Semi-Charmed Life!

Great Britain Football Team

2012-01-19T12:06:00.002+05:30

For many the difference between Great Britain & Englandmay not exist but let me enlighten you as Great Britain actually is the islandwhich consists of England, Scotland & Wales while you also add in NorthernIreland it becomes United Kingdom. In Olympics however the team is officialcalled as Great Britain and Northern Ireland while we generally call it GreatBritain. In many sports England, Scotland & Wales have separate teams. Examplesof this include football & rugby while cricket sees Wales part of Englandwhile Ireland in rugby & cricket includes both Republic of Ireland &Northern Ireland while in football they play as separate teams. Despite a fewsportsmen being eligible for multiple nations they are patriotic as a goodexample is Ryan Giggs who despite being eligible to play for England alwaysstuck by Wales. Anyone who plays for England in Euro 12 is ineligible to bepart of this Great Britain team while Scotland, Wales & Northern Irelandhave not qualified for Euro 12 which means the best players of the respectiveteams can be part of this line-up. Ideally it would make sense if FA selects anyoung team for Euro 12 while the likes of Terry, Ferdinand, Barry, Lampard& Gerrard can exit international football by bowing out for the GB team butthat will never happen and this something which despite the various discussionsacross all forums England will continue to play overrated stars who fail atinternational level at every other major tournament. So with that intoconsideration I would name David Beckham as the Captain of the team with RyanGiggs becoming the Vice-Captain and English legend Alan Shearer can be themanager. This will be my 23 for the Olympics:

Goalkeepers

- Wayne Hennessey

- Ben Foster (Retired from English team only)

- Robert Green

Defenders

- Kieran Gibbs

- Kyle Walker

- Lee Wallace

- Alan Hutton

- Stephen McManus

- Jonny Evans

- James Collins

- Michael Dawson

Midfielders

- David Beckham (C)

- Ryan Giggs

- Charlie Adam

- Darren Fletcher

- Barry Bannan

- Gareth Bale

- Aaron Ramsey

- Tom Cleverley

Forwards

- Daniel Sturridge

- Craig Bellamy

- Gabriel Agbonlahor

- Connor Wickham

The Wedding Plan

2012-01-12T14:37:00.002+05:30

I can’t be in denial forever! Yes I have reached an age wheremen get married to women! But then it is getting next to impossible to not havea conversation which involves the very basic question “When are you gettingmarried?”

Ok….If I actually know the answer to this question I cananswer it but since I don’t have the answer I am unable to answer so don’t expecta bloody answer from me on this. Another statement which you can hear, now thatyou have bought a car you can get married! Anyone who can enlighten me on this willbe appreciated as I seriously don’t know who buying a car or even anything elseis remotely connected to getting married.

The other statement, “It is High Time” you get married! Theonly High Time I know off is the pub we used to frequent a few years backduring my Irevna days and I am still clueless why it is “High Time” that I getmarried! Age does comes in but at 28 I don’t think it is a necessity that I getmarried because I am 28 and I am soon facing the menacing 30 year mark!

Age has nothing to do with marriage but people stillconsidered that now that you have reached the “Right Age” you get married offto the next person they feel is right for you. It is not that I am dating theright person and I am not willing to get married! If am not married now simple,there are a variety of reasons and the key among them is that I have not metthat person.

We are all hypocrites and worse of the lots are our moms whoI imagine a few years back told her I am going to marry “X” she immediatelywould have asked me if she is a Brahmin Girl! I don’t know how being a Brahminmakes you marriage material but then now she “Claims” she is ok with anyone, somaybe I should put the theory to test and see if she is actually true to her claims.

The extended family, sheesh the most useless group of oursocial system where you are forced to listen and hear out people who in realityis off no use for you! I don’t mean to demean them but seriously I have notcome across one extended family member who I can go to when I am actually incrisis but then you always get free “Shitty” advice from them and of coursewhen it comes to marriages they think they know it and tell you it is time youget married.

It is easy for me to tell anyone to get married but then seriouslyif you have a real intention you would actually introduce me to a girl ratherthan make statements like “Get Married” as I can also make a millionstatements.

It is not true that I am against the intuition of marriage itselfbut then the whole process which currently is the flavor of the nation is theonline portals where you actually “Shop” and “Barter” for brides! Ridiculous asit may seem in Western societies dating sites exist for people to meet peoplebut here matrimony websites exists so that the girl and her folks can extractthe most of the boy! This may sound one sided but heck that is the truth as thetruth will hurt and any women reading this will oppose this by saying that allthe good men are married but I beg to differ! There are good people but guessyou are all blind in finding them!

If I get on to the whole matrimony website banter, I couldgo on and on but I decided to not waste time writing too much about crap!Seriously every parent thinks that his girl looks like a Katrina Kaif and everyparent and even the girl wants a Brad Pitt! Anyways the irony is that thesewebsites actually makes the whole arrange marriage agreement looks like acomplex M&A deal! I am being very decent here in calling it an M&Adeal!

So I can safely answer that I am not getting married now becauseI am not seeing anyone and you can safely assume that I don’t have the answerto the question “When are you getting married?”

Australian Open 2012: Preview & Predictions

2012-01-11T13:47:00.001+05:30

Every January for Tennis it means only one thing which isthe Australian Open! (Sorry Chennai folks). The first slam of the year has overthe years have seen some real surprise winners and have also seen some comebackvictory from out-of-action stars. It is still early in the season and theAustralian Open has always been one of the most unpredictable grand slams ofall time.

Though the men’s tennis a few years back was a battlebetween 2 future legends in Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal but recently NovakDjokovic has emerged as a potent force while Andy Murray would want to breakhis grand slam duck and win his 1^st major here at Melbourne. Apartfrom these 4 there is Juan Martin Del Potro who is back from a serious injuryand he could be challenging the top 4 towards the end of the year butAustralian Open is still too early for him to pose a threat for the title.

Among the others, the likes of Tomas Berdych, Jo-WilfriedTsonga, Mardy Fish & Andy Roddick will all be there during the 2^ndweek but apart from providing an odd scare none of them can really break thetop 4. Among the 4 surprisingly Roger Federer looks the strongest and don’t betoo surprised if he wins his 17^th slam here as even an out of formFederer can reach semi-finals of a slam easily.

The women’s field ever since the demise of the Williams sistersand the retirement of Hingis has not seen one individual dominate the sport fora long period as it has happened in the men’s tour but the likes of MariaSharapova, Kim Clijsters & Justin Henin has showed in the past they canhave small dominating streaks in them. Last year Clijsters managed to pull offa remarkable win but this time around things should be tough for her.

Petra Kvitova had a remarkable run last year even beatingSharapova to win Wimbledon last year and she is surely one of the favorites forthe title along with Sharapova as the former World # 1 still has it in her towin a few more slams and after overcoming a career threatening injury last yearSharapova showed shaded of her form and this year could be her year if shestays injury free and maintains consistency.

Caroline Wozniacki maybe the #1 player in the world but sheneeds some serious luck if she needs to win a slam as despite success on thetour, she seems to chock towards the end of a slam while Victoria Azarenka could be a very seriouspotential for the title if she reaches the 2^nd week. Na Li after hersuccess last year has not really showed great form while Samantha Stosur, thehome favorite after her US open win will be among the contenders here.

Ofcourse you can’tdiscount the likes of Serena Williams, Jelena Jankovic, Francesca Schiavone, SvetlanaKuznetsova & Daniela Hantuchova who can provide the odd upsets and couldall be very dangerous in the 2^nd week of the Australian Open. AnaIvanovic, the former top ranked player apart from bringing in the glamour quotientwill also be looking for a revival as the last 2 years has not been good forher and she will be hoping to resume her on field rivalry with Sharapova.

While predicting themen’s section seems easy and simple, as usual the women’s draw could throw upanything and it is bold of me to predict a Sharapova win here but then tennishas seen stranger things and an all new Sharapova era may begin soon.

Hi Mayans…..Welcome 2012!

2012-01-11T12:09:00.002+05:30

Alright during the last month I did mention it was a lazy Decemberand guess what after that post it has been nearly 30 days and I am yet to postso I decided to break the habit and post once again. All of a sudden I feelthat New Year’s Eve is one of the most over-rated days ever! Reason I am yet toclarify but then there could be a variety of those, for starters maybe I ambored of the same old place I go every time or just that I am without a date oreven worse I am getting older! It can be a mix of both but this year was muchbetter than the previous one so can’t complain too much!

According to Hindu astrology my good times are to start postDecember 21^st 2011, so I actually expected to land up a Ferrari& to date a tall blonde tennis player but then neither did happen or else Iam just overly optimistic! Maybe it’s all mambo jambo or maybe there is some sciencetowards it but any positive news of hope is good. I did get a week long breakat the end of the year and I wanted to do a lot of things but ended up notdoing much but then was busy with some “social commitments” so I guess thattook a lot of time off me.

Biggest good thing about 2011 is that I started reading alot and when I say a lot it is surely more than a book a month on an averagewhich I feel is very good. I am going for Jive classes and yes I can jive! Ya Imay not be the best but then seriously with my built anything on the dancefloor are a bonus! Ran regularly during the previous year which is good whilealso welcomed “Masha Corsa” which was long due but finally did happen. Twothings off the bucket list which includes a F1 race while also made a trip tothe United States! A few bonuses will include getting to watch a few concerts!

Yes I was single during the start of the year and I am verymuch single again during the start of this year too and for once I hope people don’task me the bloody old question “When is you wedding?”, actually this has givenme an idea for a more elaborate post which I will work on so till then this oneholds!

As for the One is concerned seriously I don’t give a damn ormaybe I am saying it now since I am in a “Whatever” mood but then common,reality is a bitch and at times reality can be a nice bitch too! For all setand done, it is very nice and dreamy to think of the situation but ya like Isaid, reality at times knocks sense too and why the hell should I fall for it!I hold the cards and I hold all the aces! WTF! I should not be the one thinkingtoo much!

Ok, I guess this is lots for the start of the year post andall I want to do is that I want to blog more often and maybe complete the bookwhich I planned a longtime back atleast this year! Cheers to a rocking 2012 andif the Mayans are right, heck I better do a lot of things before the end of theworld!

Lazy December

2011-12-08T15:55:00.001+05:30

Time of the month where you get lazy and just do not doanything!

Well it is supposed to be the so-called winter in Chennaiwhere apart from the rains which causes so much chaos to the usually “NormalChaos” which prevails in this city. Also the mornings are cold, well the non-cityfolks may protest for this statement but heck a person born and bred here, itis a bit cold here during “Winters” so to hell with non-believers!

Anyways right from school days we are used to havingholidays during December and now at work with the holiday season fad coming onto us also it is the time of the year when people take vacations and generally alazy feeling sets up. My suggestion is not to work in December but then myother suggestion is not to work at all!

Anyways with rains and also laziness playing a part mywork-out schedule has totally gone for a toss that I am struggling to restartthe whole process. I am as I type actually plotting a run for today, so let’ssee how that goes.

December is tough and with New Year, well personally thisyear I have been the least kicked about New Year’s Eve as really it is justthat I am totally bored with all the hype which goes with it or that I just donot have planned anything!

One things is certain one thing I wanted to do a few NewYears back is complete but now I wonder should I go down the path which usuallytakes me during New Year or just do something different! Well I do vote fordoing something different J

To hear it goes, anyways with this post I am bettering mylast year’s level of post and with 2012 I can promise that I would try to havemore posts than ever before! Btw, since it is a Lazy December, I was reallylazy in writing this post heck managed to finish it!

Over the Curbs Awards – 2011

2011-11-28T12:32:00.001+05:30

After a stunning 2010 season where till the final race ofthe season you were not sure who will win the F1 Driver’s Championship but 2011turned out to be a year where Vettel not only became the youngest double WorldChampion but also broke Mansell’s long standing record of the most number ofpoles in a season. Red Bull proved that they are no one-hit wonder and thatthey are here to stay. Red Bull was so dominant that Vettel and RBR won thetitles even before the season was over. McLaren and Ferrari were able tochallenge the team only at few races while the mid-field battle between ForceIndia, Sauber and STR was pretty exciting.

Schumacher nearly hot the podium in Canada but though hestill struggles in qualifying, overall the German Legend has improved his racepace and given a good car can challenge for wins once again though there weresilly errors from him throughout the season. Also the whole Lotus saga comes toan end with Lotus Renault GP will now become Lotus while Team Lotus will becomeCaterham.

Robert Kubica was severely injured before the season startedand he is not ready to drive a F1 car. We all hope during the course of the2012 season, he can atleast drive a car in tests and show that he still has itin him. Also there were talks of Kimi racing for Williams and Lotus Renault for2012 but given the state of global economy and Kimi’s inflated salary, don’t thinka Kimi comeback is on cards.

Among the 3 new tears none really made a huge progress but TeamLotus did manage to challenge some mid-field team during a few races and theyshould make the jump from this pack to challenge the likes of Sauber and STR.Williams are on a deep slide and they had their worst ever F1 season. If theycontinue going this way they may end up like the original Team Lotus and mayeventually go into liquidation. For 2012 they have big plans and they have signedup with Renault for engines. They had the same Renault engines during their successfulperiod 1989 to 1997. Realistically, we can’t expect the team to win races butthey should be challenging the likes of Sauber and STR.

Also there was the first ever Indian GP and it managed to goon without a hitch while Force India has sold a 42% stake to the Sahara group andwith Sahara coming onboard, the only way for Force India is to go up and aftera stunning last 2 seasons, the team should challenge the likes of Lotus Renaultfor the coming season.

Over the Club Awards for 2011 Season:

Driver of the Season – Sebastian Vettel

Team of the Season – Red Bull Racing

The Next Big Thing – Paul di Resta

Most Improved Driver – Jenson Button

Most Improved Team – Force India

Race of the Season – Canadian Grand Prix

Best Grand Prix – Singapore Grand Prix

Worst Grand Prix – Chinese Grand Prix

Rookie of the season – Paul di Resta

Most disappointing driver of the Season – Lewis Hamilton

Most disappointing team of the Season – Williams

Lucky to be in F1 (for the season) - Jarno Trulli

Veteran of the Season – Michael Schumacher

Comeback of the Season – Adrian Sutil

Most entertaining driver of the season – Michael Schumacher

Most boring driver of the season – Vitaly Petrov

JV of the Season – Lewis Hamilton
(For the driver who talks utter nonsense like how JV used to do it in hisracing days)

Whiner of the season - Rubens Barrichello

Most missed Driver – Robert Kubica

Least missed Driver - Pedro de la Rosa

The Search

2011-11-08T17:29:00.002+05:30

The search is something which never ends. Time flies bywhile we age and decay but the search is a never ending quest which one takesand which one hopes to find the end result at the end of this search but thendeep down he always hopes that the quest goes and on as he truly does not knowwhat he is actually searching for. This very predicament keeps us to continue onthe very search we started without knowing much about it. The very search whichbegins in the mind slowly becomes a reality as time goes on.

Time eases the pain as through time you get too easy off thepain in a slow way but then again, this very time does not heal things andmakes you feel it till the very end. Do we always have to search for something orare that through this very search we go on looking for something which isactually right before us? Are we doing the wise thing in actually searching andgoing on this quest which makes us a different person?

At times when you lose something, you have lost it foreverand second chances is something which never comes by no matter where you go, asthe one chance which you did have and you lose is something which you willregret forever and the pain of seeing it day after day and realizing what couldhave been makes you further deep down into the quest where the truth is no onereally where to go on after all once time takes over, everything under yourcontrol is no longer under your control.

The old age saying that if you really want something, youwill get it no matter what happens so if you are really searching for somethingwhich you believe in, despite time, there is a good chance of getting there.But then it is this very juncture that we get lost in time that we forgeteverything beautiful about the quest and the true meaning of search. The searchmay go on forever but the true search is something which is the essential coreof the quest which if lost makes us lose ourselves to time.

Is it really possible for second chances? Everyone deservesone but then when you do believe in something no matter what happens yourbelief remains the same. It is this believe which fights time and gives youhope that someday the quest will be over but the same hope can turn against youand go against time in a quest which never seems to end and it just becomeslonger and longer with each day time taking over things.

If it is something which is right before our eyes, thenthere is actually no reason to go for this quest but then you always do realizethat it existed before you had to take the quest only after you actually go onit and search for something which was there after all but you did never realizeit till you were on the quest searching for something which led you on to it.The quest and search may seem never ending but then if you do truly believe inyour very belief, then you could be lost in time forever searching for somethingwhich someone had found but this is the very search which keeps you going.

Getting lost is an added bonus as it makes the search moreeasy as the more you are lost the easy searching become as the search needs apurpose and this very purpose is something we get only after we lose it butthen time will and always conspire against you. The quest, the search andgetting lost in the process is something which cannot go on forever as timecontrols us all and this very time gets on to us.

The rabbits exist and it is the very black rabbit whichmakes us fall while the white rabbit showed up and instead of following thewhite rabbit; we end up following the black rabbit which leads to the searchand the quest. But time won’t let us chase the rabbit forever as there was atime the white rabbit was something which I searched for but now the whiterabbit is something which I stills search for but then then I am lost andfighting time.

The Crazy and no-so Crazy Driver Market!

2011-10-27T11:28:00.000+05:30

The F1 driver market will always be an interesting read asat times you can hear some audacious stories floating around. For 2012, thereis an unusual calm and more or less all the big 4 teams have announced their drivers.I don’t expect any change in Red Bull (Vettel & Webber), McLaren (Button& Hamilton), Ferrari (Alonso & Massa) and Mercedes (Schumacher &Rosberg) and also Sauber has announced that it will continue with Sergio Perez &Kamui Kobayashi while Team Lotus has re-signed both Heikki Kovalainen &Jarno Trulli, there is still some speculation on Trulli’s role if he is goingto be a race driver or will he take up a David Coulthard type of role.

Williams, Lotus Renault, Force India, Scuderia Toro Rosso, MarussiaVirgin Racing and HRT still has available seats and there are plenty of driversin the market. The biggest news which is going around is that former WorldChampion Kimi is having talks with Williams. One may wonder why a driver of thecaliber of Kimi would have talks with Williams but it actually makes sense foreveryone involved if this actually happens. Williams have gone from one of themost dominant team of the 90’s to a mid-field team which this season has goneeven worse. They are just ahead of the 3 new teams of F1. Force India andSauber are well ahead and even the possibility of catching up Toro Rosso isremote. Williams have announced a partnership with Renault but Red Bull is thepremier works team of Renault while Williams is more or less a customer teamonly. The benefit for Williams by signing Kimi is that they have a former Championracing for them and this could easily attract new sponsors for the team. Alsothe serious intent that the team is looking at breaking away from the mid-fieldwill be shown by this move. Williams took a lot of flank by replacing Hulkenberg with Pastor Maldonado but then atleast the team’s financial situation is stableand Maldonado is doing a pretty decent job and comes with a decent driverpedigree as having won the GP2 Championship. For Kimi, Williams is the sort ofteam where he would have less pressure as no one expects him to win races withthe team and a few good drives would once again entice the likes of Red Bulland McLaren. If Kimi had gone to Red Bull and had Vettel smoked him out like heis doing it to Vettel, Kimi’s future in the sport will have a downward spiral.So Kimi and Williams is the best combination for both the parties involved.

Force India is now almost challenging Renault for the 5^thplace and has a realistic chance of taking it but then with Sahara taking overa major stake in the team and also Sahara is keen on an Indian driving for theteam, things are not too clear for the team. But then Paul di Resta seems tohave a contract for 2012 while there are reports saying that Nico Hulkenberg hasalready signed for 2012. This line-up seems to be the most logical for the teamand if the car is as good as this year, this line-up can pose a challenge foreven 4^th place for the 2012 season. F1 is business and nationalisticideals do not go well with it and Force India may actually will not a sign anIndian driver to race while Sutil is bound to get the axe despite being in theteam since the beginning. Sutil has had enough chances and also the brawl inChina has not done him any favors. He has some personal sponsors and he islooking at the Williams seat as well but then his days in F1 is more or lessover if Force India does drops him.

Lotus Renault is the most complicated team on the grid asdespite being called a Renault the team has nothing to do with the car companyand all it does is run Renault engines. The team could have had a stellar yearthis season but Kubica’s accident has ruined everything and his replacement NickHeidfeld has failed drastically and has even been dropped by the team. It is abit harsh on Heidfeld as more or less his F1 career is over with this move.Kubica is still recovering and there are rumors floating around that he maybecome the reserve driver for Ferrari in 2012 and take up the race seat duringthe 2013 season once Massa’s contract is done. This seems to be a good optionfor Kubica as given how murky the Renault teams has become. Renault still had adecent car and could attract some good drivers but does the team actually hasthe money to pay a good driver is a good question. Vitaly Petrov & BrunoSenna are currently racing while Petrov is well backed, Senna if he could pulloff some good performance during the last few races, could be a good for theteam as the Senna name can attract sponsors. Romain Grosjean is more mature anda better driver than we last saw him and his French connections could earn hima seat but then it call comes to money when Lotus Renault will decide on itsdrivers.

Toro Rosso has four drivers for 2012 with the incumbents Jaime Alguersuari & Sebastien Buemimore or less evenly matched but with new Spanish sponsors coming in,Alguersuari may have an edge while Daniel Ricciardo & Jean-Eric Vergne willalso come into the mix. Ricciardo has done decently well with HRT while Vergneis rated highly but still is untested in F1. STR may just drop both Alguersuari& Buemi and bring in the other guys.

For the minnows, Timo Glock will race for 2012 while Jeromed’Ambrosio may get the boot. The likes of Charles Pic & Giedo Van der Gardewill come into the mix while even Petrov can come in if Lotus Renault decidesto give him the ax. For HRT, the biggest thing once again will be getting theircar ready and anyone with enough money will be driving for team but VitantonioLiuzzi may yet be retained.

Rubens Barrichello’s long F1 career is coming to an end andit looks certain that Williams have not renewed his contract while LotusRenault could be his realistic shot at driving a good car while HRT may signhim if he brings in the money.

2012 looks sober but 2013 will be very interesting with thelikes of Hamilton, Massa, Webber, Schumacher and Rosberg all without contractsmeaning that big 4 teams has seats available. But Mercedes is sure to sign onRosberg unless McLaren dumps Hamilton while Schumacher will retire at the endof next season but then a few race wins may even keep him going longer for abit. Massa needs a miracle to continue with Ferrari while only a WorldChampionship could get Red Bull retain Webber. Hamilton’s best chance ofanother title is with McLaren but then stranger things has happened in F1 and aformer World Champion did sign for BAR and his F1 career plunged into thedepths and it never took off again. Kimi’s return will be a big plus for the 2013 silly season as a solidyear with Williams could add him in the mix and F1 is just getting interesting.

The Joyful List!

