mediocre howl ( caricature of thoughts)

Gone with the 2000s

2009-12-21T17:43:00.001+05:30

Gone with the 2000s

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A weekend of sporting spectacle

2009-07-05T23:02:00.003+05:30

This weekend turned out to be the one of the most spectacular week in terms of sporting action both on and off the field.

The weekend started with the news of Owen joining ManU. This news comes as a relief to fans after the disappointment of missing out on Benzema. With this Sir Alex would be pleased that he has got one of his favorite players. May be not at best of forms but still Owen deserves a place at ManU and Sir Alex has awarded him a place in one of the biggest clubs in the world. This might turn out to be one of the biggest gambles that he has taken in his long career at ManU. But what it means to the fans is the spectacular sight of seeing Rooney play along side Owen. If Owen manages to come of the slump in form, then this combo of Owen and Rooney will surely guarantee many trophies.

The 2 semi finals were absolute beauty. As I started typing this I am watching the match go into the 5th set with each having 7 games against their name. I have been waiting to write about the winner of this spectacular match but these players have been matching each other in every department for the last 3.5 hrs. After his 2003 victory at US Open one would have expected Andy Roddick to be a major force with many more titles against his name. But unfortunately Andy has never been able to cross the final step. Andy is much like the South African cricket team which plays so well but somehow chokes at decisive moments. What else can you say about this guy with such a great serve and a wonderful overall game? And finally after 4.5 hrs Fedex has done in again. But I feel sorry for Andy, guy gave his best, but one should say WELL FOUGHT, HARD LUCK. Roger won the championship and Andy HEARTS.

Then there was India’s victory against the WI. Dhoni provided us with a glimpse of his big hits for which he was known until he took the mantle of captaincy. Dhoni playing the way he played is great news for the team and viewers.

RJ

IPL 2…Bye Bye Chennai .... courtesy Dhoni

2009-05-25T21:23:00.002+05:30

This season of IPL was better than the previous one. The tournament was not over till the last ball. This year the teams were more balanced and more or less it was a level playing field unlike last year.

Except for KKR, all teams were in fray till the last match. Sharukh should thank John for the tremendous work he has done in disintegrating the team. On paper I don’t think KKR was such a bad team but their downfall should be credited to one man John and his mighty support staff team. Imagine this you have 15 member squad and then you have a coaching staff of 9 people. Which other team on earth will have such a high ratio of coach to player. KKR probably had a coach for batting, getting out, bowling, fielding, misfielding, wicket keeping, and one for the 12^th man to train him to effectively get the drinks and accessories on field on time.

Chennai didn’t live up to the expectation and didn’t do justice to the talent they have. Dhoni is probably largely responsible for this bad show. His idea of having the middle order packed with all rounders was a good one, but not Oram. In every post and pre match interview Dhoni admitted that his team’s bowling was bad, but what did he do about that? Leave someone like Nitni in his home ground for Oram, no mate that’s not a way plug the hole. Dhoni was not his usual self in the season. If he was thinking about the world cup it’s good, but is there some other reason to it, only Dhoni can answer it.

My dream squad based on the performances this year:

Hayden, Gilli, Raina, Warne (vc), Dilshan, Yusuf, Kumble (C), Manish pandey, Rohit Sharma, RP singh, Sangakara, Yuvraj, Abhishek Nayar, Irfan Pathan, Virat Kohli/Ravindra Jadeja.

back from hibernation!!!

2009-04-26T23:17:00.005+05:30

It feels like eternity since I last scribbled something. This hibernation has been because of long hours of work these days, continues traveling in weekends and also some laziness that has crept into me these days. As it’s been long time and to make sure I don’t loose track of writing thought will scribble something about couple of things I love to see on weekends or rather at any given point of time at home. One of them is EPL and another of course cricket. To get back into groove of writing, will put in a quickie on why I love and hate IPL.

Why I feel IPL is good for cricket viewers and lovers like me and the game as a whole:

Don’t think there will be any other occasion where I will probably be cheering an Aussie for every 4 and 6 he hits. In my case its Hayden, he has been amazing so far in this season.
The entertainment value of cricket had diminished over the last few years. It’s IPL and T20 that has ensured cricket gets it back.
Cant imagine a situation when I will be praying for an Indian batsman to get out or bowl a bad ball.
This has brought in the city loyalty concept that was alien to Indian sports.
Where else can you see someone of the caliber of McGrath being dropped in favor of a lesser known player?
Where else can you see some player who is new to his national side sledging the captain of his country and that too twice his size :)
There is so much action on and off the field that it adds to the entertainment factor.
Matches get over in a jiffy. One can watch the match in the evening after office and still hit the bed on time.
What better entertainment during the hard Indian summer.
The matches are really unpredictable. Couple of good overs with bat or ball can change the result of the game.
Where else can you see a player slapping his national mate :)LOL.
And of course rival players from different national sides sharing the same dressing room. In my opinion this will make the matches played between national sides more interesting.

Enough of roses, shifting the focus on thorns:

With such enormous amount of money being pumped in, at times the game takes a beat and its more of a business venture. This will definitely spoil the fun involved in the game.
Commentators are such shameless creatures, even commentary greats like Harsha and Ravi cant get a sentence through without mentioning the sponsors of the tournament. Commentators are naming shots after a sponsor, imagine this one commentator repeatedly calls a six as a DLFer.
This crazy concept of strategic break is probably the worst thing to happen to the game. It robs the momentum of the game even in a format like T20.
At times the Glamor quotient brought in by team owners is irritating as they get more focus than the game. Shilpa having a conversation with Geoff or Raj, who the hell cares man... except for the camera man and few idiotic commentator.

In my opinion I think in years to come IPL needs more teams and a separate window to ensure all leading players are down there playing the tournament.

RJ

Is it emeregence of Newton's Third Law?

2008-10-30T18:28:00.005+05:30

An eye for eye is one of the oldest proverbs. This sounds good IF AND ONLY IF it is put into practice in a movie. A hero trying to take revenge on someone provides the necessary masala and an element of thrill, but movies should be the only place where the above said proverb should be put into practice.

