two English bachelor sisters home on a date.
I won’t tell you what happens next. Go and watch the play

Karthik Kumar played the role of Oscar. He was, like always, perfect in his diction and acting. I don’t know the name of the guy who played the role of Felix. He also acts very well and is suitable for a cute-guy role. Sunil Vishnu also happens to be a good actor who acted as one of their friends.

Check out this group on http://www.evam.in

Golden Palm Spa resort, Bangalore

2007-02-06T18:43:00.000+05:30

Last week, we attended an outbound in Golden Palm Spa resort. It supposedly has Asia’s largest swimming pool. I haven’t seen such a big swimming pool ever. I drove down to this resort. It was around 1 hour 15 minutes drive (45 Kms- 50 Kms). Overall, it is a nice place.

Australian Open 2007 Finals

2007-01-29T09:04:00.000+05:30

Fedex retained Australian Open 2007 title beating Fernando Gonzalez by 7-6, 6-4, 6-4. It was not an easy game for Roger though he won in straight sets. It was only in 1980 last that Bjon Borg won a Grand Slam title without dropping a set.

Gonzalez has a natural backhand and a cool temper like Roger. Sneither does he have the ferocious eyes of Nadal nor does he have the overconfidence of many other players and yet his play doesn’t show any mercy to the opponent.

In the last set when the score was 2-2, Federer was playing the game more like an art and soon it dawned on him that it will take more than art to tame the Chilean. Federer starting running around the court and tried to return every ball which is very unlike him and when he did so, the difference between him and Gonzalez was more than evident: Gonzalez was outwitted on many crosscourt and near the net shots.

To me it seemed that Gonzalez had the most powerful serves amongst all the top 20 in this tournament. For Federer, whenever Gonazalez was serving, the best thing might have been to at least return the ball back to the court, which always gave Gonzalez a comfortable position to score his point on the following shot while Federer was still chasing it. One of the organizers ended up saying that it took the great Roger to stop such a good player like you (read Gonzalez) in the finals.

All said Federer is Federer: the unstoppable, unbeatable and so be it…

Lt. Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

2007-01-13T14:22:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, the chief guest in our EKOM was none other than Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. He speaks in English very fluently and his enunciation was awesome. He quoted that the best thing in Army for a leader is to return back the men to their families safe! He served in Kashmir for 3 years and none of his 12 men were even injured at the completion of their term (a laudable task if one keeps in mind the grave condition in Kashmir).

I dug up more on Lt. Col. Rathore and this is what i found in wikipidea:
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (born January 29, 1970, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India) is an Indian shooter who won the first individual silver medal for the country in 2004 Summer Olympics. His event was the Men's Double Trap. In 2005 Commonwealth Shooting Championships in Melbourne, he was the member of the winning team in the double trap event. He won the gold in the individual and team events in Men's double trap at the 2005 Asian Clay Shooting championships at Bangkok. The gold in the individual event was the third consecutive one for Rathore at the annual events after the ones in 2003 and 2004, thus constituting a hat trick.
He is a Lt. Colonel in the Indian Army.
He won the Arjuna award in 2003-2004 for shooting and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honour of India, in 2004-2005.
He is a recipient of the Padma Shri, a civilian award from the Government of India, and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM), a gallantry award for service presented by the government. He is the first officer (from the Indian Army) below the rank of brigadier to be awarded the AVSM.

Of fogged flights and new year

2007-01-13T14:15:00.000+05:30

I peacefully spent new year at home. It was a relaxing and rejuvenating trip back home. Incidentally, it was also that period of the year where one finds the city enveloped with fog almost every morning. Our flight from Delhi Airport was supposed to fly at 5:50 in the morning!!! I received an sms at around 2:00 a.m. informing us about the cancellation of flight due to fog. It took me around 30 minutes to reach the call center executive of the airline and i could peacefully reschedule my flight to next day same time. Next day, the flight was on time.

New year resolutions??? Hmmmmm...take life as it comes...

Happy New Year to you all...

Adios.

Car registration number

2006-12-27T17:42:00.000+05:30

It’s kind of strange…I came across a car in my area with registration number differing from that of my car by only a digit!!!

bike registration number

2006-12-22T10:05:00.000+05:30

How often do you see the registration number of a vehicle quite similar to yours? There is a bike (Yamaha RX-100 or 135) in my area which only has one letter different from my bike’s number. The number of that bike is KA-03 EA 4810. The first time I read it inattentively, I thought the numbers are same and I was taken aback for a moment only to realize later on that one digit was different.

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

2006-12-06T18:20:00.000+05:30

Tuesdays with Morrie is one of those inspirational books that make you look back and look into your life. It asks you to reconsider the pace at which you are living your life.

It questions your materialistic desires, the dreams that you have been running after. Maurie is a crippled teacher who is suffering from ALS (same disease Stephen Hawking is suffering from) and knows his end is not too far. He decides to take his lessons to the world and be a good teacher.

Of mice and men by John Steinback

2006-12-04T15:22:00.000+05:30

I finally read ‘Of Mice and Men’. I found John Steinback very good at explaining complicated things and emotions in a simple way.
Warning: spoiler ahead

It’s a story of two friends, George and Lennie- workers who drift from one ranch to another in search of work. They dream of having a place of their own some day where Lennie plans to raise rabbits and tend them. There lies the problem. Lenny is very strong physically but is very simple-minded. He ends up killing rats when he tries to tend them. The story concludes with one friend ending up in killing other.
Both characters in the story are quite convincing: Lenny who always dreams of tending rabbits, pups and mice keeps on forgetting thing told to him by his sincere friend George who can smell trouble from a distance. Goerge likes Lennie for his simplicity and his huge physical strength.
Worth a read....

Fedex

2006-11-20T10:41:00.000+05:30

It was a delight watching Federer send Nadal home in Semis and then be a nemesis to James Blake in the finals of Shanghai Masters at Qi Zhong Stadium. James Blake at the ceremony said, ‘I appreciate the support you gave me when I was playing great, or when Roger was giving me a lesson, I'm honoured to be considered a colleague of his."

Roger, you are the best!

We, on the other hand, came third in the Premier’s trophy in corporate football winning by 3-0 against ICICI One source…This tournament had been going on for 3 weeks now at HAL grounds and we played in all kinds of weather and on the worst possible ground…

All You who Sleep Tonight

2006-11-14T19:52:00.000+05:30

All you who sleep tonight
Far from the ones you love,
No hand to left or right,
And emptiness above -

Know that you aren't alone
The whole world shares your tears,
Some for two nights or one,
And some for all their years.

-- Vikram Seth

kya mujhe pyar hai- woh lamhe

2006-11-09T13:51:00.000+05:30

This movie song is very famous these days in India…To know where it comes from, go to the following link on youtube...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=o4-uuTbbreg

Farewell my dear Colonel by Leonid Kolosov

2006-11-02T12:00:00.001+05:30

It is a very typical spy novel set around the NATO era. Mostly, it deals with the American or British arm of NATO’s intelligence gathering on the then U.S.S.R. NATO intelligence officers disguise as embassy personnel in the Soviet, mark their targets and make them extract important secret information after exploiting their weakness and showering them with money.

The story mainly involves around two intelligence agents. One of them, a Belgian national, Ingvar Ross, working for Americans in NATO falls in love with a Russian woman and defects taking the story further. I don’t want to tell the end of the story…

There are remote chances that you will find this book somewhere (save Russia).

Klueless2

2006-10-31T20:25:00.000+05:30

Klueless2 is back: http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris-2006/irising/klueless/index.asp

I had written about Klueless1 in a post in the past:
http://diezitrone.blogspot.com/2006/01/klueless.html

The Afghan - Frederick Forsyth

2006-10-05T13:18:00.000+05:30

Frederick Forsyth is a master at writing suspense novels. The Afghan, to me, doesn’t seem to be one of them. Though he has written the novel with all the intricate details on The Taliban, The Al-Qaida, Pakistan and Afghanistan, still one is left to wonder if it is worth a read.