2011-10-19T12:03:00.000+05:30

There are songs which makes you cry and there are songswhich uplift you but then there are songs which no matter in which state ofmind you are will always make you happy and joyous. These are the songs whichtransform your mood in minutes J

So here is the list:

Counting Crows - Accidentally in Love

This is the ultimate happy song IMO. With its upbeat tempoand very catchy music, this is one song which you can keep listening too andwhich will make you just that happy J

Ronan Keating – Life is a Roller Coaster

I still wonder why this song never got the due it deservedbut then this song is perfect when it comes to life itself! The title is aptand it is one of those songs which can just bring you when you are down.

Third Eye Blind – Semi-Charmed Life

There is a debate on what the song is still on but this songwill just wake you up and sort of even enlighten you….lol! One of the greatestsongs from the 90s J

Fool’s Garden – Lemon Tree

Arguably the most under-rated song of all time, Lemon Treeis the song to listen to when you are down and all alone. It is actually asuper fun karaoke song when you are in a group!

The Monkees – I’m a Believer

Be it the Monkees version or even the Smash Mouth version,this song is very powerful.

Jonny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now

The song may have come out in 1972 but even now many peopleswear by this song. Jonny Nash is a legend and this very song has hissignature!

Turtles – Happy Together

The song maybe popular in recent times thanks to JenniferAniston Heineken advertisement but it is a timeless classic which has beencovered a million times!

The Wonders – That Thing You Do!

That Thing You Do! is one of the greatest one hit wonder andthe irony of that is that even in the movie the fictional band’s only his isthis song! A very nice catchy song which just makes you happy!

Daniel Powter – Bad Day

How can song named Bad Day be a happy song? Very simple justlisten to the song when you are really down and just feel what it does to you.One of those songs that will bring you back no matter how bad you are.

Chumbawamba – Tubthumping

This song can make it all lists, be it a beer song or arunning song, but this song is also a very good song to listen to when youdown. A bloody good song which has to be part of any playlist, it is enjoyedbest when you are happy and enjoying life J

Chenn-aid!!!

2011-10-14T15:45:00.001+05:30

Not that I have been to Africa but from reliable sources itis easy to buy liquor in most parts there rather than in Chennai which is saidto be a metropolitan city and one of the largest cities in India. India claims tobe the world’s largest democracy with its economy next only to China when youconsider growth rate but to get a cold beer in Chennai is next to impossible!

Even Tom Cruise and his team would find it tough to source acold beer here. Last Sunday, a day when Vettel sealed his world title, we weretrying to buy some cold beer and guess what after trying in a few shops whichdid not even stock up beer, the only shops which had beer had some obscurenever before heard of brands and one other place which looked like a fuckingpig sty were asking for INR 100 for cold beer! On top of it he did not evenhave Lager and he brought the beer in a freaking sack! What the hell ishappening?

In the end we just decided to ditch it and but Red Bullsince Vettel was winning! Common guys, it can’t be this tough to get a beer inthis city! Similar story happened a few months back when we wanted to buy Rum,just regular Old Monk not some 18 year old Single Malt Whiskey and we finallygot it after going to some 6 shops! In fact we just decided that if we are notable to get in the 6^th shop we would rather buy some Coke and drinkit!

Though on paper there are reports that you get brands likeCarlsberg, Corona, Bacardi, etc… in reality you get brands like Shivas (WTF)! Imean common, don’t we as residents of this city deserve better?

Why look further, just go out of the city to Pondicherry orto neighboring Bangalore where the best of brands are available at retail priceeverywhere! There used to be a time when Food World used to stock up liquor inthe city when it was known as Madras. Guess with the change of the name, thecity lost its old colonial charm and it is down to the dust!

As you all know, the political scene in this state alone is dominatedby 2 parties whose only aim is to outdo each other rather than do somethinggood for the people of the state! Only here you will come across open buying ofvotes with parties vying with each other distributing freebies to get votes. Usuallyonce one party is out of power the other party tries to change every singlepolicy implemented by the previous regime but this TASMAC (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation)getting monopoly over selling of liquor is one policy which will never bechanged as it does rakes in money for the government, but then at what cost?

Regular scene outside these outlets!

We live in a timewhen Men & Women are equal but do you actually think that any women can goand purchase liquor in these hideous outlets? Forget women even the bravest ofmen would not go there as the place stinks of puke! It is not common to seeguys outside drinking and puking in the same fucking place! The place lookslike prison out of the deepest 3^rd world county and it is anexperience in buying in these outlets!

Luckily I don’t needto buy liquor at these outlets but I feel sorry for every other decent personwho has to go through this bloody ordeal of buying it in these stores. We livein a free world and yet we are forced to go through this crap!

I am not asking for24/7 stores but then even if this city can go back to the days when liquor wasavailable in Supermarkets that would do. Why can’t both private and government shopsco-exist?

On the side note,what the hell where they smoking when they kept the name TASMAC? Ridiculous!

(Force) What India!!!

2011-10-13T13:33:00.000+05:30

Last week Vijay Mallya, owner of Force India denied that histeam was up for sale and he is never selling it. A week later, Force India isnow Sahara Force India with the Sahara Group taking over 42% stake in the team.This coming from a Member of Parliament in India and a business tycoon whose isinvolved heavily in the Liquor and Aviation. Force India has always had areputation of paying vendors late and now this coming from the team owner is ridiculous.

Jordan F1 despite their limited budgets has always stood outfrom the rest of the teams and during the 1999 season, the team was actually incontention for the driver’s Championship! Imagine had Honda chosen Jordan aheadof BAR as its works team, things would have been different but unfortunately thatdid not happen and Jordan just declined and towards the end of its life wasjust ahead of Minardi the perennial back markers in F1.

Before Mallya took over the team, the team was initiallyknow as Midlands and then Spyker took over the team before finally Mallyataking over and making it Force India. One thing had to be accepted, ever sinceMallya took over the team has improved every other season and now is a consistentmid-field team which was what Jordan used to be in the late 90’s. Also unlikemany other private teams, the team never had pay drivers and though driverslike Sutil does come with limited sponsorship while having di Resta wouldentitle them to some discount from engine suppliers Mercedes, but still boththe drivers come with good pedigree and they deserve their seats.

Sahara investing in the team and taking over in an idealworld will be good for F1 but knowing Sahara and its patronage of cricket, thisdeal is not good in the long run for this team. The owner lied about the saleof stake and then there is no concrete plan for the future but the only thingwe now know is that they wanted an Indian driver in the team. Even if theIndian driver is of the caliber of Sutil or Glock it would make sense but thenthey just need to look at Super Aguri when they decided to field drivers forthe sake of nationality. We got the likes of Yuji Ide and Sakon Yamamoto; bothdo not deserve to be anywhere near a F1 track.

Currently we have 2 Indians in F1 in some form with Karthikeyan,who raced for the HRT for a few races and also their reserve driver while Chandok whomanaged a race with Team Lotus. Neither have done enough to justify a drivewith Force India when the likes of Nico Hülkenberg who is without adrive after a more than decent debut season with Williams and has had a stellarjunior formula career. The era of pay drivers is bad enough but now this era offielding drivers for the sake of nationality is absurd. Ferrari has not fieldedan Italian driver since Ivan Capelli in 1992 and the likes of Luca Badoer and GiancarloFisichella only got to drive because of Massa’s injury. Honda made a mistake ofpersisting with Sato for a very longtime and it did hurt them during the 2004season when Button was the best for a non-Ferrari driver while Sato despitehaving the best car which was not a Ferrari could only finish 8^th.

Do we really need this?

The other aspect which has really shocked me was to seeadvertisements for Force India branded merchandise sold by Reebok havingcricketers endorsing it. Is this not very absurd and the very brand is actuallyinsulting a fan by doing this. Just because Dhoni is going to be on posters ofForce India merchandise means that they are going to sell more t-shirts. LetDhoni and the rest of the cricketers endorse the brand for their clubs but whythe hell would you want a cricketer endorsing merchandise of different sport.Imagine KP endorsing McLaren merchandise!!!

For the sake of F1, we do not need cricketers promoting itas well the Bollywood stars hogging the limelight for cheap publicity. On topof all this the Indian government does not recognize this as a sport and callsit an entertainment. The current Indian government which is possibly the most corruptin the world instead of using F1 as a tool to ensure that the process is welland good in India is now making life as much tough as possible for everyoneinvolved. Do we really need this race? Only time will tell but I feel Indian GPis the new Turkish GP!!!

F1 Rocks!

2011-10-12T17:12:00.001+05:30

If you ask me what my favorite sport is I would just spurtout F1 without even thinking twice! Yes this comes from a person where Cricketis a religion and the real funny thing is that cricket will only be my 4^thfavorite sport!

I always wanted to go for a grand prix and finally a fewweeks back went to Singapore for the only night race in the F1 calendar and Ican say only one thing, F1 Rocks!!!

Yes, there is a difference between having a few beers andwatching the race in one kick-ass big screen TV rather than drinking (expensive)beer in the hot sun and waiting to see cars just pass by you in a second andnot to forget the insane amount of noise. But in the end the experience ofwatching the race live is something totally different and any F1 fan has toexperience it atleast once in their life. It is a sight to see cars going at300 km/hr on a track which is just a few feet away from you!

If you are one of those kinds who do think that F1 is allabout cars going in circles you stop reading it but then if you are stillinterested in having a kick-ass holiday on limited budget well I guess you cancontinue to read.

Singapore is a small city-state which according to many wholive there is boring and you basically have nothing to do. Well for a tourist Iwould beg to differ as Singapore during the whole racing weekend was adifferent place to be. If you want to experience at its fullest then a tripduring the race weekend is a must visitJ.

The plan for the trip was actually laid out when India wason its way winning the Cricket World Cup and what was originally planned aftera few rounds of beer took shape one Saturday afternoon as the tickets we saw onTiger Airways was too good to be true and we just booked tickets. The cost of around way ticket to Singapore is cheaper than going to Mumbai! Tiger Airwaysmay not be the preferred airlines but for that rate and with the flight beingjust under 4 hours, it is well worth it after all. Not bad and it is a surevalue for money!

Singapore is bloody expensive during the race weekend andhotels hike up prices during the race weekends but then if you are travellingwith friends the best place you can go to is “Hostel Amigos”. The friendlyplace is very cheap and also clean. Plus you have a make shift bar at the rooftop where you can meet like-minded travelers. Plus being very close to theLavender station which is right at the middle of Singapore you practically neednot spend anything on taxi. You take the metro straight from the airport toLavender! Plus it is a very quiet place and with lawns all around it is a goodplace to just chill & laze around.

The race zone was a different thing and will close to100,000 people you would expect pandemonium but the place was so organized thatyou could hardly feel the crowd! Beer was expensive and the F1 merchandise evenmore but in the end if you are true fan you need to wear a bloody team jerseyand watch the race. You also get to experience various food stalls and therewas even Biryani stalls!

As part of the whole race experience apart from the smaller raceswhich apart from the drivers and teams of those categories no one actuallycares about them but then when it comes to entertainment nothing beats Singaporeand this year we had Shakira, Linkin Park and Shaggy! Shakira live was a differentball game and she just rocked the place. Another note, you need to go early andstand in a freaking long ling to get the fan zone pass but it is totally worthit. Shakira 10 meters away performing is something different. Linkin Parkrocked the house as well and though Linkin Park live was not as special as aShakira is but the concert was bloody good and the performance was high octane!

If you are in Singapore you need to visit the UniversalStudio especially for the Egyptian roller-coaster and this is a high-speedindoor roller-coaster which is blow you out! Apart from the other usualattractions like Jurassic Park, Shrek, Water World, Madagascar and Hollywood Boulevard,Universal studio is a good place to hang around for a whole day types.

Sentosa Island where this is located has other attractionsbut the beach is a must visit and despite being not a very long beach, it is agood place to have a few beers and sit under the sunJ. Also the laser show there isa must miss as it is a sheer waste of time!

When in Singapore you have to taste the Chinese food thereand the Chicken Rice you get there is phenomenon. It is a very healthy foodwhich is damn tasty as well and would do nothing to you. Chinese food is prettycheap there and even the road side joints are more hygienic than most places inIndia. Apart from Chinese food, Thai food is a must and also if you a Sea foodfan then you will love Singapore.

The night life is virtually 24/7 there with 7/11 storeswhich is practically everywhere in Singapore selling beer 24/7 while joints inClarke Quay are open till 6 AM in the morning!

Then the typical usual places to visit include OrchidStreet, China Town, Little India and a few other places which I can’t remembernow!

On the whole it was an amazing trip and apart from the race,Singapore rocked and this is one place which I would like to go as often aspossible!

Hats-Off to English Selectors!

2011-09-29T12:30:00.001+05:30

Yet again people are complaining that South African born StuartMeaker is selected for the English team and that England is nothing but a SouthAfrican rejects XI. Well despite Cricket being a religion in the country Indianfans atleast a majority of them are the most uneducated lot and their argumentsare ridiculous with at times bordering insanity!

They are sore losers and cannot take a criticism on oneparticular batsman while a true legend of the game Rahul Dravid is beingtreated by toilet paper by the selectors. Rahul Dravid is by far the greatestteam man cricket has ever seen and he is a true sporting hero like Ryan Giggs!But then there was not even a little fanfare when he despite scoring over10,000 runs retired from ODI cricket while another cricketer’s house warming ceremonygets a bigger coverage.

Funny that we protest against the selection of South Africanborn cricketers but again it is actually legally wrong to discriminate a cricketer’sselection based on where he is born. If he is English qualified and availablefor selection and has performed, then English selectors have every right to pickhim. Same time in India where the fans go up in arms for selection of SouthAfrican born cricketers in English teams, the same fans knows nothing aboutinternational citizenship laws while at the same time remain quiet when theselectors son who struggles to make it to Tamil Nadu first class side make itto the Emerging Players Tournament!

We are a society which claims to be the most democratic inthe world but in reality a family has been ruling the country for over 50 yearswhile the cricketing board is a cozy club of Politicians and Industrialist whorun it like a mafia unit. In a land where quota system is ruining any progressthe country is making and with corruption at every corner, where you can paymoney and get into sports team, the fans better look at their own skeletonsrather than look at others.

There is nothing wrong in guys like Meaker playing andsucceeding for England. If that is the case who many Indians ply their trade incountries like UK? The very Indians make a living there and it is ridiculous tosee English passport holders supporting the Indian team. If they are sopatriotic why don’t they resign their citizenship and passports? They wear an Indianjersey but then they won’t come back to India!

And people who support English teams in India are calledtraitors while it is actually cool to support Sri Lanka and Pakistan! Twocountries that have caused enough problems for us in the last 50 years! Englandis free society and it is great that there is no racial discrimination inselection basis and we should try to emulate their system rather than just keeptaking pot shots at them for every other thing.

Run Fore……..%$^%$&^%! Brakes!

2011-09-15T13:17:00.001+05:30

Given the appalling state of the behavior of our motoristyou don’t actually expect them to show any etiquette when you are running innormal streets but then when you are running in streets where there is noofficial running zone but generally it is a known running spot where the behaviorof the motorist has deteriorated drastically in the last few years.

Even the most basic courtesy is not shown by the motorist.In a road where there are runners and walkers you have kids cycling and alsopeople taking their dogs for walks, you need to obey the speed limit but youare see both bikes and cars hitting nearly close to 100 kilometers when areenough blind spots on the road to actually cause a very serious accident. Giventhat this is not a main road sometimes it is actually scary to see these peoplewiz past you!

A person runs because of various reasons but fundamentally aperson runs because he loves running and any serious runner would find ithighly irritating when he is stopped during a run. Well you may wonder who maydo it but I actually had an experience yesterday where when I was running a guyblocks my path with is car and then had the audacity to actually ask fordirections. Does he think he owns the road by actually blocking a person and asksfor directions? I decided to not to lose my cool as it would affect my run andjust told him to “Go Fuck Yourself”

The other issue for runners is that at times when they are crossingyou have mad drivers actually come straight at them and despite the fact thedriver sees the runner running, this sort of behavior is unasked for shows how patheticpeople are. Seriously you are expected to maintain some etiquette whiledriving. It is given that we have morons walking on streets who would jaywalkevery other day and it is a serious offence which in our country the rules arebased on anarchic mafia laws. The old law is whoever has the biggest gun winshere the bigger the vehicle is then he is the one responsible. A jaywalked canrun into a car and still the guy who is driving the car is responsible!

But forget jaywalkers, runners have a unwritten code and etiquette.This is followed by most runners and yes in India runners will not acknowledgethe other runner unless he is known but then they do not come into each other’sway and do not generally create problems for the motorists but the high andmighty motorists thinks they own the roads and do create problems.

Seriously, if you are hitting 100 kilometers in a stretch ofroad which is less than 600 meters, it is crazy and dangerous to everyone around,humans and animals alike!

I guess someone has to do something about it or just somedaya few runners may just knock someone down! But it is unfortunate for therunners to go through this ordeal due to these crazy motorists! Guess once itbecomes like the Wild West which it is nearly there, maybe runners should startrunning with baseball bats!

White Rabbit VI

2011-09-05T14:55:00.002+05:30

It has been 5 years since I first wrote the White Rabbit!Wonder how 5 long years have passed and things have changed so much everywherethat it is surprising that except for a few things everything is different.Places have changed and people, yes people always change and this is the verychange that the Rabbit warned us about a longtime back but then you realizethat only as time flies.

What seems to be a longtime ago, there was a day when Irealized that the Rabbit has saved me from the fall I was having. Yes I didhave my time and I did nothing about it for a very longtime and made thingsworse but then there was a moment where it did look like I may have a shot onlythen it happened to be a dream where I just work up more confused than ever.

Looking at how things have spanned out there was randomflicks but there was always distractions and false starts. It is these veryfalse starts which have prevented things from being different from what it isnow.

Now that I have realized it but then I am not in a positionto do anything about it but then looking at it each and every time is painfuland at times all you have is you alone. No one exists but you alone can saveyourself and it is this very thing which has kept me going. Where is theRabbit? Why can’t it guide me at this very moment when I need it the most?

I want to throw the towel but then I always do believe that itisn’t over till the fat lady sings but what if the fat lady has finished signingand you just was not there to witness it so you never know that she is donewith it but you still keep think she is yet to sing and you pursue like a madman. Well there is another though that it is never over till it is over butthen after so long it is still hard to keep going.

The very White Rabbit which led me out of the free fall isnow leading to me another one. I will do anything to avoid it but not sure ifit is a lost cause where nothing can be done about it. Is there hope? Is therea comeback? Or is it just that all I lost and I am hopelessly banking on hopeat a time where I just need to forget it and walk away?

How can I do it? Never will it comeback but the cause hasbeen lost and now all I can do is look at and imagine the “What If” scenario.Well this is where my belief comes in and I do fall back on destiny and wonderthere is hope after all. Hope is a good thing and no good thing dies but thenis it really such a good thing after all?

It may be hidden forever with me and I may be the lastperson to go away with it but I have realized that I will do what is possibleand I will never give up.

The White Rabbit has been a friend who has helped me butthen right now I guess I have been left alone by it also, well the time mayhave come to make some hard choices but then I am not giving up and since it isnot over till it is truly over, I will fight till the end. The last stand hasalready began and it will be on till the last breath leaves this world.

Run Fatboy Run!

2011-09-02T14:59:00.001+05:30

Nope this is not a movie review but this is about running.You are slim so you may take it easy but then just because you are lean doesnot mean that you can become a couch potato!

Running as a term can be intimidating for many people so forthe sake of easy of mind, we can say jogging! Ok, unless you have an injury or “bad”knees, anyone and everyone can actually run! There is nothing which stops frompeople from running except for their head! There was a time when I just hatedrunning, now I can run peacefully and infact I find it weird if I don’t runenough during a week.

You don’t need fancy equipment or anything, all you need isa very very good running shoes, empty roads and then just start off. Trust methe injuries out of running is far less than going to a gym and trying out newstuff when the trainer is not experienced enough.

Running is one of the best things to do after work and youcan run just about anytime and anyplace! If you run your health will always begood and you don’t need to worry about dieting and stuff! The runner’s highafter running is also an added feature for running!

So just grab your shoes and just start running!

The Future of English Football!

2011-08-31T13:44:00.001+05:30

The last time the English football team did anythingsignificant was during Euro 1996 when they reached the semi-finals and evenmanaged to finish 3^rd. Since then English football is on a downhilland despite good young talent coming through during the 90’s the national teamhas repeated failed at both European and World stage. England failed to qualifyfor the 2008 Euro while the team has not passed the quarter-final stage of aWorld Cup since 1990. This is the team which is ranked #4 according to the FIFArankings!

The team is good but then it lacks the punch when it comesto the big stage. Germany’s average team age during the 2010 World Cup was 25while England’s was 28.7. Well traditionally a footballer’s peak years arebetween 28 to 32 especially when you are a defender or a mid-fielder butEngland’s performance during the World Cup was pathetic! The heavy drubbingreceived at the hands of Germany should have been the last straw but we stillsee the same old faces taking field. Thanks to injuries, England has fieldedguys like Tom Cleverley, Jack Wilshere and Jordan Henderson. An English teamwithout the likes of John Terry, Joe Lescott, Frank Lampard, Gareth Berry &Steven Gerrard will not do worse than the current team with the so-calledsuperstars!

If the current team takes field, there is no chance thatEngland can win against the likes of Spain, Germany and Netherlands. Well itwill struggle even against the likes of France, Italy & Portugal. The timehas come for English football to drop the so-called superstars who are betteroff playing for their clubs rather than play for England.

This English team may not win the Euro 2012 but then theywould definitely fight harder and come the 2014 World Cup, they will be in amuch better shape.

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, Ben Foster and Scott Carson

Defenders: Kyle Walker, Rio Ferdinand, Phil Jones, ChrisSmalling, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Phil Jagielka and Kieran Gibbs

Midfielders: Jack Wilshere, Stewart Downing, James Milner, AshleyYoung, Adam Johnson, Scott Parker, Tom Cleverley and Jordan Henderson

Forwards: Wayne Rooney, Theo Walcott, Andy Carroll and DannyWelbeck

What’s ailing Indian Cricket?

2011-08-23T14:23:00.002+05:30

Recently a person actually asked a question, which 3 teamsdo not have a test bowler who has taken over 400 wickets and England is in thelist along with Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

It is this very question which is ripping apart Indiancricket! Despite cricket being a team sport our over obsession with records andstatistics are the one which is tearing us apart. The whole nation is waitingfor a man’s 100 century but how many are actually bothered about going out andfighting it out to save the test match.

Everyone knows that Tendulkar needs one more century to have100 international centuries but do we know that Rahul Dravid during the courseof an epic marathon knock overtook Gavaskar’s record of 34 centuries and nowsits 4^th in the all-time list.

Even during the World Cup it was all about do it for Sachinand like Steve Waugh rightly said why should it be about one man when it is ateam sport! Indian Cricket team is similar to the English football team in manyways. Despite England being a power center when was the last time the team wona major trophy? In the run-up to the 2002 World Cup, England was more obsessedwith Beckham’s fitness than anything else.

