Eclipse

South African experience-Part I

2010-05-31T23:41:00.006+05:30

May 13'th was the day I was waiting for.. after a year of slogging @ office, I was ready for a first trip abroad.
After all the shopping stuff before tour and packing of food packets, time had come.

Day 1:
On board Emirates flight to Dubai, touched down @ the classyDubai airport @ 12:30 local time..after a lunch of chapathi-jam packed from home, we left for Johannesburg.. Another 8 hrs of mad travelling in sight, our heads drooped. already we had got up early, 1.5 hrs to BIA airport, 2.5 hrs there, 3.5 hrs to Dubai, another 2 hrs there, and then another 8 hrs! It was the most boring journey although there were lots of movies in store to watch. reached J'burg @ 9PM local. tired, we hoped we wouldn't have to fill up another form for immigration.My mom had sweared she'll beat up that guy if he asked us to fill up another farm. Luckily we survived.. Reached hotel Westford@ appx 10PM. A quick mtr bisibelebath for dinner, and hit the bed.

Day 2:
Get up early @ 6:30, have breakfast @ 7, and then off to Kruger national park , about a 6-7 hr drive.. It was the start of the normal breakfast for next 14 days. 2 slices of bread butter jam, croissants, corn flakes, different fruits, a fruit juice and a coffee.. Off to Kruger in a 10 seater, which had a trolley attached to the van behind, to help us with our luggages. On the way, we started off with our eating stuff once again.. Packets after packets of ruffles, mixture, congress,bjp kadlakai, di pasand, plain cake, followed and it went on till 2 pm.. Our driver, the 50+ year old white south african with well spoken english, didnt bother to taste anything. 'Did u have ur lunch? 'We asked.. yes I did, he replied. All he ate was one fruit.. a pear. 3'o clock and we almost reached Kruger. We asked the driver to stp for lunch. He looked astounded! I mean u have breakfast@ 7:30, since 8 till 2, u are eating non-stop all the junk stuff, and again have lunch @ 3! So after one more round of mtr bisbele bath and kutt avlakki+curd, started the Kruger journey.. We were ready for the game reserve! The park is spread over 20,000 sq km, bigger than Israel. For 2 hrs, we spotted lots of Impala's (Deer), a cheetah, a giraffe, a zebra.. Finish @ 6 and head on to another round of eating dinner.. luckily my aunt had got her rice cooker and rice, and we had anothe rdose of mtr pongal + rice with nice mango chutney+ chitranna,, and then head on to bed in our camps.. Which is named by the way, Skukuza....

Day 3:

Early breakfast, same old menu, left for our game drive @ 8AM. Spotted lots of baboons, impalas, a black momba, and elephants and giraffes. Just before 4 PM, where we had to end our day safari, 5 mns away from our camp, we saw 4 lions, 1 male, 3 female ones sleeping. That was what we were looking out for.. Made our safari well worth it..

Looking fwd to the night journey in an open Jeep.. no guns, just torches to spot the animals. We set on another mind blowing experience, never done before. initially scared, we were then used to it. Spotted leopard, which was there for exactly 2 secs, a hyena, a rhino, and thats it. We were left a lil bored @ the end of it as there were no animals, a bit tired @ the end of it all.. Another round of mango chutney rice + mtr pongal later, we hit the bed.

All in all a wonderful experience @ Kruger. The joy of finding animals out in wild after a long search is something else! We managed 2 see the big five: Lion, Leapord, Giraffe, Elephant, Buffalo. You need to be lucky to see them is what the people say there.. and we were.

Johannesburg up in the next post...A bye to Kruger.

Sulphuric Acid

2010-04-17T22:38:00.003+05:30

Just wondering this.. Why is H2S04 so popular in Bollywood songs!

Snippet of Lyrics of Paathshala-Rang De Basanti:

"har dil mein bud bud karta h2so4 hain"

Snippet of Lyrics of song 'Give Me Some Sun Shine'-3 Idiots

"Concentrated H2SO4 ne poora
Poora bachpan jalaa daala "

Why H2S04 only? And both these songs feature Sharman Joshi. Hmm.

Back

2010-01-15T13:50:00.003+05:30

Back after a long time .. and guess what ?
It's eclipse day and I am back to eclipse ( my blog name that is... :D!

:|

2009-05-04T23:07:00.002+05:30

1X1=1
1X2=2
1X3=3
1X4=4
1X5=6
1X6=DLF

Failure is a stepping stone of 'Citi Moment'.
It makes sense.. Citi is in the brink of failure...

For those who didnt understand just tune to SET MAX

Slum'god' Billionare.

2009-02-27T23:36:00.002+05:30

Oky, first things first.. A big salute to the one and the only genius A R Rahman for winning two oscars!It was a matter of when and not if, he will make a mark in the international stage. Two Oscars was surprising for a film like slumdog but when you take his career into account, oscar was long overdue. As an Indian , a very proud moment!
There is no denying that S.M deserved to have the fairytale ending it got. It was a rags to riches story and had a peculiar ending like so many bollywood films. Kids from slums are walking the red carpet, signing autographs, globalization has truly come of age. But the film itself has so many questions unanswered..
Is this a British movie, American, Indian? Indian news channels going gaga saying Victory for India, BBC saying this is the finest moment for British cinema, which brings me to the first confusion.. Whose film is this? The slum kids transition from ragada Hindi to polished "Einglish" adds to the confusion.

No.2 ,There is no doubt Danny Boyle has struck gold and deserves the credit, but why has Loveleen Tandon, the film's "Indian" co-director being ignored? She 'directed' one thirds of the movie, selected the actors, and its baffling that she comes away with nothing when Danny takes everything.

Thirdly, I thought Dev Patel's acting was one of the most rubbish I have seen in recent times. His British background is clearly visible, some of his emotional scenes almost made me eat my toes. His performance was, plainly put it, wooden. And who can forget Frieda Pinto, who occupied exactly 3 scenes in the movie and two of them were kissin scenes.She is acting as though she is the next Hollywood superstar.She's there in every show, and everything she does or wears are headlines.She even dumped her "secret Husband" who had helped her to fame. Good riddance! the slum kids and I hate to use that word slum, but they were the most natural and graceful than the 2 Hinglish actors. How he won an award for best actor in some awards function in US which is beyond all belief and reasoning.

But @the end of it all, I think It deserved the oscars..so claps!

Rapid fire

2009-01-10T20:22:00.004+05:30

Rapid fire 2009.. questions to Ashwin..

Your new year resolution:
Save your job!

Something you won't expect to happen in 2009:
Reading the newspaper without a mention of an article on "Ajmal Amir Kasab ".

Something I would try hard to understand and appreciate in this year: Facebook

Cheers!

Social networking confusion(or whatever)

2009-01-10T19:55:00.003+05:30

I have accounts in several Social networking sites, not that I use all, but as they say sometimes in kannada when you are presented with a lot of varieties of food and people( esp elders) say just have it , "Shastrakke".. So, I just created accounts whether I use it or not, shastrakke, not that anyone is compelling to do so.
For one, Facebook is extremely confusing and have never been a fan of it since the day I joined.Apologies to all facebook fans.
My homepage has all kinds of stuff in it, peole requesting to take a quiz and a message going "XYZ scored 100% in movie quiz" try to see how you compete against him or beat him! Okay someone took a "Jodha Akbar" quiz, scored 60% or 100% and that is hardly something that will get you all excited .
Another instance, I care as much as a tiny little rat's carcass as to what someone else wrote in my friends wall entry or a Photo comment or what my friends commented on his friends photo, whom I dont know but occupy 1/2 my main page.

Hi5 is another confusing site, recently I logged in when I got a message saying" ABC" has sent a request. Then in my requests, there is no person named ABC.

Only one I really like is Blogger :) , because it allows me to create posts like these........ :D

Hi!

2008-11-29T14:07:00.002+05:30

Just a Hi, as I am visiting my own blog after like 3-4 months :O.

No major news.. Its been a year @ Accenture, and completed 25 years of existance, and just wondered what it'll be like after another 25 years??? If Blogspot does exist, then I will surely come and write that experience.. The next post will be a lot earlier than 25 years though I bet!

Adios..

Beginning of the Force!

2008-02-09T22:12:00.000+05:30

February 7'th. 2008 will remain a landmark day in history of Indian motorsport as Dr Mallya introduced the world "Force India" formula One team. As Formula One gets bigger and bigger in India, the participation too, gets bigger and bigger. Narian started it, Chandok is a tester @Red Bull, now Mallya has his own team, and an Indian Grand Prix to look forward to @ 2010 in Delhi. A mouth watering prospect ahead of the Indian motorsport fans.

Here is wishing 'Force India' all the best for 2008!

2007 awards

2008-01-26T22:31:00.000+05:30

Time for the awards again.. 2006 awards were given and you can find the links in previous blogs.. I mean, the same time last year.
2007 awards is bigger,better nd bitter.

1)Line of the year/Song of the year.

It goes to 'Chak de India'. Actually it is also the song of the year, nothing new, the same line is repeated 247 times to make it look like a song.
2)'Breakup' award.

No other nominations apart from the ever mobile Britney spears.She would have had a fight, given birth to a baby, sued ex lover, runaway from an existing marriage almost every week it seems.

3) "All hype no substance" award

Ahhh... sorry to dissappoint you English football fans.Scary bunch in their premier league sides but a sorry bunch in their national side.Failed to qualify for Euro 2008 and blamed everything else from coach to pitch to rain to referee to luck. Sad. Even after their embarassing defeat to Croatia, the fans are ever optimistic, already enjoying that fact that they 'may' actually win the 2010 world cup afterall. Way to go!

4) 'Everything's in a name' award.

If your name was McLaren, you would better start feeling happy that 2007 is over.Coming to the F1 team which almost won everything but nothing in the end of their F1 campaign, starting from bruised egos, to fines to espionage to breakups, they had everything not going for them in the year. The other McLaren was the sorry former coach of the embattled English football team who got the axe after his inspired coaching skills which led to the most underachieving year in English football history. Ah, I can go on and on about the English national football side ain't it?.!

5) 'short and sweet' award.

The ICC world Twenty20 championships.

6) 'long and boring' award.

ICC cricket World cup 2007.

7) " Better single than mingle" award.

Goes to Narendra Modi for his single handed victory in Gujarat polls.

8) "Oh no, Another Controversy" award.

It goes to Sania Mirza. When will it ever stop?

Part II next..

A bit of Nostalgic moment

2008-01-09T20:12:00.000+05:30

It was a bit of a special moment for me while coming back from Office today on my vehicle, going through the Jayanagar 4'th T'block. Usually I have come on that road quite a few times , but today, I took a bit of detour to have a look @ my school - Sudarshan Vidya Mandir. And there it was, with the 'Gyana Mandir Trust' logo, the park in front the school and all the memories kept trickling in. It was special because it was the first time in 6 years that I have seen my school. It was well past the close time, but I managed to see one of my middle school teachers who taught me nearly 14 years back walking towards me with a few other teachers. A momentary pause, and a reflection of all those years and I turned my scooter again, back to ride to my home.

It was an amazing 2 minutes, well worth it :)

What?

2008-01-04T22:30:00.000+05:30

Orkut has Officially lost it!!!

Cell Phone.

