college, cricket and crap

Goodbye Europe

2011-12-16T22:47:00.000+05:30

'I'm going home.'
'— a sharp lad with a bit of experience of the world could – what?'
'I said I'm going home,' repeated Twoflower.
'What home?' said Rincewind, astonished.
'Home home. My home. Where I live,' Twoflower explained sheepishly. 'Back across the sea.You know. Where I came from.'
'Oh.'
There was a pause. Then Twoflower said, 'You see, last night it occurred to me, I thought,well, the thing is, all this travelling and seeing things is fine but there's also a lot of fun to behad from having been. You know, sticking all your pictures in a book and rememberingthings.'
'There is?'
'Oh, yes. The important thing about having lots of things to remember is that you've got to gosomewhere afterwards where you can remember them, you see? You've got to stop. Youhaven't really been anywhere until you've got back home. I think that's what I mean.'
Rincewind ran the sentence across his mind again. It didn't seem any better second timearound.
'Oh,' he said again. Well, good. If that's the way you look at it.'

-from 'The Light Fantastic' by Terry Pratchett.

Goodbye Europe!

I'm shipping up to Cologne

2011-09-02T03:27:00.000+05:30

There is a short story by Ruskin Bond whose details I have largely forgotten. But essentially it is about an Englishman who meets an elderly Indian and they soon start chatting about England. They soon start talking about the natural beauty of the country and of how the people from different parts each have their own different perspectives. The Indian seems to know a lot about the country, often more than the Englishman; however at the end it is revealed that the Indian has never stepped foot outside his own country and all his knowledge was from reading countless books about England.

The story resonated with me at some level. Since a young age, I was fascinated with all the different countries in the world. I knew the capitals of all of the countries in the world and spent hours poring over the big globe in my house, trying to learn as much as I could about the world. Even today, I love watching travel shows; the endless variety of cultures, geographies and the people themselves still fascinates me. Yet, I had never actually been to any of these places. I was like the elderly Indian from Ruskin Bond's story, a plethora of arm chair knowledge, but without any personal experiences.

So now is a good time to set the record straight. For those who do not know, I will be spending the next academic term as an exchange student at the University of Cologne. For me, the exchange programme was one of the key attractions of an MBA from an IIM, ever since I first heard about the programme from Abhishek Nagaraj. And now the dream has become a reality. If all goes according to plan, I would have visited around 15 countries by the end of the year, spending more than three months studying European culture, history, geography and hopefully a bit of management studies as well.

Today, I finally start my Europe trip. It promises to be an amazing journey, and I plan to make the most of it. And I plan to post about my journeys on a regular basis, as well upload a few pictures. And for today, I will begin the trip with a bit of travel advice from Douglas Adams. It seems quite fitting to pay tribute to him, afterall the idea of the Hitchhiker's series came to him while back packing through Europe. So like a good traveller, I shall remember where my towel is, and also remember the two words written in large friendly letters on the cover of a remarkable book.

Mal Loye - the lost Sehwag.

2011-08-06T18:56:00.002+05:30

I had first blogged about Mal Loye back in 2007, when Sehwag was prolific but probably not a contender for 'great' as he was averaging below 50 at that time. For some reason I expected Loye (and Uthappa to a smaller extent) to do what Sehwag did. However, both of them failed where Sehwag succeeded, and in Loye's case, more's the pity.

Loye made his first class debut way back in 1991, when Atherton was yet to become captain and England were probably at their lowest ebb ever. However, Loye was continually overlooked for a spot in the team, although he came close on more than one occasion. This was before Jayasuriya, or even Greatbatch had popularised the top order slog. So Loye was probably a victim of England's preference for the dull over the spectacular. Another example could be that of Ali Brown, an equally aggressive cricketer, who although made his debut in 1996, deserved to play more than 16 ODIs (and no tests, just like Loye).

Maybe Loye was ahead of his time, maybe England made a big mistake by not seeing his potential. Or maybe he just didn't prove himself at the highest level. In any case, looking at the recent warm u game India is playing against the Northants, it is good to see that Loye has already reached 84*, while Sehwag scored just 8. Maybe that can be of some respite to a good cricketer, who unfortunately never got the chance that he deserved.

Goodbye Warnie

2011-05-21T01:42:00.010+05:30

I truly became a Cricket nut back in 1996, with the World Cup being held for the second time in the Indian subcontinent. And like most kids my age, I cheered for Sachin through both of his centuries, went wild with glee after India's victory over Pakistan and almost cried along with Vinod Kambli in the semis. However around the same time, I also picked up a liking for an Australian leg spinner who soon became my cricketing hero. The man in question, was obviously Shane Warne.

Like all childhood heros, its hard to quantify what exactly it was that attracted me towards Warne. Maybe it was his bowling style - he just seemed to casually walk to the crease and effortllessly send down balls which even the finest of batsmen would find hard to handle. Or maybe it was his on field demeanour - he was always full of energy and couldn't be kept out of the game for long. It could even be his looks, or his success, but for some reason, I was well and truly hooked. Warne was my hero. I started bowling leg spin and even imitated his action. I tried to read about him as much as possible. I even had his poster in my room; no Sachin, no Azhar, only Warne. Years later, my family shifted to a new house and I had to leave the poster behind. That was probably one of my life's biggest tragedies.

In 1996, I was a smart little kid who knew all his Cricket statistics and freely shared my Cricketing knowledge with whoever I could find. Today, I might have grown up and forgotten some of the stats, but I still talk a lot about Cricket. In '96, Warne was a prodigious turner of the ball, was amazingly accurate and had a sharp Cricketing brain which was the biggest reason for his success. Today, he might have lost a lot of his turn and some of his accuracy, but he still is one of the best thinkers in the game and this is what makes him him truly great. Nobody expected Warne to be such a major force after his surgery, not many thought of him as good captaincy material and nobody expected his team to succeed in the first IPL. And yet he did. That's what made him special - he was a conjurer. He did not bother with the mundane, he only dealt with the special.

Which is why when I first heard about his retirement, I knew that I had to be there. I had never seem him play, and the thought of not watching my hero play even once was simply unbearable. So I went to the Royals' last game against Mumbai. The Royals were already out of the tournament, they were, to use a cliche, playing for pride. But all that did not matter to me, I was there just to see him play. And I was not disappointed. My eyes were always on him, right from the moment he stepped out for warm up. I saw him bowl, and I saw him take a wicket. I saw him on the field, always busy, talking to his bowlers and fielders all the time. And I saw him celebrating a victory with his team, for one last time.

I stayed back till the end since I wanted to listen to him speak. I tried to get as close to the post match ceremony as possible. But as it turned out, the audio coverage was for TV viewers only, so I never could find out what he said in his last post match speech. Yet, I stayed back, hoping that he would probably take a farewell lap. But that was not to happen. Soon after the ceremony, he started walking across the ground, away from where I was, and towards the opposite end. And as I saw him slowly walk away, it finally started to sink in. I would never see him on a Cricket ground again. All those hours spent happily watching him play tricks on the opposition batsmen, they had come to an end. This was it. I started to walk out of the ground, trying to come to terms with a Warne-less world. And by the time I turned around catch a final glimpse of him, he was already gone.

To borrow from Sir Arthur C Clarke, I stand now at the turning point between two eras. Behind me is a past to which I can never return. The childhood of my Cricketing life has come to an end. Goodbye Warnie, the last of my childhood heroes, you will be sorely missed.

Rewind

2010-12-01T05:50:00.006+05:30

I just spent the last two hours going over the whole IIPM - JAM mag saga that erupted five years ago. Although I had read quite a bit about it earlier, there was much that I had missed. And this where it all started - the original article in JAM.

Has England's time come?

2010-11-24T21:07:00.003+05:30

This is my first article for Cricket Diaries. Hopefully, there shall be more to come.

As the title suggests, this one is regarding the Ashes.

Presenting the Indian GP

2010-09-09T17:45:00.003+05:30

The FIA recently announced that the Indian GP will be a part of the 2011 Formula-1 season. This is great news not just for all motorsport fans in India, but also for all Formula-1 fans in the world.

That is because a new feature that will be unique to the Indian GP will be launched at the race by the FIA: the race will have 'mamas' (traffic cops) standing at various locations on the track. They will randomly stop cars and then ask the drivers for their licenses, PUCs, insurance papers and NOCs for the cars (as the cars are not registered at the local RTO). The driver who can pay them off quickest and reach the finishing line first will win the race.

The FIA believes that this new feature will help attract more viewers to the sport, which is already suffering from various problems like reduced viewership numbers and the presence of drivers like Lewis Hamilton. Also, the FIA is hoping that "One day F1 too will have IPL following" and has hence decided to appoint Lalit Modi as the 'Traffic Commissioner' for the Indian GP.

When should a match truly 'end'?

2010-08-16T22:04:00.005+05:30

Keeping aside the discussion about whether Randiv delberately overstepped or not (which I think he did), another technical problem raised by the rules is the incongruency in the number of balls faced by Sehwag and the number of runs he scored. He was on 99 from 99 balls before the infamous no-ball, and the final scorecard shows him at 99 off a 100 balls. So if the ball counted (as all no-balls do), then the runs scored off it should also count. However, because of the rule saying that the match ends when the target is reached, the ball was counted but the runs weren't. There is obviously a problem with the rule here.

I think the main reason why this problem is coming up is because of an artificial end point brought about by the no-ball. So the match ended while the ball was yet to reach the batsman. I really wonder why the MCC would create such an artificial cut-off point for a match. It's not as if it causes great pain to the statisticians to record the runs scored off a no-ball. Separating the ball bowled from the runs scored off it is like making an entry to one side of a balance sheet without changing the other - it is definitely wrong!

This 'end of match' rule has led to some funny scenes in cricket. I distinctly remember watching a batsman hitting the winning boundary and then shouting at the non-striker asking him not to cross over so that he would get all 4 runs instead of just the one needed to win. Again, in this case, the match ends if the batsmen cross and while the ball is still on its way to the boundary creating an artificial end point.

I agree with the general purpose of the rule which is aimed at preventing batsmen from running for more runs even if the match is over. But in the case of no-balls there is a clear contradiction. Maybe the MCC should consider adding an exception to the rule in case of wides and no-balls. That would bring an end to the cases of poor sportsmanship such as the one we saw today.

P.S: A similar discussion was also going on at the Cricinfo commentary page.

Quizzer of Fortune

2010-07-24T03:06:00.004+05:30

I guess all quizzers have a bit of the mercenary streak in them: no one can claim to have attended quizzes only due to the quality of questions without ever considering the monetary benefits involved. I am no different, I have spent the four years of my college life in Pune as a quizzing mercenary. I have attended quizzes in god-forsaken places like Rajarshi Shahu College of Engineering, just for the money. And I have attended some terribly organised, lower than school level quizzes for the same reason.

But that was back in college. Once I started earning, the money was no longer such a great motivator and I realised that there were better things to do in life than attending ~~silly~~ quizzes. So I abandoned the mercenary approach to quizzing and instead decided to attend quizzes solely based on their quality. Unfortunately, this came to an end last month.

WIMWI has some very good quizzers, but the number is still quite low for such an institute of national repute, the reasons for which I will discuss sometime later. As a result of this dearth of quizzing talent, there was not much competition when I decided to turn up for all the quizzes (and other fun activities) being conducted in college. And this led to the strangest of results, as listed below.

My performance at quizzes (not the study related ones)and other such activities in WIMWI:
1. Marketing Quiz - 3rd.
2. General Quiz - 2nd.
3. Word Games - 2nd.
4. Pot Pourri - 1st.
5. Finance Quiz - 2nd.

Those of you who know me well know about my comical ineptitude at (and great dislike for) anything that comes close to being a business quiz. So my performance in the Marketing and Finance quizzes must come as a great surprise, although in my defence, my success in the Finance Quiz was mostly because I had happened to read about Nick Leeson when I was framing questions for Chakravyuh. Also I had never previously participated in any kind of word games, yet I came 2nd. As for Pot Pourri, I seem to be pretty good at this, as I maintained my 100% win record (the only previous victory was at Tata Motors with Abhishek and Yash Marathe). Before coming here, I would never have dreamt of attending a Marketing or a Finance quiz, and yet I was attending (and winning) these quizzes. The mercenary quizzer within me is surely staging a comeback. I guess its just a side effect of being in college.

Its been more than a month that I have been here, and there have been many memorable, blogpost-worthy moments in that one month. I hope to keep posting regularly, but for now I have to leave, for a have a Sports Quiz to attend. (insert evil laugh here)

I'm shipping up to Ahmedabad

2010-06-16T15:46:00.005+05:30

This is an update on a lot of events that have happened of late.

Actually there was just one major event - I secured admission to the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad for the Post Graduate Program 2010-2012 batch. All other events were just celebratory reactions to this one. This means that I will be spending the next two years of my life in Ahmedabad and it also means that my blog's title is no longer incorrect. Just remember that from now on, when I write 'college' I mean WIMWI and not COEP.

I do hope to write new posts on my blog regularly, since there will be a lot of interesting blog-worthy things happening in college. For starters, our Time Table for the first two 'slots' is already out - and it includes a screening of the movie 'Ek ruka hua faisla'. I'm beginning to like it already.