10 years have passed and now when the English football teamfinally has the talent which given a chance can do no wrong than the currentcrop continues to languish as players like Lampard, Terry, Ferdinand andGerrard continue to play. Germany during the last world when Ballack gotinjured, Schweinsteiger seamlessly took over his role and there is no lookingback. Germany had a young line-up with a few senior players and had did notbeen for a freak Puyol header, they could have gone on to win the World Cup!

Spain and Netherlands the 2 teams which reached the WorldCup finals have one thing in common. Despite the teams having great players ithas always been about the team rather than one man, this makes the differenceand one reason why the teams has been successful when you compare it toArgentina despite great individual players have failed repeated at the globalstage,.

Indian cricket is heading that way and English cricket foundout the hard way during their whitewash at Australia that cricket is a teamgame and one man cannot make that difference.

Given our population and popularity of cricket, it is surprisingthat India is not able to produce fast bowlers who can hit 90 miles. The ageold argument of physical disadvantage has to end. I know 10 guys who arebigger, stronger and fitter than the current cricketing bunch! So we do havepeople and many of these guys do play cricket. Also age should not be a factorwhen it comes to fitness. The English cricket team looks as fit as any professionalfootball side while the Indian side barring a few looks like a Pub team!

Cricket is about 3 disciplines – Batting, Bowling andFielding. You need to be good in atleast 2 of these disciplines to succeed as ateam. VVS Laxman is old and his fielding is pathetic but then there are guys 10years younger to him who are as bad as him. Laxman has to improve his fitnessor he needs to quit. We need to take harsh decisions if we are to become thebest team in the world. Batting wise he may have done nothing wrong but thenyou can’t have 3 guys in the wrong side of the 30’s playing in one team. SimonKatich despite being the leading run scorer for Australia for the last 2seasons and being a good fielder was sacked because he was old and the team can’tafford to have 3 guys over 35 in the same squad.

The age old argument of there is no one knocking the doorshas to be stopped. This team can’t go on forever and our obsession with records& statistics has to end. Tendulkar is a run making machine but then I wouldsay Dravid has done more for the team than any other cricketer currently in theteam. It is sad sight to see so many portly men on the field. Raina may neverbe a great test batsman and after this tour he has a better chance as a testbowler but then the enthusiasm he showed in the field has to be appreciated.Same with PK who bowled his heart out and did everything he can.

Dravid and PK are the heroes of this disastrous campaign butin the end the nation was obsessed with one man’s pursuit of a record! Dravidafter 3 days on the field had to come back and open again? Why should Dravid anon-opener has to come back and open. India would have been better served if someoneelse had volunteered to done the same. Laxman’s form on this tour has fallenrapidly after his rise to the #3 slot while Dhoni and Raina with their suspecttechniques just cannot do the job. If a man is truly an icon he should havecome out fighting and given it a shot. He is technically a very sound personand has opened more than anyone else in ODI format. Can’t he do it for oneinnings?

Did the fans does not deserve one Last Stand from the team?Is this a way how the #1 team plays and loses its position? Zimbabwe of the 90’sdid not win much but then they were appreciated as they always fought hard andgave it all. You do not have to be the most talented team but you can stillfight hard and give it all. Are we doing it?

No we are more obsessed with records and this is countrywhere crickets register as actors for tax purpose. The same country whereplayers are fit to play club cricket but will miss test matches to relax andhave surgeries.

Are we the fans idiots? I am an English fan and I would wantthe team to always win all games but in the end I would like a good fight back. Ashes 2005 was one of the best seriesever as both sides gave it all! Despite Federer winning the 2009 Wimbledontitle each one of us remember Roddick’s fight in the finals and that made it anepic finals. Similarly Hamilton may have won the 2008 F1 World Championship butMassa’s fight till in the end will always be remembered.

In sports there are winners and losers but then it dependson how hard you fight and compete rather than go down in a wimp. Did we go downfighting? Did we give it all?

A true fan has to accept reality and excuses will not doanymore. Just ask Leyton Orient players last year when they played Arsenalduring an FA cup fixture and even managed to draw the game. A club which playsin the 3 tier of English football gave it all against Arsenal, one of the topteams in the country! The difference is they gave it all and they played 100%.

Enough of chasing records, the time has come to stand up anddeliver as a team. England may never have a bowler with 400 test wickets butthen who cares if they continue to progress as a team that is all whichmatters. The team has to be one, records will automatically follow, case pointSteve Waugh’s Australian team.

Don’t look overseas we have our own team which won the 1983World Cup! Kapil and his men then proved that you don’t need superstars to winbut 11 dedicated men for a cause to pull it off!

S.U.N.K!

2011-08-19T15:17:00.002+05:30

The following post incould turn out to a base for a movie in the future, provided I don’t becomethat lazy! Also some names stated are for example only and don’t expect it to theexact! Some people always have these doubts!

Recently based on my conversation with a lot of eligibleBrahmin boys (and others as well) and also the men who had successfully gotmarried though various means and chief among them are the websites made me workon this post which could sound a little bit exaggerated but then it is thestark reality and we go to live with it.

Everyone wants a Brad Pitt!

The irony is that many in the website may not even know who BratPitt is but I am indeed using Pitt to raise a significant point here. Like howeveryone wants to meet a tall, dark & handsome man and indeed marry him. Ofcourse he also has to be Prince Charming as well plus should also look liketheir favorite actor! Damn, basically if they want something on these lines allthey can do is actually clone!

Harvard Baby!

Poor Brad Pitt, he would not even cross this stage! Unfortunatelyfor Pitt his non-Harvard education would actually hurt his changes and bringhim down the pecking order by miles! Also this man has to be a Post-Graduate ofthe highest order! Basically professional qualifications which can actuallyhave one proud father-in-law say in the future – My son-in-law went to United Statesfor his Masters unlike the one who you got who just is a graduate!

Dream Job!

If you are a Brad Pitt who has done a masters in Harvard butdecided to squat around and live the Dude life, well you are just a shootingtarget for these folks! Mr. Pitt after completion of his education should alsowork in a “Dream Job”! My dream job is to squat around and do nothing! but thenin the great marriage system a dream job involves an IT or an FMCG giant!Start-ups in America accepted but unheard start-ups in India are frowned upon!Being an entrepreneur is suicidal unless with some exceptions.

Show me the Money!

Mr. Pitt after going all this now works in Greenpeace as an Environmentallawyer but unfortunately he makes as much money as his plumber! There was ageneration where a boy’s long-term future and plan were deeply analyzed but noweverything is the present! Maybe they know more about 2012 than us! Basicallyif Pitt has to be in Greenpeace he needs to be earning as much money afootballer in the English Premier League! Btw, sportsmen strictly banned unlessthey are cricketers with valid IPL contracts and 2 commercials!

House of Windsor!

Poor Pitt is a commoner! He unfortunately does not have anygreat lineage so things are just getting worse for this man! He may be a younghip man working in a blue-chip company with a fancy title to go along with hisIvy League education and driving home a Porsche and not to forget his 6-packbut unfortunately his great grand dad was a nobody and all he did was nothing!

Elvis meets Einstein!

It is not enough that you are a good man but is highlyimportant you are as funny as a stand-up comedian but also highly knowledgeablethat you should know anything & everything from CERN to Tendulkar’s weddingdate! Of course if you have a chart-topping single to the show that can alsohelp! You always have to make the girl laugh well this with you knew drivingher in a European sedan & also at times paying for her higher-education!

Bungee Jumping!

Pitt can be a great man but he is afraid of heights so unfortunatelythat rules him out of bungee jumping or climbing the Mount Everest! He needs tohave an eclectic taste in most of the things he does. So Pitt basically has togo to Mount Everest and at the peak should be listening to Mozart while comingdown he needs to remember a Van Gough!

Milk & Cookies!

Pitt loves a good smoke and loves beer but then he does notrealize that this is a strict no-no! And his favorite Beef Steak is more of asin than adultery itself! After crossing the various hurdles Pitt has to be aMilk & Cookie boy or else he is a sinner who is part of the dark side. Yeshe can go about with his actual corrupt practice but “Dark Side” is darker!

Sheesh, writing this itself is tiresome and I am wonderingif I did miss out on anything? In case I do you can always point it out andsince I wrote this I would not mind having a female perspective to the samewrite-up! This should be fun J

PS: S.U.N.K – Single, Underemployed, No Scopebut King of the World!

I See Red!

2011-08-14T00:37:00.000+05:30

Though last week football was back in the form of CommunityShield today was the official start to the English Premier League and my favouritefootball team Manchester United is playing only tomorrow. So far my predictionsare simple the title will go to United while our noisy neighbours with oilmoney City, Russian Oligarch funded Chelsea and the newly rich Liverpool willfight for the Champion’s league spots while Spurs will be the best of the rest.Arsenal can once again say they are building their squad but all I can ask isbuilding squad for what? Anyways lets not even waste time talking about thembut I do feel Bolton and Sunderland will finish ahead of Arsenal while theremaining 2 of the top 10 will be from Aston Villa, Newcastle United andEverton while QPR, Swansea City, Norwich City along with Blackburn will fightfor relegation.

My favourite football clubs:

- Manchester United

- Nottingham Forest

- Tottenham Hotspur

Clubs I hate/dislike/respect but don’t like:

- Liverpool (Hate but respect Manager)

- Arsenal (Hate)

- Leeds United (Dislike but Respect)

- Manchester City (Hate)

- Chelsea (Hate)

Sachin and Bharat Ratna

2011-08-11T14:36:00.002+05:30

I would love to write about this but then I came across avery good write-up and unfortunately do have not enough information on thewriter to give actual credits but then this coming from Sachin’s fan is verygood. We need more fans who actually think rather than zealots who just talknonsense!

Anyways here it goes:

Cricket is not the Nation's official NationalSport:

Cricket is the most popular sport in India, it isplayed by many people in open spaces throughout the country though it is notthe NATION'S OFFICIAL NATIONAL SPORT. The India national cricket team won the1983 Cricket World Cup, the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, and the 2011 Cricket WorldCup , and shared the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka. Domesticcompetitions include the Ranji Trophy, the Duleep Trophy, the Deodhar Trophy,the Irani Trophy and the Challenger Series. In addition, BCCI conducts the IndianPremier League, a Twenty20 competition.

The entire history of cricket in India and thesub-continent as a whole is based on the existence and development of theBritish Raj via the East India Company. The Indian cricket team is the nationalcricket team of India. Governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI), it is a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) withTest and One Day International (ODI) status.

Cricket game is a Team Spirit and not individualspirit:

In their first fifty years of internationalcricket, India proved weaker than Australia and England, winning only 35 of the196 test matches. The team, however, gained strength near the end of the 1970swith the emergence of players such as Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and the Indianspin quartet—Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan, BhagwatChandrasekhar, and Bishen Singh Bedi. Traditionally much stronger at home thanabroad, the Indian team has improved its overseas form since the start of the21st century.

MS Dhoni's efforts brought world cup:

It won the Cricket World Cup in 1983 under KapilDev and was runners-up in 2003 under Sourav Ganguly. India have also been theRunners in 2000 ICC KnockOut Trophy, and the Joint Champions along with SriLanka in 2002 ICC Champions Trophy led by Sourav Ganguly in both the instances.India also won the inaugural World Twenty20 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni in 2007.The current team contains many of the world's leading players, including SachinTendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag who hold numerous cricketing worldrecords. On April 2, 2011 India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets to win the 2011ICC Cricket World Cup. They were led by captain MS Dhoni who hit the winningruns for his team.

Bharat Ratna Award:

India has produced a legacy of brave hearts sincetimes immemorial. Probably there is not enough space to measure theirsacrifices. Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian honour, given for exceptionalservice towards advancement of Art, Literature and Science, and in recognitionof PUBLIC SERVICE of the highest order. Bharat Ratna is the Republic of India'shighest civilian award, awarded for the highest degrees of national service.This service includes artistic, literary, and scientific achievements, as wellas "recognition of public service of the highest order."

An individual who shines in a field which helpedthe public or benefitted the public, or higher sacrificing himself/hersef forthe public, not benefitted self MAY BE CONSIDERED FOR award. Those who earneven in advertisements, earn self by talents co-operating with others, orshined with the help of team are not eligible to get award. There are manystarlwarts lived before Tendulkar, living now, will come in future and mere aprofit earning game, not a recognised game in india, a player who done selfservice with the help of team service is not eligible to the highest award.

Not deserves:

Playing brilliant cricket does not mean the playeris a great civilian. Had this been the case, this would have been done in othercountries too. But not really heard that a country has given an award parallelto Bharat Ratna to their best sportsmen. There is a different category ofawards for veteran sportsmen. Sachin Tendulkar does not deserve Bharat Ratnaaward as he has been playing for self, for money, for records. Ask him if hehas said ever that I will play for India and I don't need to be paid for.Through this fame, his limelight, he has been earning through advertisementswhich made him multi millionaire. I remember well that he even not interestedto pay money to the Nation's import revenue once he had applied for waiver ofimport duty for his sports car.

Eaters of the Dead

2011-08-08T12:34:00.002+05:30

No this is not about the Michael Crichton novel but aboutthe nuisance which is caused on roads of this city by people carrying deadbody!

Last week was a shocker as these drunken anti-socialelements did not even leave enough space for an ambulance to go through. Ok isthe dead man more important than a person who is in an ambulance rushingtowards a hospital?

They say it is not agood thing to talk about the dead after they are gone but then if a person inhis dead is even causing so much problem to the public, all I can say that if theconcept of “Heaven & Hell” which many do believe in exists then this guywill burn and rot in Hell!

Are we in Stone Age to actually allow such a practice? Whenwe take the dead in a van quietly what gives these people the right to cause apublic nuisance and near riot like situation by doing this?

Forget the religious sentiments and let’s think practically!This stupid practice has to be stopped and banned but then our great politicalmachinery always makes its decisions based on political whims rather thanactual benefit for the people.

If I was running the show there would be flame throwerstackling this bloody issue! These morons not only create problems, they getdrunk and cause an issue the normal guy on the road and then they litter theyroads with waste and dried out flowers! On top of it does not look at thehealth issue of having un-covered dead body on the road?

Common guys, we are not in the dark ages to allow all thisto continue, it is time someone does something about it! It is atrocious toallow such practice to go on at this age and time!

Go Play!

2011-08-02T15:44:00.003+05:30

Recently a prominent Bollywood actress said that she got heradmission in college by flashing her sports certificate and said reservationhas touched her life!

Despite saying she did go to college this very actress doesnot know what “sports based admission” is or she is just that dumb!

Comparing reservation to “sports based admissions” is likecomparing apples and oranges! Both are fruits but are both the same? Sports basedadmission is an age old concept where it has been practiced by varioussocieties across various times in history. The Oxford rowing team is far morequalified and educated than the majority of our workplace colleagues! Well I amnot even taking about fitness as it is a sin to compare the fitness of anOxford blue with the flat slob who sits next to us who’s only pastime iswatching Indian cricket team play eating potato chips!

Academia and Sports go hand in hand in most societies! Mostof the professional sportsmen in the United States have at least step-footinside a college. The system is like that the professional leagues actuallydraft players from the various NCAA teams. In a country like ours wherereservation with all its so-called “good intent” has failed totally and all ithas done is to alienate the society. Race is a highly controversial subject butin the history of mankind, a few races have always been better than the others.This is true withal living forms. Horses are a prime example of the same.

I would rather see a young lad play sports and score 80% inhis school rather than score 90% and do nothing. Sports is essential for anydevelopment of a proper human being as sports is the last place where one canbuild character and forge human bonds. The lack of sports program in manyschools is appalling. Once again a sport is not about playing gully cricket. Itis about playing a particular sport at a decent level. Not everyone canrepresent the sport even at club level, but then every other person can give ashot at it.

A sport is not about being the best in it, but it is allabout doing something which challenges you. The so-called educational systemright from the basic kindergarten level to the master’s level is ridiculous. Politicseven play a huge part in the educational system in our country! Need a goodexample? Take Tamil Nadu!

Sports based admission is must and I believe that gettingadmission in a prestigious institute for being good in some sports is better thangetting admission because a person actually agreeing that he is inferior tofellow humans. Sounds strange but that are what I take out from the reservationsystem. Basically you are accepting the master race theory when you have reservation.Despite poor credentials the guys are being admission as they are not goodenough to get in without admissions. So in reality this very person is actuallyby taking up this very admission is accepting his inferior self!

The above paragraph may sound straight out of a Neo-Nazibook but I am just putting in my understanding of the system. Let me play the devil’sadvocate here and say that ok fine, yes a few classes of people were treatedvery poorly for centuries and so their ability is less than the others. Fine,but then having reservation is not going to help that person; he is in factgoing to fall further in life. By not getting good preparation and havingeverything on a platter this very person is all set for a doomed fall and isbound to sink faster than the titanic!

Reservation is bad and must be banned, what is need of the houris compulsory school education for one and all and this should be a mandate. Insteadof funding institutes like IIT, it is better of the government would rather putthat money in basic schooling. Pay the teachers well and ensure you get thebest of talent teaching kids so that a better generation is prepared. Why wouldfund the IIT and let the guy go to the United States and then help Stanfordgetting a few patents and then live his life there paying taxes?

Have a strong schooling system and make it compulsory forall while also ensure that sports goes hand-in-hand with this educationalsystem. Would rather have an Olympic swimmer as a classmate rather than a richkid whose only claim to the seat is his caste!

Retroland

2011-07-30T13:48:00.002+05:30

There is no clear definition for retro music but then giventhe timelines and everything I broadly have classified music from the 80’s asretro and they could some variations here and there but this is more or lessthe classification I have used.

There are some well retro classics!

Whitesnake - Here I Go Again

Men at Work – Down Under

Van Halen – Jump

Europe - The Final Countdown

Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer

Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine

Boston - More Than A Feeling

Survivor - Eye Of The Tiger

Deep Purple - Highway Star

AC/DC – Back in Black

Asia - Heat Of The Moment

Toto – Africa

The Police – Every Breath You Take

a-ha – Take On Me

Journey – Don't Stop Believin'

Tears For Fears – Everybody Wants To Rule The World

Alphaville – Forever Young

Michael Jackson – Beat It

Culture Club – Karma Chameleon

Pet Shop Boys – Go West

Heart – Alone

Foreigner - I Want to Know What Love Is

Cutting Crew - (I Just) Died In Your Arms

Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

Berlin - Take My Breath Away

Billy Joel - We Didn't Start The Fire

Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son

The Bangles - Eternal Flame

Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

Kenny Loggins - Footloose

Raped & Pillaged!

2011-07-27T15:16:00.002+05:30

Strong words to use but this is what happened to the Indianfootball team when they played UAE last Saturday and looks like after the 1^stleg away game, India is effectively out of the World Cup leave alone a miraclehappens when they play the UAE team at home.

Steve Buckner, at one stage one of the best umpired inCricket who’s cricket career effectively ended after a few bad decisions hegave against the Indian batsmen in an ill-fated Sydney test. What Buckner haddone in Sydney was worse than murder to the Indian press while the same Bucknercost England a test series against the very Indian team when Monty gotSreesanth plumb leg before. Buckner did not give it out and in a few minutesrain ended the game and Indians escaped with a draw. The same Indian team atSydney acted like spoilt brats!

DRS and talking about Sachin is a tricky thing in India butlet me dedicate a separate post towards it but Hindu the so-called nationalnewspaper covered the Indian football team in a spot which otherwise would havebeen reserved for the obituary column! Maybe the uptight people in Hindu giventheir waistline would have played cricket when they were 10 years old and thelast time they did any physical activity would have been during the wedding daywhen they walked as a part of the Kasi “Can’t pronounce” stuff!!!

Anyways the after the Arab and Islamic plunder of Indiawhich happened till the Brits put an end to it once and for all happened onceagain when India were robbed of a fair chance to compete when the Qatari referee,who should be in the “Worse Referee Hall of Fame” list, after he have whatcould be called 2 of the worst decisions of this era! India played 9 menagainst the 11 of the UAE plus the important referee who despite his FIFAreferee outfit acted like a UAE player!

Nothing of this was mentioned anywhere and life goes on! Insports it happens but then a bad decision for the revered “God of Indian Cricket”is talked about like there was a nuclear bomb dropped in Mumbai while even theblasts in the very city a few weeks back did not get as much coverage! Cricketis and will be the one which ruined our country where a sport which masqueradesas a team sport in reality has become an individual sport where even winningthe world cup was not about the nation but all about one man.

India may never qualify for the football world cup but thisapathy by the press and the people is highly disrespectful the 11 guys who ontheir pitch is giving it all. It is easy to say we are useless as a footballnation but how many of us take the bloody effort promote the world’s most “democratic”game?

I wish I can say none, but the a handful of people still doit, this is not a rant against cricket but then this is for every other personin the country who has bled and sweated in other sporting disciplines. Screwthe press, it is just a tool for the all mighty political powers and let usstrive to challenge the very thing which enforces its power. To the each andevery underdog who strives and tries to compete!

To the sporting spirit and may cricket never become anOlympic sport!

What We Want?

2011-07-27T11:45:00.002+05:30

Power Cuts, Pubs Shutting at 11:00 PM, Hookah bar clampdown,the list goes on and on…………Are we genuinely a free society? It makes us thinkat times that more and more we are subject to a well-organized though controlprocess and systematic cleansing of our thoughts.

All signs point out to a dystopian future and we are thebrink of an age which will lead towards this very future. We live in what is masqueradedas the world’s largest democracy. In reality the country has ruled by onefamily for a better part of our time as a free country.

What is freedom?

Freedom is something where each and every individual hasrights to do what he wants, but then when you say what we want means that I can’tgo around gunning around people but then if I want to drink something, thestate should not dictate what I should drink and when!

This brutal silent policing on what we do each and every dayis plain bull-shit! Look at the reality and look at our society? Is this how weare going to become superpowers?

Each and every one who “Can Think” has this responsibility asit is us who can save us from becoming a dystopian society!

On the side note, why the hell should have Katrina Kafiissued an apology for making a statement which is a bloody fact: “both Kat andRahul were half-Indian and half-European”??

And yes this is why we are the “World’s greatest democracy”and this is why we play host to Hina Rabbani despite the political machineryhas all but declared open war on our country!

S#!t Happens!

2011-07-25T14:28:00.002+05:30

That was the tag line in the poster for the movie “DelhiBelly”! A movie which is actually named after Traveler's diarrhea or Montezuma's Revenge is actually pretty good apart from a few very minor grossmoments.

Few reasons why Ilike this movie and the one benefit of watching this movie in Madras (I stillprefer to call this city that) is that you get to watch the English versionwith limited dialogues in Hindi. Plus you have no songs; I swear no bloodysemi-nude Easter European or Lass from Central India shaking her hips for noreason! Apart from no songs, you don’t have the interval ruining the movieduring a critical scene.

Proper Screw-Ballcomedies are rare in Indian cinema but then this is one movie which followedthe codes of screw-ball to the perfection! It was a realistic movie where the focusis not on one particular character alone. Young people smoking and using Profanityas a common language is nothing wrong.