2007-10-16T19:01:00.000+05:30

I know people are going to have a go @ me for this, But I am pondering another Cell Phone.
Yes exactly 10 months after I bought the previous one, which was the 4'th phone in 2 1/2 years :) .
Im thinking.. Moto Rokr E6. But I am very much intrested in this.

http://www.indiagsm.com/viewdetails.php?order=2&pid=220&model=Stealth&brand=O2&type=GSM

The O2 Stealth.

I hope I do not get bored of other things in life as much as I get bored of cellPhones.
:P

Contrasts..

2007-10-16T18:58:00.000+05:30

In the guest house that I am staying in Hyderabad, the Left of it is the Typical Lavish I.T building of our company and to the right is a Small Hill. What a contrast..

New Look

2007-10-16T18:56:00.000+05:30

I spent one and a half hours working on the new Look to my Blogger page.. In the end , I think I have come up with a decent effort.

What do you think???

Frikipedia

2007-09-27T14:32:00.000+05:30

I just love Frikipedia! Its nothing but freaking version of Wikipedia with hilarious definitions.

Sample these.

Cricket :The only sport in the world where the players stop for lunch. Therefore the best sport in the world.
Resembles American Baseball, only it looks much dumber.

Duckworth Lewis Method : Sounds like a form of contraception. Isn't.

Kimi Raikkonen :

Hails from Finland. Although his birth is believed to have been due to mistake during a genetic experiment designed to extract the charisma out of a young Mika Hakkinen.

Kimi Raikkonen Quotes

"You'll have to ask the team." - Usual response in times of happiness/despair/intrigue/frustration/disappointment/joy.
"Mmmm, frrr llll mhmmmmhm." - Kimi speaks of his delight at having won the Japanese Grand Prix in 2005 on the last lap.
"Dddd yrrrr rkkknnn mmmm smmmkkk." - Kimi's emotional outburst regarding his favourite pair of trousers.
"Glll mmm yrrrr prrr rrrrm hrrrr nmmmmm." - Kimi's answer to the quest for world peace.

2007 Cricket World Cup :
The 2007 CWC took place in the West Indies, and was designed to be a glorious celebration of corporate greed. The winners were once again deigned to be Australia, the inscription of their name onto the trophy taking place 6 months before the tournament began to save on costs.

Cricket World Cup

Four-yearly slogfest, where all the big cricketing nations and Scotland get together, dress in garish costumes in a transparent attempt to make the game 'hip' and get slaughtered by Australia

David Beckham

Dim but well-meaning pretty boy footballer.
Married to a butterface and currently lives in Madrid, in a sporting exercise designed to boost sales of Real Madrid shirts in Asia.
Became a hero and pariah in equal measure in 1998, when during a World Cup game against Argentina he did what everyone else wanted to do and kicked a cheating footballer in the leg. Recovered his social status in 2002 in a game against the same team by scoring a penalty and allowing England to pick up one of its most fatuous international victories of all time, before they eventually choked later in the tournament.

More on RGV Ki Aag

2007-09-27T14:29:00.000+05:30

I want to write more about this movie which I have not watched.Or should I say, crack some sarcastic jokes about it..

"After watching the movie, many critics have written that this is one movie which you shouldnot subject even your hardest of enemies to go and watch. Looking @ this, Gov't of Indiamade it mandatory for everyone to watch Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag as an alternative to death sentence from now on.Hearing this all the criminals who were givendeath penalty wrote a letter to president of India stating that Death Penalty was better than the torture of the movie."

"Mom's nowadays have found a new way of scaring their kids if they do not sleep..Beta Sooja varna main tujhe' RAM GOPAL VERMA KI AAG dehkaaduungi.........'The child shuts up and sleeps.

More next time...
Jeez, Im enjoying this :))))))

Bathroom Singer

2007-09-12T19:22:00.000+05:30

This is a reality singing show that I came across a channel called FILMY. I first thought this was a MTV faltoo type Mock show on other reality singing shows like Indian Idol,STAR Voice, etc etc, but to my amazement, I found out that it was for REAL!!
Wannabe Sonu Nigam's and Sunidhi Chauhan's come inside a bathroom like setting and start the noise pollution. As usual, the better ones are selected to come to Mumbai. As usual, some people get dissappointed that they didnt get selected even though their voice was as irritating as spanking 200 empty vessels on the floor simultaneously. As usual, some people get oh so dissappointed that their whole existance on the earth was dependent on getting selected to come to Mumbai.
Yet another singing show. Yet another crap.

RGV Ki Aag

2007-09-12T19:12:00.000+05:30

What should I say???

Is there anything left to say???

What a horrible movie!

What a terrible cast!

A blonde babe Nisha Kothari as the classic charecter Basanti played by the evergreen Hema Malini.. What a truckload of Bullshit You have dished out seriously!

P. S : I haven't watched the film by the way.. becoz it was out of the theatres even before it started :D!

News Bakwaas..

2007-09-12T18:23:00.000+05:30

yesterday, just turned on the TV... NDTV.

Breaking news flash..@ the toolbar @ the bottom.

BREAKING NEWS!

Rohan Gavaskar had played 12 one day intnl's for India!!!

I thinking(IT) : What might have happened to him???

BREAKING NEWS!!!! flashes once again!

Rohan Gavaskar is the Son of Former Test Cricketer Sunil Gavaskar.!!

IT: OMG!!! Looks like something bad has happened..

BREAKING NEWS!!! Flashes once again..

Rohan Gavaskar has decided to join Indian Cricket League(ICL).!!!

IT: TV channels are going ridiculously mad these days!

I : Turn of the remote. Goodnight.

Balls to the call.

2007-09-12T18:17:00.000+05:30

Got a call @ 1:45 am a few days ago.. Was sleeping , so couldnt put my specs on immediately.. but took the call without seeing the number properly. The voice goes.

" HA HA HA..............
Hutch nalli hosa offer! *^&*(^%&$%$%%%"

I : Shut the F***!!!

Unfortunately no one to listen to my frustration @ the recieving end as it was a recorded message..
Damn these recorded messages! Olle dream halaythu!

Across the seas!!!

2007-08-18T01:29:00.000+05:30

Hello hello hello, looks like Ive forgotten about blogging, but Im back!!!! Yep, back after a nearly 2 month visit to the US of A, I thought it would be good to write about it,I bet U its going to take several blogs to pen in the experiences... Obviously I can't fit in all@ one.

Feels gr8 to be blogging again! Im ready to start off.....

Week

2007-05-18T23:01:00.000+05:30

Thursday Evening : Eagerly anticipating to eat Masala Dosa for breakfast in UD canteen on Friday Morning.

Friday Morning before breakfast:Eagerly anticipating to eat Masala Dosa for breakfast in UD canteen.

Friday evening : Savouring the Masala Dosa eaten in UD canteen in that morning. And also looking fwd to eating Masala Dosa on Monday Morning!

Monday Morning before breakfast: Eagerly anticipating to eat Masala Dosa for breakfast in UD canteen.

All days after breakfast : London Trips :-)))))))

Extra Killings!

2007-04-02T14:10:00.000+05:30

The coverage of the ICC Cricket World Cup has been Given to Set-Max.. When that was announced,or when ppl came to know about it, they only had 2 words flashed thru their minds.. "OH SHit!!!".No I aint talking about the people who see it for watching the Colossal figure named Mandira Bedi for whom guys would go to any distance to watchher beautifully decorated sarees/her hairdo/her smile/her expressions.Im absolutely certain cricket fans won't stick out their neck out to see her amazing cricketing knowledgeable brain!Im talking about the cricket fans that want to listen to cricketing views from expert cricketers who know something more than a normal Layman does.Coming back to the show, it is painfully 2 hours long. Sometimes 3 hrs.Now, an average length of a one-day match is 8 1/2 hrs taking into account the breaks,the presentation and whole lots of other junk that comes along with it.

The show has 3 guests/former cricketers who are as bewildered on the type of questions asked as the audiences are, listening to it.These guys analyse everything from the cricketers stats to things like how many chains they wearto what color socks they wear or what color underwear he intends to wear.This is not the end of the headache, they also have Interviews with renowned Bollywood celebrities on cricket,some of them who don't even know what cricket is, and are ended up asking what chances India has to retain Cup!There are kindergarden games like Pepsi Blue One in a Billion where kiddos are supposed to show offhow Big a Fan they are. They end up speaking stuff like "India shud play a fifth Bowler","India are the best",in a bald monotonic voice.Now,they also have Hindi commentary to the already boring matches, and by listening to them Im sure, it will be a perfect substitute for Sleeping pills!
I managed to see this laborious and Insane Pre-game show in the 2003 World cup and decided that I wont botherwatching it ever again in my life.. I realised there are better things to do in this Life than watch and listening to this mindless piece of Crap!

Strange!!!

2007-03-12T14:29:00.000+05:30

I have a torn Wallet! YEAH @the place where I put my coins, there's a big opening.Can't put it anywhere else as I dont have other places to put these coins. Whenever I take out my wallet and try to put it back in my pocket, I always see a coin falling down. Intrestingly , Always, it turns out to be a coin from someone else's wallet around me and not mine!Strange but true..

I find something strange with women and their heels.They don't want to admit that they are short.And they try to cover this up by wearing these pointed Heels which I think is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen.Sometimes I've wondered, what can they get by wearing those pointed nightmares?What do they get?A cpl of inches more? so What??? As if Ppl will be really impressed when they show off a cpl of inches more!I don't know the answer!! Infact I don't know many answers about women.The more I try to know, the more questions I get.:D.

2006 Awards - Part II

2007-01-15T16:27:00.000+05:30

"Catch me if u can" award!
Osama Bin Laden.
He is the winner of this award for 5 years in a row. Congratulations!
Saddam Hussain could have learnt a lesson or two from him..

"priority" award
This has to go to Kimi Raikkonen for getting his priorities right on the eve of the Brazilian GP 2006.
Excerpts from that interview.
ITV commentator Martin Brundle : Right..Kimi Raikkonen doesnt seem too interested in the proceedings goin on...[To Kimi]Kimi...U missed the presentation by Pele to honour Schumacher...
Kimi:ya?...
Martin:Will u get over it?
Kimi:ya[laughs]....I was having a sh*t...
Martin:[laughs]...ok..Thanx for that..Now..[laughs]..obviously u'll hav a nice light car on the grid then...so can u win this race?
Kimi:I'll try definitely...But its not gonna be easy against the Ferraris.... :

The " best K*ss " award.
Singer Mika's high Voltage exploits on the traditional Indian Nareeee Rakhee Sawant who is famous for herbare acts for Extreeme Remix videos.Rakhee Sawant went to Womens rights activists to sought help and try and corner Mika for doing an undoeable act. It was captured live on TV also..Well mika's Xtra cpl of bottles was to blame but I think it was also Rakhee's 10 centimeter long dress which I think that was responsible for Mika belting down a cpl of Boozes in first place.

"Producer" award.
This has to go to Ram Gopal Verma..
He directed a film called "Shiva": Bet you havent heard of it.If you have, then you must be running a theater business.Produced films like "Darwaza Band Rakho" and "Darna Zaroori Hai"
PS: I also got this info from Wiki.. so dont think I knew this byheart.

Darna Zaroori Hai was a sequel to Darna Mana hai. It was announced that he would make this sequel after the original and was all excited about it.He was the ony one excited about it.
Darwaza Band Rakho.. punchline itself asks you Y bother watch this film?? Stay locked @ home.
More disaster yet to come... He is directing a film.. "Ram Gopal Verma Ki Sholay".with two unknown people playing Viru and Jai.. and Amitabh playing Gabbar.
Wait a min.. as I'm typing and going thru Wiki.. I hear he's producing a sequel to "Darna Zaroori Hai"called "Darna Bekaar Hai"...
Is there any limit to this???