In this part of the world (South East Asia) where reading on Al-Qaida and Taliban in newspapers everyday is commonplace, this novel will evoke a little interest in the reader.

I found the novel interesting only after one hundred and fifty pages. It was difficult to digest why Mike Martin would be sent on a ship along with one more die-hard Al-Qaida member. They could have used Mike Martin elsewhere.
Frederick has also committed the mistake at one place by calling India as a Middle-east country.

If you have been reading on Afghanistan, Taliban and Al-Qaida, then you can probably skip this novel though the second half is an interesting read.

All in all, you will be left wanting for more.

The Curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon

2006-09-26T13:15:00.000+05:30

A 15 year old child sets up to write a detective novel on the murder of a neighbor’s dog called Wellington. While solving this murder mystery, the child- Christopher Boone, comes across secrets of his family that changes his life completely.

Christopher, who stays with his father in Swindon, is an autistic child and unlike other children. He, though, is gifted with a photographic memory and he understands Maths and Science very well.

3 Red cars in a row mean its going to be a Quite Good Day. 4 Yellow cars in a row is a Black Day. He hates Yellow and Brown colors and doesn’t believe in God.

The author, Mark Haddon, has also put lots of scientific tidbits in the book from subjects like Maths, Physics, Astronomy and Chemistry. The chapter numbers in Christopher’s murder mystery novel are not sequential. Rather they are Prime numbers. Christopher also has a pet rat named Toby.

This book was winner of Whitbread Book Awards in 2003 (Costa Book Awards now- http://www.costabookawards.com/)

It’s a must read as it suggests a change in the way we look at life. There are lots of things we touch and see in our daily life but we don’t seem to notice them. It also says that Logic is more helpful than intuition many a times.
Last but not the least, it directs us towards learning more about Maths, Science, and the nature we live in. Worth a read.

Quotes on Sachin Tendulkar

2006-09-23T12:14:00.000+05:30

Though India couldn't make it to the finals of DLF cup in Malaysia loosing to Australia in the do-or-die match, yet Tendulkar played two good innings in this series (but for the lost match against Australia where he made only four runs before being caught on a ball by Brett Lee): both against West Indies; one in which he came as an opener and stayed not-out till the last and scored 141 runs on 148 balls; other in which he was again the top scorer making 65 runs.

Here are some quotes on the Master Blaster from the mouths of some of the legendary people associated with the game-

» In terms of technique and compactness, Tendulkar is the best: Desmond Haynes.

» I have watched a lot of Tendulkar and we have spoken to each other a lot. He has it in him to be among the very best: Sir Garfield Sobers.

» He is 99.5 per cent perfect. I'd pay to see him: Viv Richards.

» I saw him playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two... his compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel: Sir Donald Bradman.

» Technically he stands out as the best because of his ability to increase the pace at will: David Boon.

» There is no shame being beaten by such a great player, Sachin is perhaps only next to the Don: Steve Waugh.

» Sachin is cricket's God: Barry Richards.

» India's fortune will depend on how many runs the little champion scores. There is no doubt Tendulkar is the real thing: Sunil Gavaskar.

» A complete batsman — he's the best in the business: Mohinder Amarnath.

» Sachin is an attacker. He has much more power than Sunny. He wants to be the one to set the pace. He has to be on top. That's the buzz about him: Jeff Thompson.

» If I've to bowl to Sachin, I'll bowl with my helmet on. He hits the ball so hard: Dennis Lillee.

» You take Don Bradman away and he is next up I reckon: Steve Waugh.

» I'll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I don't think anyone, apart from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar. He is just an amazing player: Shane Warne.

» When it comes to judging the best among these fabulous band of batsmen, my vote goes to Tendulkar. He has an uncanny ability to come out on top under different circumstances and under different conditions, whether it is Test cricket or one-day internationals. And more importantly, he has done this so young: Shane Warne.

» Don't bowl him bad balls, he hits the good ones for fours: Michael Kasprowicz.

» Hell, if he had stayed, even at 11 an over he would have got it: Allan Border (after India won the Coca-Cola cup in Sharjah).

» He is a perfectly balanced batsman and knows perfectly well when to attack and when to play defensive cricket. He has developed the ability to treat bowlers all over the world with contempt and can destroy any attack with utmost ease: Greg Chappell.

» It's scary, where the hell do we bowl to him: Allan Border.

» Yeah mate, but that's with all great players: Ian Chappell.

» Imagine what he'll be like when he's 28: Allan Border.

» I'd like to see him go out and bat one day with a stump. I tell you he'd do okay: Greg Chappell.

» Sachin's better; Lara is more risky outside the off stump: Mark Waugh.

» You have to decide for yourself whether you're bowling well or not. He's going to hit you for fours and sixes anyway. Kasprowicz has a superior story. During the Bangalore Test, frustrated, he went to Dennis Lillee and asked, "Mate, do you see any weaknesses?" Lillee replied, "No Michael, as long as you walk off with your pride that's all you can do: Shane Warne.

» He's a phenomenon. We have to be switched on when he plays allow him no boundries, for then he doesn't stop: Mark Taylor.

» Tendulkar is the most complete batsman I have stood behind. I saw the hundred in Perth on a bouncy pitch with Hughes, McDermott and Whitney gunning for him — he only had 60-odd when No 11 came in. I've seen him against Warne too: Ian Healy.

» Harder he works, the luckier he gets: Ian Chappell.

» He has defined cricket in his fabulous, impeccable manner. He is to batting what Shane Warne is to bowling: Richie Benaud.

» Sachin's the best. I've had this view since I saw him score that hundred in Sydney in 1992. He's the most composed batsman I've ever seen: Mike Coward.

» He's better than Ben Hur: Paul Wilson.

» The pressure on me is nothing as compared to Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin, like God, must never fail. The crowd always expects him to succeed and it is too much pressure on him: Mark Waugh.

» I still think Tendulkar is the best batsmen in the world ahead of Steve Waugh and Lara: Glenn McGrath.

» He is currently the best batsman in the world: Sir Gary Sobers.

» There's no doubt about it. He is the best: Tony Grieg.

» Technically, you can't fault Sachin. Seam or spin, fast or slow — nothing is a problem: Geoffrey Boycott.

» Sometime back I had written a piece that said that Sachin's the master and Lara a genius with his head high up somewhere. That's it: Peter Roebuck.

» A little genius. Reminds me of Sunny Gavaskar: Kieth Fletcher.

» He is Sachin Tendulkar. I hope he stays Sachin Tendulkar. We need a new player, a player in his own way. He has a technique which is the hallmark of a great player. Everything indicates that he will be a great player and I am sure he will prove me right. Reminds me of Barry Richards: Eddie Barlow.

» Destined to be a great: Barry Richards.

» What we (Zimbabwe) need is 10 Tendulkars: Paul Strang.

TiE networking meeting- talk by Deep Nishar

2006-09-21T11:04:00.000+05:30

I and two of my colleagues went to listen to a talk by Deep Nishar- Director, Product Management, Google in the TiE networking meeting at Taj Residency. It was titled, ‘Innovation within and beyond Google’. It was on Tuesday.

Deep talked about Google Adsense, Google News, Gmail, Blogger and other products. The talk started with a movie clip, which showed how the name Google is being used in Talk shows, Hollywood movies and how Google products are gaining popularity.

He shed light on how a project start in Google is in contrast to a project start in a big company. In Google, if an employee comes up with an idea, which he has taken to some stage of execution and if his idea is approved by the Management, he is given a Product Manager and two employees to work with. The project starts! After some time, based on the requirement of the project, 2-3 employees join the project and it becomes a full-fledged running project. To get a fast user feedback, they release a beta to the users as soon as the product (or service) is in some shape.