It’s kind of disturbing to hear the word HINDU TERRORISM flashed across all channels and papers. Historically Indians are known for their tolerance and kindheartedness, though there have been very few incidents which do not support this statement. Any religious outfit playing its hand in terrorist activities is a cause for worry.

One thing about the whole incident is the word HINDU TERRORISM that gets mentioned in every sentence that is being reported on TV or on paper. With the kind of media explosion that India has witnessed over the last few years and with all the news channels and papers targeting the same story, this was the only word that I could hear across the media. This whole incident is blown out of proportion by media and few so called secular parties in India. News story around this will definitely help them raise their TRP and viewership, but at the other end this will also create hatred amongst different communities. With some many anti Indian outfits conducted blasts at will across India, a mentioned of terms like HT will kindle them for conducting more such activities.

This new word HT is mentioned just weeks after India’s “Most Powerful Lady” issued statement that terrorist are not from any single community and that you cannot associate terrorism to any particular religion. Well if that’s view of the most powerful lady in Indian politics, then I simply fail to understand how her own party members are endorsing this word coined by media. I am just left to wonder if this is what people call cheap politics. The only reason I can think of as to why the “secular parties” are using this word is for the simple reason that BJP and its allies seem to be better prepared to face the forthcoming elections. Hence it seems as though this is an attempt to reflect terror on the BJP. Its surprising to hear this new word of terrorism because, after so many evidences that proved attacks across the country were carried out by few association which are inclined towards one particular community/philosophy never did we hear a word “isl@#^&* terrorism” mentioned in the India media.

Let’s wait till the investigation is complete. But if it is proved that this act was carried out by a group as suggested now, then it’s a cause of worry. If that’s the case then it is the emergence of Newton’s Third Law which is not healthy for India. Let’s all pray that it’s not true and even if it is, let this be last time.

Longest blogging.. ooops scribbling break.

2008-10-13T16:45:00.003+05:30

It’s been nearly 4 months since I wrote my last blog. Probably this is the longest blogging break ever since I started scribbling a year back. There have been quite a few interesting events in this 4months of hibernation.

Initially I thought I will put down couple of lines about each of those in this blog, but then decided against that and I guess I will write in detail about each of them later. Just to get back into the groove of writing I will be scribbling on the week long hibernation that I managed to squeeze in last week in Chennai.

Over the last 3 weeks work and home had almost merged as I ended up working on Saturdays and holidays. The only reason I went home during that period was because my workplace didn’t have a room for me to hit the bed. Though those 3 weeks were physically taxing, it was a great experience in terms of the exposure I got working with few senior management people.

Last week though I managed to slip off from work and spend some quality time at home with my folks. When you are working at a place away from your house even one or two days you spend at home makes you feel good. But 5 whole days at home is a real luxury and I managed to have that last week. 5 days away from computers and work was a real relaxing experience.

Last 5 days at home were essentially spent catching up with few recently released Tamil movies, enjoying Mom’s food , spend some real quality time with my lil sis and visiting few temples in and around Chennai. Most enjoyable part was Mom’s food which was of top quality as always :)

With my sis getting into the crucial and busy time of preparing for her class 12 board exams this year, I guess this would be the last time, when I can spend some quality time with her before her exams. So in that sense this trip back home was very rewarding.

Of the movies I watched I think Saroja was the best amongst the lot. Though labeled a thriller this movie scores because its humor. The best part of the whole movie watching experience was the timing of the comedy scenes and the unexpected scenes in which they appeared. Generally comedy scenes are forcefully injected into the movie but the ease with which they formed a part of this movie was simply amazing.

On a whole this small break in Chennai was the best I have had in the last 2 years when I have been away from home.

Dasavatharam - Butterfly Effect & Kamal the great

2008-06-23T20:15:00.003+05:30

I watched Kamal’s Dasavatharam last Friday. I went into the movie hall after hearing/reading only 2 comments/reviews about the movie by people who had watched it. Either they said its great watch,in tune with a Hollywood with all the special effects or that they didn’t expect this kind of a movie from Kamal, a spoiler from Kamal, waste of money.

There were few of my close friends who asked me not to waste my time by watching the movie. Being a ardent fan of Kamal I decided to watch the movie irrespective of the feedbacks I got from them. This blog post is not a review of the movie, its just what I feel about the movie. I might not even discuss about anything like the story, music etc. as I dont think I am an expert to write reviews.

There would be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Kamal is probably the best actor in the country. His acting skills are impeccable and the emotions that he brings on to the screen clubbed with the body language of the characters are just awesome. But sadly in this movie though the body language is great as always for the different characters the emotions don’t come out well as they get lost under the thick makeup that 6 of the 10 characters. My favorite characters in the movie are the first avatar Nambi, the funny RAW agent and the rugged Fletcher. This I think is the opinion of the many who have watched the movie. I also liked the characterization of of Vincent Poovarag and best of the lot would be Bush.

The theme of the movie is Butterfly effect or Chaos Theory. Kamal the story writer would have done lot of research and brain storming sessions before coming out with the final draft of the screen play, which is evident in the way every character jumps in with those small events which carry greater consequence at the end of the movie.

Kamal movies have always been critically acclaimed but don’t go that well with the mass ( read box office) as most of them claim they don’t understand the message he tries to bring out. Classic examples of this are movies like Kurudhipunal, Hey Ram and Anbe Sivam. But in this movie I think Kamal had consciously decided not to make that mistake again and come out with a story that will reach the masses.

To bring out a story with a theme of Chaos Theory and also make it reach the masses Kamal has done a great job. But what people like me expect from Kamal is not a movie for the masses but a classy movie, as Kamal is associated with class and not mass. May be had Kamal come out with a movie like many of his earlier ones, which get a great reception among the so called “A Class” audience I think the movie would have been spectacular with Kamal stamp written all over it. But considering the budget of the movie had he made a movie for the A Class the producer would have gone bankrupt.