Notes:
1. WIMWI is a nickname for IIM A and stands for Well Known Institute of Management in Western India.
2. An academic year at WIMWI is divided in to 6 'slots'. Each slot has its own subjects and an examination as well.

The Towel Day Quest

2010-05-25T23:25:00.006+05:30

As you all know, today (May 25th) happens to be Towel Day. Those of you who do not know this can stop reading now.

I was home all day and hence was spared the questioning looks that people give to those of us who are roaming around with a towel. Later in the evening, I was explaining to my Dad the significance of Towel Day. My Mom overheard this and said something to the effect of "Oh, that explains why there were Towels put up on display at the Reliance Fresh store". Needless to say, I was stunned. Remember, this is Nashik, and not some large metro. I didn't even expect that the people here would have heard of DNA, let alone celebrate Towel Day. This was just too good to be true. So I decided to go and check it out for myself.

The problem was that time was running out. Although the Earth wasn't about to explode, it was almost time the store shut down. Thankfully, I reached just in time and was able to take this pic right at the moment the shutters were coming down.

It was true. In the front display of the shop, facing the main road, I could see four towels that were put on display. This was highly intriguing, so I went inside the shop and asked a few people why they had put towels for display. Unfortunately, since it was closing time, I couldn't get a definite answer, although one member of the staff told me that they were up for sale. However, one of the supervisors did mention that the display was put up only today morning.

So it might well have been just a great coincidence. But I would like to believe that somewhere in some parallel universe, a Reliance Fresh store manager wanted to celebrate Towel Day and the WSOGMM led to a similar idea popping up in the brain of the Reliance Fresh Nashik Manager. Whatever may be the reason, it was the froodiest Towel Day ever!

Faster PussyCAT, Kill Kill

2010-04-25T04:28:00.006+05:30

I guess it's about time I put in my 2 pence worth of CAT wisdom.

Prologue - Once upon a time in Nashik... and Pune

Most of my schooling was done in Nashik. It was there that I gave my 10th and 12th Standard exams. After my 12th, I desperately wanted to get out of Nashik. Thankfully I got into College of Engineering, Pune and took admission in the Electronics and Telecommunication department.

I was decent at academics, with a CGPA of 8.13. However I was never really that interested in electronics, so an electronics or software related job wasn't something that I really wanted. An M.S. was out of question, so I decided to go for an MBA. Quite honestly, the amazing packages that IIM grads were getting was the major reason for this. Also, after visiting IIT B during Mood Indigo, I always felt bad that I did not make it to an IIT. It was then that I decided that I would do my MBA from an IIM and nowhere else.

Chapter 1 - Fear Proof

I joined IMS Pune for CAT 2008. This was because they had a special Apex batch where they would club together the best of students who would be taught by the best of faculties. I really learned a lot here. The faculty was pretty good and the classes were very useful as the level of questions was pretty high as compared to the ordinary classes. I was also performing well in my Mocks and was pretty confident of cracking CAT. Maybe I was over confident. Hence after getting a job in a software company, I did not give the entrance test of any other high paying 'core electronics' company, as I was very sure that I would be joining an IIM the next year. I wasn't even planning on writing any other MBA entrance test. Heh.

Chapter 2 - From Dreams till Dust

I took the CAT on November 16, 2008 - what turned out to be the last paper based CAT. I thought I had done pretty well and went to my class looking for answers to the questions. It was there that I realised that I had screwed up DI. Not a major screw-up, but bad enough to ensure that I wouldn't get a call from IIM A or IIM C. Realising this, I took the XAT just to have more choice. And sure enough my predictions came true. I had just 1 call - IIM K. And yeah, I also had an IIM L-ABM call. XAT went well and I had an XLRI BM call as well. Things were starting to look up.

My CAT 2008 score:
VA: 99.8 %ile QA: 96.5 %ile DI: 93.67%ile Overall : 99.59%ile
XAT: 99.97%ile

Chapter 3 - Interviewer Basterds

My IIM K interview was bad. I barely answered anything and was out in no time. However my IIM L ABM interview went well. It was a bit of a joke really, I convinced the interviewers that I had an uncle who owned a winery in Nashik because of which I wanted to study ABM. My XLRI interview was good, and I was hoping to get through. Then came the results: XLRI reject followed by IIM K reject. I was stunned. I felt like a complete failure. I still remember that day- my dad had called to console me and I was about to cry in the middle of the street. For the first time in my life I had failed at something that I had worked so hard for. I didn't check my IIM L ABM result till a few days later. And I had made it, I had converted my call! However, by then I had decided that I would take the CAT again. A lot of people advised me to join IIM L - arguing that the placements were similar to the main course. But an MBA is like a marriage - you do it only once. And I didn't want my MBA to be in Agri Business Management. My Sir tried to talk me out of it - saying that there's no guarantee that I could crack the CAT again. However, deep inside I knew for sure that I would crack it the next time. After all, the CAT & I had some unfinished business.

Chapter 4 - Grindhouse

I started studying for CAT 2010 with all earnestness. I joined Byju Sir's classes. I really had fun in the classes and they helped boost my confidence. I also started working. Thankfully, the rigours of the job were never such that I didn't get enough time for my studies. However, I skipped everything else - the endless parties, movies etc etc that my office gang would go for. I had just one goal - cracking the CAT. The best part about studying for CAT was that I loved doing it. Therefore I rarely felt bored by studying, this helped me study more and helped increase my confidence. I was confident about myself this time and nothing could shake my confidence - not the shift to an online pattern, not my moderate Mock CAT scores and not even the fact that a lot might depend on the type of questions that I would get. I knew I would get through irrespective of that. So I wrote my CAT on 7th December 2009. It went well and I was hoping for the best.

Chapter 5 - True Brilliance

28th February, 2010: I was home. The result was declared! But I couldn't access the site. Finally my friend got through, and he mailed me my result. I saw it - 99.99 %ile. I had done it! I was rolling on the floor, laughing in disbelief and joy. I had nailed the CAT!

My CAT 2009 score:
VA: 99.80 %ile QA: 96.95%ile DI: 100 %ile Overall: 99.99 %ile

Chapter 6 - Natural Born (IIM)Student

I had 5 IIM calls - BLACK. Also had 2 FMS calls. Hence I was roaming all over for my GDs and PIs. Some went well (C,K) some were ok (L) while some were bad (A,B,FMS). But all this while, I felt good. I knew I was going to make it. Also, I had learnt a lot more about an MBA. It was not just a means to obtain a fat package - it was much, much more than that. I came to know more about what students actually do at the IIMs, how their life is and how an MBA makes an impact on their lives. And I really wanted to be a part of it. And I knew that I deserved to be a part of it. Almost as if it was meant to be.

Epilogue - Joka Crown:

April 25, 2010: I have converted both my IIM C calls. No other results have been declared, but I am more than happy with what I have. I will be starting my MBA journey soon at one of India's best colleges - the dream has finally come true. The year long wait, the efforts put in, the countless Mocks, my rejecting IIM L ABM - it was all worth it. I have finally done it. All it needed was a strong self-belief, sharp focus, great will power and a lot of fun while studying.

Update: I have also converted my IIM Ahmedabad call and I have decided to study there and not at IIM Calcutta.

P.S: I would like to thank a few people who played an essential part in my CAT success - my parents, my brother Rushikesh, Sneha Das, Byju Raveendran, Sandeep Kaushik, Kiran Joshi and Joel Xavier.

Also I got by with more than a little help from my friends - Abhishek Nagaraj, Harsh Ketkar, Aditya Gadre, Yashovardhan Tamaskar, Chaitanya Salunke, Ganesh Pawar, Rishikesh Baviskar, Smit Gade, Ashish Metkar, Apoorv Vaidya, Avinash Kunder, Mahesh Hase and the Boat Club Quiz Club.

P.P.S: Never mind the names of the chapters. Or the name of this post.

He finally did it

2010-02-24T23:25:00.004+05:30

A lot of people may not feel that Sachin Tendulkar is the best batsman that Test cricket has ever seen. However, he is, by a long margin, the greatest batsman that ODI cricket has ever seen. He has scored more runs and notched up more centuries and fifties than anybody else. He has made the format his own - this is a format where he can single-handedly win matches for India and not have to worry about minor issues like his team-mates' performances et al

However, for many years what was lacking was a really big innings from him. For a long while his highest score was the 143 he had scored against the Aussies at Sharjah. He then scored a 186 against the Kiwis, which till today was his highest score. However, he never seemed to score the really big hundreds. The tide started changing in 2009, when he made two 150+ scores, including that tragic 175 against the Aussies at Hyderabad. However, something was missing - and that got added today.

It is only fitting that it is Sachin who becomes the first batsman to attain the holy grail of ODI cricket - scoring 200 in a single inning. ODI cricket owes a lot to India in general, and Sachin in particular. He made the format immensely popular. His mere presence would fill out the stands. And through ODIs, he took the game to the smaller cities in India which could never host Test matches - the Cuttacks, Indores and Jodhpurs. So it is all the more appropriate that he would score his double century not on the hallowed turf of the Eden Gardens, but at the Captain Roop Singh stadium in Gwalior instead.

Although I did not see his entire innings, I managed to see large portions of it. My favourite part was during a Dale Steyn over when Sachin had scored around 120 runs. Now this was a bowler who is widely accepted as the best fast bowler in the world. He has run through many strong batting line-ups, including the Indian one. But today all that Steyn could think of was containment. And that too with more than 15 overs left. So no good length deliveries which he would try to swing away from the bat. Every ball he bowled was full length. However this didn't stop Sachin from scoring. He literally danced on his tiptoes before hitting a full length ball from outside the off-stump to the square leg boundary. And then, just for fun, did it again two balls later, this time hitting it to the mid wicket fence. He was literally toying around with the bowling and the look on Steyn's face gave it all way - there was nothing he could do to stop Sachin.

Possibly the best image of the match was a poster held up in the audience. It initially read 'Sachin, we have come to see you score a 100'. After Sachin's century, the guy added a '+ 100' to the text. Never, in his wildest dreams, would he have imagined how prophetic that amendment would turn out to be.

No one holds the bat the way I did

2010-02-09T01:01:00.003+05:30

No one holds the bat the way I did

Makes me wonder whether Mr. Graveney used to play a different game.

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Benn, Johnson and Haddin

2009-12-19T02:30:00.004+05:30

Suleiman Benn has been handed a two ODI ban while Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin have been fined for the untoward incidents that happened recently in the Perth test between Australia and the West Indies. And after watching the incident, I really feel that the decision is a bit unfair. When Benn and Johnson bumped into each other while Johnson was trying to get a single, it was a very natural collision. True, it was pretty silly of them to get into such a muddle, but I believe that's all that it was - a silly, comical event. Even the commentators had a laugh about it while watching the replays. If it was left at that, all of this would have been no more than a minor blip on the radar.

But Haddin's reaction really escalated the incident. He had no reason to point his bat at Benn. Benn had been annoying the Aussies throughout the series with his antics and most would say that he had it coming. But what Haddin did was simply unacceptable, especially since he wasn't even directly involved in the incident. And Benn's subsequent theatrical gestures, along with the language that he used, really made things ugly. And all this happened right in front of the Billy Bowden. The first incident was an accident and couldn't have been avoided. But what happened in the middle of the pitch during the overs break was a sheer disgrace. The Umpires should have stopped it from taking place. The days of school Headmaster-like Umpires are long gone, but the Umpires still have the responsibility of maintaining discipline on the field. And needless to say, they utterly failed in it.

So Benn has been banned for bringing the game into disrepute, which is perfectly understandable. But Haddin's crime was no less (if not more) in intensity. He definitely instigated Benn to react and is as much to be blamed as Benn himself. Johnson was innocent and has been let off with a small fine; but Haddin has gotten off very lightly. This sends the wrong signals, for the cricketers responsible for stirring up such unfortunate events should not be able to walk away without severe punishment.

Speaking of bringing the game into disrepute, the broadcasters must also be charged with the same crime. When Benn and Haddin were having a verbal battle right under Bowden's nose, it could all be heard on the stump mike. The stump mike is placed to detect any noise that may be created when the delivery is being played, so that edges can be recorded. It must be switched off immediately after the ball is bowled. But it was kept on for much longer, as a result the foul language being used could be heard by everyone watching on TV. It is shameful that the broadcasters are themselves damaging the sport that they are seeking to promote, just for the sake of a few TRP points. It is unfortunate that Cricket's broadcasters seem to be causing the game great harm by their detrimental policies. Sadly, it is also true.

Why is Jadeja in the Indian team?

2009-11-05T22:55:00.002+05:30

If Dhoni doesn't believe that Jadeja can last the final few overs of close run-chase, and that too in the company of Sachin Tendulkar who is already on 150+, and sends Harbhajan in ahead of him, then why on earth is Ravindra Jadeja in the team? Surely Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan or Virat Kohli could do much better. Or is it necessary to have a so called all-rounder in the team just to maintain "balance"? In that case compare Jadeja's performance with his Aussie counterpart - Watson scored 93 and took 3 wickets. Out of the two teams out there, in the morning one of them was struggling to find eleven fit cricketers who are good enough to play international cricket. Unfortunately, it seems like that was the Indian team and not the Aussies.

