Goodbye 2008, Welcome 2009!
Yet another post welcoming the New Year, well, I just give myself another opportunity to get back to the blogging world! Last year had been really good for me, both from professional as well as personal front. Though I wasnt able to achieve everything that I set out to in the first place, I am glad that I made some good progress on certain things. Some of the goals stopped in between, some transformed and some didnt even get started! This year, I am starting off with very few goals, I am sure it will get stretched or transformed as the year progresses. But I am glad that I am starting off with something at least!
Wishing everyone a fun filled New Year! May this year witness peace and prosperity everywhere!

p.s: Just noticed that this is my 200th post in this blog! :)

It happens only in India...

Things which made news for more than a week and were covered by media till its 'completion':
1) Shilpa Shetty winning Big Brother, made even more famous by Jade Goody (portrayed as triumph of good over evil)
2) Rahul Mahajan and his sleaze acts in Big Boss
3) Darsheel Saffrey refusing Best child actor award as he wasn't nominated for Best actor award (especially when Aamir Khan was nominated for the same movie)

Things which was in news for a day or two and forgotten very soon by the media:
1) Headlines today reporter Sowmya Viswanathan shot dead by unknown miscreants for unknown reasons
2) 2 year old kid Sonu fell inside the borewell and was brought out dead. Were the folks responsible for that really punished? Or have they come out on bail?
3) An employee of MNC, Soni Jagadish, committed suicide due to some issues with the employers. Was the true reason identified? Were the folks responsible punished?

There are zillion instances like that where media sensationalizes unnecessary issues and doesn't highlight the necessary ones. I remember reading an interview of Dr. Abdul Kalam, where he mentioned about Israeli media. Despite so much calamity and confusion in the country, the first page of the newspaper always used to contain achievements of its citizens, new discoveries in science, technology or agriculture, honor showered on its citizens by foreign countries etc. The front page always used to contain something on positive note! Why doesn't our media highlight the good things happening in the country? Sometime back, one of the lesser known TV channels in India used to cover interesting discoveries that happen in the rural areas; a lot of interesting ideas that originated in the minds of people who had never attended school were discussed and presented. Now i am not sure whether that show is still on! I am sure it must have been replaced with a show covering Page 3 gossip!!

What i read in college...

Today morning, while I was checking my emails, one of my colleagues asked me what an Oscilloscope is. The term sounded very familiar but I couldn't figure out what it was. I was wondering maybe it is something to measure the 'g' value or perhaps where the North Pole is. After sometime, I gave up and referred the ultimate source. When I found what it was, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! I had used Oscilloscope all through my college life, and here I am, 6 years later, struggling to remember what oscilloscope is! I hope my Profs don't read this blog entry :)

Yet Another delightful shopping experience!

I had earlier blogged about Calypso, the music store and their customer service. Last weekend, i again had a "A-ha" moment there! While i was looking for a "Best of Beatles" collection, i had an interesting conversation with the Sales guy there. Here is how the conversation went:

Me (showing the Beatles No.1 collection CD): Hi, I was looking for a good Beatles collection and i spotted this CD. But this doesnt seem to contain "Imagine". Do you have any other Beatles collection that has "Imagine"?

Store guy (with a casual look at the CD cover): No sir, no Beatles CD with contain "Imagine"

Me (with a puzzled look): Why?

Store guy: Because that is a John Lennon single, it wasn't a part of Beatles composition!

Me (with a relieved look): Ah! How did i forget that! Anyway, i am taking this CD.
............
Me (Looking at a G3 CD featuring my favorite guitarist Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen): Do you have the other G3 CD?

Store guy: No Sir, the one featuring Eric Johnson is out of stock.

I was seriously stunned! Had these questions been directed to a Landmark or Music world store guy, i am pretty sure they would say "We will search sir" and find their nearest escape route!

Check out Calypso at Jayanagar 4th block (next to Dosa Camp) for a wonderful shopping experience!

Online, At last!

After nearly 3 weeks of struggle, the broadband line became functional(or rather self-healed) again at my home! During this course, i learnt that
1) BSNL Customer Service center rocks, if you meet them in person. And they really do work from 8 AM to 8 PM every day!!
2) BSNL has a really good portal! Never knew that i can check my billing information online...
3) The 1-800 number for BSNL broadband service never really works! You press 9 for speaking to the operator and you keep waiting forever!

Anyway, feels good to be back online. Will blog more later!

My Hate List

Looks like San, during his India visit, noticed that i was pretty idle and tagged me in his blog :) Thanks San!

It was a really difficult task for me to list the people whom i hate the most. Some of my friends tell me that i try to stay diplomatic in many decision making situations, thereby being "good" to all (or rather, not being bad to some). To be honest, i tend to forget and forgive on too many occasions, as life is too short to be spent worrying. Anyway, with lot of struggle, i ended up with the following hate list:

1. People who waste others time. Be it in office or at home or while shopping, i tend to get irritated if i am being made to wait! I am not ready to buy the argument that Indians are always never punctual. Don't blame the country if you are not punctual!!

2. People who discriminate based on caste. Sadly, this category exists even now, that too among some educated folks! What's the point in being educated if one doesn't even have this basic sense of respect towards every human being? I openly maintain my distance with people who start talking like "He is a Brahmin" or "He is a sudra".

