Update

Off to hel(L)!! Next update from thr!

IPL: What’s the cut-off this time?

In cities like Bangalore where people are on a lookout for avenues of entertainment… I think IPL will be a huge success in times to come. The three major positives of IPL are:
1. 20-20 format: This ensures that the match would get over in 3 hours.
2. Timings of the matches: The matches would start at 8 pm… lot of ppl can catch the match after office hours.
3. Higher disposable income: Especially in place like Bangalore where there are ppl with money but very limited choice of entertainment, I m sure ppl would welcome these matches and would go for them. (I know ppl who consider shopping at Big Bazaar and other big malls as their primary weekend activity… this is because of lack of options… you hardly get movie tickets if you don’t book in advance.)

There are other positives which I can go about writing… but let me write about the something different… a different kind of future…

Now… the time has come where ppl have realized that even sports can earn you money… I know lot of brilliant sportsmen who had not taken up sport as a career because of money constraints they could foresee had they made that choice. The times have changed… Ishant Sharma would be earning about 19000 odd rupess per ball he bowls in the IPL. This is considering the maximum no. of balls any bowler can bowl for a 5 year contract. 5years*16 matches (semifinal and final included)*24 balls/match = 1920 balls for his 3.8 crores contract.

3-5 years from now: People would not talk about CAT/IIT/IIM/AIMS/etc. cut-offs… instead there will be talking about cut-offs for making into smaller leagues in the pattern of IPL/ICL… These smaller leagues would lead to ppl qualifying for IPL/ICL later…
Imagine missing making into a team because your batting average fell short by 0.25 runs… the cut-off was 40.55. Or missing out on bowling strike rate cut-off of 25.1 balls by 0.1 balls.

Gear up countrymen for the times to come.
For the time being… Happy IPLing!!

I m back!

It has been a long time since i have put up a post... I shall be back to my regular best soon!
Lots has been happening... there were free times when i was in no mood to write and when the mood was there i didn't have things to write.

Congrats to Indian Senior and Junior cricket teams on their achievements!
Go Sachin! You just have to get 11 half centuries and 8 centuries to complete centuries of half centuries and half centuries of centuries in ODIs!!

Staying with cricket... Munaf Patel is the superlative exmaple of one-dimensionality in cricket... He just knows how to bowl... and once he had done that he forgets that he can field in his follow through and he can also run back to the stumps to help effect a run-out. People who don't want to be 'Jack of all' but aspire to be 'Master of one' can idolize Munaf as he has excelled in being one-dimensional without slighest of the deviations.

I am bored of the phrase 'Chuck de' and feel like pulling out my hair or ear or eyes when i hear or see it used - it has been used anywhere and everywhere... someone motivating his/her team... 'Lets, chuck de!', Even Mr. Lalu prasad used 'Chuck de Railways' while presenting the railways budget... After India's victory one of the news channels (Actually it would qualify as an entertainment channel for me) had a headline which said... 'Chuck diya India'... One of my flatmates got a bag from his company which had 'Chuck de' printed on it... Where has the imagination gone... and i am more or less convinced... definetely more and not less convinced that SRK got the filmfare not for his acting but for giving us this multiutility phrase!

Yeh kaisa Junoon

Sir Sachin Tendulkar,

I belong to a generation which has grown up watching you play. When I was younger, I used to skip lunch/dinner whenever you got a wrong decision. The T.V. used to be shut down when you used to get out as if to pay homage to the war deceased.

That was when I was 14. Now, when I m 24, I still like to watch you play but the T.V. is on even when u get out and no more food skipping when u get rough decision. But it still hurts when you get beaten and when I see lesser bowlers dominating you. Although I believe you have two more cricketing years in you but I want to see you retire in your peak form and not when you are struggling and because of pressure from public and selectors.

I do understand that your role has changed but I want the old Sachin back. I did see some of the vintage Sachin batting at Lords in the first test of the current series, and I hope old Sachin is here to stay. I hope you give us a few definitive innings (you make India win from the jaws of defeat) that your critics often talk about as being missing in your glorious career. I want to tell stories about your batting to my children and grand children when I get old… ‘Those were the days when Sir Sachin used to bat…’

An Ardent Fan.

