Just saw a humdinger, the quater-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2006, where the Germans were playing against the Argentinians, and I must say that it turned out almost as I had expected it to.Though a disappointment for me as my Cup favourites Argentina lost the game, it was a treat to watch, as is any game that goes down to the wire.
Watching the Germans kick in one penalty after another with so much precision and authority, I have developed an opinion and it is that this German team definitely has the character to hold their nerve in a cracker. I could easily see it in their eyes, the killer instinct, the strong desire to win for their country. Naturally after this strong win, the Germans must be oozing with confidence and have emerged as the strongest contenders for the Cup.
But the questions remains. Kahn they do it??
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Saturday, June 24, 2006
awe-inspiring
Picture Courtesy:This blog
Some images are inspiring but a very few are Awe-Inspiring as this one.I wish to be among them one day.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
football fever
FIFA 2006 has kicked off and the football fever is running high everywhere.It is so infectious that it has affected me, a die-hard cricket buff, who rarely watches football.
I just saw the Sweden v/s Trinidad&Tobago match and was quite surprised by the result. Sweden,one the biggies of the football world, was competing against T&T, the one who have the distinction of qualifying last for this world cup finals. With stars like Larsson and Freddie Ljungberg, the Swedes were expected to make mincemeat of the Caribbeans. Also T&T had to play their reserve goalkeeper and was reduced to 10 men at the start of the second half. What do you expect in this scenario? A Sweden win, right?
But No !! The minnows had their own plans. With their grit and determination, coupled with a tinge of overconfident play from their opponents, they successfully gained a point. The 0-0 scoreline must have kicked of celebrations in the island country with calypso music in the background and heavy introspection in the Sweden camp. I wonder how many such unexpected results are in store ahead ..??
Next up, just a few minutes away from now, is another mismatch from the Group of Death, that is Argentina vs Ivory Coast. Ivory Coast have qualified for the first time ever in the history of the Cup finals, but with star stricker Drogba they cannot be underestimated. We just know what happened a few minutes ago, don't we ? Nevertheless, I am supporting the Africans for the match because somehow I enjoy supporting the underdogs.
Update: Sadly, that was the only point T&T gained in this world cup and were the only team to do so without winning a single match.
I just saw the Sweden v/s Trinidad&Tobago match and was quite surprised by the result. Sweden,one the biggies of the football world, was competing against T&T, the one who have the distinction of qualifying last for this world cup finals. With stars like Larsson and Freddie Ljungberg, the Swedes were expected to make mincemeat of the Caribbeans. Also T&T had to play their reserve goalkeeper and was reduced to 10 men at the start of the second half. What do you expect in this scenario? A Sweden win, right?
But No !! The minnows had their own plans. With their grit and determination, coupled with a tinge of overconfident play from their opponents, they successfully gained a point. The 0-0 scoreline must have kicked of celebrations in the island country with calypso music in the background and heavy introspection in the Sweden camp. I wonder how many such unexpected results are in store ahead ..??
Next up, just a few minutes away from now, is another mismatch from the Group of Death, that is Argentina vs Ivory Coast. Ivory Coast have qualified for the first time ever in the history of the Cup finals, but with star stricker Drogba they cannot be underestimated. We just know what happened a few minutes ago, don't we ? Nevertheless, I am supporting the Africans for the match because somehow I enjoy supporting the underdogs.
Update: Sadly, that was the only point T&T gained in this world cup and were the only team to do so without winning a single match.
Monday, June 05, 2006
a new word added to the dictionary.
Fanaa(noun,adjective)
1:Nonsense.
2:Subject matter, behavior, or content that is foolish or absurd.
3:Matter of little or no importance,usefulness or entertainment.
Examples of various usages of the word in our daily life.
1:Please do not talk fanaa. OK?
2:Arjun Singh made a fanaa analysis of the reservation issue.
P.S:If someone is thinking what this crap is all about then for them let me elaborate. Fanaa is the recently released Bollywood movie, which I happened to watch yesterday when I was suffering from a mental disorder of sorts. My mental state got worse at the end of the experience and might take time to heal. The only good part of the experience was the Kabul Express trailor that they showed during the interval. Kabul Express seems promising. To cure myself of the disorder I need to watch some good old movie, Hollywood or Bollywood. Fanaa is highly unrecommended.