"I forgot" award.

This goes to me..I had forgot that Sania Mirza plays tennis and Irfan pathan plays cricket.Sania I thought is Prasad Biddappa's latest model for his Out of the box designer creations and Irfan keeps driving kids from one mountain to another.I realised it when "Irfan" himself said... " Main to khelta hoon yaar Magar tu to bada khiladi nikla".And Sania said in an interview.. "Fitness is key in Tennis"..Tennis!! OH YEAH plays that! yeah. damn me!

The 2006 awards ends here.. Come back next year for 2007 awards..

2006 Awards- Part I

2007-01-11T14:40:00.001+05:30

Presenting the 2006 awards..

"Movie of the year" award.
This has to go to a movie caled TAJ MAHAL. Spent at a cost of 55 crores by Akber Khan. It has a terrific starcast lead by Zulfi Syed. Yeah, he was the nation's latest Craze! Heroine of the film is... "OOps whats her name???" I forgot. well she actually played Mumtaz mahal's part.There was a special appearence by Manisha Koirala.. Yeah that was the STAR attraction for the film.In the end it turned out to be a DETRACTION. The theater personnel outnumbered the no. of pplactually watching the movie. The absurd part was Akber Khan actually re-released after the initial response after 2 weeks hoping that more ppl would watch it. I need not tell You what the end result was.

"Self proclamation" award
This has to go to Himesh Reshammiya.His sound is as irritating as a continuously honking truck.On top of that his appearence in the songs with his Bullshit cap and a 45 degree tilt of the face makes him utter nonsense to hear and to see. On criticism of his vasal voice, he remarked saying even R D Burman has a nasal tune. Ah, what a wierdo comment that was which prompted Asha Bhonsle to say "I'll slap him'! He says, he wants to act in a film in the future.. Good luck to him, and good luck to the people who turn up watching it!

"William Shakesphere" award for Best Spoken English.
Award goes to Inzamam Ul-Haq.His vocabulary skills came to great effect when he could't hear what Darrel hair told him,nor Darrel Hair understood what he said, that partly caused the OVAL test fiasco.The match was forfieted and awarded to England for ball tampering allegations against Inzy's team..
"Congrats on getting the award Inzy"
Inzy: Ze Thanks u. Yes the english dictionary is the helps me a lots. I's the practice the lotand the speeches the come out the very well.Thanks the awards.
Thats was inspiring wasn't it???

"Heroes to Zeroes" award.
England cricket team: Euphoric after winning AShes 2005, they treated Ashes 2006 as the one that the'll give their all. They dismissed all other tournaments, including world cup, saying those were not important and the AShes were. Ya, they may as well say that. One of theplayers dubbed Aussies as "Ageing".End result: they got wallopped 5-0 and recieved an annhilation from the 'ageing' aussies.They were practically destroyed in 3 - 3 1/2 days every test match. Now they give the reason they were not prepared well enough! @least they can learn how to give excuses.
"Trying to Escape" award.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.They were busy doing that ever since they landed in Pune for a film shoot.They ended up taking an auto to avoid media. These media legends didn't spare that either.They follwed the auto and started covering it.It turned out to be the biggest headline in the end.

To be continued....

Blah Blah Blah...

2007-01-02T18:14:00.000+05:30

Wheew! 2007 is here.. new year,new hope, new opportunities,new resolutions! Resolutions: The punch word during new year.. What does it mean?Stereotype definition: It is something that you intend to do starting today, which you think will change your life for the better,or@least provide a change from the usual stuff U used to do..10 on 10 for me for providing this answer, ah even I enjoyed this definition.. time for me to write textbooks eh?

My blog is not about telling u people what resolution means..but that this blog itself is a resolution..Ya I made a resolution to write more "VIBRANT" blogs, blogs that can bring a smile rather than the "SENTI" stuff I usualy write,which obviously people won't CRY!

My other resolution was to Work seriously.. Gr8, as if I had not been doing that till now. Thanks.So I modified it " Work seriously and work towards a Goal. Be proactive in life.Help others"!.. back to my good 'ol senti sentences.. It does'nt leave me no matter how much I try to.
Other than the resolution of vibrancy in blogger and the above sentence, which I dont know how to describe it seriously,Im happy to announce that I did'nt make any other resolution..
Ya that was my resolution..Not to make any more resolutions..

Wait for 1 year whether my Blogs get the tag of a SENTI(EY) or a SMILEY, and whether I have really worked togetherfor my Goal(which I still don't know what it is), whether I have brought others a few extra muscles for them to work on(if u still didn't understand,IT's a "SMILE" U DUMBO), whether I have been "PRO ACTIVE" or REACTIVE, whether I have helped others or not.. what ever it may be ,One things for sure I would have helped myself surely, to the maximum extent.Ah,What a self obsessed python I am!

Folks, thats it for this new year.. if u still didnt understand what this blog was really about, then read again..If U still didnt understand, then read again.. Again, if u still didn't understand, Then Smile...
PS: This is my 27'th blog, the year is 2007.. What coincidence!

May your soul rest in peace now, Jessica!

2006-12-20T16:08:00.000+05:30

April 29,1999:Leading socialite Bina Ramani organized a party at her restaurant, in South DelhiIt was to be a farewell party for her husband . Those who were serving drinks were Jessica Lall and her friends Malini Ramani and Shyan Munshi.

0200 hrs : Manu Sharma with his friends including Vikas Yadav, allegedly enter the restaurant and demand liquor from Jessica.
Jessica told the bar had been closed and no more drinks were served.AFter being ignored for the drink several times,Manu Sharma fired two shots, one went in the air and other shot @ Jessica Lal's temple. She died on the spot.

May 6: Manu Sharma records a statement in front of Delhi police stating he had shot Jessica.

August 1999, Jessica Lal trial begins, four of the witnesses turn hostile.Shayan Munshi, one of the key witness, said Manu shot one in the air but not sure where the second bullet came from.Forensic evidences show different bullets of the one that was shot in the air and the one that shot Jessica.It turned out that the bullets had been tampered with, the forensic evidence was also tampered. The tape which Manu Sharma had recorded with Delhi police was made to be non-authentic,hence telemetary evidence was tampered with.

February 21,2006: All 9 accused were acquitted in this case.
Now the real drama begins.. this signalled that the Indian Judiciary system needed another look@ it's functioning! Public uproarhad never been soo mighty, The Rang De Basanti trick of the trade worked, public felt they had a voice,the point is it had to be heard, NOW..SMS campaigns, petitions to the president of India,TV channels running campaigns,candle light marches, and finally it had to come! The Delhi police reopened the case. Now the verdict is out.Manu is charged with the murder of Jessica lal, and two others including Vikas Yadav, also charged for destroying evidence. Nobody , not even the eccentric Ram Jethmalani, with all his criminal knowledge background could save Manu.Manu's father , a congress minister in Harayana resigned when a TV report caught him bribing the witnesses.
7 long years, and Jessica's sister Sabrina has been battling hard to get justice. Jessica's parents passed away in the meanwhile,waiting to hear the news that they soo badly wanted to hear.Finally the battle was won on December 18th.. Jessica's soul now rests in peace.. her killers got what they deserved,the judiciary delivered what they had to deliver!

The Delhi experience!

2006-12-04T14:48:00.000+05:30

I had to write this... I just had to
Had been to Delhi for 2 days last Wed,Thu and the funny experiences I had there are blogged!
Started off waitng for a light year to get on board an Air Sahara, on a sunny sunny Bangalore mid afternoon.The flight was anything but jampacked, with precisely 1 person in every 3 seater. i.e: U can say all except the window seats were empty. Air hostess was half chinese, half Indian, didnt know what to make out looking @ this pathetic straw like looking soul!
She was Bad, Simply put it, BAD!!!!!
One of the reasons u wanna travel is to see good looking hostesses, it was anything but that what I got that day.Anyway, after managing a few fake smiles @ her, she offered a crappy meal,she poured a tea in a Cup.
I mean she just put the tea soaked in Water, no water nor Milk was there.. I had not travelled by air for like 6-7 years..
maybe I didnt know how to or where to get that.
I drank the "BALD TEA" with no sugar or milk,assuming this is how they drink tea in Airlines.. PUFF PUFF..
After a agonising 10 mins, I opened to eat the "Dairy creamer", a chocolate like thingy in a plastic cover,which I incidently thought
it was Dairy Milk,opened it only to find the Milk powdr, beside that the sugar as well! Oh damn I thought, Y didnt I open it earlier???

After I reached Delhi, I got into this Taxi, going by the taxi wala's fluent Hindi, I was taken aback.
I thought I can speak Hindi quite well, @least manage when go to these places. What he spoke God only shud Understand,
just nodded my head, asked basic qns like" Ye kya hai, woh kya hai", "yeh kitne duur hai, woh kitne door hai"
Meanwhile our taxiwala was in full form, having known I acn understand Hindi, he went on a ramapge..
His subjects ranged from his Aunt's gifting of a sweater to him the previous day, to a Phirangi(Foreigner) customer
in his previous duty, to a apparent nonveg joke cracked by his nephew to his uncle!

His Conversation tone was somethin like this..

" Kya Apunnne bhai aisa mangta hai, arre o Bhaiah de chhakkde phatte, dikkhanna soni kudiye, mennu line maardiyawein! apunn na saab, dellieee badaa sonnaasa shehar hai, jab dekho, sabki line khuli hai, hoyee hoyye"

Just read this thing very fast(ofcourse what Ive written is just crap), its the way he spoke to me for a whole day!
I hope U pity me!

Next day, this guy came again, narrated his story all over again, then took me around for a few places like Rashtrapati Bhavan,India gate, etc, dropped me to Hotel.Thanked him as I had a good time , I came back the same evening by the same shitty old Air Sahara,after having to wait for more than 3 hrs on a fish market like Delhi airport. I had learnt my lessons afterall, Managed to put the "Dairy creamer" and the sugar into the tea.
The similar looking Indo-Chinese airhostess(Y?? ) was again back home,
she too like her predecessorin the previous day's airline was lean, bones coming out from everywhere, and wore a crappy look.
Food was still crappy, an Ice Cold burger was the apparent" Full MEals" that was on the ticket Menu.
Got a scare when I had half finished the burger and the guy sittin next t me said, that looks like a non-veg one..andhis was a Veg one..I thought of the repurcussions, what shall I tell my mom, what the O HOLY sin have I committed, etc etc..
Called the boney chinese lady to clarify, she reversed what the poor guy on my right thought, said mine was Veg,and his was non-veg, he had all the repurcussions to think abt now!

Finally,@ 11:20 pm in the night, reached namma Bengalooru! What an experience,I decided to blog this ever since the "Dairy Creamer" thing happened.. Will never forget some of the experiences I had there.." The taxiwalla's Bak bak", "The roadside Chai" in the chilly morning near the embassy,the experience of the wide Rajpath ,
from President's house to India Gate,the walk around the "Gandhi bazaar"like Malviya Nagar,the Tea Syndrome, ,the burger syndrome,the airhostess syndrome..

WHat's next???
Ans : Kingfisher Airlines.

Adois!