I hope you read this some day

P.S. I used to think there were two kinds of batsman who could score centuries, one with loads of talent and the other with little talent and more hard work, until I saw a third kind.... Mr. Anil Kumble. A man with zero batting talent but with a lot of grit and determination. It was heartening to see him score century.

I'm Back - part 1

I m back home after completing the task of getting my brother settled in his new place of study. Dad gave me this responsibility and his theory was that he did these things for me and now i should do them for my bro. Moreover he also told me that this could me a vacation for me.
I stayed at 4 different hotels, traveled by 4 different trains, ate at the expensive and at not so expensive places, traveled by best and worst of the buses, visited 5 places... and did all this in 14 lazy and hectic days.
Although i love trekking but a perfect vacation for me would be when i have nothin to do but relax... so this trip which my dad called a vacation was far from it... i had to interact with so many people of all age group, although not necessary but i also had the responsibility of finding the best for my brother... i visited so many houses, looking for PG accommodation, ragged so many students (i would call it ragging as i used to hate it when guardians used to quiz me about places and subjects etc.), asked for directions to every 5th person (dont ask me why this was required), gave gyan to people double my age... but it was all fun.
The train journeys were eventful and would write another post on it... train journeys in my colorful country has its own charm, someone gives me choice between free flight ticket and a free train ticket... i would choose train.

Hungry - Try Bheja Fry!

Although this movie borrows most of the plot from the French movie, ‘Le Diner De Cons’… its still a must watch for Vinay Pathak. He is absolutely brilliant. I could have watched the movie on mute, because Vinay s expressions were enough to make me laugh.

I felt bad that the movie was short one, when it ended. I would love to watch it again.

As Bora righty pointed out… Vinay s character perfectly fits my description of Mr. Subodh!
4/5 movie for me!

Bike/Car and Money!

‘If you know bikes at all, you can tell a lot about a man by how he rides’ - This one is from ‘Shantaram’.
It got me thinking about people and their riding/driving habits and how to relate this with their attitude towards life and their personality and if this can become a business opportunity.

About biking style:
There r people who apply break little before the obvious need and they also try going into unseen gaps and later we realize how easily the gap was created when the vehicle passed through. They are the people with foresight and who rely on their intuition a lot.

People who maintain greater than normal distance between them and the vehicles ahead are the ones who have a very cautious approach towards things.

People who try to grab others space… cut lines and come in front of other vehicles and make them slow down… these r the people who don’t mind succeeding by pulling other people down.

People who consider driving at below a certain speed is below their dignity and speed is what trills them are the ones who live life in the ‘fast lane’.

People who modify their vehicle so that it produces sound like u r zooming 100+ when they r actually riding at 60 are the show-off types and they can do things for getting attention.

Money?
When there can be astrologers who see hands and janamkundlis to tell about people, palmists who read hands to tell people about what they r and what they will be and numerologists, who tell about people by knowing their date of birth etc. and make money out of it, even this - telling people about them by knowing there biking style should be a money spinner. And with experience we would b able to tell some future also… can guess what would be the likely happening (in future) for the people with a certain personality and type.

And Phase 2 can be to open a college where this art will b taught to interested people. I hope to cash in on the mob mentality we Indians have… once few people join the college and people start talking about it… I m sure many would b interested to join the course. And then branches all over… scope to grow is enormous…

So, the plan for now is to ride pillion with as many as many possible and the different they are from each other the better it will be!

TaRaRumPum

How to judge a movie? For me it is based on the 2-3 hrs I spend watching the movie. Although few impractical things were there in this movie but I liked it because it entertained me for the 3 hrs.

The movie had style and that’s another reason I liked it. Not like I don’t like the movies which are simple, but as i have mentioned it’s the 3 hrs that matters… so if a movie is stylish the chances of my enjoying the movie are more.

This one had two cute kids and they were brilliant for their part. I have always liked Saif doing such roles… where he s little careless types. And there was Shruti Seth also, although for a very small role. I hope she becomes a mainstream heroine soon.

I enjoyed the Disney song also.