First of all the movie was certified “A”. Do Indians knewwhat this means? I was shocked to see families come together to watch thisfilm! I mean apart from the animated English movies and a few rare movies inIndia, every other Indian movie is not a family movie! Case Point: Semi-Nakedwomen dancing for no reason!

Delhi Belly is not anoff movie; I would say all Indian movies should be made like Delhi Belly! Itmay never happen as our highly contradicting Indian folks talk about value butthen drool every time Katrina Kaif shakes her hips! Why all this unwantedcontroversy for this film alone? While Murder 2 a sleazy slime fest which paradesitself as a physiological thriller is nothing more than a soft-porn while agood movie like Delhi Belly is targeted?

People won’t change but then the whole movie is about the rebelliousattitude of the boy who dumps his over bearing girl-friend despite getting someaction from her and then hooking up with an older women, the very foundationsof Indian though is broken! Give me a break folks! We are the biggest hypocritesin the world!

The sad thing is that we have middle-aged balding men usethe word “Fuck” every 5 mins and the biggest joke is that this word did notexist in his world till he turned 21! If you want to witness this, do visit anyadvertising agency in India!

So instead of tearing up posters and creating ruckus, thefolks with no jobs should go watch Murder 2 and enjoy the “Thriller” and leavethis movie alone!

To more such movies and to the “Jack-Asses” who preachvalues. All I can say is in the golden worlds of Wolverine in X-Men: FirstClass – “Go Fuck Yourself”

Upliftment!

2011-07-24T11:38:00.002+05:30

Sometimes when you run especially on a treadmill all you seeis yourself in a mirror and not every other day you get into an immortal zonewhere all you are thinking is only the run but then normally you would require someextra encouragement and music always help! I always feel only 2 things helprunning – Music and Football! Football is good when you plan a long run butthen when you are looking at something less than 45 minutes then music is amust!

This is not only for runners but anyone who feels a littlebit tired or even low these songs can just pump you up and take you to adifferent place! You may be sitting at work starring at your screen wonderingwhat to do these songs will help you!

Everyone has a different pattern and usually I go for theshuffle mode but then there are times when you just set the songs in order ofyour preference and this helps you break all barriers. Try these songs and you don’tneed to run but some of them will definitely make up wake up and do somethingactive J

Witchcraft – Pendulum

You just want to start off but you are still not in the moodto start? Well this is one song which can get your pulse up and hit-it off instantly

Down Under – Men at Work

The old classic still serves it purpose as it is one ofthose songs which is not only easy to listen to but has a very good tempo.

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger – Daft Punk

I would not recommend or I am not particularly fond of Housewhile running or even just music to uplift you but this is one song which justmakes you highly focused and go about getting things done.

Tubthumping – Chumbawamba

The ultimate beer song, it is one of those fun songs whereyou can sing with your friends after a few pints also makes up for a highlyinspiring song. The lyrics is amazing and just these words are enough to justlift up the spirits “I get knocked down ButI get up again You're never going to keep me down”

A Little Less Conversation – Elvis Presley Vs JXL

One of the songs where the remix bettered the originalversion, this Elvis classic is an ideal companion during the middle part of therun. The moment the song is on you will instantly forget everything else.

Adrenaline - Gavin Rossdale

The name does justice to the song as this is a kick ass songwhich just brings life into you. A great finishing song and you genuinely feelthe adrenaline rush after listening to it.

Ruby – Kaiser Chief

The ultimate rebel song, with its high octane music this isone song which is must on your playlist.

Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes

This song has become a classic sports celebratory song thatthe moment you listen to it the only thing you can think of is the post targetbeer J.A pretty good song from a very good band!

It’s Not Over – Daughtry

The one song you have to listen to when you are tired and wonderingwhat the hell are you doing running all alone when you have nothing to prove toanyone. This song just makes you realize that you are up against yourself andit can make you forget pain instantly.

The Pretender – Foo Fighters

This is one song which helps you take the fight to yourself andmakes you come on top!

Kryptonite – 3 Doors Song

This song can be used to both end and start a run! It is sopowerful that you can just listen to it and you feel much powerful post it!

Eye of the Tiger – Survivor

This song has to be one the list! How can a list onuplifting songs with a focus on running miss this?

Must Watch Movies

2011-07-22T12:22:00.003+05:30

Everyone has a list of must watch movies and well if I doend up making a list next year it could be a bit different not that next year atotally awesome movie is going to come and take up a place on the list but thenyou may end up watching a movie which totally blows up your mind!

Some movies may just be the ones which exists in every otherlist while others may just make it to the cult list and then there are movies whichlooks like normal picks but they do have something to it. So here goes a listof movies and they are in no particular order but you won’t be disappointed withit J

The Shawshank Redemption – Arguably one of the greatestmovie ever made and this quote “Remember,Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing everdies” signifies how good the movie is. It is not a movie which you canwatch anytime but then you are low and generally hit a standstill in life; themovie can do wonders for you. Truly an Epic!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – The Man without a Name wasimmortalized in this Western Classic and the simple plot revolves around 3gunslingers competing to find some gold. With a compelling soundtrack, thefinal scene shoot-out is cinematography at its best!

Fight Club – Any list without this movie is a sin and anyonewho is yet to see this movie, watch it now! Through in Brad Pitt, David Fincherand Chuck Palahniuk, you just cannot go wrong. This is movie which does not glorifyviolence but rather carried a message for the "contemporary manhood". It is the story of “everyman” who “He's tried to do everything hewas taught to do, tried to fit into the world by becoming the thing he isn't.”

The Matrix – There will never be another movie like theoriginal 1^st part. The sequel failed and disappointed but then worseis that the philosophical beauty and the abstract nature of the movie wastotally lost in the sequels. The movie with philosophical and religious ideassuch as René Descartes' evil genius, theAllegory of the Cave, the brainin a vat thought experiment; and homages to Alice's Adventures inWonderland, Hong Kong action cinema, spaghetti westerns, dystopianfiction, and Japanese animation is a must watch.

Kick Ass – Why don’tpeople dream to be a superhero? Why does everyone wants to become something else?The story of typical boy becoming something he is not and in the end realizingthat he could become what he wants after going through the worst phase in hislife is just epic. Brilliant acting from everyone around, this is one of thebest super-hero movies around!

The Big Lebowski –It has hard to imagine anyone else apart from Jeff Bridges pulling off the character“The Dude” but then the movie is just not about relaxing, smoking-up andgenerally squatting around. The Dude’s lifestyle is something we ape for but wenever ever do it because we are too focused in life and we become toomaterialistic. It is one of the movies you sit and watch it on a lazy Sundayafternoon with some beer J

Kill Bill Volume 1& 2 – It’s homage to loads of things ranging from Japanese chanbara filmsto rape & revenge. The bride takingher revenge on everyone who messed up with her life and nearly put her to herdeath is epic. With a solid soundtrack and action sequences Kill Bill is amasterpiece from the one and the only Tarantino.

A Lot Like Love – Everyone can have some connect to thismovie. Apart from an awesome soundtrack, the movie is all about a typical guywho has a typical plan of things which he has to achieve at a certain period oftime. We all do plans and we all do plans which we never achieve. The moviealso touches on fate and destiny and at times if things are meant to happen, itjust happens.

The ButterflyEffect – After I saw this movie I had special respect for Ashton Kutcher as anactor. This epic thriller has Ashton trying to do everything he could do bygoing back in time to get the perfect life. But life is never perfect and nomatter what he does he ends up hurting people. In the end he sacrifices the onething which so dear to him so that everyone else can live a good life.

Into the Wild - ChristopherMcCandless after graduating is just fed-up with life. He throws away everythinghe owns and goes off in search of inner peace. A spellbinding movie where anormal person fed-up with the mundane life, just drifts off to do somethingwhich he wants to do real bad, a very sad ending but then the movie itselfmakes you learn something about life.

There are loads ofother movies but for now I feel this a good bunch of movies which is truly inspiringand amazing to watch!

Back in Black!

2011-07-22T11:18:00.004+05:30

I am back and this is not just a plan marketing gimmicky re-launchtype activity but an actual comeback. There are many reasons why I was not ableto blog as often as I used to but I have decided to try blog as much as I couldduring the Irevna days!

Well blogging was and is still fun I would say. It is yourway of giving your thoughts to the free world. Not sure how long it is going toremain free but heck till blogging remains a free source I am going to go withit.

Let me just say that I am going to raise hell for fun andhave a blast at it by doing so! So here is to the 2nd coming of the “theravikshow”and hope the madness and mayhem continues J

..................................

2011-07-12T14:32:00.000+05:30

On Turning 28

2011-05-12T23:45:00.000+05:30

Damn……I dreaded this day coming but heck it did! Well birthdays are good but then as you go older the fun is not always there but heck age is in the mind and as long as I keep clocking good miles on the treadmill, I guess I am cool with it!

- Finally……Finally…..Finally…………….I am out of the mad world. Still saying it is a good profession but then when you see a balding monkey faced old ass clown barking at you, well you know how fucked up the industry is! And if I see that bastard after I am drunk, man he would face hell!

- One year anniversary to the lappy, good stuff! Also Xperia Arc welcomed to the family!

- Bar is decently stocked! Expect it to get better in coming months

- Bird is still…………….who I am I kidding, time to save up and get 4 wheels! Screw you bird!

- Blogging drastically reduced due to the asshole (I should kick his ass)

- Beer day but then beer night technically….Just ask Mahesh, Nats (lemon),Future Mr & Mrs Manick, Kay and Narrator (or Tyler)

- Quiz….What Quiz….Fuck I need to start

- High Time you get married……Screw you bitch!

- The One could be lost…..Can’t compete with such odds! Damn, what the hell have I done??? Why Why Why…..Time machine please!

- Fake One …. Once again

- Old One…..is It or just like Ted style…hmmmm

- Any year after last should be good…..so no complains but worst ever new year party but regatta nite was best ever!

- Beliver….nah, lost it……..Could have never gotten better….why I am going back to it….Move on mate!

- Started running…..good….hope to continue!

- Cycling is not fun alone! Wasted money…..grrrrrr asshole you are getting killed!

- Bad habit recurred but then now dumped

- Once again…..should start writing regularly

- Maybe this is the year of the book after I had writers block after 2 words!

Yawn…….if I miss something, I am not bothered actually, screw it! And anyone who comes to me and talk crap….keep talking I am not bothered! Still bad about missing it! Ahhhhhh!

2011-05-07T11:48:00.000+05:30

There used to be a time when the “theravikshow” used to have top 10 lists on various subjects very regularly now that I hardly blog I do relaize that a proper top 10 list was published around a year back when I was actually squatting!

Over the years the list has seen some significant changes and looking at it now even I am surprised to see the number of changes the list has seen. Of course some names in the list have been very consistent but others have come and gone.

So enough of the talk and here is the top 10 list of the year:

1. Ashley Greene

2. Maria Sharapova

3. Jessica Alba

4. Mary Elizabeth Winstead

5. Amber Heard

6. Cheryl Tweedy

7. Lucy Pinder

8. Diora Baird

9. Julianna Guill

10. Gemma Arterton

The Lost One

2011-03-11T21:34:00.002+05:30

This is something which I always did fear and well there is a school of thought which does says that if it is the One well there is no chance of missing it but then in life given how unlucky the last few years have rolled on I will not be too surprised if I end up missing the One.

I mean given how I have gone from one downward spiral to another it is only natural that I hit rock bottom on this too. Ya I know it could be much worse but hell it could also be much better! So I definitely do not want to go through this route.

I did not realize that a day would come where I would be writing about this but the more I look into I guess well before the day strikes me I better do it. I am not giving up yet but taking reality in consideration I guess it is better to be prepared rather than brood over it later on.

Not that I could blame anyone but still some factors play a part but then when you had enough times to set right you actually made things worse for a bit and then the recover part too time. Now by the time the recovery is over and it is better than ever before but this is where there is a standstill. The so called cushion does not exist and now you are out.

I always do wonder and these thoughts have been there on and off for the last one year but then there was time more than that and had I done something things could be different. It could still be call for good but then looking at world I may yet not throw the towel but I do sense that the time has come for me to actually face reality and give up on it.

There is an alternative ending to the story but I don’t think that will happen. Guess it is just the word processor to rant it out and go for some runs and down some beers. Things are not always that easy and in this it is just worse. Losing something or rather found something late is never a good thing but then life has played a cruel trick and now you have to face it.

But then if it is truly the One the story is still alive and there can be twists and turns but till then I guess need to focus on something and just give up on it. Well I guess throwing the towel for the time being is the only way to go about it. Don’t have a choice but you know guess it’s better now that too late. Just wish that it happens but then wishes do not always come true.

The lost One for my sake I hope is not lost forever but then given how life has played out I actually do not have any hope. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies. But then I just do not want to go by it but if at all the universe wants me to be happy for once at this path, well it can play its hand now. Because the wait is just killing.

That Glorious Business School, The Annual Festival

2011-03-11T00:43:00.001+05:30

Ever since I recently visited a prominent b-school quiz I wanted to write a post on the same but then due to various reasons could write it only now but never the less here it goes:

B-school festival, the day which every b-school prides itself and not only the whole week leading towards it wasted but the festival “hangover” lasts even for a few days post the events.

The name: The very foundation of b-school festival lies in the name. It is highly critical that the festival has a name and the name is something which a common b-school student should not have heard off. Some obscure Sanskrit word or off-late rarely used words from the dictionary are used.

The theme: Ok, name alone does not suffice but theme also has to be there. Basically it will be one of the few listed down – War, Casino, War, Sci-Fi

Music: Any b-school cultural event should have a table with a laptop connected to a sound mixer. This plus a guy wearing an Iron Maiden shirt with headphones to his neck makes him a DJ. Music dished out includes Hip-Hop & Hindi Remix. They are either cool black men or hip Desi Chaps!

Banners: When you don’t find banners, you are even ready to put up banners of your neighbourhood tea stall provided you get one free cigarette from him. You can see them in all sizes and shapes. It is good to go towards the end of these festivals where these banners will be all over place!

Foreign Invasion: A resident dirty firang dude will be on display to bring in an international connection. Basically a guy waiting at a bus stop conned into this by the promise of free food and women (no jokes here)

The admission counter: Few decent looking girls and some Jat boys with stacks of papers and unusual number of laptops. Purpose to welcome the visitors and make some money out of them!

Food stall: Right from the popular Pizza joints to the unknown sugar cane juice guy, a motley bunch of stalls do operate here. Food is bad and expensive.

Rock Concert: Ah, every b-school wishes it can call Parikrama but then they just cannot get them to perform. Usually the next best thing is called upon. A bunch of guys thrown up together who usually go on to murder some classic rock songs and finally sing a b-school song copied from a famous institute!

The Suits: Some jokers who feel like they are the most important people on the planet as they belong to the b-school organizing committee. For the general public, men who wear suits running around in the hot sun and looked bloody retarded.

The other table: Some random bunch of people who usually sell some junk on the pretext of fun. They either paint your face or use some random colour and call it tattoo

The enthusiastic bunch: They would do anything from cleaning the toilets to dancing for some unheard off hip-hop song. They make up the numbers for the event.

Dance Floor: Any open place with a few tables around it is converted into a dance floor. Bunch of guys grind each other and dance like the last day of their life

Security: Local tough man who would have got that name after going through a few guys during a weekend football game. His job is to walk around and keep talking on a mobile phone.

The Hotties: The hottest women from b-school put together and their sole purpose of existence is to create an atmosphere where guys just want to stare at them!

T-Shirt Girls: The girls who think that they can smile, beg and even threaten you into buying ugly under size t-shirts.

Fashion Show: It is a must and ever since the movie fashion came about the poor souls now do not need to search much for music or try choreographing on their own!

The Outsiders: Bunch of guys sitting in a corner just pissed with the whole thing. Basically there to get attendance!

The Random Guy: Does the odd job but no one actually know of his purpose or his existence. Walks around and does something or the other but in the end he is an invisible person.

The Quiz: Every b-school must have a quiz! There are only 2 types of quizzes – Good and Bad. Decided by the person who runs it but if a person named O’Brian is running the show then you are assured that it is a disaster.

The Main Event: Some random things put together or a few people piss drunk dancing. Usually have some weird lights and most cases ends up in a disaster.

The Lost Monk!

2011-01-25T01:23:00.002+05:30

The White Rabbit comes and go but then the Lost Monk stays forever. At times it makes me wonder if the rabbit continues to lead me or is it just that I follow an illusion and is led by a mythical entity which is leading me to nowhere!

Every day is a new day well almost and then there are days of déjà vu which continues to baffle me day-in and day-out. My existence should have a purpose but then a purposeless existence is something which just cannot be accepted upon. I am lost and I am like a traveler in a desert where an illusion of the oasis leads to further down deep. Only I am not sure if I am travelling in circles or I am going someplace better.

The grail may have been lost forever or rather the monk has failed to see the grail but then the monk made his own list of Commandments that for once almost it may become true. Well there have been illusions in the past and even the rabbit has shown false hope but sometimes in life hope alone is all that is there to live for and keep us on and on.

Will this be the end of everything? Well it definitely feels like the end. The end is good as all ends lead to a new beginning. A beginning with freedom and hope to look forward to but will this time is the one. Not the one who looks at stars but then the stars have not deviated too much and sometimes it has predicted things which continue to baffle me.

I maybe have said this before and I may say this again but this time, well yes this too may have been repetitive but then this could the one last time there is a chance for one last grail quest before hanging up one last time. The belief is something so mad that no matter what happens and how ridiculous it may sound but then there is the one.

There has to be the one and if it is the one, then there is no chance that it will miss you as there is a belief in the one so much that it cannot be lost or can pass on through. If it is the one then this could be it. One last shot at glory it could well is and this could be the year, the year where the tiger did not wait for things but decided to go after things.

The division bell has began to ring and the time has come for the Monk to get up and look at the path which he has taken before and look at the path that lays before. One last time, the Monk is hoping for this glory before everything is lost.

Work Life Blah!

2011-01-23T13:19:00.000+05:30

A few years back before I did my masters I was working in a job where they actually paid me to do half day’s work but I ended up cribbing almost every other day that I needed work and I can’t come to work and then sit half time the time being jobless listening to music and playing yahoo pool!

Sheesh, wish I can go back to all that now, the good days where you actually had time to explore and enjoy something called as life which is missing in my life. Life is missing in life, which is surely an irony which has befallen me!

Why do we work?

This is a very question which each and every one of us has to ask ourselves but then we usually don’t and the answers we do give are pretty lame.

Money, the Great Seduction

Money has been in existence since the time civilization decided to move away from the wild and became sheep like in herds. Money is of course not the root of all evil but people are the root of all evil. The original system of money was based on the barter system but now it is based on such a skewed system that even calling it capitalization is a horrible mistake!

Like my good friend says and I do quote the censored version as the uncensored version will be too explicit for many!

“You are working like a slave so that Sunil Mittal ******gets bigger!”

I don’t deny the statement but of course how can I blame a man for all my troubles! It is not the man himself but the very system which he breeds in. If I have a tea stall and I work as hard as I am doing, I would make money where as in the current system screws my health and I don’t even have health benefits for doing all this.

The fuck up with the system is that we don’t have the balls to stand up for this nonsense!

Questions like why you should work after 6 immediately makes the system calls you a guy with an attitude problem or a trouble maker!

In reality the system expects me too work like slave well slaves have fixed hours maybe the system wants me to work like this and keep doing this for the rest of my life. Why don’t we have a life outside work? A question which each and every one should ask each other?

In this much fucked up system, I see people who needless hang around in work and actually end up finishing 4 hours’ work in 12 hours to make the guys who slog their butt out for 12 hours look like idiots.

The time has come for each and every one to actually stand up and put an end to this nonsense. The fear of job is not an excuse which the system can’t play upon us every other time. It us up to us to stand up before the system and this includes me. I decided to take a stance and show the finger to the system well Project Mayhem may not be a realistic goal but showing the finger and getting back the life which is missing is very much a possibility!

Looking Up?

2011-01-12T14:05:00.002+05:30

Last year I decided to start the new year by having a post called as The Downward Spiral but I do hope I am right on this, just want to forget the year and just wish that this year is way better.

Not sure of what to make for the year but then I have grown as a person both professionally and personally, there were loads of hiccups in life which I would want to avoid the coming year. The discipline I had is gone and an old habit which was kicked out was back. Though there has been a deep reduction need to get things back in order and I hope things will all fall in place by the end of January.

Loads of things still remain at status quo and hopefully there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Well you can tick all the boxes but then deep down never been this close and despite all the earlier close calls, I do want to make this and hope that it happens. Sometimes everything happens for a reason and if this happens then there is hope after all.

2011 year is something which I am looking at with some positiveness as I do want 3 things to happen. Well to be very honest it seems a bit too much to ask for but then among the 3, even if 2 happen it would be great.

So let the year go on and only during the course of the year I will know. Well seems like something’s are on the pipeline, well I just wish it happens soon enough! And the one thing which I really want to happen well let me not be wrong this time around!

Life in Mono

2010-11-21T21:39:00.001+05:30

I was just sitting in my room and just looking at the fan rotate slowly and was just wondering what to do next, well that’s when I was scrolling through my phone and decided to call my old college buddy and though we practically used to see each other every other day thanks largely to being the fact that we choose the same classes but despite he leaving the country and now back for a slightly longer stint here, it has been a while.

After I spoke with him, I just realized something and maybe I am not sure that if it is actually true or despite the changes if maybe I am the only person not able to see through it, but somehow I just came to a conclusion nothing major has changed in the last so many years. Well things just can’t remain the same forever but then when I look back at what I was in college and when I look at things some things remain constant and despite me trying to alter it nothing seems to work but it just remains constant.

I headed to the gym and well it is another very constant factor that I have been going to the same place in the last so many years but it was very weird to see a person whom I have not met in ages and the very same polite formal conversation happened and well it is definitely not Déjà vu but then this just justified my feeling on how some things have failed to change at all.

I don’t know if I have got into a comfort zone but definitely I would not call it one as if it was a comfort zone then I would not have to go through so much mental torture of the last few years that it is anything but a comfort zone. But then despite my attempts to change a few things there are always roadblocks and I am back at where I started.

Maybe I am like the shepherd in the Alchemist, that I may find something I am looking for after going through a lot of things but even if it happens that way I will be happy as I am atleast able to find it rather then become someone who had it and then lost it or someone who never found it.

Maybe this life in mono is good after all and yes despite the obvious changes there are some things which just has not changed and maybe later on I will realize that the change which is not happened is for good and maybe I will reap in the fruits of the benefits later on. They say every dog has its day but then what if you are a tiger? Tigers don’t have days, they make their days but then the day will come when the tiger chooses to get the day when it matters the most!

White Rabbit V

2010-10-21T23:29:00.002+05:30

Has the rabbit led me to the grail?

This is the question which keeps popping up in my head. For strange reasons despite the ups & downs, there has always been one constant continuation factor which has crept up in my life. I do wonder if it was a coincidence after all and despite the deep lows we still manage to get over that phase and still get back into being closer.