2009-10-18T22:10:00.001+05:30

Heh. See this.

A question to the blogspot team

2009-10-17T02:37:00.003+05:30

When was the last time anybody labelled his post as 'scooters'?

Dravid dropped

2009-10-17T02:02:00.002+05:30

It must be said that the recent selection committees of the BCCI have been much better than those of yore - when settling personal grudges and putting the cricketers in their place seemed to be of a higher priority than selecting the best possible squad. However, the committee still manages, from time to time, to make a selection (or non-selection that just defies all logic).

I was greatly bemused by Sourav Ganguly's omission from the ODI team some time ago. I guess the same can be said about the Rahul Dravid saga. Firstly, I was greatly surprised when he was picked. The BCCI seemed to be following a 'young blood please' policy when it came to selection for the ODI team. It seemed to make sense, keeping the 2011 World Cup in mind. And Dravid was widely considered by many to be beyond his prime, especially in ODIs. Yet, they decided to pick Dravid for an extremely meaningless tri-series in Sri Lanka and the subsequent (more meaningless?) Champions Trophy.

And Dravid managed to turn in solid performances in both the tournaments. He played a vital innings (despite playing as an opener) in the final against Sri Lanka an also played well against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy. Despite all of this, he has been dropped. And Virat Kohli has been retained. The same Virat Kohli whose only major contribution has been a slow, laboured half-century against a greatly depleted West Indies attack. The only plausible explanation could be that the selectors wanted someboy with a good technique to play in South Africa and now just want someone who can hit the ball hard since the series is in India. But in any case, it is extremely unfair to both Dravid and the youngsters who have been picked ahead of him. I guess it's about time Indian Selectors started having more faith in the players and also some respect for them. Dravid has been a loyal servant of Indian Cricket and such treatment does not befit him.

Filmon ke is 'Vishal' desh mein, Kaminey 'Gulzar'

2009-08-27T01:31:00.004+05:30

fuperb, fublime, fpectacular, ftaggering, ftunning, ftately, furpaffing, fenfational, fomething elfe, ftartling, ftrange, fupreme, fumptuouf, fplendid, fwank, fpotleff, fpirited, fmart, fnazzy, fwell, fuperior, fterling, fplendorouf.

fort mein : fau prateefat paifa vafool!

Obeisance to The Great One

2009-08-23T00:19:00.002+05:30

It's that time of the month when I start singing praises of The Great One and give my monthly obeisance to Him. Now I am not someone who would ever need to read Shane Warne's profile, since it would not contain anything new. But this Cricinfo profile written by Christian Ryan makes for a very good read. He crisply summarises a brilliant career about which volumes of text has already been written. And it was written much before Warne guided the Royals to a famous victory in the inuagural IPL.

My favourite part comes towards the end when he claims that the world never fully appreciated Warne's genius and that his legacy shall grow with the passage of time, much like Bradman's. And I completely agree with him on this one, we always have a habit of revering the old heroes but somehow fail to treat modern day legends fairly. Warne is 100% certified legendary material and maybe fifty years on, the world shall truly realise his genius and place him on par with Bradman as the greatest aussie cricketer of all time.

Go Pommie Go !

2009-08-22T23:48:00.003+05:30

I have been a great fan of the Australian Cricket team for a long team. I firmly believe that they are in a major way responsible for the revival of aggressive test cricket, scoring at more than 4 runs per over regularly. But the Aussie team that I lovingly cheered was the one which had a supreme warrior, a stylish and free-scoring batsman, a butchering wicket-keeper batsman, a miserly fast bowler and of course, a legendary blonde tweaker. The current aussie line-up not only lacks such all-time greats but also seems to lack the aussie fighting spirit as shown by their recent grumbling during the ashes.

Hence, throughout this ashes series I have been supporting the English, hoping for an upset victory. And today, that victory is only 10 wickets away. So for one last time, Go Pommie Go!

2009-08-04T23:17:00.005+05:30

While reading today's ToI, I came across the following headline:

Windies salvage some pride against Bangladesh

If someone who had lapsed into coma a year or so ago was to suddenly come back to life again, he would have definitely thought that the publishers had inadvertently jumbled up the names of the two teams involved. How I wish that were true. I am not against Bangladeshi cricket, but seeing the decline and fall of a team which was once the most dreaded in the world makes me feel very sad indeed. I sincerely hope that West Indies cricket regains some of it's lost glory and returns to it's world beating ways soon.

2009-08-04T01:01:00.003+05:30

This interview of Andy Atkinson, the ICC's pitches manager, makes for a very interesting read. Not only is it a good analysis of what role the pitch should play in Cricket, it also sheds some lights on one of the most forgotten and hidden arts in Cricket - the art of pitch making.

BCCI and the dope controversy

2009-08-03T23:47:00.003+05:30

A lot of discussion has been going on about BCCI's refusal to agree to the conditions listed by WADA for compliance with their drug testing standards. This time, I must say, I do feel that BCCI is not totally wrong in taking a stand, whatever may be it's reasons for it. But the problem here is that non-compliance would severely dent the game's reputation in the global arena and that is something that should be avoided at all costs.

Traditionally, Cricket has not had too much trouble when it comes to dealing with performance enhancing drugs. Maybe it is because of the fact that for a cricketer, good technique, unwavering concentration and mental toughness are more important than bulging biceps or long lasting lungs. The very fact that Cricket is a comparitively leisurely sport with brief bursts of high activity might make it more resistant to the lure of high performance drugs as compared to sports like athletics or wrestling. But then again, this may be because the drug doctors haven't got around to making drugs specially designed for cricketers. Or maybe we just haven't heard of such drugs yet.

This does not mean that steroids won't help a cricketer at all. Fast bowlers seem the most obvious candidates for taking performance enhancing drugs, and the case of the Pakistani pace duo of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif provides credibility to this belief. But even other cricketers might benefit greatly from such artificial boosts. It will definitely come in handy for players wanting to extend their playing careers, especially considering the amount of Cricket being played and the added incentive of being able to play in more editions of the IPL. That would be a double blow for the game as not only would it make Cricket a game full of cheats, but also might stall the progress of younger and more exciting players.

We should be thankful that Cricket, at least till date, hasn't had its image tarnished by any major doping controversy. Maintaining this clean image should definitely be high on the priority list of the game's administrators. But what needs to be realised is that the BCCI is neither anti-testing and nor is it trying to cover up anybody. It is just being reasonable. I personally agree with their statement that providing the whereabouts of the cricketers for an hour everyday for three months seems not only dangerous from the security point of view but also highly impractical. Hence their great reluctance in accepting the all the conditions listed in the contract.

However, deciding not to sign the contract with WADA may have grave long term consequences for Cricket with regards to its inclusion as an Olympic discipline. Now that we have a variant of the game that makes it easy to produce results in a short timespan and also provide great entertainment for the audience, it seems that we may finally have a vehicle that may help us attain our Olympic dreams. And that is a chance that the ICC cannot afford to miss.

The WADA controversy is treacherous territory for the ICC and it should tread carefully lest it finds itself in a big mess if it does not do so. But with a little diplomacy, it should be able to soothe all the warring parties and hopefully arrive at a conclusion that is for the good of the game.

How much is too much?

2009-07-29T20:54:00.003+05:30

I really liked this article by Sriram Dayanand. He makes a few very good points about the excessive commercialisation that is plaguing cricket. I totally agree with Mr. Dayanand here. However, most of the people who have commented on his article and are objecting to it seem to have overlooked the main point of discussion. The problem isn't the fact that advertising has changed cricket. Everybody agrees that cricket telecasts these days are a lot better than the 60s or 70s and that in general, cricket has gained a lot from advertising. But there is a definite need to draw the line somewhere. Because now with the strategy breaks, DLF maximums and constant appearance of logos all over the screen, we have really gone too far. And though its true that the BCCI is trying to sell a product, it is equally true that by encouraging such rampant advertising they are undermining the value of their own product. At this rate, it's only a matter of time before we kill the golden goose that is cricket broadcasting and then wonder where we went wrong.

Richard Wiseman's blog

2009-07-29T00:22:00.002+05:30

I happened to come across Richard Wiseman's blog and I found it very interesting. Professor Wiseman started off as a magician and later obtained a doctorate in psychology. He researches quirky areas of psychology, including deception, luck and the paranormal. I found some of his tests very interesting, especially this one. Do check it out.

Did I miss something?

2009-07-18T00:47:00.004+05:30

A lot of things have changed for me in the last few months. I have finally graduated from my beloved college (which now makes my blog's title erroneous) and am working here now. I am also no longer a 'hostelite' (or an inmate at the hostel to be grammatically correct). Instead I have shifted into a new flat which is, unfortunately, quite some distance away from where I used to live for the past four years. And I am by no means alone, most of my friends have suffered a similar upheaval, with some of them even moving to new cities and even new countries.

Most of them crib about missing their college life and rant about the long hours that they have to put in at work. Some look forward to it with great excitement and call it a new beginning while some, very cynically, call it the beginning of the end. All my colleagues complain about how tired they get after a long day's work and everybody complains about the lack of time for leisure and relaxation, all thanks to the thankless job. And yet some others look at it as deliverance - as the ultimate fruit of all the years of endless toil spent in school and college.

If you would ask me what I feel about these great winds of change that are blowing through my life, I would probably say nothing. That's because I am just not feeling any different. My life isn't suddenly full of new challenges, it isn't full of changes and adaptability issues and it definitely isn't so full that I don't get time for myself. In fact, I can remember a lot of days in college when I was far busier than I am now and had to face many more challenges too. I am not dead tired when I return from work, why should I be? I sit in a chair all day! In fact, I feel happy that I am spending much more time doing productive activities rather than just sitting around idly. In short, Life isn't starting afresh for me, it's just continuing normally, albeit with a whole new set of people.

Maybe it's because of the fact that I am still in training and haven't started working as such. Or maybe it's due to the fact that I am yet to receive my first salary. But I think it's mostly because everyone around me believes that their lives have totally changed and have convinced themselves of the fact, which makes me a tad underwhelmed by the whole situation and makes me wonder : Did I miss something?

The COEP Network Administrator CAN beat love

2009-05-08T01:42:00.002+05:30

I guess I have a sort of love-hate relationship with the COEP Network Administrator. Though I am grateful that a lot of measures have been taken so as to prevent wanton downloading, there always seem to be some stupid side-effects which make me hate him even more. The most notable of them being the ban on Cricinfo, which fortunately did not last long.

I have blogged earlier about the pesky url filters which made the Middlesex CC site inaccessible. But something that I have only recently noticed is this - even the word 'love' is banned. Though as of now I don't think that this is going to have any disastrous consequences, it does seem rather silly.

But I think I really shouldn't complain much. After all, I only have to spend a few more days in the kingdom of the COEP Network Administrator. After that, I can freely access any site I want! The mere thought of it makes me ecstatic!

Random tags for the last few days

2009-05-07T02:26:00.003+05:30

mega-feast, farewell, viva, 'Get up, you idiot!', Monty Python, Arthur C Clarke, bills, last few days at the hostel, stupid fights, CAT online, CAT class, IPL, laundry, 2BHK apartment, Facebook, LinkedIn, quizzing, Mahabharat, Dostoevsky, Dev D, BPlan, parties, dinners, all nighters, Football, Lawn Tennis, jogging, movies backlog, heat chamber, Happy Days, tandoori chicken, shorts, wasting time?, bad hair, sleep lots, 'Get up, you idiot!', Cricinfo ban, Facebook ban, Cricinfo ban lifted, no lab access, project viva?, IIML?, presentation, home, vacations, job!, future?

CAT goes online

2009-04-29T12:11:00.002+05:30

Like the majority of peope who would be appearing for the 2009 CAT, I was not very happy with it was announced that it would be conducted online this year. The CAT had a certain charm, being conducted on the same day throughout the country. Discussion boards would be full with everybody presenting their own solutions, waiting for coaching classes to come with their solutions and cut-offs and in general worrying about who would get a call and who wouldn't. I really enjoyed all of this last year (though of course I was hoping that the ouycome would be different) and it does feel bad that all of that wouldn't be happening this year.

But other than the 'charm' factor, there are a lot of reasons why I would not like the CAT to go online this year. Firstly, having taken the good old pencil-and-paper CAT, I would obviously prefer a similar format again. Also, I would really not want the CAT to be adaptive like the GRE. That was a great advantage in the CAT - all questions had equal weightage. And that's only fair - I might find a question on functions easy and geometry tough while someone else would feel the exact opposite way. So its not right for a third person to decide which questions are 'easy', which are 'tough' and set the paper accordingly. One more issue that might come up in the online version is the easy of manueverability between various questions and sections. Earlier, you had all the freedom to solve any question or section for as long as you wanted. Whether that stays or is discontinued remains to be seen. However, that need not be abandoned totally - the BITSAT which is also conducted online, gives you complete freedom to roam between questions and sections. Something like that would be absolutely great.

There are of course other issues like whether the candidates would be knowing the weightage of each question, the availability of rough papers to work on and so on. But other than the fact that it will be conducted over ten days, we have no other information. Hopefully, the picture would become clearer in the days to come. I hope the CAT does go online, that would be a move in the right direction, but I hope it still allows all the candidates the liberties which the pencil and paper CAT gave. That would be the best solution.