F1 Season Review 2006

2006-10-24T11:54:00.001+05:30

What a season.. the championship went all the way down to the wire till the final race in Brazil.
After first half of the season, Alonso had 84 of the 90 available pts.. But schumacher clawed back the 25 pt deficit and the final 2 races at Japan,Brazil were the important ones. Alonso benifited from a rare ferrari engine failure and won in Japan, and in the season finale @ Brazil, owing to a qualifying trouble for Schumi, left him starting@ P10. Then he had a puncture and effectily put him out in contention for the title.

It was the end of a 16 yr old career of Schumacher. I was never a fan of his,but I gotta admit,
he was the one driver everyone wanted to beat..

Schumi came to F1 with a bang. won 2 titles in 94,95. 94 the year when Senna died.Schumi took over his mantle. Later he transformed ferrari to a World class team. Won 5 straight c'ships there.. Records speak for themselves, 91 wins, 7 championships.. but is he the greatest ever???
I beg to defer. Lot of people say just because he won so many cships and races, hes the best.
But statistics aren't the only way to judge who's the best.There was a certain Senna, a certain
Fangio, who races in less safer conditions than current drivers do. That time,
if u made a big mistake, hit a gravel or a wall, chances of u being killed r very likely.
Nowadays,u can get away with these with little injuries..

Another thing with schumi was the spate of contriversies.To name a few,
1) The incident with Damon Hill in 94, took WDC by knocking him off the circuit.
2) Incident in 97,Jerez, again a c'ship decider, took out Villeneuve.
3) The Austrian GP 2002, when Barrrichello was ordered to move over.
4)The Monaco parking incident 2006. A perfect example of trying to impede a faster car.

All these dont go too well don't they? Anyway, you can argue as much as you like but there is
always a black mark left in the sport and people tend to magnify those more compared to what good they have done.Its the case with any sport. Shane Warne's the world's greatest spin bowler. But people tend to remember his drug incident more than a match wining performance.

Anyway, I think F1 will definitely miss Schumi. Infact without Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya,it'll be less fun.But anyway, the era is over , the mantle has been passed to Fernando Alonso.

A few words for Fernando. People call him lucky. People said he won the
championship cos of a superior car.. But so has schumi..People call him cry baby. Yeah he's
a bit young and tempered and makes nonsense statements about team when he's not winning.
But take that apart, he's driven like a champion. He has made lesser mistakes, has been on the limit,handled the pressure well ON TRACK.. and whatever it is.. you can win one race or two by luck, but you can't win 2 championships by luck. Gotta give some credit to this fella. He's all of 25,and he has beaten Schumi fair and square.

Yeah he "Couldn't Have won" if ferrari hadnt blew up in Suzuka.. but there can be no if's an but's in Sport.. If if's and but's were the yardstick, then,you can take all these into account.

"IF" mclaren had less reliability prbs last yr, Kimi cud've won c'ship.
"IF" Senna was alive then Schumacher would have a couple of less c'ships.

Fact remains that schumi has won 7 championships, regardless of whether Senna was alive or not,and Alonso has won 2. I never rated Fernando highly but nowadays, I've great respect for his Driving.

Anyway, next season is in March. Can't wait for that.
I can't wait to see Alonso driving the Silver car and Raikkonen in the scarlet..

Predictions? Its high time Kimi Raikkonen won a championship.He has been the unlucky chap soo many times.Came agonisingly close to winning two WDC's but the car let him down badly.
Im pretty sure next year will be his!

CREEPY LITTLE CREATURE CARNIVORE

2006-10-09T18:28:00.000+05:30

Yeah, Im talking about none other than the mosquito Clad creatures. They are tiny they r small,the are a menace,they are irritating,they can be dangerous,above all, they have the power to kill!

Recent outbursts of ChikunGuniya,Dengue,etc have been nothing short of sensational.The kind of wrath these creepy flies can bring to Homosapien life is quite simply appalling.So many cases of dengue in Delhi, people dying in Kerala of Chikun Guniya(yeah its 'Chikun', not 'chicken')has left a bad taste in the mouth.. Whos responsible? My answer: No one!afterall,what is needed for these half a centimeter creatures to dwell on?A stagnant water.. a small pond.. A rainy puddle near ur house.. Can u prevent this one from happening?Ah... must be joking.

It has made me a lot more careful these days.I put my ALLOUT mosquito coil on for several years now.That doesnt stop it. I close my windows.. Even that doesnt work.. How long can u be without fresh air? I have had experiences of seeing my cousin suffer from dengue and my dad suffering frm . and lemme tell u,its no joke.Its not just a viral fever,cold etc. @some point dengue can cause blood platelets to come down so drastically that its reaches danger levels.No way to increase these platelets. Not even supply of blood.And my cousin got infected while playing in a cricket field.Well, what do u do to prevent these??? Stop playing cricket? stop going out in rain? stop going to places where these creatures dont exist? stop going outside alltogether?

Quite simply best thing to do is.. NOTHING!

I-POD NANO !!!

2006-09-25T17:28:00.000+05:30

I wanted 2 get an Mp3 player for ages now. Just couldnt figure out which one 2 buy!!!CREATIVE? IPOD? IRIVER? Finally I decided on the Apple Ipod Nano 4GB Black! Here it is.... LOOKS SEXY DOESNT IT?

One year@ WIPRO

2006-09-05T09:20:00.000+05:30

As I write this I have now completed 1 yr of my professional life.When i look back
to all those fun filled college days, those assignments,internals,exam,holidays,
and everything that existed for the past 6-7 yrs prior to Work those were the best moments in my life.
Work was meant to be a total change from what I was used to, but in a way when I look back @ the past 1 year, it has just been an extension of what I used to do during college.
Yes, I started earning and was supposedly meant to be a professional, but when I look@ me as a person, its probably the same person I was in college, probably only
little things her and there have changed.

Experience@ WIPRO:

For the 1'st 2 months, it was a roller coster ride!The training was the best time I ever had!!
New friends,new environment, everything facsinated me. It was an experience of a lifetime@ the Xaviers institute (popularly known as XIME) it was the venue of training..If someone asks me what XIME is, id probably tell them it was the place where I had my training contrary to the answer of a "B" school that it acually stands for.
that crappy food,that tension of coming late to office knowing ull miss the connecting Bus to XIME,that hurrying out of our rooms and standing in a Queue(or was it) for that 1 small cup of tea and those sugary biscuits:),everything just made those two months all the more memorable.

Then it was back to actual work. It was tough initially,moving to different projects, etc etc,
but Ive learnt a lot in these months. Work headaches are a plenty.. client issues, late meetings,
bug fixes, lemme tell u those bug u to death!
But the flip side of it, those were only small issues I faced, the majority of the time
i remember was with my training friends. We still meet everyday for breakfast,lunch..
Some of the avenues we own is the corner place near US pizza in Kamath, the table in which we've been having lunch for the past 10 months..
And who can forget those incredible bus journeys on the way back for 2 hrs?? Its a headache
travelling back for others, but for me, its a PICNIC!!!

Anyway, I can go on and on and on about this!!! Im pretty sure Ill write more in my next few blogs.
Right now Ill stop it here:)

Shayaris-Part II

2006-08-28T17:47:00.000+05:30

Hi, some more shayaris, but not written by me.. But its an awful lot better than what I wrote a cpl of blogs back!!!!

1)Tu hai yahan.. main hoon wahan
Tu hai yahan.. main hoon wahan

Lifebouy hai jahan tandaroosti hai wahan

2)kabhi-kabhi mere dil main khayal aata hai
kabhi-kabhi mere dil main khayal aata hai

magar afsos ,kabhi-kabhi hi aata hai

3)khdki se dekha tow sadak pe koi nahi tha
khdki se dekha tow sadak pe koi nahi tha

sadak pe jaake dekha tow khidki pe koi nahi tha.

4)Kya Aankhen hai tumhari kya chehra tumne paaya hai..
Kya Aankhen hai tumhari kya chehra tumne paaya hai..

Aisa lagta hai peepal ke ped se bhoot utar ke aaya hai!!

5)Tumko dekha to ye khayaal aaya..
Tumko dekha to ye khayaal aaya..
Tumko dekha to ye khayaal aaya..
Tumko dekha to ye khayaal aaya.......

Pagalon ke stock mein naya maal aaya...wah wah

6)Arz Hai!
Maine ek sher mara....
Maine ek sher mara....

KI sherni vidhwa hogayee....!!!

7)
Yaad hai hum pehli baar kahan mile the....
Train rukhi....
khidki khuli.....
nazron se nazrein mili...
aur aapne kaha.......
..
..
........
....CHAI LELO CHAI....

8)Jise dil diya woh dilli chali gayi.....
.jise pyar kiya woh sasural chali gayi.....
Dil ne kaha Khud Kushi kar le.....
Plug mein haath dala tho bijli bhi chali gai.....

9)
wen u breathe, u respire (wah wah)
wen u breathe, u respire

wen u dont breathe, u xpire.......

10)MALLIKA SHERAWAT KE MARNE KE BAAD USKI KABR PE KYA LIKHA HOGA?
"PEHLI BAR AKELI SOYI HAI.:"

11)koi patthar se na mare mere is deewane ko,
koi patthar se na mare mere is deewane ko,

are BOMB ka jamana hai uda do sale ko…

12)
Suna hai ki aapki ek muskaan pe log marte hai.
So please keep smiling to reduce population

HOLIDAYS! YIPPEE!!!

2006-08-11T15:14:00.000+05:30

Finally after a period of nearly 1 year Im having a 5 day break..from 12-16th August.
Ive been waiting for this for ages! ever since Ive come to know about it.. Frankly speaking, i donno what Im gonna do. Of course this will not compare to a holiday after finishing ur final exam and havin a month or two break but still its gonna be a rocking one(never mind coming back to the same place again next week and do the same old work.. but its next week!! Not tomorrow).. esp after I the fact that there has been a void of holidays in the recent months!

PS :This was written in a good mood, dont mind if words were repeated!!

Similarly dissimilar:)

2006-08-01T18:16:00.000+05:30

Recently, I was hearing 2 songs frm new Karan Johar Movie..Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
The title track :Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and Wheres the party tonight

I couldnt help thinkin tht these 2 songs sounded exaaaactly like Kal ho na Ho title track and "Its the time to disco", in that order.the videos also looked exactly same.....
The beats, the pace, everything was almost same..

Also recently in an tv interview, priety zinta,Abishek bachhan(supposedly stars of the film) and karan johar had come to discuss abt the songs.

When asked if they sounded similar t the KHNH tracks, they were like..
" NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...
How can u say they sound similar... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WAAAAAAAAYYYY..
They dont even come close.... I dont know what comparison ur making.... OOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOO NOOOOOOOOO NOOOOOOOOO"

I was wondering whether I had a hearing problem.

I got the funda.. If they say the songs sounds similar, ppl wont listen to them thinking that they r the same!!!

Few years ago, there was this film called Khoobsurat (sanjay dutt, Urmila)->Donno if uve even heard of it!. Dutt in his interview before release said "This is the best Album in the whole world". I had an addiction of cassetes durin that time and hearing that I quickly got a cassette of that thinking about the best album and all.. Guess wht.. the songs were crapbarely listened for 1 day!! I never made the same mistake again!

Whoooshhhh... what all they do for publicity I just wonder!

Shayaris!

2006-07-14T18:01:00.000+05:30

Im writing a few shayaris written by me... U know its very kiddish some of them .. but Ill try for better ones next time..

1)
U have a body, U have a soul,
But thats not enough to reach ur goal!