You might know that in Google every employee is given 20% of office time to work on his/her personal project.

Deep stressed again and again that it is the passion that drives Google employees and not anything else. They hire best of the best. He also brought forth the management funda that the team manager of a new team should spend at least 50% of his time in finding the right people.

I incidentally met some people whom I had met in Barcamp Bangalore held in April 2006- Pooran Prasad from Zealous Technologies being one of them.

The question answer session which followed the talk was all the more interesting where people asked all sorts of question, one of them being, ‘what will make Google crash?’ :))

Queen’s on Church Street

2006-09-19T08:59:00.000+05:30

Visited Queen’s on Church Street after a long time on Saturday night. The small Punjabi restaurant has managed to maintain the ambience and taste in food over years. Only thing that has changed around is the Church Street: new restaurants have come up and more cars are parked in its lane.

The cost of food is economical. A bowl of Dal Makhani costs Rs. 65, a Naan costs Rs. 20, a Phulka costs Rs. 5. A bowl of any non-vegeterian dish cost between Rs. 95- Rs. 100.

Worth a try.

Half Marathon completed

2006-09-18T10:34:00.000+05:30

Charged-up people, wonderful weather, beating of drums, race-track in a stadium- this is how I would define the start of Bangalore Marathon. There were around 100 people participating in Full-Marathon and around 400-500 people participating in Half-Marathon. I participated in Half-Marathon. I ran non-stop for first 10 Kms which I think is not bad considering the fact that I didn’t train for this event. After completing 10 Kms, I could have pushed myself a little more but I didn’t want to overstretch. There were ladies who were running more than many a men and it was really awesome to see them at such a fitness level.

Water was available at every 2 Kms and in between too. There was an ambulance running at parallel and Police personal were managing the traffic very well. Clouds in the sky made sure people didn’t get too tired. The best thing that I witnessed was the people, standing by the side of the road, cheering us up. These were people who were enjoying their morning walks or children going to school.

I finally made it in 2 hrs 35 minutes which I think is not good. Given the fact that the winners complete Half-Marathon in 1 hr 10 minutes or so, I should be taking around 1 hr 30 minutes. Well, let it be my goal then….

Last but not the least it was a pleasant surprise to meet some of the colleagues.

Bangalore Marathon- 17th September 2006

2006-09-13T11:55:00.000+05:30

Are you running in Bangalore Marathon on 17 September 2006?
It starts from Sreekanteerava Stadium. There are 3 events: Marathon, Half-Marathon and Celebration Run (7 Kms).

For more details, go to http://coindia.com/

I will probably be running in Half-Marathon which starts at 5: 30 a.m.

"Minority report" made real

2006-09-07T19:39:00.000+05:30

Got it as a fwd-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLhMVNdplJc

79th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee Contest on ESPN

2006-09-02T14:06:00.000+05:30

I was watching the 79th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee Contest (held in Washington D.C.) on ESPN this morning in which 8th graders were being asked to spell words in English. English words of German origin made some of the contestants including a contestant of Indian origin bow out. In the last round, there were only two girls and they were being asked to spell Championship words (probably those words which had been used in the same contest earlier).
Have a look at the words and find out how many have you even heard of. Katharine Close went on to win it.

Guilloche
Sciolto
Kilim
Zarzuel
Yizkor
Shedu
Croquingnole
Douane
Syringadenous
Heiligenschein
Hukilau
Austauch
Dasyphyllous
Clinamen
Icteritious
Esquisse
Psittacism
Maieutic
Aubade
Poiesis
Kanone
Tutoyer
Izzat (Arabic word)
Koune
Tmesis
WeltSchmerz
Kundalini (Sanskrit word)
Ursprache

Infosys- Mysore

2006-09-01T12:44:00.000+05:30

Birthdays

2006-08-25T09:22:00.000+05:30

Birthdays are strange things to happen once an year, every year…I kind of don’t get affected by this day and more or less, it is just another day for me…Yet, when your friends, colleagues wish you and you get calls from your relatives/friends in India and abroad, you kindda like it…Anyways, i am getting older (and perhaps wiser :)

Wayanad Pictures-2

2006-08-22T08:40:00.000+05:30

Wayanad Pictures-1

2006-08-22T08:28:00.000+05:30

Wayanad

2006-08-20T13:08:00.000+05:30

We started on Friday at around 6 in the morning for Mysore on the way to Wayanad (Kerala). Mysore is around 160 Kms from Bangalore by road though after the BMIC project is completed, you will have an alternative route of only 111 Kms. All said, the road leading to Mysore was very good and it’s a smooth drive. We must laud the Government for constructing such good roads between Bangalore and Mysore. The only excepting being the stretch of Mandya where the roads are in bad condition. Our ex-chief minister Mr. S.M. Krishna hails from Mandya. While driving, I touched the speeds of +10 and +20 easily.

The first break we took was in Mysore at Hotel Kamath Vegeterian. It is situated on the start of Ooty road. The food is good at this place. After a break of half-an-hour, we started again. The start of Ooty road is ridden with potholes for a stretch of around 10 kms or so (roughly, I am not sure!). You have to head towards Nanjangud, which is 26 Kms south of Mysore. From Nanjangud, we drove towards Gundalpet, which is close to 40 Kms from Nanjangud.

From Gundalpet, you have to take a diversion towards Sulthan Bathery which is off Ooty road. While you are on this road and you have crossed roughly 20 Kms or so, you find yourself in the middle of forest with the trees covering you on the top. It started to drizzle a little while we were in the aforementioned forest area and I can term it as my best drive to-date. Nature at its best! The air was so soothing and refreshing that I wished the drive extended as much as possible.

First came Sulthan Bathery, followed by Kalpetta where we had booked two cottages in Royal Palm (http://www.royalpalmwayanad.com/).

That particular day, we visited only Pookat lake (or Pookode lake). Pookat lake is 13 Kms from Kalpetta and it comes under district Calicut. It was drizzling again when we reached there. We had been thru all kinds of weather on Friday so we didn’t find it difficult. We were carrying umbrellas with us though we chose not to use them. The lake was overflowing, the water was muddy but the scenery was just breath-taking. There was also an aquarium with variety of fishes. The lake is girdled by mountains on all sides and clouds seemed to descend much below these mountains. We also noticed all Tourism police personal enjoying a Malayalam movie on T.V.

We had dinner in Hotel Affas which serves decent dinner. We called it a day and retreated to Royal Palms.

Next day morning, we checked-out by 7:30 a.m. and set out for Karapuzha dam (pronounced as Karapuda) and Edakkal Caves. The drive is good but somewhat risky. Going back from Kalpetta towards Sulthan Bathery, Karapuzha dam comes first. You have to take a right from the main road and go inside 7.5 Kms. It is the scenery that is good. There is no dam as such or may be there was one in the past. We took some pictures and came back. This place can be avoided. We then reached the main road again and headed towards Edekkal Caves which is 12 Kms from the main road on the right. There comes a point further to which, you are not allowed to take your vehicle. We were either supposed to walk up until the caves or hire a jeep. Finding no jeep in vicinity, we had no option left but to walk. I would suggest you to take a jeep and reach the Edekkal Caves. You can do trekking thereafter as well. Since, we wanted to return to Bangalore the same day, time was scarce. We chose not to go inside the Caves. May be, next time!

We finally moved towards Mysore. It was very sunny and heat started to take its toll on us. We reached Mysore and had lunch in the same Kamath restaurant. They serve good tea here.