3. People who talk loudly just to make their point! Comeon folks, empty vessels make more noise.

4. "Educated" smokers and drinkers! This category is again an evil, mainly because they continue to do a mistake, even after knowing the ill effects of it.

5. People who waste food, water and Money! Everyday, when i see the food wastage counter in the Office cafeteria, i feel bit upset that so much is getting wasted when millions around the world are suffering from food shortage. If you have lived in a place like Chennai, you would know how it feels when you see water overflowing out of a bucket or leaking out of a water tanker. There are also certain people, who splurge money on unnecessary things, which could have otherwise been spent wisely or saved for future use. Just because they have money now, they waste it unnecessarily.

So that ends my list! I would like to tag Ramya to write her hate list!!

Good bye Bill Gates!

As most of you might know, Bill Gates is retiring from Microsoft today. Bill Gates perhaps became famous in India due to Anti-trust case, until then i guess only very few knew him as the world's richest person. I still remember my high school days, when my Maths teacher asked me who my role model was, i told her "Bill Gates" (ah, what a nerd!). Now, even though i do object to some of the crooked practices of Microsoft, i would really appreciate Bill Gates for putting the computer into the hands of common man. Without the Windows OS or the Office suite of applications, i believe computer wouldn't have reached its present popularity. Above all, the work done by Bill and Melinda foundation is phenomenal!

An energetic entrepreneur, technology visionary and a kind hearted Philanthropist, I believe Bill Gates is one person who has achieved quite a lot in life. Thank you Bill and wishing you a happy retired life!

Midnight Musings

I have heard of conversion from Christianity to Hinduism and vice versa; Islam to Hinduism and vice versa; Hinduism to Budhism and vice versa. There seems to be "established methodologies" for those conversions (ok, i am talking controversies here, but since its midnight, its excused for the moment)

Now the question is, one of the "famous" personalities whom i know, wants to convert himself into an Iyengar; he is currently an Iyer. Do we have any procedures for conversion between Iyer and Iyengar? Narayana Narayana...

Now playing: Kadavul mattum kandaal kalladi theriyadhu...

Some updates...

Thought i will let the world know about what's on my plate at the moment :)

Music
Of course you might have guessed this is what i would start with! At the moment, i thoroughly enjoy watching/listening to "Gods of Guitar" in VH1. It was a feast watching live shows of Nirvana, G3 (Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai was especially awesome!), Eagles, Clapton, Metallica...
Other than this, i also loved couple of tamil film songs. Yaaradi Nee Mohini is now my favorite, especially "Venmegam Pennaga" and "Engeyo Paartha Mayakam"(Ahem, i have some reservations about Udit Narayan singing tamil songs, but anyway, the tune is good!). "Dasavatharam" features two good songs- "Mukunda Mukunda" (by Sadhna Sargam, she can hope for a National award for this song) and "Kallai Mattum Kandal" (have a close watch on the lyrics, just too good).

Books
There has been a dry spell on this area. I am specializing in reading some dull reads, even though they have been highly recommended by others. Some of the books i read in the recent past are - "A whack on the side of the head" (a book on creativity), "A whole new mind" by Dan Pink and "Envisioning Information" by Edward Tufte. Tufte is god but to understand his works, one needs some patience! I would recommend "The visual display of Quantitative Information" by Tufte to anyone making powerpoints, excel charts or working on Business Intelligence area.

Story Writing
I have received some feedback (both good and bad) for my earlier stories. I am glad that atleast some people are taking time out to read and provide me some valuable comments. I have already started conceptualizing my next story. I am also trying to venture into something new, which will be dedicated to someone very very special :)


Hobbies
As you might have noticed, i have taken up photography and long distance running this year. In both areas, i am still in the learning phase, long way to go, but thoroughly enjoying it!

Movies
Watching tonnes of movies these days over weekends and sometimes during weeknights. Some good ones include Fight Club, Planes Trains and Automobiles, The Devil wears Prada, Kandahar...Still have tonnes of backlog!

Musings
Whenever there is a fuel hike, why do we see long line of Cars in the petrol pumps? What do they gain by saving those 100 odd bucks, which they can as well save by using public transport instead of car, for one day?

What happened to the "Unlock Bangalore" movement started by Times of India? Did they finally realize that it cannot be unlocked? Did they get locked up trying to unlock?

Why does it rain only in the evenings, in Bangalore?

:)

Gandhi Kanakku (Gandhi's account)

Today morning, as i was having breakfast at Dosa camp, i noticed two traffic policemen, placing orders for Dosas and not paying a penny for it! In Tamil, this used to be called as Gandhi kanakku or Gandhi's account. All of a sudden, the question on the etymology of "Gandhi kanakku" came up! Why did Gandhi's name come into a phrase that kinda indicates insincerity? Later, after heading home i referred my "trusted" source and this is what wikipedia had to tell me about the phrase:

Gandhi kanakku (Fraudulent accounting): Before 1947, when India was fighting against British occupation, companies and individuals often included "Contribution to Freedom movement" as an item in accounting statements. Most often accounting statements would not tally because management funneled money out. "Contribution to Gandhi's freedom movement" provided an excellent means to account for the "missing" money. Hence the term "Gandhi Kanakku". One should apologise to Mahatma Gandhi as this term brings a small amount of disrepute to him, for no fault of his!!!

Sunfeast 10k Run update!