2)
To play cricket, U need a wicket,
I only watch it, so please give me a ticket!

3)
He came, He saw, He conquered... ..

He came, He saw, He conquered... ...

If only becoming King would be this easy :):)

3)
Mallika Says 2 ALL Guys::: Bach ke rehna re baba, back ke rehna re..
I say 2 Mallika : Kapde sambhal re baba, tu kapde sambhal re!

The sporting WEEK!

2006-07-12T11:09:00.000+05:30

Well folks..
a lot has happened over the last one week in the week of SPORT.. Lets go thru some of them!

FIFA World Cup FINAL-Italy v France

The final certainly lived up to expectations.. ACtion packed starting from the 1'st minute . Italy won it on penalties 5-3. It started off with Zidane taking a penalty in 7'th minute , a penalty which can be a questionable. Then in another 10 mins, Italy equalized thru a header! Game On..
Score : 1-1. That was the score till the end of 120 mins.. But the game will be most remembered for Zinadine zidane sent off for a body header on Materazzi! This was supposed to be a swansong for Zizou but it was anything but that..
He went from hero to zero in a matter of minutes and that was that! France just couldnt get inspired. Italy were by far the better side in the match and although France came close 2 scoring 2 goals via Zidane header (stopped by Buffon) and a brilliant tackle by Frank Ribery, they just couldnt finish it..
In the end Italy deserved it! Cannavaro was the hero for them and I am dissappointed the "GOLDEN BALL" didnt go to him but zidane.. Cannavaro was the "WALL" of Italy.. just like our very own Rahul Dravid in the Indian side..
All in all, fabulous match, gr8 tournament, me being not soo much of a soccer freak, enjoyed the whole tournament.. I still cant believe Im givng match reports..HE HE!

Wimbledon Final :Federer v Nadal

The emperor still rules.. Although Nadal showed glimpses on what he can do, he was no match for the Fed-experess on grass! Flawless throughout, here one gr8 tennis player.. 4 consecutive wimbledon titles.. BEAT THAT.. And hes still 24. If he plays like this for another decade god knows how many titles he'll get! He may need a seperate bungalow to store his trophies:)

F1 news.

Well, no racing last weekend but headlines was dominated by the news that Juan Pablo Montoya was quitting F1 for NASCAR. Infact we r not going to see anymore of JP in a F1 car..Sad all this happened soo soon..He was to be out of McLaren anyway but no one expected to be soo soon.
He was a flash in the pan driver.. He had rare moments of brilliance , but then again i say, rare.. On his day he could beat anybody! He was never frightened of overtaking and F1 needs charecters like JP in the grid. the "On your face" kinda driver rather . But he made more wrong than rights in F1. So thats Y he's in this position now!

Compare some stats to his McLaren teammate Kimi Raikkonen. u'll see there's not much of a difference.. Yet, for next year Kimi has 3 top teams(Renault,McLaren,Ferrari) wanting him and Juan Pablo has no options in other teams either, let alone the top three!

Kimi Raikkonen

Starts:96
Wins :9
Pole positions:10
Fastest laps:17
Total points: 320

J P Montoya

Starts:93
Wins :7
Pole positions:12
Fastest laps:13
Total points: 307

I was a strong critic of his.. He was an annoyance.. He was responsible to a certain extent on Mclaren not winning Champoinship last year. He made lots of mistakes.. Gave lots of excuses.Unfortunately top teams like Mclaren want performances nd not excuses, and thats y he's out .. He did well in Williams and that the only silver lining. But I used to enjoy some of his overtaking manouvres!

Good luck Juan Pablo for your future! F1 will surely miss you.

FIFA World CUP Semifinal Preview

2006-07-03T14:06:00.000+05:30

As the World cup 2006 reaches its climax,heres my take on the much anticipated semifinals.

SF1: Germany v Italy

Germany have so far had a dream world cup. They were never really the big contenders before the world cup and even the home fans never thought they could win. But they have proved all of them wrong. Klinsman has been very efficient as coach and has made the right moves. They have been playing as a unit, have a good team spirit going, have the strong backing of the home support behind them. And more so, they seem to be improving every game.As Argentina found out, they are a tough nut to crack. Italy on the other hand have had a fairly subdued WC so far. They have been winning most of the games but have been much criticized for their style of play. To be fair to have Australia,Ukraine in Round'f16, quarters they should consider themselves lucky. Teams like France have not had that cushion going into the SF.But the'll be strong nevertheless in the Semi finals. The'll put all those controversies from the SerieA and the distraction of a former player attempting suicide behind them.
Whatever it is, it will be a cracker of a game..
My Prediction: Germany 2-1 Italy

SF2: Portugal v France

Luis scolari has done it again!!! His record@ the world cup is still 100% and no one can bet against him keeping that record intact in the next game. Portugal have been impressive in this WC so far.Not many ppl have really backed them but they seem to do the job time and time again. They have never reached a semifinal in a World cup. Hopefully they can go all the way cos they have deserved the way the've played. A young,athletic portuguese team with christiano ronaldo,Deco and not to forget the braveheart goalkey Ricardo + the evergreen Luis Figo +Scolaris tactics make portugal a tough team to beat.
France on the other hand have made the best progress so far in the world cup. They were almost knocked out in the first round(circa 2002) but managed to scrape through. Since then they faced the red hot Spaniards and world champions from Brazil and have managed to beat both. The good thing for France is that the old Warhorses are firing, lead by ZIDANE,and he deserves this momment of glory.Contributions from Vierra,Henry and the in form Ribery have proved very handful. They are the dark horses of this tournament and against all odds have come triumphs.This ones too tough to predict.
Anyway,
My predictions : Portugal 1-1 France(after xtra time)
Portugal to go thru 4-3 on penalties.

Hopefully the two games will be a cracker and a treat to watch.. Happy viewing!

The bombing bollywood .

2006-06-20T15:20:00.001+05:30

Some time ago(probably 7-8 yrs back), me and my mom were watching TV. There was a song being played . An old song.. It was frm the film GUDDI *ing Jaya Bachchan.It goes somethin like "Humko man ki shakti dena". Gr8 song.. But what most impressed my mom was the way Jaya was expressing herself. She said the lip movements of Jaya were soo perfectly tuning with what latha mangeshkar was singing and it looked as though she was singing it herself.. Ah! those were the days where heroines had talent,grace,appearence,skill, U can go on..
I will talk about present day beauties now. Ill stick to only heroines in this blog cos Im more intrested to talk about them than their heroes..

I am a very avid bollywood fan but Ive been troubled seeing the state of movies nowadays.. Kajol,Madhuri had some class abt them till they acted.. and trust me they genuinely "ACTED"!!! Priety,Rani have the oomph but cant match the other two stated..From my limited knowledge, acting refers to portraying real emotions in the reel world!(whatever that meant).
Nowdays acting (for an actress) refers to "dancing in skimpy clothes"..The less you wear, the more you can act!!! Thanks to our very own Mallika Sherawat, film actresses are doing nothing more than what remix video item girls do... And also, these item girls are being elevated to actresses!! GOSH Gimme a break..:(

And here goes our Udita Goswami just dancing away in Jhalak Dikhlaja like a paranoid. And then worse, make comments like.. that was a beautiful role.. the charecter had lots of depth.. and blah blah.. when she was merely dancing in the whole film like she had an extra bottle of brandy!

Just imagine what madhubala or nargis must be thinking if she were to come and see present day paranoids.. oops actresses..

Its about me..

2006-06-15T10:26:00.000+05:30

I am talking about a boring topic.. Its about me. When I start talking about myself, trust me, watching a 1960's Art movie would be better timepass!
Whatever it is i'll just talk about it.However boring it may be. Its my blog. I have my feelings. I wanna share it.

I was a freak when I was a small Kid. Only thing tht everyone remembers about me was how fat I was(totally opposite now) and how much I used to cry. I used to eat a lot, again totally different from what it is now. But times have changed. But only thing hasnt changed.. Thats "Me".

Basically to put it in one word. Im an introvert. I am confined most of the time. I like spending time alone than most others do ..probably because I was brought up as the only child, so U are kinda different. U get all the love.. and all the scoldings. But ppl around me were different. A lot more extrovertish, a lot more outgoing, they probably had brothers and sisters unlike me I thought.. I always wanted to be them. I wanted to act like them. I wanted to do things that they did. I wanted to watch TV shows that they did. I wanted to "THINK" like them. I sometimes did it.. It bombed. I made a creature of myself..

I forgot to realise that I am patient, trusty, friendly,cheerful in addition to being an introvert and all the other things I've been labelled. Above all, I have a good heart. That makes me what I am.,and I'll be for the rest of my life.Its not going to change, where ever I go, whatever the circumstances.
I've written a line that has inspired me in my prev blog. It is " When you overcome fear, you feel free". To me, my biggest fear was discovering who I am. Now that Ive discovered it, I feel free..

Some lines that have inspired me.

2006-06-07T10:20:00.001+05:30

#1
Players win,players lose, players prepare,players practice,players get hurt but players get up. No matter what the outcome is, players play.

#2
If we are not part of the solution, then we are the problem.

#3
For the evil to flourish, good people have to do nothing and the evil will flourish.

#4
When you move beyond your fear, you feel free.

Some more to come...

The reservation debate

2006-05-22T14:29:00.000+05:30

If you by chance tune into your TV nowadays, and that too a news channel, u see only one piece of news nowadays.. The anti-reservation protests. This after our beloved gov't fixed reservation upto 49% in IIT,IIM's and increased the %quota in Medical colleges for OBC's, There has been a wide spread agitation. WHile the protests are carried out by the medicos,iit'ans, iim'ites(is it right?) , other streams have joined in.. Engineers, PPl working in S/W industry,etc. All their anguish seems to go to the deaf ears of the govt.. and the even more deaf Arjun Singh..

What bothers me nowadays is the way this has been over publicised. I just recieve tons of messages thru email,forums that say 2 ppl die of hunger strike and how the media seemed not to cover this and how the govt ordered them to do so.. Nd there goes a request.. pls send this to whoever u know and let them be all aware. Atleast do that.. Ok, fine, if me sending this to 100 ppl or signing a petition to the president makes a difference, its all good. But whats the guarentee??? Mails just get circulated n what happens after that?? Has anyone wondered.. If ppl just sit@ home/office all day and send hundred messages frm home and think they have made a big difference,and also showing off the so called people power, is the govt going to listen? Sending forwards doesnt show ppl power, it only shows internet power..

What we really need is the real people power.We are doing everything to make ppl aware of it. R we doing really what is needed???Problem is not solved with handful of protesters having a silent march or getting lathicharged, it comes with a lot more active participation,making their presence felt, huge no of ppl coming on streets, more so the common man, as everyone's brother,sister,friend,son,daughter will suffer frm the Quotas, not just the current and the prospering medicos/iitians/iimites.

Worst reaction is from the opposition BJP. Whenever Congress does a very small mistake, they hype it to such an extent, jump all over them, call for axing the PM,etc. But now, this being the biggest blunder of Congress govt, look@ what the opposition is doing. Keeping its mouth shut to keep the vote banks open..Politics @ its ridiculous best!!!