1:Nonsense.
2:Subject matter, behavior, or content that is foolish or absurd.
3:Matter of little or no importance,usefulness or entertainment.
Examples of various usages of the word in our daily life.
1:Please do not talk fanaa. OK?
2:Arjun Singh made a fanaa analysis of the reservation issue.
P.S:If someone is thinking what this crap is all about then for them let me elaborate. Fanaa is the recently released Bollywood movie, which I happened to watch yesterday when I was suffering from a mental disorder of sorts. My mental state got worse at the end of the experience and might take time to heal. The only good part of the experience was the Kabul Express trailor that they showed during the interval. Kabul Express seems promising. To cure myself of the disorder I need to watch some good old movie, Hollywood or Bollywood. Fanaa is highly unrecommended.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
it drizzled.....and then it rained.
Yes, It did and I can already sense and enjoy the freshness in the environ.
When it started drizzling, I was mid-way on my way back from work, sitting pretty listless, as my bus edged past bulky trucks and speedy cars, pushing its way hard through the, previously rough and dusty and now wet, Ghodbunder road. As soon as I opened the window, the wind pushed some drops in along with the aroma of the wet mud which is so peculiar to the first rains. I could see some lightning, surprisingly it didn't make much noise or may be the bus made too much. The Southwesterlies had stamped their arrival in Mumbai.
The idea of getting drenched in the first rain of the season excited me. Little did I care for my leather shoes or anything else. It was still raining as the bus screeched to a halt at my stop. I usually take the autorickshaw from the bus-stop to my home but had other thoughts today and hence walked along ignoring the usual hint from few hopeful rickshawwallas willing to drive me there. As I treaded on the wet and slippery tar road, carefully evading the puddles and the occasional mud splash due to a careless speedy vehicle, my already wet shoes took my attention. I decided against ruining them further and sensibly enough hinted to the passing rikcshaw. I reached home.
As I write this post, I see it has stopped drizzling and started raining and may be it will continue the same the whole night. I pray it rains well for the next few months and keeps Mumbai cool and wet minus the heavy outbursts of the last year.Amen.
!! No more heat waves !! No more dusty roads !! and No more sweaty shirts ! Yoohoooo!
Life just cannot get better.
When it started drizzling, I was mid-way on my way back from work, sitting pretty listless, as my bus edged past bulky trucks and speedy cars, pushing its way hard through the, previously rough and dusty and now wet, Ghodbunder road. As soon as I opened the window, the wind pushed some drops in along with the aroma of the wet mud which is so peculiar to the first rains. I could see some lightning, surprisingly it didn't make much noise or may be the bus made too much. The Southwesterlies had stamped their arrival in Mumbai.
The idea of getting drenched in the first rain of the season excited me. Little did I care for my leather shoes or anything else. It was still raining as the bus screeched to a halt at my stop. I usually take the autorickshaw from the bus-stop to my home but had other thoughts today and hence walked along ignoring the usual hint from few hopeful rickshawwallas willing to drive me there. As I treaded on the wet and slippery tar road, carefully evading the puddles and the occasional mud splash due to a careless speedy vehicle, my already wet shoes took my attention. I decided against ruining them further and sensibly enough hinted to the passing rikcshaw. I reached home.
As I write this post, I see it has stopped drizzling and started raining and may be it will continue the same the whole night. I pray it rains well for the next few months and keeps Mumbai cool and wet minus the heavy outbursts of the last year.Amen.
!! No more heat waves !! No more dusty roads !! and No more sweaty shirts ! Yoohoooo!
Life just cannot get better.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
in retro
It indeed has been a very long time since I blogged the last.
A few things have happened since then.
I put in my papers @ work a few weeks ago. With no other job in my hand, my alliance with my employers will sieze to exist from July.
If I look back at my decision(I do not enjoy doing this but..), the only reason I find that compelled me to do so was boredom, a sense of dissatisfaction resulting out of uninteresting work. I think I love programming but unfortunately it had become a seasonal affair, pretty much like mangoes in the summer. Most of the time my work involved cleaning someone elses shit(read bugs). I understand that most IT work in India involves maintenance projects and pretty much every IT guy/girl spends his/her time doing what I do. But I realized that this is exactly what I do not want to do all my life.
In short, I was not at all enjoying my work.