I am happy to announce that i participated and completed the Sunfeast Bangalore 10K run, my timer says i completed it in 1 hour and 22 minutes (which is by no means big achievement, considering the fact that some of them completed in under an hour!). Anyway, this is a big thing for me as i was determined to finish the race under 1.5 hours (being my first attempt at long distance run, without much practice)! The entire event was quite well organized, things were in place and there weren't any major hiccups.


I completed the Registration process yesterday, which was quite simple and straightforward. After collecting the bib and goody bag,I also collected a timing chip, which would get me a official timing certificate. Based on the advice provided by Manipal hospital folks, i consumed mainly carbohydrates, avoided proteins or fats on the day before the race day. Coffee was supposed to be avoided but i couldn't control that :)

Race day was quite exciting! By the time i reached the Kanteerava Stadium at around 7.45 AM, some of the Kenyans and Ethiopians had already finished the race(their run started at 7 AM). My running gear consisted of a good pair of running shoes, sunscreen lotion, sun glasses and a music player. It was quite nice too see lot of oldies and kids participate in the race. I also met some of my colleagues who had signed up for the race. At around 8.45 AM, we were asked to assemble near the Start line and there was so much cheer in the stadium. The race started sharp at 9 AM and the fun began! There was this usual media crowd (NDTV, CNN IBN, Times etc) who had lined themselves up near the start to broadcast the start live (i might have come live on TV, but at 9 AM, none of the folks i knew watched these news channels, so that's now history :).

For the first kilometer, everyone ran with lot of enthusiasm and after that, some of them where losing steam! There was also a collision incident involving a young lad and an old uncle. By the end of third kilometer, almost 50% of the crowd had resorted to walking and some of them even stopped. I continued running till about 4 Km and after that i started walking fast. My only aim in this race was to finish within 1.5 hours, so i was determined not to stop anywhere in the middle.

The route selection was awesome, it covered some of the historic spots of Bangalore. There was crowd on both sides of the road, cheering us as we crossed them. I also noticed that there were lot of old men and women (well beyond 50's) who were quite active and running for some distance.

By the time i touched 5Kms, my body was showing signs of slowing down, especially with scorching sun above! By then, i was near Ulsoor lake and suddenly, there was this cool breeze from nowhere! Almost all participants enjoyed the comfort and slowed down a bit. I slowed down initially, but then i knew i had to speed up, so i sprinted for a while, overtaking an entire bunch of crowd. I was eagerly awaiting to see the 6 Km mark and i couldn't see it anywhere! But after some distance, i spotted a marker which said 7Km! After that, i noticed that the crowd was slowly picking up the pace and i joined the bandwagon.

By the time i reached 9 Km, i was determined to accelerate, but unfortunately, the route for the 5.5Km run also merged in the same road and there was so much crowd, preventing the 10K participants from accelerating in the last leg. By the time i crossed the finish line (well, there was not even a banner called "Finish", we just had to cross an arch and we were stopped by officials saying the race is over), i noticed that i had made it under 1.5 hours! I guess i covered 6 Km in the first hour and 4 kms in the next 22 mins.

I was happy to see lot of crowd support for this run, right from a small kid holding a banner saying "Run Papa run" to two old ladies who were sitting on the median and clapping hands, cheering the runners saying "Bravo". There were also people from high rise apartments, who came outside withstanding the scorching sun and cheering the runners.

Finally, coming to the big question, why did i participate in the 10k Run? Well, very rarely we software folks get time (a lie here!) or motivation to participate in some events like these, our socialization is predominantly restricted to gmail, orkut and facebook. I took this as an opportunity to go out, meet folks, see people and have some fun. Seeing a huge crowd (nearly 20,000 in number) on a Sunday early morning definetely gives a lot of energy!

One last thing i realized during this run, long distance run is not about age! Its all about the stamina that comes from one's mental strength. I saw a lot of folks, who looked in good shape, but couldn't complete even 4 Km's. On the contrary, i saw an old man, probably in his 50's, running barefoot, who crossed most of us ( i hear that he finished within an hour!)

I am already looking forward to the next edition of this run. I would strongly suggest everyone to take part in these long distance runs, its fun!

My New Venture

I have been just too lazy to do this for a while, but this weekend, i made it a point to accomplish that task. Yes! I finally have a Flickr page where you can view the photos shot by yours truly. Oh yes, forgot to mention that i have a Canon Rebel XTi (If you've got it, flaunt it ;) )

My Photostream here

For a start, you can view the photos shot at Lalbagh, couple of weeks back. Do let me know your comments, suggestions, questions in that page!

Gods of Guitar

VH1 is now showing a programme called "Gods of Guitar" featuring live shows of great guitarists like Clapton, Knopfler, David Gilmour, Jimi Hendrix etc. This comes almost everyday at 11PM and on weekends(from 11AM), don't miss it!

Self discipline vs Forced discipline
Yesterday, as i was walking back home, i read the following notice in front of a wine shop:

"Closed on 8th, 9th, 10th due to elections"

I dont see such notices on October 2, mainly because the sale continues to happen via the back door. But in case of elections, there would be some real damage and the shopkeeper would face a huge loss, if he opens the shop, daring the party workers!

Update: I notice that there are similar signs in front of "Firangi paani" and Bayleaf (that liquor wont be served on election day). Is this something mandated by law?