Lost and found

2006-05-15T16:29:00.000+05:30

A post after a while now..Frankly I did not have too many things happening in my rather lonely and introspective life for the last cpl of weeks. The last Friday changed it all.
It was a far from a normal friday. So, whats the def'n of a normal Friday? Full Othla.. Chk "happy weekend" mails, make plans for weekend, waiting to go for the earliest bus. Goo home and watch lots of TV shows, Sleep late.. Get up late next morning. The Friday in question had nothing of what I mentioned, only thing that matched was "slept late".. that too for other reasons....
Firstly, it was a bad day@ office.Im not gettin 2 details. But the fact I left office @ 9:30 in the night itself makes it a bad day.. I saw 2 accidents on Hosur Rd. Deviating frm topic ashte.. nothing bad abt it. Somehow I cant resist mentioning Hosur rd in any of the topics cos I spent 1/6th of a days time on that miserable rd :) Soon as I reached home, got the news that my vehicle key was lost and my dad went back to office after comin back home in a bus , taking the spare key But@ 11 pm, he called me sayin that the vehicle was not there when he went back.. I was gutted.. Frankly, I wanted him to come back home safe, he had done all the moving around frm one place to another, skipped his dinner.. He was exhausted. I just thought it happens sometimes. Friday was just one of those days when nothing went right from the beginning.. I was also pissed off cos there was high probability of me comin to office the next day and also on Sunday. After all thats happened, thats the last place u wanna go. Anyway, I slept with lots of thoughts in my mind. It was a dreadful night too, with only bad dreams. Like Blood comin out from my legs for no reason and swimming alone in the Black Sea and whatever.. SCARY!!!

MY HONDA DIO( THE VEHICLE WHICH WAS LOST)-
My DIO was very close to me. Although I never ride it for 5 days a week nowadays , not bothered to wash it for months, I still love it. Short trips from nearby home to shop and back was very common on my DIO. It was a poor old but relatively new vehicle..It had lots of scratches in the mud guard mainly becos of the skiddy natured driving of its owner(yours truly) being forced into mud sometimes. It was 3 1/2 yrs old. That was it about my DIO.

Now, Monday as I write this, the scooter was found anthe, it was in the same place as before. I am soo pleased as I write this. Not a bad weekend afterall. Didnt go to office on Sat, Sun, saw my fav TV shows and did whetever I used to do on a weekend..

The CHEESE Story

2006-05-02T11:10:00.000+05:30

This certainly goes down as the one of the best books that Ive read so far.. I haven't read an awful lot of books, but this one has definitely impacted me in one way or the other. The book is titled "Who moved my Cheese". Its a simple story of 4 charecters, the kind of changes happening in their lives, their journies of finding "NEW CHEESE" from the "OLD CHEESE". Read the book to find out more. It takes barely an hour.
Rest assured, it will impact your life in one way or the other as it has already impacted mine in the last week or so.

The King Arriveth!!!

2006-04-18T10:23:00.000+05:30

17'th April, a very normal day, a typical monday morning, typical work @ office, typical hosur rd traffic, but not quite a typical dinner!
As I was just about to go to my dining table, a sweet smell was distracting, enough to divert attention from the hot rasam and papads that mom had prepared. I had smelled it before, but not in recent times. Finally, what I went near it, huh, it was what I thought of! The Mango had arrived!!! For the first time this summer, dad had got mangoes. What a feeling! Now, for another two-three months lunch or dinner will have an extra kick @ the end with those delicious, distracting, out of the world, different kinds of mangoes. We have done it all havent we,
licking the mango seed to the last possible trace of juice asthough u havent had food before, stains sticking to your nose,having extra mangoes and spending extra time @ the loo!
The summer has arrived and so is the king of fruit!!!

The weekend @ Ooty

2006-04-10T15:04:00.000+05:30

As I write this, there is pain in my legs, muscle pull in my waist, head going bonkers,eyes just about open to see the contents of my monitor . The reason was an amazin trip to Ooty with 15 of my wipro training batchmates during the weekend . It was just 2 days! But boy,... did we have fun!
It all started during the wee hrs of Saturday morning. The bus was scheduled to start @ 1:30am , pick up everyone on the way, leave B'lore by 3AM. Of course I did not get any sleep during the night. Somehow, we managed to get to the place @ around 12 noon. We had arrived!!
Ok, we were damn hungry by now. We went to this place (forgot the hotel) just below our hotel Charring cross. There was a wierd smell there enough to drive us out of that place in a matter of seconds. We had food in another hotel,then we proceeded towards this place called GlenMorgan. It was abt 25k frm ooty and it was just awwsome. The most breathtaking sight Ive ever seen!!! There is actually a tea garden + a electricity generator there, but the sight of the mountains was the most fascinating part. We came back and on our way, we saw another couple of places which had huge landscapes. We walked, walked, never seem to tire. Again, the sight was an absolute beauty!!! We came back to the hotel, went to shopping. Home made chocos was on the shopping list of most of us and a few oils,tea powder also made the list..I was drained out by the night and went to sleep.
We all had planned to go for a morning walk. Let me tell u , it was bloody cold@ 6 in the morning. Out we came, a street seller made a hefty profit by selling monkey caps as most of us were desperately needing it. We walk and have a nice hot cup of coffee. I also had tea along wit d coffee wit my monkey cap and jacket on. What a feeling!! The girls(esp sindhu and ramya) were insistent on us going to church they saw on the way. Ok, who can argue with them? We made a complete fool of ourselves. Ramya,Sindhu barged into the sunday mass gathering. Couple of guys followed them, came back knowing that it was the side of the ladies. I decided not to go in, didnt want to risk. Back to our hotel rooms, get ready, have breakfast and then we went to Doddabetta and it was a pretty good journey. Those fresh carrots, mango,ice cream was yummy! Back to botanical gardens after that, took lots of snaps.considering we payed 120 bucks extra for 4 cams, we had to make use of it.
Next stop : Ooty lake after having our lunch.
We went for boating. Gave my legs more punishment. If all the walking over the last day n half was not enough, this pedalling was even more hard on my legs. Then, all of us sat in Raging bull. I pulled a strain, then to dashing cars, then to Columbus(twice) . Then came the tora tora. I did not go there but some of them had enough. It was a roller coster with dashing cars,bull, columbus and toratora@ the same time. It took its toll and soumya almost fainted. We managed to bring her back, a bit of fresh air, water and 15 mins rest was enough to get her up and fit again. So that was it, came back to our hotels, packed up, left for Bangalore @ 10pm sunday night.We arrived finally @ 5 am in B'lore and as soon as I was back home, eaded straight towards the bedroom. No surprises there!!!
A memorable journey for all the 15 of us. It had everything. We had absolute fun, saw nature @ its very best, lots of incidents that was a breathtaking experience, all in two days.
What a weekend!!!

The Death of Ayrton Senna

2006-04-05T16:03:00.000+05:30

Well, I found an intresting piece of article from the London Times and just wanted to share it with you. This is the description of the last 48 hrs of the death of the great F1 driver Ayrton Senna in Imola- May 1'st 1994. Senna was and still is considered to be the greatest F1 driver of all time. Some images here wich may be quite disturbing.A long story but worth the read.