Now, our destination was Infosys, Mysore about which I will write later. After seeing Infosys, we started for Bangalore. After entering Bangalore, we were completely lost in finding our way in and around Majestic. There are no boards which show you the way to Airport, M.G. Road, Vidhan Soudha or any other important place. If there are some, they are written in Kannada. We would have set a record to ask maximum no. of auto-rickshaw drivers, the way to Vidhan Soudha. Finally, a Cabbie driving a Sumo helped us. The traffic on a Saturday evening in Bangalore is horrible and atrocious. We should have entered the city through Kanakpura road.

Junta, I will post the pictures later. All in all, it was a good and a memorable journey though I would like to add the following: Wayanad is not a place where you can see some points or important places. It is a place to relax, drive, experience wonderful weather, trek etc…Don’t go with an aim of seeing Wayanad. All places are very far from each other. For records, i drove 680 Kms in two days!!!

Animal Farm

2006-08-16T13:20:00.000+05:30

The character of Napolean in this awesome book can be found everywhere in our society in almost all echelons in one or the other form. You can find the character in Police Stations, Parliaments, your office, society, school/colleges, hospitals and almost everwhere…On the other hand, equally omnipresent is the character of Boxer whose only mottos are ‘I will work harder’ and ‘Napolean is right’. How many of us really question what is happening around us and not only intend to change it but try to change it? In the present example, we ignore the apathy of Government towards its people when it comes to infrastructure, security and basic amenities; Government ignores the threat from neighboring countries or their killing of our people with impunity. In one way or the other, we all represent the character of Boxer. I am not deprecating his dedication to hard-work but his inability to question and to follow blindly.

This work of George Orwell is awesome, inspiring and timeless. There are only few pieces of literature, which i have read and found to be so succinct yet so fulfilling in their message. At present I can only think of the play, Tughlaq, by Dr. Girish Karnard which is at par. I read ‘Animal Farm’ again after a long time and still found it very interesting.

Infosys

2006-08-16T13:07:00.000+05:30

Went to see the campus of Infosys on Sunday after a not-so-enjoyable drive on Hosur road . It took 2 hours to just have a look around (probably because it was somewhat hot).
One thing that I liked the most was the fish pond- there were fishes various colors in the pond, the biggest of them being around 15 Cms in length. It would be very relaxing to sit beside this pond with a book (even without a book). There were many billiards and pool tables too. Gyms were also good but it seemed they were there more to show-off…
In all, a very relaxing place to work. Food in the food-courts was a let-down.

Listening to...Dancing in the dark

2006-08-08T17:38:00.000+05:30

I get up in the evening
and I ain't got nothing to say
I come home in the morning
I go to bed feeling the same way
I ain't nothing but tired
Man I'm just tired and bored with myself
Hey there baby, I could use just a little help

You can't start a fire
You can't start a fire without a spark
This gun's for hire
even if we're just dancing in the dark

Message keeps getting clearer
radio's on and I'm moving 'round the place
I check my look in the mirror
I wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face
Man I ain't getting nowhere
I'm just living in a dump like this
There's something happening somewhere
baby I just know that there is

You can't start a fire
you can't start a fire without a spark
This gun's for hire
even if we're just dancing in the dark

You sit around getting older
there's a joke here somewhere and it's on me
I'll shake this world off my shoulders
come on baby this laugh's on me

Stay on the streets of this town
and they'll be carving you up alright
They say you gotta stay hungry
hey baby I'm just about starving tonight
I'm dying for some action
I'm sick of sitting 'round here trying to write this book
I need a love reaction
come on now baby gimme just one look

You can't start a fire sitting 'round crying over a broken heart
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
You can't start a fire worrying about your little world falling apart
This gun's for hire
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Even if we're just dancing in the dark
Hey baby

5th-6th August

2006-08-07T10:44:00.000+05:30

Driving through the congested lanes of Shivajinagar thronged with people, buses and vehicles of all sizes, parking in narrow spaces near Commercial street and eating paranthas at Lalitha's is how I spent this Saturday.

Sunday was more relaxed and passed away in reading and watching TV. A friend from U.S.A. called up last night and I felt really good thereafter. I open up naturally to this friend. We always keep in touch whichever part of the world we are in thru calls or mails or chat…
Watched movies like Mask of Zorro, Sarfarosh, Along came Polly on this weekend for the umpteenth time…also watched Ishq Vishq which is a good movie. I didn't know that Shahid Kapur acts so well. Worth a watch if you don’t get bored with mushy mushy stuff...

Hyssteria

2006-07-26T15:50:00.000+05:30

We watched a play called Hyssteria by Evam on Sunday in Rangashankara Theatre. We reached the veneue around 2:30 and the show was supposed to start at 3:30. We were told that there were no tickets and we could do an advance booking for the 7:30 show. We still stuck around and at around 3:20, to everyone’s wonder, the ticket distributors announced that if we formed a queue, we could get the tickets for 3:30 show…Such are the ways of the world….

The first part of the show was good. It consisted of small humorous Python Plays enacted by Evam. In the second part, the guys went on to stage Hamlet filled with ordinary clichés. I found that a little boring but for the acting by a guy who was playing the part of Gertrude (Hamlet’s mother) or Ophelia (Polonius's daughter). He was really very very funny. The way he uttered, ‘help’ and the way he drowned under a cup of water was hilarious.

In search of third molar

2006-07-25T13:16:00.000+05:30

Last Thursday, it took 40 seconds for the third molar to come out amidst unbearable pain while I was on a bit of ineffective local anesthesia. As suggested by a friend, I went to Vydehi Institute near office. It was second time in the same year that my teeth have been touched upon by Dentists. I was surprised by the oozing confidence of the doctor who took my tooth out. He was short, a little bald and bespectacled. He studied the x-ray of my tooth and asked me to sit down. I asked him, ‘where?’ He said with a smile,’ Wherever you want!’
There were around 12 dentist chairs in that room (Heck! I don’t know what is that chair called if at all it is called anything else)…While I was writhing in pain during the removal of the tooth, the doctor kept on saying, ‘Turn towards me, turn towards me’. I couldn’t even speak otherwise I would have told him, ‘buddy, a little more I turn and I am going to fall right off this damn chair on to your foot so u better keep shut and do your work’.
Jokes apart, I think he did his work very well....

Mumbai Blasts

2006-07-12T17:30:00.000+05:30

Over 190 people died in 8 serial blasts in Mumbai yesterday. The bombs were planted in trains and railway stations leaving so many injured/dead. I have also mentioned it in my blog earlier- I don’t know how long we will be victims of terrorism. The PM just states a platitude every time- we will fight terror. FM says Blasts will not hit the economy. How on earth can he say that? 190 people (and many of them, only earning members of a family)die in a terrorism act in a city within 11 minutes; traffic jams the whole city; trains stop; people don’t reach home.
It is ridiculous; I wish, as a country, we had acted more proactively.

I shudder to think that I am just plain lucky that the city bombed was not the one I stay in and that the person who died was not me…

Kal chaudhvin ki raat thi

2006-07-11T18:44:00.000+05:30

A friend of mine sang this ghazal on stage while we were in college…This ghazal was written by Ibn-e-Insha

Kal chaudhvin ki raat thi
Shab bhar raha charcha tera
Kuch ne kaha ye chand hai
Kuch ne kaha chehra tera

Hum bhi wahin maujood the
Hum se bhi sab poochha kiye
Hum hans diye, hum chup rahe
Manzoor tha parda tera

Is shehar mein kis se milen
Hum se to chooti mehfilen
Har shaks tera naam le
Har shaks diwana tera

Kal chaudhvin ki raat thi..