Another thing that might not work in favor of the film is the expectation. With news that Kamal dons 10 avatars I think people expected equal importance to all the 10 roles. But the very nature of the story is about the minor in- consequent events that lead to a major event. In that sense Kamal has done a great job is not giving importance to all the roles in a big way and just using most of the avatars to get the movie going with small events that finally had a huge impact. Be it the 12^th century event which he claims caused the Tsunami after 800 years or the old lady who throws the viral into the Statue of the Lord thereby making sure Fletcher doesn’t get it or the character of Vincent who saves Asin & Kamal from the sand Mafia, these are all great work of how in-consequent events which had a great effect later on.

As I mentioned earlier all the reviews and comments were opining only 2 thoughts, but I came out taking the middle path "it wasn’t bad nor was it great", definitely worth a watch. With all the great special effects in the movie it would have been a great watch only if someone other than Kamal had acted. Just that it is Kamal the expectations were more. For all the hard work Kamal has put in, if the movie flops I think the blame should be put on only one thing "EXPECTATION".

But we should appreciate Kamal is trying to tell a story based on complex theory like the Butterfly Effect in a simple manner to audience who are used to movies with 5 songs, 6 fights, heroism, punch dialogues etc..

As I didn't want to elaborate on the 10 roles and the significance of them in the movie or butterfly effect, I have added few links for people who didn’t understand the link:

http://sathyaphoenix.wordpress.com/2008/06/18/dasavatharam-the-link-between-the-12th-century-and-21st-century-avatars/

http://ravis.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/dasavatharam-trivia/

Date with Jeff Archer - Bangalore visit

2008-05-27T12:01:00.002+05:30

Last Friday I had the opportunity to meet one of my favorite authors. As part of the tour organized by Landmark, he was here at Bangalore Landmark on the 23rd. This event witnessed a huge gathering. The event was supposed to start by 7 Pm and well it did start on time. But book lovers had gathered at the venue well before 6.Since it was raining heavily that day, I was of the impression that not many would turn up. But to my surprise there was huge gathering even by 6.50 when I stepped in. I had to stand right at the end of the hall to get a glimpse of him.

Evening started with a very hilarious speech by Lord Archer before he answered few questions from the audience. Then he sat down to sign copies for huge number of fans who had queued in. I was one of them and had to stand in a chaotic queue for about 45 minutes before I could get a copy of his latest book signed. He did sign each one of those copies with a smile and with the huge queue like that one I guess he would have done it till well past midnight. I was worried that I might get nothing more than a few strokes scribbled on my copy as I guess I was the 300th guy to get one. But surprising it was as clear as his first one. I did mention this to him while getting my copy signed, for which he thanked me by getting up from his chair :). I should confess that I was moved by this gesture of him.

Couple of things that struck me about him right throughout the evening was his humbleness and the witty way in which he put each sentence and word through. Though I have read a lot about his interest about cricket I came to know the passion with which he follows the game. He is an ardent fan of Sachin, Dravid, Gavaskar and Kapil.

He said he had come across the name of R.K. Narayan a lot on this tour and decided to get his hands on some of his books. Said he loves R.K.N's work and that he has already read 5 books of his in the last 5 days. The author was also critical about lack of education, our indifference towards politics. Also his experience on his first tour to USA to promote his "Kane and Able" was very funny.

Though his entire speech was enjoyable few quotes from his speech that I can recall:

"20-20 is not cricket, its entertainment. Cricket is Laxman and Dravid surviving an entire day against Australia", when asked about his view on IPL.

"I am like Shane Warne, leading and winning with a bunch of hopeless", when one of them asked whom he considers to be his biggest competitor.

Financial crisis made me write my first book ironically I named it “not a penny more not penny less”.

"The way they (Indian cricket team) behaved in Australia, when touring abroad, they are the best ambassadors,"

"He is a genius" on R.K.Narayan.

“In my view Shakespeare is the greatest story teller of all times, if we didn’t know the end of Romeo and Juliet we would be in the edge of our seats."

“Though my first book will always be close to my heart, this book (A Prisoner by birth) is the best work of mine so far."

“In US and UK one book purchased book is read by 3 people, in Australia 7. In India its 25, I don’t know if this tells anything about the economy of the country, but most of the comments I get on my website are from Indians."

Glory Glory ManU

2008-05-22T16:23:00.006+05:30

The very first match that I watched on my new TV wasn’t an enjoyable one. This because of the way Chennai SuperKings lost to Bangalore in the IPL match. But that sad beginning was over compensated with the magnificent victory of Manchester United in the Chanpions League finals.

What a season this has been, full of excitement, fun and tension. This is probably the best season I have watched till date. Till December Manchester United were number 2 in the league and then came the slide of Arsenal to give us the advantage and take the top of the league. In December no one would have thought that it will go down to the last game of the season and that too fighting against Chelsea who were a distant third in standings then. But finally we made it on the last.

Thinking about the season everyone is happy for Ronaldo, heaping praise for his game. Rightly so his performance was what stood out, overshadowing the contribution of the other players in the team. Man Ronaldo was fantastic this season no second thoughts about that. But for me the best player of the team is Rooney, though its just marginal but in my opinion Rooney was the best player of the season and then comes Ronaldo.

When Rooney first landed at Old Trafford he had the reputation of being arrogant and selfish in the game. He used to be one of those guys who used to shoot as soon as he gets the ball around the D area. But in this season and the last he has transformed himself a lot, in a way that he is happy to play a supporting role, which allows Ronaldo to get in. Now going by the goals scored Ronaldo is miles away from Rooney, but looking at the overall game in my view Rooney is on par with Ronaldo, may be even inches ahead of him. If only there would have been a system like in Basketball where the rebounds and assists are also tracked I think Rooney would have scored more than Ronaldo. The way he set up the shot in the 35 min and 42 min last night is a classic example of what I am talking about.

Last night game was an edge of seat thriller that was in balance till the last kick. Happy that ManU clinched a double this season and hopefully they should continue to dominate the league and the cup next season too. Hopefully Sir Alex will also be the driving force behind ManU for at least another 3-4 years.

Minority Report

2008-05-15T19:16:00.005+05:30

Reading through a news article couple of days back I felt really silly rather than surprised or shocked. This article talks about the current Government planning to post only Muslim Officers in Muslim dominated areas.