Girl on Platform 10

“50 Rupees Sir”
“No! Its only 40”
“Sir we agreed for 50”
“Don’t lie! Why cant you autowallah’s speak truth?”
“Sir Petrol prices have increased sir, 40 Rupees is too little sir”
“I am not giving anything more than 40 bucks, just take it”
Anand thrust the money in the hands of autowallah and headed towards the Railway station entrance. This has been a routine fight he has been facing during his weekly trips to and from Chennai. He is not a “Yet-another-Bangalore-techie” who splurges money on anything and everything.

Anand never liked Chennai, especially because of the hot weather. Whenever he visited the city, he used to make sure that he stayed indoors. Places like these make him think that fan and Air conditioner are the man’s greatest inventions yet!

After picking a cup of iced tea, he walked into the Higginbothams book stall to stay in the air conditioned environment and kill time. The book store owner gave him a stare; he can very well judge who is going to buy and who is going to do window shopping, just from their looks and appearance.

“The same old stuff, why aren’t there any new books?” murmured Anand.
“If you come here every week, you won’t find much change in the collection. Come here after 6 months, you will find new books” The store owner replied back with a rough voice.

As he walked towards Platform 10, he noticed a pretty girl walking past him, carrying a sports bag. She must be about 20 years old, wearing jeans and red tops, thick frame glasses and a mild fragrant perfume. She must be an angel, thought Anand.

As he reached Platform 10, he started looking for a place under a fan. His train would take another forty five minutes to get to the Platform and he couldn’t imagine standing somewhere in that hot weather. He soon spotted a place that was right under a fan and as he sat down, he could hear heavy gasps from others who missed that place just because they were 2 seconds behind Anand. This is perhaps the best place in this platform, thought Anand. He soon settled comfortably in his place, with his ipod and a Salman Rushdie novel. While he was reading, he could smell the same fragrance and as he looked up, he saw the same lavishing beauty crossing him. He also noticed that she gave a quick glance at him as she crossed by. Wow, that almost pierced my heart, thought Anand.

After couple of minutes, as the girl crossed him again, the same thing happened, but this time, the duration of her glance was slightly longer. She also passed on a casual smile at him and he was completely blown off! Oh my god, she is really watching me, thought Anand. He had always had a reputation of being a big flirt, right through his school and college years. This was yet another chance to further his reputation.

As the girl crossed his place once more, she stared at him again and also flashed a cool smile at him. Wow, she is really seeing me, thought Anand. He waited for her to cross him again. Anand waited for several minutes, but she didn’t come back. Enough waiting; let me go ahead and look for her, thought Anand.

Anand picked up his stuff and started walking in the direction in which she was headed earlier. He almost reached the end of Platform 10 but he didn’t spot her. He also looked for her in the book store and the hotel but he couldn’t spot her. He searched for nearly 15 minutes and finally gave up the search. Hard luck this time as well, Anand consoled himself. As he headed back to Platform 10, he remembered that he had squandered his comfortable seat. He rushed back to see if it was still available. As he walked towards the place, he could see a young lady, wearing a red top and thick frame glasses, sitting comfortably in the “most wanted” place. What a loser, Anand cursed himself as he reached out for his hand kerchief to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

-----------------------------------
(Dedicated to S - This is my B'day gift to you :) )

A comedy called Dasavatharam Cassette release

I couldn't stop laughing while watching "Dasavatharam" Cassette release function. It was a comedy of errors and ambiguities; there were also lot of incidents which made me raise my brows:

- First, in what way Jackie Chan related to this event? (Except for him being an actor).Why was he, who doesn't know Tamil or Tamil cinema, flown in to participate in this function? There were some news clips which showed Jackie Chan guessing who Kamal Hassan is! ("Is he a good Singer?")

- Why is Mallika Sharawat sucking Jackie Chan? At times, it went to such an extent that Jackie felt so uncomfortable! She is the perfect example of how not to behave on stage. In short, she behaved like Rakhi Saawant(wow, i can insult her more than that!)

- Why aren't there any protests over Mallika Sharawat's attire? In fact the dress which Shriya wore for "Sivaji" was a lot decent when compared to the one worn by Mallika. Well, my opinion might be slightly biased as i am a big fan of Shriya, but still, the size and transparency of the dress will tell you everything!. Have the political protestors got used to her dress, after getting used to watching IPL cheerleaders?

- Jackie Chan kept smiling (well, his face is like that) and applauding all through the function, even though the speakers spoke mostly in Tamil. Later, i noticed that he clapped whenever there is a mention of his name.

- Actor Vijay mentioned that after meeting Indian Cricket teams captain Dhoni, he is glad to stand on the same stage with "Tamil film's Captain Kamal Hassan". Then what happened to our original Captain Vijaykanth?

- Dr. Kalaignar, known for his famous pronunciation of Hollywood hero "Arnold Chwitchneeeger" (yeah, the Terminator guy), this time was comfortable pronouncing Jackie Chan as either "Sacky John" or "Jockey San"!

I hope the movie doesn't end up as funny as the cassette release function!

Gliding through Bangalore traffic

One of my friends recently asked me an interesting question:
"What should i know to drive around Bangalore, in this mad traffic?"
Without any hesitation, i replied:
"Tetris!"

No!

As i heard this dreaded word from her, the first thing to strike my mind was "Well, there are so many books and workshops on how to say No, but why isn't there any material on how to take a No as an answer from somebody?"

p.s: I am sure you must be wondering what this is all about, feel free to think of anything that suits this situation :) Its definitely not a breakup!

Good bye Chicago!