Kooche ko tere chod kar
Jogi hi ban jaayein magar
Jungle teri , parbat tere
Patti teri, sehra tera

Be-dard sunni ho to chal
Kehta hai kya achchi ghazal
Aashiq tera, rusva tera, shayar tera, Insha tera

Listen to it in Jagjit Singh’s voice on <http://www.musicindiaonline.com/l/ut/s/9/100/>

Wimbledon 2006 and World Cup Football 2006

2006-07-11T13:21:00.000+05:30

Finally, Italy won the 2006 World Cup Football Cup. The score was level (1-1) shooting the game into extra time and eventually on to penalties. Italy won 5-3 on Penalties. Barthez couldn’t stop even a single one.

France played well too. They kept on attacking in the second half. In the last 10th minute of extra half an hour time, Zidane and Marco Materazzi had an argument following which Zidane headbutted Materazzi in the chest- an open invitiation of a red card. Apparently, Materazzi called Zidane a ‘dirty terrorist’ or something like that…
Result of all this: Next day, I was sleepy whole thru in the office…

Sunday evening also made Federer a Wimbledon champion for the straight 4th time placing him as only the third person to do so.
He beat the Spaniard, Nadal, by 6-0, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3. After the match, both guys were frank to the media. Federer, in his white coat and shorts, said that he didn’t expect Nadal to be in the finals. Nadal also praised Roger and said that he is not expecting to play against someone like Federer next year. The interesting stats is that Federer went into this match against Nadal with a score of 1-6: Federer lost 4 finals out of these to Nadal this season.

There was an important guest watching Wimbledon as you can see in the photo.

soccer

2006-07-08T15:53:00.000+05:30

I watched the semi-finals between Germany and Italy till 3:00 a.m. It was an nteresting game wherein the winners scored the goals in 29th and 30th minutes of extra time. When Germany had almost assumed that the final score will result only from Penalties and indeliberately let their defense loose, Italy sprang a bitter surprise: Grosso collected the ball from the midfielder Andrea Pirlo and sent it home. Del Piero scored another goal past Jens Lehmann, German goal keeper.
For me, it was the fastest game of this world cup so far!

On the other side, Portugal lost to France. Zizou seems to be in his best form.

On 9th July, France will take on Italy in the finals of Football World Cup 2006 while Germany will battle out Portugal for the third place (Oliver Kahn will start as the goal keeper of Germany). Do watch the games…

funny...

2006-07-05T15:38:00.000+05:30

got it from a blog...putting it here just4fun...

Good poems + good voice

2006-06-19T15:00:00.000+05:30

Neha picks up good poems and podcasts them. She has got a good voice. Do check out...
http://www.withinandwithout.com/?p=808

One moh....

2006-06-16T19:20:00.000+05:30

Dilbert...

2006-06-15T11:55:00.000+05:30

FIFA World Cup 2006

2006-06-09T12:54:00.000+05:30

It's here...It starts today. Germany, the hosts, take on Costa Rica at 21:30 IST (All you females struck by Ballack and his moves, you might be disappointed because the midfielder may sit out in the opener because of an injury). At half past midnight Poland plays Ecuador. 32 countries will play 64 matches in total. The final winner will take home 98 crore Rs. Each team will get atleast 26Crore Rs. and the total prize money is whopping 1098 crores.
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/

This world cup seems to be the most star-studded world cup with all major teams having their fair share of star players. Brazil being the defending champion will try its level best to win the cup again;Ronaldinho, her star player, is equipped with all the skills (see the youtube link below) and drama (last world cup) and is an important asset...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsO6D1rwrKc

Njoy maadi n joga bonito...

Random thoughts...

2006-06-07T18:12:00.000+05:30

There have been times in the last week when I had to leave a movie (on TV) in between and go away for lunch/dinner/phone calls. Some of them being I, Robot, Panic Room, National Treasure etc.

Somehow also got out of reading habit and I have to resume it asap…

Cricket:
Sehwag probably read my blog and scored in nineties twice in five one-day series, both times short of a century only by four-five runs. In the first test against Windies, Wasim Jafar hit a double ton and in second innings, India set a target of 392 for Windies to chase. Windies almost faltered only to be saved by the last pair. They were able to draw the match by a wicket.
Dhoni showed his blitzkrieg again by hitting 6 sixes, 3 of them consecutively. The fourth was caught under doubt by Daren Ganga. He was adjudged not-out by third umpire. Despite this fact, Lara pressured Dhoni to walk out. He snatched the ball from the umpire. At this juncture, Dravid announced the declaration of the innings and set a target of 392 for Windies to chase.

Haven’t been able to watch either Fanaa or Da Vinci Code....

an Amazing weekend

2006-05-29T17:28:00.000+05:30

I have done enough ranting about it raining heavily in Bangalore. Now, on the brighter side, the weather on this weekend (and today as well) was marvelous, amazing…To top it, we had a corporate 5-a-side football tournament on both Saturday as well as Sunday. We came out as the topper of our group winning over all the other 3 teams; faced progeon (an Infy company) in quarters and beat them too to eventually loose in semis by 3-2 and our nemesis Tesco went on to loose to Infy by 7-0 in finals!!!
Kingfisher had sponsored this event. It was total fun. On the first day, there were lots of people with kids, girlfriends, wives etc…their were tarot-card readers, caricature artists, magicians etc..a DJ was also there….we sang Buffalo Soldier (on mike) while the song was being played on a big screen displaying lyrics of the song…
Beer was flowing free and all in all, it was fun. Once in a while, a train passed by on the elevated railway track giving us a feeling of being a part of a scenery frame…

You can also see Charu Sharma in one of the photographs.

Belated Mother's day

2006-05-29T11:50:00.000+05:30

Vinci da code

2006-05-26T18:10:00.000+05:30

couldn't resist putting it here...me burst out laughing....

The wizard of Id

2006-05-26T14:57:00.000+05:30

a metaphor...

2006-05-26T10:14:00.000+05:30

You can find scores of these written on trucks and auto-ricks in the North...took this one from oktatabyebye.com

Scientific progress goes boink boink

2006-05-25T16:20:00.000+05:30

I finished reading Calvin and Hobbes comic book- Scientific progress goes boink boink, which I had borrowed from a friend. It’s hilarious.

First things first: It is definitely not for kids. I don’t think kids can understand humor at that level…Whenever I read this strip, I find myself in one of the characters, most of the times in Calvin; at other times in Hobbes.
It is amazing that Calvin hardly gets into depression- almost every time, he blames his inability on other’s inability to understand him.
I think if I had been a part of this comic strip, I would surely be a club member of G.R.O.S.S.

I particularly like his turning into a kind of super man and going on ego trips…
Do read this junta…

Stock Markets + Reservation + Cricket

2006-05-23T11:19:00.000+05:30

Stock market in India witnessed a fall of 1100 points yesterday- the worst fall till to date in its history. It was caused by announcement of intentions of levying tax on FIIs.

Many medical students/doctors in various cities are on strike followed by an announcement by Mr. Arjun Singh that there will be 50 % reservation for OBC etc. in all educational institutions. In some cities IIT students have also joined hands with medical students. Vote bank politics is again raising its head. Our reverent Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh went on to justify quota/reservation and said Corporates have 2 years to implement it.

Saw a young guy carrying this plaque- I turned eighteen 5 years back. I have not voted since this. This time, I will. Congress, you will have to pay.

Indian cricket team ended its record chasing win run in West Indies losing by 1 run. Eleven runs were needed in last over. Yuvraj Singh hit 2 boundaries. 2 runs were needed in 3 balls. He ended up losing his wicket to a slow delivery by Bravo- right on to wicket dislodging stumps! Aha moment for the West Indies. To win 17 times chasing is a feat (and a record as well!) in itself. Sehwag is failing consistently (except for a score of 76 or so against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi ) but has somehow managed to stay put in the team!