Headline or headache?

2009-04-26T18:53:00.001+05:30

This you have to read. Though I hope none of you use them, especially if you happen to be a journalist.

4 years 7 months 13 days

2009-04-22T01:15:00.001+05:30

.... is the maximum age that you can be if you really believe in Lalit Modi when he says that the 7.5 minutes break is for deciding 'strategies'.

My latest hobby...

2009-04-22T00:34:00.003+05:30

Constantly reminding people that their college life is coming to an end, thus making them all sad and nostalgic.

P.S. : For those who haven't realised it yet, consider it to be a tribute.

You know you're terribly in need of sleep when....

2009-04-07T11:59:00.001+05:30

.... you start reading Pune Mirror and doze off before you reach Dr. Mahindra Watsa's column.

Lets make a deal

2009-03-11T10:06:00.002+05:30

I have always felt that I get the raw end of whatever deals that I make with people in my personal life. I am pretty good when it comes to negotiating with people when money is involved, but somehow I always end up losing out in my personal deals with people, mostly because they generally refuse to accept the existence of such a deal and question its validity.

But no more shall I suffer from such problems. This site should take care of things. It allows you to make deals with friends, family, employees or absolutely anyone. It then sends out mails to them and you can even opt for further negotiations. And I hope the site's tagline - "Asynchronous Negotiation Favors the Underdog" - proves to be true.

(Link courtesy : Marginal Revolution)

Sheep

2009-03-07T21:59:00.004+05:30

After shifting to Pune and staying at the hostel, IO have found it increasingly hard to watch as much cricket as I used to at home. As a result of this, I mostly keep track of the latest scores via live commentary on Cricinfo. The commentary is nice and crisp and gives you a fair idea of whats going on, along with the constantly updated scorecard, which has everything you need to know - like the currently partnership, who is bowling etc. But the icing on the cake is definitely the random topics that come up during the commentary, as a result of which you don't miss the TV commentary that much. And this commentary involves not just Cricinfo's commentators but also a lot of viewers from all over the world. Most of the time, these chats are related to some famous cricketing incidents of the past or some anecdotes. However, at times, they tend to go totally off-topic, as during the recent India-NZ ODI. Here's a short sample of what was going on during commentary that day:

Suresh: "Seriously - what is the sheep:human ratio in NZ?"
...
Steve: "Good to see Rahul enjoying his stay in Rangiora (25km north of christchurch population 9,000). I wonder if he is being billetted with anyone or staying in a local motel overnight?" Must be with some sheep, no?!
...
t4jho: "11 Sheep for every person"
...
Farmer Bob: "According to the latest Agricultural Production statistics, released by Statistics New Zealand's Agricultural Production team, there were 40.1 million estimated resident sheep at 30 June 2006, which means that the sheep-person ratio has halved in the last 20 years, and now stands at 10 sheep per person. see http://www.population.govt.nz/myth-busters/sheepmyth.htm
...
Amit: "1:10......strange! Are those sheep owned by people or just forest sheep?" The sheep owns the people. Duh!
...
Alex from NZ sends us this: "At any given time a New Zealander can reach out and touch a sheep." No more dirty details please!

MK from Canada: "Why bother? India should just cancel the tour and go back home. I am amazed that Cricket is actually played in NZ."
...
Matt from OZ: "What else would you expect from a Canadian? You guys don't even play cricket."

Kody: "Whats all this nonsense about sheep? ... that pitch will be soaked by now!"

Cam from NZ comes back with this! : "Is it time to point out that Cows wander down the streets of several Indian cities?"
...

What fun.

---------------

Staying with sheep, I recently saw Fergusson College's Firodiya Karandak performance. The story was about a guy who is visiting the Swiss Alps and meets an old shepherd high up in the mountains. Now the shepherd's role was being enacted by a girl. All of us who were there at the start knew this. However a lot of people came in late and had no idea about the sex-change. Hence when the guy approached the shepherd and asked for protection from the rough weather of the Alps, the guys sitting behind us started whistling loudly! At this point, me and Bhedas thought that the play might just turn into something like Brokeback Mountain. But alas, that was not to be. Since then, we have decided to think of various changes that could be made to stories so that they can be converted into Brokeback Mountain. More tales expected soon.

Expanding horizons

2009-02-12T22:11:00.002+05:30

As a part of my preparation for selection to the IIMs, I realised that I should have some basic awareness about economics and other related stuff. So my friend Harsh finally pointed out two sites which would help me start, namely Marginal Revolution & Mostly Economics. And even though I thought it might be a bit boring, all such fears proved to be unfounded. I have really started enjoying both blogs (especially MR, since it has a lot of interesting stuff not related to economics) and following them in the true sense of the word, instead of just adding them to my bloglines account. And as you can see, both of them also feature on my blogroll.

So for anyone who would like to start, join the revolution at MR, one small step at a time.

IPL Auctions 2009

2009-02-06T12:51:00.002+05:30

The auctions this year were much less hyped, compared to last year, thanks to the economic recession, as well as the fact that very few players were available. The biggest stars were obviously the England players as well as JP Duminy - the latest South African sensation.

As expected, Kevin Pietersen was the most expensive, and was bought by the Bangalore Royal Challengers. Now that the Royal Challengers have Utthappa and KP, their batting might just be something to look out for. Along with him, the other most expensive player, Andrew Flintoff has joined the Chennai Super Kings, adding great balance to an already very formidable line-up.

The Rajasthan Royals kept a low profile as expected, they only bought Shaun Tait & the surprise pick of the auction - Middlesex all rounder Tyron Henderson. They obviously needed a fast bowler since Sohail Tanveer wasn't available, and Tait seems an apt enough replacement. Tyron Henderson was a bit of surprise since he has no international experience, but his domestic Twenty20 career record speaks for itself, and he should be a handy player to have.

The Deccan Chargers, after having finished bottom last year, decided not to be very flashy and instead picked up West Indian fast bowler Fidel Edwards along with his international tem mate Dwayne Smith. Now Edwards has good speed and should do well, while Dwayne Smith is a very aggressive batsman and a decent bowler, so both of the Chargers' picks seem to be good.

The Mumbai Indians made a very smart pick by buying JP Duminy. Duminy has been in very good form and seems to be a very good player. He also seems to have a good cricketing brain, for he has been able to adapt to various situations perfectly well. The difference in his batting style in the ODIs in Australia proved this. When his team was in trouble in the first match, he dropped anchor and pulled the team out of trouble, while in the last match, when South Africa needed quick runs, he was able to find the boundaries with ease. Duminy is a very exciting prospect and Mumbai would definitely not regret buying him. The other player they have purchased is Kyle Mills, nothing much to say about this guy, he's just a run-of-the-mill player.

It looked like the Kolkata Knight Riders would not be buying anyone, but towards the end they picked up the Bangladeshi fast bowler Mashrafe Mortaza for a whopping $600,000 - thats 1100% greater than his base price of $50,000! How useful this proves to be remains to be seen. However, the Knight Riders will also get a chance to bid again later for 4 players, since they had 4 Pakistani players in their squad. Maybe then they could go in for a few more players.

Delhi Daredevils had made a few changes to their squad before the auction itself. They had swapped Shikhar Dhawan for Ashish Nehra, and also bought the Aussie David Warner. He is a clean striker of the ball, as he showed against the Springboks in the one-off twenty20 game and should be a success at the IPL. During the auction, the Daredevils picked up Owais Shah & Paul Collingwood, both of whom would add great value to the side. The Kings XI Punjab also made a good buy by snapping up Ravindra Bopara, another good prospect.

Surprisingly, players like Stuart Clark, Brad Haddin, Andre Nel, Ashwell Prince, James Franklin & Shakib-ul-Hasan couldn't find any buyers. Shakib-ul-Hasan would have been a great pick given the form that he is in, same with Haddin. Maybe they will be picked up later; I , for one, would love to see Clark bowling in the IPL.

So now that the auction's over, I'm looking ahead to another season of IPL. I might not be one of it's greatest supporters, but I must say, it has brought in a lot of excitement and entertainment. And of course, the chance to see the great Shane Warne in action again.

TED 2009

2009-02-06T12:22:00.002+05:30

TED 2009 is currently going on. As usual it features some of the best speakers from all all over the world. Bill Gates has already given a talk about his foundation's efforts to improve educational facilities, the video is also available on TED's site. Also go over some of the older talks if you had missed them earlier, especially the top 10 TED talks. For those who don't know about TED, this might help shed some light.

The reason why the economy is in tatters

2009-02-02T19:14:00.003+05:30

This is an amazing take on today's economic situation, even though it was first published 15 years ago. Bill Waterson never ceases to amaze.

(Link courtesy: Mostly Economics )

My first....

2009-01-18T02:04:00.004+05:30

When I first saw her, she was three aisles away. There were others besides her, but she caught my eye because of her shiny yellow colour. I walked towards her, nervously, wondering whether today would actually be the day. The tension grew, the distance shortened. There was an uncomfortable silence in the air. I was now right in front of her. I could almost touch her, but would I dare to do so? My heart was racing, I knew not what to do. It had been a long wait spanning many, many years. I had heard people raving about her humour, her depth of knowledge, her obsession with cricket and the trust everyone had in her. I had craved for her for a long while now, but somehow I was still not prepared for what was happening today. I started talking to myself,

"Should I?"
"Yes"
"But that would seem so presumptuous, almost... rude. What if it doesn't work out?"
"That's a risk you must be willing to take"
"But this is not a one-off, it will be permanent. It will continue till I die"
"Come on. Grab her. Don't be afraid"
"All right"

So I picked her up. Just like that. It was a swift move, I don't think anybody even saw it. And before I could change my mind, I rushed to the counter, placed her on the counter-top and said

"I'll buy this"

This is how I finally bought my first Wisden Cricketer's Almanack.

Shock and Awe

2008-11-27T03:57:00.007+05:30

As I write this, most of you might be asleep. But I'm pretty sure you must have kept track of the latest news from terror struck Mumbai. Even I've been doing that continuously since I first heard the news at around 1130 PM. I remember checking the news then, when a death toll of 4 and 20 injuries was mentioned. Since then, I have been following it online regularly and not surprisingly, it has gotten worse. As of now (now being 0400 hrs on the 27th of November), a death toll of 80 along with a staggering 900 injuries is being mentioned. Amongst the dead are three of the city's top cops. Of course, the reliability of these figures may be questioned, but then the true figure can't be that far off. That, along with the large number of places attacked in such a short time period with seemingly clockwork precision, really shook me.

Somehow, all this has had a profound effect on me. It may be because of the fact that I have been continuously updating myself to the latest news available, or even because of some idle wanderings of a tired mind. Maybe I will feel better tomorrow, maybe it would sink in by then. But right now, all I have is this sense of evil foreboding. As I sit and stare at my computer screen, with a scrolling marquee telling me more and more about this horrible tragedy, I can't but help feel that nothing will be the same again. A lot has changed tonight. The very fact that I, a normally carefree teenager whose idea of a tragedy is the retirement of Adam Gilchrist; am writing all of this, instead of happily sleeping, in itself speaks a lot. 9/11 changed a lot of things, this might have a similar effect in India.

As and when you read this, you might think that I am blowing this out of proportion. There have been many terror attacks recently, why should this one stand out? You might argue that I am so shaken because it has happened in Mumbai, a city where I have spent quite some time, and that I might not have cared so much if it had taken place elsewhere. As you look back in retrospect, you might even be right. Maybe it is not that big a deal. In that case, I really hope that you are right.

It is a pity for my generation that our most impressionable and memorable years have been characterized by terrorism. I became a teenager in 2001, and soon after that 9/11 happened. Six months from today, I would no longer be a teenager. And I sincerely hope that the end of my teenage coincides with the end of terrorism.

And before I leave, my deepest condolences for those who have suffered due to this tragedy. Unfortunately, that's all I can offer.

2008-11-19T23:40:00.002+05:30

I just came across this - one of those incidents which show that there is a lighter side to Cricket. I might have mentioned it earlier too, but I don't seem to remember. Anyways, its a short one and definitely worth a read.

Spooky coincidence

2008-11-19T21:22:00.002+05:30

Yesterday, I saw South Park Season 12, Episode : Britney's New Look, at the end of which Britney Spears is sacrificed for a good corn harvest and the people target Miley Cyrus as the next superstar to be sacrificed. And, I immediately went online and googled for Miley Cyrus and look what I found.

CAT '08 : Best of luck to me

2008-11-14T16:09:00.004+05:30

Sunday is the big day. After lots of SimCATS, AceCATs, ClassicCATs & AimCATs, it's finally time for the real deal. So if you are reading this, and haven't wished me luck, please do so as soon as possible. I really need it.

P.S. : I know that given the huge importance that the CAT has, I haven't really given it much space on the blog. But do not worry, I shall write a detailed report of my CAT experiences after the CAT. Of course, how I fare in the exam will be a major determining factor in how the report turns out!

Beyond Legendary

2008-10-19T01:03:00.000+05:30

In this age of sledging and 'mental disintegration', it is rare to see a current international cricketer praising another to the sky, as Kumar Sangakkara does here. Though of course, things tend to be different when the person in question is Sachin Tendulkar.

