Shock and Awe

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. 

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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...

.....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!

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

"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

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

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

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!

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?

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

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...

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!

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

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.