For starters the so called check list is thrown out of the window as there has been too many Black Rabbits on the way but in all honesty if I had been faithful to the list, the count is 3. But when it comes to the Black rabbit even 3 is a bit too much. I do believe in destiny and the whole concept of one revolves around it but then there have been too many false hopes and each time atleast in the last few occasions there has been only one factor which has brought me off it.

The very first time I saw, there was something about the whole thing that if not for the years and the downs it still would not have been the same. Coming to think off it if I do have the power in reality to alter and I keep saying reality because if I did have the power to control anything and everything, it would be totally a different answer but coming back to reality if I could want something, I would close my eyes and choose it.

Very simple, despite all the things that one would say, I will always be happy and despite me saying that a “happy-go-lucky” is just not possible, but then I would trade anything for that as believe me despite almost everything and anything against it, it is something I so wish it happens and if it ever happens would make it the most satisfying moment in my life.

But then after 2 straight reasoning you just have to accept it when it is the 3^rd time and maybe at times I do wonder if this too is for a reason but there have been times where this has happened and well now days I just don’t go for it. Between the two honestly one has more cons that the other but then, I have always done things against convention even if it makes me think a lot and for once I would rather do it.

It made me realize all the black rabbits and if ever it does happen I would be the happiest man in the world for sure. Things like this do not always happen and I keep wishing it does happen. Sometimes even when you have lost everything, hope is something which you can look forward to and this time I am looking for more than hope a miracle of sorts and if it does, well truly everything else will never ever matter.

Settle Down

2010-09-26T16:20:00.002+05:30

The term settle down in ancient world actually means that humanity were mostly nomadic in nature and eventually near rivers they settle down and end up farming instead of moving from one place to another and killing for food. Farming was easier and it also gave him so much time to end up creating a system which today is totally against the fundamental evolution of how mankind has come about.

Now this very terms means totally different and in the Indian context it gets even weirder and crazier. Traditionally a guy is expected to do an engineering degree so that it gets him a job in one of the IT companies where since 17 his back is going slowly for a toss as he is used to travel on a bus for more than an hour and so but this further continues as he picks up an IT job. Basically the guy is clueless gets good pay and visits the US which makes him “Yo Dude” we need to “Party” on the weekends!

Saturday nights were Saturday nights even before the whole concept got unleashed here so it is strange to see a guy who basically though he was “Gods” gift to the world just because he got to represent his school in cricket, got 96% mugging up, buying an engineer seat and landing a job! Now suddenly the guy gets the moneys and discovers pubs & night life which was just invisible to him over the course of his entire life! Now even worse is yet to come, a man who is used to listening to regional music his whole life suddenly starts listening to Trance & rave about hip-hop. This is ok but worst case scenario is when they touch upon Floyd! This is a sacrilege!

Anyways this whole concept of settling down to the “Cool Tribe” mentioned above is something not new at all, it is something this starved generation looks upon and wait for since the day they step into working life. Basically half of them remain as slaves for the Western powers to be by remaining in IT and the other half gets out to the United States of American to forge an artificial wannabe life.

The half which stays down here goes on like this, apart from travelling on a freaking bus all their life, they think they know everything and anything which is happening in the world. Leave all that to get into that is an ocean and the whole post would require words which just has to be censored. Anyways the folks that too stay back do things one at a time. Get a car, get a flat and get married. These 3 things are the most essential things of the whole settle down process. Highly important process that at times the 3 things mentioned can also change orders but then the 3 things has to happen no matter what happens.

The half which goes to the promised land where they actually think they are the ABCD the moment they land up in JFK (Most end up there) and this is the most interesting lot as anything they do there is a story behind it and “It’s Cool” tag associated with it. Usually drives a Honda or a Toyota and it’s a model which is considered a luxury car back home and typically lives in a house but share it with a few other fellow desi people. Typical lifestyle habits includes “Visiting Strip Clubs in the afternoons”, “Going to Night Clubs and standing it a corner and checking out women”, “Skiing once and proclaiming they into adventure sports”, “Going for rock concerts”, “Carnatic music is now cool”, “Temple visits for free food”, this is an endless list which can take on volumes of space but I have decided to stop it as the more I go into it, the more stupid it gets!

Ok you may all wonder of the 2^nd lot the westernized lot which suddenly uses words like “Clubbing” “Beer” “Gym” etc. still have all the 3 processes as well. Well buying a car is the 1^st thing they do and that is one thing which just cannot be stopped. Buying the house is a tricky equation as since they are in the “Promised Land”, these people buy multiple houses across the globe (Basically one in US and one in their hometown in India) this process last as long as they work in the “Promised Land”. Anyways the last one which is getting married is the trickiest one for these chaps. Despite proclaims of living a western lifestyle which includes paid sex the saints wants only virgin Indian girls. Anyways some get and some don’t and this completes the 3 phase settling down process.

Now that if you have managed to complete all the 3 fazes you is a settled down guy doing justice to the whole system and the society. For all of the other chaps outside this system, tough luck, life is a lemon after all!

Disclaimer: The post was not sponsored nor paid for by the Settle Down people and the author despite not having set his foot on the Promised Land do not consider that to be the ultimate achievement at all. The settle down equation is an Indian problem which goes across all caste and creed. Women who also goes through this faces a tougher task then guys.

Should have actually put this some 50 days back!!!

2010-09-06T23:00:00.001+05:30

The Michael Schumacher Problem

2010-07-03T10:00:00.001+05:30

Michael Schumacher is statistically the most successful driver in the history of F1 and he could also be the best driver to have ever raced. Of course a few would always counter that there have been others like Juan Manuel Fangio, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna who could have been better than Schumacher but comparing drivers of different era is tough and the sheer success rate of Schumacher makes his probably the greatest ever driver. Prost and Senna finished their careers when Schumacher was starting his but Prost and Senna always raced for the best of teams. Prost left Renault as he could not win the championship with them while his rivalry with Senna caused him to move out of McLaren. He spends just 2 seasons with Ferrari and took a sabbatical from the sport only to re-join a year later to win his final championship with Williams. Senna after some good drives with Lotus joined McLaren as it was the most dominant team in the late 80’s while left the team to join Williams as they started dominating the sport but unfortunately he dies in a horrific crash at the San Marino Grand Prix.

Prost and Senna are good drivers provided they have good cars and neither have not gone on to build a team like Schumacher has done it. Prost and Senna are no angels on the track as they also had their run of incidents and Senna if not for his death on the track is no stranger to controversies and he has in fact been involved in quite a bit of fist fights for on track incidents. Before Schumacher joined Benetton, the team was good but never good enough to win titles. He ended up winning 2 championships with the team and was fighting for race wins right from his 1^st full season with the team. He made the team dominate the sport for 2 seasons where they decimated teams like McLaren and Williams. He then joined Ferrari and when he joined the team, the team had not any titles since 1984 and in the 5 year period before he joined the team won 2 races in that period. Schumacher build the team and ensured that they became one of the most dominant team of that era. The Schumacher led Ferrari won 5 driver’s championship and 6 constructor’s championships. Their worst finish in that period was finishing 3^rd in 2005. Schumacher won an astonishing 72 races in 11 seasons with Ferrari. He is not only the world’s greatest driver but also the best support driver as Eddie Irvine would say as during the 99 season, Schumacher broke his leg and missed 6 races which ruled him out for the season but he came back and ensured that he provided all the support for the Irishman who went on to lose the title by just 2 points. That was the year Ferrari won his first constructor’s championship since 1983.

There have been fast drivers like Kimi Räikkönen, Jacques Villeneuve, and Lewis Hamilton who went on to win titles with a fast car but no one else have built a team around them and turned the fortunes of a team so much that he became synonymous with the team itself. Though Ferrari could have been hasty in putting in Kimi for the 2007 season which resulted in Schumacher retiring from the sport after a stunning drive at the Brazilian Grand Prix of 2006. It could have been a bit premature as he had a few years left in the tank. He did test the Ferrari cars and was their consultant till 2009 but then Schumacher was used to racing not watch it from the side-lines but Massa’s accident nearly resulted in him making a comeback last year for Ferrari but then when Button left Brawn and when Mercedes took over the team they needed a world champion and Schumacher answered Brawn’s call as his association with Brawn is even longer than his association with Ferrari and Brawn has been instrumental in all his championships.

We should remember that Schumacher has been out of F1 for 3 seasons and a lot of changed. The current field is one of the most talented fields ever while another factor is that the Mercedes team in its previous avatars as BAR and Honda has produced some disastrous cars. Brawn GP though ran on low budgets their car was in development for over 2 years and Honda has put in close to half a billion on that car. It is not that Schumacher is struggling while his teammate is winning but despite the reasonable start that Rosberg had when Schumacher was still getting used to the car it has not been as big as a disaster as some sections of the media are portraying. Schumacher did have his worst ever finish in Valencia on a track where he has never raced before but then he was also an unlucky victim of FIA’s flawed safety car rules. Had that not been the case he could have even been on the podium and the Schumacher comeback story would have taken a different turn. In 2009 while Button was winning races his teammate Barrichello was not even on the podium on regular basis but here Rosberg is not exactly doing wonders apart from his early good run. Rosberg has never truly beaten Schumacher and the good old Schumacher may not be back as long as they don’t provide him with a good car. Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari are miles ahead and even Renault is catching up. Last weekend at the European Grand Prix saw Williams and Force India showing stronger pace then Mercedes.

If Mercedes do improve then the old Schumacher should be back and with the likes of German, Belgian and the Italian GP’s to go, these tracks have been special to him and we could even expect a win but knowing how the development has gone for this season for Mercedes, that may just not happen. Schumacher’s comeback given the situation and car has been very good for a 41 year old drivers competing with men half his age but then he should not give up so easily and even if he manages to win races that would cap off as a remarkable comeback as this was the team who used to produce some of the worst cars on the grid during the BAR/Honda era. Brawn is one man and he could not change much but the team should focus on 2011 and just use this season for Schumacher to warm up as if the car is developed for him and if the team is able to produce a car which is even half good as the Brawn GP car of 2009 then he can challenge the likes of Red Bull, McLaren and his old team Ferrari. The real Schumacher will be back only if he has a car to drive with the current car even the likes of Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton, the 3 best drivers of this new era will fail to challenge for wins leave alone score points regularly.

The biggest signing of this summer?

2010-07-01T12:16:00.003+05:30

Maybe England should put her on the filed as she is sure to do a better job than most of the over-paid & over-rated stars!

An Indian Top 10

2010-06-06T16:07:00.003+05:30

There was a time when Top 10 lists were put up very often but now it has become a rarity and well this is the first top 10 list of the year and we are already done with the first 5 months. Hope my plan of putting up a list every month takes off!!

I know an Indian list was long time coming but finally decided to do it!!!

1. Deepika Padukone

2. Priyanka Chopra

3. Shruti Haasan

4. Mayanti Langer

5. Katrina Kaif

6. Genelia D'Souza

7. Neha Dhupia

8. Bipasha Basu

9. Chitrangada Singh

10. Lara Dutta

The Black Rabbit

2010-06-06T15:22:00.002+05:30

November 17^th 2006 was the 1^st and the only time I explored the theme on the Black Rabbit. This time honestly though I did want to start on the White Rabbit, realized that it was better to go through the Black Rabbit first and then maybe move on to the White Rabbit. The White Rabbit is something which leads to a better thing or something we hope it is better.

But then what if you consider good so far turns into bad? Well I would not say turn into bad but maybe been bad all this while but then been good to your eyes as you have been blinded by something and despite the angelic intervention which saved you once & despite being close this was a scenario where things should have been clear but you have failed to see so and this though has not harmed you much but this very thing could lead to a situation where the White Rabbit was before you but you failed to see it & you rather followed the Black Rabbit.

In life things like this happen but then thanks to the White Rabbit once again you have realized a few things which maybe you should have ages back but then it is never late and realizing it gives a big relief had following the Black Rabbit further deep would have made no sense at all.

The White Rabbit or something well has saved you again but then what about the One? Was the chance to be with the One was missed or rather it was never the real One but then it was something else and maybe the angelic intervention you always needed from time to time. Either ways as long as it is for the good it is always fine.

The Universal egoism theory is always right! There is no denial to that and in fact the Black Rabbit has made it very clear. Ok there have been some significant monetary losses but then end of the day, money is something which was an artificial creation by man so that he can be destroyed by greed towards the end of all civilizations but leave alone the lost.

It is highly irritating when it is always and always has been about the individual and despite taking so long to realize atleast now that the realization has been made there are still occasional lapses but off late there have not been any and guess the Black Rabbit has truly led me to a place after all. Hope it is not yet to late but then only time will tell if it was truly meant to be.

The Dude Life

2010-05-30T21:55:00.000+05:30

If you don’t know who the Dude is, well what can I do, you are missing the good things of life!!!

A day in the life of the day typically involves the following activities:

- Get up at middle of the day and start the day with beer or White Russian (Typically the time when working folks have lunch)

- Laze around on your rug (the rug is the most important thing in your life)

- Continue to laze around till 4 and grab a bite

- Wear shades, boxers, t-shirt and then head out.....bowling is fine or else even darts would suffice

- More beer afterwards

- Come home & have some Chinese food & then laze

- Time for White Russian

- Lie on the rug & watch TV (it is ok if you are not even aware what you looking at)

- Pass out!

Dates includes special visit to “Special Lady Friends” house but then these visits are shoot & you need to be served White Russian !

French Open 2010 Picks

2010-05-22T10:51:00.000+05:30

The French Open has always been one of the easiest grand slams in terms of predictions. Over the last few years only a handful of individuals continue to excel on the clay courts.

Last year Roger Federer completed his grand slam and sealed his place as one of the all time greats by winning his 1^st French Open title by beating Robin Söderling, who has been the most improved played of 2009. It was Söderling who dumped Nadal in the semi-finals but then he could not continue his giant killing act 2 matches in a row. This year Nadal has already beaten Federer on clay in Madrid and every signs point to Nadal once again dominating Federer in the French Open if both men managed to reach the finals. Among the others, Robin Söderling will once again come into the picture along with Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Mikhail Youzhny, Fernando Verdasco, David Ferrer and Marin Čilić all expected to reach the 2^nd week. A lot will be expected from home town heroes Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gaël Monfils. Tsonga in particular along with Youzhny will be the dark horses of the tournament.

Predicting the women’s side has always been tough but during the last few years only few women seem to regularly do well at the French Open. Justine Henin a four time winner here despite seeded only 22 will be one of the favourites for the title while challenge will come from both the William sisters and others who have shown some reasonable form going into this event and which includes Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Janković, Samantha Stosur, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Li Na. The French hopes will be on Marion Bartoli and Aravane Rezaï, who is one of the dark horses for this tournament. Former champion Ana Ivanović and 2 time runner-up Dinara Safina can never be discounted on clay and having done well here in the past don’t be too surprised if they managed to reach the last 4 once again. Russian Maria Kirilenko has been the most improved player of the year and she can knock out a few fancied players while Maria Sharapova who just needs this title to complete her own slam can never be discounted. Though 2007 looked like her best chance of winning here, the Russian star can once again rise to the top provided she manages to play her brand of tennis and pulls off a victory here.

Nadal is my pick for the men’s title but on the Women’s side I decided to go with 2 dark horses, Sharapova and Aravane Rezaï.

O Iyer, Where Art Thou?

2010-05-12T13:06:00.002+05:30

Let us make a check list:

Engineering – No

Classical Music – No

Cricket is a Religion – No, oops if Cricket is a religion then I am a bloody Atheist

America is the Promised Land – No (Would prefer Europe!)

Japanese Cars – Strict, given the money would buy a 911 GT2

Coffee – Though this is the official favorite drink mine is still beer!

Masters in US – Nope, did it in good old Madras

Mylapore – Yes (Not bad, one Yes so far)

IT Sector – Screw the Geeks!

Meat – Beef Baby!

Tamil Movies – Huh!

Tamil Music – WTF!

Lets see, out the check list, the only thing I have marked is yes for Mylapore which by default I am forced to live there as my folks do have a place there, but then given the cost of real estate, I would save a few bucks sheltering with them till I do get kicked out so till then it is Mylapore!

Typically a good conversation over some fresh draught beer involves Pink Floyd, Vettel kicking Hamilton’s ass, the next big signing of Sir Alex, Sharapova better than Victoria’s secret models, Man on the moon is a hoax, Hitler’s flawed invasion of Russia, Calvin outsmarting Hobbes, Wolverine or Batman, Tyler Durden, Who the hell do we exist, the list goes one………………………Now from the check list and the topics I do have mentioned I guess I have become the ultimate anti-hero of the typical Iyer boy!

Let’s see how that list goes –

Engineering – Yes (Computer Science)

Classical Music – Yes but I suck

Cricket is a Religion – Yes & Sachin is my God

America is the Promised Land – Hell Yeah!

Japanese Cars – Accord or Corolla

Coffee – Filter Coffee

Masters in US – Yes, with full scholarship

Mylapore – Yes & No

IT Sector – Dream Job

Meat – Yuck, after US a few say Chicken is Paneer!

Tamil Movies – Tamil version of Memento best movie ever!

Tamil Music – Rehman is the best!

Ok, for starters in the traditional list, I would flunk, heck I would not even be on the rolls! But then do I really care about being an Iyer?

Yes & No, for starters I don’t really dig the whole thing but then ya I should be happy as for the liberated soul I am as of now the reasons are very simple. It is me & only me!

It is always us on who we can be as a person, well we are tuned by our folks to a certain extent, the society and other parts of society like education and things play a part. Though they may only show you the path but then it is always up to you to go ahead and run away with it. My folks are example of a typical modern day Iyer family, cant call them orthodox but I really cant say that they have a similar mindset as I do have but then I am not them and I am not my brood. I am what I can be & that is what I am doing!

If I can be the beer drinking, freaking running, who believes that life is not about making money but to be lived to the fullest and enjoyed with the one person who can make you happy forever then my life is made. I don’t want to go to the freaking US of A to drive an over sized Japanese car but I can live her enjoy the things I do and just life which a lot of people fail to do as they are too petty!

I wish I can do the ultimate turn of an Iyer boy and go full steam ahead but then I may be an outsider for life as in the end if I can do it then there is nothing like it at all as I know that there can be some hiccups but then I would live a compete life!

On Turning 27

2010-05-10T14:44:00.003+05:30

I have made this a yearly routine where I talk about what exactly I have done in the last one year. A lot has happened in the last one year and though I did expected one thing to happen, it has so far not happened and I am hoping things happen very soon. Very soon means this week J

· Bad start to birthday as lappy is out & I need to pick up a new one. Damn a major cost towards it but still worth it.

· Bar only has one Black Label, need to stock it & if every thing goes well, a full fledged bar will be there!

· Started the book but then now just lazy to get back to it.

· Finally got an article on F1 published & guess that is the highlight of the year!

· Running like a Mad Man but worth it and totally enjoying it! More 6k in 30 mins in the fist few months of the year!

· Survived 2 years in advertising! (OMG, and what did I think a few years back!)

· Blog is slow but Bleacher is regular!

· May 8^th became beer day, just ask Nobby, Tyler & Kay!

· Quizzing was still off but did manage to kick some butt in a LIBA alumni quiz

· Finally did something which I wanted to do for ages!

· The One is still a dream and guess may have found one or rather make one The One!

· Actually fit as of now still no flat abs!

· Bad habit quit but it keeps recurring but then need to put an end to it

· Nightmare to Bad Dream. Need to end it soon!

· Not that broke but still…………..

· Still on 2 wheels

· Realized the false one, still falls but then atleast realized at and could find the actual one!

· Worst ever start to the year but then had survived and the only way is now up!

· Semi-retired & social outings still on J

· May repeat it but hope it happens. Will be totally against the system but heck worth it as it was this which got me out of the phase

· Still a believer and now hope it happens!

· Late addition to the post but then could not actually post it work as had some techincal issues but would like to thank my buddies Tara, Nats (The Gifts too), Venkat, Oishee & Asha for the surprise!

Hope I did not miss on anything much but heck actually it has been an eventful period and it has made me stronger. Though year should end and hope everything changes very very soon!

Nothing Left To Lose

2010-05-03T20:18:00.001+05:30

You look at the way things are going and at times you do feel like there is lot of things to lose but in reality there is nothing left to lose at all. You wonder where everything is going to head but it is up to you at times to take it out and just leave everything and go off. It is funny that I am questioned by a lot of people on a few things, but then no one really knows how it feels. To be very honest at times I do feel like the dark knight!

Things may seem fine from the outside but inside you alone knows how it hurts to be in the position which you are in. At times you do ask yourself why is that you are trapped in this forsaken place but then at times it is beyond your control that you are forced to be in the place you are in right now as it may take a little more time to get off that very forsaken place.

Change is good but then change means a lot of new things and with nothing to lose this very change can be the one which can lead to greater things. But our mind can be our very own enemy and at times keep tricking us but it is up to us to conquer our own mind to achieve this very goal.

We at times sit and just watch the world passes by but then we just watch in the end, while others change and everything else changes for both good and bad while you continue to be the same but the very reason for this is that you are in the same place. This very place can become both a boon and a curse.

Everyone does wait for a jet place and eventually they will get theirs and I just hope mine comes off quickly. Though I would look back, I guess the time has come for me to go on and life my life rather than looking back things and like I said before, there was nothing left to lose at all. Life still goes on.

Wishing Masha a Happy Birthday!

2010-04-19T18:34:00.000+05:30

This is a very cute picture of Masha all relaxed during practice of French Open a few years back. She may not be the prototype of the most beautiful women on the world but according to me she is the best cutest women on Earth as of now!

The One Though!

2010-04-13T15:30:00.001+05:30

The following was found online and it is a different point of view on the one:

How many times have you met someone who touched your heart and you have asked, "Is this person, 'The One'?" This expression refers to "The One For Me...." From the time we are able to desire a partner, most people seek The One, the person who is here to make them feel complete. That person would be a lifetime partner, always there with unconditional love, compassion and understanding. The One is here to share your journey, through all of its detours, and to support your decisions as you evolve.

When you meet The One, if you are lucky enough to meet that person, you do not have to ask, "Is this The One?" You will know.

Through the years, who we are, and what we become, our personal needs and goals, changes. To find The One, who would compliment us throughout our journey, is certainly a challenge. At a given point in time we can meet a soul who compliments our journey at that point, but will it last?

A beautiful, educated, female client in her 20's, asked me about meeting The One, meaning her Soulmate. She looked at me and said, "Ellie, I'm The One, not a guy!" You find The One when you find yourself, by healing and creating balance. The One refers to the Union of Self, finding balance, and high self esteem. The One is your soul, divided by the barriers of Time and Space, above and below, feeling naked and alone in third dimension and struggling to find the answers to age old questions...Why am I here? What is my mission?

We are genetically encoded to seek The One, the feeling growing stronger as consciousness evolves. The One, as your Twin Flame, is your polar opposite, yin / yang, the balance aspect of your soul who makes you feel complete and waits in higher frequency for soul reunion often guiding your path in third dimension. This reunion comes at Zero Point Merge when your consciousness returns to its natural state of light.