But JJ in that gujju role was just not happening. JJ talks in gujju and tries to be funny but it was not funny for me... the director got this one wrong

Another point which I have noted most of the times (in movies, novels and even in real life) and in this movie again – ‘A woman always believes that nothing is impossible for the man she loves’

3/5 movie for me!

Dream…Story

I was all alone and it was evening time. I decided to go for a stroll. I put on music on my mobile (using earphones) while I was on the move, was listening to some nirvana. I got so engrossed in the music that I never realized when I went to my ‘own world’… where I was negotiating to sell the world (this ones the actual world and not ‘my world’ :) ), inspired by the song I was listening to - ‘the man who sold the world’. Just at that moment I felt a sudden push… I saw a truck coming full speed my way… and with that push I was down on the road but the truck missed me… guess the truck driver didn’t like the idea of selling the world so he wanted me dead… he would have known that I was dreaming about it and would have been a believer of dreams coming true

I got up on my feet and saw a female smiling at me. And I realized that she was the one who had pushed me… maybe even she knew about ‘my world’ and she wanted me to do the selling, that’s why she saved me. I walked to her to say ‘thank you’ but as I came closer to her I could say nothing… I got lost in her beautiful eyes and was transported to ‘my world’ again… the music was still on and the song playing was ‘come as u are’ and when I opened my mouth, this is wat I said –

‘Come as u are, as u were, as I want u to be’

And she started smiling harder and I realized what I was doing and removed the earphones. Disaster management is something… i told her I was just shaken up by the whole thing and thanked her. I asked her if she was free so that I could get her some coffee… I wanted to spend some time with her because she was my savior, my guardian angel and mainly because I didn’t want her to go away from my eyes. She said she was waiting for someone… I managed to convince her to come to the coffee shop nearby so that she could look out and she would know that the person she was waiting for has come.

She was browsing through the menu card and I was looking into her eyes…

And then she suddenly got up and ruffled my hair and said… I like u… It was so easy for her to say what I was thinking of telling her from the moment I saw her… but then she told me the person she was waiting for had come and she had to leave… so I said good bye. I forgot to ask her name… I followed her, caught up with her and asked what her name was and when could I meet her next… and before she could answer... my mom woke me up.

Maybe I would dream of her again or I would dream of selling the world again and my guardian angel would turn up and this time the first thing I ask her will be her name :)

This one s inspired by one of the dreams I got recently and I vaguely remembered… normally I don’t get dreams or maybe I don’t remember them!

Paraskavedekatriaphobia

Fear of Friday the 13th. Some say that it’s the unluckiest day of all.
And anything bad happens on this day we blame it on it being Friday the 13th and the same thing if it happens on some other day, it’s just another thing.

Is Friday the 13th unlucky? It could be or it could not be… It’s all in the mind :)

Lets see how today goes ;)

Its gettin interesting!

Now that Chelsea is only 3 points behind ManU, the EPL is becoming very interesting... and the Chelsea-ManU match wil b a must watch on 9th May :)
Ferdinand must b lookin for some well to jump, his own goal has made the race for the title open ;)

I want to drift!

Will this post b long or Small... dont know... i want to drift as i write...

I want to live the life of uncertainties for some time... although i dont know why, but i want to do exactly that... I just want to drift with my life :)

I know where my life is heading and i also know where i want it to go... but for now i just want to drift!

Now with this seasons gettin-into-B-school try over... Knowing it was my only chance this yr, i should have prepared...but i just drifted :)
few things have to change... And one such thing is tht i m quittin my current job :)
I wantedly told them about my resignation immediately after my only b-school interview... i had the motive of socking ppl and i did succeed in tht bcos i used to get the let-the-result-come look from ppl who used to wonder if i was tht confident of getting through... haha
Now, it wil b interesting to see if i get the tought-u-would-not-make-it look :) or if their attitute changes and they think i m inferior to them bcos i wil not have a job soon... ;)

Wat to do next?
I have a few ideas but for time being:
I wil do bujines :)... i had always wanted to, pbbly not right now but after 4-5 year s time... but since i let my life drift and it has got me to a situation where i will start doing bujines soon :)