Transcript
The poem had been written that day and pinned on the fence alongside a bunch of flowers, heads bowed in the rain. Per Roberta ed Ayrton, September 1st, 1994. The wall on the far side of the track had been painted battleship grey, but an ugly, diagonal gash betrayed the force with which Senna's spinning Williams had rammed it four months before.
``Ciao, Ayrton'' read a message daubed in blood red on the concrete. The thunder and rain echoed the storm which had broken the night after Senna's death and sharpened the sense of foreboding. The Tamburello Curve at Imola, flanked by tall trees and high fencing, is a forbidding, joyless and lonely shrine.
My journey to a bleak corner of an Italian motor racing circuit on a dismal September morning was driven partly by gratitude, partly by curiosity. I wanted to see where a great champion had died and pay tribute to his brilliance. Senna, 34, had been the Formula One world champion three times, won 41 of his 161 grands prix, claimed a record 65 pole positions and set 19 fastest laps.
The Brazilian's greatness transcended the ordinary boundaries of sport and nationality, race and creed. He was Brazil's pulse, but he was everyone's hero, a man who controlled life in a way not open to ordinary mortals and whose death brought mortality a step closer for a generation. I also wanted to chart Senna's emotional course through that turbulent weekend. Tamburello, where a steady trickle of visitors come to stare at the wall and leave flowers, keepsakes and flags, seemed a good place to start.
Even before the death of Roland Ratzenberger made him realise for the first time the true price of his profession, Senna faced enormous pressures at Imola. He was adjusting to a new team, a difficult car and a different routine. At McLaren, he had been treated like the only son in a big family; at Williams, he was the newest employee in a successful business. There was no time to settle in: Senna and Williams were expected to win immediately. Yet they had not scored a point in the first two races and Senna was convinced that Michael Schumacher, who had won both, was driving an illegal car. But Senna, the master psychologist, could control those forces and turn them into challenges.
Ratzenberger's death was different. It was uncontrollable, beyond comprehension and Senna, who regarded himself as the guardian of the close-knit community of Formula One drivers, took it personally. Senna had outlined plans for an independent commission to oversee safety at the end of 1993, but shelved them because of the two-race suspended ban hanging over him. In the last 24 hours of his life, he began to renew the crusade almost as if he was trying to atone for not doing more.
Contrary to his reputation, Senna had known fear, but, with the help of his faith and his intellect, he had rationalised it into an unnerving force. He spoke eloquently and coolly about needing to explore his limits every time he stepped into a racing car. But he had never known doubt: about his own abilities, about the meaning of the sport which was his life, about his own mortality and his own beliefs. Senna was sensitive, gentle, thoughtful, courageous, intelligent, loyal, honest, humble. He was also temperamental, arrogant, ruthless, single-minded, opinionated, obstinate and possessed of a frightening will to win. Ratzenberger's death brought the halves of his character into insoluble conflict. Senna knew he had to win at Imola to resist Schumacher's charge and restore some credibility. He also knew instinctively that he did not want to race. If he had won the opening two races of the season, he might have considered withdrawing. He was, according to some reports, given the option to do so. But to pull out of this race would have been an irreversible sign of weakness and he would not contemplate it. His belief that Ratzenberger had been killed instantly and that, therefore, under Italian law, the track should have been closed reflected his desperate search for a way out of the emotional impasse.
Those close to Senna refuse to believe that he could have made a mistake at a curve as straightforward as Tamburello. Blaming a machine is far less complicated, though the hints of vulnerability only enhance the man. The results of an investigation into his death by the University of Bologna, due any day, will reveal some of the truth. Not all. That Sunday morning, Senna's mind was still in freefall, full not of premonition of his own death but of a terrible uncertainty.
Without him, the season has spun crazily on through rancour, suspicion, suspension and argument. But you do not have to scratch the tough skin of Formula One hard to draw blood. ``I still cannot believe I will not see him, walking down the paddock with his yellow helmet,'' Jo Ramirez, Senna's closest friend at McLaren, said. For him and a million others, the season was defined for eternity on the afternoon of May 1.
Thursday April 28 4pm: The helicopter carrying Ayrton Senna to the San Marino Grand Prix landed on the infield at the Imola circuit. With Senna were the president of Ducati, the firm making the Senna motorbike, and the chief executive of TAG-Heuer, who was masterminding the production of a Senna watch.
The Brazilian's plane, an eight-seat British Aerospace HS125, had been taken by Owen O'Mahony, his personal pilot, straight to the little airfield at Forli. The landing fees were cheaper there than at Bologna and Senna, for all his millions, was not one to throw money away. Senna had been in Padua in the morning, launching a Senna mountain bike, but he wanted to see his Williams team before going on to the hotel. He checked on the car's preparations and talked to Richard West, director of marketing for Williams, about his promotional commitments.
5 pm: Senna arrived at the Castello, a small hotel run by the jovial Valentino Tosoni, on the outskirts of Castel San Pietro, a spa town about 10 kilometres west of Imola. The Castello was the McLaren team's hotel and Senna had stayed there for the San Marino Grand Prix since 1989. He always booked the same room, No200, a junior suite costing Pounds 150 a night consisting of a bedroom, a bathroom and a small sitting-room and he was not going to change his habits just because he had changed teams.
Frank Williams, the team managing director, occupied the room below, but most of the team stayed elsewhere. Ron Dennis, Senna's old boss at McLaren, was in the room above. Senna knew Tosoni well and Tosoni understood the routine of his most famous client. He had already ordered extra supplies of profiteroles, Senna's favourite dessert.
Senna travelled light to races. He did not need a vast entourage but liked to relax with friends away from the track. That weekend he was accompanied by his brother, Leonardo, Julian Jakobi, his business manager, Antonio Braga, an old friend from Brazil, Galvao Bueno, a journalist with Brazil's TV Globo, one of the few journalists Senna trusted, Celso Lemos, managing director of Senna Licensing in Brazil, Josef Leberer, his physio and dietician, and Ubirajara Guimaraes, the head of Senna Imports. It was a bigger party than usual.
The one notable absentee was Adriane Galisteu, Senna's girlfriend and, according to many, his future wife, who had become an increasingly familiar figure at the racetrack but who was not returning to Faro, Senna's European base, until late the next day after finishing an English course in Brazil. Mindful perhaps of Leonardo and the delicate relationships with his family and of the importance of the weekend to his chances of a fourth world championship, Senna had decided she should stay in Portugal. Senna dined in the hotel that evening steak, pasta, profiteroles and mineral water was the standard menu and returned to his room at about 10pm, his usual curfew hour during race meetings. He rarely went to bed before midnight, but was a notoriously late riser.
Friday April 299.30am: Free practice, timed but not counting towards qualifying, began. Senna completed 22 laps, recording a fastest time of 1min 21.598sec, more than a second faster than his team-mate, Damon Hill.
1.14pm: Fourteen minutes into the first qualifying session, Senna completed the fastest lap. Moments later, as he was returning to the pits, the Jordan of Rubens Barrichello hit the kerb in the middle of the 140mph Variante Bassa chicane, hurtled through the air, cleared a metre-high tyre barrier and smashed against a debris fence. The crash looked horrific, reminiscent of Gerhard Berger's five years before, and it stunned Senna, who regarded Barrichello as his heir, the keeper of the tradition of great Brazilian racing drivers.
There are conflicting reports about Senna's immediate reaction. Senna did not see the accident himself but sent Betise Assumpcao, his personal assistant, to the Jordan pits to find out more. Owen O'Mahony, Senna's pilot who happened to be in the pits, thought that Senna had gone straight to the medical centre. Senna certainly went to the centre. Finding the front door blocked, he vaulted a fence to get in the back. Barrichello, who regained consciousness minutes after the accident, found Senna looking over him. ``The first face I saw was Ayrton's,'' Barrichello recalled later. ``He had tears in his eyes. I had never seen that with Ayrton before. I just had the impression he felt as if my accident was like one of his own.'' The tears were the first of many that weekend, but within minutes Senna was back in the cockpit.
1.40pm: The qualifying session resumed. Senna bettered his time immediately and just before the close set what was to prove the quickest time of the weekend, a lap of 1min 21.548sec at an average of 138.2mph. The lap, in a car still unfamiliar to him and in the emotional aftermath of Barrichello's crash, was an emphatic reminder of Senna's supreme skill and courage.
But there was already a fragment of evidence that Senna was not as single-minded as usual. Walking past the Williams garage during practice, O'Mahony was surprised to hear Senna call him. ``Owen, I have something for you,'' Senna said, diving into his briefcase and producing three signed photographs of himself with O'Mahony. ``That was odd,'' O'Mahony said. ``I had been meaning to ask him for the pictures for a long time, but never got around to it. He had made a particular point of doing them for me anyway. The other odd thing was that he gave them to me in the middle of testing. It was all so out of character for him to think about anything other than racing. It was almost as if he wanted to tie up some loose ends.''
Senna was not happy with his car. He had a long and animated discussion with his race engineer, David Brown, and later that afternoon, having arranged to meet a small group of journalists to talk about his business interests, cut short the interview because of a ``big engineering problem'' with the car.
Mark Fogarty of Carweek magazine, a well-known figure in Formula One, was one of the group. He recalled: ``I was struck at the time by how much effort he had to make to focus on our questions. If Senna agreed to do an interview, he would always give it his full attention. Sometimes, he even took so long answering a question you wondered if he had heard it, but he was simply thinking about the implications. This time, he just wasn't focused. His answers were halting and he looked glazed as if he was mentally worn out.''
After 20 minutes, Senna left to talk to Brown again. The journalists waited for an hour, but when Senna came back he postponed the rest of the interview until after qualifying the next day. He was too tired, he said, and it was too late.
After leaving the circuit at 8pm, Senna dined at the Trattoria Romagnola, a small restaurant in Castel San Pietro, where his regular menu was antipasta, Parma ham, tagliatelle with a plain tomato sauce and fruit. He took no coffee, no alcohol, and liked his mineral water carbonated and slightly warm. He returned to his room just after 11pm.
Saturday April 309.30am:
During the second free practice session, Senna completed 19 laps with a best time of 1min 22.03sec. At 1pm, the second qualifying session started.
1.18pm: Almost 24 hours to the minute after Barrichello's breathtaking escape, Formula One's 12-year run of good luck ran out. Unlike the Brazilian, Roland Ratzenberger, the popular Austrian, had no chance of survival. Witnesses said his Simtek car took off and hurtled at a speed of almost 200mph into a concrete retaining wall on the outside of the Villeneuve curve before careering back into the middle of the track. Ratzenberger suffered massive injuries and was taken to the medical centre before being flown to Bologna's Maggiore Hospital.
2.15pm: The death of Ratzenberger was confirmed, the first at a grand prix since Ricardo Paletti was killed at Montreal in 1982. Drivers know when accidents look bad and Senna, who had seen it on the monitor as he prepared to go out in the Williams, went straight to the back of the garage and covered his face with his hands. He feared the worst and went to see for himself. Hurrying down the pit lane, he commandeered a safety car and drove down through the Tamburello Curve to the scene of the accident.
He arrived just after the Austrian had been taken to the medical centre, but saw the debris scattered over the track, the car twisted and lifeless. Having driven back to the pits, Senna went to find Professor Sid Watkins, the head of the international motor sport federation (FIA) medical commission. He wanted further news. Despite an age difference of more than 30 years, Senna and Watkins had forged a firm friendship. It was Watkins's grim task to tell Senna of Ratzenberger's death, the first in Formula One for 186 grands prix. Watkins recalled Senna's reaction. ``He was very shocked. He had never faced the reality of his profession before so starkly because no one had been killed during his time in Formula One. He was always fatalistic about death; he was a religious man and intelligent enough to think it through.
This was the first time it had come so close. He was very quiet, but he remained resolute, not questioning out loud the meaning of his sport or his own position.'' Watkins and Senna talked for about five minutes. In the meantime, Martin Whitaker, the press officer of the FIA, had also gone to the medical centre for further news of Ratzenberger. He saw Watkins and Senna talking and hung back. ``When they had finished, I asked Senna if he knew what had happened. He didn't reply. He just looked at me and walked away,'' Whitaker said. ``I won't forget the look. To say it was fear would be over the top. He was just very worried. There was something different about him. You can see it in the photos of him that weekend.''
When the qualifying session was resumed, Senna had no appetite for racing. Williams withdrew and he went back to the motorhome where he was left alone with Damon Hill and Hill's wife, Georgina. Betise Assumpcao was also there for a time. ``His spirits were so low. I just stroked his head, talked to him a little, but he was very quiet,'' she recalled. Hill has never confirmed reports that Senna broke down and had to be calmed by him but Frank Williams was concerned enough about Senna's emotional state to ask for a meeting with him later in the evening. He checked with Assumpcao how Senna was. Meanwhile Senna declined to attend the traditional pole position winner's press conference. He should have been fined, but Whitaker advised that no action should be taken. His advice was heeded.
3 pm: Senna was called from the motorhome to attend a meeting of the race stewards. The stewards wanted to reprimand Senna for taking an official car to the scene of Ratzenberger's crash. Senna was in no mood to accept the censure of the FIA and the race director, John Corsmit.
Corsmit's point was legitimate. He said that Senna should not have taken a car without permission, however extreme the circumstances. Senna, still emotional, replied that he represented all the drivers, was a three-times world champion and concerned about Ratzenberger and about the safety of the track. He had also, he pointed out, got the permission of a pit-lane official before getting into the car. The exchange was highly charged, with Senna at one point shouting: ``At least someone is concerned about safety.''
Corsmit, an old but respected adversary of Senna's, took no further action. He thought the Brazilian was not himself the whole weekend. ``He seemed bothered by lots of other things.'' Senna was certainly too upset to continue his interview from the previous evening or to pose with the bride and groom when he returned to the Castello to find a wedding reception in full swing.
The strain on his face and his manner struck Fogarty so forcefully, almost four hours after Ratzenberger's death, he told colleagues that night that he felt Senna had a sense of foreboding. ``I know you can look back and make sense of a lot of things,'' Fogarty said. ``But I just got the impression he had a really bad feeling about it. He just looked dreadful.'' Senna agreed to complete the interview by phone later in the week.
Senna called Galisteu twice that night, the first time before dinner. He told her that he did not feel like racing the next day, but said nothing about fears for his own life. He felt it would be morally wrong to race. ``He was shaken. Crying, really crying,'' she said. ``He told me he did not want to race. He had never spoken like that.''
Galisteu told Senna he did not have to race. Senna said he had to, it was his job. Later, after a dinner at the Romagnola which was planned as a celebration of Josef Leberer's birthday but was, in the words of Julian Jakobi, a ``sombre affair'', Senna found the message from Frank Williams and went to see him in his room. According to the Williams team, Senna seemed much calmer and more positive than he had been in the afternoon and confirmed that he would be ready to drive the next day. He also called Galisteu again, sounding, she recalled, in far better spirits. Senna said he was going to race, but that he couldn't wait for the whole thing to be over. His last words to her were: ``Come and pick me up at Faro airport at 8.30pm tomorrow. I can't wait to see you.''
Sunday May 17.30am: Senna was woken by a familiar voice on the telephone. ``Baggage service''. It was O'Mahony, wanting to know what time to pick up the bags from the hotel. He also acted as Senna's early morning alarm call. Senna flew by helicopter to the track and was comfortably fastest in the morning warm-up session. He told David Brown not to change anything on the car. He also recorded a televised lap for TF1, the French television network, for whom Alain Prost was working. ``I would like to say welcome to my old friend, Alain Prost,'' Senna said over the radio. ``Tell him we miss him very much.'' As the pair had been long-standing enemies and had barely spoken to each other for several years, the olive branch was quite unexpected. Prost was deeply touched and the pair talked ``really talked'' Prost said for a long time in the paddock that day.
Senna wanted the Frenchman to become involved in the safety commission. Prost agreed that they would meet before the Monaco Grand Prix two weeks later. Senna also talked intensely to Niki Lauda, another three-times world champion, that morning, enlisting the Austrian's help too.
11 am: Senna went with Gerhard Berger, his old McLaren team-mate, to the drivers' briefing. The meeting was short, but animated. The drivers stood in silence for a minute in memory of Ratzenberger. Senna was particularly concerned about the use of the pace car on the warm-up lap. The car had been used for the first time at the Pacific Grand Prix in Japan two weeks earlier to keep the field bunched before the start. Senna said the car did not go fast enough to get the tyres properly warmed up and, along with Berger, proposed that it should not be used again. He was also worried that the safety car, brought out to slow the race in the event of an accident, would also not be fast enough. From the drivers' meeting, Senna went to the Williams hospitality area where, in a well-rehearsed show, he and Hill entertained the Williams guests with a corner-by-corner commentary on the track and a few comments about the weekend. Senna had not wanted to go, but knew promotion was part of the job.
12 pm: Senna began his preparations for the race. Usually, he ate a light lunch, then shut himself away to gather his thoughts. Often, at McLaren, he would turn the driving seat of the motorhome round and read his bible. He had his bible in his briefcase that weekend, but nobody saw whether he read it that morning.
1.30pm: Half an hour before the start, Senna went to the Williams garage. Jaime Brito, a Brazilian journalist, was with Senna in the garage and asked him to sign three pictures. It was the first time he had asked Senna for an autograph. ``The photos were so sad. I remarked about it at the time,'' he said. In Brazil, the images of Senna, the people's hero, the symbol of Brazilian nationhood, looking gaunt and pale, were to shock and haunt the nation for weeks. ``He did something that day I had never seen him do before,'' Brito recalled. ``He walked round the car, looked at the tyres, rested on the rear wing, almost as if he was suspicious of the car.''
His manner was also different. Betise Assumpcao recalled: ``He usually had a particular way of pulling on his balaclava and helmet, determined and strong as if he was looking forward to the race. That day, you could tell just from the way he was putting on his helmet that he didn't want to race. He was not thinking he was going to die, he really thought he would win that race, but he just wanted to get it over with and go home. He wasn't there, he was miles away.'' He also broke his usual routine on the starting grid by taking his helmet off. While most other drivers get out of their cars on the grid, waiting for the start, once in the car Senna almost always stayed in the cockpit, concentrating on the first corner. Assumpcao was more assured by the look in Senna's eyes moments before the start.
2 pm: The starting light turned green and the cars, headed by Senna, streamed into the first turn. But there was trouble on the grid. Pedro Lamy's Lotus slammed into the back of JJLehto's Benetton which had stalled on the start line, scattering debris all over the track. A wheel flew over the debris fencing injuring nine people.
2.03pm: The safety car came out as the debris was cleared. Senna followed at a respectful distance, with Michael Schumacher, Berger and Hill behind him.
2.15pm: The Williams pit radioed to Senna that the safety car was about to pull off. Senna acknowledged the information. It was the last contact. When the race began again, Senna and Schumacher quickly opened a gap on the rest of the field.
2.17pm: Taking the Tamburello Curve for the second time after the restart, Senna's Williams veered off the track just after the apex of the bend at a speed of 190mph and slammed into an unprotected concrete retaining wall. The front right side of the car took the full brunt of the impact, a wheel flew off, the suspension crumpled and the Williams catapulted back onto the track. In the split second before the car hit the wall, Senna had managed to slow it to 130mph. The monocoque had stayed intact and a slight movement of Senna's head gave brief cause for hope. But he had suffered massive head injuries. Aerial pictures of the car, blood seeping from it like oil, were seen by millions of television viewers. Senna was lifted from the wreckage and taken by helicopter to the Maggiore Hospital. On board, doctors fought to revive Senna's heart.
2.55pm: Thirty-seven minutes after Senna's crash, the race was restarted. Berger led for the first 11 laps before pitting and retired on lap 14. He went straight to the hospital. In Faro, Galisteu had seen the accident on television and, for an instant, was pleased because Senna would be home early. She soon realised the full horror and was called by Luiza Braga, Antonio's wife, who had arranged a plane to fly them both to Senna's bedside. The journey was in vain. The plane turned back soon after leaving Faro.
4.20pm: Schumacher crossed the line to win his third successive grand prix. Soon after, electrical brain tests confirmed that Senna was brain dead and being kept alive only by artificial means. Under Italian law, doctors are not allowed to turn off the machines for 12 hours. But even this support proved insufficient.
6.40pm: The chief medical officer, Dr Maria Theresa Fiandri, pronounced Ayrton Senna dead.
Back at the track, in the shattered remains of Senna's car, they discovered a furled Austrian flag Senna had intended to dedicate his 42nd grand prix victory to Ratzenberger's memory.