While in physical reality, young people search for The One most of their lives.
Middle Age people still seek that person, but their goals with that person have changed.
Older people still seek a companion, The One become less a person of 'passion' and more about 'compassion.'

The One is linked with many aspects of Love: Spiritual [pure consciousness connection], Physical [passion], Romantic [feeds the heart and fantasies], Emotional [understands and fills our many needs], Mental [growing together and sharing new choices]

Do you think you have found The One?

Have you found, then lost, The One?

Do you have something to release connected to The One?

Have you concluded that you will never meet The One? When you say that, are you saddened by the thought?

If you do not meet The One, will you settle for another?

Can you be alone and not be lonely? Does being alone scare you?

Do you long for romance and passion?

Do not look for The One. Live your life. Embrace the moment. Be kind and caring.

If The One for you is out there, and you are BOTH ready, you will attract each other by synchronicity, no other way.

Everyone talks about the One & I for certain have discussed about the one way too many times. There are times when my own belief on the one has gone away but then there are times when you are really low and alone where the hope of the One keeps you going.

It is not like we will come across the One every day but then we always brood over the chances of maybe missing the one, you know what, for all you know the reason you have missed her is because she is not the one at all. You will one day realize it and be glad that you did miss the bus rather than take the journey with her. Heck you may never find the bus but who is asking you to wait at the bus stop!

I do and even now sincerely believe in the one and despite the differences and everything if the other person is the one then no matter what happens then you will be with the one. Nothing can come in between the two people involved even if they may during the current phase may not be on even talking terms!

The One is something which you will know when you see the person but then you may not always be sure. There was a time when I felt few people could have been the one, but then there were single moments which put your mind back on track and you get all the clarity in the world and you realize something. The One can be anyone but they will eventually come before you, well atleast you can hope so till you find one.
Or else why search for the one?

There can be people who actually can become the One. If you do end up having a good time every other time you are with the person or the person brings happiness to your life or though you maybe different you can spend every moment of your life with this person or just that this very person who you never though as a one but was still always close to you. You have a lot of reasons but when a person can bring through happiness to you and make you happy it is time to actually make the person the One. For all you know she could be the One.

The Pros and Cons of Treadmill Running

2010-04-01T12:17:00.000+05:30

For the laymen, a treadmill is an exercise machine for running or walking while staying in one place. The word treadmill traditionally refers to a type of mill which was operated by a person or animal treading steps of a wheel to grind grain.

Pure walking on the treadmill is the lamest thing one can do and is a serious piss off any person who can run!

Now let’s look at the Pros

Adverse Weather
For many people, this would means the conditions outside is too cold for a run or else it always rains outside or for many in Madras, it is just freaking hot to run outside. Dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke are very serious conditions that are frequently encountered by runners. Each of these conditions is caused by a combination of high heat and insufficient fluids.

Speed Work/Interval Training
Unless you are running on a track, all this is not at all possible on roads as they are never accurate and there is always some hindrance or the other.

Consistent Pacing
When you begin to fatigue during your outside training runs, you may sub-consciously slow down. You do not realize that you are slowing down because you feel like you are running at the same rate of perceived exertion. In other words, you still believe that you are running at your goal pace. The accumulating effects of fatigue make your goal pace feel harder and harder, so you slow down in response. This unintentional reduction in your pace can have a negative affect on the quality of your workout. This problem with inconsistent pace can happen in all workouts from speedwork to long runs.

Easy Runs
The irony is that we slow down for hard runs while for easy runs, when we do run on the outside we end up running faster and there is not much significant difference between our normal run and the easy run, so though it can be tough for the runner, on a treadmill, he can just set the pace and just keep running till he finishes it.

Hill Training
Hill running is one of the best and most efficient workouts for building running strength, running economy and improving race performance. The problem is that many runners live in areas that have few hills, if any. So, what do you do if you live in a hill challenged area? Simple - get on your treadmill.

Long Runs
The term long run brings up visions of running long distances in parks, on roads or urban trails. There are many great benefits of doing long runs on that type of terrain. However, more and more runners are doing at least some of their long runs on the treadmill. Reason in simple as many may live in areas where long runs are not just possible. Without the right scenario, it can get boring and the runner may even regret running in the 1st place.

Given the right gym, you can actually get away with boredom by listening to some good music or watching some sitcom or a movie. But there are times when you end up watching some lame Tamil Soap or some really shitty hindi music!!

The good thing is that the quality of your long runs can also be improved by running on the treadmill. The precise pace control will allow you to keep the pace down when necessary. It will keep you from running too fast during the first part of your long run. It will also keep you at a quality pace if you are doing goal pace long runs. It can be very difficult to maintain that quality goal pace in the later stages of your long run. The treadmill will keep you at that goal pace and you don't even have to think about it. When doing your long runs on a treadmill, you are also near all of your water and fluid replacement drinks. No need to hide fluids in a bush or carry them with you.

Mental Toughness
The sport of running is a solitary activity that requires self- motivation, discipline and commitment along with both physical and mental toughness. These are all attributes that must be learned and practiced. Running on a treadmill is comfortable, efficient and safe. But, it is not psychologically easy. It is really quite difficult to run and maintain pace on a treadmill. This is due, in part, to the perception that you are not going anywhere. You do not have the psychological cues that you are making progress, such as the wind in your face and the objects and scenery moving by. You also do not have other runners around you to keep you motivated.
Since running on the treadmill is usually a solitary activity, it helps build self-motivation and commitment. Running and maintaining your pace on the treadmill builds a mental "toughness" that will help you in your races and outside training runs.

Here come the Cons

Lack of Specificity
One of the "laws" of training is the law of specificity. This simply means that your training should be as specific as possible to your training goal. In other words, your training should match your goal as closely as possible. You are training to run outside on the road, trail or track and run races, not to run on a treadmill. Treadmill training has been proven, in scientific studies, to have very similar physiological effects, to outside or free- range running. In simpler terms, treadmill training gives you very similar training benefits when compared to free-range running. However, even though the physiological effects are very similar, it is not specifically the same as running outside. There are physical differences, which include lack of wind resistance, lack of changing terrain, running on a moving belt, bio-mechanical differences and psychological differences.

Lack of Wind Resistance
When running on the treadmill, you are obviously running in place. You are not running through the air. When you run outside you are running through the molecules of the air, which create resistance. The faster you run, the more of an effect the air resistance has on you.

Running Bio-Mechanics
In addition to the wind resistance problem, there is some evidence that running bio-mechanics are different when running on the treadmill. There have been reports of stride length being both longer and shorter than outside running. Experience runners have longer strides when running on the treadmill, while new runners have shorter stride lengths on the treadmill than they did when running outside. Also some runners tend to lean less forward when running on the treadmill. This can cause more energy being wasted on up and down motion and less energy focused on forward momentum.

Running Surface
The even and soft surface of the treadmill is an advantage in many ways, but it does present one major disadvantage. When running outside you encounter uneven surfaces, stones, soft areas, hard areas, dry areas, wet areas and various combinations of these surfaces. The challenge of running over these surfaces improves your propreoception or the ability of your neuromuscular system to correct for the effect these types of surfaces have on your muscles and the position of your body parts and joints. This is critical to runners because it affects balance, power and running economy. Running on the treadmill removes this very important part of training.

Now comes the Injuries part. Though the chances of you getting injured on both the treadmill and the outside surface is huge, chances are if you end up doing things right and get a really good shoes, you will not get injured.
Running on concrete and asphalt day in and day out places a lot of stress on the connective tissues in your legs. This can lead to potential overuse injuries. But again running on the machine is something unnatural which affects your natural bio-mechanics and this also can also some injuries as you may end up hurting yourself while pushing hard. Also when you really exhausted on the road, you are still in control but on the treadmill, since you don’t control the pace, there is a high chance of you injuring yourself in that process.

Someday Life Will Be Better

2010-03-29T20:11:00.002+05:30

We live everyday thinking of either the life which we want to or sometime in the future where we will not have problems that we go through now. Life is the best and the worst thing which a person can go through. The joke is that we do not have a choice in it at all, we are thrown into the deep end of the life and someone expected to come out on top.

I still wonder and will always wonder, if we do really exist and the very purpose of our existence as of now is to just go through the motions of life as a slave to the world. Do we really have the freedom that we all think we have, well I don’t think that true freedom exists for us as if true freedom had existed we will not be in many situations that we are in right now.

We are trapped in a set-up where we exist not for ourselves but for a variety of other reasons which is yet to be clear for us. The things we do at times baffle me a lot as we at times fail to do things which we wanted to do but somehow we end up scratching the wall and just do not go ahead and pull it off.

All we can is hope that things will get better eventually as like it is said in Shawshank Redemption, “hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies” so all we can do is just wait for hope to take control of things so that we don’t need to go through the various motions of life.

We can be strong willed and go about being headstrong in the things we do, but then everything had an expiry date and we can’t pull off a phoenix each and everytime. The time will come when things will end, but the wait for it can’t be a lifetime but it will be worth to see that time as after all the struggles, you need that day.

Chennai Super Jokers!

2010-03-24T16:36:00.000+05:30

This should be the apt name for the team which represents Chennai in the IPL but now it is called Chennai Super Kings and though I did mention that the team represents Chennai but in reality it represents a businessman who’s apparent conflict of interest as both a high ranking official in the BCCI which runs the IPL and also the owner of the company which owns the Super Kings is always pushed under the mat. Forget the politics let get back to the team and we should all be happy and joyful that this very team managed to reach the finals of the 1st edition of IPL and scrap through to the Semi-Finals in the 2nd edition is very commendable effort given the actual strength of the team.

Before that the name, Chennai Super Kings is a very poor knock off on the original T20 team from Chennai which also “represented” the city in the rebel ICL. The Chennai Superstars atleast had an awesome kick ass campaign but then Super Kings were supposed represent the “Golden Era” of Tamil Culture which includes 4 dynasties waging petty war among them and made this land pretty insignificant till the Raj landed on the shores of Madras.

Now let’s look at the squad:

Dhoni - Screw the pan-Indian appeal, the skipper has nothing to do with Chennai atleast Australian speedster Brett Lee trained in Chennai at the MRF pace foundation.

Hayden – Looks more like a bouncer than a cricket but he is the sole reason why Chennai is still able to put up a fight against all odds.

George Bailey – What? Who? Never a guy who is going to play some insanely high octane 20/20 cricket

Andrew Flintoff – Signing Flintoff in 2005 would have been awesome as he was a Titan then now he is more like a prop who makes guest appearances in the English side to intimidate the Australians.

Jacob Oram – From walking wounded to Always wounded

Murali Vijay – Whoever called him the next “Dravid” is sure retarded !!!

Suresh Raina – Used the CSK to get back to national colours but now is clueless

Subramaniam Badrinath – Seriously T20 for him?

Michael Hussey – Mr Cricket is great when is around but then no one even remembers that he is in the squad now!

Albie Morkel – Poor man’s Zulu who is the 6th bowling option for SA but opens for us

Justin Kemp – The one decent value for money pick but then he is injured

Muttiah Muralitharan – He is the best bowler for CSK but gets flogged by International attacks now must be inspiring to see how strong is our line-up

Makhaya Ntini – Still runs in fast but once the ball hits the deck becomes cannon fodder for batsmen

Lakshmipathy Balaji – Disgrace to the term “Fast Bowler”

Thilan Thushara & Thisara Perera – Picked as the guy who was picking them got stoned

Sudeep Tyagi, Manpreet Gony & Joginder Sharma – Lethal lottery as usually they go for around 10 runs an over but you get these off days where they can bowl decently but no one is sure when these days come!!!

Ravichandran Ashwin – Finally our own bowling all-rounder who fails to score one run in 2 balls!!!

Top 10 reasons to run!!!

2010-03-19T16:05:00.000+05:30

10 - So you can get up and run at 6 AM before work, when it is 24 degrees outside and all you want to do is sleep another hour, but you know that if you do and just hate yourself the rest of the day.
9 - So your socks always have blood stains from the cuts and bruises you get at times over doing it.
8 - So you can tell someone your weekly mileage and get the response, “50 kilometers?! I don’t even drive that far! And you can smile and fake a laugh like you haven’t heard it 900 times before. Or they will ask how you can enjoy running 21 kilometers and then call you crazy.
7 - So you can double or even triple your shower and grocery bills.
6 - So that you go Gatorade hunting!
5 - So you can just kill a few hours during the weekend when everyone else is wasting time planning what to do.
4 - So that every time you go to buy a pair of sneakers you end up buying running shoes instead and finally all you have is plain looking running shoes.
3 - So that by the time one o clock rolls around at work, you feel like curling up under your desk and taking a two hour nap.
2 - So when you guzzle beer people look at you ask you how you are still able to maintain it and to further stress the point have 2 servings of the dessert.
1 - Oh, yeah the health benefits.

Recessionomics

2010-03-18T12:08:00.000+05:30

The writer has nothing substantive to say about the structural violence of unemployment, job insecurity, cuts in public spending, and the destruction of institutions capable of defending social provisions and the public good.

Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase commodity goods in ever greater amounts.

Most people I know can afford 3 meals a day and can very well live under a roof but then we still have the talk of recession creeping in everywhere. Just when the whole cycle of recession is almost getting over or that’s what the media say, you hear news of a further deep dip during 2012 and ironically off all the years we have it has to be 2012 and maybe monetary system as we know may just end that year and the world as “We Knew” may cease to exist.

Strong statements but then the world as “We Knew” is different from the world as it existed and will existed as the world “We Knew” is a spoilt child which needs a spanking badly but the problem is that no one can afford the cane which is to be used to spank the child!

The lady who works for us, the watchmen and the million others who live in many parts of the world do not talk of recession. Everyday is a struggle for them but at the end of the day they happy if they have a roof under which they can sleep and have a bare minimum of 2 meals a day. Then if the majority fails to bother about the recession and the minority unaffected by recession (Case: IPL) then why are we the folks who are stuck in the limbo between the 2 different groups talk about it the most and though we are significantly in reality in every sense not too bothered about it but still talk about it as if our life evolves around every policy which governments of the world makes to decide to the very course of our supposively future life.

Just because I am not able to afford 3 beers @ a fancy nite spot does not mean recession is in full swing! They say when a company is not doing well, the first thing they cut down on is advertisements (Agency heads swear by this) but the same policy makers wants the consumers to spend more on things which they don’t need so that the company can do well and overcome recession and other losses so that the CEO can take a month long vacation in Hawaii and drive a swanky new German car while the bottom level chap rides a common man’s bike, works 16 hours a day and pays heavy interests on his loans.

Now why should I spend on things which I don’t need at all? I am a culprit to this as society has tuned me to buy things which I do not need but then I still go ahead and purchase it because you just can’t live a life with basic needs but leave all wants alone as in the end everything you saved up will be used for someone’s want so you better use it up for your wants which becomes needs in our minds.

Telecommunication, a sector which is above recession as even during bad times to convey the news you still need to pass on the message to someone right? Wrong, as all telecom does is make people call people when it is least needed. Short Text Service is one of the biggest benefits of a mobile phone but then the same thing is used to make people kill time by madly texting each other. Another factor which has given rise to telecommunication is that since the day “white collar” employees became slaves rather than folks with self respect we lost track of time and we would rather “Call” or “text” people rather than meet them as we are all holed up in plastic offices doing work for some corporate benefit which we all assume is great thing but in the end the very work we do leads to a chain reaction which comes to bite us in the back.

There is a claim that we do have the lowest telecommunication rates in the world but what we really need is good healthcare and general education rather than cheap ways to kill time and become more robotic. Few people really need a mobile phone and anything which saves life is ok but anything which leads to more artificial means of getting the consumer to spend more is plain sad and at this very point I regret living in such a world but hope soon a time will come where all this will change as there are things which can get you more satisfaction that driving a Ferrari and partying a Victoria’s Secret supermodel.

Enoughism is the theory that there is a point where consumers possess everything they need, and buying more actually makes their lives worse off.

This is what which has plagued today’s society and this has turned to be a mix of plague and cancerous which will end up society going back to primitive age so that real anarchy will overcome us all and free us from the slavery we go through in out lives which has been put on to us by the powers to be aided by our ancestors. The time will come where the bubble will burst as it may be soon or it may after all take time but then it will happen and the motions are said and no matter what happens, nothing can be done to save us all from the fate which awaits us.

The Art and (Physics) of Running!

2010-03-08T19:22:00.000+05:30

Running is defined as the ability to move on foot. It is defined in sporting terms as a gait in which at some point all feet are off the ground at the same time. This is in contrast to walking, where one foot is always in contact with the ground, the legs are kept mostly straight and the center rides along fairly smoothly on top of the legs. The term running can refer to any of a variety of speeds ranging from jogging to sprinting.

Humans leap from one leg to the other while running. Each leap raises the center of gravity during take-off and lowers it on landing as the knee bends to absorb the shock. At mid arc, both feet are momentarily off the ground. This continual rise and fall of bodyweight expends energy opposing gravity and absorbing shock during take-off and landing. Running uses more energy than walking to travel the same distance.

This why I also added in the work Physics to running! Anyways I decided to have this new series on running and since this is the 1st post on it, I would say that almost everyone at some point in life has actually run. Maybe it is to run from one class to another or just run on the road because the dog chases us. There is also this tribe of folks who decided to run for the heck of running though they talk about burning calories openly but secretly their addiction to “Runner’s High” keeps pushing them to run more often.

Running is the cheapest means of exercise as you do not need any fancy equipment but then all you need is open roads and oh yeah I did fail to mention but a very good pair of shoes if you are actually serious about the whole thing.

There are now ways of avoiding roads and running indoors in a treadmill and though given our current lifestyle this is very beneficial but a mix of both outdoor running and treadmill is the way to go rather than just run indoors in a treadmill.

Though the speeds we can achieve have gone up in recent times humans’ ability to run long is diminishing and this is due to the current lifestyle we live in. I am not advocating that we go back to Stone Age, eat raw meet (Some Western folks still does it!), paint on the wall and just chill life out but then we have to give importance to some form of physical exercise and running is the most easiest and the simplest thing to start with.

Fear and Loathing

2010-02-28T19:57:00.001+05:30

It just stuck me that it is going to be 10 years since I first entered college. Before we go that let me make one thing clear, I don’t believe in a lot of things which a majority of people do. For me I don’t have a supernatural power to turn to as the only thing which I turn to is me. Something have been eating me for ages and well for the very few who knows, it can be bare minimal but to a better part of my life which I can remember, I have to go thru this never ending phase which just does not seem to get over.

You know sometimes you look around and look at the world and you just think “Why Me”, but then since you cannot do anything about it as it is not something which you signed up for but it is something you are in the middle of it and you don’t even have a choice about the whole thing. The issue is that no one understands that it is something which was brought into you by others but then it is you who have to take the brunt.

Sacrifice is something which a lot of people do, but then what if you have to keep sacrificing that after a point the only thing you do is sacrificing and this makes you feel bitter about everything. Sometimes you look at life and you are like why do we live such a impoverished life and here impoverished I mean the mind part as we end up living a life which does not actually make any sense at all.

We do things because we do that because it is a social system which makes us do things but what is not truly which we like doing and we want to do it. There are lot of things which our society has brought on to us. We are the only species which indulge in things which is always at excess of what is said to be.

Otherwise why would we do things in a totally opposite of what was originally meant to be done by our species. There was a time where we had no boundaries and we used to roam about freely. Now we do not have that very freedom, but we are curtained in a shell where we are divided by race & nationality into a meaningless world where no one knows what our purpose is and what we do is off any benefit at all.

Coming what I wanted to so, this very phase is something which may go on and on but then every single thing has an expiry date and I am just waiting for this very date. We are born alone and we die alone, the with people experience comes all along the way and generally things which you sign up for always brings you the good times while things which you don’t sign up for and you are stuck to it are the things which will make you want to lose everything.

Mashed!

2010-02-15T21:53:00.000+05:30

If Alba was yesterday then today Masha has to be there, a picture of my other favourite gal, Maria Sharapova, who is truly the cutest sportswomen ever to have stepped out!

Oh Alba

2010-02-14T11:31:00.000+05:30

It has been ages since I posted a picture of one of my favourite gals and though this can be an old picture, she is still one of the most beautiful women in the world with the right mix of hotness and cuteness all bundled into one.

Control-Alt-Delete

2010-02-14T11:19:00.001+05:30

The keys which everyone wishes we had in our life so that we can just reboot and go back to have a fresh start does not exist in reality as we are bound by time and in any world where time controls your fate you just cannot do anything about it. Life is something which most of us never come to terms with and accept it at all. We are brought into the world and our current consciousness starts from the time we open our eyes and see things for the very first time. If at all we do have a choice then I doubt that the very choice does not exist as we would never take this option of living a life in this so-called realm called the world.

We are brought in without a choice and forced to live a life of a slave till the time we die as we are bound to the social set-up as we are never truly free as the only the free go thru what other calls madness and though there is method in the madness which all of us fails to understand it is this very madness which will give us a real freedom which is absolutely no connections with anything at all so that the goal of a real free life and world can come into existence. This very world is denied to us and we are programmed to be a social slave where we are bound by rules to make us more ignorant to the true value of life.

Humanity has progressed so far in a more artificial manner than all the other species on this very planet for a number of reasons. We evolved as we trigged the evolution ourselves as we never were meant to live a life that we are living right now. The life we are living right now came about a time when true freedom was attained by a few but then the fear alone was enough to subjugate us to this purposeless life where we do not control what we do but we are bound by control factors. Evolution played a tricky part where the “Gods” decided to impart a part of themselves on to us and this very part led to us become slaves once more after the fall of the “Gods”.

The man was free but then after being bound to the “Gods” men decided that they could not live a free life and decided to go thru the whole motions of slavery once again so that we have reached a state of life without any morality and purpose. They say a messiah came to save the world of its sin but then the mob was fed up and this messiah just served the purpose of this mob. The messiah was no son of the “Gods” as the “Gods” abandoned us long before we could rationalize and this messiah took over the mob and went aloof which in turn man has against used it to his very purpose of using the very thing the messiah was against to subjugate us to a world of slavery.

Evolution has played a trick on to us while we think that humanity is evolving more than anyone else but in reality we are deteriorating physically more than any other species. The so called master race in reality did exist ages back but then we deteriorated because of the social system which has made us into this meaningless group of people who act like a plague and destroy everything and anything which they lay across.

What we consume is actually what we do as we consume more than what is required which leads to the notion that this race will lead to the doom of all the other species as we have lost the plot and we do not have a plot for which as a species we have to go. Gone are the days when other species threatened us and now we are threatened by our fellow humans and we are bound to instil fear among the masses who cannot think much as this fear will keep us going. We need fear and with nothing to fear, artificial fear is created so that we fear and continue to go through the motions of life.

There is nothing to fear in the free world as the mind and the body is in tune with the reality which in our life does not exist as we do consume things and read things which was programmed by the slave lords who wants us to think that we are the most evolved species but we are kept in slavery which for no fault of us keeps us in the system. We need to reboot and come off this very system which is making us become a race of zombies and we if we do not come out of it soon, will lead to the very end of the race which will see humanity go back to its real purpose of existence.