MindSpark '08

2008-09-25T20:35:00.003+05:30

In case you didn't know, MindSpark is the annual technical festival of COEP. It's also the one thing which is totally taking up my time nowadays. So, in order to appreciate the efforts that I am taking, please visit the link and see the website, and if possible, attend the event. As usual, it shall feature three events - Chakravyuh, barqing mad & torquest. For more details, click here.

Wish you were still here

2008-09-21T00:02:00.002+05:30

I haven't been blogging for quite a while - primarily because I have been too busy. But the death of Pink Floyd's legendary keyboardist, Richard Wright, has forced me to write something. Though I couldn't find enough time to gather my thoughts about the topic, I think this sums them up perfectly. (Link courtesy Abhishek).

Checkmate at last!

2008-09-05T01:15:00.003+05:30

Finally, after waiting for ages, I saw what must be the best marathi movie that I have ever seen. Checkmate is an amazing movie, the concept is great and it has also been executed brilliantly. And I also managed to spot a Pink Floyd reference in the movie - the character Vikram in the movie (portrayed by Ankush Chaudhary) has the album cover of Pink Floyd's Division Bell as the wallpaper on his cellphone. Now whether it was intentional or just another coincidence is something that we shall never know.

Finally...

2008-08-14T00:04:00.005+05:30

.....I have found someone as accident prone as Yasho. Read what Cricinfo has to say about the former England wicketkeeper Bruce French who was born on this day (August 13):

" He began by being bitten by a dog in the West Indies, then during a practice session in Pakistan, he was hit on the head by a ball thrown back by a spectator. As he walked across the hospital grounds to have his eyebrow stitched, he was knocked down by a car. When he woke up after the operation, he banged his head on an overhead light. In the circumstances, playing in 16 Tests for England was no mean feat. Bravely for one so cursed by bad luck, one of his hobbies is mountaineering. "

This description blended in perfectly with the only memory I have of Bruce French : In the 1986 Leeds Test, Maninder Singh edged a delivery off Graham Dilley straight to Graham Gooch at first slip. Gooch dropped the ball. Bruce French then dived to his right and scooped the ball back to Gooch inches off the ground. Gooch missed it again, kicked the ball up with his foot and finally made the catch.

And for more about accident prone cricketers, read this.

Marvellous!

2008-08-13T08:41:00.002+05:30

Rain falling from the sky,
Listening to the heavenly sound of Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb on my iPod,
All this while I'm eating a steaming hot Aloo Paratha at my favourite paratha place.

I feel, to quote Richie Benaud, Marvellous!

What Sehwag ki maa needs to know

2008-07-27T23:40:00.001+05:30

"He is talented, very talented, but he has no brains"
Geoffrey Boycott about Virender Sehwag after he recklessly pulled a catch to deep square in India's first innings at the SSC.

My sentiments exactly.

Sim CAT 2 & 3

2008-07-18T16:56:00.002+05:30

Due to lack of internet access I was unable to post my scores for SimCAT 2. Since then I have also written SimCAT 3, so here's my report card from the last two SimCATs:

SimCAT 2:
To put it simply - it was horrible. I had a terrible time during the exam, I guess staying up till 4 am playing pranks on people isn't the best possible preparation for a test. Managed to clear only the DI cut-off, failed to clear the other two. Anyways, I have learnt my lesson and hope to avoid such mishaps in the future.
Scores:
Quant - 11/50 Cut-off - 19 Percentile : 75.37
English - 9/50 Cut-off - 12 Percentile : 87.36
DI - 22/50 Cut-off - 18 Percentile : 96.23
Overall - 45/150 Cut-off: 50 Percentile : 94.31

SimCAT 3:
Much better than last time around. Was pretty confident after the paper and it showed in the result. DI is again a problem - missed the cut-off by 6 marks. Otherwise, for my score, I would have scored an AIR of 20.

Quant - 50/100 Cut-off : 28 Percentile : 99.76
English - 54/100 Cut-off: 26 Percentile : 99.92
DI - 30/100 Cut-off: 36 Percentile : 83.56
Overall - 134/300 Cut-off: 92 Percentile : 99.86

Lost in Translation

2008-07-15T20:23:00.004+05:30

Thanks to the new rules made by the Training & Placement Cell of our college, I have had to sit through a lot of Pre-Placement Talks. Most of them have been boring to say the least, but yesterday's talk was more than just an exception to the rule.
We were seated in Mechanical Dept, Room No 13 for the talk by Avaya. As soon as their presentation was over and all of us were about to leave, in came 5 Koreans - 3 men and 2 women(thanks to my divine gift of being able to distinguishbetween different people from the far east I could make out they were Korean. Others were still baffled). The guy who was about to give the presentation walked up to the lectern and started setting up his laptop. We all took our seats, wondering what was happening when our Assistant Training and Placement Officer walked in. He stood next to the man with the laptop and announced,
"We are extremely grateful that these people who had come to our college as a delegation have agreed to come and interact with you. They are from ETR"
Korean guy interupts him, saying "ETRI"
"Ah yes, ETRI. And they have come all the way from Japan"
Korean guy - "Korea"
"Yes yes Korea. And now I shall hand it over to Mr. (reaches for a small chit in his pocket and reads from it) Wang ."

Now Mr. Wang starts with his presentation. We were staring at the screen, worried because everything was in Korean. Then he suddenly opened a powerpoint file which was thankfully in English and started with his presentation.

"I would like to thank COEP & especially Mr. (looking towards the assistant TPO & then realising that he doesn't know his name) 'Handsome Man' here who made it all possible"

You had to appreciate Mr. Wang. His english was impeccable. He never made a single grammatical mistake throughout the presentation. But there's more to communication than grammar. He had a very thick Korean accent, as a result of which more than half the people (excluding me) present could make neither heads nor tails of what he was speaking. But he never realised that, so he just carried on. Then he came to a point in his presentation when he mentioned the eligibility criteria, which was MS or PhD, and then asked for the full form of PhD. Immediately a guy in the audience stands up.

Guy in Audience: " Sir I am . I am a student of M. Tech E & TC. I am interested in communication. I would like to do my project with your company. What is the eligibility criteria for that? Will it be in Korea or India? How should I apply for it? I am really interested"

Now Mr. Wand realises that nobody can understand what he is saying. So he asks random guy to take his seat and continues with the presentation.

"These are the next slides. I'll go through them quickly."

Then he goes through at least 20 slides at more than 1 slide per second. He knows by now that it's pointless talking anymore. Soon he's done and then he introduces his team. What was really amusing was that all his colleagues had monosyllablic names and all were rhyming. Or maybe he just pronunced them that way. Then while leaving, one of his lady colleagues - a dainty little woman - turns around and says 'Bye!' in a voice that reminded me of my 4 year old sister. All of us promptly waved at her and reciprocated.

What followed was non-stop laughter. By far the funniest thing to have happened to us in days.

First rains

2008-06-05T21:12:00.002+05:30

There's always something special about the first time it rains. After a hot, tiring and seemingly endless summer, the long-awaited clouds finally take over and eclipse the red hot sun. And then, finally, the heavens open. Standing with your arms wide open and getting drenched in these rains is truly an ethereal feeling.

I make it a point to be out in the open whenever the skies open up for the first time. I just love the rains and have ensured that I enjoy the first rains every year. First I just stand beneath the grey skies with arms open, later all of us friends get together and play a game of football. This the time when we actually get to slide around on the ground, in fact we celebrate each goal with a long slide on our chests. That is so much fun! In fact it is the fun we have during goal celebrations that encourages us to score more goals. And once we are done with playing, waht generally follows is a plate (or rather lots of plates) of steaming hot bhaji.

I guess this year was the first time that I was in Pune during the first rainfall. Life wasnt exactly great and I had been morose all day. But then it rained. And all the pain and all the darkness fell away from me. I felt fresh, invigorated and full of hope. I knew that everything would turn out to be fine, and that sitting inside and watching the others play was the last thing that I should be doing. So I got out of the building and opened my arms to welcome the rains. Never have I felt better.

Unfortunately I was in my trousers, so I decided against playing football. But first rains without hot bhajis just doesn't work. So me and my friends went out, still getting drenched, and had a couple of hot vada pavs. Never has a vada pav tasted better!

While walking back, I saw a lot of people standing close to each other under bus stands, protruding roofs and tin sheds. All of them trying to ensure that they don't get even a drop of rainwater on them. All of them were looking at us with contempt. I really pity those fools.

Test Match Cricket : You beauty!

2008-05-29T02:20:00.004+05:30

Teams overcoming a large first innings deficit and winning. Batsmen adapting to the conditions by playing very cautiously. Fast bowlers producing great spells to rattle the batsmen. Spinners toiling away for hours, casting their webs and waiting for the batsmen to fall into their trap. Out of form batsmen striking form by showing a lot of application. Batsmen getting struck on the head and heroically returning to bat. The game being played hard, but still within the limits of gentlemanly behaviour.
Test Match cricket is back at last! Where have you been darling? I really missed you a lot.

What's the best way to learn good english?

2008-05-29T01:04:00.005+05:30

As I was clearing out my bedroom recently, I came across a few old and very dusty notebooks. On opening them, they turned out to be my Std X English notebooks. All of them were filled with a large number of seemingly pointless letters. Basically there were letters addressed to newspaper editors complaining about the lack of proper and clean water supply, the irregular power supply, potholes in the road, traffic issues, complaints against late night revelers, lack of sufficient interaction between people and the government, the nuisance of stray dogs and other such creative topics. Just made me wonder why on earth do we learn to write such letters, since nobody is actually going to write them in real life, unless of course you are 80 years old and have nothing to do. Can't students spend time reading some good literature which will definitely improve their language and ensure that they have fun as well? Or is it compulsory for schools to make the subject as boring as possible and remove from it the tiniest amount of fun that the student might derive from studying it? My father studied in a convent school as well, and he keeps telling me how their Headmaster - a priest called Father McGrath (no known relation with Glen, this guy was Irish) - made their subject a lot more interesting by making them read a lot of stuff outside of standard prescribed textbooks. As a result of this my father developed a great love for the language, which can still be seen today. Even today, forty years after he left school, he occasionally recalls a poem that he had read when in school and though he doesn't remember the words too well, he remembers the theme of the poem and it's background. Now that clearly shows how dedicated a student he was. In comparison, I don't think any of todays school kids will be able to recall anything like that forty years on. In fact, I am pretty sure that if you mention reading stuff beyond the textbooks, they will argue with you saying that they do so, and promptly point to the nearest copy of 'Navneet's Digest'.

Other than that I also noticed something very peculiar. I had used a lot of phrases and idioms needlessly. I never did anything quietly, I always did it without a word. Just as I was always 'as cool as a cucumber' whenever I found myself 'in a pickle'. But even back then, I didn't like the idea of using such superfluous phrases. I always wanted to concentrate on writing something meaningful, something interesting and something which is only as long as it should be. But my teachers 'were aghast' when they heard of this and immediately asked me to 'mend my erroneous ways'. According to them, writing was all about using fancy words and phrases; comprehensibility and precision were qualities to be abhorred and not worshipped. That was something I absolutely hated to do, but as my notebooks show, I finally gave up and submitted to their diktat.

Even today I don't really understand the need of using fancy language while writing. It's all right if you use words which may be unfamiliar but nevertheless are precise and contextually important. But if you start using fancy words just for the heck of it, you are only limiting the number of people who can understand your writings and that is definitely undesirable. But that of course, is just my opinion.

Finally, before ending, I'd like to mention one last thing that I noticed from my old notebooks. The stuff I wrote was pretty bad. Though I never made any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, most of my writing was basically chaotic, unorganised and without any purpose. So it seems that my writing skills have improved over the years, the credit of which, at least in part, goes to this blog. So expect more of such long and involved posts in the future.

CAT 08

2008-05-22T12:48:00.004+05:30

The most important thing for me in the coming months is the CAT which would be sometime around November. And I have started off with my preparations for it, albeit a bit late.
So just to try something new, I shall be posting my SimCAT scores on my blog. Hopefully, the fear of public humiliation might lead me to study harder. So here it goes:

May 18 : SimCAT 1
I screwed up! These three words basically sum up my exam. For the first time ever I managed not to finish a CAT paper and that was really bad. I screwed up big time in Verbal, which is generally my forte, did okay in Maths but definitely need to improve. As for DI, it was a pretty good attempt from my side, much better than my last few papers. So let's hope the performance curve keeps pointing upwards.

Scorecard:
Verbal Maths DI Overall
Percentile 97.36 96.76 90.58 98.42
Score 32 35 39 106
Cut-off 28 31 45 113

So, basically, I'm yet to clear the DI cut-off and unfortunately I failed to clear the overall cut-off too. Let's hope I clear them both next time around. That will tell me where I actually stand as I shall receive an All-India ranking if I clear all cut-offs.

(Key : SimCAT : A mock CAT exam conducted by IMS
DI : Data Interpretation)

And in more football news...

2008-05-22T12:43:00.003+05:30

Leeds United are one step away from re-entering the championship! After overcoming a first leg deficit to overcome Carlisle 3-2 on aggregate, Leeds just need to beat Doncaster in the play-off at Wembley on Sunday to re-enter the championship. It's been a hard season for Leeds with the 15-point penalty, but winning on sunday might just rekindle hope in the hearts of all Leeds fans.