Valentine's day post

Here is an excerpt from the chat conversation that happened today between me and my friend K, who is in the middle east.

-------------------------------
K: Hi! Happy Valentine's day
me: Thanks and wish you the same!!
K: Enakku inniku illada...[I dont celebrate it today]
me: Why? You are in a time zone much ahead of Central time zone, it should be Feb 14 there today right?
K: Yeah, but enakku nalaiku...Iyengarku dhan inniku, Iyerku naalaiku..[Yeah, its not for me today...Only for Iyengars it is Valentine's day today... Iyers celebrate it tomorrow]

-------------------------------
I couldn't stop laughing! I was so glad that the humor sense of my good old friend K hasn't changed a bit at all!

Its Show time!

As horribly cold weather gripped Chicago last weekend, i stayed indoors, drinking lots of coffee, doing some bit of work and watching hell lot of movies on television! I ended up seeing close to 7 movies. Some of them were repeats, but WTH, who cares! Here is the list:
1. Pretty Woman
2. Serendipity
3. The Recruit
4. A few Good Men
5. The Longest Yard
6. School of Rock
7. Pulp Fiction

Well, other than Serendipity and The Longest Yard, i have seen all the other movies previously. Anyway, after some careful analysis, i came to the following conclusion:
a) Pretty Woman sucks every time i watch it!
b) Serendipity has been remade as "JJ" in tamil, featuring Madhavan
c) The climax of Recruit has inspired the climax scenes in several other movies. Infact a huge list of movies crossed my mind and i wasn't able to conclude which one had the exact climax, too close a call!
d) School of Rock & The Longest Yard - These two movies should be a part of the Organization Theory course in B-Schools! Both these movies show how to organize a team consisting of members from diverse background and keep them motivated to achieve the ultimate goal.
e) Pulp Fiction - The best, as always! With signature Tarantino scenes, i would rate this slightly above his other work "Reservoir Dogs".

I had a severe eye pain on Sunday night as a bonus :)

Randy Pausch- The Last Lecture

I am sure by now you would have received emails about this lecture or seen youtube "favorited" videos of this "Last Lecture". Anyway, for those of you who haven't heard anything about this, Randy Pausch is a Professor from CMU, who has been diagnosed with a rare form of Cancer, which is kinda incurable. Some weeks back, he gave a lecture on "Really achieving your Childhood dreams" to an audience in CMU. In this talk, which is dedicated to his family, Randy describes how he lived his life and his thoughts on how to achive your dreams. This is one of the best talks i have heard so far! You can find the video of the talk here or the entire transcript here. All through this lecture, you can find so much of energy and optimism, there was not even a slightest indication of the pain he is going through. I strongly recommend everyone to watch the video or read the transcript, i am sure it would give you a different perspective towards life!
Some key quotes from the talk:

Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things

Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted

Don’t complain; just work harder

Find the best in everybody; no matter how long you have to wait for them to show it

Thank you Randy for your work and great words of wisdom!

Youtubing and Flickring

Wanna kill time? Here is chaos's recipe for "How to waste infinite time on the internet"

1. Login to youtube.com or flickr.com
2. Think of some personality or place or thing (say Remote control, 50mm lens, googledegook, walmart, Britney Spears, Salzburg...)
3. Enter what you have thought in the search box
4. You will see a list of videos or photos lined up, click and watch in the ones you are interested
5. You would also notice the automatic recommendations given by youtube or flickr on the right side of the scree. Click one of those and this will lead you to your next set of videos or flickr
6. Continue steps 2 to 5 until you feel hungry or until your head hits the keyboard.

Let me know if it works for you!
:)

Where is this heading to?

I was surprised to find that the "Bhaji-Monkey-Symonds" issue was still being seriously debated in India and Australia. For knowing the current status, i looked at rediff and as i was going through the article covering the controversy, i found an interesting piece. This was from Justice John Hansen's judgement, which was released by ICC:


"Mr Tendulkar heard nothing he told me he heard a heated exchange and wished to calm Mr Singh down. His evidence was that there was swearing between the two. It was initiated by Mr Symonds. That he did not hear the word "monkey" or "big monkey" but he did say he heard Mr Singh use a term in his native tongue "teri maki" which appears to be pronounced with a "n". He said this is a term that sounds like "monkey" and could be misinterpreted for it"

Why am i unable to stop laughing!! Mr.Gavaskar, are you listening? :)

Jack and Karen

Normally i go to bed at about 11 PM, but these days, i am staying awake till midnight just to watch "Will and Grace"! I used to watch this sitcom few years back and i dont feel tired watching it again! The best part in "Will and Grace" is not about Will or Grace, but about Jack and Karen! Those two are simply awesome in their acting and dialogue delivery, their sheer presence on screen makes you laugh! Here is a scene from the "Hocus Pocus" episode, which made me LOL!

This was a scene where Jack is pissed off about Karen's "innovative" ideas during his usual stage show at a gay bar. The scene takes place in a dressing room.

-------------------
JACK: Ok. What the hell were you doin' goin' off book tonight?

KAREN: What are you talking about? Honey, we killed!

JACK: I'm talkin' about that cruise ship comedy you did with your drink. My show is planned down to the smallest detail. From the arch in my eye, to the limp in my wrist, and you pulled some cheap comedy bit we've seen 1,000 times? God!