Before writing my view on a decision like this let me first paste few lines that I gathered from the net:

The preamble of the constitution defines India as a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic.

In India (80.5%) are Hindu. Other religious groups include Muslims (13.4%), Christians (2.3%), Sikhs (1.9%), Buddhists (0.8%), Jains (0.4%), Jews, Zoroastrians, Bahá'ís and others. Tribals constitute 8.1% of the population.

Well the above two lines is what India is or at least what it is supposed to be on paper. This is a question that I have been asking many for the last so many years: "how can a country that is socialist also have various divisions based on caste and perks for a specific community. From my understanding socialist means equality and when there is equality then there can be no division in terms of caste or any such thing.

Anyways getting back to the issue, this decision/plan of the Government will be no surprise for someone who goes through the paper daily. Over the last few years since the UPA government has come into power there have been many such incidents targeted on the upbringing of minorities. No problem with that, the only problem is that in this current Government’s dictionary the word to the right of minority has always been Muslims. If you look at statistics the majority amongst the minorities in India are Muslims. Still the Government just want to concentrate on this majority. By statistics the Christian population in India is only about 10% of that of Muslims. But have we ever heard of anything for them, when they are one of the real minority.

Right from the Sachar committee to other benefits or programs that the UPA have introduced, they have all been targeted at Muslims. One need not have to be a scholar to understand the simple reason behind this “VOTE BANK”.

From whatever you have read here so far you might think that I am Anti Muslim or one of those guys who hate minorities. But please stand corrected, I am not anything that I have said in the previous sentence. All I am is a peace loving citizen who wants the country to be free from any divide or inequality. Am also a keen follower of politics, which is why it irritates me when the Government, which is supposed to be a role model for the aspiring politicians plays few games for the benefit of the vote bank. Guess one should be reminded that, we were all taught in the school that every person in this country is equal and that no caste or religion is superior to another.

So this kind of a strategy by the Government will only make more and more communities realize that being separate is rewarding and, at the minimum, it protects their temples and educational institutions; and to be among the majority means loss of religious and cultural freedom.
RJ
follow these links:
http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/dec/11sachar.htm?zcc=rl

http://www.newindpress.com/column/News.asp?Topic=-97&Title=S%2EGurumurthy&ID=IEM20080414220910&nDate=4/15/2008&Sub=&Cat=&

Defunct Drive-in

2008-05-05T18:14:00.003+05:30

Few weeks back while I was in Chennai, I had to accompany my sister to a music concert near Gemini Flyover. I was given 2 options by sister; either attend the concert for 30 minutes and leave or drop her and come back after an hour. I happily chose the second option, this not because I didn’t want to attend the concert but because I had Woodlands drive in mind.

I dropped her at the venue and was headed to Woodlands Drive-in Restaurant. I was shocked to see the gate closed and a board of "Agri-Horticultural Society” in place of Woodlands drive-in. When I inquired with the security guy at the gate, he informed me that the gates of the Drive-in restaurant were closed for the public from April 12, and that the land that was leased had been taken back by the government. Ooh damn I was a week late, if only I had gone a week before I could have had something to eat one last time.

Woodlands has been one of the most prominent land marks of Chennai for ages. It’s sad to know that it will no longer be available for public. Woodlands is (or rather was) situated in the heart of the city bang opposite to the US Embassy. It’s a lovely place that cannot be replaced. Where else can you get a place situated in the heart of the city, filled with trees? It was filled with so many trees that you felt you were in a different city once in. It was one of my favorite hangouts in Chennai, probably would be right up there if you would ask me for my fav. places in Chennai.

It was not only about the delicious Sambar vadas, curd vadas, idly, dosai, and chole batura (infact all the items served there were good), but it was more about the place itself. The place was very peaceful isolated from the Chennai traffic and heat that all Chennaites are accustomed to. There have been many occasions when i used to get into the place to just relax myself under coolness of the big banyan tree. The best thing about the whole place was that you could order for just a plate of idly and still sit there in the restaurant for hours together.

Most of the Chennaites would tell you that their Sunday morning routine would be to go some temple followed by breakfast at either Woodlands, HSB or Rathna Cafe. It is a place that has given a lot of happy memories.

They say that in US many the business deals happen over a cup of coffee at Starbucks. This place was the Chennai substitute for Starbucks. Through the day you could see lot of salesmen all exchanging leads with one another. Last year while I was doing my summer internship, I happened to get few good leads talking to the other salesmen there.

Probably the next time I go to Chennai I will try to sneak in and get a picture taken. It is sad to know that a place that was part of Chennai Tradition will vanish forever now.

RJ

Internet Newspaper???

2008-04-11T17:11:00.004+05:30

It’s been nearly 3 months since my last blog. This is not because of the lack of topics to write on, but the lack of appreciable time I spent in front of a computer. Today I have some time in hand to kill and thought may be will scribble something.

A colleague of mine was browsing through the website of a popular Indian Daily and in course of the conversation said that of late he has stopped reading the newspaper and tracks the stories more on the net.

When I was asking others if they do the same they came up with mixed responses. But on a whole everyone said they don’t spend the same amount of time with the newspaper that they used to do maybe 3 or 4 years back. One reason for this might be because of the fact that, we spend more time in front of the computer at our work place or even at home.

I recall the time when we had dial up connection in my home till about a year back. The connectivity used to be so slow that I used to get irritated waiting for my mail box to open. In a situation like that opening a news site was out of question. Now that we have decent enough broad band speed we don’t think twice before logging onto a news site.

But I feel these news sites can’t give you the pleasure that you derive from reading a news paper while sipping a cup of coffee. One thing that everyone or at least most of us do, after getting up in the morning is to search for the news paper. I feel something missing in the day if I don’t happen to browse through the newspaper in the morning. The first happy moment of the day comes to me when I get my hands on the news paper after having to wait for my father to finish it and keep it back on the table.

I tried doing away with news paper while I was in my B-School, since I had access to both laptop and internet connectivity in my room. I used to log on to a news site as soon as I get up, but it never gave me the satisfaction that I used to get reading a news paper. The touch and feel factor of a news paper is more of an experience that cannot be substituted.