3 to Tango!

2010-02-12T16:51:00.000+05:30

Not a great picture but 3 of the hottest tennis players of this era!!!

Last Call

2010-02-07T21:20:00.001+05:30

So many things have changed since the last time the Last Call was there and let me list out some!

- Schumacher has made a dramatic return to F1 and will race for the Mercedes GP team which has taken over the Brawn team which itself was born from the ashes of the Honda Racing team
- India is the world’s #1 ranked test team
- Safin retires from tennis
- Sharapova yet to win a slam after the 2008 Australian Open
- Mirza won a slam got engaged and now single again
- Manchester City is one of the top 5 teams in the EPL
- Quentin Tarantino movie nominated at the Academy Awards
- Jennifer Aniston is still single
- U2 still is the best band in the world!

Again I decided to revive the last call, well something’s though may change from the face of it, and in reality with respect to what you exactly do does not change a bit!

- Changed jobs still stuck with Telecom
- New group same discussion
- Holy Grail becomes a Hold Mess!
- Runs are the same
- Getting up in the mornings is still tough
- Life is still a Journey
- Blogging is still sporadic

Client Servicing: Superheroes of Advertising!

2010-01-30T11:32:00.000+05:30

Search for “Client Serving” in Google and you hit more than 65 million different definitions! You go through any advertisement and you see credit for all sorts of people except the servicing chap. Infact the very servicing people themselves are at a loss when it comes to explaining what exactly their profile is and to people who are outside the industry are as clueless as what servicing does as like a baby in a topless bar!

When you say you are in advertising, people immediately assume that you are the one who makes the advertisements which comes on the TV and the boards they see around. Well there are a few knowledgeable people who tend to ask if you are an art or a copy person but the majority are clueless.

A few myths about Servicing (This comes from the mindset of Clients & all the other people of the Agency)

- Most chilled out job on planet
- Highly paid
- Parties everyday
- Zilch pressure
- Courier boy
- Dispatch boy
- Passes information
- Does not think

The list can go on & on but I decided to put a stop to the ones which comes to the top of the mind. I am not joking when I say a servicing person becomes Superman very often because he invariably ends up pulling off superhuman effort day in and day out that he forgets that he manages to do so many superhuman jobs!

Typical servicing day

- Wakes up at 5:30 because the printer is lazy that he fails to check the CD in another machine and complains that the CD does not work while he uses it in a machine where the CD drive does not read.
- A client sends a text brief at 11:45 PM the previous nite and expects a 360 degree campaign ready by afternoon. He texts some nonsense and since Servicing is a superhuman he can decipher it.
- Boss calls on his way to work and when servicing reaches shouts at him for not picking up calls but poor servicing is expected to pick calls even when he is on a bike.
- Tug of war between Client & Servicing. Before the Joblist is send Client adds on more jobs!
- Artworks have to go by 10 AM but the Studio is empty
- Head Honcho wants a presentation to be made so Servicing is dragged into this
- Client calls and complains that the poster colour shade has not come well (Printer uses cheap ink but servicing gets the blame)
- Art guy wants to shoot something so servicing goes to buy stuff in the middle of the afternoon skipping lunch
- Copy guy is stoned and now serving writes lines too
- Head Honcho asks servicing not to waste time and think of the brand. So he asks servicing to come with 50 ideas by EOD (EOD = Head Honcho = 5 PM)
- Outdoor guy vanishes at 5:30 PM, asks the printer to contact the Servicing for the CD while the Creative is not even approved by the Client
- Media guys wants to hit home by 6 PM, so an actually 8 PM press deadline is not pushed to 5 PM
- Studio vanishes at 5:30 PM to go for a long work while you have a freaking press advt to go
- Studio complains that they work late everyday (This is at 6 PM), Since there is a revolt a one hour job is sent at 8 PM & the Client is pissed
- Client meeting in the evening and the Servicing takes the blame for everything including Client’s issues with his personal life!
- Servicing off to dispatch stuff as dispatch team does not work after 5:30 PM
- CDS asks for more market visits and says servicing lacks time management
- Finally all artworks have been given to the printer but the Client also wants Servicing to upload it so Servicing waits till the upload is done
- Servicing finds out through an online news portal that the Campaign he has worked for wins an award and he is not even invited to the award shows while the art guy who stood and saw it from a distance is getting it
- Servicing plans for a drink but too late in the nite so ends up having a 7 up and heads home
- Next morning boss blasts him for working late while the same guy says no matter what all jobs have to be done

This is not specific but would apply to most Servicing people in India where advertisement agencies are another vendor for the Clients while it is the least sought out of job for an MBA. The golden question in India’s advertisement scene is “When was the last time a MBA from IIM joined an agency?”.

PS: Strategy and Research, 2 top functions are actually done by people who don’t have a clue on Consumer Behaviour!

The Legend of the One

2010-01-28T22:02:00.001+05:30

The One is a concept of that there exist a soulmate for everyone but then looking at today’s world and to see where it is heading, it is going down a very dreaded path where the whole concept of one in reality is actually not accepted and the concept of one is looked upon like a myth.

You at times wonder if you will ever meet the one in your lifetime and thinking about it you may never come across the one but then the great part about the whole concept is that the more you believe in it, the more challenging it gets but then this very tough path that you have taken will actually bring harmony to you.

The future soulmate may not be the one but then you so believe in the concept that the future soulmate becomes the one. Here the soulmate is not the definition of the one itself but the person whom you plan to spend the rest of your life through everything else which goes on your lives.

The good thing about it all is that the soulmate eventually becomes the one and infact she is the anti-thesis to the whole concept which questions the one’s existence. Well it is interesting to actually look at a possibility of the one’s non-existence as it does leads to the very existence of the one itself. The more you say the one does not exist the more closely it takes you to the one.

In a lifetime where atleast bound by social compulsions and our own society we do not have the luxury of meeting multiple one’s but all we have is one shot and one chance of getting to meet the one and be with the one.

The one exists and it is not hard to find the one but then life always plays a trick upon us so that we due to various other factors do not go after the one but other compulsions leads to do things which we end up hating doing it and this very hatred leads us to a stage where we don’t even identify the one or even don’t do anything about the one even if we meet someone even remotely close to it.

The one is as well the name suggests is the one thing which will keep us going during the dark days and the one may in the end may never be the one but then the belief is what makes us the believer and we start looking at the one after all.

Be Stupid!

2010-01-23T13:30:00.001+05:30

Stupid is the relentless pursuit of a regret-free life. Only stupid can be truly brilliant

Fashion label Diesel’s campaign actually talks about and the brand has a new “Be Stupid” philosophy where in the campaign shows hot women & crazy guys doing something really stupid!

You wonder at life, many times you end up doing things which you do regret later but then at times it turns to be a good thing after all cause the learning curve over the stupid incidents are immense and at times even provide a good laugh in the future.

At times it is better to take the plunge even when you know that the end result may not go as per the plans, but then at times it better to go slow and take one things at a time rather than try doing too many times.

They say at times waiting is good but then you would rather take a stupid plunge rather than sit and brood over life. Atleast you know something’s are still better and though it may take time but it is actually good to take the stupid plunge. You may regret a lot of things but at times it is better to sit and regret rather than actually sit and do nothing.

It is very true that due to various stupid things you end up not having much regrets like the “What If” scenario never comes as you have gone thru the full swing and you have done something which is stupid and in the end this very stupid thing gives you the clarity to do various other things.

There is nothing wrong in doing things which every other person may say is actually not a good idea but then in the end, things like this can lead you to new places which you have never ever thought of and the journey of life is never more exciting without all the stupid things that one does.

Australian Open 2010 Picks

2010-01-14T15:15:00.002+05:30

The first slam of the year is always fun for a number of reasons and there was a time when top players used to skip the Australian Open as it was considered to be on the other side of the world but thanks to the revolution in transportation and communication, Australian Open is as good as any other slam and last few years have seen some great tennis at Melbourne Park.

Ever since Marat Safin won the Australian Open in 2005, men’s tennis has been dominated by 2 men, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Since then only two other men have managed to win slams in the 5 year period, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro. Federer, Nadal & Djokovic are part of the Four Horsemen of tennis with the likes of Andy Roddick, Andy Murray, Nikolay Davydenko and now Juan Martín del Potro all playing the part of the 4th horsemen. This year once again, the above mentioned name will be the favourites while you can expect the likes of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Robin Söderling, Tommy Haas and Lleyton Hewitt to provide some odd moments of excitement.

Though Nikolay Davydenko seem to be the hottest star going into the Australian Open, he is yet to win a slam and this could be the best time for the Russian to win a title here at Melbourne Park. Roger Federer is the player of the last decade and though people did write him off after his epic final loss to Nadal in 2008 at Wimbledon, he has bounced back strongly and don’t be surprised to see him lift the title once more here. It’s been 2 years since he won here and he could start 2010 with a win. Nadal coming back after injuries would also want to defend the crown but it should be a tough task for him to retain it as he needs to get back to his best very quickly. The men’s draw is strong and though you will see the usual suspects but you can’t actually predict who will win as any one of the top 5 guys has a chance this year.

The women’s draw was becoming totally unpredictable but with the return of the form of the Williams sisters and the comeback of the Belgians, Henin and Kim Clijsters some order will be restored while the Russian and the Eastern European contingent led by the Sharapova will be strong and has a good chance for the crown. Though 2009 was a breakthrough year for the likes of Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwańska, the old guns like Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva maintained their positions while Safina may be the top ranked Russian on the draw but her failure to win a slam despite being ranked the best player for a better part of 2009 will eat her head.

Though Maria Sharapova has won this crown before, she is making a comeback after a long layoff from injuries and she needs to play her best to win the crown once more while fellow glam queen Ana Ivanović needs to get her act together as she had a miserable 2009 while fellow Serb Jelena Janković will be lucky to make it to the last 4. As many as 10 players have a chance to win the title but it should be one among the five which includes Sharapova, Serena Williams, Dinara Safina, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.

It should be a good 2 weeks down under while the dream finals which was a concept of grand slam finals between Sharapova against Nicole Vaidišová is now shelved, the new dream finals will involve Sharapova and Wozniacki, while the dream match would be between Sharapova and the other “Maria” of tennis Maria Kirilenko.

We are the idiots!

2010-01-14T14:42:00.002+05:30

3 Idiots was truly an iconic movie for a variety of reasons, well it was one of the biggest grossing movies of all time in Indian movie history. Was also based on a book “5 point someone”, which also has the record of being one of the bestselling books ever by an Indian author. Though in the west we have seen this trend, it was something new in India and in the end we truly became idiots once again!

No offence to the book but being a fan of the book as I still consider it to be one of the best books written by an India and it is something easily anyone can relate to as you do not need to have studied in IIT to actually feel the pulse of the book. The 3 characters are someone that 90% of the folks can relate too.

Then now comes the movie, I was soo waiting for it then there was talk of how the movie was just inspired by the book and it is not a straight forward adaptation. Well this is when I figured that the movie could go for a toss and well I was actually right!

Though this was a pretty good movie, I mean you can’t expect much from an India movie (Yes I am snooty!) but this is also one of the most over hyped movie of all time. Seriously this movie is a case study where both marketing and PR played a huge part in getting an ok fun movie into the biggest blockbuster movie India has ever seen.

Seriously the book was brilliant and though there were flaws, it still was damn good as I never expected it to be flawless but then the book had elements of fun which the movie will never have. In the end the movie which likes any other Indian movie massages the ego of one big star while the co-stars who are more than decent actors in their own rights are just in the frame to make up numbers.

A few pointers I would like to make –

 What’s with guys wanted to see fellow guys nude?
 It is disturbing to see fully grown men stripping at every other opportunity.
 A medical student giving advice over webcam on child birth (Guys seriously, this is like a b-school student giving advice on a merger deal)
 Rebel never tops the class.....Period
 The male protagonist is well over 40 and it is stupid to see him play a college student! (Do we see George Clooney as a student?)
 The director of the institute drivers a FIAT but looks loaded during his daughter’s wedding!

Anyways it was a Hindi movie and what more logic can we expect. Anyways 2 states has the potential to be an awesome movie provided it follows the plot plus throw in Shruti Hassan in the lead!

The Downward Spiral

2010-01-01T14:21:00.001+05:30

Another year has passed on and the question is what I have done to see if I am going to make 2010 better than the previous years. Well for starters there is no stupid resolutions and stuff, as the last time I did have a resolution, I eventually gave up on it but then it just did not take off and I am proud about finally keeping it up & I guess it will never ever haunt me anymore!

One thing is I managed to stay clear of the regular joint which we do go for New Years as well for the 1st time in a decade I have not gone there on the night but then I did go there for lunch and infact started 31st with some beers.

There are still something which has been pending for like ever but then hopefully some of those will be completed by 2010 while a few things, well not even sure what to say about it anymore.

The best thing of 2009 was well I am lost, I wish like Ogilvy where I can say that the best thing was discovering ID but then the truth was something more than that and it may still have an ending after all but as for 2009, well there were loads of stuff and as a person I have grown wiser and did a few things which I never thought I can do. Ofcourse this was not the 12k run which was a high point but then I always knew I can do it and now if I do the same run 30 years down the line, then it will be awesome.

A few things linger me and maybe I should or maybe done it in a different way, but it is ok as in the end, it does not matter anymore as the good thing about life is that when you hit rock bottom and down, there is only one way which is up. This has been the motto for the year and well kept this as a resolve and fought hard and went all the way up. It has been one of those years but in the end, I would say that a last minute burst resulted in the year actually getting over on a high after all.

Sometimes in life, you are in a place and you look at things through a looking glass but then, life goes on like that and you can’t help that. Life goes on and instead of planning for a year, well I guess I should plan for the day and not be bothered about what is going to happen in the future. Life for the day and life for the moment.

The Run

2009-12-29T00:00:00.001+05:30

Today was just one of the usual days well it was not an usual Monday as I did not have a Monday morning blue in ages, well I also quit work and on a week break, so that could be the reason and it was a typical lazy day. You end up having a fat burger, come home & crash for a bit & then meet some friends.

On the minor note, ever since my comeback to working out (Missed a month due to laziness & a bike accident) I have been going a bit easy & slow, well did push myself on the treadmill for the last 3 days but today I just wanted do the elliptical and some weights, nothing major at all but then the day had an unusual and an unexpected gift me that I have run the most and the end of it, it was just off the head.

Nitin, the bloody dog who thinks he is Sid Barrett’s reincarnation but luckily he gets his highs off running and it was a good thing as I bumped into my so-called running coach (he lives in NYC) and instead of out routine of beer drinking we decided to run. We kept running and after 5 k, we were still energetic and we decided to run further, well to be very honest I though at the max we would stop after 10 k but we ran and ran and finally ended up hitting the 12 k mark very comfortably with both of us even sprinting towards the end.

Not sure if these were his worlds or atleast that what he claims, “running is the least expensive (ignore the insanely expensive shoes we wear) and the easiest way to work out as all you need is a road” and another thing he said today “always finish a run strongly”, well this I would agree to him as it was a kick ass Adrenaline Rush when you sprinted to the finish.

It sure was a special day and I wish I had more of those very soon. It was awesome and well as the run was special we did have a pint of beer to celebrate it, but it was truly a special run and it was one of my best, if not the best runs ever! Next should be a 15 k and then possibly a half marathon. All I want to do is run, forget the pain as it is only temporary and the runner’s high is worth it in the end.

Last Day Mail!

2009-12-26T12:17:00.001+05:30

The Maria of Golf

2009-12-26T10:43:00.001+05:30

This is not a photo shoot with a hot model or an Eastern European tennis player on a course but the Maria of Golf has arrived and Maria Verchenova is all set the conquer the golf world!

Elvis has left the Building

2009-12-25T00:19:00.000+05:30

The last time I blogged on a similar topic, I was leaving Irevna ironically after 20 months which is the same duration of months I was in Ogilvy & Mather, one of my dream companies to work for and well I did manage to pull it off and I am proud to say that I was actually pretty good in what I did. When I left Irevna I was sad, but then I thought my life would change forever as I decided to peruse a Masters course in a very decent institute (this was 2006 & LIBA was still some way off on what it had become today) and though the decision to do an MBA was something which was well planned ages back but then after totally giving up on India, LIBA happened and this is where the story takes a turn which has been the most amazing story ever.

Today after 20 months in advertising, I am proud to say that the risky decision I took after college when I rejected a big paying job to join one of the greatest agencies in the world was not at all risky though the times were really tough, it was worth it in the end as it has made me the man I am today. It was no easy journey and it was an uphill task but then for me I had to do well and I had no other go and thanks to my ego which did not give up till the end, I managed to pull it off and in the end I am happy about the various things I have managed in the last 20 months thought my lack of blogging is a big minus but my commitment towards starting a F1 blog and writing for Bleacher came about and I even managed to write for one another website.

I was joking telling a friend that the best thing about the last 20 months in Ogilvy was “discovering” ID but then to be very honest, I always thought that any story would have a fairy tale end but then I also realized that since I was in reality I did not get that opportunity to proudly have my moment but then I did something which I am very proud off and well I managed to do something which I always wanted to do in a very long-time and even though it did not turn out to be what it should have been, well for sure my inner instincts or even the negative vibes were after all right but then I do not have any regrets but would always wish that maybe things could have been different.

It was an amazing ride and I would cherish the moment I spend in Ogilvy for life as I met some great people and some will remain friends for life and though I did miss the “High Times” moments on discussion on F1 but then this sure was a fun crowd and though I had moments of being “Goped” but still it was amazing and I am one of the proud people who worked for Ogilvy and had a good time there.

Change is good and maybe Obama was right and I needed some change. I will be taking up a new challenge and for once decided to follow my brains rather than my heart (though this may still change but I doubt it) and see how that goes. It should be different but then luckily things will look up and the best part is that I am in a journey and I have no clue about the destination and I am ready to go on this adventure called life and maybe for once just one thing alone works out very soon.

Looking Back

2009-12-18T00:22:00.001+05:30

They say it is actually not good to look back at the things that have happened in the past and the rock band Oasis perfectly sums it up in the song “Don’t look back in anger”. Should I look back? Well I did have nostalgic feelings during the summer of 2006, there was a lot of changes then and at that time it looked like everything was for good, well to be honest, the job was decent less stressful but then the challenge of going for something was the one which craves me to keep pushing further and it was quiet an inspirational story that never did I give up on it and though there were way too many lows than ups but I did manage to get there which was something which I always wanted to do and be there.

The 2 years were good as they were an eye opener of sorts which has led me to the current adventure where I am in search for El Dorado and to be very honest I am not sure where in the bloody journey I am in right now but well when you are lost, the only thing to do is to find something before you hit a sandpit! Wish I could have done a few things, well to be very honest, the 2 years were pretty normal except for flashes of brilliance and then a chance conversation made me realize that the 2 years which was deemed normal was actually good and though I soo wished at that time that I should have done something but then now to think about it I am glad that I did not and yes these always come about at the wrong time but life goes on.

The present does not hold anything as right now I stare at a new quest which either could be the adventure of a lifetime or just 2005 once again which is not all that bad at all. Though during 2005 I did crib a lot but I may possibility do it again in 2010 but then I hope I do not. It was an experience which I may never forget and though it was risky at first, it was possible only at that stage and given my state of mind then, it is surprising that I managed to take it and then stick with it for so long. Well you always have tipping points and for once I would like to thank the jackass for leading me to the tipping point!

The other day I was joking about how the most memorable thing about the last 20 months was actually discovering ID and enjoying South Indian delicacy there but then common, why would i want that to be the most memorable event or even something which I would look back fondly. I did quit a very bad habit and well, it was tough & terribly though that I hit an all time low, worst period of a lifetime except for maybe a point in 2003 but then 6 years makes a different and this little thing did cause me soo much distress that I am glad that I did manage to overcome it and now hate the thing.

The perfect ending is there in movies and books but in life well the life is still in motion and you may yet not find the perfect ending but looking back, it should not be a legacy about a very good restaurant but it should about the grail quest which was down in the dumps before a few suicidal attempts were revived as if it was meant to be but then why do I still put this on hope & destiny rather than take it upon myself to finish it. Maybe time plays a factor and maybe the destiny does not want me to do it but then coming to think of it the horoscope has not cheated me off late and well it is funny that it works out well.

I have never wanted or asked for things, (well I do wish I drive a Ferrari and date Maria Sharapova) but in reality for the first time I do not have an excuse to cover-up a task which seem to be beyond me since time immemorial but I do have to go ahead and do it as in life everyone should go with the motions and it is time that I went ahead and did it but then time is playing a trick on me. All is not lost and I still have high hopes. For my own sake for once, let me go ahead and do it.

Change Is Good

2009-12-06T15:48:00.002+05:30

If this is what you call Writer’s Block, then I guess it has to be redefined as I have the usual symptoms of a block but I do have a block when it comes to updating my blog and over the last one year, my blogging has been on an all time low. Well compared to an average blog, there are still a decent number of posts, but gone are the days when I used to have a post once in 2 days, well maybe I should start doing it once again!!!

Change is good, well that was Obama’s mantra when he led the democrats to victory in the US elections but then he was up against an ageing Republican who was standing for an election 20 years too late and well Obama not only won the elections but by doing nothing significant from his predecessor apart from making some sweeping statements even won a Noble prize. Poor Mr Bush, what he thought was good for his family business and a little bit for the country also made him the most hated man on the planet while his successor does the same and wins some cash too doing that!

Well doing an Obama seem to be the in-thing to do and well I decided to take the plunge and decided to go for the change! The last time around I was looking at the known devil, the unknown devil and a bag of cash! Like every moron who was lazy enough not to get into an IIM, i decided to throw the cash in the bin and went down the road with the known devil! Well I can use fate & karma if one thing which is linked to the devil himself works out but then till then I took the highway with the devil before realizing that I was out of fuel mid-way through the journey. Now that sure is a tough thing especially in the middle of nowhere (reminds me of the Johnny Walker advertisement).

As I managed to go on this road, one fine day I realized that I was the last one and guess what, for all the good work you have put in, you end up tainted as the villain!!! Ok if I continue to talk about this I may end up ranting for a very long time and being a follower of the Dude, all I can say is, things will be taken care of and every dog has its day (provided you are a dog). Now I have something, well I don’t have any other options but I did decide to take the plunge, as change is good and well out of the change, you actually know what you are getting into and all this is part of a long range plan to get to somewhere.

It is like taking a bus from one place to another as you don’t have any other means of transportation! This bus is not the same old bus which I talked about and FYI, I am happy that I missed that bus. Ahh, what a relief, I would be like laughing stock of the town had I taken it but luckily it did not happen. Coming back to Mr Fate, well he may have predicted something but if this thing does happen, dude seriously, you rock! Ofcourse it does not mean that I get back my faith but that is different from this as I just cannot give up my position on something and well if it does happen, well 2010 will surely have a dream end which you get only in books (Atleast you don’t come across real people like that).