KAREN: Oh, honey, who cares? I was a big hit, and you know-- Oh, I had another idea for our next show.

JACK: You don't get to have ideas. This show is called "That Old Jack Magic," not "That Old Assistant's Magic."

KAREN: [SQUEAKS] Oh! Old?! Well, how do you know that? There are parts of me that were just a twinkle in a scientist's eye three weeks ago. Besides, I was just trying to help.

JACK: You wanna help? Then remember your place. You're the assistant... And let's not forget where that word comes from-- Latin, meaning "ass of an ant." So keep your ideas to yourself and assist. It shouldn't be that hard. It's what you do. Get it?

The Brown box

"Good evening Mr.Sidharth! You have a parcel sir, please collect it from the front desk. Have a great weekend!"

I was surprised to hear the voice mail message that evening, after coming back to hotel from work. As I dropped my suitcase on the sofa, I played the message again to make sure that I wasn't dreaming, especially after officiating a quarterfinal match between two of the hottest stars in the women's tennis circuit.

I have been a nomad for the last 8 years, shuttling between US, Europe and Australia on refereeing duty. The name Sidharth Kapoor is now a well established "brand" in Tennis circuit, being the first Indian referee to officiate in all four grand slam finals. The only people who knew my whereabouts are my parents, who lived somewhere in Amritsar. I wasn't used to getting a "parcel", especially at a hotel in New York. Tall, well built, handsome, chain smoker, vodka addict, divorcee - these are some labels with which I am usually tagged. Tennis, of course, was my first love, which lead to the break up of my second love, Neena.

After changing to casuals, I rushed to the reception to collect the parcel from the receptionist. It was a brown box, with just a label on top which said "Amazon.com". I also noticed a tracking number beneath it.

"Hey Jane, do you have any idea which parcel service delivered this brown box to the hotel?"
"No Mr. Sidharth, I wasn't there on duty when it was dropped off"
"Ok, No problem, Thanks!"
"You are welcome!"

What a useless conversation! The brown box weighed around 3 lbs and the size of the box was pretty big. I didn't expect someone to send a parcel of this size, especially when I am abroad. I decided to guess who it might be, before I even open the box. Who knows, it might be WMD or anthrax too. This is America, land of opportunities, where some college freak might want to try something new and play some prank.

"Mamma couldn't have sent this here, she normally sends gifts to my Delhi address" I was trying to figure out who might have sent the parcel.

"Will it be from Neena?"
I immediately looked for my dear ex-wife Neena's number in the Addressbook and gave her a ring.

"Hello Neenu, how are you honey?"
"I am fine. Are you drunk?"
"No, why?"
"Its 1 AM here darling and you seem to have no idea about what time zone others are in! Get lost asshole! Click!"

I could feel the fumes coming out from the receiver's ear piece the moment I heard the handset striking the floor. She is till angry with me I guess. Neena will never change; so will I!

So who else could've sent that parcel? Rishabh is still in Canada but that bloke won’t do such things in his entire life! He is the kind of a person who chose an ipod nano over ipod touch for his girlfriend, just after seeing the price tag; I cannot imagine a kanjoos like him ship gifts to New York.

This leaves me with very little options. It cannot be Rick or Steve or Ryan, all three are bit too formal and they are not the ones who can give a surprise to their friends. It can't be Joe, Rajath, Reema,Parna, Anant... Wait a minute! Will it be Ritu?

Well, it might be Ritu! In fact, I wish it was her. Ritu was my girl friend during my college days in Pune. Tall and slender, blue eyes, long hair and a sweet voice, Ritu was the perfect girl which any man can dream for. We broke up due to some personal reasons, but we still remained good friends. The last I met her was some 4 years back, at a friend's wedding. She was still looking lovely then. Marriage makes women even more beautiful, perhaps. We had a nice long chat then and she promised to surprise me some day. Well, she is one rare species who keeps up her promise, so this might very well be the day she kept her promise!

I frantically began searching for the file in my laptop, where I had noted down her mobile number. After some time, I successfully located it and dialed the number. My heartbeat was racing as I dialed Ritu's number.

"Click, Click, Click...Please check the number you have dialled!"

What a bummer! I tried the same number a couple of times, but the result was the same. I finally decided to open the parcel only after I hear any further information from the sender. I left the parcel on the sofa and headed to the fridge to get a beer. I switched on the TV to divert myself from this brown box episode.

"Tring Tring! Tring Tring! Tring Tring!"
"Hello, Sid here"
"Sidharth?"
"Yeah, who is this?"
"Arre Munna! How are you beta? This is Sonu aunty and Shibhu Uncle here, Remember?"


Sonu Aunty? Oh yes, that aunty with think glasses and a long ugly nose, who once beat me up just because I spoilt her garden with my skateboard adventure! How can I easily forget a stupid neighbour?
"Haan Aunty, aap kaise ho?"
"I am fine beta, it has been so many years since I spoke to you. I have seen you on TV so many times"
I couldn't control my "evil" grin.

"Aunty, you still have a garden? Should I bring along my skateboard to your place?"
"Nahin beta, those were fun earlier. Now I hardly have any interest in such things"
"Haan. So where are you calling from?"
"Beta, I am in New Jersey right now. Listen, I saw that you were in New York for the US Open. I was just looking for someone who will be heading to India shortly, to carry some clothes and toys for Pinky, my one year old grand daughter. Have you met her? She is a wonderful baby. I called up your Mom to..."