I too agree that the time we spend with the news paper has considerably decreased over the last few years. But that’s because of our increased exposure to the computer and ever increasing choice of news channels on TV. Almost all the news papers have started with the concept of e-paper, but I doubt if it’s a success.

RJ

Whacked them at WACA

2008-01-21T11:02:00.001+05:30

Last Saturday afternoon just about time for my next class, the expected which was unexpected 4 days ago happened. Yes its India winning the match against the Aussies in their own den Perth. While we started celebrating the victoryalmost immediately after RP Singh cleaned up the last man, one of the Aussie supporter here quickly prompted “guys we have won 16 tests in a row and its just one test you guys won and you are celebrating as though you won a championship”. True its just one test but considering the venue and the time at which it came by its no less than a championship victory. I reluctantly left for my class after that wicket without watching the presentation ceremony.

People always like to see the under dogs win. Though Will Smith has given few big box office hits everyone talks about his performance in “In pursuit of happiness”, that because it wasn’t expected. Also we feel sorry for him for not have won the Oscar for that performance, the same way we will feel sorry for India for not have won the Sydney test or atleast to have drawn it. Before the start of the match I like most of us here, I prayed for a drawn match as I/we thought that’s the best possible result India can hope for considering the history and nature of WACA wicket.

After so much of both on field and off field action in Sydney test its really a great victory for India. Its not the first time in the series that India has dominated the Aussies. We have been doing that in all the three test only to loose the initiative some time later, thanks to both the way the team played and other things that team didn’t have much control on. But this time they were not ready to loose the initiative and went on to build on, to script the most unexpected.

Before the start of the match many of the Aussie players had given a statement that the match would not last for more than 4 days and damn yes they were right.

One man who should be praised is the captain himself Anil Kumble. The way he rallied his men both on and off the field was simply fantastic. Being an ardent fan of Jumbo I have always liked the way he played his game “no fuss, no buzz, just business”. Looking at the way he has performed as a captain one just wonders why he wasn’t made a captain much before.

Lot of commentators during the match had commented that India- Australia test series is shaping into the next big thing after India Vs Pakistan series. But now since India and Pakistan are playing series on a regular basis its just about loosing the shine and India Vs Aus series is proving to be the best in the world. With India being the only opponent capable of defeating Australia in recent times it’s the best contest in cricket right now.

With the fight India has shown in this series one hopes they continue with their win to add one more in Adelaide.

People's Car - making the impossible POSSIBLE

2008-01-13T02:44:00.000+05:30

The last blog I had scribbled was some time back and I had written about the TATA’s super computer. The first blog I am writing this year also happens to be about TATA , but this time around its not the super computer but a “super simple” car NANO.

Couple of days back TATA had unveiled its much awaited Rs. 1 Lakh car. It’s been in the news for nearly 4 years now ever since TATA announced its plan to build such a car. Much was talked about the car and both the industry people as well as the consumers were eagerly waiting for it to be released. There were very few takers for a concept like this. Most of us baring a few actually believed that this could be made.

Many people from industry came out with statements on the dream of Mr. Ratan Tata to build such car and why it will remain only as a dream and never see the market. There were even media reports that it will look like an Auto Rickshaw without doors. Reading all this I had imagined a design in my mind (being a mechanical engineer I had visualized more than one design, most of them no where resembling a car). But to the surprise of all TATA launched a car that by all means not only looks like a car but also looks attractive.

I first happened to see the pictures of the car in website during the lunch break I had between classes. Since I hadn’t slept the previous night and was a bit tired I first thought that I read a news article about the car and that the picture is of some other concept car. But a careful look at it the second time made me sit up and read the article more carefully. As I had already said I hadn’t imagined in my wildest dreams that the car would look like what it is.

I think one should thank TATA for keeping the common man in mind and creating a car that is supposed to be the cheapest in the world. Now that TATA has proved that it is possible to manufacture a decent car priced at Rs 1 Lakh, I think the market will be witnessing the launch of more such cars.

In recent years I have not been such a great fan of the TATA group as such, but looking at the vision and the commitment in bringing NANO I am sure to change my view. With TATA almost assured of bagging the Jaguar deal, if that comes through it can now target both ends of the spectrum. If the “ Law of unintended consequences” hold good this NANO will not only end the dreams of a common man owning a car but will also make way for India finding its way on the Global Manufacturing Arena. Right now China holds a huge portion of the global manufacturing outsourcing and is rightly called the manufacturing hub of the world. With efforts like this India is sure to cut into a considerable portion of the manufacturing pie.

Every Indian owes a Royal Salute to Mr.Ratan Tata for dreaming of a thing like this and more importantly giving shape to the dream.

Veiled Indian Power

2007-11-21T18:57:00.000+05:30

Yesterday as I was reading a news article on NAT GEO human brain series, I was both happy as well as sad to read that 4 Indians would be featured as a part of the series. This is a special programme of National Geographic Channel, an in-depth series "my brilliant brain" exploring the human mind and what makes a genius.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEH20071118024945&Page=H&Headline=Four+Indians+to+feature+in+NAT+GEO'S+%22human+brain%22+series&Title=Top+Stories&Topic=0&

I was happy to see Indians listed as a part of a series that would be served for the global audience. But looking at what we can do and what we are doing I feel sad about it. As many articles suggest Indians are a bunch with lot of potential, which is not used to the fullest.
Two things that have caught my attention in the last month or so are TATA’s Eka and the whole issue surrounding Nuke deal.

In 1988 when India faced the denial of Supercomputer from USA, it led us to build our own. Now we have one which features in the top 5 list in the world. Indian supercomputer Eka (meaning one in Sanskrit) built by the Pune’s Computational Research Laboratories (CRL) of the Tata Group is the fourth fastest supercomputer in the world! Great going!
Though it has taken nearly 20 years for us to build a world class one which is amongst the top in the world, we made it happen. There is too much of talk going around whether India must go in for a nuke deal with US of A. There was too much of fight which even challenged the stability of the ruling Government, this has led the whole issue to be put in the back burner. There are many who say that its something that the Government shouldn’t have done and that it might prove to be an obstacle to progress.