As a direct result of which I was not giving my 100% to the job and not giving it enough justice as I used to when I had started out.Things had become so predictable and mundane that going all the way to work seemed as a punishment. A punishment let out by social pressure.A pressure to stick with a secure job. A pressure to earn money.Parental pressure.Peer pressure.
Life is surely going to change after this. I forsee the so-called good times giving way to difficult times.You know it from the reactions from the people around you. The kind of reactions I get back when I happen to tell my quit-story vary from bafflement to empathy. Some say it is a silly decision and some happen to plaud it by terming it as a bold one.I feel it is a mixture of both.Its a silly-bold decision :). Anyways coming back to all seriousness, I know I need to ignore the negative vibes and carry forward the positive ones. I also am completely aware that it is a risky affair to quit without any other job in hand or say when having a future as uncertain as a Bollywood movie but I say what the heck !?! If I am not taking risks or for that matter following my heart @ this age then when??? I am happy I did it and must say that I am one lucky ass as currently I do have the freedom to do my own thing thanks to the fact that I do not have to support my family as such.Touch wood.I know many people who do not love their jobs and want to quit but just cannot with all the attachments.
What next?? This is a big question and answers still evade me.Although currently Army aspirations are running high in me and I have an aim for the next few months i.e to clear the CDS and then the SSB, the future still seems very hazey. As the selection process takes a while to complete, I need to find out what I want to do in the meantime and or rather full time if I do not clear it(unfortunately I just have one chance to get through to Army).Do I want to go back to IT or rather the corporate world? Rationality tells me that I am equipped to do programming and that is what I am best at currently and hence should go back. But somewhere down the line I do not feel like doing so and living the cubicle life all over again.
There are two things I find my interests pinning down to. To work for a startup firm which has an informal work culture and a real zest for cutting edge technology work. A workplace I could feel attached to.Never felt that attachment with TCS. Second thing would be to work as a travel writer or rather just as a traveller. Writing travelogues for magazines coupled with nature photography and the freedom to explore the whole of India would be ultimate fun.I know I am not a great writer or something but I also know that I am not bad one either. Also I have an eye for photography and hence think that something of this sort would give me more satisfaction.
But yes, I would contemplate on all these only if I do not get to the Army.Army is the place I want to be. A mere thought of going for the SSB gives me that adrenalin rush. Man!!!! I just want to be there.
Lets see whats in store ahead.....
Would like to end this post with a very profound quote I recently read.
"A short cut to riches is to subtract from our desires". How true!!
A few things have happened since then.
I put in my papers @ work a few weeks ago. With no other job in my hand, my alliance with my employers will sieze to exist from July.
If I look back at my decision(I do not enjoy doing this but..), the only reason I find that compelled me to do so was boredom, a sense of dissatisfaction resulting out of uninteresting work. I think I love programming but unfortunately it had become a seasonal affair, pretty much like mangoes in the summer. Most of the time my work involved cleaning someone elses shit(read bugs). I understand that most IT work in India involves maintenance projects and pretty much every IT guy/girl spends his/her time doing what I do. But I realized that this is exactly what I do not want to do all my life.
In short, I was not at all enjoying my work.
As a direct result of which I was not giving my 100% to the job and not giving it enough justice as I used to when I had started out.Things had become so predictable and mundane that going all the way to work seemed as a punishment. A punishment let out by social pressure.A pressure to stick with a secure job. A pressure to earn money.Parental pressure.Peer pressure.
Life is surely going to change after this. I forsee the so-called good times giving way to difficult times.You know it from the reactions from the people around you. The kind of reactions I get back when I happen to tell my quit-story vary from bafflement to empathy. Some say it is a silly decision and some happen to plaud it by terming it as a bold one.I feel it is a mixture of both.Its a silly-bold decision :). Anyways coming back to all seriousness, I know I need to ignore the negative vibes and carry forward the positive ones. I also am completely aware that it is a risky affair to quit without any other job in hand or say when having a future as uncertain as a Bollywood movie but I say what the heck !?! If I am not taking risks or for that matter following my heart @ this age then when??? I am happy I did it and must say that I am one lucky ass as currently I do have the freedom to do my own thing thanks to the fact that I do not have to support my family as such.Touch wood.I know many people who do not love their jobs and want to quit but just cannot with all the attachments.