Few Qs that i always asked myself and got the same answer -
Why do 'MBA'?
I used be in awe with the way they talked and with the way they carried themselves. Maybe a few ppl r inborn like tht and i met these few ppl and not all MBAs r like tht. And with so many
B schools and with so many MBAs comin out of these every year... i m sure i would not b impressed by everyone of them but definitely by a few and i wanted to become like them...
and why m i writing this here... i m just drifting

Why i joined software industry?
One of the reasons being... i wanted to know what was the reason that most of the public was joining this industry... obviously money and job availablity was thr... but i wanted to see how things work in here and for tht i gave in 2 years... Some would say not a smart decision... but wat the hell its my career and i know where i want to b 5 years from now and i have my own plans to get thr... thats another interview Q ;)

And as always i decided to work smart and leave the rest to almighty. :)

P.S. I beleive in both God and Satan

Q & A

Caught this at prits… Although he didn’t tag me specifically but I thought doing this would be better than attending the morning call :)

So… here it goes –
It’s a Question paper… I don’t know who would evaluate it ;)


Q1. One thing you are very much afraid of? [2 marks]
Ans: Not being able to live up to expectations

Q2: Two incidents you can never forget in your life? [2+2 marks]
Ans: I decided to skip this one and lose 4 marks :)

Q3: Three books you would love reading again and again? [2x3 marks]
Ans:
I normally don’t read books again but if I have to I would prefer reading these -
1. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
2. Love Story by Eric Segal
3. Iacocca : An Autobiography

Q4: Four women who are most beautiful? [2x4 marks]
Ans:
1. Sonali Bendre
2. Angelina Jolie
3. Elisa Cuthbert
4. Shruti Seth

Q5: Five of you favorite food items? [2x5 marks]
Ans:
1. Dal Makhani
2. Garlic bread with cheese
3. Éclairs
4. Bread pakodas
5. Aam Ras

Q6: Six words you use very often oral/written? [2x6 marks]
Ans:
1. Don’t mind
2. Like that!
3. Got no clue
4. Hey
5. Wazzaaaa!
6. Is It?

Q7: Seven things you like about yourself? [2x7 marks]
Ans:
These r thing I like about myself… u can feel differently ;)
1. Practicality
2. Unconventional yet decent looks (u can ask my mom) ;)
3. My FQ… I like the way I dress
4. Readiness to explore new things.
5. ‘never-say-no’ attitude.
6. Dependability
7. Confidence

Q8: Eight film personalities who are your all time favorites? [2x8 marks]
Ans:
1. Pierce Brosnan
2. Amitabh Bachchan
3. Leonardo diCaprio (After Blood diamond and departed)
4. Ajay Devgan
5. Kajol
6. Zeenat Aman
7. Tom Hanks
8. Camroon Diaz

Q9: Nine movies you won’t mind watching again and again? [2x9 marks]
Ans:
1. Gladiator
2. Sarfarosh
3. RDB
4. Black
5. Finding Nemo
6. Forrest Gump
7. The Shawshank Redemption
8. Andaz Apna Apna
9. Hera Pheri

Q10: Ten songs you would like to listen to everyday? [2x10 maks]
Ans:
I m putting 10 songs I added to my playlist today… they r wat ill would b listening to today :)Don’t have much choice here bcos don’t have many songs on my system
And check out the range… from sad melodies to fast dinchak types… that’s the way my playlist is always… mixed ;)
They are not the favorites… will write a post on that later J
But for today –
1. Doori - Atif
2. Roozana – Amitabh(Nishabdh)
3. Dil main bajee guitar – Apna Sapna Money money
4. Aankhon ke sagar - Fuzon
5. Roobaroo - RDB
6. Tere Bin – Rabbi (Delhi Heights)
7. Dil se mere from the movie Pyar main Kabhi Kabhi
8. Zinda hoon main - Zinda
9. Bas Ek Pal - Remix
10. Yeh mera deewanapan – originally sung by Mukesh but I have the remix one sung by some female… I forgot the her name

And if u dont have much to do... u can also take this thing up ;)

Live on Grass!

Heard this on radio city -

A Lawyer was on his way back home from work, saw a guy eating grass on the side of the road...
He offered that guy to come with him to his home... The guy who was eating grass told the lawyer that he has a wife and five kids
Lawyer said he can get them along.
The grass guy says 'Sir u r so kind'
Lawyer says "It is ok. The lawn has not been moved for over a month" ...haha

But... Humor... is it?