But looking at it in a different angle I think it’s a blessing in disguise. This might prove to be the bullet that triggers the progress. Now India can look at developing its own technology for generating nuclear power. We should take inspiration from the story of Eka and try to develop our own technology. This will lessen our dependence on US. Had the deal got through it would have also created a scenario where in India would have been forced to open up more sectors for foreign investment. With no immediate need for energy through nuclear plants, we can look at developing our own technology that will aid us achieving the result, instead of depending heavily on US.

I am not someone who is pro left and trying to justify their act of opposing the deal, this is just a thought that struck me when I was reading through the article on NAT GEO.

RJ

dramatic victories and dream final :)

2007-09-24T05:49:00.000+05:30

Having watched India play in the last 3 matches, it’s been really a brilliant show by them. The inaugural T20 world cup as a whole has been really exciting with nail biting finish in almost all matches.

Things could not have been better for the tournament with India and Pakistan setting up a clash for the final. With the Indian team at its best in recent years and going by the world cup track record against Pak, India is sure gonna win this one.

It’s been great atmosphere in the TV room in the hostel here. Nearly 150 people watch the match in a room that can accommodate may be 50. The chants and the shouts when India play makes one feels as though you are watching the match in the stadium. With the semester exams having started today I didn’t expect much crowd in the room for the match against the Aussies, but to my surprise the hall had more number of turn out today. So has been the excitement and fun in the room that I guess no one wanted to miss it. People don’t mind sacrificing few hours of sleep to watch the match. The picture below can be easily mistaken for some riot, but that’s a sample of what our TV room looks like, with everyone trying to find some place to catch a piece of the action.

With the new found attitude in the team, “don’t take the S*** give it back to them” one hopes it’s good for the game of cricket in India. The way Yuvi responded after the exchange of words with Flintoff was simply great. Even today Indians were not afraid to exchange words with the Aussies, a classic example of the doctor being treated with his own medicine. Indians have shown great ATTITUDE and fighting spirit in this tournament and the match today against the mighty Aus was simply brilliant.

Hope Pak doesn’t break the jinx against India in the world cup and the silverware travels to India. c

Are our EPICS mere stories or history?

2007-09-17T14:52:00.000+05:30

Over the last one week the fate of Lord Rama has been hanging in the balance. People were arguing in the court that Rama is just another character in a story and Ramayana is one of the greatest stories ever told in the history of man kind. It’s been nearly a decade now since Rama took center stage in politics. Now he is back with a bang, this time people questioning his very own existence in the earth.

There was too much of confusion in the court room as well as in the streets whether the story of Ramayana is true. Government had initially stated that Ramayana was just another story presented in a nice manner so as to conquer the hearts of billions of people in the years to come. Thanks to some protest to this statement by groups like VHP, Government within couple of days started playing the blame game and the great Sonia was quoted on paper saying that Rama existed. What an irony, it took someone who doesn’t trace her roots to India to clarify the existence of Rama.

“Ram is a myth - it was an Aryan God imposed upon the Dravidians. They (UPA Government) have said Ram was an imaginary person and now they've backtracked on that claim” this was how Tamil Nadu C.M Mr.M.Karunanidhi had to react to the statement given by the government. Its common knowledge that Mr.M.Karunanidhi was one of the pillars of the Dravidian movement in the state, what’s also known is that he doesn’t ever miss a chance to hurt the sentiments of millions of Hindus time and again. One must say that he is good at that and probably there is no one to match him in that. But it’s the true mind of a politician that shines in this statement. Trying to capitalize on every moment to establish him with the masses. This statement would have gone pretty well with most of the population in Tamil Nadu and that would have guaranteed him plenty of votes in the elections to come. The saddest part of the whole thing is, he is one of the most respected politicians of the state and in recent times he has also enjoyed tremendous power at the center.

Mr.M.Karunanidhi has been hell- bent on getting this project underway for quite sometime now and it was even one of his election pledge. Looking at it one would guess that there is MORE at STAKE than a mere election promise that needs to be kept.

Anyways let’s pray that Ramayana doesn’t turn out to be greatest story ever told and that the heritage is maintained and preserved.

RJ.

also enjoy reading:

http://hitxp.wordpress.com/2007/07/01/a-blunder-called-sethusamudram/

http://www.newindpress.com/column/News.asp?Topic=-97&Title=S%2EGurumurthy&ID=IE620070914124012&nDate=&Sub=&Cat=&

Twenty20 here to stay?

2007-09-16T12:20:00.000+05:30

Having watched the twenty 20 format for the first time on the India Pakistan match I should say it was real fun and excitement. It provided all the uncertainties that cricket holds with the match swinging in favor of both the teams and that too in half as much time as we would watch an ODI.

There were people alongside me telling this was more exciting than an ODI and that this might be the next thing in cricket with ODIs eventually fading out. But I guess that wouldn’t be the case as there will be too much of a difference between this format and the test matches if ODIs are scrapped. This would only harm the game.

I think this is an effort to bring all those who have stopped watching cricket due to the time factor back to the ground or in front of the TV. Since it’s just over 3 hours this is more like football with all the excitement right through the match. But the hardest of the games followers will not like this format as this is pure power hitting and less of the traditional technique as Boycott may put it. The match being decided by shoot outs, that’s really funny as it sounds more like a football match.

But the broadcasters will really love this as its about lesser time..more excitement..more promos and MORE MONEY.

Great Lunch, Good Dinner and a bad dessert

2007-09-09T00:02:00.000+05:30

Like most of the Indians following cricket I was of the hope that the Team India would pull of another victory to return home with the trophy today. In that hope I had thought of naming a great English summer, but it didn’t turn out that way, never the less it was a good one.

After the disastrous world cup campaign no one would have placed their bet on India to win the test series. Even in the one day after being down 3-1 no one would have thought the series would run down to the last match. But anyways this series was a good team effort and atleast India has the silverware from the tests.