What next?? This is a big question and answers still evade me.Although currently Army aspirations are running high in me and I have an aim for the next few months i.e to clear the CDS and then the SSB, the future still seems very hazey. As the selection process takes a while to complete, I need to find out what I want to do in the meantime and or rather full time if I do not clear it(unfortunately I just have one chance to get through to Army).Do I want to go back to IT or rather the corporate world? Rationality tells me that I am equipped to do programming and that is what I am best at currently and hence should go back. But somewhere down the line I do not feel like doing so and living the cubicle life all over again.
There are two things I find my interests pinning down to. To work for a startup firm which has an informal work culture and a real zest for cutting edge technology work. A workplace I could feel attached to.Never felt that attachment with TCS. Second thing would be to work as a travel writer or rather just as a traveller. Writing travelogues for magazines coupled with nature photography and the freedom to explore the whole of India would be ultimate fun.I know I am not a great writer or something but I also know that I am not bad one either. Also I have an eye for photography and hence think that something of this sort would give me more satisfaction.
But yes, I would contemplate on all these only if I do not get to the Army.Army is the place I want to be. A mere thought of going for the SSB gives me that adrenalin rush. Man!!!! I just want to be there.
Lets see whats in store ahead.....
Would like to end this post with a very profound quote I recently read.
"A short cut to riches is to subtract from our desires". How true!!
Thursday, April 27, 2006
introspection
Does everything I want to do needs to have a REASON?
Isn't "being mere happy" a good REASON to do something?
or
Is it necessary that "being the HAPPIEST" should be the REASON to do that particular thing?
How do I differentiate between "this-is-happy" and "this-is-happiest" ?
I understand that Man has the power to be subjective to be able to differentiate such things, but some "happiest" things then might have just have turned to be "happy" now and viceversa.So how do I come to a conclusion?
How do I accept or absorb when people in my close bracket do not advocate my beliefs? How do I react when they start perceiving me in an incorrect manner?
Should I ignore them or Should I try to reprove and convince them?
These and many more.
Questions.Questions.And more Questions.They keep coming at me perennially, almost everywhere.They dont even leave me when I am in the Loo.
Another question my dear mother recently probed me with.It was part of a conversation which went something like this...
Me:Aai, mi Army chi exam dyaycha vichar karat ahe....(mom,me planning to give an army exam..)
Mother(..with a totally aghast look): Kay??? Kashala??? Armit gelas tar tuzhyashi lagna kon karnar????( what??? why??? who the hell will marry you if you join the Army???? )
One thing is for sure.Even if I happen to find the answers to the numerous questions above, the answer to the last question, asked by my mother, is what I am interested in the most.
Isn't "being mere happy" a good REASON to do something?
or
Is it necessary that "being the HAPPIEST" should be the REASON to do that particular thing?
How do I differentiate between "this-is-happy" and "this-is-happiest" ?
I understand that Man has the power to be subjective to be able to differentiate such things, but some "happiest" things then might have just have turned to be "happy" now and viceversa.So how do I come to a conclusion?
How do I accept or absorb when people in my close bracket do not advocate my beliefs? How do I react when they start perceiving me in an incorrect manner?
Should I ignore them or Should I try to reprove and convince them?
These and many more.
Questions.Questions.And more Questions.They keep coming at me perennially, almost everywhere.They dont even leave me when I am in the Loo.
Another question my dear mother recently probed me with.It was part of a conversation which went something like this...
Me:Aai, mi Army chi exam dyaycha vichar karat ahe....(mom,me planning to give an army exam..)
Mother(..with a totally aghast look): Kay??? Kashala??? Armit gelas tar tuzhyashi lagna kon karnar????( what??? why??? who the hell will marry you if you join the Army???? )
One thing is for sure.Even if I happen to find the answers to the numerous questions above, the answer to the last question, asked by my mother, is what I am interested in the most.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
enjoiin saturdays!!
Here on Blogger, @ this eventful hour I declare that Saturday is the most lovable day of the week.
I started enjoiin today before the day had actually set in, doesnt mean that I woke up early...just that i slept late..caught up with the idiot box and surfed the web.