I immediately figured out the purpose of the conversation and the mystery behind the brown box!

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Dedicated to A and S for being such a wonderful host! You guys are awesome!!
And to S who actually sent the parcel to my address, without even informing me!!

Chennai - 600028

Last year, from Cricket perspective, it was both good as well as bad year for India. India couldnt cross the first round in ODI World Cup (a.k.a 50-50?) but managed to win the 20-20 World Cup. The movie Chennai 600028 was released just after the 20-20 World cup victory and it became a big hit not because of the cricket frenzy at that time, but because every single soul in the audience could relate to some characters in the movie. Almost everyone in the 20-40 age group, who have seen India's world cup win and India playing host to the 1987 world cup, must have had awesome fun in their youth playing street cricket!

I didnt have much expectations as the movie began.Infact i got confused with the faces of the characters while watching the movie (almost every guy looked the same in the movie, couldn't figure out the difference for quite sometime and was lost), soon i could "feel the fever", especially during their practice sessions, "Inter Area fights" over petty things and the semifinal match between the rival teams. All the actors in this movie were pretty cool and they displayed that "innocence" (or immaturity?) which was typical in such an age group. This movie was also the first to spoof "Enna koduma sir idhu!" [that guy rocks] dialogue from Chandramukhi.

Fast forward 5 months, i have now become a big fan of the movie's sound track! I somehow missed the songs when i watched the movie. Each song has some different feel to it, be it "Natpukkulae" [Yuvan, soothing melody with a nice acoustic piece in the background], "Jalsa pannungada" [Ranjit, Karthik, Tippu, Gana Ulaganadhan, peppy number], "Oh! Oh! Ennanamo" [Anoushka, titillating voice!]. Yuvan Shankar Raja has scored the music and i should say it is one of his best albums! Highly recommended!

10 Things i miss at the moment

This is not a "Tag war" post, i am not going to pass on the baton to anyone, so chill! Just a psenti post to list down what all i am missing at the moment.

1. Cothas coffee
Perhaps the best filter coffee i have tasted in my life. Available in Jayanagar 4th block.

2. MBA classes
Might sound strange, but i really miss those sessions that happen on Fridays/Saturdays. Almost every weekend I get to learn something new (ofcourse, they dont do a re-telecast there:) ), and i get to interact with my friends!

3. Radio Indigo FM
The very reason why i chose Creative Zen Vision over Ipod! It plays the right kind of music at right frequency (unlike the "too specialized" channels here that suck big time!)

4. My Bike
My precious :), even though i have to ride it in the terrible Bangalore traffic.

5. Cable TV
Well, i dont watch any specific channel on Television (VH1 interests me at times), but i atleast get to surf through around 85 channels. I get only 32 crappy channels here :) :(

6. Warmth of the Sun light
For the first time in my life, i am facing "cold" rays of the Sun! If it is bright and sunny outside, it means it is damn freezing cold out there! I am sure by the time i get back, i will get more than what i wished for :)

7. Good Food
Doesn't mean that i am a bad cook ;) I cook really well, but i do miss that "professional" touch! Especially the ones that i find in Krishna Kafe, Home meals Millenium (Jaya nagar) and Grameen

8. Cell Phone
Makes me realize its importance when i dont have it here. Many a times i have struggled without a cell phone here, especially when trying to reach someone from a public booth, when stuck outside in the damn freezing weather!

9. Books/Landmark/Forum
I hardly find time to read here. Most of my recent purchases are still in Bangalore, waiting to be read :) Barnes and Nobles is miles away, so cant afford to visit a bookstore every weekend!

10. F.R.I.E.N.D.S
Not the sitcom! My fellas out there in Bangalore and Chennai, looking forward to meet/talk to you all once i am back!

A Torture called "Bheema"

It was a freezing friday evening. Friday night show movies have become a kind of routine here in Chicago. I had two options last night, one was "Bheema" featuring "Seeyan" Vikram and the other was "Kaalai" featuring "Little Super Star" Simbu. Having watched couple of dumb scenes from Simbu's best movies earlier, i decided it was safe to stay away from "Kaalai" and decided to head for "Bheema". Little did i know that i would be facing the worst torture in my life that night...

First, as i approached the ticket counter, the guy selling tickets spoke in Tamil and asked me "How many?" with a wry smile. I was so glad to hear someone speak in Tamil here, but only later i realized that the smile indirectly was at the "five bakras" who had come to watch this movie.

And then the comedy of errors! We entered the theater and took our seats. As the movie started, we were all puzzled! Why does the movie doesn't start with the titles? What is Raghuvaran and Prakashraj doing right in the beginning? Why does Vikram get so angry with Raghuvaran? Above all, why is the audience so silent? Didn't they get puzzled with the start? No whispers? No gasps? We turned back and asked the couple behind about this weird start and they told us that we entered the theater post-Interval! We just rushed out of that hall and we realized we had entered a wrong hall! Atleast those 5 minutes should have given us an indication of the horror facing us and we should have made our way out. Sadly, the $75 we had paid for the movie guided us to the correct hall and forced us to sit! The movie started and for the next 3 hours, it was a pain that i had never faced before in my life!