Issues in IT!

The Magic word – ‘Issues’
Two points:
1. If you use the word ‘Issues’ a lot or you know how to overuse it or if u can figure out a way to use this word in every second sentence u utter… IT is the place where u should be.
2. An extension of 1 is if most of the times when u use this word it is with keyword ‘no’ like ‘no issues’ then u can become a cool/bindass IT guy/gal.

Few instances to illustrate the use of it:

· u r going for a team lunch and u r deciding on the conveyance and someone asks u if they can come with u… u can reply – ‘No Issues’.
· Someone asks u for help with the code and wat to reply – ‘No Issues… I’ll help’
· U need help for ur code from someone… how to ask – ‘I have a few issues… can u help?’
· U r in a meeting to discuss few things… these things can be termed as ‘Issues’ and u can end the meeting as ‘I hope we have no more Issues’ (This is to be a cool IT guy/gal)

There r many more I can list here but I m not doing so…. but believe me this is the magic word in the IT world

When I had sent my resignation mail, I was expecting a reply stating ‘no issues’ and the reply I got was ‘Sure’ but I have ‘no issues’ ;)

In Pursuit of Happyness!

Will Smith was rocking in the movie and so was the kid.

I wont write much bcos i would recommend that u guys watch this movie if u havent, but couple of scenes i wil write about -

One is-Will Smith talks about what he thinks about the pursuit part in the declaration on independence of the US... 'maybe happyness is something that we can only pursuit and maybe it is something we can actually never have'
Another one -
Father(Will Smith) tellin his son(Kid) - 'dont ever let somebody tell u that u cant do something not even me! u got a dream, u got to protect it... ppl cant do something themselves they say u cant do it!' - true huh??

And if u had not noticed there s 'y' in happyness... so its like why happiness or why the pursuit of happiness?? To find out, watch the movie :)

I would give it 3.5/5

Work or Play!

Something reminded me of a short story which was part of the course in my tenth std.
The story was 'Tom whitewashes the fence' by Mark Twain. It is a part of 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'.

In the story Tom was given the work of whitewashing the fence by his aunt. When his friends saw him doing this they started making fun of him working on a holiday.
Tom came up with a brilliant idea of play-acting as though whitewashing the fence was a cool thing to do... even better than spending a day at the beach ;)

His friends were so convinced by his act that they traded watever goodies they had with them to whitewash the fence. And had he not run out of whitewash they were more friends who were willing to trade.
Smart Tom got his work done and got lot of goodies. Or were his friends fool to trade things to whitewash :)

Moral of the story: 'Work is something which one is forced to do and the same thing become play when it is difficult to get' :)

Nishabd!

I heard lot of people tell that they didnt like this movie because the movie was unrealistic. They could not digest the fact that a 60 year old fell in love with a 18 year old.

So wat that this sort of thing is taboo in society, i found the movie to be good.
It does not have the usual masala stuff and it would make people feel sad. Definetely it wont go well with the masses. But i would say the movie was above average. Beautiful cinamatography and direction.
The scene where Amitabh is in fits of laughter is very well done.
'jiya jaale jaan jaale, naino taale...' - After listening Amitabh sing this i just cant associate him with 'Rozana'.

Anyone going to watch this movie, dont go with a roadblock in the mind that a 60 yr old cant fall in love for a 18 yr old. :)

Blood Diamond!

The movie is about the illegal smuggling of diamond out of Africa and it revolves around the main characters as they try to get possession of a priceless diamond.

Things I liked about the movie –
Awesome direction.
DiCaprio has acted well; this is the first time I have liked him.
I enjoyed the romance, love etc. between DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly.
An Indian in the movie, Gaurav Chopra has a 2 minute role.

And the dialogue of the movie for me was –
An African boy saying – “I am Subodh* and I am the ‘Master of Disaster’” :)

* I have changed the name for my sake ;)

I would give it 4.5/5

I got it wrong!

My prediction of Barca winning the Champions League went wrong :(

And now i hope that the other prediction which i made of SA winning the cricket world cup also go wrong and may India win the cup :)