(Though I hope they do better than the last time they played a play-off, which was when they lost 3-0 to Watford in May 2006)

Three cheers for Chelsea!

2008-05-22T12:20:00.003+05:30

Since shifting to the hostel three years ago, one thing that I have really missed is watching football. Even though my favourite club is no longer in the EPL, I still like to watch a few games, and since almost all my friends support Man U, it turns out that I end up watching a lot of Man U games. But unlike all my friends, I am not a Man U supporter. So let me try to analyse yesterdays game from the POV of a Chelsea supporter.
Yesterday's match was one I really wanted to see. I had missed the champions league final for 3 years in succession and was not going to miss this one. Especially since this was between two teams with an intense rivalry of late.
As you all know by now, Man U won on penalties. They did outplay Chelsea in the 1st half but Chelsea fought back superbly and managed to dominate the rest of the game. They created some great chances, with Lampard & Drogba both rattling the frame of the goal. Petr Cech as usual was outstanding and was the chief reason why the Londoners were only a goal down before they scored. Even Lampard and the two Coles - Joe & Ashley - turned in brilliant performances.
But my heart goes out to John Terry. He made an outstanding reflex save to deny Ryan Giggs in his record breaking 759th appearance for Man U. He was great throughout the game and led by example. But as it so often happens, the hero of the match is the villain of the shootout. So it is a great tragedy that he ended up missing the penalty that could have won Chelsea the title especially because he lost his lost his footing while taking the kick (despite that he didn't send the ball high into the stands which an ex-Man U player infamously did). He certainly did not deserve this.
Most people will argue that Man U have been better this season than Chelsea but we must acknowledge the spirit of the Chelsea team. They got over the sacking of Mourinho and out of nowhere re-entered the title race very late into the season and almost snatched it from Man U. And they also finally managed to enter the Champions League final. It has been a good season for them, despite the fact that they have no silverware to show for it. I really hope that Avram Grant stays on as he has done a very good job. Same for players like. This season Chelsea might have been denied by a Man U team that was on a dream run seemingly throughout but next year might just be Chelsea's year.

The Return of the King

2008-05-20T09:36:00.002+05:30

This has to be the best news that I have heard in a very long time :

Warne considering Ashes comeback

I can already hear Michael Vaughan uttering the choicest of swear words in his northern accent.

Summer Reading

2008-05-10T23:32:00.004+05:30

The holidays are always a good time to catch up on a bit of reading. And the long holidays that I am facing now are no exception. And to get through them I have already got a few books which should last me through the endless days when I have nothing to do. They are as follows:

1. Good Omens (Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman) : I'm already halfway through the book and its damn good. Note to self: Read more of Pratchett & Gaiman

2. Malgudi Days (RK Narayan) : Has been lying with me for ages. Hope to start soon.

3. Night Watch (Terry Pratchett) : The only Discworld novel that I could lay my hands on in BCL. I know its not the first in the series by any means, but after reading Good Omens, I really took the above mentioned self-addressed note seriously.

4. The long dark tea time of the soul(DNA) : Wanted this one for quite some time. Anything by DNA has to be good.

5. Crime & Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky) : One of the all time greats, as they say. I haven't actually read many of these 'classics', so lets see how it turns out.

6. Beyond a Boundary (CLR James) : Widely acclaimed to be the best book ever written on cricket, this book shall be the next chapter in my cricketing education which has been side-tracked of late.

And most importantly,
7. How to prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for the CAT (Arun Sharma) : Got it from Abhishek yesterday. Started with chapter one today. I know this doesn't actually fit here, but who the hell cares.

P.S : Since we are on the topic of books, this is a gentle reminder to all those of you who have borrowed books from me and haven't returned them for ages. Please do so soon.

Greatest of all time

2008-04-26T01:10:00.003+05:30

It must have been Circa 1998. Shane Warne had just had a major shoulder operation and people doubted whether he would ever be back at his best. He took 20 wickets in the World Cup next year, including back-to-back Man of the Match awards in the semis and finals.
Move ahead to 2003. Warne tested positive for a banned substance and was banned from cricket for a year. Everybody said his career was over, after all he was 33. He came back stronger and better (if that is possible) and went on to become the highest wicket-taker in Test history.
After retirement he joined the IPL. It's only for the money everyone said. He won't ever take it seriously. But the Rajasthan Royals counted on him. They made him captain and coach. And then, he first took 3 wickets against the Kings XI Punjab and followed it up with a mind blowing show of hitting under pressure against the Deccan Chargers.
In between, he captured the imaginations of millions of fans throughout the world (including myself) through his amazingly accurate and hard to pick bowling. He almost single handedly revived the dying art of leg spin bowling. No batsman ever felt comfortable facing him. In fact, I'm pretty sure England might have considered giving a national holiday the day he announced his retirement. Ditto for South Africa.
We all know he had his drawbacks, but that made him all the more human and all the more endearing to me. In fact, there's nothing that can end or even decrease my Warne obsession. Warne's poster still adorns the door of my wardrobe.
Yesterday's match against the Deccan Chargers proved an old adage all over again - never take it easy if you are up against Shane Warne. He may be bowling, batting or even fielding, it doesn't matter. It's just his presence that totally changes everyting. And also proved another old saying - Nothing is Impossible, especially for Shane Warne.
So move aside Pele, Maradona, Ali, Fangio, Bradman and Bubka. There's only one person who's the Greatest of all Time. It's the one your batting coach warned you about. Go Shane!

What I think of during exams

2008-04-18T21:40:00.002+05:30

If you ever catch me deep in thought with a book in my hand during the exams, do not deceive yourself into believing that I'm studying. What I'm actually doing is making up stuff like this:

I'm waiting in my cold room when the bell begins to chime
Reflecting on my past day and it doesn't have much time
Cos at 2 o'clock they take me to the exam hall
The sands of time for me are running low

When the teacher comes to take my blank sheet
I take a look through the bars at the last sights
Of a paper that has gone very wrong for me

Can it be there's some sort of error?
Hard to stop the surmounting terror
Is it really the end not some crazy dream?

Yeah - e - yeah - e - yeah
May I be all clear again!

Dil Chahta Hai

2008-04-13T01:37:00.003+05:30

Saw Dil Chahta Hai for the umpteenth time today. And it never gets boring, no matter how many times you see it. And I notice something new every time I see it. This time was no different. So, all you people who consider yourselves to be DCH buffs, answer this one - What is the full name of Saif Ali Khan's character in the movie? Put your answers as comments; lets see who gets it right. Answer in a week's time.

What single book is the best introduction to your field for laypeople?

2008-04-08T21:31:00.002+05:30

This has to be the most useful link that I have put up on the blog till date. Do go through it if you are interested in learning anything new, ranging from Quantum Physics to Pottery.

Link courtesy India Uncut.

Pune Times - news you just can't use

2008-04-07T02:15:00.002+05:30

I always used to wonder why on earth does Pune Times publish such mindless crap like what happened in a certain disco on some goddamn weeknight. All such articles are basically the same - they mention the club's name, the DJ who played (who usually has a corny name) and that it was a rocking night. Of course, there are also a few pics of some unknown people who seem to be extremely overjoyed by the fact that they are being captured on lens ( O My God! Pune Times! Really? )
But today PT managed to sink lower than before. Here is an article from today's paper, as it appears:

'The house was on fire'
The night simply kept getting fierce as the DJ kept spinning hot numbers one after the other at a popular club in the city. It was a party to be at, as the party animals couldn't have asked for more. The dance floor was ablaze with the crowd shaking its leg to the beats of the music. Guys and girls both had a rocking time.

Along with the article was the photo of an extremely dumb guy and a dumber chick.

Now can somebody please tell me why on earth was the article there? It didn't mention the club's name, so definitely not for publicity. No DJ's name, so nothing there. No celebrity. Nothing! Basically it just tells us that somewhere in the city some people were dancing in a nightclub to some music played by some DJ. Now what's so great about that? Don't people do this everyday at all night clubs? How is this supposed to be of any help to anybody (except the couple in the pic maybe, but they look so bad that even they are no better off)? Or did I miss something? Or am I just too dumb to be actually worrying about stuff they print in PT?
No wonder I use the paper only for killing bedbugs without getting my hands bloody.

Small joys

2008-03-31T00:39:00.003+05:30

Yesterday night I was finally able to sleep peacefully, without bedbugs disturbing me every single minute and then waking up to find bites all over my body. It was pure bliss! And after this rest, I had a bath with steaming hot water. Ah! Has to be the best possible start to a Sunday morning.
It's only at the hostel that you realise the value of such small things.
And now, for some more free sleep..

The end of an era

2008-03-28T02:28:00.004+05:30

Just when I had thought that internet censorship on the hostel server had hit rock bottom with the banning of sites like Cricinfo & ESPNStar.com , comes an unexpected relief. The era of stupid censorship is over and now I can freely access my orkut account and download videos from YouTube without having to use a gazillion proxy servers. More importantly I can visit the website of the Middlesex Cricket Club myself * and thats a great relief.
Along with the freedom, however, has come a warning. All those downloading or watching porn will be strictly punished. I, for one, welcome this because the new system still (hopefully) manages to keep a track of the amount of porn being downloaded and also helps innocent users like me to use the web without any restraints. And now I shall say something I never thought I'd say, "Long Live the COEP Web Administrator".

*- I wanted to download the Middlesex CC logo from their website. However the site was blocked by the url filter as the url contained the letters 'sex'. Hence I had to ask Gadre to download it and then mail it to me. Other perfectly harmless sites that were effectively blocked were Sensex and the dictionary.com page for sextant. How all this prevented downloading of porn still beats me.

P.S: I would also like to take this chance to thank, and bid farewell to, the following sites which have been good friends in the past but whom I shall not be visiting anymore:
1. stupidcensorship.com
2. backfox.com
3. safelizard.com
4. safehazard.com
5. KProxy
and most importantly,
6. calculatepie.com - the first proxy server I ever used. You showed me the path to enlightenment. I am greatly indebted to thee.

Valu

2008-03-23T02:05:00.002+05:30

I happened to see Valu in a movie theatre in Nashik. I had heard of the movie but never even thought of watching it (this is my standard response to all marathi movies). But then the director of the movie, Umesh Kulkarni, came as the chief guest (along with a very good looking Sonali Kulkarni) to the Gymkhana Day function in our college and he seemed to be a decent likeable chap and hence I decided to watch the movie.
The movie was decent, very slow at times, but it did have its share of funny moments. The locations were great and so were the characters. The movie has a nice feel to it, even though it never approaches greatness. The story was nice and refreshing and it had a pretty good cast, all of whom gave a good performance, especially Atul Kulkarni who is easily one of the best actors in the country.
But what I learned from the movie was that not all marathi movies are the vulgar slapstick comedy types starring Bharat Jadhav and/or Ashok Saraf (even though 90% of them are) and that I should start watching more marathi movies (this was only the 4th marathi movie that I have seen in a theatre and possibly my 7th or 8th overall). So next on the list is Checkmate...

Jaane bhi do yaaro....

2008-03-23T01:54:00.002+05:30

Another movie which I should have seen long long long ago but only managed to see it yesterday. I had been trying to get a copy of the movie from my friend (read Yasho) since ages but he kept on forgetting it all the time. Finally I found a VCD of it in the most unlikely places imaginable - my own home. Turns out Dad is a great fan of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro too. And after watching the movie, I am totally with him on this one.
I wont bother with a review as I am sure all of you have seen the movie. But I was just wondering, what went wrong with Kundan Shah? His next film was 10 years later - Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na- which was another movie I really liked. But then after another 7 year hiatus, all he could come up with were movies like Kya Kehna, Hum to Mohabbat Karega, Dil Hai Tumhaara and the immensely forgettable Ek se badhkar Ek? Surely there's something wrong there.

My take on MindSpark

2008-03-20T11:13:00.003+05:30

This is in reply to Aditya's tirade against the MindSpark organisers.

Dear Aditya,
I agree with you about the certificates part. Even we organisers haven't received our certificates yet. And what is really stupid is that people like me who were a part of two events have been told that we get certificates for one event only. So I'd like to take this chance to show the middle finger to all the chief organisers of MindSpark.
But then it is unfair to say that MindSpark shouldn't have taken place. You were lucky in the sense that your dept had a fest of it's own. But what about people like us who had no fests organised by the dept? MindSpark gave us all a chance to organise a grand event and it was something we really wanted to do. Then again, MindSpark, purely as an event was way bigger than Fervor was, despite this being it's inaugural year. The Mech Dept had some sort of monopoly over event organising as Fervor was obviously the biggest of the various fests we had. But MS obviously brought an end to that monopoly which left some of you guys dissatisfied. However, as we know, the end of a monopoly invariably results in something good, and the same applies here. And if you guys can't tolerate the fact that there are people in college who can also do a good or rather a better job of organising events than MESA, then it's too bad. For you I mean.
I would also like to point out that overall, as an event, MS was great. Way better than Fervor ever was. And the fact that it is the college's official joint fest instead of merely being a departmental fest gives it a certain special status. COEP is a big brand, especially in Pune and hence to capitalise on it is very essential. This is the reason why MS got a lot of participation from colleges like IIT-B and various other outstation colleges. These people wouldn't have participated if it was just another departmental event. The other day I was sitting idly in my CAT class (one of the few places where I'm actually quiet most of the time) and I overheard a conversation between a few girls who were discussing engineering college fests. And all of them unanimously agreed that MS was by far the best college fest and that the organisation was great. That shows that MS is a great success and that there is no valid reason for not staging it.
I agree that in some of the minor matters like distribution of certificates etc MS has suffered from a few problems. But then again, this was the first year. Next year's organisers will have a year's experience to help make things better and I'm sure the next MS will be even better. So pointing out small mistakes is all right but it is wrong to question the staging of the whole event which is an undoubted success.