We were told that it was an action movie, but within the first 10 minutes, there was so much of laughter in the movie! They way Vikram expresses his interest in Prakashraj makes me feel that this movie is perhaps the Tamil version of "Brokeback mountain". But enter Trisha! Here is the confusion, why would a good looking, well educated girl fall for a pistol weilding rowdy, just because he fell on her one night? Why does she chase him as though she has never seen a male in her life? Like this, there are so many unanswered questions. By the time the screen gets frozen for interval, almost the entire audience just jump out from the seats and run out! I heard some of them even started vomiting inside the rest rooms!

Post interval, Raghuvaran, who was supposed to be a big shot, who has some 100 goondas working for him, gets lifted from his home overnight and is moved to some unknown location in Kanchipuram! What the f*** is this? Does the director think the audience are fools? Why the hell Prakashraj and Vikram dont kill Raghuvaran when they had him on his toes?

Whats funny (well, the entire movie is fun, this is probably one of it), is that almost all the goondas carry a gun, but they still end up beaten up by some rod or wooden piece. Why cant they use the gun when Bheema is around? The movie gets funnier(by this time people are almost standing on their seats and laughing out loud) as Aashish vidyarthi enters the scene as police commissioner from Mumbai. He wants to set up a special task force and the next scene we see a team of five guys, just dressed up as "Anbu chelvan's" team from "Kaakha Kaakha".Everybody in the theater wonders whether they missed the other spoof elements in the movie and start wondering where all this was heading to! Prakashraj gets to do a bit of romance, thank god, he didn't have a song sequence! The only saving face of this movie is the climax, which was much different from most tamil movies. But ultimately, it was such a stupid climax which didn't fit the other pieces of the movie. It looked as though the director framed the climax first and asked the assistants to write the rest of the story.

The movie got over at 1.30 AM, as we walked out of the theater, the -15 deg C weather outside was so pleasant that we stood for sometime to gasp some breathe and then we rushed to the car. This was perhaps the worst movie i have ever seen in my life, in theater. Aag perhaps comes a close second! If you want to know how it feels to have your head sliced by a Guillotine, watch this movie!

For once, i am happpy to be alive!

Time to change

There are certain conversations, at the end of which you feel that the other person has grabbed your neck, slapped you couple of times and then make you realize the bad side of you. I just had one such conversation (via chat) very recently and it hit me just too hard.

My dear friend, thanks for pointing those things to me. I promise i will change.

The Deal

"You still refuse to convince me Hikachi"
Nodd picked up a Heineken before settling down in his leather recliner. He kinda liked to negotiate with someone in that position. But this time, even though a lot was at stake, he continued to be in his own laidback style while talking to his prospective "partner in crime".

"I have no reason to convince a asshole like you, Nodd. You were the one who were interested in me"
Hikachi hit back with a stern face. Hikachi's parents had settled down in Bronx when he was 2 years old. He looked very unusual compared to other Japanese kids in that locality, he was tall, muscular and handsome. The environment in which he grew up made him strong, both physically and mentally.

"Ok, Ok, Atleast talk about what you have done in the past, that has made you so ffffffamous in the underground"
Nodd was not in a good mood. It was very reasonable to be like that, when one is just out from the prison.

"Well, I am an expert with firearms and defusing bombs. Last year, i sneaked past 20 cops to get the Heiza diamond and..."

"But you still got caught by snoooooooooop, loser!"
Nodd's eyes were still closed, he continued to be in the "floating position", with a beer on one hand and cigarette on the other.

"That was because i was cheated by Akaido and i dont expect my future partners to be a snob like you"

"Whoa, whoa, chill out kid, mind your words!"

"You want my credentials, right? I cracked Wurd's maze and I still hold the key to break it under 10 seconds. I didn't reveal it to Akaido just because he didn't allow me to cross the Bridge of Ataca, while we were playing as a team in the World Cyber Games finals. Else we would have won the tournament. And you know that experts struggle with Wurd's maze"

Nodd opened his eyes, for the first time, there was fear and joy in his eyes. Here is a kid, who knows to crack the toughest part in "Counterstrike" game in under 10 seconds. This was something Nodd struggled with, before going to prison for illegal possession of firearms. With the tournament less than 10 days away, it was too good a deal to let go. But being the runner up of the tournament for 5 consecutive years, Nodd felt this is the best chance for him to hold the winner's trophy. And the cheque, of course.

"Done deal, see you at the underground at 5 tomorrow."
"Ok Nodd, but we will still play the druglords side and share the prize money 50:50. Else, no deal"
"Cool man, its 50:50 ok, and we are still the bad guys, chilloooo..."
As Hikachi walked past the door, Nodd gave him a wry smile, trying to remember where he hid his second pistol, before getting arrested by the police.

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Dedicated to all those fans of diablo and AOE, who really tested Logitech mouse and my patience during my wonderful college years...Hey psychos, you guys still rock!

Jerry McGuire mission statement

As i was channel surfing last night, i hit upon a channel that was playing Jerry McGuire. This was a movie that i have heard a lot about, but never really had a interest to watch, mainly because of the Tom Cruise factor (IMHO, he sucks). Since i had a lot of time at hand, i decided to watch the whole movie and i am glad i watched till the end! There are a lot of moments to treasure, lot of quotable quotes and some great performance by Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr.

The movie starts off with Jerry writing a mission statement for his company. Anyone who is in a job or who will be starting to work, must read this mission statement! Its titled "The Things we think and do not say". Read it here:
http://www.thisisawar.com/PurposeJerry.htm

I am sure it will trigger some thought among some of you! Let me know what you think about it.