Woke up late @ around 10:30 am or so(.. dnt care to remember). Heard the news that Pramod Mahajan has been shot, and the immediate thought that crossed my mind was "oh-he-is-in-the-limelite-now".Never been so cruel and heartless. I regret it and pray that he recovers to normality. Happens,I mumbled and continued with the unpleasant morning chores minus a bath, minus a disoriented search for ironed formal attire.
(offtrack)
Watching my mother and the media go frenzy over the breaking news this morning was quite understandable. That all the channels would go bersek the whole day was anybodys guess. I scowled @ my mother in an attempt to make her understand that its his life and the matter was altogether a personal one, not necessary for public scrutiny. But she is my mother and started jumping channels, completely ingnoring my gyaan.
(/offtrack)
As I browsed through the TOI, particular BT, realisation struck me that I havent yet watched the flick Being Cyrus. Another critically acclaimed movie and I did not want myself to feel the same about it, the way I had, when I had missed out on Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi in the theatres. Didnt care to call anybody, had my lunch and drove myself to the nearest multiplex. To my pleasant surprise the ticket was just 70 bucks(..mind you, i am still in TCS and offsite) . Met an old friend of mine, Subbu. Is currently lazzin around in the city after two gruelling yem-bee-yae years.He was with his friends. Me alone.
Abt the movie..hmm.Brilliant short movie, kept me guessin as it unfolded the story of a weird Parsi Family. All the actors are commendable to say the least.Thats it..no more review from my side..as there are critics paid for the same...please read them.No, wait!!...cant help commenting that Dimple Kapdia was sexxxy as ever.
Back home now, I am pondering over the possiblity of catching up with some friends later in the evening.Might just make this Saturday more enjoyable than I would have thought of.
So, a lazzzzzy morning, ghar ka khana, a good movie, and some catching up with friends is all that one needs for a Great Saturday.
I started enjoiin today before the day had actually set in, doesnt mean that I woke up early...just that i slept late..caught up with the idiot box and surfed the web.
Woke up late @ around 10:30 am or so(.. dnt care to remember). Heard the news that Pramod Mahajan has been shot, and the immediate thought that crossed my mind was "oh-he-is-in-the-limelite-now".Never been so cruel and heartless. I regret it and pray that he recovers to normality. Happens,I mumbled and continued with the unpleasant morning chores minus a bath, minus a disoriented search for ironed formal attire.
(offtrack)
As I browsed through the TOI, particular BT, realisation struck me that I havent yet watched the flick Being Cyrus. Another critically acclaimed movie and I did not want myself to feel the same about it, the way I had, when I had missed out on Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi in the theatres. Didnt care to call anybody, had my lunch and drove myself to the nearest multiplex. To my pleasant surprise the ticket was just 70 bucks(..mind you, i am still in TCS and offsite) . Met an old friend of mine, Subbu. Is currently lazzin around in the city after two gruelling yem-bee-yae years.He was with his friends. Me alone.Abt the movie..hmm.Brilliant short movie, kept me guessin as it unfolded the story of a weird Parsi Family. All the actors are commendable to say the least.Thats it..no more review from my side..as there are critics paid for the same...please read them.No, wait!!...cant help commenting that Dimple Kapdia was sexxxy as ever.
Back home now, I am pondering over the possiblity of catching up with some friends later in the evening.Might just make this Saturday more enjoyable than I would have thought of.
So, a lazzzzzy morning, ghar ka khana, a good movie, and some catching up with friends is all that one needs for a Great Saturday.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
back from kashmir
M Back!!!!!!!!
Yes, I am back after an amazing, awesome, unbelievable, awe inspiring tour of Kashmir.
Havn't been able to get over the hangover yet and I dont want to get over it ever. Starring @ the pics incessantly instils bouts of nostalgia in me, time and again.Those images of calm and surreal lakes along with strikingly beautiful, pine forested, artistically snowclad Himalayan peaks in the background are permantly etched in my memory.
I want to go back there.I will certainly go back there.
Yes, I am back after an amazing, awesome, unbelievable, awe inspiring tour of Kashmir.
Havn't been able to get over the hangover yet and I dont want to get over it ever. Starring @ the pics incessantly instils bouts of nostalgia in me, time and again.Those images of calm and surreal lakes along with strikingly beautiful, pine forested, artistically snowclad Himalayan peaks in the background are permantly etched in my memory.
I want to go back there.I will certainly go back there.
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