P.S: As to the question of certificates, I loved the manner in which the organisers of Zest handled it. By the time the prize distribution ceremony was over, ALL the certificates - winners, runners up and participants - were ready and so were the cash prizes. And remember, teams in Zest have 15-16 members in their squad and giving out certificates to all of them, before the event is over is quite a big deal. Let's hope MS can take a leaf out of Zest's book and do it better next time.

Thanks,
Aniket

A Few Things I've learnt

2008-03-15T21:14:00.002+05:30

1. Aundh is in Pune. It's not miles and miles away as I used to think before. Hence I'll no longer give Gadre concession for turning up late.
2. Chinchwad is still not in Pune. Nor is Bharati Vidyapeeth or PICT.
3. Apocalypse Now is an amazing movie! And 'The End' by The Doors is an amazing song.
4. I never do any work unless it's a real emergency. Actually, everything before 'unless' is also true 90% of the time.
5. Watching movies on my PC sucks. Especially at night.
6. Brown Blazers suck. Especially if you have to compulsorily buy them.
7. College food sucks. Believe me, I've had dinner in college about a dozen times and it's never any good.
8. College quizzes suck. Yet I shall continue to attend all of them. Even in godforsaken places like Rajarshi Shahu College of Engineering.
9. I have nothing to blog about.
10. The word 'suck(s)' has appeared four time in this post. Which is bad. That sucks.

A Matter of Loyalty

2008-03-07T00:44:00.001+05:30

This is my latest for iSport.

Cheap Thrills

2008-03-03T01:29:00.004+05:30

I have found a great way of having some fun without troubling anyone. I had signed up on facebook some time back because my girlfriend insisted that I do so. I was bored of it by the third day, and I'm totally uninterested by now. Hence what I do now is this - I wait for a few days and then log in to facebook. On logging in I see at least 40 new requests pertaining to all kinds of crap. Recently facebook has added an" ignore all" button. So I click on it and watch happily as all those useless requests disappear and I feel like I'm laughing in the face of all those who had sent me those requests. Believe me, it's a great thrill!

The Two Times of Indias

2008-02-23T00:51:00.002+05:30

Can somebody explain how on earth is it that two guys living in the same building, albeit on different floors, get two different versions of the Times of India?
The TOI dated 22nd February, 2008 or rather the one I got has the headlines 'US Shoots Down Rogue Satellite' & 'Suspects use RTI to prove innocence'. Whereas another edition of the same newspaper, with the same date has a graphic of the spy satellite shooting and a headline that reads 'Icons a drag, say IPL bidders'. And that's not all, although most pages are identical, there are occasional differences in the inner pages with different stories featuring in different editions. And surprisingly this isn't the first time it has happened.
Now how did that happen?

The long dark exam time of the engineering soul

2008-02-20T02:18:00.003+05:30

I have a paper tomorrow (actually, today) at 1600 hrs. It's 0230 hrs and I'm still trying to get my concepts about the subject cleared. I've already referred three textbooks (or "reference" books) and haven't found a proper explanation. The only guy who could probably explain it all to me is mostly fast asleep. Hence I'm online, rummaging through IEEE papers (thank you dear college for providing us with this facility) trying to find the answer. Maybe I'll find the answer somewhere.
But one thing is for sure. t < 24 hours before the exam is not exactly the best time to get your concepts cleared. This has to be done well in advance. For which, the textbook has to be opened well in advance. Which I never do and I don't think I ever will.
Aniket, my son, when will you learn?

(P.S: The hot topic for tonight's search is a certain compression algorithm called the Lempel Ziv algorithm. If you are reading this and its not yet 1600 hrs and you know something about it, call me up for God's sake!)

Old Memories

2008-02-12T23:51:00.000+05:30

Thanks to my Dad being in the Army I did quite a bit of moving around in my childhood. I was born in Uttaranchal and have since lived in Kashmir, Punjab, UP, Assam & Maharashtra. Unfortunately for me I was too young to have detailed memories of my time in these places except for the last two. And while I enjoyed my days in Maharashtra, I'll never forget the two years I spent in Dinjan, Assam.
Dinjan is a small village which comes on the state highway joining Tinsukia & Dibrugarh. As a village, Dinjan is very tiny. It basically consists of just one street called Tinali - that's all. There's nothing more to it. Fortunately, the army cantonment that we lived in was much bigger. And by much bigger I mean an area much smaller than Pune Cantonment. I'm telling you, it's a totally different scale for big and small out there.
I loved everything about Dinjan. I still remember the first time I arrived in Assam. It was so green! The endless greenery was really soothing to the eyes! And later, when it got dark, I could see literally hundreds of fireflies roaming around in the endless tea-gardens. No place could have made a better first impression!
Since it was so far east, Dinjan had really early mornings. I still remember getting up at around 5 to play cricket during the holidays. And the rain was terribly heavy. You had to spend entire days at home during the rains. There was a small river which used to flow near our place. During summers it used to dry out completely but as soon as the monsoon arrived the water would be almost chest high! The older guys used to cross the river and go to the other side at times, but being a kid, I was never allowed to do so (However, I did cross it once and it gave me an unbelievable high).
For a small place, there was a lot happening in Dinjan. There was an Army Aviation base nearby and once they had caught a leopard there. I still remember going all the way there just to see a leopard. But I remember the base for a lot more than that - it was also the place where I got a chance to sit inside a helicopter. And what a great thrill that was! There was also a small tent nearby which used to house a few soldiers who would stand guard against any possible attacks by the ULFA - a terrorist organisation that was known to create nuisance in those parts. And the fact was that our's was the first house after the tent. So if the soldiers ever lost to the ULFA, we would be the immediate next targets! Believe me, that gave me a lot of sleepless nights. Fortunately the ULFA never attacked (or rather the soldiers always won - thats what I believed) and hence I was able to live there peacefully. And yes there was another reason for sleepless nights - the sound of laughing hyenas in the background. It was pretty loud and took some time adjusting to.
One of the best things about Dinjan was it's movie theatre - Jhankaar. That was where I saw the hits of the 90s. I remember going to Jhankaar almost all the time, after all the ticket cost a mere 7 bucks and the seats were good too. And right in front of Jhankaar was a real-life steam locomotive engine, I think it was called Puffing Billy or something like that. It was really an ancient relic - it was made in 1934 if my memory serves me right. I spent quite a few afternoons playing around on the engine, laughing, singing and shouting. Unfortunately I have since forgotten all those songs.
I used to love my school a lot too. Army School, Dinjan. I still remember our motto - Truth is God. Like all things there, even the school was pretty small and had classes from Nursery to Std VII only. We had a nice ground and I that was the place where I first started playing cricket regularly. So I can actually say that my cricket originated on the village greens and not in the side-alleys of a crowded city. I was the captain of my class team back in those days and was a pretty handy all-rounder. However the star of my team was a guy called Ravi Kumar Sahar. He was a fast bowler and believe me, bowling overarm and that too fast at that age ( I was 8) was quite an achievement! I also remember scoring my first goal there, football was pretty big too in our school. Other sports I played included Kabaddi (which I sucked at) and a lot of Chungi. Now that was a very interesting sport and was quite a craze back then. The Chungi consisted of a number of rubber rings tied together. The rubber rings being the cross-sections of the cycle tyre tube - a commodity which was easily available. And the sport consisted of kicking the Chungi into the air using your foot - the one who does it the maximum number of times won. There were quite a few Chungi champs in our school. I've seen guys kicking it 500+ times. I would have loved to say that I was amongst them but the fact was that I sucked at it. My personal best was a measly 84 and that put me in the category of total losers. The Chungi champs were the real stars back then, we all used to look up to them and used to dream of equaling their feats some day. However, the school administration was strictly against Chungi and later actually banned it in school. We even heard stories from our teachers about how some kid died thanks to a cancer which he contracted by playing Chungi excessively and how Chungi was the root of all evil. But that somehow never stopped us. I guess there was a rebel in me even back then. I remember taking on the school authorities even back then, and that too over the slightest of matters. And I must say I did make a difference, after all it's hard to ignore the class topper - which I was back then.
And another great skill came to the fore in Dinjan - I became known as a quizzer. I had taken part in quizzes in Nashik before that, at the tender age of 7. But it was in Dinjan that I became really famous as a quizzer. We used to have school assemblies every morning in which somebody would come and ask GK questions. The questions were divided into 2 groups - Std I to IV and Std V to VII. And despite being in Std IV, I used to answer all the questions which even the older guys couldn't answer. In fact it soon became so common that the quizmaster would really feel great if I missed one of his questions and would actually boast about it for days after that. All that really made me a star and the teachers were very proud of me!
I also had great friends in Dinjan. Me, Samarth, Anand, Venkat & Aniruddha used to hang out all day, doing lots of crazy stuff. Dinjan was also the place where I had my first big crush and that made it all the more special. I happened to meet all these guys a few years after we left Dinjan and all of us had fond memories of Dinjan. And I also met my ex-crush on Orkut and it felt really nice when she actually remembered me :).
I felt really bad the day I left Dinjan. Not that it was a surprise, I had known that the day would come for a very long time. But the mere thought of leaving all my friends, the lovely school, the great hangouts and all the greenery made me feel really sad. And that summer's day in 1998, a small, cute and very teary eyed boy made a promise to himself - that one day he would return to Dinjan and relive his childhood memories. And some day, I intend to do just that.

P.S. : The reason why I was reminded of my Dinjan days was Shamanth's recent post made from Dibrugarh. That guy's really enjoying himself!

A warm welcome...

2008-02-11T22:09:00.000+05:30

... to my classmate Ashish into the wide world of blogging. Like in everything he does, Ashish seeks perfection in blogging too. So he spent the last few days in figuring out how the whole thing works and finally he's started blogging here.
And for those of you who know Ashish as merely the E & TC topper, there's much more to him than that. He is a really good poet and has published a book of his poems. His latest poem is one of his best and one of my favourites. Carry on Ashish!

Grindhouse & Aleatory - the quizzing sunday.

2008-02-11T21:08:00.000+05:30

Yesterday was a thoroughly enjoyable affair. It started off with me getting up late and arriving late for my own quiz. So late in fact that Sneha, Yasho, Harish and a few participants were already there, not to mention the ever-reliable Ramanand. The only solace I had was the fact that Gadre arrived after me.
Both me and Gadre had been looking forward to this quiz since ages. We had been setting questions for it last September I guess, even before we started working on Chakravyuh. What had started off then as a general college quiz eventually become a sports open quiz. Not that we mind, since it gave both of us a genuine excuse to surf all our favourite sporting sites. The most surprising thing about the creation of the quiz was that we were never found slacking. Everything was done on schedule and the questions were ready well before schedule. I guess this shows that when you really love something a lot, you don't need extra encouragement to do a good job. This reaffirmed the notion that setting quizzes is a lot more fun that just attending them, something I learned when we were working on Chakravyuh. It is also the best way to increase your knowledge and thus become a better quizzer. Hopefully I'll learn from all this and start conducting quizzes regularly at the BC.
Coming back to the quizzing sunday. The elims turned out to be very easy, maybe a bit easier than we thought. Strangely, all the top-scoring teams missed out on the sitters that we had put in to make the quiz more junta-friendly (namely Zidane & Hamilton). All the good teams qualified for the finals with the only surprise being the non-qualification of Rohit & Rohit, considering the fact that they were school quiz champs and all. Sports quizzes have always been places where college students met open teams on an equal footing. Even that proved to be true as three of the six finalists turned out to be college teams.
The finals followed, starting with 'Nutmegged' which was Gadre's quiz. The questions were really good and I guess well liked by the participants as well as there were very few 'Aw come on!'s during the quiz. The surprise package turned out to be the team of Yash Marathe & Keyur as they took an early lead beating other experienced teams. After that were the fake trailers and then my feature which modesty forbids me from commenting on (actually, screw modesty, I think it was good). A few of my questions went unanswered. Believe me, as a quizmaster, no feeling can match the feeling you get when one of your questions goes unanswered and then, like a magician, when you finally reveal the answer you get lots of applause along with Ooohs and Aaahs from the audience. I shall forever cherish these moments!
The early leaders, Yash & Keyur ended up winning the quiz comfortably beating the likes of Harish, Samrat & Anand (who gave some amazing answers). The best thing was that all the BCQC folks loudly clapped for these young guys and greatly encouraged them throughout the quiz. The BCQC folks always encourage newbies a lot and this quiz was no different. Lets hope we hear more of them in the future, especially Yash.
Then came Aleatory - the afternoon quiz conducted by Salil & Anna. My partner for the quiz was BCQC's new signing for this season - Venkat. I must say that I really underestimated Venkat's quizzing abilities, he seemed to be too funny a guy to be really good at serious quizzing. In fact, before we started I didn't even expect to qualify. But as soon as the elims began, we were on a roll. No question seemed to be too hard for us and the few we couldn't answer directly, we got by good old detective work (and I mean working out from the clues). So from being possible non-qualifiers, we actually ended up topping the elims! And that meant beating teams like Samrat & Meghshyam, Anand & Vibhendu, Aditya & Niranjan & Sumant & Rishi. Anand congratulated me on stage after topping the elims and that felt really great! However, like all good things our time had to end. We had an average finals and ended up finishing 4th, with Venkat giving a few great answers. But I must say I thoroughly enjoyed my first BCQC Open finals since last May. It was definitely worth the wait though.
So this means I've made a good start to the quizzing season. Let's hope it continues in the Cricinfo Cricket Quiz & the AFMC Sports Quiz. And yes, before I end, a special mention - Thank You Sneha for coming to the quiz. It meant a lot to me. And I know that you were very bored but thanks for staying awake throughout. Love you lots!