Two things that stand out from the both the series are one the victory whenever it came by was due to the team effort and the other is the contribution of the youngsters & new comers in the team. Karthick, Zaheer and R.P.Singh did very well in the tests and Piyush, Gambhir, Robin (match saving knock) were good in one dayers. Probably India can still have a decent enough team once the big guns decide to hang their boots.

The big four of India also had a great outing in the series. Kumble was among wickets, Dravid, Ganguly and Sachin all contributed to the cause. But one should say Sachin was rather unlucky not to get even a single ton in probably what will be his last outing in the English soil. Being out in the 90s five times in the series is rather unlucky. Couple of times (once while on 99) he got a bad decision and that denied him the much deserved ton. Ganguly was also unlucky to get couple of rough decisions in the tests when he was going great. It’s probably both the best and the worst time for the LITTLE MATSER of late, good for the amount of scoring that he has done in the series after much of debate whether its time for him to retire and bad for not been able to convert his scores to a century. Anyways both Dada and Sachin played beautifully in both versions and their partnerships were real beauty to watch. It was delight to watch Sachin play at his best, his innings in the one dayers reminded everyone of the terror he used to be in the late nineties. Probably “old warriors never die”.

This would have been a perfect English summer if India had pulled it of today, but the way they surrendered to England today spoiled the mood a bit. After having a great lunch (tests) good dinner (previous 6 ODI) the party was spoiled by a rather bad dessert. Anyways let’s cheer India and hope they do better against Australia and Pakistan in months to come.

Has Google stopped inventing

2007-09-03T20:51:00.001+05:30

Few days back I set up my browser for iGoogle. I had been thinking of doing this for a long time but kept away from this for a simple reason that I will write about later. For people who don’t know what iGoogle is, it’s a customizable web page that helps you to add a whole range of updates like weather, news, stock quotes, jokes etc..

I have used a similar kind of utility provided by Yahoo long time back. Though I didn’t use the yahoo service for that long when I started using iGoogle it reminded me of the yahoo page. It seems like iGoogle was programmed with the Yahoo page in mind.

As I was telling this to my friend he said Google nowadays launches a lot of services that are lifted from other sites. Being a loyal Google user for a longtime now I denied that and did a small search on this (using Google). To my surprise the search threw up a lot articles that supported his argument.

I know many would be surprised as I was reading this, but go ahead and search on this and you will know what I said is right.

Of late Yahoo is coming up with some great services that are better than Google. For example take the case of Yahoo Alpha – the customizable search engine page. This yahoo offering is far better than the google custom search. Unlike google’s custom search which is closely linked to its web search this gives you a better result. Know what this Yahoo offering was launched much before the Google custom search.

Coming back to iGoogle, Google is always known for its faster homepage. The very reason it clicked when it was for its simplicity. It was refreshing to see a search page with almost nothing in its homepage, when Yahoo which was the number one then had close to 200 links filled in its home page. Now with the iGoogle in your browser it slows down the page and it takes ages for it to open. So I don’t think it makes a good business sense for Google to come up with iGoogle.

What ever said and done I don’t think many will move away from Google in near future, but with Yahoo coming up with many new services I think it will over take it in sometime to come.

home sweet home....great dharshan and delicious laddus

2007-08-22T22:52:00.000+05:30

Last week was some free time from the hectic schedule of the B School assignments and presentations. I had gone home for 5 days. After couple of weeks of mid term evaluations, assignments and presentations it was a well deserved break.

I was fast asleep on the train when the great smell of Koovam River got me back to my senses and welcomed me to Chennai. When I reached home there were steaming idly floating in sambar waiting for me. Those 5 days at home eating mom’s food was the best part of the whole stay. Here in hostel after having rotis that are nothing but a miniature version of MRF tire, some yellow semi solid thing that they term as dal and mixture of some mashed vegetable called sabji moms food was heaven. Though the dishes made my mom are always great, this time it was even more special.

I also happened to go to Thirupathi. I have been planning to go to Thirupathy for the last 5 years but some how or the other I wasn’t able to make it. Generally they say that you can get a glimpse of the Venki only when he calls you, I guess that’s true coz I have been planning a great deal over the last 5 years but wasn’t able to make it. Having waited for 5years I enjoyed great Dharshan, was standing near the God for nearly one and a half minutes. People who have gone to the temple will be really jealous of this coz they allow you to stand there for hardly 10 secs. But know what if you use the right technique and push the right thing at the right place you can also make it. There are 2 things famous about Thirupathi one is of course Lord Venki and the laddu. Believe it they have a patent for those laddus. I happened to get a better deal on laddus also, got 2 extra laddus.

Having come back to college the assignments have again started, have 4 of them waiting to be completed in the next 3 days. Probably last week was the most memorable week of this semester, will have to wait for a while now before I can go back to Chennai meet my sister, parents and friends.

NDTV poll and BIG B

2007-08-12T15:39:00.000+05:30

Today I was going through the results of a poll conducted by NDTV. As India celebrates its 60th year of Independence, NDTV conducted a poll to identify the icons, events and landmarks that have preoccupied Indians.

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070022301

The results of the poll on India’s Greatest Icon caught my attention more than any other category that they had.

I wasn’t surprised but shocked to see the name of Amitabh Bachchan in that list of icons. I wasn’t surprised because he is a household name and that he is known to everyone in the country. I was surprised to see his name there along side the others in the category simply because I feel you cannot compare him with the likes of Mother Teresa, JRD Tata, Narayan Murthy or Indira Gandhi.

I know him as someone who ruled the bollywood in his days and off late one who has been endorsing products ranging from banks to paints, chocolates to washing powder. More recently as one who is trying to project himself as an actor farmer or a framer actor or whatever.

All this while if I had been sounding as someone who hates Big B please correct yourself. I love him on screen for all the role he does and for the way he came back strong after the debacle of his ABC Corp but I think he simply is not that big to get his name listed alongside others in that list.

Big B in that list means he has taken away a position that could have been filled by Dr.A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (he needs no introduction for all the things that he has done for India) or P.V. Narasimha Rao one who led one of the most important administrations in India's modern history overseeing a major economic transformation and several incidents affecting national security. Or one that could have been taken by Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji who when he was a PM gave a new definition and Attitude for India. May be even our current PM not for his stint as a PM but for his great work as a Finance Minister. I would have also liked to see the name of Dhirubhai Ambani and many more who have contributed a lot to India rather than just act and endorse products.