My blog entries are becoming more of news entries these days…

Volvo buses in Bangalore + rains

2006-05-19T09:37:00.000+05:30

As I have written in my previous post and it persists, it is raining consistently in evenings in Bangalore every day. Someone up there has set up a rule: When ‘evening’ in ‘Bangalore’, send heavy rains…Infrastructure is crumbling again.

We again played in rains on Tuesday. We had a match with Samsung which we manage to win by 2-1.

I like these big red AC Volvo buses plying in Bangalore. It is a positive change after a long time. I haven’t managed to travel in it. It reminds me of how red line buses in Delhi were all painted blue after the bus accidents became a common thing on Delhi roads. One had to watch for the buses even while walking on the footpaths or while being inside the shops :-) The change in color was triggered by superstition that red is also color of the blood. So, now you don’t find any red line buses in Delhi: only blue line buses.

I have suspended reading for some days now because of very busy work schedule. I hope to resume it soon and write a lot more book reviews on my blog.

i can't think of a title for this post...

2006-05-15T11:09:00.000+05:30

Life is passing by in a jiffy. There is so much of work that I hardly get to do anything else on weekdays….
Finally it’s raining in Bangalore and very particularly in the evenings when you either want to go back to your home or want to venture out for an evening walk. As a result of rains, traffic in the city becomes horrendous and the roads that were laid recently are giving in and giving way to potholes…

All this apart, we managed to play football in rains last Thursday and it really felt good afterwards.

On Saturday, i met an old friend- ‘old’ both in sense of age and friendship- who gifted me a cd of movie ‘fanaa’. We had dinner over vodka and rum in an Andhra restaurant (Avvakyal or something ) opposite corner house on Residency road. One thing I liked about this restaurant is the open space…

Baddie over the weekend

2006-05-08T09:50:00.000+05:30

Played baddie over the weekend at Citinest club in Indiranagar; got up at 5:30 in the morning y’day. The only hiccup was that we reached the place around 6:45 and by then, it was a little late and all the three courts were occupied. Played 3 games- all doubles. An important thing that I realized is that one uses different muscles while playing different games. My butts are aching which is usually not the case after I play football...

Bloodshed in India

2006-05-01T11:25:00.000+05:30

Militants killed 22 people (hindus) in Doda district of Jammu & Kashmir early today morning. Taliban abducted and killed an Indian engineer, Mr. Suryanarayana, in Afghanistan in retaliation to which our government simply said for the umpteenth time, ‘we will not bow to terrorism’. Maoists and Naxalites are abducting and killing scores of people everyday in Orissa and Bihar…In midst of all this, some Indian ministers like Arjun Singh are busy heating up the cauldron of reservation again.

Last month, star icon Dr. Rajkumar died peacefully and hundreds of his followers plus some anti-social elements in Bangalore ran amok in the city and set hundreds of vehicles on fire, destroying crores of property. Business in the city came to a complete stop.

What the hell is happening?? When will this bloodshed and mayhem end? It is agonizing to switch to news channel these days!

WOW!

2006-04-26T09:35:00.000+05:30

BarCamp Bangalore - Details

2006-04-24T18:01:00.000+05:30

I had been to BarCamp Bangalore on 22nd April. It happened at Yahoo’s office.

Earlier, it was announced that there was space only for 150 campers and my registration number was 184 so, I was a little skeptical about the space but that eventually was never a problem because not all the people who registered turned up; whoever could make it was accommodated.

There interesting sessions that I could manage to attend were by Atul Chitnis (www.atulchitnis.com), Arjun Ram (www.Taazza.com), Tara Hunt (www.riya.com, pinko marketing), Manish Jethani (Flex hacker at Adobe), Anuj Khurana (Thumbspeed, Mumbai, and www.oneclickblog.com) and Anil Kumar (computers in your car)

All in all, it was an interesting meet organized by interesting people which included Sathish K (http://krisathish.blogspot.com/).

If you want to read more about the sessions, you can go to http://barcamp.org/BarCampBangalore and then follow the links from there…

BarCamp Bangalore

2006-04-21T11:47:00.000+05:30

http://barcamp.org/BarCampBangalore

Salute of a Madras Sapper

2006-04-18T10:20:00.000+05:30

Yesterday evening, I was going to Residency road and on the way, very near to M.G. road, i noticed a Madras Sapper’s truck. The driver was in uniform and another person in uniform was sitting next to him. Suddenly from the other direction, a black army ambassador passed by which had a dark sun-film on its windows and one couldn’t make out who was sitting inside. Incidentally, I saw this Madras Sapper sitting next to the driver salute promptly towards the car. The speed with which he recognized the ambassador and signalled his salute was awesome. I think the salute is hard coded in his mind.

I admire the discipline in the forces.

Capote

2006-04-07T15:06:00.000+05:30

Watched Capote last weekend. Philip Seymour Hoffman was classic in his role as Truman Capote though throughout the movie I was struggling to understand his dialogues only to read later that Truman Capote had a very thin voice.

This movie directed by Bennett Miller is the true (I don’t claim this!) story of Truman Capote, author of Cold Blood, a childhood friend of Harper Lee. In fact, the character of Dill in ‘To Kill a Mocking bird’ was inspired by Capote’s life.

Catherine Keener as Harper Lee seems very calm and composed in her role which makes me think if there would be much of a difference in their behavior in real life, leave apart their accomplishments.
Chris cooper (American Beauty) has got a role in this movie too.

Capote was working as journalist in New Yorker when a family of four is brutally murdered in Holcombe, Kansas. Capote covered this story and it somehow convinced him that non-fiction can be handled as good as fiction and he set on writing a novel on this murder. In the process, he befriends one of the accused and this is how the story goes on.
He completed this novel ‘In cold blood’ but never wrote anything again and died of alcohol complications in 1984.

In real, Capote even hinted that he ghosted the story of ‘To Kill a Mocking bird’. He also wrote ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s'.

Munich

2006-04-03T13:01:00.000+05:30

Directed by Steven Spielberg, Munich takes you back to the Munich Massacre of 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich.

Eleven Israeli athletes were taken hostage and eventually killed by eight members of a Palestinian terrorist group called Black September. In retaliation, Mossad secretly backed by Golda Meir decides to wipe out the architects of Munich Massacre. They send a team to Europe to achieve the same.

Eric Bana plays the lead role of Avner Hoffman who leads this team. Daniel Craig, new James Bond actor, is also a member of this team along with Mathieu Kassovitz (Amelie). Spielberg has not tried to take any side. Eric Bana does full justification to the role.

The plot of the movie is very smooth and interesting. The nationality of most of the actors in the movie matches that of the characters therefore the movie seems very authentic.

Goof-ups in the scenes of this movie are available on net but none of them can be noticed by a layman.

Marie-Josée Croze is perfect in depiction of her dutch character. Mathieu Amalric has wonderful looks and his acting is flawless.
This movie contains nudity so don’t watch it with children.

A must watch, I would say.

The Fountainhead

2006-03-29T15:35:00.000+05:30

I finished reading Fountainhead. It is a very interesting novel which underlines the theory of Objectivism brought up by Ayn Rand in her characters.

Howard Roark: An ideal man, an atheist, who lives life on his own terms and proclaims or rather the author, proclaims through him that self happiness bound by reason is the sole aim in life and no amount of charity can replace it. He is an aspiring architect who believes in creativity and does not give into the stale ideas of any second-hander.

Dominique Francon: I liked everything about her character but her marriage to Keating. Her moments with Howard are as precious as the drops of water in a desert.

Gail Wynand: A living example of rags-to-riches life; Wynand, a publisher of famous tabaloid Banner employs the likes of Dominique and Toohey. He represents power- power to dominate anyone and anything; to demean or make anyone or anything larger than life. Dominique also ends up in a married life with him for 7 years. He comes up as the one of the only few characters you like during the last hundred pages of the novel.