So here it goes and I am finally going to do something which I should have done ages back, but what the heck, I was in a place living of its old name aka Williams F1 team and its time to move on. It’s not something unknown and it does not have everything, but heck I guess one has to do these things and you can do it only now and actually looking at it, in the end it is a no brainer even if it is for a short time only!

Pyramids & the Promised Land!

2009-10-26T20:33:00.001+05:30

“The Exodus is an event that marked the departure of the Israelites from enslavement in ancient Egypt”

Ever since this incident, the Pharaohs have just become smarter and though it took them ages to recoup, come the 21st century, they have finally created corporate kingdoms which spans the globe and employees of millions of individuals who have no clue about the whole conspiracy of a free man is subjected to slow slavery and the irony of the whole situation is that he does not even realize this.

Though we are not building pyramids, we still are serving the might masters who typically follow this pyramid structure. Seriously half the time is wasted on things which are highly not needed in real life, but too bad real life ceases to exist after the industrial revolution and we are in a so-called democratic society where everyone supposedly has rights, we are no more similar to the ancient roman society where the corrupt senate ruled supreme.

We the slaves work the most, but we the slaves endure the most challenging tasks and each step we take we are touted and mocked, well the reason behind all this is very simple, few wants to enjoy everything while the many suffer. The pyramid is very simple; the guy who does the least work enjoys the most while the guy who works the most goes thru the hardship of his life.

That is not life, life is what we do with it, either we remain part of the system and embrace this slavery of the new era or unplug our self and explore the world like how it was meant to be.

bizarre-oland

2009-10-26T20:17:00.003+05:30

This does not happen much, but ya Shruti Hassan looks like an angel send to Earth!!!

We talk like Captain Planet and yet we have Diwali!!!

2009-10-20T16:56:00.001+05:30

Jairam Ramesh our little known Environment minister for the last one week has been on the paper almost on a daily basis and was in fact challenging the likes of the Gandhi clan for paper space!!

Jokes apart all of a sudden we are too interested for our own good in the global environmental issues and even talk about the successor program to Kyoto Protocol while just last weekend the festivities for Diwali concluded. Unlike other festivals, Diwali is one the weirdest and in India itself and among Hindus, people from different regions celebrate it for different reasons.

From Rama’s homecoming to slaying of a demon we have a lot of reasons. But to look at it from a very logical point of view, it is a festival day where people promote noise & air pollution by bursting crackers make by kids and also apart from the toxins & the noise, also endanger people by bursting crackers on public places and in general cause hindrance to all.

Oh yeah, failed to mention that obesity levels shoot up on days leading to the festival as people do end up hogging up sweets and which also leads to various other ailments. They also sell some stuff which you are supposed to have after having loads of sweets but why eat soo much in the first place!!

Happy Diwali!

Out of Blogging: Part Deux

2009-09-27T14:06:00.001+05:30

The last time I was actually thinking of going to Singapore to watch the race and in the last 50 plus days so many things have happened everywhere. Well F1 was in chaos for a few weeks while my own life well not exactly has been in chaos but seen enough highs and lows that it actually is making me to give it another shot or atleast extending it so that I may well see how it goes on. The dream of sitting in a place after 10 years is still there and maybe that combined with an ego which would not let me turn back after walking away from something which could have been gold!

I seriously would need to blog more often, just because I do write on F1 regularly means that I just cannot avoid this very blog which was started when I was in Irevna. Gone are the days when you were a free man actually and you can do what you want. How many times have we cribbed and cribbed more that we are not doing something great or productive but in the end looking back at those days, I just have to regret the fact that those were the days when I paid to do a no brainer job and forget the so-called cliché called as job satisfaction which most of us in our days may never get it.

I seriously miss those days when I actually had the freedom to do anything and life was fun and simple. It was not complicated and you actually did not have to answer to the morons of the world. Some things in life will never come back and this is one of the few memories of my life which I would never forget as those were good days of my life. Maybe I had I still gone thru the very same path my life would have been normal but then taking this very path has been tough soo far and have seen more lows than ever but heck this very path has led me to a few things which I may have never thought was possible in that path!

I may look at this like it’s a bad dream, but then having a bad dream is much better than going thru a nightmare which I have gone thru at times in my life and I do wish I never have to go thru them again atleast for the next few years as the only things which can come off it is a downward spiral. But things are looking up as I am still standing tall and managing to prove a lot of things which has happened in the past as something which would not bound me. It is after all a bad dream and I can always wake up from it unless I forget that I am in a dream in the 1st place.

Return of the Top 10 List!

2009-09-27T12:19:00.002+05:30

There was a time where there was just too many top 10 lists coming up and well apart from the most hottest/sexiest/beautiful women or whatever you call it, there was a top 10 list for anything and everything. Now revisiting the tags made me realize that there has not been one single top 10 list on anything for the last one year or so. Well 2009 has not exactly been a terrific year for blogging but then I just felt that I nearly missed the top 10 list for the year!

One year can do a lot and well your perception to life itself can change but then over the years the top 10 list has been a bit consistent and ofcourse you do always have the odd surprise coming in or even names which has come popped in for ages making a comeback, so without wasting much time, here is the top 10 list for 2009 or forget the year, here is The Top 10 List!

1. Maria Sharapova
2. Julianna Guill
3. Diora Baird
4. Mary Elizabeth Winstead
5. Zooey Deschanel
6. Lucy Pinder
7. Jessica Alba
8. Holly Valance
9. Hillary Duff
10. Petra Němcová

2009 US Open Picks

2009-08-30T12:01:00.001+05:30

This year’s season is one of the weirdest seasons in decades. While the men’s side has been dominated by a few individuals, what is strange is that Roger Federer is not at his best but still he managed to not only win the French Open but also break Pete Sampras’s record for most career grand slam titles. The US Open may not be too different and don’t be too shocked to see Federer battle Nadal in the finals but the Spaniard comes off an injury lay off and is not looking like anything which made him win Federer on grass! Others like Murray and Djokovic have had a consistent hard court season and they too have a realistic chance for the title. Among others Roddick after his phenomenol run in Wimbledon, will be inspired in his home slam and if things do go right he can win the US Open once again. Juan Martin del Potro is in good form and he along with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga could be the surprise semi-finalist while former champions like Lleyton Hewitt and Safin will have a thing or two to prove. Expect something from Safin as he will retire at the end of the year and this will be his last slam while Sam Querrey could be the dark horse of the tournament.

On the women’s side, though the Williams sisters are not at their best due to various injuries and loss of form top players like Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanović and Jelena Janković they have been able to dominate the tour and Serena has won 2 slams while sister Venus was the Wimbledon finalist. Though their hard court form has been sketchy, they will be the favourites once again in New York. Based on recent form Elena Dementieva, Flavia Pennetta, Dinara Safina and Caroline Wozniacki seem to be in terrific form but among the four Elena Dementieva has the best chance of winning the title here. Comeback women Kim Clijsters will always be a threat but apart from upsetting a top player, Kim Clijsters has been out of tennis for too long to actually pull off a win here while Maria Sharapova is in decent form after her injuries but she needs luck to play in her favour if he has to win the US Open once again which she last won in 2006. Samantha Stosur could be the dark horse while Safina will be desperate to win a slam and shed the chocker tag.

It should be 2 very exciting weeks and on the men‘s side Roger has the best chance but an inspired Rafa can also complete his own grand slam set by winning the title while Sharapova will be hoping for a win so that her comeback can be compete while blonde bombshell Wozniacki’s win will properl her to Sharapova like levels but then Serena and Dementieva will be the hot picks going into the tournament.

Masha @ an Event!!!

2009-08-19T21:55:00.002+05:30

Out of Blogging

2009-08-15T11:00:00.001+05:30

It has been nearly a month and I have not blogged at all and well I think I keep pushing new boundaries and records that July I managed to have only one post! That sure was an all time low and this time thanks to the F1 break, there are no excuses for not writing a post and Cutting the Chicane too does not have an entry since the Hungarian GP. I did want to write about Michael Schumacher’s comeback but by the time I actually sat before a word processor and decided to write something, the dream comeback never happened and my ill-fated mad quest of going for the Singapore GP was put to rest.

Work, well the less said it is better, but then now with company policies and people actually tracking on what you do on Facebook (invasion of privacy but then this is the end result of social networking!) well and this is a private blog, I guess legally I can comment about a few things but like I said, I just do not want to talk about it as well I am suffering due to something external called as the “Recession” and it is at times used as an excuse for anything and everything. We talk about recession and Real Madrid is whoring up the money and back home car sales are going up!

A wise man once said, Recession is when your neighbour is out of job while depression is when you are out of work, well my neighbour is chilling in the European alps and yes sir, I am depressed with work but it can also happen when you are actually having a secure job (I assume this!). In life and especially in India, you should not be motivated with work as in the end, all you get is disappointed as some people continue to treat humans as something like machines which can be replaced without any issues but they tend to ignore that even when you replace a computer, never once has things been picture perfect.

Wolverine or Sad Sack mode?? I myself am not sure and have dangerously floated with both of them but then motivation is something which does have some external stimulus and I am not Ryan Giggs to be motivated just by wearing a red jersey but again the same guys who gave him a red jersey made sure he drives a Ferrari and has been taking care of him for the better part of the last 20 years. Not that we do out of the world things to keep you enticed and at the end of the day, after watching “Fight Club” and “Motorcycle Diaries” you do realize that the commercialism is just not worth it to sell your soul.

You don’t live your life for the people around you; you will always live it for yourself as in the end, the last person who will stand by you during hard times is you alone. Did use too many “you” but heck this is not a damn copy!

All I thought was put up a picture of Masha and fake a post but I did manage to write quite a bit, so anyway the picture has to come up 

The Day The Whole World Went Away

2009-07-18T01:35:00.000+05:30

For a second it was like a time warp and all those thoughts kept coming back, well sometime back I met a batch mate of mine from college and he said something like this “I think you are the same, even after 6 years, things are just the same for you”. I thought about it hard and deep, well I just ignored it but the more I ignore it the more I it started coming back to me and it began to hit me harder than I thought it will be. It is true, things are the same well if to make things worse for me and make my life even more fucked up, things have gone rock bottom.

You wonder and you assume that once you hit rock bottom, the only way is to go up well for everyone out there, this is the worst answer possible, as the only way after hitting rock bottom is to go worse than what you have hit and go to a point where it seem that there is no coming back. Yes sir, there is no coming back as you are in a fucking limbo where you have a though of chasing your fucking dreams and so-called destiny and go after something which you vowed upon but in the end, due to things which are not under your control, you finally after conquering the heights is still forced to start from the bottom up every other time you do things.

The fucking thing with life is that it is soo unfair, ya fuck all the people who say I crib cause fuck you as you never been thru the shit I have been through as up yours and shove it up with candy ass. What do I do about it, well I don’t have a Tyler Durden to save my ass as in reality you just can’t do that and all I am doing right now is to put with shit day in and day out. I would rather call it shit in and shit out. Sorry for the fucking language but fuck it man, I have reached the tipping point and fucking Monday morning I may be fucking normal but fuck it, there is this deep though at a sub-conscious level which has brain fucked me beyond what it should have and fucking I am just suffering from the golden moments of insanity as it is during these times when I am truly angry that I really fucking do things which I may regret but fuck it as it is during these crazy moments that the whole fucking truth comes out and fucking given a chance, fuck road rage as something worse would have come from this angry Brahmin.

Ya ya, screw the folks who think I am always pissed off and reality for many is not as rosy as it is portrayed as life is a fucking misery for a lot and not that where movies not that where joyful things happen and fuck those as those fucking bastards say it’s all about perception as fucking so called perception is a fucking perception as I still don’t get it that people continue to be self-centred assholes and fuck these people as in the end the global truth will win and the fucking world we live is bound for destruction as it exists solely on a society which would do anything for its own up-liftmen.

The other day when you are down, someone told me that I just crib too much but fucking fact is that if I am fucking so strong up in my head I would have blown a few corporations by now and finally would have completed project mayhem as it should have been. Because you should have now by now that Tyler will exist in fiction and you will be selling a story which doe s not exist but you do believe in its existence. Fuck the fictional Tyler as each and every one of us can land up like him as today’ society especially India does not seem to understand the importance of South India based BPO’s.

Fuck it I may sound like a fucking crib or a mad man or a fucking loser, but fuck all the people out there as I have set goals I would remain focussed on my goals but there a few things I have dob which most in the country can’t even claim to it so anyways it is getting wrong and hopefully something good comes about next week.

Exile On Mainstream

2009-06-21T13:55:00.000+05:30

The title has been inspired by the Matchbox Twenty album of the same and I have been waiting for some time now to write this post but one thing or the other has come in between me and writing this very post but finally it is here and I hope it does bring out the very essence I wanted in it.

It started when the Troika met and as always the so-called moment of truth came about what has happened in the last one year and the path taken by everyone. The most important concern was not about the path which was taken, but if the path was the right path and if it was the one which should have been taken.

A year ago, I decided to take control of my own destiny and I seriously felt that each and everyone’s path can be controlled to an extend and though it surely was a coup of sorts but still managed to pull it off and decided to follow the path and go for something which was always called a dream for various reasons. Yes it was a gamble but it was no blind gamble and I had enough faith in myself to go after this gamble which did not go as well as it planned.

To an extend though after a year I am still the master of my destiny but still external forces continue to make a huge influence though there are times when you think about it and the dark side does take over your thinking but again when we are in dark times, we just cannot always be the shining light as it is very tough to lead a life like that.

I have not put down on the dark sins as the very essence of life like many of the people who do exist have but then it is vital and important to an extend that it can never be discounted. But the question is that if the wait is worth it or will it become too late whereas you keep waiting and waiting and in the end nothing does happen.

You have nothing to lose now and the wait well at most times leads to something good. I may wonder but then thanks to the very path a very few very fortunate incidents have occurred and this itself goes down well with the concept of taking your destiny in your own hands.

I have taken it in my own hands and I know it is tough but then time is always slow and the wait maybe long but the end result is something which is worth after all and this is one thing which I have always believed in so far and only after that can I truly comment if it was worth it after all.

2009 Wimbledon Picks

2009-06-18T21:49:00.001+05:30

While the French Open threw some unexpected results with Roger Federer finally winning the French Open but then though he did beat the guy who dumped Nadal out of the tournament but there is nothing like beating Rafa and then winning at Paris as Rafa did beat Federer on grass and won Wimbledon last year in style. But with Rafa suffering from injuries, this could be the year for Roger and what better place than Wimbledon to go one up on Pete and break his record for most career grand slam titles. Though there are few others who could ruffle feathers on grass and it includes the British hope Murray, the mercurial Safin who not only surprised everyone by reaching the semi-finals last year but this year will be his last Wimbledon and if his mind works then well he can go and have a fairy tale retirement on grass while others like Roddick, Potro and Djokovic should survive the first week. There are also some dangerous floaters like Haas, Tsonga and Blake who can cause an upset or two.

On the women’s side among the current players, there are four who have won the title and that include the William sisters, Sharapova and Mauresmo. While the William sisters have shown indifferent form off-late, don’t be too surprised if one of them once again takes the crown as in the last 9 years, they have won it 7 times. Sharapova is coming back from an injury and after an unexpected dream run at the French Open, don’t be surprised to see her as a major threat to the crown and she is surely one of the clear favourites to reclaim the title which she won in 2004 while Mauresmo is on a decline and if she reaches the quarter-finals it should be good for her. Among the other the likes of Safina, Kuznetsova and Dementieva do pose a threat and though Kuznetsova did win the French Open, she will have to face the likes of young guns like Azarenka and Wozniacki to get to the final 4.

Among the men’s side if Nadal can stay fit well he will once again face Federer in the finals and we can expect a great finals but don’t count out the dangerous Safin while Taylor Dent if he progresses to the main draw can cause an upset of 2 while among the women if Sharapova gets into her rhythm she should be tough to dislodge while the William sisters are not invincible anymore and fitness will play a crucial role.

Sharapova Strikes Back!!!

2009-05-30T11:40:00.002+05:30

Maria Sharapova is the most popular tennis player in the planet without even playing for the last 10 months due to various injuries and Masha as she is fondly called is playing the French Open the one slam which she has failed to win and clay has always been a surface which has not favoured her style of play but the former world #1 is showing the grit and determination that made her the best player in the world at this year’s French Open. Though she has been tested at every round, she has somehow managed to overcome the odds and has reached the 4th round of the French Open. She may not win the title this year but she surely is determined and expects her to break into the top 10 by the year end and she could well even win either Wimbledon or US Open or even both. No one gave her a chance during this year’s French Open but now she is currently the dark horse and the sentimental favourite to win this year’s title so let’s all hope for the best!

French Open Predictions 2009

2009-05-24T20:24:00.002+05:30

The French Open is here once again and though it has started today, I did have the time to give out my predictions only now as have been with some stuff off late.

The last few years have not seen much change in the men’s section of the drawn with Rafael Nadal once again going into the French Open as the hot favourite as he so far had a neat perfect season until his arch Federer beat him on clay in Madrid. Though we have seen this in the past and we always do wonder if Fedex has cracked the Nadal puzzle on clay but this could well be his last chance as he is getting older every year and he needs this title not only to win a career grand slam but also equal Sampras’s record number of slams and take his position as one of the best players to have played the game. Other who can challenge the duo will include Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and even guys like Juan Martin Del Potro and David Ferrer.

The women’s side looks like it is going to be wide open but Dinara Safina should be the hot favourite while she can be challenged by the likes of the defending champion Ana Ivanovic, the William sisters, Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova. For once we do not have a Russian army going after the dark horse spots but we do youngsters like Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska not only chasing a slam but also after Sharapova’s glam queen role. Speaking of Masha, she will be making her grand slam comeback and though the French Open has not been her favourite slam it is always good to see Masha back on court and I highly doubt if she can win the title but she sure can knock some big names out.

Don’t be surprised if you are going to witness Nadal and Federer once again in the finals but on the women’s side I would bet on Safina with Ivanovic and Wozniacki as long shots.

Inside the Pit!

2009-05-23T16:54:00.000+05:30

You sit and you just brood. You look at the stars, you look at the dark sky and you keep looking at things which are not reachable. The more you look the more you think. Then you go back to your normal life, where you do things and live the same day every other day. There is no difference between the day of the past and the day of the present. But will the day of the future change? No it does not as the day of the future once again will be the same day where you keep doing one thing after the other.

Time is both a boon and a curse, but when you look at a few things, well time is a curse as you long for the days which has passed away and the times when we all did worry but then you hid it in a box and you just went on but how long can go keep going down a path which leads nowhere so you decided to do something which you always wanted to do and you ended up making a decision which was taken as there was no other alternative.

The decision which seems to look wise was no wiser as it was taken in a state where illusion was the thing which existed before you where as reality was hidden and kept away and you were forced to take this up. Now when you look back at the decision you have taken, well it does look you may have taken the right call or you may have even taken the red pill and you decided to follow the rabbit and see where it takes you.

The blue pill would have been something totally different, well some things could be bough over the counter but some things are not just for sale and you just have to keep looking at them. Since the blue pill was rejected no point even going down to road and looking at what could have happened scenario as it is pointless.

The rabbit continues to lead but the colour of the rabbit keeps changing and you get confused at every turn it makes. You do wonder what is real and you always wish that you wake up and find everything to be a figment of your imagination.

Imagination can be very powerful that sometimes it draws a cloud over reality that it continues to make you think that you are truly in wonderland while you are in a deep pit and the pit is a never ending one where you fall at a rapid pace and you tend to ignore the fall as you are blinded by the black magic which is shrouded around you and make you believe that things are always fine.

Things will never be the same again and all the red pill has done is that made you wait for wonderland which never exists where as you must realize that you do not a pill to do things you need want as you never needed them anyway as you can follow what you want to do. You have done it before you can do it again as nothing can stop you from what you want to do as you will do it once again.

The Illusion!

2009-05-10T01:05:00.000+05:30

I believe in a few things and sometimes I believe in them so much that even though the person may not believe in it but still I do. I always used to wonder how things are on the other side and I still do to this day. It is fine thinking about life and said what could be and things like that. But then life do not always hand us a silver spoon and many times you wonder why the hell is that you of all the people do need to pass all this?

You think about your life and the more you think the more answers you get to it, well you look at the other side and you always wonder how easy the life is on the other side, but then there is a inner part of you which tells you if that is something which do you want to or which is something which you think you want to but you always hate it but never realized how much you dislike it.

A year back when i was stuck by a Momentary Lapse of Reasoning however rationally I tried to think I just could not find the solution well once again after a year a similar situation has come about but not to that magnitude but something more or less on similar lines but something did save me once again. For all you know this could turn out to be Kryptonite or something even worse but then the more I think about it, the more it made me realize that it may not be Kryptonite after all and it may be something which can be the missing link!

Well for all you know, looking back at the past and the way things have gone, well you may be just be looking at another kryptonite but then I reached a point where I do not care about anything else and this well even if things just goes on and it turns out to be another illusion well, it is fine as long as I see things the way it is supposed to be then it is very much fine.

A year back this very illusion saved me from the lack of reasoning and while the same thing may once again keep me away from it but then for all you know this may very well be an illusion in itself but then it is something which you may relate to and it will always be something which you always seen in a dream but then it was always covered up by something which makes you look at different things.

If at all if this illusion becomes a reality well I may be called a madman, but then at times it is always easy to be on the other side and just comment on things, well I have never been on the other side and at times also which that I do not go to the other side but I secretly do hope that I get back to the reality which I need to.

ON Turning 26

2009-05-09T00:40:00.002+05:30

One year may not make a huge difference but heck turning 26 is something totally different and well the year sure had its own share of fun 

It has been a tradition to roll out something done during the course of the year!

• Semi-drunk now and had to cut a cake for birthday after ages, thanks once again to the work buddies
• Still having Momentary Lapse of Reasoning but at times do Come back to life!
• Mini bar well stocked
• Finally wore the official Scuderia Ferrari Shirt and well race was wrecked by rain and everyone except Ferrari got half-points
• What Book?
• Still can last more than a handful rounds of beer
• Survived one year in advertising!
• Spend a fortune on the big bro but worth it
• Finally a beer oops club member
• Blog is as usual going fine but started writing for Bleacher and also started a F1 blog
• Long sabbatical from quizzing
• Stills things about “what could have been” and “the lost ones”
• Goody one still manages to take mind off, will it happen?
• Dream On but it is still a dream
• Facing the front-line brunt of recession but how long can it last!
• Had an ill-fated comeback but then got some sense and well decided to take an indefinite break
• Looks fit but hardly near the good old running days
• Need to quit a bad habit but atleast the thought is still there and also trying hard
• Not sure if now in the dream or the nightmare zone!
• Continue to buck the system and still challenge the materialistic world
• Still a believer!!!
• Still broke and at times regret doing the Masters

Like always may have missed something but then the last one year was sure fun and did believe that something would happen but then maybe it is all for good and maybe things can still work out or the goodness will prevail or something may just make a comeback but then it sure been an eventful year and hope the next year changes a lot in a good way 