Anyways these were just my thoughts and hope all the people who voted for him think about this.

RJ.

Bitten by the AD BUG

2007-08-10T20:10:00.000+05:30

Over the last week or so we (me and 4 more guys in my group) have been working on a presentation for the marketing communications class. The assignment was to conceptualize a new product for a market launch and build the whole communication strategy for it.

Having worked on it and after a good presentation yesterday I think I enjoyed every part of the brain storming sessions we had. It was good feeling working on the advertisement part, designing them and planning the media campaign. Having been through this small exercise I liked them and this has developed a liking within me for the ad industry. I would want to associate myself with an ad agency sometime in future if there is an opportunity.

May be it’s the product that we decided upon that actually made myself get involved with the whole exercise. Guess what the product is “chocolate filled with cocktail”.

I have liked the subject right from the first day. Now I have started looking deep into the message of any advertisement that I come across. May be everyone does that unknowingly but now I am more conscious about it. Guess this will make me a hard nut for the marketers to crack :)

Indian Inc Glowing

2007-08-05T16:21:00.000+05:30

If you are reading any business news paper or business magazine regularly of late, one word that props up more than any other is PROFIT. Almost all the Indian companies have been reporting profits this quarter and in the last couple of years. This reiterates the belief that Indian Inc. is shining.

This is probably the best time to be in the country as there is a huge economic boom and burgeon of industries. This fairy tale is not restricted to the IT sector and other sunrise sectors. Even traditional sectors like manufacturing have been doing well over the last couple of years. There is enormous amount of opportunity for the people today. Gone are those days when one needs to be an engineer or doctor to earn a good living.

Another phenomenon of this growth is the frequency with which Indian companies are going on a merger and acquisition spree. Almost every day you see an Indian company bidding for companies in U.S and Europe. Almost all the top global brands have entered the Indian market and the others who haven’t so far are charting their plans to.

As I have already said this is the best time to be in India. This growth is good news especially for guys like me who are into their final year of MBA and counting the days before the campus placements start.

Hope this fairy tale continues for some time to come.

India Shining

2007-08-05T03:09:00.000+05:30

India’s victory over England has come in at the right time for both the team and the crazy cricket loving nation as a whole. It’s said that cricket is a religion in India but I guess that’s an understatement, it’s the way of life for most of the population here; it’s the air they breathe. After the debacle in the world cup the fans needed a miracle to happen to get them back to their senses and that’s exactly what happened yesterday. Away victories are precious commodity for the Indian cricket (even though they have been wining matches more frequently of late).

Indians needed to play good all-round cricket and they needed some amount of luck to be on their side. They got both. Gods must have felt the same and they came to the respite of India in the previous test by showering rain on the fifth day to help India draw the match. In this test they helped us by being on our side during the toss.

But don’t take away the credit from the game they played. It was heartening to see every member of the TEAM contributing to this victory. Be it the solid stand from the openers in first innings or the glow of the glorious underperforming middle order it was all there. The bowlers contributed a major part in this victory led by Zaheer Khan. Zaheer bowled with immaculate precision in both the innings and he was well supported by both Kumble and Singh. The two wickets of Singh in the second innings were beauty. The most important thing we played like a TEAM. I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I say “Gone are those days that the match was won by primarily the contribution of either Kumble, Sachin or Dravid “.

Indians have been winning test matches oversees more frequently now, only that the consistency is missing. Be it in South Africa, West Indies or Australia they had the upper hand in the series but couldn’t go on to win them. Hope they don’t repeat that again and come out and win this series. I like any other cricket crazy fan will be praying for it, but will have to wait for another 15 days to see if our prayers come thro’.

Jelly beans and the english media......

2007-08-01T11:18:00.000+05:30

After India’s thumping victory yesterday, as an enthusiastic Indian fan I was browsing through some of the articles of the British media to read their comments on the match. Though every other site was praising India for their win there was one thing that caught the limelight in every one of them. It’s something totally irrelevant to cricket that’s the JELLY BEAN.

I have always thought that the English media was one of the most hyped ones. After reading those articles yesterday it just reiterated my view on them. It’s amazing to know how they can hype up a simple (rather silly in this case) issue out of proportion. The media conference after the match was filled with questions about the jelly bean rather than cricket.

Guess had Beckham been from any other part of the world he would not have been as popular as he is now. No I am not trying to pull down his capabilities but it’s just that the English media played a HUGE part creating a BRAND BECKHAM. Freddie was all over the place in the media after their ashes victory couple of years back. Images of him sneezing and coughing would make it to the 1^st page for almost 6 months after their ashes victory.

Anyways let me not be like one of them trying to take the limelight away from India, hail India for one of their rare victories in England. Come on India go and get the series.

my first scribble

2007-08-01T02:51:00.000+05:30

The idea of scribbling my thoughts through a blog arose some 2 years back and I did write couple of blogs then but never continued from there on. It was primarily due to 2 reasons

1) I should confess that I am kind of lazy to sit down and write a blog now and then.

2) Every other blog article that I read was lengthy that would run in for atleast couple of pages and I aint good at writing for pages together.

But now I have decided to start blogging again ( if I can consider those 2 stupid blogs I wrote some time back ).

This interest to blog again was kindled primarily by 2 factors

1) Now in a B school I spend most of my time in front of my laptop and I wish to do something meaningful other than simply play games in it and try to search over google to do some ctrl C and ctrl V for my assignments.

2) After going through my friend Giri’s blog (http://grikboy.blogspot.com/) I realized that blogs need not be lengthy. They can be short and still be sweet. Each of his blogs are not more than 1000 words but they are still good and they drive a good number of hits every day.

Giri if at all I continue to scribble for some time it is because of you dude, you are my inspiration for this. Thanks to you and hope you don’t are not furious at me for mentioning your name and the blog address here.

Hope I continue blogging at least till the end of my stint here in college J