Ellsworth Toohey: A character whom you will like till very long in the novel until you understand what he is up to. He believes in mediocrity and works towards putting it in a golden frame. His character comes up as the main villain in the novel.

Peter Keating: A weak soul whose occupation represents expectation of his mother. He lives his life on what people describe as the best. He accepts defeat at last (rather from the very beginning in the novel)

I did not want my write-up to be a spoiler that is why I chose to write about the characters rather than the story. It was very nice to read the story coming to a happy end. Moreover this is not what i think about the characters; this is what i think the author thought about the characters...

Another gem from GnR- Since i don't have you

2006-03-24T16:35:00.000+05:30

Guitar in this song makes me want to learn to play it...

I don't have plans and schemes,
And I don't have hopes and dreams.
I don't have anything,
Since I don't have you.

And I don't have fond desires,
and I don't have happy hours.
I don't have anything,
Since I don't have you.

I don't have love to share,
And I don't have one who cares.
I don't have anything,
Since I don't have you....

An old puzzle

2006-03-22T13:22:00.000+05:30

I found this in a mail that was sent to me long ago...Njoy.

Dr. Frank N Stein is teaching a course in fuzzy logic this semester. The
eminent AI guru is notorious for his difficult tests, so the students
have begged him repeatedly for a multiple choice quiz. Finally, with a
devious smile, he agrees. On the next test, he asks the first question
in Swahili, which no one can read. However, the following answer choices
are in English.

a)All of the below
b)None of the below
c)All of the above
d)One of the above
e)None of the above
f)None of the above

Select the correct answer...

joga bonito

2006-03-21T10:09:00.000+05:30

It was a nice Saturday evening…We won a football match against IISc. by 2-0. Actually it was 3-0 but the referee (their referee didn’t give us the third goal)… Football was followed by beer and discussion on the game.
Dear blog, we don’t always win. I sometimes don’t write about the games that we loose. No point remembering.

quick reviews

2006-03-20T09:11:00.001+05:30

I watched 2 movies yesterday.

Zinda: There are lots of loopholes in the movie and it’s not practical. It's a weak plot. Sanjay Dutt has no equal in the industry though. His acting is marvelous. John again failed to fill any punch in the movie- Avoidable movie.

Malamal weekly: A Priyadarshan movie but it is also punctuated with loopholes. It can’t be called a comedy movie at all. Paresh Rawal and Om Puri carried their characters very well- Only a time pass movie.

rest in next...

3 in 1

2006-03-17T10:15:00.000+05:30

Watched 3 movies last week: Taxi No. 9211, March of the Penguins and Bluffmaster.

All the movies are good. You will find a different story in Taxi No. 9211. It’s a delight to see Nana Patekar’s acting. This is a movie in which it looks for the first time that certain Mr. John Abraham can also act. This movie revolves more around Nana’s character than John’s. Priyanka Chopra has a guest appearance in the end.

March of the Penguins is a good documentary made into a movie. It depicts the sad or put it very difficult yet love-filled life of Penguins.

Bluffmaster: Another ‘Bunty aur Bubbly’ kind of a movie but frankly speaking I couldn’t guess the end of the story. The end makes it all worthwhile to watch once. Nana is superb yet again.

More to come....watch this space (as they say:)

Holi hai !

2006-03-15T15:59:00.000+05:30

Holi: A festival of colors, a festival of brotherhood. I feel it is the only day when all and sundry, rich and poor and people of different faiths look the same.

I enjoy this festival the most but I haven’t played it for 7 years now. This is the only day when you forget everything and wish/color your friends and enemies with equal jest. That's the spirit of Holi!

Greatest ODI

2006-03-13T13:49:00.000+05:30

It can be easily termed as the greatest ODI cricket match ever both from statistical as well as performance point of view.

12th march 2006- Johannesburg, South Africa

The last match of a 2-2 hung 5-match series; it was an important decider for Australia and South Africa. Australia made 434 runs in 50 overs crossing the highest ever ODI runs by a team setting a target of 435 for South Africa to chase. The score card of Kangaroos read something like this: Ponting 164 runs in 105 balls, Gilchrist 55 runs in 44 balls, 79 runs in 90 balls and Hussey 81 runs in 51 balls.

I never expected SA to even get close to this target so I stopped following the match. After some time, I was surfing the channels and I was struck to see South Africa at around 293 runs in almost 28 overs only at the loss of 4 wickets. Gibbs was at crease.
He went on to make 175 runs in 111 balls. Boucher stayed till the end to make 50 runs and Wath made 35 runs in 18 balls. SA chased on to win the match only on the second last ball of the last over by hitting the boundary.

26 sixes hit in a ODI match- maximum till todate; costliest over in ODI: 113 runs in 10 overs by Lewis of Australia.

Man of the match was shared by Gibbs and Ponting and Ponting didn’t mix any words and made it clear that SA deserved to win.

WOW! That’s cricket.

Of wisdom and its burden

2006-03-01T22:40:00.000+05:30

She finally removed the stitches today. Her husband- I guess he is her husband- had extracted my tooth last Thursday. With all his might, he had held and tried to pull my tooth with a surgical instrument quite identical to a plier. His date with my sleeping wisdom tooth lasted an hour. He tried to cut it, drill it, pull it and did all that he could do to get it out. Till to date, I feel the repercussions. After all resistance possible, my tooth finally gave in after an hour’s struggle and the doctor literally raised his hands in air in jubilation. There is one more wisdom tooth that needs to be extracted on the other side. Oh Gosh!

5 in 2

2006-02-27T00:07:00.000+05:30

Dear blog,

It is raining outside and I can hear the skies roaring at 23: 45.

I watched five movies in two days. That must be my record.

Yesterday, we watched the 16:10 Rang de basanti show at PVR in SRS mall. Good movie in terms of direction, locales, dialogues and comedy. The director mixed up with the end totally. All actors acted well. Aamir Khan’s artificial Punjabi accent was a put down sometimes or may be I had a problem with it. PVR at SRS mall is better than innovative multiplex at marathalli in Bangalore.

Then, I watched Parineeta dvd. Good direction, good acting, good story-book story, originality- such were its ingredients. Saif Ali Khan and Indian beauty Vidya Balan did full justice to their roles.

The first movie that I watched today was Maine Pyaar kyun kiya. It does make you laugh but unrealistic characters and untimely songs will make you get up and take a break. Sushmita seems to have been typecast into such do-gooder comedy roles until she changes it with her upcoming release Chingari. Salman, of late, has become an essential actor for any david dhawan kind of comedy movie. Save for one or two hits by unexpected directors, all comedy movies these days spring up either from David Dhawan camp or Priyadarshan camp. Read my next paragraph. I don’t know what to write further on comedy.

The next movie was Ek Ajnabee. Arjun Rampal’s role was inconsequential. A very good plot it was, I felt. The characters were not developed completely, incorrect editing and mediocre direction. It could have been better than it was. Vikram Chatwal also figures in the movie. Poultry queen shouldn’t do these kind of roles. Amitabh should stop playing these roles. Enough is enough. He is the most brilliant actor of Indian cinema. He shouldn't waste his time and evergy doing such movies. Amitabh has bagged the filmfare best actor award for his movie Black

The last movie of the day- Apharan. Nana Patekar has bagged the filmfare award for best villain for this movie. A usual Prakash Jha film means as usual a brilliant film. Jha is brilliant on handling any issue related to Bihar. Most of the actors in this film were also present in his film Gangajal. I don’t consider this movie any less than a brilliant movie on mafia-politician nexus in India.

6 more days to go. How many more will I watch?

Adios...

A melodius gift

2006-02-01T11:53:00.000+05:30

Last week, a good friend of mine gifted me an audio cd of Rang De Basanti. It was a nice surprise. The songs that I particularly liked are Ik Onkar, Roobaroo and Lalkaar. Lalkaar borrows a part of its lyrics from the famous lines written by our respected late freedom fighter Ram Prasad Bismil- Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil main hai….