Cars or Bikes?

2006-03-24T19:43:00.000+05:30

ok, as soon as u see the title for this post you must be wondering whether i would be trying to do a comparison between cars and bikes . Well, thats not the case.. Its an intresting dream that happened yesterday night and I just could not figure it out!!! Ive tried to remember what all I could and pen it down here. Its about cars turning into bikes!!! How the "F" it can be?? Read on...

My obsession with Formula One started 3 years back and it has got bigger and bigger ever since. Till now, i have never got a dream about F1 until yesterday. It was the Australian Grand Prix of 2006,(by the way,still a week to go for that). The pre race was as usual, intense. Alonso was leading the pack with pole position and going by his form, it could be a reality , come next week. Huh, anyway back to the race.
Every thing was the same. The same star sports commentators, the same music, same drivers, but only one difference was there were bikes instead of cars on the grid.
A blue coloured renault bike wit fernando in it. Then it was the Silver bike of McLaren's Kimi raikkonen. Then, intrestingly the two ferrari bikes of schumi and massa behind with no sponsors on their bikes. Yes, it was a plain but striking red ferrari bike!
As far as I remember , Juan Pablo was having problems sittin properly on the bike. U can imagine it as he is a little fat anyway! Ok, dont know about other bikes n all. Lets focus on these three bikes OK?
Also, to my amusement, i was wondering how they raced the previous race with cars and now they used bikes. Apparently, it was a new FIA regulation it seems. They wanted to do more COST CUTTING in F1, so, this apathy! Well, I did not care anyway, I wanted to see the race, cars or bikes, doesnt matter. Atleast I made convinced myself that it should watch it.
Back to the race again! Fernando sped away, never saw him in the race after that. Nor did I see other cars, oops bikes. Montoya stopped for an unusual pit stop and got a massage on his back. It was hurting for him. OUCH! Apart from that, the two Ferrari bikes collided with each other with Massa banging into Schumi and taking both of them out. Obviously, the Ferrari boss was fuming, no points for both of them .What happened after that was they sent two more ferrari(or is it red) bikes to the accident spot. Schumi jumped into the bike, Massa came and sat behind schumi in the same bike. And the two sped away away from the track to the trees , somewhere to a forest nearby!
And then..... I wake up!

Sardard Saturday...

2006-03-18T22:45:00.000+05:30

Before talking about the saturday in question, Im going to go back to Friday where it all started.
Friday mornings are the ones where your minds switch between a anticipation of a weekend and the bitter fact that its still one day to go and you have one more day at office to spend. As usual every friday I think about what to do over the weekend rather than what to do that day. " Happy weekend" messages started flowing in my inbox from 4 in the evening.But in my case I knew that this saturday would be different!! I had to "work all day" on this saturday and there was a time fixed as well. 6 hrs starting from afternoon.. and maybe even more.
So, Friday evening when everyone was talking about their weekend plans, what movies to watch, the functions they had over the weekend... all I had to think about coming to office the next day that too at 9:00 AM and leaving sometime at night and that was killing me. Well, there was soo much to catch up on TV. Cricket match, F1 and Id worked out timings to watch highlights and replays. Ok, come saturday morning. Catch 2 buses to go to Electronic city. Never been the journey to EC been soo much tiring. Used to sleeping away to glory everyday in office bus, it was a noisy change. Forget sleeping, u r always looking at your pocket so that your wallet is in place! HUH!!! Then I get down @ EC entrance seeing a huge pile of autos .
Asked one of them "Wipro office?"
"Sit down" he said.. and there was another guy sittin in the auto. Then one more guy came. The auto guy was just looking@ ppl gettin down from the bus.. I was gettin restless.
"Will u go or not?" I said.
"Wait" he said somewhat angrily
Then came two more ppl. sittin in front . 6 ppl in all. In an auto. I worked out the maths. I got the idea. The guy was tryin to maximise profit. The auto cost me 5 bucks otherwise it would have cost 20 had I gone alone. "Forget it" i thought, he probably saved me 15 bucks!!

Ok, got out of the auto, finally see office. What a relief!!!!! Came to ODC, one by one the office lights switched on as I proceeded towards my cubicle. I was the only guy in office. And the first one too.
As I prepared for a long day ahead, the work was supposed to start@ 2:30 precise. I had to do some prerequisites before that. So, my collegue came at noon, we did it, was'nt workin, wanted to seek clarific'n from onsite , called that person up, he promptly said "The work was over the previous day itself. You need not stay. Can go home".

Just imagine this. Sleep early on Friday night, getup probably when everybody else just got into their dreams, catch 3 buses, a scrampled auto and come to office knowing ur favourite TV programmes are gone , wait for 4 hrs, only to be told that there is no work.
I smiled, probably with a sense of satisfaction , but then again , there was anguish .

Well, every now and again, you expect the unexpected dont you?

NGO???

2006-03-16T18:12:00.000+05:30

Well, it has been 6 months since I started working. One thing I just wonder, what the hell have I been doing so far??? Yes, I learnt a couple of new tools, I wrote a bit of code, and also that 6 more months of the same work, bit more programming , a couple more tools under the kitty will land me an Onsite opportunity!!! Well, here are the pros .. U can be proud of going onsite, U are thrilled, U get more money for a change, U work from the client end, get more experience, have a stronger CV, can demand more money, etc etc etc.....

I just wonder what is the satisfaction in all this? You are developing some kinda application used by others, U work in their environment, U get knowledge on how things work and more importantly you will be able to tell others that you are a "SOFTWARE ENGINEER". Great till now. But just imagine this also.. They make u slog day in n day out for a wierd software that brings business to some billion dollar company 5000 miles away frm ur country. You fore go everything. Well, the personal rapport u hold with everyone who u know, whom u've met or used to meet often, the bond between your friends, relatives was never weaker before.. Every single time an interaction is reduced to an SMS, a scrap book entry, an offline message. and so we dont have the time to call up a close relative or a friend to say HI! Well, why waste a call if u can send a free sms and company internet? Thats our attitude. And yes, how much r we earning? Cant we afford that 2 rupee call? . You proudly say "I AM BUSY" and you feel great to say that and you take a lot of pleasure out of it! Can we spare a moment to think where all this will lead us to? Reduced personal relationships with people who really matter and not exploring our capabilities.What I meant by is we need not have a career only out of what we have studied do we? Is your education only restricted to working for million dollar company with our programming ability or do we have abilities in lot more other areas to give to this world than a module of code? Who r we dedicating our time to? A "Stranger" as I term it. Isnt it time to give what we have got? Isnt it time that we build a better society? A better country with better people? Have greater satisfaction? All this makes me to think that we need to start an NGO. Just a food for thought. Hopefully a process to follow!

Starter

2006-03-14T19:11:00.001+05:30

My first blog!!! Yippee!!!!!!