Quiz-o-mania!

2008-02-06T00:14:00.000+05:30

Last week: Took part in an unknown quiz at VIT. Won't bother repeating how terrible the quiz was. Got first prize - 100 bucks. I know this sucks, but I don't mind - it was my first quizzing bounty for this season. And coming in February, it's about time too!

Today (6th Feb): Semifinals & hopefully finals of the quiz at PVG's COET. Elims were terrible so not expecting too much from the main quiz. Apparently the semis is another written affair so might as well call them round 2 of the elims. Didn't have any great expectations from the quiz or the college for that matter. My brother has told me stories of how people from this college when asked about their college's name say COET very quickly so that it sounds like COEP. You losers!
This will be followed by the quiz at SCMHRD (or Scumhard to make it easy) which I shall be conducting. Let's hope that goes well.

10th Feb: The big one. Grindhouse - the open sports quiz. A unique quizzing double feature conducted by me & Aditya Gadre (some call it the Khazu/Zizou double feature). What I like most about the quiz is the fact that I come on for the second half of the double feature. Which means that I emulate the great man, Quentin Tarantino himself. Have been working on this quiz for quite a while and think it might turn out pretty good. Followed by Salil & Anna's Aleatory which promises to be good too.

Ah! So many quizzes! It can't get better than this!

Update: Won the PVG quiz! Even the SCMHRD quiz went well. Didn't go to college at all. What a day!

So much for Deutsch

2008-01-30T23:08:00.000+05:30

The language column in my CV reads:

"Fluent in English, Hindi & Marathi. Basic knowledge of German"

Now I've never had too much faith in the first sentence, especially when it comes to my Hindi and Marathi. But when I come to think of it, the second sentence seems to be a great exaggeration to say the least. Despite my knowledge of German I consistently fail to answer quiz questions which feature German words. Or understand what the text stand for when I play 'Moorhun Jagd'. But all this while I thought that all this was just a coincidence - that I just happened to not know the German words mentioned in the question and that the creator of Moorhun Jagd possibly had a Ph.D in German as well. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case.
My new neighbour in Nashik happens to be a retire German journalist called Helmut. So I decided to meet him and chat with him for a while, just to brush up my German. This is how far I went:
Hallo!
Ich heise Aniket (I'm Aniket)
Ich bin dein Nachbarn (I'm your neighbour)
After this I just pointed towards my house and said "I live there". That was all the German I spoke with Helmut that night. Imagine, one year of learning German and at the end of it, all I'm good enough for is a couple of sentences. That really shows how basic my knowledge of German actually is. And makes me wonder what I was actually doing for the whole year when I was supposedly learning German. And if I can get my money back now.

Waiting for the 31st

2008-01-30T22:46:00.000+05:30

January hasn't been very kind to me. I've been broke for almost the whole month. The new semester has started and I have no idea of what I'm supposed to be studying. I've been hit by people. I had an accident on my bike. Somebody actually cut off the fuel pipe in my bike. As a result of which I had to push my bike for a distance of about 3-4 km. Something which I had to do again today because I ran out of petrol. And it has been bloody cold.
So I'm really looking forward to the 31st of January. I have a lot of good stuff scheduled for February. Just can't wait for this month to end. And in order to avoid further catastrophes I'm staying in college all day tomorrow. January sucks!

Goodbye Gilchrist

2008-01-29T20:49:00.000+05:30

You might be wondering why I haven't written anything about Adam Gilchrist's retirement from cricket, considering that he's one of my favourite cricketers. It's just that I have been in a state of total shock following his announcement and am yet to come to terms with the fact that I have seen him bat for the last time in Tests. And I also cannot forgive myself for having missed his last test innings. I was greatly saddened by Shane Warne's retirement but at least in his case I knew that the end was coming and hence had time to prepare myself. However, this came totally out of the blue and has caught me unprepared. Which explains why I did not want to talk about it till now.
So I'd like to take this chance to sincerely thank Adam Gilchrist for the unbounded joy that he gave me everytime he batted. And I wish him good luck for whatever he does further in life. We'll miss you a lot Adam :(

The place to be

2008-01-29T19:04:00.000+05:30

If you're in Pune and its winter, especially the chilly winter that we are experiencing now, the best place to be at 0230 hrs is the top of Sinhagad fort. The view is amazing, the weather is great - in fact its not even chilly up there and there's total freedom to do whatever you want. All you need is a gang of friends and a few bikes. Recommended for all those who are fed up of the daily routine.

Now how did I miss that one?

2008-01-26T20:04:00.000+05:30

The Australian Open Women's Singles Finals 2008 might well be the most viewed match ever in WTA history. After all, it featured two of Tennis' best pin-up girls - Maria Sharapova & Ana Ivanovic. Sharapova is my all-time favourite female tennis player, I have been following her since before her maiden Wimbledon triumph and even have had dreams featuring her. And Ana Ivanovic is another recent favourite. So you would expect me to be one of the millions who were watching the match on TV. However, I wasn't. I was too busy watching Hayden & Jaques hammering the Indian bowlers. Even the mere thought of switching over to Star Sports and watching the Tennis never occurred to me. Sigh! I guess some things never change..

Speed Demons

2008-01-25T22:52:00.000+05:30

Here's my latest for isport.in It's about India's newly discovered pace attack. Let's hope the same attack bowls out the Aussies tomo..

Mr. Vengsarkar, how could you?

2008-01-21T01:05:00.000+05:30

I agree that Indian cricket needs to plan for the future. And for this, young players need to be given a chance. But does that justify dropping the guy who was probably your best ODI player last year (he scored 1240 runs @44.28)? Come on!

A change in generation, but the same old advice

2008-01-13T21:52:00.000+05:30

I recently read an article by Charles Kortwright, the England fast bowler who played from 1893-1907 (he also claims to have bowled a delivery which pitched mid-wicket and went out of the ground on the first bounce thus conceding 6 byes), which was published in the 1948 edition of the Wisden Almanac. Now I wont give a link to the article here because I know none of you would be interested in reading it and even fewer would actually know who Charles Kortwright was. The article was very well written and consisted of some great advice for budding fast bowlers. However some parts of it immediately caught my attention for a completely different reason. Here are a few excerpts from the article -

"I have little patience with modern bowlers who condemn these shirt-front wickets and ask how can they be expected to get men out when the pitch will not help."

"I do not feel that young cricketers today are always prepared to take the trouble over their game that they should, possibly because there are so many counter attractions."

"Another encouragement which I would mention to bowlers and those aspiring to success with the ball is that they enjoy many advantages compared with those of the old days."

What is to be noted here is that the "old days" are the late 1800s and the early 1900s, while the "modern bowlers" are those who were bowling in the 1940s and 50s (or in short the people who nowadays crib about how good the old days were). So we can make the following observations:

a) Whenever you compare a modern player to an older one, the modern one is no good. Irrespective of what period either of them belongs to.

b) The next generation always has greater distractions and is always less keen to work hard (I really wonder what distractions the people in the 40s had).

c) The modern generation enjoys various advantages as compared to the older ones but yet they do not make full advantage of it.

d) The old times were hard. Much harder than today. Again, this statement is valid irrespective of the time-period.

So what this basically means is that everyone loves to hold on to his own time-period and to claim that people back then were much better, life was harder but people were still happier. And all this is irrespective of what time-period they belonged to. So I guess Nostalgia seems to be the defining human quality.

This also means that I shall keep all this in mind whenever I listen to an elderly person when he talks about the "old days" and hence think twice before taking his word for granted. And more importantly, it means that in all probability, sometime in 2060 I will be telling anybody who's willing to listen, "Ah the 2000s, those were the days!"

What to expect this year..

2008-01-13T00:53:00.000+05:30

You have GOT to read this! Unless of course you are either of Ramdev Baba, Rakhi Sawant or Shashi Tharoor.

Symonds ki Maa-ki..

2008-01-12T22:46:00.000+05:30

This is my second article for iSport. It is a bit more controversial than the first one and is kind of derogatory with respect to a certain chap whom I shall not name. As usual feel free to comment.

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T03:07:00.000+05:30

Here's wishing you all a very happy and prosperous new year. I tried calling all of you but the networks were jammed and hence couldn't get through. I promise to come up with a new excuse next year.

I shall now write no more about this topic since it has become too much of a cliche (actually I am just bugged and need to sleep).

Mood Indigo

2008-01-01T03:00:00.000+05:30

I have decided not to write about the quizzes, the concerts or in fact any other events at Mood Indigo 2007. That task is best left to others. My first Mood I was in 2005. And that one really rocked thanks to the live performances by Indian Ocean & Vayu. There were also a hundred other reasons why I loved that Mood I and I remember roaming around for days after the event, telling everyone I meet about how cool the whole event was. Two years on I am more subdued and hence I'm not jumping around and telling everyone about Mood I. However that is not the main difference between the two Mood Indigos for me. MI 2005 was about the events, while MI 2007 was more about the people. Especially a certain special girl. So irrespective of what others felt, I definitely had a blast at Mood I and can't wait for it next year.

What's in a name? Everything!

2008-01-01T02:11:00.000+05:30

This is my first article for isport.in . Writing about cricket seems to be a good way of putting to some use all the seemingly useless knowledge about the game that I have amassed in the last 11 years and also a good excuse to watch some more cricket. Hence I hope to write some more in the future.
Do give me your feedback about the article and while you are at it also go through the site. It's a great site for all sports lovers.

Hello! Is there anybody in there?

2007-12-24T20:02:00.000+05:30

For the past few hours I have been alone at the hostel. And by alone, I really mean it. There's absolutely nobody around me, in a place where I'm used to all sorts of loud noises. The solitude is somehow getting to me. I don't know what to do. There is just nothing happening around here. The distant thud of a slammed door and the barking of a dog are the only sounds that I get to hear. And even they are somehow reassuring, in fact, almost welcome. Why have I selected this seclusion? I do not know. But I guess I must enjoy this solitude as long as I can, for I shall be going to Mumbai for Mood Indigo tomorrow and I definitely won't be getting any solitude there. So might as well enjoy it as it lasts. And watch the video of Comfortably Numb once more...

Being Santa

2007-12-20T19:40:00.000+05:30

Of all the people you love as kids, one person definitely features very high up in the list - Santa Claus. All of us, for some time or the other have totally believed in the existence of Santa. In fact I used to believe in him till I was about 7-8 years old. But of course all of us grow of the I-believe-in-Santa period and then do not care much for him till maybe lots of years into the future when you would pretend to be Santa for your kids. For me however, going around this circle has taken very little time.
As some of you might be aware, my mother runs a nursery school. And over the last few years I have been involved with the school in a variety of roles ranging from sweeper to substitute teacher (but mostly as the computer expert). But today I donned a new role - I was Santa Claus! It wasn't easy I tell you, wearing a cushion inside the Santa pants so as to look fat, but it was definitely worth it. My job was pretty simple - ask the children their names and give them each a few chocolates. Needless to say they had a blast! They even ended up mobbing me towards the end! All this even brought a smile to my face - it just felt so good to be loved so much. I hope the children loved it and that they would believe in Santa Claus for some time more. After all , its important to believe in something .
And yes, before I leave, Greetings from Santa - Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas to you all!

I did it...

2007-12-05T18:35:00.000+05:30

I've done many crazy things in my life. In fact, it is one of my major, and most enjoyable, hobbies. And today I added another item to this ever-expanding list.

I saw No Smoking.

And I actually liked it.

And I seriously recommend the movie to anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

Check your traveller IQ

2007-11-30T22:13:00.000+05:30

Think you know a lot about the world? Think you're damn good at geography? Think you can locate any place in the world without a second thought? Well, if so, take the Traveller IQ test to check your traveller IQ. I scored a 115 in my first attempt. So what's your score?

Put your running shoes on

2007-11-30T21:01:00.000+05:30

That's right. This Sunday is the time to stop being lazy and to get some of that fat off your body. It's the 22nd Pune International Marathon. And do you know what is so special about this edition? This will be the first time that the AIDS Charity Run would be featuring - me!!!
So are you in or are you out?