Thanks buddy for the melodious gift…

internal soccer tournament-II

2006-02-01T10:21:00.000+05:30

Amidst lot of on and off field verbal duel with the opposition team fuelled by a collective rough playing, we won the semi-finals against J A Kixx by 2-1. They were better than us but we kept a good defense and like cricket, waited for the bad ball (read bad defense from their side). Two of our players got injured.

We played finals with a team incomplete yet full of enthusiasm against Real Minnows yesterday . We were loosing by 1-0 in the first half. They scored one more goal in the second half. Their main striker (who happens to be the main striker of our corporate team) shot very powerfully at our goal and our goalkeeper stopped it only to incur a fracture in his hand. A new goalkeeper came in his place. We were left with only 7-8 minutes. I and captain decided that we both should play forward if we want to score. This let up our defense and another three goals were scored against us in succession.

Theirs was a team better than ours but we could have managed a win against them as we did against J A Kixx. Not to mention some members from other teams(not necessarily all team members and not necessarily all football team members) watched the finals from outside making fun of us and throwing volleys of personal comments at us and they seemed more happy than the winners.

All said, I consider it a good feat that we came out second out of thirty six internal teams. Only two of us knew each other before the team was formed.

Another two corporate soccer tournaments are coming up mid of this month.. Hope we win…

internal soccer tournament

2006-01-23T18:58:00.000+05:30

An internal 5-a-side soccer tournament is going on in our company. The strictest rule is that by no means a team can have more than 3 players who play in corporate tournaments as a part of the soccer team representing our company. Our internal team has 2 such players: I and captain. The team is called Beagle boyz.

We won the league round against 4 teams (it means there were 5 teams in our group including us) beating them by the following score: 4-0, 6-0, 3-0, and 4-0. In pre-quarters we beat a team by 6-1. Today, in quarter finals we beat another team by 4-0. I scored two goals today (I am a defender :) and in total I have scored 4 goals by now. The team that we played against today was some competition but only in the first half.

The team that we play against in the semi-finals is a good team with a German playing in their team. Let’s see what happens!

Adios.

klueLESS

2006-01-21T13:39:00.000+05:30

A friend of mine introduced me to this puzzle and I find it very good.
It was conceptualized by students of IIM Indore as a part of their annual management festival held in November, 2005. Check out more details on http://iimi-iris.blogspot.com/

To play the game click on http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris/irising/klueLESS/ and check out how many levels you can cross…

Hv fun...
Adios.

Witness for the prosecution

2006-01-17T10:01:00.000+05:30

I watched this play in Rangashankara theatre on Saturday evening with a friend. It is based on a murder mystery written by Agatha Christie. It was enacted well by the artists- a mix of Indians and foreigners.

Long dialogues become difficult to bear with especially when you are sitting through a play that spans 2 hours. The break between the scenes in the play were a kind of interruptions where you could see some figures moving around the stage in the dark trying to fill glasses of water, moving the wooden walls while we were trying hard to recognize these figures and murmured to each other, ‘hey that guy played the part of inspector?’. My friend was of the opinion that the stage was not used properly.

The accent used in the play was that used by British and it was amazing to see that none of the characters failed to recall their long dialogues.

It was directed by Bhaskar and the perfection in the play was endorsed by the physical presence of Mr. M. S. Sathyu in the theatre.

The performance of all the artists was par excellence.

The last time I watched a play was in Chowdiah Memorial Hall- Woman in Black. There, the break between the scenes brought with it a curtain that covered the stage and all the in-between scenes activities went on behind it. So, at the end of play all one remembered were only the scenes.
You can visit Rankashankara theatre at http://www.rangashankara.org/

Adios.

Record-breaking cold in the North

2006-01-09T13:25:00.000+05:30

Temperature in Delhi dropped to as low as 0.2 degrees Celsius yesterday at 8:30 a.m. Last time, the temperature dropped down to these levels was in 1935- 70 years back!!
Patiala went to as low as -4 degrees. Rajasthan also shivered.

Dhal lake in Kashmir and Nakki Lake in Mount Abu have frozen! 150 people died in Punjab and 100 odd in Delhi because of such an intense cold.

Television channels were showing pictures of water frozen over cars in Delhi, Patiala, Jalandhar. On TV, people- covered in shawls, sweaters, jackets, headscarves etc.- could be seen enjoying the winter by squatting around a fire, sipping tea and cracking jokes. In Shimla (pronounced as Shimle by Punjabis :), school girls and boys were dancing on folk songs in groups to make winter more lively.

I miss being in the North.

Is it a climatic change? Is Delhi (North of India) going to experience such a winter every season?
I wish I was in my hometown to see ice on top of cars. It would have been amazing. The only time I have seen it snow was in Walldorf in year 2004 in March, April.

I called up a friend in Cyprus last evening and he told me that a taxi was waiting for him downstairs and that he was leaving for Australia. Hope his visit is better this time.

0040

2006-01-05T16:13:00.000+05:30

Last evening, I was talking to a friend (in Delhi) on mobile when there was a beep for another call waiting …
I saw the waiting call number- it was an ISD call. I finished my conversation with my friend. By then, the other waiting call had also ended.

The number began with 0040…Gosh! Do I know anyone in a European country other than England, Germany or Cyprus (I am not too sure about the geography of Cyprus)?
Today, I googled out to know that it is Romania’s ISD code!

Who could be calling me from Romania?
Wikipedia on Romania:
Romania (formerly also spelled Rumania or Roumania; Romanian: România) is a country in Europe. It is bordered by Ukraine and Moldova in the northeast; Hungary and Serbia and Montenegro in the west and Bulgaria to the south along the Danube River. Romania has a stretch of sea coast on the Black Sea and the eastern and southern Carpathian mountains run through its centre. Romania has been a member of NATO since 2004, and is also an acceding country to the European Union. The EU Accession Treaty was signed in early 2005, and Romania is due to join the Union on January 1, 2007.

May be I will visit Romania one day.

All this doesn’t mean you start calling me from a country in some corner of the world thinking I will put up information about your country on my blog ;-)) and visit it sometime…

BTW, did you know this?

ISD code of Turkey: 0090
ISD code of India: 0091
ISD code of Pakistan: 0092
ISD code of Afghanistan: 0093
ISD code of SriLanka: 0094
ISD code of Burma (Maynmar):0095
and last but not the least,
ISD code of Russia: 007...

FWD: Bela School Ludhiana

2006-01-04T13:42:00.000+05:30

I recd. a forward in punjabi which is worth putting up here :-)

To
The Principle,
Bela School,
Ludhiana

Respected Sir,

Binti eh hai ki aj kal school vich dil nahi lagda te raat nu neend nahi andi kyonki school vich kudiyan ghat ne, jo hai oh sab eniyan ajeeb ne ki dekhan nu ji ni karda.Te madama v koi khas ptaakaa nahi haan.Hor ni koch taan receptionist hi sohni rakh lavo taa ki nave bache admission laan leyyee motivate ho sakan . Aap ji da bahut dhanwad howanga.

Your faithfully,
Boys Association

Last blog of 2005

2005-12-31T16:37:00.000+05:30

Today is the last day of 2005. It is a Saturday. I got up at ten in the morning today because somehow my body clock wakes me up at three in the morning these days and then doesn’t let me sleep till seven because of which I feel very sleepy in office.

Last night, an old friend called me up from U.S.A to give the good news that she is carrying.
I came to office and did some work and did a bit of surfing necessary for my future plans…i may go out to a new year party tonight.
Some other old friends also called up and I called up some old friends.
Wish you all a very happy and successful new year! May 2006 bring you all love, luck and happiness.

Adios…